Owner: Sarasota, Florida Real Estate URL:http://www.thesarasotamls.com/sarasota-real-estate-news Join Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 12:56:12 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Sarasota, Florida market updates, news, statistics, interesting new listings and recently sold properties. Site statistics:Click here
Realtors throwing in the towel 2008-02-29 05:46:00 Membership in region's largest associations affected by housing slump
With the housing market flat, Southwest Florida real estate agents are retreating or quitting the business in large numbers. The Sarasota Association of Realtors
is down 11 percent over last year; the Manatee County association 19 percent; and the Punta Gorda-Port Charlotte-North Port Association of Realtors 11 percent.
The Read more:throwing
Just Sold - River Club 2008-02-28 19:00:00 A client of mine just purchased this gorgeous home in River
Club. The home has 4 bedrooms, den, 3 bathrooms with 3,523 square feet and sits on almost an acre. Property description:Beautiful Todd Johnston custom home on a private almost one acre lost in the estate section of River Club. Upgrades throughout the home including crown molding, 14' ceilings, cherry cabinetry, granite wet bar, wine
Zell predicts housing recovery in spring 2008-02-27 07:05:00 Real estate billionaire Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Group Investments, suggested the housing market will begin its recovery this spring.
"I think (housing) starts have already pretty much bottomed out," Zell told CNBC Tuesday. "I think sales will start to occur, and we'll start to clean up the inventory."
Here is a link to the Chicago Trubine article.
For those who don't know. Sam Zell is a
Ignore the Headlines 2008-02-17 06:15:00 I read an interesting article from TIME magazine last night. Here is a link to the article.
I am going to cut and paste the article below:
Famed Money Manager is perhaps best known for his timeless wisdom that you can beat the pros by focusing on stocks of companies where you either work or shop or have some other edge. But a more relevant Lynchism today is this gem: Ignore
the headlines.
Sold - Longboat Key Condo 2008-02-16 07:43:00 My client closed on this wonderful beach front Longboat Key condo yesterday. This 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo offers unobstructed gulf and beach views. It was listed for $850,000. Please contact me at 941-812-6272 if you are looking to purchase on Longboat Key. Read more:Condo
Vulture funds looking at Florida real estate 2008-02-14 18:27:00 I have been in touch with a few private equity firms looking to make a bulk purchase of property in the Sarasota area. There are alot of "vulture funds" or "opportunity funds" looking to pick up Florida
real estate at depressed prices. They typically seek out hurting condo developers who are sitting on a ton of inventory and make offers to purchase condos in bulk at reduced prices. Once they Read more:Vulture
SKY Sotheby's Spring Auction 2008-02-13 09:09:00 SKY Sotheby
's is pleased to announce the date of our Spring
2008 luxury portfolio auction. The event will take place Friday April 11, 2008 at The Longboat Key Club. This time we are allowing only 50 luxury properties in the auction. More information: SKY Sotheby's Auction
Buyers
Sellers
For more information email marc.rasmussen@skysothebys.com or call me at 941-812-6272.
No title 2008-02-11 09:32:00 In December of 2007 the average sales price to list price ratio was 93% for single family homes and 91% for condominiums.
Here is a run down of 2007 statistics.
Single Family Homes
January - 91%
February - 90%
March - 93%
April - 93%
May - 92%
June - 92%
July - 93%
August - 93%
September - 92%
October - 93%
November - 91%
December - 93%
Condominiums
January - 93%
February - 94%
March - 94%
Downtown Sarasota Condos 2008-02-10 08:13:00 I updated my DowntownSarasota
Condo sold page. Now you can see compare 2006 and 2007 sales in most of the condos in the downtown area. I received a few emails from some readers who wanted to see how much prices have dropped in the downtown Sarasota condo market.
Don't list your property unless you are truly motivated to sell it 2008-02-09 06:53:00 I turned down another listing yesterday. I hate to turn down the possibility of making a buck but the best advice I can give to many potential sellers is to not list. If you are unmotivated to sell there is a slim chance your property
will sell. In most cases, you have to be the best property at the best price in your market segment. You have to be the bright flower in the field of weeds. Read more:unless
, truly
Condo on Siesta Key 2008-02-07 06:18:00 Our client wanted some better photos of her Peppertree condo that we are marketing. So we had our photographer go out there and do a reshoot. They turned out great in my opinion. Below are a couple of the new photos. What do you think?
I am amazed at some of the grainy, dark and horrible photos that real estate agents use to market their properties. In a market like this you really need to Read more:Condo
"You can buy Florida real estate at 50 cents on the dollar" 2008-02-06 19:09:00 I am a little tired of reading the doom and gloom articles about the Florida
real estate market. A client from Canada sent me an article from one of his newspapers about the Florida market. Like so many other articles it talks about how bad it is here. I am not saying these reporters are completely wrong. But some of them are blowing things out of proportion. One of them stated that you can buy
Why the snowbirds come to Florida 2008-01-30 19:55:00 Up north
Sarasota, Florida
Chicago 11 27
New York 31 39
Atlanta 40 49
Charlotte 35 49
Columbus 31 37
Sarasota 56 75
Good news for the real estate market 2008-01-30 19:25:00 I was trading emails with a potential buyer from England today. As you probably know the Euro is very strong against the dollar. For Canadians and Europeans Florida is turning out to be the perfect storm for them. Prices here are down significantly and their currency is very strong against the dollar.
One of the comments I found interesting was, "I find the prices in Sarasota amazing! We should
Inventory of Sarasota Homes and Condos 2008-01-26 04:41:00 I had a request from my blog reader Todd for the latest inventory levels. He requested inventories for October, November and December. Unfortunately, our MLS system does not allow us to go back in time like that so I can only give today's numbers.
If you look at the right side of this page you will see a log of Sarasota
home and condo inventory levels. The latest figures from the Sarasota MLS Read more:Inventory
, Homes
Longboat Key Condo - Under Contract 2008-01-20 07:32:00 My client just put this gorgeous two bedroom/two bathroom condominium in Sunset Beach under contract. It is listed by Hannerle Moore with SKY Sotheby's. Property description: Uninterupted and spectacular full gulf and sunset views from every room. Direct beach front Sunset Beach condominium with sweeping views all the way up Longboat Key to Lido Beach. Largest two bedroom floor plan with Read more:Condo
Broadway Promenade 2008-01-20 07:13:00 Looking for value in downtown Sarasota? Take a look at the Broadway
Promenade condominiums on the edge of downtown. This mixed-used development consists of 187 condos homes priced from the $200's to the $600's. Residents can walk to the brand new Publix grocery, bank, day spa, several upscale retailers and are within minutes to main street. For a complete list of condos for sale email me.
Canadians looking for Florida real estate 2008-01-03 20:09:00 I have not had much time to keep you up to date on Sarasota real estate news as I have been busy with several Canadian home buyers. Take a look at this 5 year chart of the Canadian dollar - U.S. dollar exchange rate. As you can see from the chart the Canadian dollar (Loonie) is hovering around par with the U.S. dollar. The strength of Loonie in conjunction with a depressed real estate market in Read more:Florida
, Canadians
Holiday Party Photos 2008-01-03 19:50:00 This is not very real estate related but here are some photos of a holiday party I attended at Paul and Carol Clark's home. They are agents with SKY Sotheby's.
Me, Judie Berger and Matt Morris
1/2 of Glenn Johnson (SRQ360 photographer), Mary Hellhake, Charlotte Hedge and Chad Roffers
A bunch of agents, spouses and a photographer.
Carol Clark and Matt Schulz
Chad Roffers, Phillip and Donna Read more:Holiday
, Party
House Price 'Bubble' Now Deflated 2008-03-14 19:58:00 According to a new study by SMR Research Corporation the housing "bubble" -- whose bursting triggered the current mortgage credit crisis -- has now fully deflated.
This sets the stage for a mild housing recovery, which SMR said would begin prior to year end 2008.
The recovery is likely to be gradual, with house prices merely firming up or increasing slightly, rather than returning to the strong Read more:House
, Bubble
, House Price
Nobody is Buying in Florida 2008-03-17 10:30:00 Untrue!
The Sarasota MLS shows that there are:
733 single family homes under contract
311 condominiums under contract
Contrarian: An investor who buys a category when most others are selling and sells when others are buying. A contrarian doesn’t chase what is hot, but is often buying a category that has recently underperformed.
If you need help buying or selling please contact me at 941-812- Read more:Nobody
, Buying
, Florida
International Exposure 2008-03-23 06:43:00 Looking for some international exposure for your home? With the U.S. dollar so weak and our correcting real estate market we are getting a lot of interest from Canadians and Europeans. This is a fabulous time for them to buy.
I was perusing through my website statistics yesterday to see how many visitors I had from foreign countries. In the last 30 days my Sarasota real estate website had Read more:International
, Exposure
Florida home sales show some resilience 2008-03-25 06:09:00 The Florida
Association of Realtors issued their statistics for February home sales for Florida.
Sales in the Sarasota-Bradenton market dropped 10 percent when comparing February with the same month a year ago. The number of homes sold dropped from 672 to 608.
Only two Florida markets improved from February of 2007: Fort Pierce-Port St. Lucie was up 4 percent while Fort Myers-Cape Coral, a
Ft. Lauderdale/Miami Luxury Property Auction 2008-03-29 06:12:00 In conjuction with other Sotheby's affiliates SKY Sothebys and Daniel Decaro conducted a portfolio luxury property auction in Ft. Lauderdale
yesterday. The auction included properties in the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami
area. Take a look at the two stunning properties below. It looks like the auction was successful in uncovering buyers for each of these properties. One Isla Bahia - listed at Read more:Luxury
, Auction
What is Selling? 2008-04-05 14:29:00 I was getting a haircut the other day when I overhead the guy next to me talking about real estate. This guy was telling his stylist that only the low end of the market was selling. It turned out that this guy was not a Realtor so I'm guessing he heard this information from one.
Let's see what is selling. Below are all of the sales of single family homes and condos by price range for the first
SKY Sotheby's Luxury Property Auction 2008-04-12 12:14:00 SKY Sotheby
's hosted another luxury portfolio auction yesterday at The Longboat Key Club. The auction team was much more selective this time. Last November there were over 80 properties for sale which was way too many. I was pleased with some of the results. The highlight of the auction was the sale of 4067 Shell Road.
This home on Shell Road has been on the market since November 2006. It was Read more:Luxury
, Auction
Lido Key Home Sold 2008-04-19 05:23:00 This gorgeous home on Lido Key just closed for $6,387,500. This is the second-most expensive house to sell this year in Sarasota County. It was originally listed for $10,990,000 in January of 2006. The sellers eventually dropped the asking price to $7,495,000 and it went under contract in January of 2008.
This home is a gulf front estate on coveted Westway Drive which has the most valuable
New listing - Siesta Key Condo Terrace East 2008-04-21 20:14:00 I just listed a gorgeous condominium in The Terrace
East building on Siesta Key. This building is located in the village of Siesta Key. It offers fabulous views of the beach and crystal clear waters of Gulf of Mexico. Tired of hopping in your car to do anything fun? No need to drive when you live here. This location allows you to walk to the beach, shopping, restaurants, ice cream, entertainment Read more:Condo
Just Sold - Casey Key Home 2008-04-23 17:45:00 Isn't the above photo gorgeous? It was taken from the Sugar Bay estate on north Casey
Key.
3005 Casey Key Road just closed today for $4,500,000. It is the highest transaction on Casey Key this year. The home was listed for $4,750,000. Kudos to the fellow Realtor who listed and sold it and another brokerage firm.
The home was built in 1970. It has 3 bedroom with possibly a 4th bedroom or den
St. Armands Key home under contract 2008-04-26 07:55:00 This home on 213 North Washington Drive went under contract
yesterday. Read my post below.
Property description:
Exquisite classic modern on St. Armands Key. Gorgeous bay views from most living spaces and truly amazing 360-degree views of the open bay, city & Ringling bridge from the roof top terrace. Wonderful interiors w/walls of glass for lots of natural light, wide plank blond maple
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