Sarasota Florida Flat Fee MLS Listings FSBO – Discount Realtor & Broker

Anyone looking for advice on how to close a deal in a tough market might get some inspiration from William Bronchick and Ray Cooper, authors of How To Sell A House Fast In A Slow Real Estate Market(2008: John A. Wiley & Sons).

Here are some of their ideas:

Position the house in the right price range. Buyers search by price range. Positioning a property in the middle of the range increases the likelihood people will see it.

Have information available. Deals fall apart when the buyer has unanswered questions. Work with the seller to have key information available, including cost of utilities and taxes, neighborhood liens and covenants, and an evaluation of the schools.

Put out a good flier. People are much more likely to read the flier than they are to call the number on the “For Sale” sign.

Market to the neighbors. Market to people who have just listed their own homes in the same areas. Chances are they like the neighborhood and could be persuaded to stay in the area by the right property.

Consider Creative Financing. For many people these days finding money is the biggest stumbling block.

Explain the first-offer rule to clients. In this market holding out for a better offer is a big mistake.

Source: Forbes, William Bronchick and Ray Cooper (10/21/08)

No Comments Yet »

 
(Wonder how long the Foreclosure Process Takes, or Better Yet… How You can Qualify? (Unbelievable we’re discussing this, but I get calls everyday from Mortgagees wondering, “How do I qualify for a Short Sale or Foreclosure”?) Many people just “Want Out” & its unfortunate because they Have the Income to Stay In Their Home and Continue Making Payments.. Above is a Graph of timeline the Bank Follows to Foreclose on Your Home, Get You Out, & Get a New Buyer In.. Banks Have Enormous Amounts of This Type Inventory! This is Why You’re Home Isn’t Valued @ What it Was 3 Years Ago & We Have a “Glut” of Homes on The Market..)

U.S. working on plan to help homeowners refinance

WASHINGTON – Oct. 24, 2008 – Federal regulators told Congress Thursday they’re working on a plan that could help many distressed homeowners escape foreclosure in a global financial crisis that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned will get worse before it gets better.

Greenspan called the banking and housing chaos a “once-in-a-century credit tsunami” that led to a breakdown in how the free market system functions.

Accused of contributing to the meltdown, but denying that it was his fault, Greenspan told a House panel the crisis left him – an unabashed free-market advocate – in a “state of shocked disbelief.”

The longtime Fed chief acknowledged under questioning that he had made a “mistake” in believing that banks, in operating in their self-interest, would be sufficient to protect their shareholders and the equity in their institutions. Greenspan called it “a flaw in the model that I perceived is the critical functioning structure that defines how the world works.”

His much-anticipated appearance came as committees in both the House and the Senate held competing hearings on the financial crisis. At one such forum, a senior Treasury official said the Bush administration intends to get a program to help struggling homeowners revise mortgages up and running soon.

Neel Kashkari, who is overseeing the government’s $700 billion financial rescue effort, told the Senate Banking Committee that the new plan could include setting standards for changing mortgages to make them more affordable and giving loan guarantees to banks that meet them.

“We are passionate about doing everything we can to avoid preventable foreclosures,” he said.

Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the same Senate panel that the government needs to do more to help tens of thousands of home borrowers avert foreclosure, including setting standards for modifying mortgages into more affordable loans and providing loan guarantees to banks and other mortgage services that meet them.

“Loan guarantees could be used as an incentive for servicers to modify loans,” Bair said. “By doing so, unaffordable loans could be converted into loans that are sustainable over the long term.”

The FDIC is working “closely and creatively” with the Treasury Department on such a plan, she said.

Greenspan told the House Oversight Committee he was wrong in believing that banks would be more prudent in their lending practices because of the need to protect their stockholders.

Greenspan, who stepped down in February 2006 after serving as Fed chairman for 18 1/2 years, was asked to explain his role in the crisis.

Some critics have blamed him for contributing to the problem by leaving interest rates too low for too long and for failing to regulate risky banking practices.

Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., suggested that Greenspan contributed to “irresponsible lending practices” by rejecting appeals that the Fed intervene to regulate a surging subprime mortgage industry.

“The list of regulatory mistakes and misjudgments is long,” Waxman said of oversight by the Fed and other federal regulators.

“My question for you is simple,” Waxman told Greenspan. “Were you wrong?”

“Well, partially,” Greenspan said.

But he went on to assign the blame on soaring mortgage foreclosures on overeager investors who did not properly take into account the threats that would be posed once home prices stopped surging upward.

He said what had been “a critical pillar to market competition and free markets did break down. And I think that, as I said, shocked me. I still do not fully understand why it happened.”

Committee members accused present and past federal regulators for not doing more to stop abusive practices or to go after wrongdoers.

Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, acknowledged to the House panel that “somewhere in this terrible mess, laws were broken.”

He said the government was doing the best it could to identify and pursue lawbreakers.

In the hearing before the Senate panel, Kashkari, the Treasury official overseeing the government’s $700 billion bailout program, said the administration was making “tremendous progress” in carrying out the bailout program enacted earlier this month.

As a result, there have been “numerous signs of improvement in our markets and in the confidence in our financial institutions,” he asserted.

Still, Kashkari cautioned that “while there have been recent positive developments, the markets remain fragile.”

The administration must move to resolve the deepening financial crisis swiftly and aggressively, said Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. Otherwise, “volatility and paralysis” will reign in the markets, he warned.

So far, the government has dealt only with the symptoms of the debacle, Dodd argued.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said that by not setting conditions on banks in return for the government injections of money, “We’re feeding them a little too much dessert and not making them eat their vegetables.”

Schumer said he’s “still not convinced” that banks receiving the government money should continue paying dividends to their shareholders.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press, Martin Crutsinger and Marcy Gordon (Associated Press Writers).

No Comments Yet »

 
(I like using graphs to provide visuals as to what’s happening with market values & Homeowner Equity in our Real Estate Market. Reading the below article should give you confidence that home purchases are up, & there is “rhyme to the reason”. No doubt, Sarasota, Florida is an area people want to live & the worst economy can’t take away our beautiful weather. As prices reach a level that’s “reasonable” to purchase in, we’ll start to see many more cash deals & quick purchases. The Quality of Life is here! Our Real Estate Market will Come Back..)

Local real estate market enjoys September rise in pending sales
 
Pending sales rose in September 2008 and overall sales stood almost identical to August 2008 in the Sarasota MLS. In fact, overall sales in September 2008 were 29 percent higher than overall sales in September 2007 – a statistic that flies in the face of the recent negativity in the media.
 
Overall sales came in at 438 in September, just under the 440 reported in August, and only slightly lower than the 454 in July. But the sales figure in September 2008 was much higher than the 338 sales reported in September 2007 for single family homes and condos.
 
The local market faired even better than the overall state of Florida, which saw a 24 percent jump in single family home sales and an 11 percent jump in condo sales over September 2007 numbers.
 
Single family home sales soared comparing September 2008 to September 2007. There were 360 sales reported this year, compared to only 234 last year, for a jump of almost 54 percent. The number of sales was roughly the same as last month, when 356 single family homes changed hands. While there were fewer condominium sales reported in September 2008 by SAR members (78 total), the overall numbers were strong.
 
The September 2008 report also continued to show strength in pending sales, which stood at 584, almost 9 percent higher than last month’s total of 536. Higher pending sales, which are contracts executed by buyers and sellers during the month, forecast a stronger market, as these properties close in the coming months.
 
The median sales price for single family homes decreased in September, falling to $201,250 from last month’s median of $226,250. The condominium median sales price also dropped to $190,000 from last month’s $295,000, but the August median showed an uncharacteristic spike. For example, in July 2008 the median stood at $252,500. The general trend appears to one of local prices now coming more in line with drops statewide and nationally.
 
“We are closely watching the local real estate market and monitoring the results,” said Helen Sosso, 2008 SAR President. “A 9 percent rise in pending sales is an indicator to us that people are looking to real estate as a safer place for their investments as opposed to stocks or even banks.  The decline in the median sales price seems to be attributable to the rise in bank owned and short sale properties, which are selling at terrific values.  The Realtors® in Sarasota seem to be having an upswing in the number of showings on property, as well as new customers looking here as the season begins.  All in all, we are encouraged by the results.”
 
Inventory levels in September 2008 dropped for the seventh consecutive month, and are the lowest they have been since late 2005.  There were 4,253 single family homes on the market in September 2008, compared to 6,461 single family homes in August 2008. There were 2,098 condos, compared to 2,407 condos last month. These figures, in combination with sales figures, indicate that the absorption rate for single family homes is now at 12 months, compared to a 43 month figure last year at this time. The condominium absorption rate now stands at 27 months, compared to 53 months last September. Absorption rate is the number of months it would take to deplete the inventory at the current month’s rate of sales.
 
The Sarasota real estate market offers a tremendous selection of more affordably priced housing for buyers to visit and purchase. In addition, declining inventory levels normally indicate the market is returning to a more historical balance, which eventually leads to normal, long-term price appreciation.
 

No Comments Yet »

(This is a nice visual of how many Builders are getting out of the business.. Check out how crazy the figures still were in late 2005! The market had suffered at that point already, but optimistic speculators continued to hold on the market coming back, so excessive building continued.. Obviously, the memo has been read now, and we’re below 2002 levels now.. This is not a bad thing.. A Scarcity mentality will create more demand & appreciate prices when the market turns..)

Below is an article from the Associated Press that gives us insight as to how Homebuilders are changing their strategies amidst this economic halt.. Looks like less construction permits are being applied for, and builders are downsizing floor plans and relaxing on the bells and whistle features that came with your home in 2002-2004. This is just another piece of the cleanup phase from our wacky booming real estate market, so this is not necessarily negative news.. Read on..

Homebuilders say ‘less is more’ with new homes

LOS ANGELES – Oct. 13, 2008 – When the U.S. housing market hit the skids, homebuilders like KB Home that thrived by offering large homes and expensive amenities began to rethink their home designs with an eye toward making smaller, less costly homes.

Three years into the downturn, that trend appears to be intensifying, as many builders scramble to make their wares palatable and affordable to first-time buyers and compete with a trove of preowned homes and deeply discounted foreclosed homes on the market.

Los Angeles-based KB, which builds homes to order, began downsizing some of its floor plans last year.

“That worked for a time, but the market continued to move away from us,” Chief Executive Jeffrey Mezger said recently.

The company initially pared down 3,400 square-foot homes that sold for around $450,000 to smaller, 2,400 square-foot homes selling for around $300,000.

Now, the builder is shrinking floor plans again. It recently launched a new line of homes in foreclosure-ravaged Southern California that start at 1,230 square feet and are priced a little over $200,000.

Other builders, including Warmington Homes and John Laing Homes, have taken similar steps, as the industry seeks to stem losses due to falling home prices, tighter mortgage lending standards and skittish buyers. New home sales fell in August to the slowest pace in 17 years, while the median sale price fell 5.5 percent to $221,900.

The trend in smaller homes is a reversal of more than two decades of expanding floor plans, during which median size single-family went from less than 1,600 square feet to more than 2,200 square feet.

That steady drive by builders to erect increasingly bigger homes peaked during the housing boom. Derided by some as McMansions, these super-sized homes packed with amenities helped drive up home prices even more.

Beyond competing with preowned homes on the market, declining home prices have also made it less profitable to build large homes, said Nishu Sood, a Deutsche Bank analyst.

“The only way to respond to the lower price environment … is to make the home smaller,” Sood said. “As you kind of reduce the floor plan size, we’re getting back to more the way things were historically, kind of undoing the excesses, not just from a price perspective but home size and (fewer amenities).”

KB Home began to rollout its most recent iteration of smaller homes earlier this summer in Beaumont, Calif., as part of a development dubbed Highland Vista.

The homes are 1,230 square-feet and have three to five bedrooms.

Previous KB Home developments in the Beaumont area were built with homes in the 3,000 square-foot range.

“We really looked at what can the first-time buyer afford based on the median income for those markets and that’s kind of how we designed our house to meet that price point that would attract those buyers,” said Steve Ruffner, president of KB Home’s Southern California Coastal Division.

The company plans to roll out more of these smaller floor plans nationwide beginning next year.

The homes, while smaller, feature large open spaces, a so-called great room often linking the living room and dining room area that might have previously been walled off. The homes also have a two-car garage standard and storage space.

“The square footage isn’t the focus, it’s really the utility and efficiency and flexibility of the home that is our focus,” Ruffner said. “You could have a three-bedroom, 2,500 square-foot single-story home and all you had was wide hallways and bigger rooms. It wasn’t really giving (buyers) the utility.”

“The trend definitely is going to be, I think, getting back to the basics: What people can afford is the type of home they’re going to buy.”

That’s the driving thought behind Warmington Homes’ Summer Park Estates development in Galt, Calif.

Warmington primarily caters to the move-up homebuyer, but does focus on the entry-level market in Las Vegas. At Summer Park, the company is building out the third phase of the development with homes that are markedly smaller than previous phases.

The older homes averaged 3,500 square-feet and typically sold in the mid to high $500,000 range. In contrast, the newer homes average 2,200 square-feet and will be priced in the low $300,000 range.

“We will continue to build smaller houses and that’s a function of price, because financing is more difficult to get today,” said Allen Morris, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Warmington Homes, which is based in Costa Mesa, Calif.

Homebuyers’ tastes, possibly influenced by tighter mortgage lending, are also helping drive the changing trends in new homes.

Big formal entries, high ceilings and lavish light fixtures are also not as high a priority among many buyers these days, said Linda Mamet, vice president of sales and marketing for Irvine, Calif.-based John Laing Homes.

Morris said fewer buyers are opting to upgrade from a standard laminate kitchen countertop to a granite countertop.

The builder also has downgraded the level of amenities and finishes built into its showcase homes, to reflect the base price of homes.

“With move-up buyers, for a long time everybody wanted the biggest house on the biggest lot with the best view and all of the options,” Morris said. “What we’re doing is we’re building homes today that have a lot fewer options.”

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press, Alex Veiga (AP Business Writer

1 Comment »

Below is an article supporting that inventory levels are dropping.. This may be happening slowly, but its a step in the right Direction.. Housing inventory declines slightlyNEW YORK – Oct. 13, 2008 – In line with seasonal trends, the U.S. home supply dipped in September from August levels in 28 metro areas monitored, but the drop was about half the norm for this time of year.ZipRealty Inc. reports that the number of residences on the sale market fell 1.6 percent – 3 percent is more typical – and that inventories remain swollen. However, the California brokerage notes that exact inventory levels are difficult to pinpoint because foreclosures account for a large share of the current supply but often are not sold through multiple-listing services, which is how ZipRealty tracks the data.The National Association of Realtors, meanwhile, counts 4.26 million existing homes up for sale at the end of August – equivalent to a supply of roughly 10.4 months at the current sales pace. Supply and demand in the housing market is considered balanced when the inventory settles at about six months, according to the trade group.Source: Wall Street Journal (10/09/08) P. D2; Hagerty, James R.

No Comments Yet »

 
(I like this graph.. Gives us a visual as to where Real Estate prices are compared to Volume.. I’ll continue to use this site to give us visuals as to what buying trends look like..)

This is a positive market published in the Herald Tribune noting the declining trend in condo inventories in Sarasota and surrounding outlaying markets. Sarasota’s local condo market lead the speculating buying frenzy that occurred in 2001-2003, so seeing these figures down sheds positive light on the overall depressing market. There are many reasons why these figures are down, noted below, but soaking this niche of the market is a Red Flag for positive trends to come. With the upcoming election & Bailout Programs floating around in Washington, its tough to predict what condition our real estate market will be in during the last quarter of 2010. However, Florida is one of the most desirable destinations, US-wide, to retire too which consistently drives demand. Read on..

Bright Spot in Bleak Condo Market

Inventories of unsold homes have been reduced since last year

By Michael Braga
Published: Monday, October 6, 2008 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, October 6, 2008 at 1:59 a.m.SARASOTA -The Sarasota condominium market, like practically every other condo market in the state, looks pretty bleak right now.Sales fell 30 percent to 1,510 during the nine months ended Sept. 24, from 2,160 during the same period a year ago, according to deeds recorded at the Sarasota County Circuit Court.The drop at the high-end marked was even more pronounced. Only 89 condos sold for more than $1 million during the first nine months of the year, representing a 43 percent decline from 157 in the first nine months of 2007.With the crisis in the financial markets, real estate agents do not expect the situation to improve any time soon.”I see a further drop in sales and prices in the year ahead,” said Steve DuToit, who heads up Team DuToit for Keller Williams Realty in Sarasota. “How can that not happen? When people have uncertainty, whether it’s because of the economy or an upcoming election, they are less likely to spend.”

DuToit added that the drop in sales would impact the upper end of the market most.

“Look at the stock market,” DuToit said. “That’s a major factor. People who own stock are not feeling as rich right now. If declines on the stock market continue, it will mean further declines in buying high-end homes.”

The bright sideStill, there are more optimistic ways of looking at the condo market.Inventories of unsold properties in Sarasota are down 22 percent to 3,718 units from 4,756 a year ago. Though part of the drop is because of the new MLS system that eliminated duplicate listings, and part is because of people pulling their properties off the market after not getting the price they wanted, the descending number still has a positive psychological effect.At the beginning of September, Sarasota had a 106-week supply of unsold condos, compared with a 134-week supply at the same time a year earlier, statistics provided by Team DuToit show.In turn, the 30 percent decline in sales does not look so bad when one considers that no new condos came on the market in 2008.“There were all kinds of complexes that were being completed last year, and those sales were being recorded,” said Cheryl Loeffler, an agent with Sky Sotheby’s International Realty in Sarasota. “This year, we haven’t had any condos come on line.”

Loeffler said that many of the 157 sales that occurred during the first nine months of 2007 were actually people who made their buying decisions two years earlier when the market was crazy.

As to the median price, it fell 6 percent to $220,000 in August from $235,000 during the same month a year earlier, statistics from the Florida Association of Realtors show. But Realtors say that the price drop is not a bad thing. It simply indicates that there are many more bargains to be had, and court records show that investors are out hunting.

Jonathan McCague, for example, bought three units — one at Central Park and two on Golden Gate Point — for a total of $480,000 in 2008, or about half what they were worth two years ago.

Similarly, Charles Vollmer bought units at Admiral’s Walk and Villa Rosa in Sarasota for $412,000, a savings of $140,000 from what previous owners paid.

There is no question investors like them will continue to see bargains in the year ahead, agents say, and they are most likely to find those bargains by following properties that have fallen into foreclosure.

Court records show that 438 condo owners defaulted on loans during the first nine months of 2008, which was more than double the 182 defaults that occurred during the same period a year earlier.

“All these foreclosures are why prices are so low,” DuToit said. “They are also what has created buying interest. If Dillard’s has a 50 percent off sale, you’re going to have a few people lined up at the door.”

Price is king these days.“Only 17 percent of properties listed on the MLS are selling right now compared to over 80 percent in a normal market,” DuToit said. “Unless you’re willing to price at a level that stands out from the market, you’re property is going to sit there for a while.” Foreign influencesReal estate agents have long been saying that Canadians and Europeans, with their stronger currencies, have been descending on Southwest Florida in greater numbers to scoop up the bargains. But that does not seem to be borne out by the numbers.Canadians and Europeans bought 156 properties during first nine months of the year, which represents roughly 10 percent of total condo sales in Sarasota County.Loeffler said Canadians and Europeans usually account for 10 percent of sales, and she has seen only a marginal increase from previous years.Court records show that Canadians and Europeans accounted for 14 sales of more than $1 million in the first nine months of the year compared with 12 during the same period a year earlier.That may change in the year ahead, though, says Barbara Ackerman, a high-end buyer with Coldwell Banker Previews on Longboat Key.

“The Canadian dollar has dropped in value compared with the U.S. dollar,” Ackerman said. “A condo that would have cost them $625,000 last year costs them $675,000 now.”

Compared with U.S. buyers, however, Canadians and Europeans have been the only stable force in the market.

Floridian high-end buyers, for example, bought 54 percent fewer condos during the first nine months of the year compared with a year earlier. Midwesterners bought 56 percent fewer condos, while Northeasterners bought 24 percent fewer.

Agents say it is hard to stay positive about the year ahead given the turmoil in the nation’s financial markets. But they are trying.

“By nature, I’m an optimist,” Loeffler said. “I can’t believe it will stay dormant like this. I know people are out there value hunting.”
This story appeared in print on page D10

8 Comments »

1 Comment »

No Comments Yet »

1 Comment »

No Comments Yet »