Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Culling the herd

Among real estate professionals the herd is being culled.

By the time we come out of the down market to a stable one for consumers you will see that the strong survived.

Why is this important buyers and sellers in Manatee and Sarasota counties?

It means that the competent professionals are gaining business as the field gets smaller.

These numbers are from Trendgraphix which tracts real estate statistics across the country.

Year to date:

-209 out of the 389 real estate offices in Manatee County reported at least one sales so far this year of those, 140 reported two or more sales.

As of April there were only 366 offices reported in Trendgraphix, of those 124 had sales in April, 82 recorded two or more sales.

In April there were 1342 agents according to Trendgraphix, of those 299 had recorded at least one sale (buyers specialists, such as myself, record there information under the agent who leads the team).

Year to date there were 1426 agents (yes there has been a bit of drop) of those 693 have had recorded sales, 366 reported two or more sales.

As of the end of 2006 there were 1556 agents and 421 offices.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Listen to the beat of the incoming feet

Hear that sound in the distant, kind like low drumbeat.

That's the sound of retirees, second home buyers and future retirees starting to march back to Florida including the Manatee and Sarasota County area.

As a buyers specialist for our team I deal mainly with people moving into the area.

From Alaska to the Rockies to the Great Lake states I have seen an influx lately of buyers looking for their place in the sun.

Falling prices and lots of inventory are attracting to them to the area. They are looking from the beaches of Anna Maria Island to Lakewood Ranch.

The beat is getting stronger inventory has started to fall as predicted. The great deals are still out there but the signs are pointing to a market that may soon stabilize.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Friday, May 16, 2008

The muddy property tax waters

As far as property taxes are concerned we're in uncharted waters.

So said Manatee County Property Appraiser Charlie Hackney when he met with a group of us real estate agents and vendors recently.

He said you would have to go back to the Great Depression to find a similar situation for property taxes.

Basically there is a bunch of criteria but the message was the appraisers office base the assessment on homes at 85 percent of the market value.

The question becomes what is market value. With declining values, foreclosures, short sales, new tax legislation etc. the picture gets more than a bit fussy.

Let's say you get a great deal on a home. An agent at the meeting brought this up. A house that was worth $1 million was bought for $500k. The market value on it will not necessarily be $500k.

The message was just because you got a great deal doesn't mean that your taxes will be based on the purchase price. They are based on what the county determines the market value is.

Bottom line is that if anyone other than the property appraisers office is telling you what your taxes are going to be in the future after you purchase the home, take it with a big grain of salt. Even the property appraisers office may not be able to tell you that.

They can tell you what the current taxes are after that well there are a lot of factors that will go in to it.

If you would like to here Charlie Hackney discuss the property tax situation you can listen to it on our Web site at www.teamworksfla.com.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Monday, May 12, 2008

Psst, inventory is dropping

This morning I checked the inventory for single family homes in Manatee County and I saw something that I haven't seen in awhile.

Inventory had dropped below the 4000 mark. Granted just five below but it has been a very, very long time since we have seen that in our market.

The inventory has been slowly creeping downward. We usually get a bunch of houses coming off the market right after the snowbirds leave.

Last year even after the snowbirds left we still had more than 4000 homes for resale on the market.

What this means for buyers and sellers is if the inventory is dropping and demand remains relatively low but steady we should see prices stabilize.

Keep watching the slow turn to a stable market (not a rising one) appears to be happening.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Friday, May 09, 2008

Extreme buyers market, this too is coming to an end

As a buyer's agent I have been loving this market.

Sarasota, Manatee, Palmetto, Anna Maria Island you name it there have been deals galore.

It has just been so much fun shopping with clients, lots of choice and lots and lots of buying power.

Unfortunately this too will soon come to an end. Not that the market is going to heat up anytime soon but the signs are there that it has started to stabilize.

First the choice of well choice homes under 200k is beginning to dry up. Those sparkling deals of a lifetime are starting to become harder and harder to find.

Next, the ever popular waterfront, well the properties with the great open water views or on really nice canals, deep sailboat water etc. reasonably priced, you get the picture. Those choices too are thinning out.

And the ever present seasoned investors (I have a couple as clients) are snapping up the bargains as fast as they can get there hands on them.

This doesn't mean some housing prices will stop falling, on the contrary a lot of houses and condominiums were and still are priced way higher than the market.

What you will start to see is the price per square foot for homes starting to level out.

It isn't the only determining factor for home pricing but it is a major one.

Some economists have been predicting this for a while. I dismissed it as being over optimistic before.

Now, on the street level, yes it seems there is a change in the air.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343.
greg@teamworksfla.com

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Frustration, thy name is short sale

Short sales, pre-foreclosures whatever you want to call them, ugh!

As a buyer's agent give me a foreclosure any day of the week over a pre-foreclosure or short sale.

After months with hundreds of short sales on the market in Sarasota, Bradenton and Palmetto you would think the lending companies would have a good system in place for quick responses.

Not so.

It still takes 45 to 90 days just a get a response from the lender and even then it might be just to say basically they are working on it.

For those out there who don't know, a short sale or pre-foreclosure home for sale is one basically where the seller is trying to sell the property for less then they owe the lender and they want the lender to forgive the debt.

The seller is hoping the lender will agree to this and that neither party will have to go to foreclosure.

Buyer's often think the lenders will jump at any offer and respond quickly. Wrong.

Lenders often have a hard time just tracking down who owns the paper on the debt that has been sold many times over to investors possibly in far flung places.

Add to this a stack a mile high on the desk of the negotiators for the lender and you get the picture.

For buyer's here is my advice. Unless you are willing to wait four to six months for a response that may be negative (lenders may even come back with a counter higher than the list price) stay away from short sales.

Lenders tend to respond quickly to foreclosures and of course there is still the good ole normal seller who can afford just to sell their house in this market at a reasonable price.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com