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

 
(Beautiful Waterfront Real Estate Continues to Provide Sarasota with Luxury Home Sales. The Waterfront Market is a Leading Indicator of Real Estate Values in Sarasota, as the Demand for Ownership Typically Starts There..)

ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 18, 2008 – Sales of existing single-family homes in Florida rose 5 percent in third quarter 2008 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest housing statistics from the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). A total of 33,203 existing homes sold statewide in 3Q 2008; during the same period last year, a total of 31,558 existing homes sold statewide.

“Coming on the heels of positive sales activity in September, Florida’s existing home sales are once again above year-ago levels in the third quarter,” says 2008 FAR President Chuck Bonfiglio. “Despite lending restrictions and the difficulties of finding affordable credit, we’re seeing buyers take advantage of homeownership opportunities in the current market – buyers who want to make a long-term investment in their future. And, more than ever, people are turning to Florida Realtors to find the professional expertise, knowledge and friendly guidance they need to make the complex process of buying or selling their home go more easily and smoothly.”

The statewide existing-home median sales price was $185,400 in the third quarter; a year ago, it was $233,200 for a decrease of 20 percent. In 2003, the third-quarter statewide median sales price was $163,700, which reflects an increase of about 13.3 percent over the five-year period. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half for less.

Twelve of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased sales of existing homes in the third quarter compared to the same three-month-period a year ago, while seven MSAs also showed gains in condo sales. A number of local markets have reported increased sales activity over the past few months, according to FAR.

Florida Realtors continued to report positive signs for the state’s housing sector in the third quarter, including an increase in pending home sales (based on contracts signed but not closed) and a slower rate of expansion of inventory levels in some areas.

To gain insight into current trends in Florida’s real estate industry, the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies conducts a quarterly survey of industry executives, market research economists, real estate scholars and other experts. According to the third quarter 2008 survey, the investment outlook for various types of properties remains steady. “People who have responded to our surveys have not lost their faith in Florida as a place to be and a place to invest,” said Dr. Wayne Archer, director of UF’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. “We have 40 pages of comments from our respondents, and although the dominant theme is the disruption of financing, perhaps the second theme, as one person put it, is people being on the sidelines with full pads and helmets just waiting to jump back in.”

Over the long term, Florida stands to benefit from the migration of new residents, particularly as baby boomers age, Archer said, adding that the Sunshine State’s mild climate and outdoor amenities continue to make it an attractive retirement destination.

In the year-to-year quarterly comparison for condo sales, 9,472 units sold statewide for the quarter compared to 9,680 in 3Q 2007 for a 2 percent decrease. The statewide existing-condo median sales price was $160,000 for the three-month period; in 3Q 2007, it was $196,000 for an 18 percent decrease.

Continuing low mortgage rates remain another favorable influence on the housing sector. According to Freddie Mac, the national commitment rate for a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.32 percent in third quarter 2008; one year earlier, it averaged 6.55 percent.

The latest industry outlook from the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) cautions the housing sector likely faces disruptions from the still-stabilizing credit market. “Inventory remains high, and price declines are pressuring owners,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Additional housing stimulus would stabilize prices more quickly, which in turn would bring faster stability to Wall Street. Removing the repayment feature on the first-time buyer tax credit and permanently raising loan limits would bring more buyers into the market and further reduce inventory.”

© 2008 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

No Comments Yet »

 
(Trying to Avoid Foreclosure? Shirley International Realty Inc. Is Serving Sarasota, Florida with Short Sale Services that Negotiate with Your Bank on the Sale of Your Home.. Give us a Call @ 941-448-4872 for Short Sale Advice)

ORLANDO, Fla. – Nov. 11, 2008 – When families lose their homes to foreclosure, communities, the housing market and the economy all suffer. Short sales are one way that some troubled homeowners can avoid foreclosure, a topic discussed by Realtors at the Short Sales Solutions session, part of the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) 2008 Conference & Expo in Orlando.

“Homeowners who are struggling to make their mortgage payments must have more options available to them to avoid foreclosure,” said NAR President Richard Gaylord. “Short sales can benefit not only the homeowner in question, but also buyers, lenders and the surrounding community. With their established lender relationships and insights into complicated real estate transactions, Realtors can add real value for both sellers and buyers interested in short sales.”

A short sale is a transaction in which the seller’s mortgage lender agrees to accept a payoff of less than the balance due on the loan. The lender often receives a higher amount of the remaining loan balance than it would from the sale of the property after a foreclosure. This helps support home values in the surrounding community. Short sales also help homeowners maintain some level of credit.

According to Freddie Mac, 50 percent of homeowners entering the foreclosure process did not have any contact with the lender first. One of the most valuable services Realtors can provide to clients who may be facing a foreclosure is guiding them through the lender’s short sale process and facilitating communication, according to session panelists Michael and Stacey Spikes of America’s Home Rescue.

“The process for short selling an FHA loan is different than the process for shorting a Veterans Administration or conventional loan,” said Stacey Spikes. “Knowing the type of loan the seller has, and understanding the proper steps for short selling that loan and the order of those steps, is critical.”

Homeowners who are having difficulty making their mortgage payments and who may be considering a short sale must generally meet three qualifying criteria: they must be behind on their payments, be able to prove a legitimate hardship, and have little or no equity in their home.

While a typical real estate transaction involves two real estate professionals, a seller, a buyer, and the buyer’s lender, a short sale can include all of these parties in addition to the seller’s loan servicer, housing counselor, junior lien holders, mortgage investors and mortgage insurers. In addition to the number of parties involved, Realtors say that other challenges can make short sales difficult. These include burdensome paperwork, appraisals that do not consider the sellers’ duress or the number of foreclosures in a community, over-burdened loss mitigation departments, and complications created by second mortgages.

NAR has created a working group to examine the problems and difficulties surrounding short sales and to educate its members on how to best work with their clients through this process. NAR is also reaching out to its partners in the housing and mortgage industry to encourage adoption of principles and practices to streamline the short sale process.

“Short sales give many families in financial difficulties the possibility of salvaging their credit and avoiding the embarrassment of a foreclosure,” said Gaylord. “Realtors across the country stand ready to help.”

© 2008 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

No Comments Yet »

(This is an interesting Graph that Highlights Foreclosure Rates in Different Spots Around the Country..) 

Government launches sweeping new loan aid effort

WASHINGTON – Nov. 12, 2008 – The government and the mortgage industry are launching the most sweeping effort yet to help troubled homeowners by speeding up the process for renegotiating hundreds of thousands of delinquent loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which seized control of the two mortgage finance companies in September, announced the plan Tuesday along with other government and industry officials, including Hope Now, an alliance of mortgage companies organized by the Bush administration last year.

“Foreclosures hurt families, their neighbors, whole communities and the overall housing market,” said James Lockhart, the housing finance agency’s director. “We need to stop this downward spiral.”

The plan could have tremendous importance because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee nearly 31 million U.S. mortgages, or nearly six of every 10 outstanding. Still, government officials did not have an estimate of how many people would qualify for the new program.

Officials hope the new approach, which goes into effect Dec. 15., will become a model for loan servicing companies, which collect mortgage payments and distribute them to investors. These companies have been roundly criticized for being slow to respond to a surge in defaults.

To qualify, borrowers would have to be at least three months behind on their home loans, and would need to owe 90 percent or more than the home is currently worth. Investors who do not occupy their homes would be excluded, as would borrowers who have filed for bankruptcy.

Borrowers would get help in several ways: The interest rate would be reduced so that borrowers would not pay more than 38 percent of their income on housing expenses. Another option is for loans to be extended from 30 years to 40 years, and for some of the principal amount to be deferred interest-free.

While lenders have beefed up their efforts to aid borrowers over the past year, their earlier efforts have not kept up with the worst housing recession in decades.

And critics were quick to pour water on the latest plan.

“Instead of a massive foreclosure prevention program, we wait for a homeowner to be in a failing position before doing anything, which often is too late,” said John Taylor, president and CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.

“It’s been the foreclosures that have been driving the economic downturn and we’ve been saying that for 13 months now. To stop the bleeding is to end foreclosures,” he continued. “But now that so many other sectors in the economy have fallen, I’m not sure if we’re past the point of no return. It’s appalling that they don’t get it.”

More than 4 million American homeowners, or 9 percent of borrowers with a mortgage were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June, according to the most recent data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Indeed, Tuesday’s announcement comes too late for Troy Courtney, a 44-year-old San Francisco police officer.

He moved out of his home in Mill Valley, Calif., at the start of this month – taking his children, three dogs and one cat with him – after failing at several to attempts to get a loan modification or a short sale – where the lender agrees to receive less than the loan is worth.

Courtney worked overtime and tapped into his retirement account to try to catch up with two loans on his home. But in the end he couldn’t convince Countrywide Financial, which managed the loan for Wells Fargo, to modify the loan.

“I feel like I missed the boat,” he said of the new efforts to help more homeowners. “I’m just mad at the whole system.”

One reason the problem has been so tough to solve for borrowers like Courtney is that the vast majority of troubled loans were packaged into complicated investments that have proven extremely difficult to unwind.

Deutsche Bank estimates more than 80 percent of the $1.8 trillion in outstanding troubled loans have been packaged and sold in slices to investors around the world. And it appears the majority of those loans will not be helped by the new plan.

The remaining 20 percent are “whole loans,” which are easier to modify because they have only one owner.

Nevertheless, Tuesday’s announcement coupled with recent and more aggressive strategies from the major retail banks are important steps to fix the housing crisis. After more than a year of slow and weak initiatives, there appears to be a serious effort to get at the heart of the credit crisis: falling U.S. home prices and record foreclosures.

Citigroup announced late Monday it is halting foreclosures for borrowers who live in their own homes, have decent incomes and stand a good chance of making lowered mortgage payments. The New York-based banking giant also said it is also working to expand the program to include mortgages for which the bank collects payments but does not own.

Additionally, over the next six months, Citi plans to reach out to 500,000 homeowners who are not currently behind on their mortgage payments, but who are on the verge of falling behind. This represents about one-third of all the mortgages that Citigroup owns, the bank said.

Citi plans to devote a team of 600 salespeople to assist the targeted borrowers by adjusting their rates, reducing principal or increasing the term of the loan.

Late last month, JPMorgan Chase & Co expanded its mortgage modification program to an estimated $70 billion in loans, which could aid as many as 400,000 customers. The New York-based bank has already modified about $40 billion in mortgages, helping 250,000 customers since early 2007.

Bank of America, meanwhile, has said that starting Dec. 1, it will modify an estimated 400,000 loans held by newly acquired Countrywide Financial Corp. as part of an $8.4 billion legal settlement reached with 11 states in early October.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press, Alan Zibel (AP Real Estate Writer). All rights reserved

No Comments Yet »

Below is an interesting article that suggests homeowners are anticipating the “Green” trend, and spending extra money to convert their home to be energy savers. Interesting Trend & a definite way to make your home unique & increase marketability..

Study says: 48% of homeowners would spend $2,500 or more to green up for resale

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Nov. 6, 2008 – A Better Homes and Gardens survey conducted at home shows in 15 cities across the country gauging consumer environmental practices suggests that many Americans are going green when it comes to their homes. Despite “cost” being singled out by 36 percent of respondents as the greatest impediment to going green, half of those surveyed have paid more money for an energy efficient product in the past 12 months and one in three homeowners (30 percent) claim they would be willing to spend $5,000 or more on green improvements to increase a home’s appeal to potential buyers.

The findings are the result of the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Living Green Consumer Survey, which looked at responses from over 2,300 consumers. The results are being announced as a part of the Better Homes and Gardens and Green Works Living Green Tour finale – the culmination of an eight-month, 15-city tour promoting healthy and environmentally friendly living. Launched in February 2008 by Better Homes and Gardens magazine and Green Works Natural Cleaners, the tour featured a 2,500 square-foot Living Green Home, which showcased how small changes can impact the energy efficiency of everyday homes.

“As their environmental awareness grows, American homeowners are beginning to take action on green issues and are willing to spend their money accordingly,” explained Sherry Chris, president and CEO, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. “These survey results confirm homeowners are identifying greater value in green and when the time comes to sell their homes, they will look to convert high consumer awareness levels on the green issue into a market differentiator.”

Additional survey findings revealed that 82 percent of respondents believe they are informed when it comes to issues pertaining to the environment. When preparing to buy or sell a home, more than half of those surveyed (51 percent) believe in the importance of working with a green certified real estate agent – professionals who can assist in the identification and marketing of homes with high green quotient. This would include knowledge in regards to housing materials and construction, energy efficient appliances and systems, as well as the impact of landscaping on a home’s environmental footprint. In the cities of Hartford, Conn., Greenville, S.C., and San Francisco, two out of three respondents indicated that working with a green agent would be important.

Some of the other factors keeping survey respondents from being greener included convenience, 22 percent; lack of knowledge on how to, 18 percent; and lack of time, 17 percent. However, many consumers reported engaging in “eco-friendly’ or “green” acts in the past six months, including recycling, 73 percent; replacing incandescent lights with CFLs, 69 percent; conserving water, 57 percent; adjusting the thermostat, 51 percent; and purchasing energy efficient appliances, 30 percent.

The Living Green Tour and Exhibit included stops in Jacksonville, Fla.; Hartford, Conn.; Greenville, S.C.; San Francisco; San Diego; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Phoenix; Houston; Miami; Nashville, Tenn., Boston; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta and New York.

© 2008 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

No Comments Yet »

Below is an interesting proposal being passed through Florida Legislature that would put a property tax cap @ 1.35% of the assessed value of your Property. This would exist for business & residential real estate. Looks like Congress is working hard & getting creative to keep money in your pocket & pick up this economy.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Nov. 6, 2008 – A day after election polls closed, the Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on what could be one of the hottest issues on the state 2010 ballot if justices approve it.

The proposal is a citizen initiative that would cap property taxes at 1.35 percent of the highest taxable value of a home, business or other real estate, although voters could approve exceptions.

Petition sponsors say tax cuts ordered by law last year and through another state constitutional amendment passed in January don’t go far enough.

A financial impact statement, also under high court review, says the proposal would cost local governments at least $6 billion a year.

The justices will determine only if it covers a single subject and has a clear and accurate title and ballot summary.

Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Grimes, now in private law practice, argued it misses the mark on both counts. He represents the Florida League of Cities, Florida School Boards Association and Florida Association of Counties.

The proposal covers more than one subject because it affects state as well local governments and their budgeting process besides limiting taxes, Grimes said. He noted it would require the Legislature to decide the distribution of tax revenues in areas where voters allow the cap to be exceeded.

“This court has said consistently that citizen initiatives are not designed to effect cataclysmic changes to our form of government,” Grimes said. “The Legislature is being pulled into doing something it’s never done before.”

Grimes said the proposal does not qualify for an exemption to the single-subject requirement for revenue limiting initiatives. He cited a unanimous opinion the high court issued in a similar case when he was sitting on the bench in 1997. It says the exemption does not apply to measures affecting multiple branches or levels of government.

Daniel Woodring, the lawyer for the sponsoring group, Cut Property Tax Now, urged the justices to reverse the 1997 decision.

“It’s an advisory opinion,” Woodring said later. “It’s persuasive, it’s not binding.”

Two justices who participated in the 1997 case, Harry Lee Anstead and Charles Wells, are still sitting on the seven-member high court. Woodring acknowledged it’s going to be tough getting the justices to reverse it, but at least one agreed with his argument.

Charles Canady, one of two justices recently appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist, called the 1997 ruling “nonsensical” and “an opinion without reasoning.”

Grimes also faulted the ballot summary for failing to cite what part of the Florida Constitution the proposal would amend. Woodring said that’s unnecessary due to the exemption for revenue-limiting initiatives.

The justices spent several minutes questioning Woodring about what exactly the amendment would do. Justice Barbara Pariente then asked how a voter could determine that if the justices couldn’t figure it out just by reading the summary.

Woodring said it’s simple. He gave the example of a home with a $100,000 taxable value. Applying the limit would mean the tax couldn’t be more than $1,350.

“That’s all the voter really needs to know,” Woodring said later. The example, though, isn’t included in the ballot summary.

Cut Property Tax Now has collected 110,492 of 611,009 signatures currently needed to get on the ballot. That’s 8 percent of votes cast in the last presidential election. The minimum is expected to increase by about 30,000 signatures for 2010 based on Tuesday’s turnout of more than 8 million voters.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press, Bill Kaczor. All rights reserved.

No Comments Yet »