Higher end properties are also actively selling while the principals purchasing those properties recognize the great value of those properties compared to several years ago.   

New Listings for Residential Properties were 343, which increased only 2% from the previous month. New listings for Condo Properties were 175, a decrease of 25% from the previous month.

As of May 31, 2011, the available inventory of Residential Properties was 1,758 properties, a 5.9 month’s supply. For Condo Properties, the available inventory was 1,333 properties, a 7.2 month’s supply. A normal market condition is 6 months of inventory. This inventory level is a far cry from the 36 months of inventory that Sarasota was experiencing several years ago.

I know the national press reports that the Real Estate Market is soft. What we are experiencing in Sarasota, Florida is a far different story. The bargains across all price bands are being purchased, as the inventory continues to decline.

If you are considering a Real Estate purchase in the Sarasota, FL area, now is the time! Call (941) 400-9420 or email us today!

Compared to total sales of 528 in February 2010 , sales were up 27 percent to 673 total sales in February 2011. In February 2011, there were 472 closings on Single Family Homes and 201 closings on Condominiums last month by members of the Sarasota Multiple Listing Service.

For a Free Search of available properties in Sarasota, FL, please visit our web site. www.SarasotaFLAreaHomes.com

Lakewood Ranch is located on 33,000 acres, approximately 48 square miles, of which 9,000 acres are developed. There are more than 150 miles of intersecting sidewalks and trails as well as its own hospital, Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club with 54 holes of golf,   clubhouse, athletic center with fitness equipment, 18 tennis courts, Legacy Golf Club with 18 hole daily fee, 80+ activity groups for different interests, and its own Main Street for shopping, dining and a movie theatre. Lakewood Ranch is the #2 rated Community in Florida and the average age living in the Ranch is late 40′s.

Homeowners and Borrowers 

• When the Treasury (or other Federal Agency that holds mortgages) acquires troubled existing mortgages from financial institutions, agencies are required to work with lenders and mortgage servicers to find ways to avoid foreclosures.
• All Federal Agencies are required to work with servicers to facilitate loan modifications that will consider the net present value of the mortgage.
• Similiar refinancing and foreclosure prevention requirements apply to mortgages involving owners of multi-family properties and owners of commercial properties. Policy goal is to assure that tenants don’t lose their residence or place of business when an pwwner has problems with the mortgage.
• Changes to existing mortgages can include (but are not limited to) revisions in principal, interest rate and period for repayment.

 Tax Relief

• The Senate added an extensive package of extensions of expired and expiring provisions that had passed previously on a vote of 93 to 3. Extended provisions include the 15-year life on leasehold improvements, brownfields clean-up deductions, deducting for mortgage insurance premiums and relief from the Alternative Minimium Tax.

Getting Money Into the Financial System Quickly

• The credit markets are nearly frozen. Lenders can’t lend because they are receiving no payments on existing loans. The legislation allowed the government to buy troubled loans and mortgage securities. The funds that the institutions received when the government purchase d the existing portfolios were to be available to issue new mortgages with more carefully specified and monitored lending standards. Provisions include:
• Create a TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Package) to purchase and guarantee the troubled assets from the financial institutions that hold mortgages and/or mortgage-backed securities.
• A new Office Of Financial Stability within the Treasury to operate TARP, with input from the Federal Reserve, FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp – the agency that works with failed and failing financial institutions to insure and protect consumers), the Comproller of the Currency (Bank Regulator), Office of Thrift Supervision (Regulator of former savings and loan companies) and the Secretary of Housing and Development.
• Don’t give out the money at one time. First release of funds to purchase troubled assets will be $250 Billion. Second release of up to $100 Billion must be authorized by the President. Final $350 Billion can be issued only Congreeional approval. Congress can give 15 days to act.

Follow Protect and Watch Over the Money.

• TARP Oversight Board at Treasury  to supply monthly activity reports
• Secretary of the Treasury – detailed reports to Congress for each $50 Billion in transactions.
• Government Accountability Office (Congress’s Author) financial reports about TARP activities every 60 days.
• Judicial Review – Federal Courts may issue injunctions when there is a finding that the Secretary of the Treasury has acted in a manner that is arbritary, capricious or outside the law.
• Create a new IG (Inspector General) for TARP. The “cop on duty”.
• Appoint a Congressional Oversite Panel to receive and process all of these reports to keep Congress informed.
• Federal Reserve – provide reports to Congress on utilization of the lending authority to assist ailing financial institutions created earlier this year.  

Put the Brakes on the Bad Guys

• No conflict of interest.
• No Golden Parachutes or severance packages.
• No tax deductions allowed for executive compensation of more than $500,000.
• All agencies to cooperate with the FBI investigating fraud, misrepresenting in selling financial products.

Give Taxpayers a Stake in the Profits

• Historically, when the government has intervened to shore up company’s or government financial dealings, the long term effect has been that the government has made money on the deal (such as the loan guarantees made to Chrysler and loans to New York City).
• Any profits made when the government sells TARP assets would be used to pay down the national debt.
• The government will receive warrants in the companies that participate in TARP. Warrants are similiar to stock, but do not grant any voting authority. Any dividend gain or warrant sale that creates a gain would entitle the government to that gain.

Savings Safeguard

• Increase the amount of Federal Insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 on bank accounts.

Recoup What is Still Owed

• After 5 years from the data of the October 3rd, 2008, if the program has lost money, the sitting President will be required to present a plan to Congress for ways to recover the funds from the financial institutions that benefited from the TARP relief. 

The number of bank owned properties (REO’s) sold during that 12 month time frame is 918. The majority of those properties have sold with very deep discounts up to 44% from the price paid during the housing boom.

Clearly, many great financial opportunities to purchase in Sarasota exist and now is the time to buy them. Like my grandfather once told me, ”You want to buy low and sell high”. Let us help you find that property.

However, until the market returns to a normal seven to eight month inventory and 150 sales per week, the price of homes and condos will continue to fall. The values of homes and condos will decline 12% to 18% during this adjustment period. Some properties in certain desired areas will not decline as much as other areas.

Buyers, now is the window of opportunity to buy the better homes and condos to get a great value.  

March sales in Sarasota top 500 for first time since July 2007
Pending sales highest in a year, indicating improving market for summer

Overall property sales in the local market for March 2008 topped 500 for the first time in eight months, according to statistics pulled from the Sarasota MLS system. There were 514 property sales reported in the Sarasota MLS, easily topping the February 2008 sales of 423.

There were 344 single family homes sold by SAR members in March 2008, along with 170 condominium units. This compares to 294 single family sales in February and 129 condominium sales, which means March saw an overall increase of 21.7 percent over February.

Single family homes saw a small decline in the median sale price, from $285,000 in February 2008 down to $266,750 in March 2008 – a 6.3 percent decline. But condominiums saw a small increase in the median sale price from $230,500 in February2008 to $235,000 in March 2008.

“Once again, the local Sarasota market is proving its resilience, even as the state and national housing market statistics continue to show weakness,” said Helen Sosso, 2008 SAR President. “It is remarkable how our local real estate practitioners are weathering this downturn, and proving once again the value of a professional Realtor® during difficult times. As we’ve been saying for more than a year, this is a prime buyer’s market, with historically low interest rates, moderating prices, and an incredible, high quality inventory of homes on the market.”

One of the continuing bright spots in the March 2008 report was the strength in pending sales, which stood at 674 – the highest level in the past year. In March 2007 pending sales were at 706. Pending sales have been edging upward since December 2007, when there were 374 pending sales.

Pending sales counts the number of signed contracts in a month, and is a leading indicator of sales activity. There is a direct correlation between pending sales and closed sales that are reported in the following month or two.Inventory levels were lower in March 2008 at 10,025 single family homes, compared to 10,596 in March 2007, and down slightly from February 2008, when there were 10,035. Condominium levels also decreased from the March 2007 level of 6,180 to 5,702 in March 2008, but up slightly from the February 2008 level of 5,588.

The days on market, which translates to the average time it took to sell a property, was at 152 days for single family homes, slightly higher than the 144 days in March 2007, but lower than the 160 days in February 2008. Average days on the market for condos was 181, a healthy drop from the 199 days reported in March 2007, and much lower than the 219 days in February 2008. The days on market reflects a quicker pace of sales, meaning the size of the current inventory should begin to decline going forward.

The local Sarasota-Bradenton MSA continued to fare better than the overall state. The MSA was down by 15 percent for single family home sales and 17 percent for condominiums, comparing March 2008 to March 2007. For the overall state, single family homes declined 26 percent comparing March 2008 to March 2007, and condominium sales were down 24 percent month to month.

In fact, the smaller Sarasota-Bradenton market again sold more overall properties than the Miami market. There were 1,022 overall sales reported for the local MSA, compared to only 609 in Miami.

The median sale price dropped by 18 percent for single family homes, and by 32 percent for condominiums in the MSA. This compares to 15 percent and 20 percent statewide in the two categories, respectively.
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