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

Sarasota real estate market at highest level since 2005

Property sales in May 2010 in the Sarasota market once again hit the highest total since 2005 and median sale prices continued the steady pace observed in recent months.

The 766 sales were the highest for the year, topping the April 2010 total of 757, and were the highest total since December 2005, and 51.3 percent higher than the May 2009 total of 506 sales.

Pending sales were once again strong, hitting 857, but were slower than April 2010. The March and April pending sales figures both topped 1,000, and reflected a last minute rush to beat the federal homebuyer tax credit deadline.
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1771 Ringling Blvd.
Unit # 1008
Sarasota, FL 34236

$409,000
2 Bedroom, 2 Bath
1,483 Square-Feet

Most Valueable Condo For Sale in Sought-After Rivo @ Ringling! Not a Short Sale or Foreclosure *10th Floor Unit offering Expansive SouthWest Views of Marina, Sarasota Bay, & Downtown Sarasota SKyline! 2 Bedroom, 2 Bath Unit, with Den/Office * Upgraded Throughout * Spacious Floor Plan, Perfectly Maintained * Upgraded Wood Cabinets * Granite Countertops * Stainless Steel Appliances * Sliding Glass Doors Leading to Spacious Lanai & Views of Bay & Downtown Sarasota * His & Her Sinks in Master Bathroom * Garden Tub & Walk-in Shower * Walk-In Closets * Perfect for Young Professional, Second Homebuyer, Retiree, or Anyone Looking to Enjoy the Amenities of Downtown Sarasota * Tenant Currently in Place that Keeps Unit in Immaculate Condition * Great Investment Property as Tenant Would Like to Stay, Generating Immediate Cash Flow on Your Investment * Make this Luxury Condo Your Second Home or Primary Residence * Residents Love this Building * Contemporary Decor & Urban Sophistication * State-of-the Art Fitness Center * Heated Swimming Pool Overlooking City * Located in the Heart of Downtown Sarasota * Owners Lender Will Allow Assumable Mortgage, so Purchase with NO MONEY DOWN * 100% Financing! A Rare Opportunity, & Priced to Sell Quickly * Condo Shows Like a Model* PRICED TO SELL * Call Today!

For Showings Contact Justin Shirley @ 941-448-4872

Click on the Thumbnails below to Preview Larger Photos of the Condo

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Flat Fee MLS Listings show Innovation & Creativity among Real Estate Corporations: Finally, an Option for the Owner Wanting to Save Money & Sell Fast

The competition for listings between so-called “traditional” realty brokerages and commission discounters kicks up a lot of dust, but when the air clears it’s apparent that cut-rate brokerages aren’t the only force putting downward pressure on realty commissions as a percentage of the home sales price.

Fee-for-service brokerages, Internet-savvy buyers, skyrocketing home prices, a dearth of listings in some markets and some sellers’ notion that they can sell their home without paying an agent are among the other factors bearing down on conventional realty pricing structures.

Brokers and agents for decades have feared and resisted changes that would restructure commissions and traditional business models. But experts say change is unavoidable due to the new breed of real estate consumer created by the Internet.

“Real estate for almost a hundred years (considered) the end-user as being the agent and the brokerage, not the consumer. With the advent of the Internet, the entire paradigm is shifting and our end-user is definitely the consumer, not the agent,” said Julie Gardon-Good, founder and president of the National Association of Real Estate Consultants, a 1,000-member group formed in 1999 to assist realty practitioners in reframing their focus as real estate consultants.
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Unbundling the Real Estate Transaction:
Providing fee-based services as a real estate consultant
Julie Garton-Good, DREI, GRI

As a broker of twenty-five years, I’ve always had a problem with how our industry is designed. We spend eons of time consulting with buyers and sellers-for free. We receive no up-front fees, even though we’re expected to expend hundreds of dollars per listing (our stock in trade, even though we have no control over it) just to make the phone ring (as well as appease the seller, even though he has no earthly idea what goes into a marketing campaign!) We then spend dozens of hours each month driving buyer prospects around educating them, often to have them purchase from someone else–oftentimes a for-sale-by-owner. And last, but certainly not least, there’s the concept of service — we service the seller, we service the buyer. We provide service at every turn, hoping that the consumer will see value in all this service and reward our efforts by selling or buying with us. Then, and only then, do we get paid.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but is it likely that Bill Gates or Mary Kay Ash would use our current real estate sales model to design a multi- billion dollar business empire? No, I don’t think so either.
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Record streak continues for pending home sales

WASHINGTON – Oct. 1, 2009 – Pending home sales have increased for seven straight months, the longest in the series of the index which began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in August, rose 6.4 percent to 103.8 from a reading of 97.6 in July, and is 12.4 percent above August 2008 when it was 92.4. The index is at the highest level since March 2007 when it was 104.5.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said not all contracts are turning into closed sales within an expected timeframe. “The rise in pending home sales shows buyers are returning to the market and signing contracts, but deals are not necessarily closing because of long delays related to short sales, and issues regarding complex new appraisal rules,” he said. “No doubt many first-time buyers are rushing to beat the deadline for the $8,000 tax credit, which expires at the end of next month.”

The Pending Home Sales Index in the Northeast jumped 8.2 percent to 85.3 in August and is 12.0 percent higher than August 2008. In the Midwest the index rose 3.1 percent to 90.8 in August and is 7.6 percent above a year ago. In the South, pending home sales increased 0.8 percent to an index of 104.6 and is 8.2 percent above August 2008. In the West the index surged 16.0 percent to 130.5 and is 22.3 percent above a year ago.
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Florida’s existing home, condo sales up in 2Q 2009

2Q existing-home sales rise in most states, says NAR

ORLANDO, Fla. – Aug. 12, 2009 – Sales of existing single-family homes in Florida rose 23 percent in second quarter 2009 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the latest housing statistics from the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). A total of 43,125 existing homes sold statewide in 2Q 2009; during the same period the year before, a total of 35,008 existing homes sold. It marks the fourth consecutive quarter that Florida has seen higher existing year-to-year home sales, according to FAR.

Sales of existing condominiums statewide in the second quarter rose 29 percent compared to the same time the previous year. This marks the third consecutive quarter for increased statewide sales in both the existing home and condo markets compared to year-ago levels.

Statewide sales activity in 2Q 2009 also increased over 1Q 2009’s sales figure in both the existing home and existing condo markets, FAR records show. For 2Q 2009, statewide sales of existing homes rose 37.2 percent over the 1Q 2009 figure; existing condo sales statewide in 2Q 2009 increased 45.3 percent over the 1Q 2009 level.

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$599,900
8710 Cortez Rd.
Bradenton, FL 34210

2.4 Acres of Commerical Property with Building in Prime Location * 300′ of Cortez Road Frontage * 2 MILES TO GULF BEACHES (High Traffic Location with Tons of Beach Traffic) * 1,200ft2 of Commerical Building Space with 3 Offices & 1 Bay, Water, & Sewer * Property is on 4-Lane Road with no Median * 3 Entrances & Zoned Neighborhood Commerical * 2 Miles from Historic Cortez Fishing Village, Intracoastal Waterway, & Beaches to the Gulf Coast * Property is Currently Being Used for Outdoor Storage & Auto Sales * Outdoor Storage Consists of Boat, RV, & Trailer Storage Generating $5,000/month in Revenues & is Not Even Half Full * New Owner Can Easily Continue to Run Storage Business & While Marketing to Attract Owners in Need of Storing Boats, RV’s, Etc. to Generate Easy Revenues * Take Advantage of Beach Location & Traffic by Running a Boat Workshop & Storage Business * Boat Sales Business Would be Perfect Here! * Boat Detailing Business Would be Great While Storage Capabilities in Back of Lot Pays Expenses * 2.4 Acres in Prime West Bradenton, BEACH, Location Allows for Endless Possibilities * This is Great Opportunity that Already Has Revenues Coming In that New Owner Can Easily Maintain While Capitalizing on New Opportunities! 

For More Information Contact Linda & John @ 941-795-1080

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2 Bed, 2 Bath
909 Square Feet
$299,900 

This Internationally-Recognized Vintage Ralph Twichell Home Voted, “BEST SMALL HOUSE IN AMERICA, 1998″ by Metropolitan Home Magazine * Built by Ralph Twitchell, Founding Father of Sarasota School of Architecture * This Home Has Been Awarded Many Accolades Including: Featured on Home & Garden Network (HGTV) “A Place to Call Home”,  Featured in London Magazine, Selected as One of 12 Homes to be Featured in Andrew Weaving’s “Sarasota Modern” (A Coffee Table Hardbound), Featured in Sarasota Magazine, Featured in “Downtown” (A Sarasota Magazine), Selected as One of 70 “Homes of Distinction” in Sarasota * This Home Has Been on National Tour Symposiums & Local Tours Regularly * Built in 1959, Nearly All Original & Restored, Last Twichell Design Left Standing in the World * Impeccably Kept! * Located on Tahiti Lagoon, Tropical, Peaceful, Wildlife Abounds * Stainless Steel, Updated Appliances, & Countertops * Artistic Mosaic Kitchen Backsplash Flown in From Manhattan, NY * Immaculate Terrazzo Floors Throughout * Wired for Home Theatre System * Large Screened Lanai with “Zen-Like” Water Feature * Working Vintage Fireplace * Skylights in Every Room * Wrap Around Decking * Zera-Scaped Yard * New Industrial Roof Only 2 Years Old * Totally Furnished * Surrounded by Million Dollar Homes on the Bay * 3 Miles to Beach * Walking Distance to Downtown, Theatres, Restaurants, & Van Wezel *  Home Celebrating its 50th Birthday & Able to Registered in “Historic Registry” * This Internationally-Renowned Home is a MUST SEE!

Contact Justin Shirley for more Showings & Information on this home, or Any Homes in Sarasota, Florida.

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Bernanke: Economy on pace for ‘09 turnaround

WASHINGTON – June 5, 2009 – The pace of economic contraction is slowing, indicating the economy could bottom out and then turn up later this year, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told the House Budget Committee on June 3. He cited recent reports, including a flattening out of the decline in consumer spending and signs of a bottom in the housing market.

Bernanke said the economy “has contracted sharply since last fall, with real gross domestic product [GDP] having dropped at an average annual rate of about 6 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of this year,” Bernanke told the committee. He said 6 million jobs have been lost since the downturn began, and recent labor market information “suggests that sizable jobs losses and further increases in unemployment are likely over the next few months.”

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(Florida Plays Host to One of the Most Desirable Places in America to “Tie the Knot”. Weddings Mean.. Romance, Paradise, Beauty, Love, Fun, & Relaxing.. It’s Interesting the Same Words To Describe Wedding, Describe Quality of Life in the Sunshine State..)

Prospects for Florida’s recovery heat up, economists say

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – May 5, 2009 – After two long years of recession, economists are beginning to see signs that the economy’s recovery is finally in sight. South Florida home sales are picking up, Wall Street has staged some solid rallies and even consumer confidence is rising.

But the road to recovery will be uneven. Economists say that an uptick in business spending will lead the way, followed by federal government stimulus projects that will create some jobs. Consumers, unfortunately, are likely to be the last to see good times return, because widespread unemployment – which is now just a notch below 10 percent – won’t start to go down until after the recovery is well under way.

It has been rough, but economists say it’s always that way for Florida.

“It performs better in good times, but during bad times, in recessions, it is one of the worst performing states in the nation,” said Moody’s Economy.com economist Chris Lafakis. “And during times of expansion it is one of the best.”

Some experts say they already see the early signs of such progress.

“The negative numbers just start getting smaller or they stop falling or they fall at a slower rate,” said SunTrust Chief Economist Gregory Miller. It’s like you tumbled out of a boat a while ago and “now we’re at the stage of swimming back to the surface.”

Other economists agree that the worst may be over as soon as this summer. Consumers surely have had enough, judging by the strong jump in Floridians’ consumer confidence this month.

Here’s how economists say the state will find its way out of the slump:

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