Bright light at the end of the tunnel

Well here it is Sarasota and Manatee counties according to information released by the Florida Association of Realtors and reported in the Sarasota Herald Tribune and Bradenton Herald.

Single family homes sales were up 38 percent in March compared to last year.

1,055 houses sold compared to 765 last year at the same time.

The median home price rose 9 percent compared to last year. It went from $150,000 a year ago to $163,800 this year. This was a 6 percent increase from February.

Condominium sales rose 69 percent in March compared to a year ago. There were 382 condos sold this March compared to 226 last year.

The median price for condos went up $146,400 from $129,000 last year at the same time. That was a 3.5 percent increase from February.

Greg Owens P.A.
Keller Williams On the Water
Realtor
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com
www.teamworksfla.com

No silver bullet for short sales

OK, the HAFA program which was supposed to be a silver bullet for short sales is apparently missing the mark.

This program was designed to speed up the process to answers to offers within 10 days, no deficiency judgments, money for the seller to move etc. on primary residence homes.

Turns out it only applies to a very small part of the short sale market, no Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, no loans that involve an investor who did not sign on to the program etc.

The reality here is unless this program is tweaked dramatically it will help very few people speed up the short sale process.

There was no silver bullet here.

Greg Owens P.A.
Keller Williams On the Water
Realtor
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com
www.teamworksfla.com

Foreclosure delays

For those buyers out there looking for the quick deal on foreclosures you may find that a response to an offer is not as fast as you make think it should be.

As the number of foreclosures have increased so has the response time to offers.

Some of the largest banks and smaller lenders may take days, possibly weeks to respond to an offer.

Others may respond within hours.

Like short sales each lender handles the offers differently.

There is no across the board set of standards or rules.

All the best

Greg Owens P.A.
Keller Williams On the Water
Realtor
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com
www.teamworksfla.com

Thank you Snowbirds

In the Manatee/Sarasota area Easter Weekend is considered the end of Snowbird season.

This is when our northern brethren start the trek back to their homes across the northern U.S. and Canada.

The home buying trend switches now from the Snowbirds to families moving to the area and later in the summer Europeans.

These potential home buyers will find a new world of price stabilization and a little less selection than previous years.

Gone are the days of mountains of inventory laying dormant on the market.

They will be coming in to a market that has scene the worst of the housing market pass and has started the slow road to recovery.

All the best
Greg Owens P.A.
Realtor
Certified Distressed Property Expert
Keller Williams On the Water
941.932.6343
greg@teamworksfla.com
www.teamworksfla.com