Friday, October 30, 2009

A welcome extension

The first time-buyers tax credit of $8,000 has been a boon to the housing economy of that there is no doubt.

The fact Senators agreed this week to extend the credit until at least spring of next year and to allow for a $6,500 home tax credit to repeat who have owned homes for at five years is even better news.

The credit is helping to fuel the market overall and the all important move up market.

The housing business is getting the shot in the arm it needs to keep the economy going.

All the best
Greg Owens P.A.
Keller Williams On The Water
941.932.6343

Friday, October 23, 2009

Come let the sunshine

September.

This may have been our watershed month.

According to Florida Association of Realtor numbers home sales were up 42 percent in Sarasota/Manatee compared to last year in September. The median house price around 164k remained about the same as the bottom becomes more solid.

In real numbers that meant 781 sales compared to 550 the year before.

Condo sales during the same period were up 108 percent. The median price was down around 134k.

In real numbers that meant 247 condos sold compared to 119 the year before.

And tourist season hasn't even really started yet.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams On The Water
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Here we grow again

We want to thank all of our clients for helping us grow.

It is because of your trust in us to take care of your real estate needs that our team is expanding. We have brought on some very talented people and changed the role of our great team members to better serve our clients.

Greg Owens will now take on the role of a Listing Specialist. Greg will be working with Listing Specialist Britt Truluck and Lead Listing Specialist Joanne Owens to list and sell homes for our clients.

We're excited that Mike Polachek will be our Lead Buyers Specialist. Mike is leading our team of professional buyers agents serving our clients to assist them in finding their next dream home.

Cami Jaquette has joined the team as a Buyers Specialist. Dixie Sisson continues in her role as a Buyers Specialist.

Desiree Lupo has moved over to the role of Team Manager. Desiree takes over the marketing and oversees the administrative duties for our team.

Deby Mascolino has been appointed to the position of Listing Manager and Buyer Closing Coordinator. Deby manages our clients listings and will also ensure that our contracts are closed professionally.

We are pleased to announce that Joanne Owens will be leading the charge to open a KW in downtown Sarasota.

So it is with great thanks and much appreciation to our clients that we continue to grow our Team so that we may serve you in all of your Real Estate needs in a greater capacity than ever before!

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

The Big Three

The market is moving at a fairly brisk pace in Manatee and Sarasota right now.

So if you are a seller and your home is not selling go back to basics.

There are three reasons homes do sell or don't sell.

Price

Condition

Location

You need to price it right for the location and condition.

Yes, the foreclosures and short sales down the road or in your neighborhood are your competition.

Everything sells at a price, so get that right first. Next make sure the home is show home condition.

You can't change the location but you can price it for what homes are selling for in that location.

If you over price the home, even if you do get an offer, unless the buyers are paying cash, it probably will not appraise and they won't be able to get a loan on the home.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams On The Water
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Monday, October 05, 2009

Weather this

You know the temperature has started to drop here.

It was in the cool 80's on the weekend and I'm sure in the 70's at night.

What this means for us is it will soon be a lot cooler for in the northern states and Canada where a lot of our seasonal residents come from.

This influx will help us tell the tale of recovery as the population influx decides to buy or sell their homes in our county and if it will reflect in the rise or fall of inventory of homes for sale on the market.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams On The Water
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Thursday, October 01, 2009

The market we are in

Here a couple of simple ABC's of our current market in the Manatee/Sarasota area.

There are basically three types of sellers in our local market right now.

You have your equity sellers. Homeowners who have equity in their home and are not selling at a loss.

Short sales. Homeowners who owe more than they can sell their house for and are going to ask their lender to let them sell so they can move on.

Foreclosures. Where the lenders have taken over the property from the homeowner and are trying to sell it.

Equity and foreclosure sales are generally the easiest to deal with. You can hammer out a deal and in most cases pretty much close them within 30 to 45 days if not less if you want to.

Foreclosures, similar to Short sales a.k.a pre-foreclosures, are usually as is with right inspect sales. No repairs by sellers, what you see or inspect is what you get.

Equity owners, you can usually work out a repair limit for some items outlined in the contract.

Short sales can be anything but short. The best way to think of them is short on money, long on time.

The odd one I have heard of closing in less than a month, more likely three or more months, and even then there is no guarantee the lender will accept the offer price.

On top of that the lender may try and get the seller to sign a promissory note for part or all of the money they are owed on the mortgage that is not covered by the sale.

You may go through months of waiting to have the lender accept the price and then have the seller refuse to sign the note and the lender refuse to forgive the debt. At that point the deal is likely dead and the home is headed for foreclosure.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams On The Water
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com

Forget the bad ol' days here come the good ones

Somewhere in a couple of years we are going to look back at the market in the over the past couple of years and refer to them as the bad ole' days.

As real estate goes this was about as bad as it could have got.

I'm not saying there aren't at least a few hundred thousand foreclosures still to go across the country or more.

Palmetto, Bradenton, Sarasota, the island communities, we are not completely out of the woods yet.

What I am pointing out is it looks more and more like the worst is over and we're heading back to a normal market.

More than 20 percent increases in sales in our area, inventory continuing to dry up and buyers starting to realize the free for all, or more accurately free fall, market is over, all adds up to some much needed good news.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams On The Water
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com