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Newspaper ads for listings a dying breed
2007-11-23 13:15:22
New Report by media experts Borrell Associates Inc.forecast the demise of newspaper advertising as one of the staples for Real Estate listings . “Real estate brokers and agents will continue to devote more marketing budgets to online media. This year they will spend $2.6 billion on online media and by 2012 online will topple newspapers share“. This is indeed interesting and backs- up what many of us in the NEW Media segment have been preaching to the old guard. There is a change in the wind and it is happening much sooner and faster than Real Estate Agents and Brokers will be happy with. I have posted several articles over the last few weeks discussing the merits or the lack thereof, pertaining to Web 2.0 adoption by the Real Estate industry as a whole, and in particular how NAR has responded at their recent convention in Vegas. (NAR members with Ostrich syndrome on Web 2.0 ) (National Association of Realtors details 10 Year Plan) Many in the Real Estate industry st
Read more: Newspaper

Thanksgiving in Tampa - Home & Holiday Traditions
2007-11-22 12:24:41
Not sure how many folks will even turn on their computer today. But thought in the event that a few were scouring around looking for Holiday gift ideas, I thought I might take a moment to reflect on Thanksgiving here in Tampa Florida. This is typically a day where most of us take the time to reflect on what we have to be thankful for and not about what we are trying to do to stay afloat or even get ahead, in this hectic life and times that we find ourselves in. Today is no exception at the Townsend house hold. While the news continues to deluge us with all the housing woes, I find it ironic that what this entire housing thing is really about, is what we are celebrating today. Oh it is about investments, but not the kind you often associate with home-ownership. It’s not about property or land when you really get down to it. It is about investments in our children’s and our families future and its about having a home to create and share family memories. We have two smal


Zillow Zindex indicates Floridians lost home equity
2007-11-21 11:03:17
Zillow on Tuesday released their quarterly report, referred to as a Zindex. OK, so what’s a Zindex? The Zindex home valuation index is the median Zestimate valuation for a given geographic area on a given day. According to their report: Nearly 16% of Homeowners Who Bought in the Past Year Have Negative Equity as Home Values Decline for the Fourth Consecutive Quarter Markets with the greatest proportion of homes with negative equity were those hit hardest by declining values. They make mention of those that purchased homes during the past year at the height of the market in California’s Central Valley, parts of Florida and Las Vegas. In these areas they report that double-digit depreciation and negative equity rates reach up to five times the national median. So, basically they are not reporting any thing that most of us did not already know. If you bought at the top of the market and you did not put a lot of money down, more than likely your-house is worth less than wha
Read more: Zillow

NAR members with Ostrich syndrome on Web 2.0
2007-11-19 17:08:02
The big NAR convention has ended and many of the participants have headed home. The industry is still amidst the slow down, the likes many have not observed in years. So one would surmise that those that did attend the Las Vegas gala, are doing pretty good or they are on their last dollar and looking for some answers on where the industry is headed or what new technological advances might help ? If you were to listen to the NAR leadership - they like to pass blame on the media for a lot of Realtors woes. Of course there has been a lot of bad media reporting that has some effect on scaring off buyers and damping the hopes of sellers, but then again sugar coating the situation does not help either, as NAR has a propensity for doing just that. It’s quite obvious that if the ranks of Realtors shrink then NAR’s revenues also decrease. So, it was interesting to digest the Blogging Communities take on the convention . There was some very notable presence by quite a few of th
Read more: Ostrich

HR 3915-Mortgage Reform passes House muster
2007-11-17 13:38:50
I wrote about this last week shortly after this bill was introduced. I mentioned that the Mortgage Industry was all up in arms about this particularly the provision on yield spread premiums paid to mortgage brokers. I had several comments from readers that were a bit offed by my posting. I just want to remind those that have issues, that I am just the messenger. I am not taking a side on this just yet. I am simply pointing out what appears to be obvious malcontent by an industry that wants to bitch and moan, but does nothing itself to correct the problem. Here’s another example from an article posted by Inman news on Nov 2nd. “Mortgage brokers and mortgage bankers have different reasons for disliking the bill, however, with each group hoping to get a leg up on the other. ” Mortgage brokers, who shop for loans from different lenders on behalf of their clients, are up in arms about the proposed ban on yield-spread premiums — fees they earn that are financed
Read more: Reform , House

Zillow Newspaper advertising alliance - So What ?
2007-11-14 23:30:52
The press is a buzz with the news that Zillow has signed a deal with 11 major publishers that equates to 282 Newspaper s. With the new arrangement, real estate ads placed with these news papers will automatically get placement on Zillows web site. I say so what ? While this may be good for Zillow in raking in some cash from the Newspaper Publishing industry, Realtors can already do this from many different sources. Savvy Realtors that have embraced Technological changes and are up to speed on Web 2.0, are doing this now. Any Realtor worth his or her salt knows that 80% of the buying market goes to the Internet first. Spending money on a dying medium like news papers is literally throwing money out the window. In the current Economic client and down turn in the market, I would put my money and expertise where it gets the best results. I am sorry but the statistics don’t-support the News Papers as a viable source for Residential Real Estate sales as they once did. Which is intere


Palm Harbor Townhome - PRICE JUST REDUCED - 10K
2007-11-13 23:30:43
BEAUTIFUL 2 STORY TOWNHOME in North Pinellas County **RECENT PRICE REDUCTION** NOW $389,000 Property Details Beds 3 Baths 3 Stories 2 SQFT 2200 Covered Parking 2 Year Built 2001 HOA Fees 1050.00 MLS Number T2255356 Description: LOVELY 2 STORY TOWNHOME at Lost Oaks in a gated community in the Heart of North Pinellas County. This home is finished with Luxury. Professionally painted with White Crown Molding & base boards. Beautiful & Tasteful WOOD FLOORS & Ceramic Tile through out The moment you enter the Home through the glass French Doors you feel the Luxury. From the Foyer, Kitchen Living/Dining Great-room you enjoy the 20 Ft Ceramic Tiles which gives a very open feeling. Your eyes go to the Beautiful Banister Stair Case finished with Dark Warm Wood Steps leading to the THIRD BEDROOM SUITE or a Large GAME ROOM with a Full Upstairs PRIVATE BATH. Also Upstairs is a large room, seller uses as an OFFICE could be large storage area. The Downstairs
Read more: Harbor

National Association of Realtors details 10 Year Plan
2007-11-12 23:30:59
NAR’s CEO Dale Stinton was recently interviewed by Inman TV and had some interesting points on NAR’s future and what that would entail for both Realtors (Trusted Advisers) and consumers. Areas covered included: Articulating the Realtors Value Technology changed perception Role for NAR Is NAR the right choice for Realtors Realtor of the future An area of hot dispute regarding NAR’s future itself has to do with what Dale refers to as “NAR’s 10 year plan.” Many Technology advocates involved in current Web 2.0 technology and social networks, believe that NAR needs to seriously think about opening up access to it’s systems similar to Face-Book, to allow faster adoption of new technologies and better communications with consumers. Brian Boero over at the 1000Watt Blog I think says it best - “what if NAR ceased conjuring a fantastical “gateway” that will take years to build and created a series of APIs — children of RETS,
Read more: National , details

NAR Paints Rosy Picture for Tampa Housing
2007-11-12 09:34:36
How many people caught NAR’s full page add in the St. Petersburg Times on Sunday ? If you missed it, go back and look at Page 13A. This is the large headline of the Ad. “Buying a home is a great way to build long-term wealth.” “There are some other important dividends, too. “ While the subject matter was more to reassure potential sellers and buyers that are still sitting on the fence that it’s ok to buy, there was some information I was surprised to see. One comment in particular caught my full attention: “The Tampa /St. Petersburg areas housing forecast is better than reported. You might wonder if buying a home is a smart financial decision these days, given some of the misinformation presented in the national media. “ Where did they get this from ? While the remainder of the add was pretty good, I think they are adding a dose of their own mis-information here, because they don’t list the source for this highly optimistic statemen
Read more: Paints , Picture , Housing

Is now the right time to buy your Florida home ?
2007-11-09 17:43:49
There was an interesting post today on the Inman Blog titled, “Who’s spinning whom?” that was digesting a recently written article by Dian Hymer, “Is buying a home today a good investment?” Hymer is a veteran agent in the San Francisco East Bay and has been writing a syndicated column for Inman News for many years. This article was also reproduced in several other News outlets around the country and received quite the buzz. In the article Hymer deliberates this question she gets from today’s buyers and advises: “Buying a home is still a good investment if you can afford it, if you are ready to put down roots in a community, and if you want to invest in your personal happiness. Profit potential shouldn’t be your only reason for buying a home, even though in most cases your home will appreciate in value if you maintain it and if you own it long enough. “The housing market, like any economic market, is cyclical. There are periods of
Read more: Florida

Home Town Democracy - John Thraser or Times Lying ?
2007-11-29 20:54:48
“Do you know what Home Town Democracy is ? It’s about Voters, yep you and me, having our say on what and how we want to Develop Florida. The initiative on the ballot concerning anti-growth that many of us signed. The Florida Hometown Democracy’s citizen initiative would amend Florida’s Constitution to allow Floridians to give themselves a vote on growth plans.” This is an article that I wrote about back in September after having received a letter from a Florida Politician turned Lobbyist who calls him self Honorable. Yep I am referring to the lying lobbyist John Thraser. The Home Town Democracy Issue has hit a stumbling point by a circuit Judge in Tallahassee. This Judge sided with the Developers. Of course you may have missed this in the morning fish wrapper yesterday as the St. Pete times conveniently buried this on page 1B. Oh yea it was the first page of the Local & State section. This should have been on page 1A instead of the lame article about Hulk Hogans
Read more: Times , Lying

Will rate resets spoil the New Year ?
2007-11-27 14:39:27
According to a WSJ article based upon Bank of America Data. The Real Crest of the ARM reset wave is yet to come. Now the real crest of the reset wave is coming. This means more pain for borrowers, lenders and Wall Street. We have all observed the bad media over the last year and more specifically the last three months. Here in Florida, we have achieved all time records in a lot of areas we would rather not be mentioned for. Bad as it has been, most of the fall out hit the subprime markets where lenders focused on people with poor credit. The result is they went bust and people lost their homes. The big banks and Wall Street also suffered losses, some in the Billions. This has added to layoffs as many Banks and Mortgage Companies ceased operations or curtailed operations. Once again this has hit Florida very hard. Even here in the Tampa Bay, both the Mortgage and Real Estate Markets as a whole have been given the one two punch. According to Banc of America Securities, this quart


Is there an upside to real estate downturn ?
2007-11-26 00:30:26
The current situation here in the Tampa Real Estate Market has some would be homeowners downright frustrated. Wondering when the market will bottom out so buyers can buy at the best price or for sellers wondering when the buyers will get off the fence and buy what they are selling now. If it’s not a good time to buy then it sure has gotten a lot better to renovate or build. This time a year ago if you could find the material for a renovation it was still at a pretty high market value. Then try to even get an appointment with an architect. According to a recent Wall-Street Journal article “The Upside to the Downturn Contractors Return Calls, Materials Cost Less.. It appears that it may be a good time to: renovate be shopping for an architect shop for a builder With a lot of folks from the housing industry short on work here in Florida, you can bet that you will have no problem finding a contractor to help with a home project. Related Posts: Is now the right tim
Read more: upside , downturn

Oldsmar
2007-11-25 19:44:05
Oldsmar is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,910 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 13,706 Oldsmar’s history dates to 1913 when automobile pioneer Ransom E. Olds purchased 37,541 acres (152 km²) of land by the northern part of Tampa Bay to establish “R. E. Olds-on-the-Bay”. The name was later changed to Oldsmar, then to “Tampa Shores” in 1927, and finally back to Oldsmar in 1937. Ransom Eli Olds named some of the original streets himself, such as Gim Gong Road. In recent years, Oldsmar has experienced explosive growth including the construction of many retail establishments as well as new hotels and industry. A new downtown is being developed which its promoters hope will bring back the “old Florida” feel to the city. Oldsmar celebrates its history every year with Oldsmar Days and Nights, where residents and visitors take part in parades, car shows (featuring the Oldsmob


Clearwater
2007-11-25 19:04:54
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, USA, nearly due west of Tampa. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787; however, according to the 2005 U.S. Census Bureau’s estimates, the city’s population fell slightly to 108,687. It is the county seat of Pinellas County. It is the smallest of the three large cities that constitute the Tampa Bay area. Clearwater is a part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the “Tampa Bay Area“. The four-county area is composed of roughly 2.7 million residents, making it the second largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the state, and the third largest in the Southeastern United States. Travel Site for all things about Clearwater- Clearwater Beach, Golfing, Dining etc. Bookmark to:
Read more: Clearwater

Pasco County
2007-11-25 16:28:05
Pasco County , Florida Map Location in the state of Florida Florida’s location in the USA Statistics Seat Dade City Area - Total - Land - Water 868 sq mi (2,248 km²) 745 sq mi (1,930 km²) 123 sq mi (319 km²), 14.18% Population - (2006) - Density 450,171 464/sq mi (179/km²) Website: www.pascocountyfl.net Pasco County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 344,765. The 2006 census estimate according to the U.S. Census Bureau for the county is 450,171. [1] Its county seat is Dade City, Florida6. It is the 38th fastest growing county in the country with a 30.6% increase and has grown by 105,403 residents since the year 2000. Pasco, along with Hernando County, Hillsborough County and Pinellas County, comprise the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area.                   Bookmark to:


Pinellas County
2007-11-25 16:03:01
Pinellas County , Florida Map Location in the state of Florida Florida’s location in the USA Statistics Seat Clearwater Largest City St. Petersburg Area - Total - Land - Water 608 sq mi (1,575 km²) 280 sq mi (725 km²) 328 sq mi (850 km²), 53.94% Population - (2005) - Density 928,031 3,292/sq mi (1,271/km²) Website: www.pinellascounty.org/ Pinellas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. Its county seat is Clearwater, Florida, and its largest city is St. Petersburg. The county is contained entirely within area code (727), except for sections of Oldsmar, which has area code 813. It shares area code 727 with parts of West Pasco County. Pinellas County and Pasco County along with Hillsborough County make up the the Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater metro area often referred to as the Greater Tampa Bay Area. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   In Real Estate terms: Pinellas County consists of mainly Clearwater Beach, St. Petersburg, Pa


Hillsborough County
2007-11-25 15:44:55
Hillsborough County , Florida Map Location in the state of Florida Florida’s location in the USA Statistics Seat Tampa Area - Total - Land - Water 1,266 sq mi (3,279 km²) 1,051 sq mi (2,722 km²) 215 sq mi (557 km²), 17.00% Population - (2006(est.)) - Density 1,177,060 951/sq mi (367/km²) Website: www.hillsboroughcounty.org Hillsborough County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The 2000 population was 998,948. In 2007, the Hillsborough County Planning Commission conducted a population estimate that put the county’s population at 1,204,770. Its county seat is Tampa, Florida. Hillsborough County is the largest county in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area and the fourth most populous in Florida. Together with Pinellas County and Pasco County they make up what is referred to as the Greater Tampa Bay Area. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bookmark to:


New listing and OPEN HOUSE - Holiday, Fl 34690
2007-12-06 16:34:10
Charming Well Maintained 2 Bedroom 1.5 Bath Home. 2141 Dixie Garden Loop, Holiday Fl,34690   Asking Price: $99,900   Beds: 2 Baths: 1.50 SQFT: 936.00 HOA: $0.00 Parking: 1 Year Built: 1962 MLS NUMBER: T2284312 This Home has been in the family since it was First Built. It would make the Perfect Starter or Retirement Home. It is located within Pasco County. The Roof was replaced just 4 years ago and it has been Freshly painted on the outside. The Front Porch has been Re-screened and makes a Nice Place to enjoy your morning cup of coffee. The Lot is one of the largest in the neighborhood and the back yard is filled with large mature Shade trees. This home has its own well for irrigation and the sprinkler system is throughout the entire yard. The inside has a Generous sized Dining and Living room space. It has a wonderful Florida Room that is Bright and Full of windows. Home is being “Sold As-Is” as a Convenience of the Seller. NO FLOOD IN


Deerpath home in Oldsmar sells fast -SOLD-
2007-12-04 15:22:57
Future Home Realty and the Greater Tampa Bay Real Estate Team of Marie Becklund and Theresa Townsend announce the Sale of 20 Woodglenn Ct. a spectacular home in the Deerpath development within the East Lake Woodlands community of Oldsmar Florida. We would like to say Congratulations and Thank You to our Proud New Owners of 20 Woodglen Court. Greater Tampa Bay Real Estate wants to Wish you many Happy and Memorable Years to come in your New Home. ENJOY MARIE BECKLUND & THERESA TOWNSEND The beautiful Deerpath development is located inside the East Lake Woodlands community in Oldsmar, a quiet and scenic city located within Pinellas County Florida. It offers many exciting amenities. A private country club with two professional golf courses, swimming facility and tennis courts give residents a convenient place to play their favorite recreation close to home. Scenic walking trails are scattered throughout the commun


Is Alex Sink - Florida’s Virginia Woolf ?
2007-12-01 13:49:16
Florida sure is grabbing all of the wrong headlines lately.For months we have heard about the Real Estate slump nationally, but Florida continues to get bad press. Yeah we all know we are in the running for the lead with Nevada and California on the number of foreclosures. We have also lead in home builders and mortgage companies going out of business. Here in Tampa we have also observed more than our fair share of horror stories about unscrupulous Mortgage Brokers and their antics. Now we have to deal with yet another fiasco that is somewhat related. On November 29th, 2007 at a special meeting of the Trustees of the Florida State Board of Administration, it was decided to put a freeze on all deposits and account withdrawals on Investment funds until another meeting that is supposed to take place on December 4, 2007. This was done partly because of a run on the funds perpetrated by local city and county governments and some school district throughout Florida. The entities mentioned
Read more: Florida , Virginia

How big is it ?
2007-12-13 10:44:22
As the numbers continue to stack up in the never ending saga, it is interesting to be able to obtain a comparative analysis of just how big the entire U.S Mortgage crisis is ? Unless you you recall previous word events and add them into the mix you really have no idea of the entire current and potential impact to the overall economy. Last week on a trip to California, I read a rather lengthy article in the WSJ that really puts this entire issue into perspective. In a simple explanation you can say that that the current status rival the Savings & Loan meltdown back-in the late 80's and early 90's. The ultimate extent of the crisis will depend on how steep the values in America homes fall over the course of the next 6 months when added to ARM resets and additional foreclosures. When you look at this purely from a dollars stand point, it has the potential to really put a dent in the overall U.S and World Economies when you compare it to say our GDP (Gross Domestic Product).


NAR's spoon full of sugar before medicine
2007-12-10 23:28:40
It never ceases to amaze me how NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, comes up with his trade talk. I often wonder what he uses for his Oracle as his vision is not what is projected in the market. Today NAR released a report indicating that Existing home sales would trend up in 2008 ?? Mr. Yun comments: "Now that mortgage conditions have improved, some postponed activity should turn up in existing-home sales over the next couple of months, and I expect sales at fairly stable to slightly higher levels" Now what he is talking about is 2008. Maybe he is just adding a spoon full of sugar to make the report easier to swallow as the rest of the reported forecast does not look too good. 1.9 percent additional drop in resale home prices this year 25 percent decrease in New single-family home sales for 2007 12.1 percent additional drop in New single-family home sales for 2008 24.6 percent decrease in housing starts for 2007 14.9 percent additional drop in housing starts for 2008 Inman


Home Town Democracy petition drive heats up
2007-12-20 14:10:41
There has been a few more articles written this Month on the entire Home Town Democracy debacle or as we can call it now a battle. What I find interesting is that most local citizenry in North Florida areas, especially the Greater Tampa Bay Area, do not even know the truth about this issue. The main reason for this is, that the opposition campaign is being run like a political campaign and has from the very onset of this issue. Just check out this latest article File Attachment: Costly Home Town Debate.pdf (94 KB) They (the opposition to Home Town Democracy- FSG) do not want you or I to have our say over continued growth in the State of Florida. They have since changed their tune a little. At the beginning they did not want to even let us participate in any votes for growth anywhere in Florida. They, the Businesses want to control everything. Then as they realized that their was an opposition, they concocted an amendment that they say gives you choice, only under total control by
Read more: drive , petition

Florida Housing Statistics for December 2007
2007-12-18 16:04:50
A company called Altos Research has issued a new report that will add some real time perspective to market conditions. Since most of the reports take months to generate, Altos intends to lower the playing field by providing quicker market statistics. Their inaugural report looks at 20 major metro markets which allows them to publish key statistics about pricing, supply, demand and trends, while drawing conclusions about what’s happening in local markets. The Real IQ figures by Altos consulting for December indicate that the National Picture is still not looking too great. I have singled out the data for the Florida market and compared Miami with Tampa and you can see that Tampa is still showing signs of distress but did better than Miami with number of days on market averaging 109 days over the last 3 months. While listing inventories fell some what in Tampa and around the U.S Miami fluctuated upwards slightly. Where Tampa and Miami fared close was in the Percentage of Inventor
Read more: Statistics , Housing , Florida Housing

DOT HOMES submits to US Real Estate BROKERS - dont worry - be happy !!
2008-03-10 15:36:12
Earlier today I received the following from DOT HOMES: New pingback on your post #117 “MLS Data compliance and NAR vs. DOJ “ Website: BYTEPLAY » Blog Archive » For US listing brokers (IP: 195.62.28.205 , www.ec1m.net) URI : Excerpt: […] […] some of the ensuing controversy (Lenderama, CBS5.com, InmanNews, GreaterTampaBayRealEstate ), I’m going to attempt here [...]
Read more: worry , Real Estate

The lazy agents way to collect a paycheck
2008-03-08 22:06:16
I was working another post and in my research came across a comment from Marc Davison (1000 Watt Consulting Blog) that really fit the exact phrasing for what I was trying to convey. “Mmm, when did not having to work hard become the path to success? Oh yeah, 1997-2005. I wish we can scroll back [...]


1 in 3 Home Owners with Negative Equity according to Zillow
2008-03-01 15:52:15
Zillow revised their 4th Quarter report late Thursday the 28th of February that according to Zillow “MORE EXPLICITLY DESCRIBES THE RATES OF NEGATIVE EQUITY FOR ALL HOMEOWNERS IN THE U.S. IN EACH OF THE YEARS 2003, 2006 AND 2007.” The original report had been released on February 12th as reported on PRNewswire. In that report the [...]
Read more: Owners , Negative , Equity , Zillow , Home Owners

Clearwater Home - SOLD - Dililigence and Persistence wins
2008-02-24 16:31:38
Future Home Realty and the Greater Tampa Bay Real Estate Team of Marie Becklund and Theresa Townsend announce the Sale of 2924 Eagle Estates Circle, a beautiful home in the Eagle Estates development of Pinellas County, Clearwater Florida. This Stunning Home is close to Chi Chi Rodriquez & Countryside Golf & Country [...]
Read more: Persistence

How do you gage peoples reactions to major issues ?
2008-02-22 15:44:35
While I was pondering a good topic for our post today….which I will now save for Sunday, I received an interesting email from a PHD candidate at the Stony Brooke University in New York. How they came across my name and email is topic for another post on blogging and marketing fundamentals, but the gentleman [...]
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