Luxury Tampa Bay Real Estate Journal

Real Estate Sales Bounces Up in 2011

2011-03-01T03:33:00.000-05:00

In its latest real estate and economic forecast, the National Association of REALTORS® anticipates that sales of existing homes, after falling 4.8 percent in 2010, will rise 7.9 percent this year, to 5.3 million, and another 4.5 percent in 2012, to 5.53 million.

The median price of existing homes, meanwhile, rose 0.3 percent in 2010 after a 12.9 percent drop in 2009, and is expected to rise 0.5 percent this year, to $173,800, and another 2.4 percent in 2012, to $177,900.

Sales of new single-family homes are expected to rebound faster, rising 17.7 percent this year, to 374,000 sales, after a 15.5 percent drop in 2010, and then rising 51.1 percent in 2012, to 565,000 sales. In an earlier forecast, released last month, NAR anticipated that sales of new single-family homes would climb 20.8 percent in 2011 and 30.9 percent in 2012.

Why You Need to Shop Around For Your Mortgage

2010-08-26T10:39:00.002-05:00

If you are buying Florida real estate, these are some things you should consider. You wouldn’t buy a house without shopping around first, right? Then why would you commit to the loan you use to buy that house without making sure you’re getting the best deal possible? From the experts at LendingTree, here are six reasons why it’s essential to take a few minutes to browse before you borrow:

1. To get the best interest rate possible
Over the life of a $200,000, 30-year fixed rate loan, a one-tenth of a point difference in interest rate could save or cost you thousands of dollars.

2. To pay lower loan fees
Once your loan application is accepted, the lender will get back to you with a good-faith estimate (GFE), including an itemized list of all the costs associated with the loan. If there are any parts of the GFE that you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to ask the lender to explain each fee that is listed.

3. To avoid a prepayment penalty
In these transient times, it seems no one stays in their home long enough to pay down their mortgage the old fashioned way: in monthly increments over a period of decades. So you’ll want to be clear on whether the terms of your loan include a penalty if you pay off your mortgage early—either because you move or refinance.

4. To find a lender you feel comfortable with
You don’t want any surprises popping up at closing time. Get a lender who is responsive to your questions and is willing to give you the details in writing.

5. To find a lender that specializes in your situation
Recent volatility in the mortgage markets means that people with bad credit or little money for a down payment might have to look a little harder to find a lender.

6. To get the rate lock period you want
Once you’ve found the lender offering the best mortgage rate and terms, you’ll want to get a written commitment, known as a “lock” that puts in writing that the lender will make the loan to you at that the specified interest rate. The length of the lock can vary from 30-90 days, but many lenders will charge a fee for a rate commitment of longer than a month. Negotiate the lock period that is right for you, depending on when you plan to close on your new home and if interest rates are expected to creep higher during that time.

Real Estate Local Experts

2008-04-14T01:49:00.000-05:00

A good site with a great resource for both agents and consumers. The featured Real Estate local experts are comprised of real estate professionals, investors, speakers and authors.

Article topics have related subjects that may be of interest, such as home and garden, interior design, finance, home improvement, and many more.

Tampa Florida Real Estate

2008-03-09T03:31:00.004-05:00

We have expanded and moved. Please visit:

Central Bank Ready To Cut Interest Rates Again

2008-01-10T13:32:00.004-05:00

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech Thursday that the central bank is prepared to continue lowering interest rates in order to help keep the economy on track.

"We stand ready to take substantive additional action as needed to support growth and to provide adequate insurance against downside risks," Bernanke said in prepared remarks before the Women in Housing and Finance and Exchequer Club in Washington, D.C.

Stocks, which had been trading lower before the speech, rebounded on the news as Wall Street interpreted Bernanke's comments to mean that there is now an increased likelihood the Fed will lower its key federal funds rate by a half of a percentage point, to 3.75 percent, at the conclusion of its two-day meeting on January 30.
To that end, investors are pricing in an 86 percent chance that the Fed will lower rates by a half-point on January 30, according to federal funds futures listed on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Florida's Existing Home Sales Slower in October 2007

2007-12-10T10:54:00.002-05:00

Disruptions in the mortgage market and tightening credit continued to impact Florida’s housing sector in October. Statewide, sales of existing single-family homes totaled 9,165 last month while 12,846 homes sold in October 2006 for a decrease of 29 percent in the year-to-year comparison, according to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR).

While the latest market outlook from the National Association of Realtors’® (NAR) expects conditions for the mortgage industry to improve in the coming months, it predicts that the impact of the credit crunch will continue to be felt through the end of this year, leaving home sales fairly flat. Keeping the current housing market in perspective, 2007 will be the fifth highest year on record for existing-home sales, according to NAR Senior Economist Lawrence Yun. “It appears raw inventories are stabilizing, but the housing supply is a bit inflated now because the sales pace does not reflect underlying market conditions – sales were dampened by the mortgage cancellations,” he says.

Florida’s median sales price for existing single-family homes last month was $222,100; a year ago, it was $242,700 for an 8 percent decrease. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less. In October 2002, the statewide median sales price for single-family homes was $140,900, for an increase of 57.6 percent over the five-year-period, according to FAR records.

Florida's Existing Home Sales Ease in August 2007

2007-10-04T11:46:00.000-05:00

Low mortgage rates, low unemployment rates and strong demographics continued to reflect positive economic signs in Florida in August. Statewide, sales of existing single-family homes totaled 11,279 last month and were closer to activity in August 2001 and 2002 – before the peak of the housing boom years – than the August 2006 figures, when 15,252 homes sold for a 26 percent decrease in the year-to-year comparison, according to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR).

Florida’s median sales price for existing single-family homes last month was $231,900; a year ago, it was $246,800 for a 6 percent decrease. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less. In August 2002, the statewide median sales price for single-family homes was $141,200, for an increase of 64.2 percent over the five-year-period, according to FAR records.

In July 2007, the national median sales price for existing single-family homes was $228,600, down 1 percent from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). In California, the statewide median resales price was $586,030 in July; in Massachusetts, it was $365,775; in Maryland, it was $323,838; and in New York, it was $249,700.

NAR’s latest market outlook notes that disruptions in the mortgage market are dampening the forecast for home sales, particularly in August and September. However, the mortgage markets will calm in the months ahead, says NAR Senior Economist Lawrence Yun. “The volume of existing-home sales this year will be better than 2002, which was the second year of the housing boom,” he says. “Conventional loans – the vast majority of available financing – are available to creditworthy borrowers. Buyers in most areas who do their homework will recognize that housing remains a good long-term investment.”

Sales of existing condominiums in Florida also decreased last month, with a total of 3,380 condos sold statewide compared to 4,522 in August 2006 for a 25 percent decline, according to FAR. The statewide median sales price for condos last month was $196,800, down 3 percent from August 2006’s condo median price of $201,900. NAR reported the national median existing condo price was $230,600 in July 2007.

Last month, interest rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.57 percent, according to Freddie Mac, close to the average rate of 6.52 percent in August 2006. FAR’s sales figures reflect closings, which typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

Among the state’s larger markets, the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) reported 568 existing homes sold last month compared to 655 homes sold a year ago for a 13 percent decrease. The market's median sales price for homes was $366,200; it was $386,000 in August 2006 for a 5 percent decrease. A total of 435 existing condos changed hands in the MSA last month, down 16 percent from the 515 condos sold the previous year. The existing condo median sales price in August was $209,000; a year ago, it was $220,300 for a 5 percent decrease.

“Palm Beach offers a unique lifestyle, with beautiful beaches, cultural amenities and other wonderful opportunities,” says Norma Mirsky, president of the Palm Beach Board of Realtors and president of Mirsky Realty Group. “Mortgage rates continue to be very favorable and this is a great time to buy a home in the area, especially if you’re looking for a place to live in and call home.”

Among the state’s smaller markets, the Fort Walton Beach MSA reported a total of 219 homes sold in August compared to 255 homes a year ago for a 14 percent decrease. The existing home median sales price was $227,300; a year ago, it was $229,200 for a 1 percent decrease. A total of 51 existing condos sold in the MSA last month compared to 47 condos the previous August for a 9 percent increase. The market’s existing condo median price was $311,500; a year ago, it was $356,300 for a decrease of 13 percent.

Harry Millsaps, president of the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors and a Realtor with Prudential Coastal Properties Inc., says that home sales are returning to a more normal pace in the area, with buyers attracted by the laid-back, friendly lifestyle. “The Federal Reserve Board’s recent cut in a key interest rate could make it easier for many people to find an affordable mortgage that’s right for them,” he says. “It is especially good news for homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages; now, as many ARMs reset their rates, those borrowers could see some savings as a result of the lower interest rates. Buyers seeking to make a long-term investment in a home of their own have more options now.”

Two charts showing statistics for Florida and its 20 MSAs are attached. One chart compares the volume of existing, single-family home sales and median sales prices; the other compares the volume of existing, condominium sales and median sales price in August 2007 to August 2006 based on Realtor transactions.

Single-Family Stats and Condominium Stats

Property Insurance Companies Want to Raise Rates

2007-07-02T08:47:00.000-05:00

Five homeowners insurance companies want to raise rates just weeks after the state ordered providers to lower premiums. The state has been asked to approve requests from Auto Owners (average of 41.9 percent), Cincinnati Insurance (37.5 percent), Florida Farm (30.3 percent), Hartford, (29.5 percent) and Metropolitan Property and Casualty (14.9 percent).

Read the full story.

Governor Crist Signs Home Inspector Licensing Bill

2007-07-01T07:51:00.000-05:00

It’s official: Gov. Charlie Crist signed SB 2234, which creates a program to license home, mold and wind mitigation inspectors working in Florida. But don’t expect quick changes. The new law becomes effective July 1, 2010.

Read the full story.

Pros and Cons of Property Tax Relief Methods

2007-05-23T09:11:00.000-05:00

One method of property tax relief may be “too rich” for counties with low real estate values, another would disproportionately benefit Florida’s wealthiest homeowners and the third could create inequities among taxpayers from one county to another.

Each of the three approaches that Florida lawmakers are considering also has advantages over the others, legislative staffers Monday told a select House-Senate committee trying to come up with a plan both chambers can accept at a June 12-22 special session.

All three versions, though, have something in common. Each is a percentage-based tax exemption. Lawmakers are in general agreement that’s the way to go after failing to reach consensus on other proposals during their regular session, which ended May 4.

Tax Inaction Leaves Home Sales in Limbo

2007-05-04T12:11:00.000-05:00

Not just city and county governments are worried about what's going to happen next.

As the Florida Legislature spends the next month and a half grappling with the property tax crisis, the real estate industry fidgets on the sidelines, watching sales figures fall and growing more anxious by the minute. Their fear: Florida's already struggling housing market will sink further with would-be buyers waiting until legislators decide the future of property taxes.

Full article...

Florida's Existing Home Sales Soft, Median Price Edges Down in March 2007

2007-04-24T10:47:00.000-05:00

Sales of existing homes in Florida remained at a sustainable pace in March, with buyers continuing to see favorable mortgage rates and a range of housing options available across the state, according to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). Statewide, sales of single-family existing homes totaled 13,469 last month compared to 18,751 homes sold in March 2006 for a 28 percent decrease.

Florida’s median sales price for existing single-family homes in March was $236,000; a year ago, it was $244,600 for a 4 percent decrease. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less. In March 2002, the statewide median sales price for single-family homes was $134,100, for an increase of 75.9 percent over the five-year-period, according to FAR records.

In February 2007, the national median sales price for existing single-family homes was $211,100, down 1.5 percent from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). In California, the statewide median resales price was $564,700 in February; in Massachusetts, it was $325,000; in Maryland, it was $308,275; and in New York, it was $265,000.

Rising foreclosures are impacting inventories in some markets, according to housing industry analysts, who predict that tighter lending standards and the fallout from subprime loans will slow the housing sector’s recovery. NAR Chief Economist David Lereah noted that most local markets are demonstrating healthy economic activity and thus can absorb the increases in foreclosures.

In fact, 2007 is expected to be the fourth highest year on record for existing-home sales, according to NAR’s latest housing market outlook. “Housing remains a great long-term investment,” Lereah said. “As home sales moderate, overall home prices will be essentially flat this year. The good news is that inventories remain well below the levels experienced during the last housing downturn in the early 1990s, and supplies are close to balance in many areas.”

Sales of existing condominiums in Florida also decreased last month, with a total of 4,236 condos sold statewide compared to 6,193 in March 2006 for a 32 percent decline, according to FAR. The statewide median sales price for condos last month was $208,800, up 2 percent from March 2006’s condo median price of $203,900. NAR reported the national median existing condo price was $225,400 in February 2007.

Last month, interest rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.13 percent, a drop from the average rate of 6.32 percent in March 2006. FAR’s sales figures reflect closings, which typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

Among the state’s larger markets, the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) reported 725 existing homes sold last month compared to 929 homes sold a year ago for a 22 percent decrease. The market's median sales price for homes was $375,100; it was $393,700 in March 2006 for a 5 percent decrease. A total of 650 existing condos changed hands in the MSA last month, down 8 percent from the 706 condos sold the previous year. The existing condo median sales price in March was $211,800; a year ago, it was $224,600 for a 6 percent decrease.

“The wide selection and diversity of housing choices in the Palm Beach area is a boon for buyers,” says John Mike, president-elect of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches and a Realtor sales associate with Prudential Florida WCI Inc. in West Palm Beach. “Historically, this area is – and continues to be – an appealing getaway destination for many people, especially in the winter.”

Among the state’s smaller markets, the Tallahassee MSA reported a total of 360 homes sold in March compared to 499 homes a year ago for a 28 percent decrease. The existing home median sales price was $188,800; a year ago, it was $173,500 for a 9 percent increase. A total of 29 existing condos sold in the MSA last month compared to 30 condos the previous March for a 3 percent decline. The market’s existing condo median price was $150,000; a year ago, it was $161,800 for a decrease of 7 percent.

Robby Turner, president of the Tallahassee Board of Realtors and broker-owner of Robby Turner Realty in Tallahassee, says that area Realtors feel they’re dealing with a more normalized market. “Interest rates still are favorable to buyers, and we’re starting to see buyers return to take advantage of the many housing options open to them. Our two universities, a community college and the state government here in Tallahassee are a stabilizing factor for our economy and for the local housing market.”

Two charts showing statistics for Florida and its 20 MSAs are attached. One chart compares the volume of existing, single-family home sales and median sales prices; the other compares the volume of existing, condominium sales and median sales price in March 2007 to March 2006 based on Realtor transactions.

Single-Family
Condominium

from: Florida Association of Realtors

Pay Off Your Mortgage with Credit Cards?

2007-04-12T07:33:00.000-05:00

Thought this was interesting. How charging a lunch to your credit card helps make a house payment: Wells Fargo & Co. is the latest mortgage lender to offer a credit card that applies rebates toward a home loan. The Company on April 16 will kick off a promotional campaign under which it will sell the card program, which applies rebates equal to 1 percent of purchases directly toward paying off principal mortgage balances in increments of $25. GMAC and MBNA Corp teamed up for a card mortgage rebate program already and Countrywide Financial has a similar partnership with JPMorgan Chase’s First USA affiliate.

I highly recommend that you pay off credit card balances each month. What good is 1% rebate towards your mortgage balance, when you are being charged a 20% rate.

Florida's Existing Housing Market: Sales Slow, Median Price Edges Down in February 2007

2007-04-11T01:24:00.000-05:00

Florida's housing sector continued to show a more sustainable pace of sales in February, while still-low mortgage rates sparked buyer interest, according to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). Statewide, sales of single-family existing homes totaled 10,779 last month compared to 14,080 homes sold in February 2006 for a 23 percent decrease.

Real estate industry experts across the state think the outlook for Florida’s single-family residential housing market has brightened, according to a quarterly survey conducted by the University of Florida. The survey shows that a growing number of those polled find home prices are staying even with inflation.

“If you’re thinking of buying a house, there’s probably not much to be gained by holding out at this point,” says Wayne Archer, director of UF’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. “It doesn’t look like prices are going to fall anymore. We see that as a benchmark. When prices maintain the same level as inflation, then we’re probably in some kind of equilibrium. It indicates the market is stabilizing.”

Florida’s median sales price for existing single-family homes in February was $235,500; a year ago, it was $242,500 for a 3 percent decrease. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less. In February 2002, the statewide median sales price for single-family homes was $131,800, for an increase of about 78.7 percent over the five-year-period, according to FAR records.

In January 2007, the national median sales price for existing single-family homes was $209,200, down 3.5 percent from the previous year, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). In California, the statewide median resales price was $559,640 in January; in Massachusetts, it was $340,000; in Maryland, it was $303,842; and in New York, it was $300,000.

Existing home sales likely will gradually rise this year and into 2008, according to NAR’s latest housing outlook. “Underlying trends point to a housing recovery in 2007, but it will take a couple months for us to get a better handle on it,” says NAR Chief Economist David Lereah. “Existing-home sales are expected to slowly improve from what appears to be the cyclical low last fall.”

Sales of existing condominiums in Florida also decreased last month, with a total of 3,172 condos sold statewide compared to 4,397 in February 2006 for a 28 percent decline, according to FAR. The statewide median sales price for condos last month remained flat at $212,200; a year ago, it was $213,000. NAR reported the national median existing condo price was $222,200 in January 2007.

Last month, interest rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.29 percent, up slightly from the average rate of 6.25 percent in February 2006. FAR’s sales figures reflect closings, which typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

Among the state’s larger markets, the Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) reported more sales of existing homes and condos in February. A total of 598 existing homes sold last month compared to 568 homes sold a year ago for a 5 percent increase. The market's median sales price for homes was $294,500; it was $324,200 in February 2006 for a 9 percent decrease. A total of 278 existing condos changed hands in the MSA last month, a 31 percent increase over the 212 condos sold the previous year. The existing condo median sales price in February was $357,500; a year ago, it was $255,200 for an increase of 40 percent.

“People who were simply looking (at homes) before are now starting to make offers,” says May Aston, president of the Manatee County Association of Realtors and a founding Realtor with RE/MAX Gulfstream Realty in Bradenton. “Why wouldn’t you buy now? Mortgage rates are still incredibly low and buyers are able to consider a range of inventory. People are drawn to Manatee County for a number of reasons, including our relaxed lifestyle, yet we’re conveniently located near the hustle and bustle of Sarasota and Tampa.”

Among the state’s smaller markets, the Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay MSA reported a total of 474 homes sold in February compared to 484 homes a year ago for a 2 percent decrease. The existing home median sales price was $201,100; a year ago, it was $232,700 for a 14 percent decline. A total of 103 existing condos sold in the MSA last month compared to 156 condos the previous February for a 34 percent decline. The market’s existing condo median price was $168,800; a year ago, it was $206,300 for a decrease of 18 percent.

Lance VandeBerg, president of the Spacecoast Association of Realtors and broker-owner of VandeBerg Real Estate & Investment Inc. in Merritt Island, agrees the pace of home sales is starting to pick up as buyers show renewed interest in the housing market. “The Space Coast has a strong high-tech business climate and offers great values for housing opportunities, especially for coastal properties,” he says. “And, with mortgage rates continuing to be so favorable, right now is a great time to buy.”

Two charts showing statistics for Florida and its 20 MSAs are attached. One chart compares the volume of existing, single-family home sales and median sales prices; the other compares the volume of existing, condominium sales and median sales price in February 2007 to February 2006 based on Realtor transactions.

Single-Family Homes :: Condominiums

The Florida Association of Realtors (FAR), the voice for real estate in Florida, provides programs, services, continuing education, research and legislative representation to its more than 170,000 members in 68 boards/associations.

© 2006 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Be Prepared on Pool Safety...or Else

2007-04-11T00:02:00.000-05:00

For many homeowners pool covers are coming off for the summer. But don't dive in just yet. Drowning was the number one cause of accidental death for kids under five years old. In today's tips we're going to tell you how to keep your pool safe.

1: Choose alarms wisely
Pool alarms use sensors to detect motion in the water. They can either float on the water, or attach to the side of the pool. These alarms are designed go off within a matter of seconds if your kid falls into the water.

But buyer beware. According to a recent study by Consumer Reports, only two out of six alarms worked well. Three were rated not acceptable. This means the alarms either set off false alarms, or were slow in going off.

The recommended alarms included Poolguard PGRM–AG for $140 and Poolguard PGRM-2 for $225.

2: Watch out for Inflatable pools
Inflatable pools are bigger and cheaper than ever before. And they're becoming more deadly too. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said the number of kids who died in inflatable pools nearly doubled last year.

One in five of the above-ground pools sold in the United States each year may pose a safety hazard, according to Consumer Reports. These pools often fall outside of local building codes that require barriers. And kids can just climb up the sides.

Don't let your guard down just because the pool is inflatable. When you're not using your above-ground pool, make sure you remove any ladders or steps leading to the pool.

3: Fence it in
Surround a backyard pool with a fence at least 4 feet high on all sides. The fence should have a self-closing, self-latching gate that remains locked when the pool is not being used. The safest fence will have vertical bars with spacing no wider than four inches so that small enough that children cannot slip through them.

Pool fences should not have any footholds or ledges that might allow a child to climb over. Make sure the fence is no more than two inches off the ground. If you've had your fence in place for a while, make sure the space underneath has not increased with settling or erosion.

4: Don't Get caught
Pool filtration systems and drains are another danger zone in pools. A kid can actually get stuck in the pool's filtration system by the sheer force of the suction. This is called entrapment. Entrapment can also happen when a child's hair or swimsuit gets tangled in the drain or on an underwater object - like a ladder.

To avoid such an accident, make sure your drain covers are dome-shaped, not flat. Flat covers can create a seal that can cause your child to get stuck against the drain. You can get dome-shaped covers at your local pool store.

5: Be prepared pool-side
Supervision is the most important step you can take to make sure your child is safe at all times. About 70 percent of victims had been missing from sight for less than 5 minutes, according to the CPSC. So you should have your cell phone, emergency numbers and flotation devices, like a ring buoy, around the pool.

Toys that float are not meant to save a life. You'll want to limit or even eliminate these inflatable toys. They're in the water, they're liable to overturn, leaving your child underwater. And of course, it's always a good idea to know CPR. Check with your local Red Cross chapter at www.redcross.org to find out how you can take lessons.

by: Gerri Willis

Home Buying or Selling: 7 Top Tips for ‘07

2007-04-04T00:50:00.000-05:00

In most parts of the country, the New Year will dawn on a housing market that’s shockingly different from just a year ago. Overzealous speculation, too-lenient lending and aggressive overbuilding have combined to create the type of home-inventory levels and price stagnations that haven’t been felt in the U.S. since the early to mid-1990’s.

In short, the housing market, after a historic run-up in prices, is correcting. While that’s of little concession to current and would-be sellers, it’s not the end of the world either, especially if you don’t need to sell immediately. Economics elsewhere are encouraging. Recession doesn’t appear imminent. Wall Street appears healthy. Unemployment is low, and the general economy is good.

The market, as it always does, will reach equilibrium again, though probably not before mid-2008 or so, most economists estimate. So reset that panic button and sit back to raise a glass to 2007 as a transition year that will bring us one step closer to healthier home sales. In the meantime, take note of how home-buying and home-selling strategies change in a down market.
Here are seven selling tips and seven buying tips for ‘07 that could help save you a little grief in the short term and a lot of money in the long term.

7 selling tips for the down cycle:

1. Price to sell. If you really must sell now, don’t mess around. List your house based on what the market dictates today, not the prices that friends, relatives and co-workers got last winter or last spring.

2. Consider all credible offers. Holding fast for a better offer might put you in a situation where you’re merely playing catch-up with a moving market. Don’t assume there’ll always be another offer coming down the pike. You may need to come off your price 5 percent in some areas and 10 percent or more in others.

3. Offer to proffer. Buyers are requesting all kinds of enticements to spice the pot. Club memberships, prepaid lawn maintenance, moving-expense reimbursements, all appliances included and liberal repair credits are just a few possible throw-ins. Don’t be shocked if you hear, “Throw in that plasma TV and we’ve got a deal.” Consider in advance how far you’ll be willing to go, but draw the line, however, at “first-born child.”

4. Catch the wave at the source. Prepare your home for sale at the very earliest point this “spring” (actually early March or even late February), the time when seasonal buying interest is just starting to build.

5. Preserve your equity. Until the market stabilizes, refrain from borrowing from home equity (or raiding your 401(k), for that matter) to pay your bills, or for vacations and other purchases.

6. Gain in a sell-buy scenario. If you’ll be buying another home at the same time you’re selling your current one, the price reduction on the new one can compensate for the “loss” you’re taking on the old one. If you plan a “move up” to a better neighborhood and are paying 10 percent below list after selling your old home for 10 percent below list, your net dollar savings will actually be more.

7. Stay if possible. If you’re happy in your home and are meeting your expenses but want to sell due to continuing “housing bubble” fears, sit a spell. A home is a shelter first, and investment second. Except for a handful of markets that are still hyper-inflated, odds are that it will pay to ride out the storm. Generally, the early stages of a downturn are the scariest because that’s when amateur investors are dumping “spec” properties cheaply.

7 buying tips for the down cycle:

1. Negotiate with builders. Don’t be afraid to ask builders for concessions such as steep price discounts, closing-cost waivers, luxury upgrades, free landscaping, free trips and free club memberships. Many builder-incentive packages are worth 10 grand and up! In some markets such as Boston, new condos are selling for 20 percent less than they were in mid-to-late 2005.

2. Negotiate with home sellers. Unlike the go-go market of recent years, offers of 5 percent to 10 percent or more under asking price will not be inappropriate. (See “selling tips” for some of the throw-ins that buyers are being offered.)

3. Educated timing. Read up on local – not national – market trends, religiously read for-sale ads, and get a sense of what’s moving and where, then be prepared to jump on bargains, especially as the last of the speculators are being flushed out of the market and for-sale inventories are at their zenith.

4. Avoid hot spots. Stay away from buying homes in neighborhoods that appreciated significantly above average home prices in recent years – especially if you’re moving for the short term. Once prices in these hot spots are corrected, these often see slower upward movement or remain flat after the overall market heads north again.

5. Modesty is the best policy. Consider more modest homes in well-maintained, established neighborhoods. By contrast, pricing and re-pricing on expensive homes, new homes and new condos make those products riskier during down cycles.

6. Flexibility. For maximum flexibility in pouncing on the right deal, get preapproved for your home loan.

7. Follow fundamentals. Just because a lender will advance you money to live or build beyond your means doesn’t mean you’re standing on sound fiscal footing. At year-end 2006, $330 billion of adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, were creeping upward. Avoid risky interest-only loans and ARMs, opting for fixed-rate mortgages instead. And learn from the recent past: Don’t assume housing will appreciate enough in the near term to cover your home’s rising interest payments.

Courtesy of Bankrate.com

Poll: Voters Dislike Property-Sales Tax Swap

2007-04-01T23:21:00.000-05:00

Florida voters think the proposal to replace local property taxes with an increased sales tax is a “bad idea” and deep cuts in government budgets are a better alternative, a new poll released Thursday shows.

The poll, by the independent research arm of Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, found that voters reject the House Republicans’ controversial idea to exchange property taxes for higher sales taxes – but they like their idea of rolling back local government spending to 2001 levels.

The poll results are one more blow to the tax-swap plan, which is in serious trouble in the Senate, where leaders have all but rejected it, and in the House, where many Republicans privately say they don’t want to vote for it.

Voters may offer some direction: According to the poll, they prefer the rollback idea 69 percent to 23 percent, and oppose by a 48 percent to 44 percent margin eliminating the property tax on primary homes and replacing it with a 2.5 cent increase in the sales tax.

The divide was narrow when voters were asked if they are willing to accept lower government services in exchange for tax cuts. There, 49 percent of homeowners were willing to accept cuts, while 40 percent were opposed. Renters said they did not support cuts in services by a 44 percent to 40 percent margin.

Also popular: a constitutional amendment that would allow homeowners to take their “Save Our Homes” cap on tax assessments with them when they move; voters support such a “portability” concept by a 62 percent to 28 percent margin.

Less popular: a plan to repeal the “Save Our Homes” cap, which gives longtime homeowners a 3 percent cap on the increase of their annual tax assessment. Voters supported that idea 46 percent to 44 percent, but that is within the survey’s margin of error.

The poll of 1,061 Florida voters conducted March 21-27 had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

The poll also quizzed voters about Gov. Charlie Crist, and the results were overwhelmingly positive: The Republican governor won the approval of 82 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of independent voters. One in five Floridians, however, still had not made up their minds.

“Florida voters think he has kept his word to lower their property insurance rates and are optimistic he will do the same to their property taxes,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

In an open-ended question, voters indicated that property taxes have surpassed property insurance as the top concern of most Floridians. And both issues are more important today than education – a perennial top priority of voters on most polls in the past.

The survey also found what government and business groups have been telling lawmakers all month during the legislative session: Property tax relief should not be limited to homeowners. Voters say by a 70 percent to 24 percent margin that small businesses should also get a tax break this year.

Most voters don’t think renters and landlords deserve relief, however: Sixty-three percent opposed passing property tax breaks to renters and 54 percent opposed extending it to landlords.

Florida legislators have made property tax cuts their top priority this legislative session but, as they approach the half-way mark next week, they still have not reached a consensus on the best solution.

by: The Miami Herald, Mary Ellen Klas

Some FL Residents Trade to Beat Soft Market

2007-03-12T21:40:00.000-05:00

Two or three years ago, a South Florida homeowner looking to move could find a property, sign the papers and sell an existing house quickly to one breathless buyer or another.

But the new reality in the region's marshmallow-soft real estate market is that homes in Palm Beach and Broward counties languish for weeks or months without a showing, let alone an offer.

That ruins other deals contingent on buyers being able to unload their current properties. So savvy but skittish homeowners are considering an alternative: house-swapping.

They're turning to the Internet, hoping to find someone somewhere with whom to trade. In essence, they're willing to buy each other's homes as a way around the prolonged housing slump that analysts say could last into next year.

Eight months ago, Brian Karpf of Weston started Caretotrade.com, a Web site similar to Craigslist that lets people buy, sell, trade and barter items.

"I woke up one morning and there were 20 to 25 houses listed for trade," said Karpf, 25, a third-year law student at Florida International University. "I had no idea that people could trade houses."

Tarsha Graham is trying. She owns a triplex in Hollywood but expects to move to Maryland or Washington, D.C., soon. She's less than thrilled with the prospect of looking for a home there and having to sell her Broward County property.

So she posted the triplex on Caretotrade.com late last year. Graham hopes to find a resident of the mid-Atlantic region willing to swap properties. She's had a few inquiries but none that led to serious negotiations.

"With the market being so slow, it just opens up another avenue," said Graham, 37, who owns a social services agency in Miami.

Another likely house-trading scenario might involve empty-nesters who want to downsize and a young family looking for a larger home. The family trading up would pay the difference in the values of the properties, then buy the larger home.

The empty-nesters would use the cash they received from the family to help pay off the first mortgage and then buy the smaller house. As in any home sale, the parties negotiate a contract and both buyer and seller would likely seek property appraisals.

"I can see the attraction," said Jon Gelman, a Fort Lauderdale real estate lawyer and shareholder in the Greenberg Traurig firm. "Anyone who's trying to upsize or downsize, there's a concern: are they going to be able to sell the house they're in? A lot of insecurity makes it hard to sleep at night."

Caretotrade.com now has more than 400 real estate listings, and about three quarters of those are potential house swaps, Karpf said. Recent postings include: the owner of a home in Spring Hill, north of Tampa, looking to trade for a home in South Florida; and the owner of a condominium on Hollywood beach trying to trade for a home in New York or New Jersey.

Ira Shanes, of Boynton Beach, listed on Caretotrade last year, frustrated after a deal to buy a house fell through when he couldn't sell his existing property.

Shanes is concerned about falling prices. He said his three-bedroom home was appraised two years ago at $419,000; now it's worth roughly $360,000.

"There are just too many houses on the market right now," said Shanes, 29, who operates a Boynton Beach ultrasound company. "You just don't know for sure that your house is going to sell [the traditional way]."

There are, of course, potential roadblocks to trading. It's difficult to arrange if either homeowner owes more on the loan than the house is worth. And getting strangers to agree to swap properties is a bit of a long shot.

"It definitely is like trying to find a needle in a haystack," said Gelman, the lawyer.

For that reason, house-swapping remains a novelty. Real estate agents in Palm Beach and Broward counties say they seldom handle trades. The Florida Association of Realtors doesn't track the trades because the transactions are recorded as regular home sales.

Fort Lauderdale agent Marilynn Obrig said trading is a godsend for certain people, including investors stuck with large properties they can't sell. Trading down allows them to reduce their financial risks.

Wellington agent Jim Corbin said he has worked only three trades in 35 years but acknowledges the market's recent slide makes the concept worth considering.

"There are so few buyers out there that anything you can do to find one is a good thing," Corbin said. "People certainly are being creative these days."

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Paul Owers can be reached at powers@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6529.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-trade031207,0,1020779.story?coll=orl-home-promo

Savings A Boon To All Homeowners

2007-02-23T09:52:00.000-05:00

If you own a $250,000 home, the proposed replacement of property taxes with a 2.5-cent sales tax increase could save you so much you would have to amass more than $120,000 in taxable spending to offset the savings.

And if your home is worth $1 million, you might have to spend more than half a million dollars to use up your savings.

Alan Lips, a certified public accountant and partner in Miami Beach-based Gerson, Preston, Robinson & Co., calculated the net benefit to homeowners reflecting four home values and incomes for The Miami Herald.

The result: thousands in property tax savings for every level of homeownership.

“This is great for homeowners,” Lips said. “There is no doubt that it is saving them money, especially considering people are in a situation where they can’t move.”

Under current laws, homeowners who have lived in their homes for years, and have seen current values appreciate, would pay much higher property taxes if they move to another home.

“If this change is passed,” Lips said, “I think we are going to see a real spark in the real estate market.”

by: Ina Paiva Cordle, The Miami Herald

Renters Would Feel Sales-Tax Pinch

2007-02-22T09:49:00.000-05:00

For Sunday Lewandowski, making ends meet requires sharing a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate. Even so, the Miami Beach Senior High English teacher says about half her monthly income goes to rent.

While owners of homesteaded property may cheer the elimination of the property tax, Florida’s roughly 5.4 million renters are among those who could be hurt by a plan to raise the sales tax by 2.5 cents.

Renters make up 42 percent of households in Miami-Dade County and 31 percent in Broward County, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, and they were arguably among the hardest hit in the recent run-up on real estate values.

In the tri-county area, rents soared last year by 13.6 percent, as the supply of rentals plummeted because of increased demand and inventory losses to condo conversions.

Rents are expected to rise this year by 4 percent to 5 percent, said Jack McCabe, president of McCabe Research and Consulting in Deerfield Beach.

Adding to the tax burden of renters has sparked concerns among advocates for low-income people.

‘If this [proposed law] isn’t going to have an impact on rentals, but the low-income folks are going to see their sales tax go up, you are not going to accomplish the goal of helping working people hang on to the money they earn to make ends meet,’ said Abigail Vladek, a policy advocate for the Human Services Coalition of Dade County.

Lewandowski agreed, saying the bill would hurt essential professionals already priced out of the real estate market and forced to rent housing.

“If they are going to put a [2.5 cent] raise on taxes for the everyday working American like me, I’m not even going to be able to afford food or a new pair of shoes. Maybe it would be different if I was a doctor or a homeowner, but for me being a teacher?” Lewandowski said.

by: Monica Hatcher, The Miami Herald

Grove at Wesley Chapel Project Secures Note

2007-02-21T09:41:00.000-05:00

ECHO Real Estate Development Co. and Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors have secured financing for its planned 800,000-square-foot retail center in Wesley Chapel.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler arranged a $115 million construction loan with Anglo Irish Bank on behalf of the joint venture it arranged with ECHO and Cornerstone in late 2005. The financing allows for the project to begin development on the Grove at Wesley Chapel retail center located in Pasco County.

The development will be situated on approximately 120 acres at the intersection of Interstate 75 and State Road 54 and will be occupied by more than 90 retail tenants, a release said.

To date, more than 50 percent of the retail space is leased to a variety of tenants including Dick's Sporting Goods, Michaels, PetSmart, Ross, Bed, Bath & Beyond, ULTA, and a 16-screen Cobb Theatres megaplex. Total development costs are estimated to be $150 million and completion of the first phase of the project is scheduled for the fall of 2007.

"When Grove at Wesley Chapel opens in 2007, residents will be able to enjoy many of the favorites they've previously had to travel to reach, as well as a mix of retailers that are brand new to the Tampa Bay market," said William Krahe, managing partner, ECHO Real Estate Services in a release.

ECHO Real Estate Services is a real estate firm based in Pittsburgh that specializes in building regional power centers, rehabilitating under-performing assets, conducting property management and leasing, and managing syndication and joint venture projects, a release said. ECHO pursues development based on creating value through immediate return as well as long-term profitability, the firm said.

Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, based in Hartford, Conn., is the real estate management and advisory firm of MassMutual Financial Group. It manages real estate assets for insurance companies; public and corporate pension plans, Taft-Hartley plans, endowments and foundations. MassMutual Financial Group is the fleet name for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. and its affiliates, with more than 13 million clients and more than $395 billion in assets under management at year-end 2005.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler operates out of 18 offices nationally and is a provider of commercial real estate and capital market services to the commercial real estate industry. In 2005, it advised on approximately $32 billion of completed commercial real estate transactions.

from: Tampa Bay Business Journal

No Need to Pay Big Bucks for Copy of Deed

2007-02-17T09:55:00.000-05:00

Homebuyers can save a few dollars by being aware about a scam that is making the rounds.

New home buyers get an official-looking letter in the mail telling them that it is important to have a certified copy of their property deed. Consumer Reports warns that the companies selling these services use high-pressure sales tactics and charge as much as $100.

Chances are the buyers will get a copy of their deed at closing, but if they don’t, all they have to do is contact their county clerk or registrar’s office. The charge for a copy is less than $10. In some places, they can look at and print a noncertified copy of their deed from the Internet for free.

by: Marshall Loeb

Pending Home Sales Index Rises

2007-02-02T23:22:00.000-05:00

Pending home sales are higher, affirming the stabilization that is occurring in home sales, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in December, rose 4.9 percent to an index of 112.4 from an upwardly revised level of 107.2 in November, but is 4.4 percent lower than December 2005.

The monthly gain was the biggest increase since March 2004 when the index rose 6.9 percent. A steady narrowing from year-ago readings has been observed since last July when the level of unsold housing inventory peaked at an all-time high.

David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said a moderate rise in existing-home contracts is a welcome relief for the real estate markets. “Some of the monthly gain may be weather-related, but it appears buyers are becoming more comfortable, sensing the timing is good and that their local market has bottomed out,” he said. “I expect modest sales gains throughout the year, with what I believe are sustainable levels of activity. 2007 promises to be the fourth best year on record.”

The index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed and the transaction has not closed, but the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.

An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the first year to be examined and the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales. There is a closer relationship between annual changes in the index and actual market performance than with month-to-month comparisons.

The upturn was broad based, with all regions showing an increase. The PHSI in the Northeast jumped 8.1 percent in December to 89.9 but was 4.8 percent below a year ago. The index in the West rose 5.3 percent to 112.2 but was 4.9 percent below December 2005. The index in the South increased 4.3 percent to 129.8 but was 4.2 percent lower than a year earlier. In the Midwest, the index was up 3.2 percent in December to 103.2 but was 4.3 percent below December 2005.

Florida's Existing Housing Market

2007-01-25T10:27:00.000-05:00

Florida's existing housing market: Median price up, sales down in 2006.

Florida’s housing market mirrored the national trend in 2006, with sales of existing single-family homes slowing to a more sustainable pace following a five-year run of record closings. By year’s end, a total of 180,037 homes changed hands statewide for a 28 percent decrease compared to the 248,575 homes sold in 2005, according to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). At the same time, 2006 sales figures made it into the record books for several markets around the state; 2006 also is expected to be the third highest sales year on record nationally, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

Statewide, the median existing home sales price rose 6 percent to reach $248,300; in 2005, it was $235,200. In 2001, Florida’s median existing home sales price was $127,700, which represents a gain of 94.4 percent over the five-year period, according to FAR records.

“The housing market transitioned to a more sustainable balance during 2006, coming off the record-setting sales pace and price gains of the previous five years,” says 2007 FAR President Nancy Riley. “Changes in the marketplace mean it’s more important than ever for consumers to turn to a Florida Realtor – someone they can rely on to help them understand the true history of homebuying and selling in their local areas.

“With mortgage rates continuing to remain historically low, stable home prices and at last, some inventory, now is the time to take advantage of the homeownership opportunities we have throughout the Sunshine State,” she adds. “Along with the tangible benefits of owning a home, such as building household wealth and stability, there are so many other intangible assets. When you buy a home, you’re not just creating an investment that makes dollars and cents; you’re making an investment in your family and in your future – and that’s priceless!”

NAR’s latest housing market outlook anticipates modest quarterly gains for home sales in 2007, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage expected to rise to 6.7 percent by the fourth quarter of this year. “Home sales appear to have bottomed out, having reached a cyclical low in September of last year,” notes NAR Chief Economist David Lereah, who predicts that 2007 will represent a year of stability for the housing sector.

Looking to Florida's existing condominium market, sales of existing condos also decreased in 2006, with a total of 55,594 condos sold statewide compared to 83,049 in 2005 for a 33 percent decrease, according to FAR. The statewide median sales price for condos in 2006 was $211,300; a year ago, it was $209,900 for a 1 percent increase.

In 2006, the rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.1 percent; in 2005, the average rate was 5.87 percent. FAR’s sales figures reflect closings, which typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

Among the state’s larger metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), Orlandoreported a total of 27,212 existing homes sold last year, down 26 percent than the area’s 2005 sales activity, when 36,727 homes changed hands. The existing-home median sales price rose 14 percent to $262,900; the year before, it was $231,400. A total of 4,933 existing condos sold in the Orlando market in 2006, a 2 percent increase over the 4,833 condos sold the year before. The existing condo median price for the area was $166,100, a 3 percent decrease from the 2005 figure of $171,100.

“The year 2006 was the second best year on record for the Orlando area housing market,” says Randy Martin, president of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association and broker-associate with RE/MAX 200 Realty Inc. in Winter Park. “A driving force behind the market this year is that builders have all this new inventory out there, so they’re offering these incredible incentives to clear and move their inventory of new homes. At the same time, they’re reducing plans to build new development. The anticipation is that builders will ‘burn’ their supply of available homes sometime in mid-2007. It’s why right now is an outstanding time to buy, plus the interest rates are still low. And looking to 2007, we anticipate another strong year, with opportunities for buyers and sellers.”

In the state's smaller markets, the Gainesville MSA reported 3,174 homes sold last year, a 21 percent decrease over the 3,993 homes sold the previous year. The existing-home median sales price rose 19 percent to $213,200; the year before, it was $179,200. The Gainesville market reported a total of 1,284 existing condos changed hands in 2006, up 10 percent from the 1,171 condos sold the previous year. The existing condo median price was $153,400; in 2005, it was $135,300 for a 13 percent increase.

“Gainesville is just a great place to live – being a university town, there’s so much going on whether your interests are the arts, music or sports,” says Sherry Patrick, president of the Gainesville Alachua County Association of Realtors and broker-associate with Coldwell Banker M.M. Parrish Realtors in Gainesville. “The university provides a stable economic base and attracts many other businesses and industry to our area. Our housing market has stayed pretty strong, and we anticipate another good year in 2007. It’s a great time to buy: interest rates are still low and homeownership opportunities are available.”

from: Florida Association of Realtors

NAR Launches Second Phase of ‘Buy Now’ Campaign

2007-01-09T18:56:00.000-05:00

National Association of Realtors® (NAR) President Pat Vredevoogd Combs today unveils two new television and radio commercials that encourage buyers and sellers to ignore the real estate bubble talk and take advantage of remarkably favorable market conditions in most locales – conditions that may not last.

The advertisements kick off NAR’s 2007 Public Awareness Campaign, which is doubling in size this year so that NAR ads will air from January through November for the first time ever. The commercial targeted to buyers, “Good Time to Buy,” highlights favorable conditions for homebuyers and explains how Realtors can help buyers make smart decisions in their local marketplace. The sellers’ spot, “Know How to Sell,” explains how Realtors can help sellers position their homes in a competitive marketplace to attract and engage serious buyers.

The Public Awareness Campaign, one of NAR’s most popular membership services, enters its tenth season this year, building brand awareness and differentiating Realtorsfrom other licensees. The 2007 campaign also includes new materials that support Realtors who specialize in commercial real estate, including print advertisements, posters, bus shelters and billboards.

NAR’s “Buy Now” campaign launched with full-page newspaper ads in the nation’s six largest newspapers last November, and widespread national publicity.

NAR has posted the ads and additional information on its member Web site, http://www.realtor.org.

from: Florida Association of Realtors

How To Make Your Home Worth More in 2007

2007-01-03T23:27:00.000-05:00

Boosting the value of your home is never an easy task. It takes time, money, and – when your kitchen’s covered in plastic tarp – weeks of pizza delivery. And with home prices still sliding in many parts of the country, getting a return on your investment is now tougher than ever. Luckily, there is a secret to smart remodeling in a buyer’s market: do as much as you can with as little as possible.

Homeowners may have learned this lesson last year, when big spending on home improvement did not lead to big profits. According to Remodeling Magazine’s 2006 “Cost vs. Value” report, prices for most remodeling projects increased last year while their resale value decreased. Major, mid-range kitchen remodels, at an average cost of $54,000, returned just 80.4 percent in 2006 vs. a 91 percent return on $43,862 in 2005. Even the most profitable project in 2006 – upscale fiber-cement siding replacement – recouped just 88 percent of its total cost.

Americans spent $155 billion on home improvements and repairs in 2006, a 2.8 percent increase over 2005’s total, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The Center estimates that we will spend over $160 billion in 2007, but if resale prices continue to lag behind remodeling costs, the pricey projects won’t pay off.

Know thy neighbor

What’s an ambitious homeowner to do? First, rule out needless projects by comparing your home to the others in your neighborhood. Ask your real estate agent for a list of homes for sale nearby so you can see what is being offered, and take advantage of open houses.

“You want to make sure you can turn apples into apples before you make any improvements,” says Sid Davis, author of Home Makeovers That Sell: Quick And Easy Ways to Get the Highest Possible Price. “If you put in granite countertops and everyone else has laminate, your house could end up overpriced.”

You will probably want to focus on the areas that are most important to prospective buyers – the exterior, the kitchen, and the bathrooms – and skip over frivolous renovations and additions of offices, sun rooms, and master suites. The least profitable project in 2006 was a home-office remodel, which returned 63.4 percent of remolding costs at resale.

Once you have narrowed down your options, stick to minor improvements. While major upscale kitchen projects, costing an average of $107,000, recouped just 75.9 percent of their cost in resale in 2006, minor kitchen remodels, costing $18,000 on average, did much better, with an average return of 85.2 percent.

Channel your inner handyman (or woman)

Of course, remodeling on a budget means more work for you. But do-it-yourself projects can have a major impact on a home’s value, and they can be as simple as cleaning up.

“Have your mother-in-law come over and give you a report on how clean it is,” says Davis. Then, starting with the front yard, eliminate all waste and clutter. Weed the garden and mow the lawn. Wash the siding and walls. Scrub the kitchen and bathroom. Shampoo the carpets.

“The cleaner, brighter, and more spacious a home appears, the quicker it sells, and for a lot more than a house in a ‘homey’ state,” says Sharon Rizzo, principal of Chicago-based real estate investment firm Rizzo Realty Group.

For the handier among us, tiling can be an amusing way to perk up the kitchen or bathroom. Discontinued tile can cost as little as $1.50 per square foot, and stores such as Home Depot (HD) and Lowes (LOW) even offer tiling classes. Refinishing kitchen cabinets is also much easier than you might think. Sand, apply a lighter stain or finish [this will make the kitchen seem bigger], and replace old knobs and handles with new stylish ones.

When all else fails, a few coats of semi-gloss paint in a light color can go a long way, making your walls appear brighter and your rooms seem larger.

Do your homework

Given last year’s smaller returns, the forecast for increasing your home’s worth in 2007 may still not look promising, but your specific situation may put you at an advantage. “Many factors affect a home’s value and, consequently, the resale value of any given remodeling project,” says Pat Vredevoogd Combs, president of the National Association of Realtors, in reaction to the 2006 “Cost vs. Value” report.

As always, your local real estate market is one important factor to consider before remodeling your home. Last year, homeowners in the Pacific region [Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, and California] saw the highest percentages of remodeling costs returned in resale. Minor mid-range [$19,000] kitchen remodels in that region recouped 106.4 percent of their project cost in resale, while mid-range [$15,000] bathroom remodels had 103.2 percent returns.

In general, hot markets, such as Seattle – which is expected to see a 3.6 percent increase in median home price and 4.7 percent jump in housing starts in 2007 – usually see higher returns on home improvement projects.

A good agent can spot buyer turnoffs, advise you what to improve, and figure out your home’s true worth based on the local market. If you have made all the necessary improvements and you still don’t like what you hear, simply wait for the storm to pass, and in the meantime, enjoy the fruits of your labor.

“Real estate will always be a safe investment,” says Rizzo. “If you can hold on to your property during the market’s current state of softened appreciation, you will see the market turn in favor of sellers in the not-so-distant future.”

by The McGraw-Hill Cos., Business Week Online, Maya Roney

Homeowners Insurance Is Top Legislative Issue

2007-01-02T10:05:00.000-05:00

The issues Floridians consider most pressing - the homeowners insurance crisis and property taxes - dominate the roster of bills filed by lawmakers for 2007.

That's not to say state senators and representatives don't have their pet causes, from raising the legal smoking age to 21 to keeping children from riding in the beds of pickup trucks.

And a few new issues could land on the floor of the House and Senate, maybe even reaching the governor's desk.

Remember those annoying computer-generated, prerecorded campaign phone calls that interrupted your dinner during the election season? Rep. Stan Jordan, R-Jacksonville, considers them "an epidemic-proportion nuisance" and has introduced legislation banning the practice.

Lawmakers will gather in Tallahassee on Jan. 16 for a weeklong special session on insurance. The regular session begins March 6.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, had been expecting insurance to top lawmakers' concerns.

"A few years ago, it was fighting crime, and education," Fasano said. "But we saw in this past election, it was a surprise to many - especially those who did polling - they never saw [interest] so high on homeowners insurance."

Read full article by Jerome R. Stockfisch, The Tampa Tribune

No End in Sight in Cheval Fight

2006-12-31T17:35:00.000-05:00

The country club is partly boarded up. The homeowners association is hemorrhaging legal fees.

Yet for many residents of Cheval, one of north Hillsborough's most esteemed gated neighborhoods, December was to be a month of hope.

They expected a jury to end a 21/2-year court fight and decide whether townhouses can squeeze in beside the driving range of Cheval Golf & Country Club. Instead, new battle lines have sprung up.

Two young developers, heirs to vast fortunes earned in the Outback and Shoney's restaurant chains, have entered the fray, seeking to rearrange the golf course. They want to build 93 townhouses that would cover up the 18th fairway and green, split the eighth and ninth holes and crowd the first tee.

Separately, new houses have been proposed in place of the barn and paddocks of the 25-acre Cheval Equestrian Center.

Cheval means "horse" in French and originally was marketed as a polo community. But under this proposal, Cheval's horsehead logo would be the last horse left in Cheval.

On Dec. 6, homeowners voted 9-1 to send their lawyers into battle against the plans. In the annual board election Dec. 13, every candidate opposed the new development.

The problem begins

Cheval splashed into Tampa's imagination in the 1980s as a wealthy equestrian enclave on the county's rural frontier.

It grew in two parts. More than 500 homes went up in Cheval East, the older, statelier portion. Cheval West has more homes, on generally smaller lots. Cheval East has Cheval Golf & Country Club, a tennis center and a chateau-like clubhouse.

What it doesn't have is a large banquet hall. Rand Gentry, the lightning rod through most of this controversy, contends that's where the problem begins.

Gentry is a 62-year-old developer who moved to Cheval in 1995. He bought 23 lots in Cheval West and began developing them for million-dollar houses. And he began eyeing a horse farm just across the wall from the country club's 8th green.

Gentry also became president of Cheval's financially ailing country club. He concluded the club could make ends meet only if it were subsidized by a banquet business.

On Nov. 20, 2003, Gentry merged his two interests. As a majority owner of two investment groups, he bought the country club for $2.7-million and the horse farm for $1-million. He proposed upgrading the country club and paying for it by selling land for homes.

But these plans sent blood boiling in Cheval East. He wanted to build up to 99 townhouses on the fringe of the driving range, where Cheval East residents thought development was banned.

Read full article by Bill Coats, St Pete Times

Office Demand Mark Commercial Real Estate in 2006

2006-12-29T12:25:00.000-05:00

New elements altered the Tampa skyline in 2006 while existing structures continued to trade at slightly reduced prices after two years of feverish investment.

Sales of longtime office buildings attracted far less money over the past year compared with prices approaching the $200-a-square-foot mark during 2004 and 2005. The 38-story Tampa City Center building was purchased in late September for $87.8 million, or $119 per square foot.

Park Tower, Tampa's oldest office skyscraper, went for $50 million, or $105 per square foot, in mid-January with Colonial Bank's logo replacing the Lykes family brand atop the 35-story structure.

While office sales lost their lead, investment in retail property entered record territory with the April sale of Northbay Commerce Center in Oldsmar for $28.9 million, roughly $300 a square foot. Also, the Walter's Crossing complex in Tampa sold in July for nearly $35 million, around $100 a square foot.

Making progress
Progress Energy Florida's 16-story headquarters opened to its first employees this fall, who will greet others moving in through spring as interior floors are finished. Before the 245,000-square-foot building was even finished, an out-of-state brokerage put it on the market with an asking price of $77 million -- an unprecedented $314 a square foot.

Falling vacancy rates and continued job growth prompted nearly 1.5 million square feet of new office projects throughout the Bay area this year.

Highwoods Preserve, the massive 800,000-square-foot campus along Interstate 75 north of Tampa that took roughly a year and a half to backfill, actually added a 115,000-square-foot building for MetLife Inc. with construction starting in April. And work began in May on Highwoods Bay Center, a 209,000-square-foot speculative waterfront building in the Westshore business district.

Other commercial real estate transactions of interest over the last 12 months include the $10.7 million sale of a former Honeywell International circuit board plant at Waters and Himes avenues in Tampa. Honeywell bought the 17-acre industrial property in June to settle a decades-old dispute with property trustee David Simon over prior contamination.

Meridian Development Group made the year's biggest industrial deal just a few days into the new year, buying a former Winn-Dixie distribution center in Sarasota for $30 million. The 948,578-square-foot warehouse is being subdivided for large industrial tenants needing 100,000 square feet or more.

Other large commercial properties that were put on the market in 2006 remained there by year's end. Glimcher Realty Trust put University Mall in Tampa, the Bay area's largest with 1.3 million square feet, up for sale in May along with four others around the Southeast.

Two of Pasco County's three major retail developments made significant progress over the past year. Shops at Wiregrass and the Grove at Wesley Chapel went up against each other for various tenants, while Cypress Creek Town Center remained bogged down in government permitting.

Choppy waters
Residential condominium towers seemed to spring up everywhere from Clearwater Beach to Gandy Boulevard in 2006, along with an additional upscale hotel in downtown Tampa and the first new office building in St. Petersburg's central business district in the last 16 years.

Some well-located urban buildings were taken down over the summer to make way for new construction.

A former federal building in downtown St. Petersburg was demolished for replacement by a residential/office condominium tower called Signature Place. Across the Bay, the old Maas Bros. buildings in downtown Tampa will eventually be replaced with Six Ten Franklin, a planned condo/retail project.

However, not all aging buildings are being knocked down in the name of progress. Tampa's Floridan Hotel, built in 1926 and at one time the tallest building along the Gulf Coast, is undergoing a multimillion-dollar restoration with a gala reopening planned late next year.

Adding to Tampa's hotel selections this year was the 20-story Embassy Suites Hotel Tampa-Downtown Convention Center. The $100 million project adds 360 rooms to the city's urban accommodations.

Shoppers in the Bay area were given more options as national retailers opened additional stores. Kohl's Corp., which made its local debut in Lakeland in 2005, added three more locations in Brandon, Clearwater and Lutz, and is expected to open additional stores in the coming year.

by Carl Cronan, Tampa Bay Business Journal

2006 Top 10 Real Estate Stories

2006-12-22T20:08:00.000-05:00

With 2007 around the corner, it's time to reflect on the major real estate events shaping the industry in Florida this year. Here are FAR's picks for the Top 10 Real Estate News Stories of 2006.

1. Property insurance: The imperfect storm

Take a couple bad hurricane years, an insurance industry that fears bankruptcy should a Category 5 hurricane hit, and a state-run insurer apparently charging too little to cover claims. Mix in a dash of new laws that help insurers more than homeowners and shake well to create a property insurance crisis. It’s a difficult issue to understand and even tougher to solve; but the problem now threatens residents throughout the state, with devastating consequences for property owners along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Many Floridians today can pay the mortgage but not the property insurance premium. Citizen’s Property Insurance Corp., the state-owned insurer of last resort, was created as a backup for homeowners that could not get insurance elsewhere, and in the early stages was expected to fade into history. But in July 2006, Citizens became the largest homeowners insurance provider in Florida and now has over 1.3 million policyholders. Earlier this month, the company created a Web site, www.CitizensForABetterCitizens.com, where complaints may be filed, and one writer summed up the troubles: “We can’t even sell our house to move out of Florida. We’re going to go bankrupt! We need help now!”

2. Changing market conditions: From sellers to buyers

The pace of existing home and condo sales in Florida and nationally slowed down significantly in 2006; and, coming on the heels of a five-year record run of sales, the changing conditions reflected a housing market unfamiliar to newer Realtors®. The Florida Association of Realtors’ (FAR) latest (October 2006) housing sales figures report a decrease of 22 percent from the number of homes sold one year earlier; but the existing-home median price remained level at $242,500. Existing condo sales in October fell 31 percent in the same timeframe, while the median price dropped 2 percent to $209,200. But the worst may have passed: Some markets report that the supply of homes available for sale appears to be stabilizing with sales prices leveling. Other good news for 2007: the National Association of Realtors (NAR) predicts that existing-home sales in the U.S. are expected to stay at about the same level; many analysts believe that interest rates will remain at historically low levels; homebuyers will see more opportunities; and, nationwide, home prices will trend upward or remain stable. And in good news for commercial practitioners, a fourth quarter survey of Florida real estate trends by the University of Florida (UF) notes that that occupancy rates are stable or increasing in most markets, including apartments, office buildings, retail space and industry warehouse/distribution space.

3. Property taxes: You can’t take it with you

Property values skyrocketed and property taxes followed suit – unless you have a homestead exemption. Because Florida’s Save Our Homes constitutional amendment shields homesteaded residential owners from a yearly property tax increase greater than 3 percent, governments increasingly rely on non-homesteaded property – second homes and commercial businesses – to raise funds. And homesteaded owners save money, but many times find themselves stuck in their current house, afraid to downsize or upsize because they can’t afford the property taxes that revert to current value at the time of sale. Many solutions have been proposed, though portability – taking current homesteaded tax savings to a new home – remains the hottest recommendation. But the details could derail substantial change as lawmakers weigh the costs and benefits of many options. Should all property owners, including commercial, be allowed to transfer savings? Does it work within counties or throughout Florida? Even if agreement is reached, change comes slowly. “Since property taxes are addressed in the Florida Constitution, substantive change can only be accomplished through the Constitution,” says Trey Goldman, FAR legislative counsel. “And unless a special election is held, that occurs only every two years.”

4. Hurricanes 2006: Predictions all wet

After Nov. 30, 2006, Floridians breathed a sigh of relief when this year’s hurricane season ended with a whimper – a welcome respite after the devastating 2004 and 2005 seasons, when eight hurricanes struck the state. Not a single hurricane made landfall in 2006, a feat not repeated since 2001 and only the 11th time on record. Most forecasters offered explanations on why their forecasts fell short, since most predicted an above-average hurricane season last spring; at the same time, they reminded residents that 2007 could see a reemergence of the destructive storms. “This year was a break, not a shift,” said research meteorologist Stanley Goldenberg with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We still see all the oceanic and atmospheric signals that we’re in an above-average era. But, even in an active cycle, you have slow years.” While Mother Nature may have given property owners a break this year, insurers aren’t likely to follow suit when it comes to skyrocketing homeowners’ insurance premiums. Insurance experts pointed out that one quiet season would not drive the marketplace “substantially downward,” citing new risk modeling software, rating agency requirements, higher construction costs and continued development in coastal areas as other factors that influence pricing. Instead, the insurance industry is viewing the 2006 season as a catch-up year to make up losses. To help ease the pain of higher premiums, the Florida Legislature gave $250 million to My Safe Florida Home, a pilot program created to help better protect Floridians by strengthening their homes against hurricanes and to reduce the state’s exposure to hurricane damage. The program launched in August, and when the first phase ended in November, state officials announced that they had achieved their goal to conduct 12,000 inspections, and were on track to complete another 40,000 inspections in 2007.

5. Eminent domain laws: Blight? What blight? I don’t see any blight.

In 2005, Americans discovered something shocking following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling: The government could take private homes and hand the property to a private developer who could, in turn, build a for-profit business on the site. With homeownership often considered a sacred right to U.S. citizens, the response was fast and furious, and 47 states took up the issue in 2006. In Florida, lawmakers this year passed HB 1567 and HJR 1569, which tighten existing definitions of blighted property and only allow governments to take property that is an immediate threat to public safety or health.

6. Exotic mortgage backlash: No closing costs! Low, looow monthly payments!

“Exotic” loan is a misnomer – these are easy to get and hard to ignore. Homebuyers need financial vehicles that help them afford the rising costs of homes in Florida, and lenders, to remain competitive, must offer new products to maintain market share. In 2006 alone, more than 15 percent of new South Florida home loans were “payment-option adjustable-rate.” Buyers sometimes paid just interest; in some cases, they paid even less. But if that many homeowners live on the financial edge, some will stumble and fall. Federal officials, worried about the resulting instability within the nation’s banking system if bankruptcies rise, issued guidelines to lenders designed to cut down on the number of exotic mortgages. As of Sept. 30, 2.76 percent of 3.3 million mortgages in Florida were more than 30 days past due, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says. That’s up from 2.47 percent of 3.1 million mortgages a year ago, and a slight uptick from June. But consumer demand has not waned for exotic mortgages; and at the end of the year, exotic mortgages can easily be found, and homebuyers continue to use them. Still, Florida’s overall delinquency rate ranks below the national average, and the foreclosure rate of 0.60 percent – or about one foreclosure for every 19,800 loans – is also well below the national rate of 1.05 percent.

7. Constitutional amendments: Change is not always good

Two proposed amendments to the Florida Constitution remained on the back burner this year, but in 2007 and 2008 they’ll likely move to the front burner and catch fire. Proposed by citizens and outside the usual legislative process, these amendments must first have their wording approved by the Florida Supreme Court to make sure voters understand the issue, but the court does not rule on the initiative itself. Then, with enough voter signatures collected, they appear on the Florida ballot. The so-called Hometown Democracy constitutional amendment would give voters – not the elected officials who serve on city and county commissions – final say on all zoning decisions. Another amendment, called FAIR (Floridians Against Inequities in Rates), could lead to additional sales taxes, including possibly a sales tax on Realtor commissions. FAIR failed to pass Supreme Court muster in November, though its sponsor promises to bring the issue back. One bright light: Voters approved an amendment in November that raises the bar on amendments, mandating that any approval must garner 60 percent (plus one) of the vote to pass. Previously, the threshold for constitutional amendments was 50 percent (plus one).

8. DOJ case against NAR: Display foray

How should Realtor associations and MLSs share and display listings on the Internet? It’s a simple question with only complicated answers. The U.S. Department of Justice claims that NAR policies governing display of MLS listing information on the Internet (including both the rescinded VOW policy and the new Internet Listing Display, or ILD, policy) violate federal antitrust laws. NAR strongly disagrees with the government’s contentions and vigorously defends both the MLS as a vehicle for broker-to-broker cooperation as well as the ability of a listing broker to control the use of listings on the Internet. NAR moved to have the case dismissed – a long shot – but lost this first round on Nov. 27, 2006. Negotiations between NAR and DOJ continue, however, and the issue could be resolved in 2007.

9. Mortgage fraud: Home is where the fraud is

Mortgage fraud has mushroomed into one of the fastest-growing white-collar crimes in the country, usually leaving homebuyers on the hook with overpriced houses – and leading to higher interest rates for everyone. However, the draw to own a home is so strong that many buyers willingly stretch the truth on applications (lie) or believe those who tell them they can get a bottom-line mortgage rate even with poor credit. With higher home prices and first-time homebuyers no longer able to jump into the market, the pressure to commit fraud – and the number of people who did so – increased in 2006.

10. Health insurance reform: Not dead, just comatose

Here’s the big news in 2006 on an NAR-backed initiative to allow associations, such as NAR, to offer health insurance to their members at reduced rates: It didn’t happen. It came close and the U.S. House and Senate agreed on more details than they had earlier. Will it pass in 2007? Maybe; maybe not. But Realtors will continue to lobby and a new slate of lawmakers may turn the tide.

From: Florida Association of Realtors

Essay Helps Family Win Dream Home

2006-12-22T10:52:00.000-05:00

Ria Gumbs starts preparing in November for her shot at the American dream.

The 33-year-old wife and mother of four from Trinidad enters an essay contest through an agency that helps people find affordable homes.

The prize: a brand new house.

Gumbs and her 10-year-old son, Israel, pour out their hearts on paper. The family desperately needs to leave behind apartment life, where Israel shares a room with his two brothers and sister.

They keep the white walls free from shelves and too many pictures —holes might put a dent in deposit refunds. Furniture is at a minimum. Six people in a 975-square-foot box can make it hard to get around.

Ria sticks the 500-word essay on the refrigerator door for safe keeping, but somehow it is lost. With only days before the contest deadline, mother and son sit down and start again.

“We have no infirmaties or unfortunate circumstances to highlight,” they write. “Our need comes from a belief that if you work hard, follow the rules and have faith you will eventually be rewarded.”

Ria knows her entry will be among hundreds. How can she make it stand out?

She’s a woman with imagination. Ria gets her children and husband, Glen, to fashion a miniature version of their dream home from cardboard with one of 3-year-old Nehemiah’s toy cars parked in the driveway.

Elijah, 13, makes a top 10 list of reasons the Gumbs need a house.

No. 1: Space, space and more space. No. 3: The possibility of a TV in my room – priceless. No. 5: My little brother thinks a patio is a back yard, and a screen is a fence.

Ria puts the essay inside the little house and delivers it in person.

The gimmick opens the door. The Gumbs are among 14 entries chosen from more than 200. Then, the list whittles to four. Ria can barely breathe. They’re still in the game.

She tries not to get her hopes too high. Even if the family doesn’t win, the Housing & Education Alliance promises to help them find a way to buy a house.

The nonprofit agency offers first-time homebuyers programs and financial education.

Ria concentrates on her job at Dots Fashions clothing store, but she can’t stop thinking about her dream.

Read full article by Sherri Ackerman, The Tampa Tribune

Allstate Backtracks on Rate Hike Request

2006-12-21T20:21:00.000-05:00

Allstate Floridian is willing to cut its proposed 2007 rate increase in half. At least for now.

When Allstate officials went before state regulators last month to ask for a 19 percent statewide rate increase, they were told to come back when they had reworked their numbers.

Monday, Allstate did just that, returning with a request for less than half of what they originally sought - an average 8.1 percent increase for homeowners and 6.9 percent for condo owners.

But the state's third-largest property insurer also left the door open for more increases.

"We are going to continue to pursue whatever options we need to ensure we have adequate claims paying capacity," Allstate spokesman Adam Shores said Tuesday. "This is an initial part of what we need."

Regulators are in the process of reviewing Allstate's amended rate request.

by Tom Zucco, St Pete Times

Investors Buying Commercial Properties at Record Pace

2006-12-15T09:07:00.000-05:00

The commercial real estate markets continue to grow with record investment, and individual sectors in many areas are seeing tighter vacancy rates and higher rents, according to the latest Commercial Real Estate Outlook from National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

“The office and industrial markets continue to shine, supported by job growth and trade, while the rental apartment sector is seeing healthy rent increases,” says David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist. “The retail sector is essentially flat, but the hotel industry is doing better than at any time since 2001.”

James Marrelli, NAR vice president of commercial real estate, notes there is a record flow of capital into commercial real estate. “Institutional investors, pension funds and foreign investors have focused on commercial-grade properties to diversify portfolio assets, with expectations of solid long-term gains.”

Outside of the hotel sector, more than $236 billion in commercial real estate transaction volume was recorded in the first 10 months of 2006, up from $231.9 billion in the same period of 2005. The totals do not include properties valued at less than $5 million.

The NAR forecast for five major commercial sectors includes analysis of quarterly data for various metro areas provided by Torto Wheaton Research and Real Capital Analytics.

Office Market

A reduction in speculative construction of new office space, along with growth in office jobs, means there are positive fundamentals for most market areas.

Office vacancy rates are projected to drop to an average of 12.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, from an estimated 12.9 percent currently – the lowest since 2001; at the end of 2005 they were 13.6 percent. Annual rent growth in the office sector next year is expected to be 5.2 percent, after rising 4.3 percent in 2006.

Areas with the lowest office vacancies currently include New York City; Ventura County, Calif.; Miami; Orange County, Calif.; Honolulu; and Riverside, Calif., all with vacancy rates of 8.9 percent or less.

Net absorption of office space in 56 markets tracked, which includes the leasing of new space coming on the market as well as space in existing properties, is likely to be 71.7 million square feet in 2007, compared with 73.7 million this year.

Office building transaction volume in 2006 has been fueled by portfolio acquisitions, privatization of real estate investment trusts (REITs), and mergers within commercial real estate. Office buildings this year have accounted for 48 percent of the transaction volume in all commercial sectors, with more than $105 billion trading hands during the first 10 months of 2006, a 36 percent increase from the same period last year.

Industrial Market

Trade is continuing to drive warehouse space, creating a landlord’s market in many areas around the country. Available space is the tightest the market has seen since 2001.

Vacancy rates in the industrial sector are forecast to average 9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, down from 9.5 percent in the current quarter. Annual rent growth should be 3.8 percent by the end of next year, compared with a 1.7 percent annual increase in the current quarter.

Trade with China in particular is impacting demand on both coasts. Traffic in Southern California is so congested that ships are traveling through the Panama Canal to get their cargo to East Coast markets, notably in Florida.

The areas with the lowest industrial vacancies currently are West Palm Beach, Fla.; Los Angeles; Miami; Orange County, Calif.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and Tampa, all with vacancy rates of 5.5 percent or less.

Net absorption of industrial space in 54 markets tracked will probably total 231.1 million square feet in 2007, up from 191.3 million this year.

Industrial transaction volume during the first 10 months of 2006 totaled $32 billion, placing 2006 on track to set a record. During the same period in 2005, transaction volume was $28 billion.

Retail Market

Vacancy rates in the retail sector should hold at 8.1 percent through 2007, which would be unchanged from the estimate for the current quarter. Average retail rent is projected to grow 1.2 percent next year, after contracting 0.4 percent in 2006.

Much of the lackluster performance is due to persisting vacancies in regional malls, impacted by the merger of Federated Department Stores and the May Co. Department Stores. Strip centers anchored by a grocery store seem to be enjoying the best demand from both a retail rental and investment perspective.

Retail markets with the lowest vacancies currently include Las Vegas; Orange County, Calif.; San Jose, Calif.; Oakland, Calif.; San Francisco; and Honolulu, all with vacancies of 4.2 percent or less.

Net absorption of retail space in 54 tracked markets is likely to total 18.1 million square feet next year, up from 6.8 million in 2006.

Private investors accounted for 64 percent of retail transaction volume during the first 10 months of 2006, with a total retail investment volume of $33.8 billion, down from $41.1 billion during the same period of last year.

Read more from FAR

Study: $16.35/Hour Needed To Afford A Place in FL

2006-12-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

The Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom Florida apartment is $850. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities – without paying more than 30 percent of income on housing – a household must earn $2,834 monthly or $34,007 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into a housing wage of $16.35 per hour, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s (NLIHC) annual Out of Reach report released yesterday.

In Florida, a minimum wage worker earns an hourly wage of $6.40. In order to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage earner must work 102 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, according to the report. Or a household must include 2.6 minimum wage earners working 40 hours per week year-round in order to make the two-bedroom FMR affordable.

According to NLIHC, the cost of affordable rental housing climbed again across the nation in 2006. The national two-bedroom housing wage climbed to $16.31 nationally, up from $15.78 last year – the hourly wage a full time worker must earn in order to afford a two-bedroom home at his or her community’s Fair Market Rent (FMR).

“Every year it is becoming more difficult for low income families to find decent homes they can afford,” said NLIHC President Sheila Crowley. “As we approach the holiday season with its intense focus on consumer spending, Out of Reach shows the difficulty that millions of low-income families face to even pay for their homes.”

While the national two-bedroom housing wage stands at $16.31, in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, the median hourly wage for all workers was $14 and the estimated average renter wage was $12.64. Minimum wage earners are unable to afford even a one-bedroom home anywhere in the country, and 88 percent of renters in cities live in areas where the FMR for a two-bedroom rental is not affordable even with two minimum wage jobs.

Congressman Frank wrote in the report’s preface, “Unfortunately, for the past few years, affordable housing for low income people has not only been ‘out of reach,’ it has been ‘out of sight,’” says Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA).

The data can also be viewed by Florida county and nationally. For specific information visit the NLIHC Web site at: www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2006/.

from: Florida Association of Realtors

PMI Paid in 2007 To Be Tax Deductible

2006-12-12T17:21:00.000-05:00

Homeowners who pay less than 20 percent down must many times pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI), but a law recently passed by Congress makes that cost fully deductible on income taxes starting in 2007. It applies to new loans for households making less than $100,000 per year.

The change also applies to mortgage insurance issued in combination with a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan.

Private mortgage insurance is often required of borrowers who don't have down payments of at least 20 percent, and don't take out a second “piggyback” loan. Government insurance is mostly offered through the to borrowers considered too risky for traditional loans programs, usually first-time home buyers. Military veterans also take it out.

“Making the cost of mortgage insurance tax deductible helps those who need it most: low- and moderate-income Americans, primarily first-time home buyers, who are financially responsible but simply don’t have the means to amass a 20 percent down payment,” says Steve Smith, Chief Executive Officer of The PMI Group Inc.

A broad range of consumer, business, taxpayer, civil rights, civic and labor groups have supported the legislation.

from: Florida Association of Realtors

Developers Cry Foul as Infrastructure Law Takes Hold

2006-12-04T19:50:00.000-05:00

Legislative action meant to make building easier while tackling Florida's infrastructure deficit is not getting a warm reception from developers and even some government officials as new concurrency laws are set to go live Dec. 1.

Based on the concept of "proportionate fair share," the ordinances being adopted by all of Florida's 467 jurisdictions are meant to provide another option for developers trying to move forward projects that would be otherwise stalled because they would overload neighboring roads.

The new option would give builders a chance to pay an amount based on impact, but even a proportionate amount could be a huge price tag for the developer.

"This could be a very expensive proposition for the developers," said Bill McCall, a senior engineer for Hillsborough County's transportation division. "Say a development was impacting one mile of road. To widen a mile-long road from two lanes to four lanes could easily cost $10 million. If their proportionate fair share was 10 percent, that would automatically cost them $1 million."

Those types of costs, which normally would be collected through transportation impact fees, could actually play a part in halting developments rather than move them forward, said Joseph Narkiewicz, executive VP for the Tampa Bay Builders Association.

"We know of a project or two where we ran the numbers using proportionate share, and it added $20,000 to the cost of each home just for transportation," Narkiewicz said. "If you add schools into the equation, you're looking at increases of between $20,000 and $40,000 for each home. It's going to severely impact housing costs, and the bill clearly needs to be readdressed because certainly, it can't be what the legislators intended."

The 400-plus ordinances are based on Senate Bill 360 introduced by State Sen. Michael S. Bennett, R-Bradenton. It requires municipalities to draft ordinances based on the bill that would create proportionate fair share options to take effect by Dec. 1. That, in turn, has created more than 400 different approaches and interpretations to proportionate fair share that creates confusing environments in which to build, Narkiewicz said.

One of the bigger differences comes from Pasco County, which is quite familiar with proportionate fair share since it's already used extensively with developments of regional impact -- something the county has a lot of.

Elected officials worked to make sure the new concurrency laws promoted positive growth, not stunt it, said David Goldstein, Pasco's assistant county attorney.

"What we didn't want to do through the law was kill our economic development projects and kill our affordable housing," Goldstein said. "We tried to build in a mechanism that the projects we really need from a land-use standpoint or a policy standpoint aren't hurt by the new law."

Read full article by Michael Hinman, Tampa Bay Business Journal

Attention Homeowners: Be on HGTV

2006-11-24T23:48:00.000-05:00

My House is Worth What? is a new series that began airing on HGTV in August 2006. Each show tells homeowners across the country what their current home is worth, where they should renovate if they are planning to or just how much equity is available to fulfill a life long dream (child’s college, wedding, trip around the world, etc.)

Appear on the television show My House is Worth What? on HGTV and get a free evaluation of your home by the experts. Find out its current worth, what renovations are worthwhile and what you need to do to increase your value!

If you live in the following locations and meet the requirements, call Schaaf & Vitorillo Realty or CondoLeaf.com, LLC now for an evaluation.

These are urgent casting calls for the following cities:

Chicago :: Honolulu :: Houston :: LA :: Maui :: Orlando :: Philadelphia :: San Diego ::
Savannah :: Tampa

Read the Show's website for more details.

5 Tips for Selling a Home in a Buyer's Market

2006-11-22T13:58:00.000-05:00

Home sellers take note: Buyers are gaining more leverage.

In many real estate markets during the last three years, sellers have wielded more power than buyers. That's still the case, but now buyers are choosier, homes are staying on the market longer, and prices aren't rising as quickly as they once did.

"It's a seller's market transitioning to a buyer's market," says David Lereah, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. Sellers are reluctant to drop their asking prices, but a lot of them might have to "because the buyers now have a little more control, a little more power."

Prepare yourself mentally
Accept that the market will set the sale terms. Don't take it personally if you don't get the price you expected.

"The big thing is you've got to accept what the market is, and make the most of it," says Jeff Lyons, general manager of RealEstate.com. "It doesn't have anything to do with you personally; it has to do with the market."

He advises sellers not to expect an extension of the supersonic price appreciation that some markets saw in the last couple of years. As Lyons puts it, you're just going to feel frustrated if you think, "last year, everyone's house was worth 20 percent more than the year before, so why isn't my house worth 20 percent more this year?"

Lyons adds: "You're going to want to prepare to be flexible." Luckily, you can be flexible on things besides price. The move-in date, for example. "If it helps you sell more quickly by moving out earlier than you want, that's a good thing," Lyons says. "You never know what people might want to do to make it convenient for them. If the buyer wants something that isn't hard for you to give, that's something in your favor."

Maybe the buyer wants to store furniture in your garage before moving in or wants to make the purchase contingent on selling his or her own house. If you have flexibility, you have an edge.

Get ready for picky buyers
Every real estate agent will tell you to improve the home's curb appeal. It's even more important when buyers feel that they can afford to be picky.

In a transition from a seller's to a buyer's market, buyers "become much more sensitive to things like dated light fixtures," says David Kerr, agent for ZipRealty's office in Oakland, Calif. "When you walk in and the house has that 1970s amber light fixture, they'll say, 'This house looks old,' and walk out. It's easy and inexpensive to replace that light over the dining room table."

Kerr isn't talking only about lights. Stained carpets, scuffed hardwood floors, dripping sinks, torn window screens -- most of us live with flaws in our homes that we intend to fix eventually. When you put your home on the market, that day has arrived.

"You really need to look at making repairs that are profitable in terms of selling the house," Kerr says. He gives this example of choosing your priorities: If your hot tub isn't quite functioning properly and the bathroom has old, stained cabinets with ornate pulls on the doors, fix up the bathroom first. "They want to see that pedestal sink," Kerr says. If the choice is between replacing the refrigerator and refacing ugly kitchen cabinets, spruce up the cabinets.

Educate yourself about your neighborhood's real estate market
Perch yourself on the real estate grapevine by talking to neighbors and real estate agents about sales in your neighborhood.

Do homes tend to sell for 2 percent over the listing price, or 5 percent under, or what? Was a house recently sold for a surprisingly low price? Maybe the owners sold it to their own kids, a young family without much money. Or maybe it was a "short sale" to avoid foreclosure. That's a good piece of knowledge to have when a buyer tries to use that low sale price against you in negotiations.

Interview at least two, and preferably three or four, potential listing agents, and ask them to prepare competitive market assessments. The agents will look at comparable homes that have been sold recently and at homes that are for sale now, and recommend a listing price and a marketing plan. "Have them walk through the information they used to come up with that estimate," Lyons says.

You don't necessarily want to pick the agent who recommends the highest listing price. You're making a hiring decision, which is an art and not a science.

Hire an inspector
Buyers often make the purchase offer contingent on the home passing an inspection to their satisfaction. Increasing numbers of sellers are hiring inspectors before they put their houses on the market.

An inspector is impartial. "He'll be able to tell you if the roof needs work, or small electrical things that need to be done, or plumbing things," Kerr says. Once you have identified and fixed the problems, "it makes the house that much more attractive to a would-be buyer."

An inspector might spot flaws that would be obvious to a buyer, but that you no longer notice. A good real estate agent does the same, but an inspector will look deeper.

Consider paying the buyer's discount points
Paying points is an incentive you can offer to a buyer, and Uncle Sam sweetens the deal.

Let's say the buyer wants you to drop the price by 3 percent. You're firm on the price but are willing to be flexible by working mojo with the buyer's interest rate and tax bill.

You offer to pay 3 discount points and lower the buyer's mortgage rate three-quarters of a percentage point, give or take a quarter-point. By paying the discount points instead of selling for less, you get your price, the real estate agents get bigger commissions, and the buyer makes lower monthly payments and gets to deduct the points from income taxes.

That's right. You pay the discount points, but the buyer gets the tax deduction.

"It's a win-win-win-win deal," says Bob Walters, economist for Quicken Loans.

Kerr doubts that the time is right for offering discount points. "The market hasn't gotten there yet," he says. When it becomes a pronounced buyer's market, or when mortgage rates rise a couple of percentage points, that will be prime time for sellers to pay discount points.

Whether or not you pay the buyer's discount points, you put yourself in the right frame of mind by merely considering the option. It makes you think like a buyer -- and that gives you a competitive edge.

by: Holden Lewis, Bankrate.com

Florida's Housing Market for 3Q 2006: Sales Down, Median Price Level

2006-11-20T18:12:00.000-05:00

In third quarter 2006, Florida's housing sector continued to mirror the national trend, showing higher inventory levels of homes available for sale in many markets and a slowdown in sales. Statewide, sales of single-family existing homes totaled 43,395 during the three-month period, a decrease of 34 percent compared to 65,364 homes sold during the same time a year ago, according to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR).

The statewide existing-home median sales price remained stable at $247,900 in the third quarter; a year ago, it was $247,800. In 2001, the third-quarter statewide median sales price was $132,000, which is an increase of 87.8 percent over the five-year period. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half for less.

To gain insight into current trends in Florida’s real estate industry, the University of Florida’s Center for Real Estate Studies recently conducted a new statewide quarterly survey of industry executives, market research economists, real estate scholars and other experts. The threat of spiraling insurance rates was mentioned as the biggest concern, followed by the softening housing market as the second most-mentioned trend.

Still, even if a sharp downturn in the housing market occurs as some analysts predict, Florida will be less affected by it than other states because of the insulating effect of its high population growth rate, said Dr. Wayne Archer, director of UF’s Center for Real Estate Studies. Despite some people’s worst fears, housing is unlikely to suffer the same fate as tech stocks at the beginning of the decade, he said. “Unlike tech stocks, housing has a use, which means it can’t just evaporate,” he said.

According to David Lereah, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), the housing market is showing signs of life and sales may be leveling out. “Many potential buyers who have been taking a wait-and-see attitude or are being methodical in the search process are being enticed by lower home prices,” he said. “Given a positive economic backdrop of lower interest rates and job creation, we expect sales activity to pick up early next year.”

NAR’s latest economic outlook calls for existing-home sales to be fairly stable in the fourth quarter, with 2006 expected to be the third strongest year for sales after consecutive records in 2004 and 2005.

The U.S. economy experienced relative tranquility in the third quarter, analysts pointed out, noting that the Federal Reserve declined to raise interest rates when policymakers met in August and also in September. According to Freddie Mac, the national commitment rate for a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.65 percent in third quarter 2006; last year, it was 5.76 percent.

Looking to Florida's existing condominium market, sales of existing condos also decreased during the quarter, with a total of 12,538 condos sold statewide compared to 21,240 in third quarter 2005 for a 41 percent decline, according to FAR. The statewide median sales price for condos decreased 3 percent to $204,300 for the three-month period; a year ago, it was $210,900.

Among the state’s larger markets, the Miami metropolitan statistical area (MSA) reported 2,137 existing homes sold for the quarter, a decrease of 30 percent compared to the 3,070 homes sold a year ago. The market’s existing-home median sales price increased 4 percent to $377,700; a year ago, it was $363,300. A total of 2,264 existing condos sold in the market over the three-month period, down 28 percent from a year ago, while the existing-condo median price declined 4 percent to $258,200.

The Pensacola MSA, one of the smaller markets in the state, reported that 1,324 homes changed hands in the second quarter, down 14 percent compared to 1,540 homes sold a year ago. Over the same period, the market’s existing-home median home price declined 1 percent to $168,800; a year ago, it was $170,800. A total of 127 existing condos sold in the market during the second quarter, down 32 percent from a year ago, while the existing-condo median price declined 2 percent to $161,700.

by: FAR (Florida Association of Realtors)

See Florida's Monthly Sales Report

The Florida Association of Realtors (FAR), the voice for real estate in Florida, provides programs, services, continuing education, research and legislative representation to its more than 155,000 members in 68 boards/associations.

As Real Estate Market Cools, 'Buys' Return

2006-11-19T14:06:00.000-05:00

After five years of sizzling growth, U.S. home price appreciation is showing signs of cooling.

Pending home sales -- a leading market indicator -- are down from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. In many of the nation's hottest markets, brokers also are reporting a growing gap between sellers' asking prices and what purchasers are willing to pay.

For prospective home buyers, the market shift provides a chance to remaster an old negotiating tactic: the art of the lowball offer. Strategies for securing a below-market price vary by locality. In any region, however, experts say bargain-hunting buyers can close favorable deals by applying a few basic principles.

Shop in the off-season
The best time to buy a house is the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, says Robert Irwin, a real estate author and investor. Why? No one is looking.

"The only ones out there are people who desperately need a home or investors looking for a bargain," says Irwin.

By the same logic, early spring ranks among the worst times to make a deeply discounted offer. It's a popular time for sellers to put homes on the market, taking advantage of pleasant weather, longer daylight hours and heightened interest among buyers.

That seasonal pattern applies to most of the country. But warm climates might be the exception. Florida, Arizona and other locales popular with sun-seekers are likely to see high levels of home-buying activity in winter.

Accept imperfections
Lots of buyers are looking for spacious, well-maintained homes in upscale neighborhoods. Few will find bargains meeting that description.

To secure a low price on a home, buyers ought to accept a few shortcomings, says Ilyce Glink, a real estate writer and talk show host. This might mean a property that needs repairs or faces a busy street. It could also be a home in a more run-down neighborhood that appears to be improving.

Just don't be reckless. Buyers might be tempted by the price of a local "handyman's special." Such homes can be quite profitable for do-it-yourselfers or investors with experience in renovations.

But if you're not handy and don't know any reliable building contractors, it's probably wise to pass, says Curt Darragh, president of the Mid-Hudson Valley Real Estate Investment Club. If you do pursue the purchase, Darragh recommends getting a professional estimate for the cost of repairs and upgrades.

Rejection is healthy
Unless it's truly the house of your dreams, don't be upset if a seller turns down your initial offers. Rejection is a normal part of the negotiating process. Some would even call it essential.

"Never make an offer you think they will accept," says Thomas Early, president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, who lists rejection as his first rule of savvy home buying.

His second rule? More rejection.

"Make the seller say 'no' at least twice. It's too easy to say no the first time."

Granted, that strategy doesn't work everywhere. Early wouldn't recommend it for competitive real estate markets like San Francisco or Boston, where it's been common in recent years for sellers to get multiple offers above the asking price. But for Early's practice in Columbus, Ohio, where homes sell for an average of 94 percent of listing price, he finds the method works well.

Make many offers
Bargain-oriented buyers should also plan to make offers on several homes, says Irwin. An investor who makes lowball offers on 10 houses is more likely to find a willing seller than one who pursues only one or two properties.

That said, Irwin doesn't see much point in making wildly underpriced offers. They're rarely accepted.

Find a guide
When you see a great-looking house in a real estate circular, you might be tempted to call the agent listed by the photo. That could be a mistake.

"A lot of buyers think that 'If I call the listing agent, I'll get a better deal.' That's not true," said Bob Wilson, an agent with the Guiltinan Group in San Diego County. Because listing agents have a duty to get the best possible price for the seller, they're not suitable advisers for crafting a lowball offer.

Buyers need someone to represent their interests. Typically, that person is a buyer's agent, who researches listings exclusively for a home seeker. When a purchase closes, the buyer's agent normally splits the sales commission with the seller's Realtor. In most states the buyer's agent is required to deal with the seller honestly but, unlike the listing agent, is under no obligation to get the highest possible price for the seller.

A good buyer's agent earns much more than the 2 percent to 3 percent commission, says Glink. That's because buyers don't have the deep knowledge of neighborhoods, comparable homes and current prices of an experienced agent.

"Your agent is more than just someone who drives you around," says Glink. "Your agent is supposed to be your eyes and your ears, helping you sift through what information is valuable or not when constructing an offer."

Look for motivated sellers
The more desperate homeowners are to sell, the more likely they are to accept discounted offers. Therefore, bargain hunters should be on the lookout for homeowners anxious to unload their properties.

One strategy that broker Chris Edwards of Raleigh, N.C., recommends is to look for listings that have been on the market longer than normal. In Edwards' market, a well-kept home in a good neighborhood typically sells within a month. Sellers with homes on the market two months or more are probably more receptive to lower offers.

Another tactic Wilson suggests is to keep watch for announcements of large-scale company layoffs, closures or relocations. In the months to follow, large numbers of affected employees are likely to be selling their homes. This could provide a buying opportunity.

Offer incentives
This strategy works best for people with some experience in real-estate investing. The basic premise: If you offer a lower price than sellers expect, you need to give them a reason to take your offer.

Darragh's favorite incentives include offering to close quickly, to pay in cash and to attach few contingencies to completing the deal. Such offers, he says, are particularly attractive to homeowners under duress, who might be facing foreclosure, struggling with debt or forced to relocate.

Don't fixate on list price
The true value of a home might not be reflected in its listed price. A property's listed price simply reflects what a seller hopes to get, usually based at least in part on selling prices of similar homes.

Glink cautions buyers against taking too much glee in getting a property substantially below list. In some cases, initial list prices are so inflated that even a buyer who negotiates a substantial discount still overpays.

"It's no indication of what you should pay," says Irwin. "You have to do your own analysis."

by: Joanna Glasner, Bankrate.com

Chances Dwindle for Session on Insurance

2006-11-16T18:33:00.000-05:00

A special legislative session to address Florida's property insurance crisis is looking less likely, even as a governor's task force formally released dozens of reform ideas Wednesday.

A variety of factors - from a ticking clock to a lack of consensus that a December special session would lead to immediate rate relief for consumers - is quickly narrowing the window when Gov. Jeb Bush could officially influence state policy before leaving office Jan. 2.

On Wednesday, both incoming House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-Miami, and Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, said they would happily address the issue if Bush decides to call lawmakers back Dec. 4, as Bush has suggested. Charlie Crist, the governor-elect, said he supports the idea, too.

But Pruitt said his enthusiasm comes with a large caveat, one he said Bush shares. "I have confidence in the governor that the test of a special session will be met: Is this something that must happen now to give significant relief? Or can it wait until the regular session? I don't know the answer to that."

Bush, too, has remained circumspect about the odds of a special session, saying he would call one only if Pruitt and Rubio tell him that they can get any proposed legislation passed: "I'm not going to call a special session unless there is broad consensus on how to proceed. ... People are suffering, and to raise people's expectations and not get something done would be the last thing I would participate in."

The pointed issue of actually saving Floridians money on next year's insurance premiums came as the insurance industry remains divided over whether one key proposal would impact 2007 premiums at all.

Read full article by Joni James, St Pete Times

Suspicious Property Deals On The Rise

2006-11-05T12:24:00.000-05:00

State agencies are investigating potential mortgage and title fraud involving 36 unorthodox real estate deals in the Bay area.

The deals aren't an anomaly.

A Tampa Tribune investigation into the questionable practice of inflating home sales prices so a third party can walk away with tens of thousands of dollars has resulted in the discovery of other suspicious contracts across Florida.

Lenders rank Florida first in the country for mortgage fraud, and experts say rapid appreciation in home values has made the state even more ripe for fraud and questionable real estate deals. Now that the market is cooling, lenders fear they will be on the hook for a flood of bad mortgages.

Read the full article by Shannon Behnken, The Tampa Tribune

Allstate Rate Hike Request Challenged

2006-11-03T07:48:00.000-05:00

State regulators had reviewed Allstate Floridian's rate increase request and were ready to pounce. Thursday afternoon in Tallahassee, they got their chance.

In one of the most contentious rate hearings for a major insurer in recent memory, actuaries and attorneys from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation grilled Allstate officials for more than three hours about justifying a double-digit increase. Regulators said later that many of the answers they got were incomplete or vague and that they will have to go at it again.

Allstate Floridian and Allstate Floridian Indemnity are seeking average statewide increases of 22.5 and 33.2 percent, respectively, for homeowners policies.

Read the full article by Tom Zucco, St Pete Times

Belleair Shore Property Has Great Aquatic View

2006-11-02T20:51:00.000-05:00

Under the golden sparkle of the sunset-colored surf of Belleair Shore beach lies a sleeping problem. That million-dollar view of the Gulf of Mexico from walled estates on the west side of Gulf Boulevard could be marred...

...A St. Petersburg man, Christopher Hollands, appeared at last month’s Town Commission meeting and announced he owns a half acre of land underwater. Pinellas County tax records show Hollands bought the lot in 2002, having paid $1,700 for it. County tax records assign a “fair market value” of $400 to the lot, reduced this year from its $900 previous value.

Hollands was pressed several times about what he planned to do with his lot. He simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He said he came to the meeting just to learn more about an ordinance adopted to limit short-term rentals in the town.

Read full article by Dave Shelton, Belleair Bee

Crosland to Build MiraBay Center

2006-11-02T09:47:00.000-05:00

A retail developer plans to build a 175,000-square-foot shopping center at MiraBay, the 750-acre waterfront community in the southern Hillsborough County area of Apollo Beach.

Crosland Inc. said Wednesday it plans to develop the 31-acre center, anchored by a 50,000-square-foot Sweetbay supermarket. MiraBay Village will also include specialty shops, restaurants and office space, along with 80 townhomes.

Read full article from the Tampa Bay Business Journal

Tampa Condo Gallery

2006-11-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

Free Info. The Best Way to Buy and Sell Condos in Tampa Bay

Road Bidder Plans High Tolls

2006-10-31T01:56:00.000-05:00

One of two bidders for Florida's first privately built toll road is already anticipating opposition to the project, including complaints from the drivers who will use it.

According to the company's bid documents, the toll for the 3.1-mile link between New Tampa and Interstate 275 would rise to $2.75 within five years of the road's opening. After that, it would continue to go up at least 4 percent per year.

Tampa area drivers aren't used to paying such high tolls, said the company, Plenary Roads of Tampa, in its bid to the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority. But anything less and it wouldn't be able to recoup its costs, Plenary said.

Read full article by Lindsay Peterson and John Allman, The Tampa Tribune

The Bonnie and Clyde of Mortgage Fraud

2006-10-30T23:43:00.000-05:00

This is quite a long article, but definitely worth a read. This con artist is close to our backyard here in Tampa; a University of South Florida alumni.

In December 2004, Dr. Bruce Brown and his wife, Bridget, got a call around seven in the evening from a man who had seen the sales listing for their Columbia, S.C., house. He asked if he could come over right away. The Browns agreed.

They desperately wanted to sell the property, which had been on the market for six months. Dr. Brown was starting a new job in Augusta, Ga., in weeks. Just days before, they had amended their listing to offer $201,000 in owner financing, "hoping to broaden the pool of candidates," says Bridget. They did.

Within an hour, a man showed up in a fancy sports car and introduced himself as Gary Sullivan. With him was a petite blond woman he said was his realtor. Sullivan told the Browns he owned a temp staffing agency called Labor on Demand but had run up too much credit card debt and needed owner financing to buy a home. The two cased the traditional two-story house quickly and left. Within days, the Browns had a deal.

Read the full article by Marcia Vickers, Fortune

Zillow Home 'Values' Rile Consumer Group

2006-10-27T21:36:00.000-05:00

Zillow.com, a real estate valuation Web site, has been named in a complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission by a consumer advocacy group, which charges the site's home valuations mislead consumers, real estate professionals and lenders.

According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, an alliance of more than 600 community-based groups working to ensure equal access to credit services for underserved communities, Zillow knowingly provides inaccurate estimates in posting valuations on more than 67 million homes around the nation.

"Zillow is placing the American dream of homeownership at risk for countless working families," said NCRC president John Taylor. "For a company that represents to consumers that they are the 'Kelley Blue Book of Homes,' this is a very dangerous situation."

Read full article by Les Christie, CNNMoney.com

Roof Falls In On Home Sales

2006-10-26T00:50:00.000-05:00

Sales of existing homes took a big slide in the Tampa Bay area and other parts of Florida in September, and experts warned the market may continue to cool for several more months.

The number of previously owned single-family houses sold in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area plunged 42 percent in September compared with the same month last year, one of the largest declines in the state, data from the Florida Association of Realtors show.

Despite the sales slide in the Bay area, the median sales price of a previously owned house increased 6 percent to $227,400. Existing condominium sales had a deeper drop in the Bay area than single-family houses. The number of area condo units sold declined by 46 percent in September compared with the same month last year.

Read full article by Shannon Behnken, The Tampa Tribune

It's Lawyer vs. Landlord in Real Estate Clash

2006-10-25T23:49:00.000-05:00

Look out. The gloves are coming off. Tampa Bay’s best-known lawyer has sued Tampa Bay’s most notorious landlord over a real estate deal gone bad.

Lawyer Barry Cohen earlier this year agreed to pay $4.2-million for a 6,990-square-foot, five-bedroom, Hyde Park mansion that belonged to investor Steven Green.

But in a suit filed in Hillsborough circuit court, Cohen says that Green Family Holdings LLC, the trust that owns the 801 S Delaware Ave. property, failed to produce a clear title and has refused to return Cohen’s $422,500 deposit.

Green said Wednesday there were “absolutely no title defects.”

Instead, he said that Cohen could not obtain a mortgage because he was “overextended.” Green also said he hoped for a “more suitable buyer” and called Cohen’s plans for the house, such as turning an upstairs ballroom into a basketball court, an example of “questionable taste.”

Read full article by Brady Dennis, St Pete Times

2 Agencies Will Examine Real Estate Agent's Deals

2006-10-24T09:51:00.000-05:00

The state attorney general opened a criminal investigation Monday into inflated real estate transactions in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.

A second state agency that oversees real estate professionals is asking appraisers and at least one real estate broker for records connected to the deals, revealed Sunday in a Tampa Tribune investigation.

Attorney General Charlie Crist said the economic crime division, based in Tampa, will look into 36 sales by Tampa real estate agent Dawn L. Molen. The Tribune story showed that Molen's sales had recorded sales prices of an average of $60,000 above the original list price.

Read full article by Shannon Behnken, The Tampa Tribune

Builders To Buyers: Take This House, Please!

2006-10-23T17:22:00.000-05:00

The once-hot housing market's about-face has created amazing incentives for buyers. What are you waiting for?

How would you like a $10,000 gift certificate for Pottery Barn? A $30,000 in-ground swimming pool - installed? The chance to toss back a few drinks with rocker John Legend? These and many other fabulous prizes can be yours if...you buy a house!

That's right, Bob Barker. After years of soaring prices, in the past few months the real estate market has dropped faster than most people thought it would, even in markets where most people thought it wouldn't. Home builders, mortgage lenders and even some enterprising individual sellers have been racking their brains to come up with tantalizing incentives to get potential buyers to the closing table and to convince top brokers to work with them.

As buyer's markets go, this is shaping up to be a good one - as long as you know how to play it to your advantage.

But gimmicks like new pools and mingling with rock stars are a distraction, says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com. If you're truly savvy about selecting and bidding on a home, you may be able to do better, he says. Much better.

Home inventories have gone skyward in the past year. In August (the most recent month for which data are available) there were 4 million homes on the market in the United States, a million more than at the same point in 2005. Combine that with the boost in interest rates and you have a lot of nervous sellers.

"Until now sellers didn't want to cut their prices. They were much more willing to provide an incentive - refinish the deck, seal the driveway, help with the financing, anything but cut the price," says Zandi. That's because incentives are cheaper for the seller in most cases.

Knocking 5% off a $300,000 home, for example, costs $15,000, but giving away that Pottery Barn shopping spree costs less and sounds sexier.

Right now, however, there's enough inventory that sellers are starting to do both: lower prices and provide incentives. This sharp change is not happening at all times in all markets, Zandi says, and only by knowing what kinds of freebies are being doled out can you jump on the trend and score a better deal (and maybe a new pool too).

Here's what to do.

Hit the Incentive Piñata
It makes sense that people selling on their own are often quick to offer incentives instead of dropping the price. Many have trouble coming to grips with the fact that their home is worth less than they thought it would be, so they resist cutting the price until absolutely necessary.

Instead they offer to pay your closing costs or to leave the Sub-Zero behind. Let your eyes - and the inspector you hire to check the place out - guide your requests. If the house needs painting, new windows or a fresh buffer of trees, now's the time to ask.

And ask for a price cut to boot. Builders and developers use incentives first for a different reason: Reducing the price on one house in a neighborhood could hurt the prices of the remaining homes (and it peeves buyers who already paid full price).

Anyone shopping for a newly constructed home has the most to gain. After drying up during the boom, explains David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, incentives are back in force. A recent survey of NAHB members revealed that 55% of builders are offering more amenities, 42% are paying closing costs and 26% are absorbing points on mortgages.

In addition, the survey showed that 80% are encountering buyer resistance to the price of homes, the most since the early 1990s. As a result, nearly 45% of builders are trimming prices.

Improve Your Mortgage
Buyers are also getting incentives for taking out mortgages, says Anthony Hsieh, president of LendingTree.com. For example, 20% of home builders are using "buy-down" programs, in which they buy down your mortgage by two percentage points in year one and one point in year two.

That can, in fact, be a great deal. But tread carefully. Some other trendy mortgage offers are a little too much like credit cards with teaser rates attached. They're cheaper in the early years than what you might qualify for, but they escalate quickly.

"Buyers have to be very careful not to be swept off their feet to take the wrong product," says Hsieh. "You don't want to get blinded into the wrong mortgage." The key to knowing whether the loan being offered to you is a good deal or a bummer is to run the numbers on a few scenarios, says Keith Gumbinger of HSH.com, a publisher of mortgage information. You want to know what your actual payment will be not just in years one and two but for as many years as you're planning to live in the house.

Gumbinger recommends watching financing offers for early-termination fees and prepayment penalties. A lender's goal in offering subsidized financing is to keep you there until the payment escalates - and beyond - which often means making it expensive for you to get out.

Look for Alternative Cuts
The buyer's market has created a market for something that's not usually on the list of negotiable factors in the sale of a home: title insurance. (It's rarely on the list of comprehensible factors either, but that's another story.) That is changing thanks to Titleinsurance.com, a new Web site that operates kind of like a LendingTree.com for title insurance.

Consumers go to the site, fill in information about their transaction and get a handful of quotes from title insurers in the county. The site currently has some 325 title insurers signed up to bid and is limiting itself to five per county. The service is nonbinding and is free to consumers. Revenue comes from title insurers who pay, essentially, for leads.

How much money you will save depends on the competition in your area, but with title insurance averaging less than 0.5% of your loan but sometimes costing as much as 1.5%, the gap can be a couple thousand dollars or more.

Grill Your Broker
Another finding from the NAHB survey: In order to help move inventory, more than a third of today's home builders have increased their use of brokers over a year ago, often paying them higher-than-average commissions.

And there's more. "Owners and builders are inviting us to cocktail parties, and they're giving bonuses and increased commissions," says Diane Saatchi of the Corcoran Group.

Most buyers don't realize that the agent is getting an incentive, and there's no legal obligation to tell them. "But you can flat out ask a broker, 'Are you getting an incentive?' Then the broker has to tell," says Saatchi.

If a broker is getting an extra 2%, you will know that her "This house is perfect for you!" declarations might not be heartfelt.

You'll also know that the seller is desperate, so ask for a lower price. These days you just might get it.

by: Jean Chatzky

A Rapid Rise

2006-10-22T09:52:00.000-05:00

A year ago, Dawn L. Molen quit her job as a commercial loan officer and set out to become a real estate agent. The 26-year-old got her license and quickly landed a job at Charles Rutenberg Realty in St. Petersburg.

With three months' experience, the agent who had never listed a home closed her first sale Jan. 27 in a working-class neighborhood. Her buyer paid $45,000 more than the asking price. It stunned her peers. From then on, Molen brought in contracts by the stack.

Over the next eight months, the agent found buyers for 35 more homes, most of them clustered in St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park. At a time when real estate agents would have been happy to close two sales a month, Molen found buyers willing to consistently pay $50,000 to $70,000 more than the original price, according to documents obtained by The Tampa Tribune. Collectively, the homes sold for at least $2 million more than originally listed.

Read full article by Shannon Behnken, The Tampa Tribune

Taxpayers Rally in St. Petersburg

2006-10-18T10:13:00.000-05:00

The first speaker who stepped to the podium drew roughly 60 people to an anti-tax rally on the steps of the St. Petersburg City Hall.

The longer the Oct. 11 rally went, the more the crowd grew.

Young adults, senior citizens, men and women gathered. Some held protest signs, others campaigned for local politicians. But all seemed to agree on one thing: Taxes must be lowered. And those brave politicians who ignore their cry will pay.

Or, in the words of David M. McKalip, “You will be exposed.”

He called assurances by politicians about correcting the problem “happy talk.”

“Why do (cities and counties) get bigger budgets when we have to tighten our belts?” McKalip asked. “No more happy talk. We can’t take it any more.”

For the most part, the crowd was comprised of St. Petersburg residents angry with skyrocketing property taxes, a statewide theme in recent months. Organizers of the rally have created a Web site, www.cuttaxesnow.com. They hope to being an uprising among the proletariat to demand local and state officials cut taxes and become fiscally responsible before the economy of the state crumbles.

“The revolution starts here,” McKalip said.

McKalip urged taxpayers to strongly monitor local government spending ways. He also went on to describe how there may be a referendum on a statewide ballot next year in relation to lowering taxes, but that may not be soon enough.

“If everybody does a little bit, we can get a lot done,” McKalip said.

With skyrocketing property values, and consequently, skyrocketing tax rates, local and state agencies are awash in money, yet the respective budgets are not. Because government agencies must not carry over money from the previous year, often funds are spent in irresponsible ways, said McKalip.

St. Petersburg city councilmembers who did not roll back taxes were named by McKalip, who shouted, “You have been exposed.”

McKalip cited examples of how the high tax rates are choking the economy from lower income county residents whose rents will certainly be raised to senior citizens on fixed incomes who have to make choices between paying their rent to buying groceries to small businesses who cannot afford to pay the higher taxes and are forced out of business, with a ripple affect of putting their employees out of work.

Some speakers said residents were fleeing the state to other states with much lower property taxes. Real estate representatives noted how housing sales have come to a screeching halt because people are scared to buy property due to the higher taxes.

Lynn Shelby fought back tears describing how high her taxes have jumped and confessed she may have to sell her residence.

“The city is forcing people from their homes,” she said. “(St. Petersburg city leaders) can’t see the handwriting on the wall.”

Local resident Donna Ivanko stated her taxes have more than tripled and that she owns 5 acres of properties in Arkansas where her property taxes are $137 a year, compared to her current local taxes of $3,225. “I hear it calling me to build there,” she said.

by: Lee Diekemper

Developers Drive Campaigns

2006-10-15T10:09:00.000-05:00

If money drives elections, then developers and those who benefit from growth are behind the wheel of this year's campaigns for the Hillsborough County Commission.

A St. Petersburg Times analysis of all $500 campaign contributions - the maximum allowed by law - has found that more than two of every three come from individuals, associations or businesses with a financial stake in ongoing development.

With some candidates, development interests account for nearly 90 percent of their top contributions. And often, the money pouring in comes from the very people who have business before the commission.

"Development always has been one of the most powerful forces in Florida politics," said Bill Newton, executive director of the Florida Consumer Action Network. "They are a power, and this is how their power works. And it's bad policy."

The Times examined nearly 2,000 donations of $500 given to County Commission candidates through Oct. 6.

The records reveal that large sums of money flow from real estate brokers, builders, land use lawyers and consultants, planners and construction contractors and engineers.

It often comes bundled in elaborate ways - from those people's employees, their spouses, their various companies at the same address, even their college-age children.

But in the end, it all comes from one industry: growth.

Candidates swear no amount of money can buy votes. But the story of their bank accounts makes this much clear: The guy on the corner waving campaign signs usually isn't the same guy who's paying for them.

* * *

Neither the developers giving the cash nor the candidates accepting it care to talk much about how the industry dominates campaign finance.

The Times contacted some of the biggest contributors, including concrete magnate Ralph Hughes, developers Bing Kearney and Bill Bishop, and Tony Ferguson, an oil and gas executive who wants a helipad at his lakefront home.

None called back.

Mike Horner, a planner who represents applicants in zoning cases before the County Commission, wouldn't elaborate on why clients of his gave thousands in this year's races.

"They're just developers who believe in strong government," Horner said. Asked what he meant by strong government, Horner said he didn't like the tone of the question and hung up.

The candidates themselves offer various reasons why the development dollars bankrolling their campaigns don't influence them.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe got about 84 percent of his money from the growth industry but said he doesn't pay attention to that.

"I don't want to know," Sharpe said. "I don't analyze who gives and why. I will look at all the issues before voting, so there's no relationship between who gives and how I vote."

Candidate Rose Ferlita also said her vote isn't for sale.

"I don't give a damn what you give me," Ferlita said. "If you think your $500 is going to influence me, you're wrong."

She received about 64 percent of her largest contributions, or $152,000, the highest total sum of all candidates, from people tied to development.

Al Higginbotham, running to replace Ronda Storms in District 4, has never held office or cast a vote on the commission. But development-related money accounts for about 71 percent of his $500 contributions.

Higginbotham, who resigned as head of the Hillsborough Republican Party earlier this year to enter the race, said such people support him because they know he's fair and open-minded.

"I've never had one of them ask me for anything," he said. "I make it clear there's going to be times when I disagree. I think they are looking for people who have the same principles."

But don't people from industries other than development share those same principles? Why aren't they donating?

"You've asked me a question that I haven't pondered before," Higginbotham said.

Ed Turanchik, a former commissioner turned developer, said it's unlikely a $500 donation passes unnoticed by any candidate.

"If you're running, it's just common courtesy to thank someone who gave $500," Turanchik said. "I don't believe a candidate wouldn't want to know who's giving him the big money."

And the big money is hard to beat. Just ask Joe Redner.

He has loaned himself more than $90,000 in his bid to defeat incumbent Jim Norman, who owes about 76 percent of his largest donations to growth interests.

"Whoever they give the money to, that's who gets elected," Redner said of the development community. "Why else are the county commissioners making these decisions that seem contrary to the public interest?"

* * *

Mariella Smith spent months organizing a grass roots effort opposing a plan for 360 townhomes along the Little Manatee River.

A Fort Myers development company, Manatee Bay Associates, planned to build on land earmarked by the county as a nature preserve. The land linked vital wildlife corridors and wetlands to Cockroach Bay.

Smith, co-chairwoman of the Sierra Club's south Hillsborough committee, celebrated with other volunteers when commissioners rejected the developer's project during a March 7 meeting.

But the developers appealed that vote, and returned in August. They reduced the number of units to 327, but Smith remained confident commissioners would turn it down again because it remained essentially the same.

When Commissioners Sharpe and Tom Scott changed their votes and joined Commissioners Ken Hagan and Norman in approving the project, Smith was shocked.

"To win, and have it yanked out from under us, was just crushing," Smith said.

What Smith didn't know then was that companies and representatives linked to Manatee Bay Associates gave Scott's campaign $3,500 in June and July. They gave $2,500 to Sharpe's campaign in July.

The money arrived in multiple contributions from different corporations and individuals, each one complying with the $500 legal limit, but collectively adding up to a significant sum.

* * *

Norman, who voted for the project both times, received at least $6,000 from the developers and their associates in December.

"Why would a Fort Myers company contribute to candidates running in Hillsborough?" Smith asked. "Are they interested in the indigent health care policies of Tom Scott or the water policies of Sharpe? No. The whole process was a sham. They didn't listen to us."

Scott said he approved the project the second time around because developers satisfied his concerns about traffic. He said he didn't know his campaign received money from developers before he voted.

"I wouldn't know the people who gave if they came in and talked to me today," Scott said.

Sharpe said he voted for the project because, like Scott, he believed the developers had met his prior concerns and reduced the number of homes. He said land use attorney Keith Bricklemyer gave him the checks from the developers, and he didn't realize that they were related to a case he would vote on a month later.

In another case, Sharpe and Norman both received thousands of dollars from a developer before an October 2005 vote on his project to build more than 1,000 homes in southern Hillsborough.

Neither Norman nor the developer returned phone calls. But Sharpe said the money didn't influence his vote.

"I said to myself, 'I'm going to vote on the merits of the case,' " he said.

* * *

It's no secret that special interests long have played a role in elections. They are bound by neither political party nor geography.

In Washington and throughout the United States, special interest money comes from a spectrum of industries with plenty to gain and lose through new laws, regulations and government spending.

Donations from defense contractors, pharmaceuticals, insurance, health maintenance organizations, and telecommunications regularly flood the campaign coffers of those seeking federal and state offices.

City and county officials don't often decide issues that affect those industries. But they do make plenty of land use decisions.

In Hillsborough County, growth equals big business. More development means more jobs and more tax revenue.

But it also comes at a cost.

Since 2002, Hillsborough's population has grown by nearly 100,000 people. The county has struggled to maintain the infrastructure and resources - roads, water, schools - to accommodate this rapid influx.

"Every growing county has the same issue: an undue influence from the land development industry on campaign finance," Turanchik said.

He said that with piles of money come expectations of access and an open ear, even if no one admits it.

"It's naive to think elected officials won't give the benefit of the doubt to people who contribute to them," Turanchik said.

But the reality, some candidates say, is that the money it takes to win has to come from somewhere.

"It's expensive, unfortunately, to run a campaign," said Higginbotham, who has raised $100,000 more than his nearest rival. "We are doing television. We are doing very thorough and intense direct mail, yard signs.

"I wish there was a way around having to spend this money."

* * *

By bundling their contributions in order to give enormous sums, those with an economic interest in public policy can play a disproportionate role in politics, said Newton of the consumer group.

"You may have one vote, but $500,000 buys a lot of votes. Your voice is not equal," he said.

Mariella Smith feels the voices of normal citizens aren't heard at all. And she holds little hope that will change anytime soon.

"In the end, people are voting for who has the most yard signs," she said. "But those yard signs are bought with development money."

by: Michael Van Sickler

Property Owners Hit Roof Over Valuations

2006-10-15T10:04:00.000-05:00

Irene Jackson moved out of her Town 'N Country home to a Clearwater condo in 2004.

She didn't give up the house.

"That's all that I have - a whole lifetime," said Jackson, 66, a retired nursing assistant. "I had to leave that house because the upkeep on the house was more than I could afford, so I rented it out."

She lost her homestead exemption on the property, and with it, a Save Our Homes cap on its assessed value.

Her tax bill is $2,000 higher than when she left.

"It seems so unfair," Jackson said. "I feel as though after I put blood, sweat and tears and prayers into that house, the government is making me sell it."

She'll make her pitch Oct. 30 for a lower assessment in a small county-center conference room. Hers is one of 1,815 petitions filed by residential property owners to the Hillsborough County Value Adjustment Board. Commercial property owners filed 1,074 - from mom-and-pops to mega-developers such as Al Austin, who is challenging a $30.7 million assessment on the land he leases to the Westshore Marriott.

The petitions are way up this year, mostly because of apartment buildings converting to condos.

Tim Wilmath, director of valuation process for the Hillsborough County property appraiser's office, said less than 1 percent of property owners from the tax roll filed petitions.

"We think that speaks to the accuracy of our rolls," he said.

Emotions Alone Aren't Enough
Emotions are way up, too - just as they have been at county and city budget hearings across Florida.

"I'm not surprised. It's been on people's minds," said Todd Jones, a senior manager with Deloitte Tax who filed 43 petitions before the board this year for commercial clients, including Austin. He withdrew 27 of them, according to the property appraiser's office.

"Bottom line is, we're all paying more taxes than we should be right now."

For special magistrates who hear petitions, emotional I-can't-afford-the-taxes appeals that spurred many to file by the mid-September deadline won't suffice.

For a lower assessment, the property owner must provide proof that the appraiser's number is wrong.

In front of a magistrate - a certified real-estate appraiser - owners or their tax representatives face off across a conference-room table with employees from the county appraiser's office.

The Value Adjustment Board - made up of three county commissioners and two school board members - must approve the magistrates' decisions before they're final. Property owners can appeal in circuit court if they don't like the result.

Swift Decision
On Wednesday, during the first week of hearings, a Seminole Heights homeowner didn't show.

The magistrate read from a note in the file from the homeowner: "Taxes increased 32 percent, which is a substantial and unacceptable hike in property tax."

Special magistrate Carolyn Holman's decision was swift: "In the absence of evidence, the application for relief is denied."

Plenty Of Paperwork
Homeowners who did appear brought plenty of paperwork. Craig and Ellen Gesell of Apollo Beach are angry that the appraiser's office changed their property designation from canal-front to bay-front. The assessed value of their 3,500-square-foot home was set at more than $1 million.

The Gesells - she's a real estate agent, he's in finance - brought real-estate listings to show median price per square foot in the area. They brought recent sales data. They brought a satellite map image of the home.

They brought an edge to their voices as well.

"I just want the property appraiser's office to explain the change to me from canal-front," Ellen Gesell said.

"Every year, we're re-evaluating all of Hillsborough County," said Jeff Cummings, of the appraiser's office. "You being on the cul-de-sac, you would have a better bay view."

"Sales don't change land," she shot back. "The canal's the same."

Cummings suggested she contact the customer service department. Holman said she would have a decision in a few weeks.

Next up was Tameru Banti.

He's upset with the $279,421 assessment of his Carrollwood property. He paid $55,000 for the land two years ago and $180,000 to build a home there.

Banti brought construction mortgage papers. He brought photographs that show the house is on a dirt road.

Keith Ankrom of the property appraiser's office brought proof of recent local home sales similar to the assessed value.

"But those have paved roads and water and sewer service - not like me," Banti told Holman. "I don't have that. Why do I have to pay $5,000" in taxes?

Ankrom said there weren't many sales of homes to go by on Banti's dirt road: "It's a very short road."

Holman said she would review the papers and decide in a few weeks.

Odds Favor Reduction
If the past is any indication, residential property owners have a good shot at seeing their assessments lowered. It might not be as much as they hope.

But in 65 percent of residential petitions filed last year, assessments were reduced. A Tribune analysis of petitions back to 2001 shows residential owners fared even better: 69 percent to 85 percent saw reductions.

In most cases, the property appraiser lowers the assessment before it reaches the magistrate.

Wilmath said when a petition is filed, the appraiser's office sends someone to inspect the property. Often, the downward adjustments are small.

"We usually don't miss the mark by that much," said Wilmath, who says a physical inspection of the properties normally takes place only once every three years, so changes are missed.

"If it's wrong, we're going to fix it."

Closer Look At Commercial Land
Commercial properties see far fewer reductions. The Tribune analysis of commercial petitions from 2001 to 2005 shows between one-fourth and one-third of petitions resulted in a lower assessment.

"With commercial, because there are fewer properties, we're able to take a closer look before we send out the notices," Wilmath said.

Al Valdes thinks appraisers need to take a closer look at the property he rents to Mackay Marine at 1236 Channelside Drive.

For decades, Valdes has owned a lot south of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway and across from a ship-repair business. A block to the south, the skeletons of condominiums are rising far above older one-story brick buildings, including Valdes'.

The grass parking lot next door has a billboard touting a spring 2007 move-in date for a new Channelside condo priced "from the $500,000s."

Valdes says that development boom has driven up his assessments. Valued at less than $200,000 three years ago, his property value increased to $341,000 last year and $478,000 this year. So he petitioned the Value Adjustment Board.

"On Channelside Drive, anything south of Twiggs Street, there's been a lot of new buildings and sales. But north of Twiggs Street, where I have my property, there has been no change in the past 25 or 30 years," said Valdes, who took photographs of the area Thursday for his hearing later this month.

Assessments Rise
For the appraiser's office, what matters is market price - what the properties are worth if sold today.

That's why Trish Moore pulled her petition for a lower assessment on the property she rents to Circles South Tampa restaurant and Passion Pepper Pottery Place on Azeele Street.

"I started doing my own market analysis with a Realtor friend, and we realized I'd get killed in the petition process because of the sales in the area," said Moore, who still plans to challenge the assessment on a mixed-use building she owns in Plant City.

"The assessor said, 'Would you sell it for that?' I probably could," Moore said of the south Tampa property. "But where am I supposed to go? My rental income is my livelihood."

Irene Jackson can sympathize. She uses the rent from her Town 'N Country home to supplement $800 monthly Social Security checks.

"They, too, have put a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears into their property," she said. "It's not like you're ready to sell. You are going to sell - or you're going to lose it. One way or another, they're getting you out."

by: Karen Branch-Brioso

Foreclosures Rise As ARMs Reset

2006-10-09T10:18:00.000-05:00

Florida is leading the nation in foreclosure activity, according to a report by Bargain Network.

The report said that Florida has approximately 28,000 properties in some form of foreclosure, accounting for 27 percent of the nation's total. With one new foreclosure filing for every 254 households, the state's foreclosure rate was more than four times the national average.

Foreclosure activity in the third quarter of 2006 rose by 14 percent compared to the second quarter of the year. It was 39 percent higher than the same period last year.

Five states -- Florida, California, Michigan, Texas and Colorado -- accounted for an estimated 66 percent of September's foreclosure filing activity, Bargain Network said. California had the second highest total of foreclosures, followed by Texas and Colorado.

"Florida and the western states are known for their predominance of negative amortization loans in which mortgage holders pay only interest, not equity, on their properties," stated Tom Adams, president and chief executive officer of Bargain Network, in a release. "We anticipate that foreclosure rates will stabilize and that foreclosures will continue to be an attractive investment vehicle as a cooling economy and slower housing market force some people who purchased real estate using sub-prime mortgages to default on those loans in the months ahead."

Industry forecasters recently estimated that more than $200 billion worth of adjustable rate mortgages will "reset" at higher rates in 2006 and more than $1 trillion will reset in 2007, the release stated. This situation, compounded by the expected slowing of the economy and the housing market, which according the National Association of Realtors includes a growing inventory of unsold homes, may edge more homeowners into the foreclosure process, the release from Bargain Network said.

Bargain Network, headquartered in Santa Barbara, Calif., provides real estate foreclosure, pre-foreclosure and for-sale-by-owner properties and information.

from: Tampa Bay Business Journal

Home Values On The Way Down

2006-10-09T10:16:00.000-05:00

Housing prices are getting more attention these days than the Iraq war, Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley’s follies and, heaven forbid, even Bucs QB Chris Simms’ spleen.

Maybe they should. Most Floridians — actually, most Americans — have the vast majority of their personal worth tied up in their homes. So when that value stops growing, starts to look vulnerable or even starts shrinking, people need to turn off the TV and focus.

That’s not easy. The sheer volume and range of housing data, experts’ dire warnings, pro-housing Pollyannas and Realtor hysteria combine for a strange brew and plenty of indigestion.

“Over the last five years, housing values have risen more than 50 percent nationally, outpacing the paychecks of buyers,’’ says Peter Morici, professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission. “The housing market is ripe for an adjustment—a year or two of flat or falling prices followed by a period of only modest price gains appears likely.”

At first glance, the latest burst of housing concerns might make even the independently wealthy home handyman queasy:

-- Last week, a new report said the cost of owning a home in Florida rose at nearly twice the national rate over the past five years, consuming an ever larger share of homeowners’ incomes. The Census Bureau said Floridians last year spent 22 cents of every $1 of income on housing, up from 19.6 cents per dollar in 2000. Nationally, Americans spent 20.9 cents per buck last year on housing. Residents in only nine other states spend more, based on income percentage, than wage-challenged Floridians.

Overall, more than a third of all U.S. homeowners with mortgages last year spent 30 percent — the comfort max — or more of their household income on housing costs, including loan payments, real estate taxes, insurance and utilities.

(What didn’t show up in the dated Census figures are the runaway costs in Florida of property insurance, real estate taxes and utilities within the past year. A lot more Floridians now find the formula — housing costs + mortgage + taxes + insurance — pushes them well over the 30 percent comfort zone of income devoted to a home.)

n A recent report released by the National Association of Realtors indicates the median price for existing U.S. homes fell by 1.7 percent in August from a year ago, the first year-to-year national decline since 1993. Across Florida, the existing-home median price did not drop, but merely flat-lined in August from a year earlier, unchanged at $248,400. Of 20 larger metro markets in Florida, the median sales price of a home in 12 markets dropped (worst: Panama City, down 15 percent) and increased in only eight (best: Ocala, up 14 percent).

n Finally, in what is the most vexing report last week from the well-regarded thinkers at Moody’s Economy.com, the median house prices in 21 metro markets nationwide are in the midst of what may become double-digit declines (from peak price to the trough price) over the next year or so. Of the top six metro markets nationwide most likely to be hardest hit with drops in housing prices, half are in Florida.

According to Economy.com analyst Per Gunnar Berglund, any market in the report that faces a drop in housing costs from peak to trough exceeding 10 percent may be heading for a “crash.” Less than 10 percent, he says, constitutes a mere “housing correction.”

The silver lining here is that the Tampa Bay area may be going through its own tough slowdown in housing, but some other parts of the state will be hit much harder.

“Tampa is in the 'correction’ bucket,” Berglund says. Still, it is less vulnerable to price declines than Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando or Jacksonville.

According to one particular type of market analysis conducted by Economy.com, a belt of Gulf Coast metro areas from Sarasota in the north to Naples in the south better brace for some dramatic drops in housing prices. It’s only natural since these are the same speculative-investing, hot-spot cities that enjoyed surreal runups in home prices in the past five years.

Come down to earth, y’all.

Top of the list is Cape Coral, adjacent to Fort Myers, which Economy.com says may suffer an 18.6 percent drop in home prices from the market’s peak in the fourth quarter of 2005 until things hit bottom in the second quarter of 2007.

Nearby Sarasota may also face some housing trouble, with an expected 14 percent housing price drop from a peak in the fourth quarter of last year to the coming trough in next year’s third quarter. Some other examples appear on the Florida map that appears on the front page of this section.

Nationwide, Economy.com says, the housing markets most vulnerable to sharp price declines ahead include Reno and Las Vegas, Tucson, Ariz., a bunch of California cities from Stockton to Riverside, as well as places ranging from Greeley, Colo., and Atlantic City to Washington, D.C., and even Detroit. (GM and Ford, take note.)

Analyst Berglund warns that Florida is “highly vulnerable” and says its housing decline is under way. But in the same breath, he adds that Florida’s economy — far hotter than the nation’s — is strong and its population growing. This should allow the state to bounce back more quickly than many other parts of the country.

That’s often the way of Florida. We hurt, then heal quickly. But this nasty combo — a dysfunctional property insurance market and real estate taxes gone wild — may throw us for a loop longer this time around.

When my wife and I hit the local 7-Eleven store late one recent night in search of a Ben & Jerry’s fix, we greeted a neighbor. She wasted no time in telling us her family had had it with the squirrelly economics and hurricane threats of Florida.

While our neighbor kept her tech job in Tampa and her daughter in high school, her husband traveled west to scour parts of Colorado for a better housing market. I wish them well but they may have missed the window of escape. Selling out now could take some time and a painful financial toll. Personally, I hope they stay. Things will get better.

by: Robert Trigaux

Developer To Put City Hall On Top Of Grocery Store

2006-10-09T09:18:00.000-05:00

When Temple Terrace officials said they wanted to make sure their downtown redevelopment project was mixed-use, they likely weren't thinking about building city hall on top of a Sweetbay Supermarket.

That idea was presented Wednesday night by the partnership of Chicago-based Transwestern Commercial Services and Chesapeake Atlantic Holdings Inc. of Tampa, one of four development groups interested in transforming 35 acres of strip malls and outparcels into the city's new downtown.

"We're not going to build a power center. We're not going to build a retail center filled with boxes for people that go to Target or Kmart," said Greg Hughes, president and chief executive officer of Chesapeake. "This is going to be a downtown. This is going to be a town square. We'd like to build a city hall on the property and build it on top of Sweetbay. We want to integrate the two and have a real downtown."

The suggestion drew some surprised chuckles from the audience filled with more than 50 residents and city officials, but Transwestern's Midwest region president, Robert Bagguley, said after the presentation that such an idea is quite serious. However, Bagguley has not yet presented such an idea to Sweetbay officials, who hold a long-term lease on the property.

Nicole LaBeau, a spokeswoman for Sweetbay, said officials there hadn't heard this idea but it's not something they would dismiss outright.

"As we always said, we're open to many different concepts," LaBeau said. "We do have some criteria that has to work for us, but because this is the first time I'm hearing about it, there's not much more I can say. It's a unique idea, but I'm really not sure if it would work for us."

Project could support higher leases
City officials allotted Wednesday and Thursday nights for the four potential developers to make a presentation on their ideas for the land where condominiums, retail and office space, and civic structures such as city hall and a cultural center are planned.

Also presenting on the first night were officials from Temple Terrace Investments LLC, a joint venture between Atlanta-based The Vlass Group, MJ Lant Developments of Suwanee, Ga., and Maitland's Marketplace Advisors Inc. That group spent most of its presentation talking about regional demographics and decided to take a turn from what other developers were proposing. It said the downtown region needs more density than currently planned not less.

Many of the developers were referring to a plan developed a few years ago by Maryland-based Torti Gallas & Partners, which called for New Urban buildings lining North 56th Street south of Bullard Parkway and creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment. Chesapeake and Transwestern had invited officials from Torti Gallas to take part in their team, and some representatives on the company were on hand to support the Chesapeake concept.

Bringing in tenants to a new commercial/retail/residential project could be difficult on all fronts, said city community services director Ralph Bosek, with the combination of a softening residential market as well as the fact that commercial rents in the new town center likely would be above $30 per square foot, higher than surrounding properties where rent sits at no more than $25 per square foot.

from: Tampa Bay Business Journal

Super-Luxury Homes Go On The Market for $100 Million and More

2006-10-01T09:24:00.000-05:00

Donald Trump's property for sale in Palm Beach has all the big-time extras one might expect.

Pricey marble and 24-karat gold fixtures decorate bathrooms. There's a gargantuan fountain in the driveway and 475 feet of oceanfront out back.

Perhaps the biggest thing about the home, however, is its price tag: $125 million.

And (sorry Donald) that price has already been trumped. A home in Aspen, Colorado, is now listed at $135 million. Another home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, was recently listed at a flat $100 million.

The listings represent a monetary milestone in American real estate: the first time U.S. homes have broken into nine figures, according to real estate experts, and they've done so in quick succession.

Five Signs of Trouble Bubble Up At Local Level

2006-09-24T16:07:00.000-05:00

When angry citizens show up spontaneously at city halls and county courthouses across Florida to demand lower taxes from stunned local elected officials, it's more than a one-time, freak coincidence.

Nope. The series of mini "Boston tea parties" we have seen over recent days in Citrus, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Hernando counties, and in cities from Dunedin to North Redington Beach to Tampa, represent something deeper.

The simple reading is that Floridians are just plain fed up.

But a deeper take is that several pressures on Floridians are building toward a breaking point at the same time. I would argue that there are at least five of these:

(1) First and most obviously, taxpayers have finally gotten wise to the way local taxes work. Enough taxpayers now understand that Florida's soaring property values mean higher property taxes, no matter what their local officials claim.

Local politicians can keep their tax rate the same, or even trim that rate a little, and still rake in more money while pretending they "held the line" on taxes. But more voters understand this than ever before. With a new degree of sophistication, they are demanding tax rates be rolled back.

(2) The heavy-handed division of Floridians into two classes of taxpayers - homeowners vs. nonhomeowners - is really starting to whack the nonhomeowners. They are coming to understand on a large scale just how much they are getting the short end of the stick.

We homeowners, under the Save Our Homes amendment, are protected against our property's tax assessment going up more than 3 percent a year. Let's agree that is fine and dandy - but it leaves the owners of businesses or other property entirely unprotected. When property values go up 20, 30 percent or more, so do their taxes. Their revolt is under way.

(3) Resentment over taxes just can't be divorced from resentment over Florida's insurance crisis, even if local officials don't think that's not their problem. Taxpayers have only one wallet each, with a lot of different hands reaching into it.

Each agency, whether city hall, the school board or the county commission, exists (in its own mind) in a separate universe. But to taxpayers, they are collectively "the government," and what taxpayers see is a government not fixing the insurance problem - then turning around and jacking up their taxes.

(4) Florida's tax and insurance crises are cresting at precisely the same time as a rising voter revolt over local government power over growth. From St. Pete Beach to Ormond Beach and many points in between, Florida voters are fighting their own city halls to take more direct control. Too many big-box stores and condos have been approved over the protests of too many fed-up neighbors.

Looming over all of these local battles is the coming statewide debate over the "Hometown Democracy" movement, which seeks direct voter control of long-term growth. This might become one of the biggest political fights Florida has ever had.

(5) Last, and most ominously, there are signs that the overall economy is slumping, which threatens disaster for Florida government at both the state and local level. Maybe it doesn't feel like it, but we've been living through fat years, especially when it comes to tax collections in Florida. If these have been the fat years, what will the lean ones bring?

Of these five trends, only two can be laid directly at the feet of Florida's local government: their failure to reduce tax rates, and their generally friendly policy toward development. But the taxpayers are not exactly in the mood to say, "You know, City Hall, I am only 40 percent mad at you."

One of three things will happen.

First, Florida's next governor and Legislature could provide leadership and address these problems in a comprehensive way, asking probing questions about what kind of tax structure Florida needs and who pays.

Second, Tallahassee could opt for easy and popular fixes (expanding Save Our Homes, higher homestead exemption) that don't address the underlying problems at all, or even make them worse.

Third, we can just let each crisis fester and break wide open, reacting to each willy-nilly and piecemeal. In that case, for better or worse, Hometown Democracy and drastic local tax caps will be a given for starters. As for what kind of Florida we will have at the end of the decade - well, what the heck.

by: Howard Troxler

Insurance Crisis Is Top Real Estate Concern

2006-09-20T09:52:00.000-05:00

Rising insurance rates are threatening the Florida real estate market and overall economy and is the top concern of real estate professionals, according to a study from the University of Florida.

UF's Center for Real Estate Studies surveyed Florida real estate lawyers, market analysts, title insurers and financial advisers in July.

The active hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005 have driven up insurance costs. Some of the effects will be felt gradually because businesses, which typically have leases of at least five years, may not be paying higher premiums yet. But when they do, the costs will be felt down the line.

"The entire economy will have to adjust to these higher insurance costs," said Wayne Archer, director of the center. "It's a big enough hit, just like gas prices, that it will ultimately affect every business and every price that is property intensive."

The second biggest concern in the state's real estate industry is the softening housing market. Of special concern is the condominium market. Though 47 percent of respondents expect the price of single-family homes to lag behind inflation or even decline, 69 percent were pessimistic about condo prices.

The recent explosion in apartment-to-condo conversions has started to slow and will continue to do so as the housing market weakens, Archer said.

by: Tampa Bay Business Journal

What's a Cap Rate Anyhow?

2006-09-07T08:19:00.000-05:00

One of the most difficult and perplexing problems for realtors and investors is finding current Gross and Net Income Multipliers and Cap Rates. Determining the value of an income property generally involves establishing either the Gross or Net Income Multipliers, or the Cap Rate according to comparables.

There are a number of difficulties:

1)Finding comparables and market information
Information relating to a sale of a commercial property is often confidential and difficult to obtain. While the sale price can usually be determined, the Income and Expense Statement, Net Operating Income etc. is often not available, making it difficult to calculate the financial measures.

2)Discovering the underlying motives behind the purchase and adjustments that may have been made by the purchasers.

The financial measures are simply ratios that have been derived from the purchase price and the financial figures. They reflect the attitudes and the results of the negotiations between the buyer and the seller, economic conditions etc. In some instances, the purchaser may be strongly motivated by income tax considerations, other times; the motivation may be to move money into another country by an overseas investor. Often, purchasers make adjustments to compensate for particular circumstances relating to the particular property. As an example, if a purchaser estimates that there is $250,000 to be spent immediately on major repairs, then the $250,000 will be deducted from the purchase price. Additionally, if the building has an assumable first mortgage, which is well below the current rate, the purchaser may pay more for the property than for a comparable property, which requires financing at the current market rate.

If the analyst is unaware of special buying or selling motives, or that the purchaser has made adjustments to the price because of special circumstances, such as the requirement for major repairs, or because of favorable or unfavorable existing financing, then the calculation of the financial measures will be incorrect. This will lead to erroneous and misleading estimates of the market value for the subject property. On the surface, the calculation of cap rates seems to be a relatively simple process. However, it is fraught with difficulty and uncertainty, and requires a lot of digging for information, questioning, and being alert to special circumstances, which may distort the answers.

3)The number of comparable is often limited.
Finding comparables for a residential property is relatively easy. There are usually plenty of recent sales and an abundance of comparables or near comparables. In contrast, there are relatively few commercial sales, and finding comparables is very difficult because there may not be many comparables available, and obtaining the information such as the income and expenses may be difficult.

As an example, finding comparables for a 5,000 Sq Foot, 10-year-old suburban retail complex, which has five tenants with different lease renewal dates and is situated in a poor location for retailers would be very difficult. There is unlikely to be a direct comparable available which has sold "recently." The approach in this situation is try to find some sales that are at least close to this situation and then make adjustments to try and take into account the specific differences such as the timing of the lease renewals, locational factors, age, financing etc.

The Net Operating Income is probably the most widely used indicator of the building's financial performance, and is frequently used in determining the value of the property. The Net Operating Income is the cash remaining after deducting the Operating Expenses from the Effective Gross Income (EGI). There are several items, which often appear on financial statements, which must be deleted before calculating the Net Operating Income (NOI).

Debt Service, i.e., principal and interest payments are ignored because the Net Operating Income reflects the earning capacity of the property exclusive of financing.

Depreciation allowances or any other purely bookkeeping or Income Tax deductions are ignored.

Capital Expenditures which provides long term benefits such as replacing appliances, painting of the building etc. are omitted.

The Capitalization Rate:
The Cap Rate is calculated as follows:
Cap Rate = (Net Operating Income / Market Value) x 100
Cap Rate = (NOI / MV) x 100

Example:
Net Operating Income (NOI): $239,430
Market Value (MV): $3,420,000

Cap Rate = (239,430 / $3,420,000) x 100
Cap Rate = 7%

The Cap Rate of 7% represents the annual return before mortgage payments and income taxes on the total investment of $3,420,000.

Alternatively, if the Cap Rate can be established from comparables, we can determine the likely selling price of a property. For example, if the cap rate is 7.5 % based on comparables, and the Net Operating Income (NOI) for the building is $105,000 , the potential selling price can be calculated as follows:

MV = (NOI / Cap Rate) x 100
MV = (105,000 / 7.5) x 100
MV = $ 1,400,000

The Net Income Multiplier (NIM)

The Net Income Multiplier (NIM) is the inverse of the Cap Rate

NIM = 100 / Cap Rate
or Cap Rate = 100 / NIM

As an example, if the NIM is 11, the Cap Rate is:

Cap Rate = 100 / NIM
Cap Rate = 100 / 11
Cap Rate = 9.09%

Both the Cap Rate and its counterpart the Net Income Multiplier are used in the real estate industry to estimate the market value of a property. However, in recent times, the Cap Rate has become the more popular financial measure. Regardless of which measure is used; they both produce the same estimate of market value.

The Net Income Multiplier is expressed as follows:
Net Income Multiplier (NIM) = Market Value / Net Operating Income
i.e. NIM = MV / NOI

Example:
Net Operating Income: $239,430
Market Value (MV): $3,420,000
NIM = MV / NOI
NIM = 3,420,000 / 239,430
= 14.28

Alternatively, if the Net Income Multiplier can be established from comparables, we can determine the likely selling price of a property. For example, if the Net Income Multiplier is 7.0 based on several comparables, and the Net Operating Income for the building is $180,000 , the potential selling price can be calculated as follows:

MV = NOI x NIM
MV = $180,000 x 7
MV = $1,260,000.

by: Ozzie Jurock

Darwinian Real Estate, a New Value Proposition

2006-09-04T08:13:00.000-05:00

Darwin put forth the premise that species that adapt to external stimuli survive. Twentieth-century economists applied this premise to explain the growth of mega-corporations and the death of industries as the phenomena known as Social Darwinism. Now each of us is in the midst of a new Social Darwinian revolution and it is time for all of us to take stock and adapt to new paradigms.

One of the most significant impacts that internet technology has had on our economy is that it has given significant buying power back to the consumer and has eliminated many of the inefficiencies that were once present in business. These effects have been seen in a number of industries, and are finally catching up to the industry of real estate.

Consumers now have access to more information about real estate than ever before, and very often can become very well versed in each aspect of the transaction without the guidance of the real estate professional. Consumers can now learn about and orchestrate the entire transaction without needing the resources of a real estate agent. It is this expanded access to data and increased expertise has monumental implications on how we are going to do business in the future.

The revolution is upon us and there is no way to stem the tide. Companies like RedFin and Zillow are providing data and services that were once kept under lock and key by the NAR. The heated discussion about open MLS' is mute as home sellers now expect maximum online exposure as a minimum level of service by their representatives. Every day, new technologies and companies pop up that address inefficiencies in our established real estate system. Technology and access to information is creating these changes and there is no way to stop the flow.

So what do we do now? Adapt and survive; refuse to adapt and die (well not die actually, more like find a new line of work.)

I applaud ActiveRain.com and their edict to help each of us reach our potential and remain an integral part of the real estate transaction. Their premise, which I support 100%, is that behemoth companies are taking the REALTOR® right out of the equation and it is time to take action to stop the process. The question is: how do we do it? These companies are growing because they leverage inherent inefficiencies in the transaction process. RedFin leverages online access to listings to take the buyer's agent completely out of the equation. Zillow doesn't go that far, but removes the need for a comps report which is a fundamental service offered by REALTORS®. With companies such as these taking away activities that were traditionally reserved for the REALTOR® where does that leave the rest of us?

Whether we like it or not, it is time to adapt.

The days when the real estate agent could exclusively control the transaction and reap all of the reward are long gone. By extension, so are the days when an agent could just get a license and survive with no additional education or expertise. We need to change our value proposition and provide services of inherent value to our clients. Thanks to new technology, inefficiencies that once created revenue and opportunity are quickly going away. However, if we change how we present ourselves to the client we can survive and thrive in this brave new world.

I'm not a chameleon, how do you propose I adapt?

Changing your paradigm is not an easy task. However, it is time to take a look at the services that you bring to the table and critically evaluate which parts really add value to the client. Clients can now access listings online and shop for homes themselves. However, they don't know anything about their legal exposure in the transaction or the mountain of paperwork that it requires. Clients can find the property that they like, but they rarely know how to negotiate the deal, generally have little understanding in the financial process, and typically don't understand where to find the red flags in the transaction.

There are many areas where a REALTOR® adds value to a transaction and including these as core points in your value proposition can be an effective way to establish the necessity of your services in the transaction. Real estate professionals that adapt to the new paradigm are most likely to assume a role that better fits the definition of an agent: One that acts to advise and represent the best interests of their client in all aspects of the transaction.

In attracting clients, the adapted agent needs to refine their value proposition so that clients in the niche they serve understand and value the agent's services. We are no longer transaction managers; we are now advisors, consultants and guides. People looking to buy or sell property can do the shopping for the property all on their own. They can figure out the retail cost of the property and even develop their own buying or selling strategy. However, very few buyers and sellers understand the minutia of the process and everything that goes into the transaction. Our opportunity lay in our ability to communicate how convoluted and risky this process can be and how we can be an effective guide in the process.

For me, I choose to adapt. I am trying to identify where the inefficiencies are in the transaction and taking these out of the value proposition (The RedFin's of the world will fill those holes and they are far-better capitalized than me.) Instead, I encourage agents to leverage technology to get in front of the customer while they are shopping or learning online. They should develop tools to become an educational resource to their prospective customers and establish themselves as necessary experts that represent the best interests of their clients. Technology has shifted the industry and if real estate agents can adapt their value propositions and paradigms to this new industry, they will survive and thrive.

by: Barrett Niehus from Broker Agent News

Channelside: Culture for Condo Dwellers

2006-09-02T08:03:00.000-05:00

Channelside Cinemas is opening its doors to independent films and festivals as part of an ongoing plan to attract larger numbers of moviegoers.

The 10-screen theater that serves as the centerpiece of the Channelside retail/entertainment complex is attempting to make itself a draw for thousands of condominium dwellers who are expected to move downtown in coming years, as well as residents from other parts of town who are losing their favorite movie-watching spots.

Channelside decided to devote at least two of its screens to non-mainstream films following the closing of Sunrise Cinemas at Old Hyde Park Village. The seven-screen theater had been a favorite among Tampa Bay area movie buffs for attracting independent and art-house films, including current releases such as "A Scanner Darkly" and "Quinceanera."

Channelside Cinemas' plans have caught the attention of nearby Channel District condo developers who promote surrounding amenities within easy walking distance to prospective buyers.

"Anytime you can offer something different than the other theaters in town, it gives you a better draw," said Ken Stoltenberg, director of Mercury Advisors, developer of Grand Central at Kennedy and The Martin condo towers.

The timing is right for Channelside Cinemas to capture a larger share of Tampa's moviegoing market, said Pat Vida, theater manager.

"This place has been ready to pop for a long time," Vida said. "We think this is the summer we finally got noticed."

Local decision-making
Because it is independently operated, Channelside Cinemas can make its own decisions on matters such as screening limited-engagement films or even hosting live theater and musical acts -- all of which are in the works.

"It's easier for us to do things out of the box," said Vida. Many of the things being done at Channelside might be delayed or rejected were they subject to approval by a major cinema chain, she said.

"We can deal with these things on a personal level, rather than having to go through corporate," said Vida, who previously ran the theaters when they were under the management of Regal Cinemas.

Vida's ideas now only need to clear the theater's current owners -- Howard Edelman, a New York theater operator, and Bob Vasaturo, founder of the Westshore Pizza restaurant chain. They bought the theaters from Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. earlier this year and invested in an extensive remodeling of the lobby that includes a lounge area, full-service bar and Westshore Pizza counter.

"I predict you'll see other theaters doing what we're doing now," said Vasaturo, who would not disclose the price he and Edelman paid for their theater.

Channelside Cinemas, which opened in 2001, originally attempted to market itself to a broader range of movie fans by mixing in foreign films with wider Hollywood releases, Vida said. The lesser-marketed films were squeezed out after selling only minimal numbers of tickets, she said.

The situation may be different now, given the crowds Sunrise Cinemas drew to Old Hyde Park Village before the theater operator decided to close Aug. 31 amid extensive redevelopment plans by property owner Wasserman Vornado Strategic Real Estate Fund LLC.

The Hyde Park theaters, which date back to the mid-1980s, are considered outmoded compared to modern offerings such as stadium seating and surround sound, yet remained a popular venue for local film festivals. While movie fans lament Sunrise's closing, they are receptive to Channelside's new plans to pick up independent films.

"It makes a horrible situation much better," said Lisa Ciurro, proprietor of the Tampa Film Fan site on Blogspot.com. The only potential drawback is that Hyde Park offered free parking while Channelside charges $1 an hour, she said.

by: Carl Cronan

Avoid Management Change During Time Of Transition

2006-08-29T11:28:00.000-05:00

Q. This year residents gained a majority on the board of the Community Development District. One of the new board members moved to terminate our professional management, saying its level of service had fallen below expectations. A resident sent the board a letter asking why we’re keeping the management company and saying that most educational articles suggest replacing the management at times of transition. What is your experience on the “when” of making a management change?

A. Changing management at a time of transition could be a big mistake. Your professional managers may be the only consistent part of operations for the new directors and the association. Management can be the prime source of information on how things were done and where documents and records are kept. Institutional memory is particularly valuable when everything else is changing.

If your professional managers are not meeting the level of service you expect, that is the fault of the previous board, which allowed them to do so. Management operates at the level instructed by the board and agreed to in the service contract. As the new board, you must study the contract, understand exactly what level of service you have contracted for, and negotiate with the management company about increased services. If you were to hire a new management company, you would have to do exactly the same thing. Establish your new operational policies, work with your current management, and then, if it doesn’t perform according to contract, replace them.

Documents mandate repair

Q. Our condominium’s master antenna system sustained hurricane damage. The board refuses to repair it, saying most owners have cable and don’t need an antenna. Our documents appear to address the master antenna system as a common amenity. Does this mean the board is obligated to restore the system?

A. Normally, a master system must be maintained as a common expense. If your documents say it is part of the common amenities, the board is obliged to maintain it.

‘Complaining Like a Pro’

Q. Every time I call my condo office, the people there refuse to listen to my complaints, and tell me to put it in writing. I don’t have time to write letters. Shouldn’t a phone call be enough?

A. Let me quote from an article by freelance writer Lynn Snowden titled “Complaining Like a Pro.” Here is some of what she said.

* Never use the telephone. You have no record that the call occurred or who said what to whom.

* Type your letter on white paper to make it easy to read. Edit the letter for clarity and grammar. Be complete, but keep the letter to one page.

* Identify yourself and sign the letter. State exactly why you are writing and stick to the facts. Suggest a solution or state the answer you are looking for.

* Do not use improper or obscene language and don’t use insults or call names.

I’ve dealt with many complainants over the years. Often they come back to me and acknowledge that once they put their complaint in writing, it didn’t seem all that bad. Try writing a proper letter.

by: Richard White

Four Myths About The Future of Home Prices

2006-08-28T12:19:00.000-05:00

For the past five years, the housing bulls have been trotting out one rational-sounding argument after another to explain why the boom made perfect economic sense.

Forget about a crash, they assured homeowners. Expect a "soft landing" where your three-bedroom colonial in Larchmont or Larkspur not only holds onto its huge price gains, but keeps appreciating at a "normal," "sustainable" rate of 6 percent or so into the sunset.

Americans wanted to believe, and they did. Now, the giant popping noise you're hearing is the sound of yesterday's myths exploding like balloons pumped up with too much hot air.

The newest sign that the myth-makers were spectacularly wrong is the data on existing home sales for July. Nationwide, median prices rose .9 percent.

But even that meager number masks the real story. Prices actually fell where housing is most vulnerable, in the bubble markets in the West and Northeast. In the Northeast, they dropped 2.1 percent from July of 2005, at the same time prices nationwide rose around 3 percent, meaning that houses lost over 5 percent of their value adjusted for inflation.

Homeowners just saw their wealth shrink, by a lot. The numbers will only get worse. It's time to examine the clichés that the "experts" - chiefly analysts and economists from realtors and mortgage associations - used to convince Americans that what they're seeing now could never happen. Here are the four great housing myths - and why they never made much sense in the first place.

Myth #1: As long as job growth is strong, prices can't go down

You can almost forgive the bulls for stumbling over this one. In past housing recessions, prices fell sharply in markets with severe job losses, like Texas in the mid-80s and Boston in the early 90s.

But the argument that prices can't fall in a good job market doesn't make economic sense: To be sure, a strong employment picture helps demand. But if far more houses are pouring onto the market than can be absorbed by households lured by the new jobs, and if the sellers are pressured to sell, prices will fall.

That's precisely what's happening now in good job markets such as San Diego and Northern Virginia. In this boom, prices soared to such extraordinary levels that builders kept churning out new homes, and owners of existing houses threw a record number of units on the market to cash out. The supply grew so fast that demand, even in strong job markets, simply couldn't keep up.

As usual, for the believers, it's always easier to fall back on a cliché than read the warning signs.

Myth #2: The builders learned their lesson in the last downturn. They won't swamp the market with new houses when the market turns

You might call this the OPEC theory of homebuilders. The idea was that the builders wouldn't take a chance by building lots of unsold, "spec" units that could clog the market in a downturn. They had supposedly absorbed hard-won discipline from their excessive building in past downturns.

Well, it hasn't turned out that way. Builders are still pouring out near-record numbers of new homes as sales decline, assuring a further fall in prices. "Buyers" are walking away from deposits on houses that were supposedly pre-sold, forcing developers to throw them back on the market at a discount.

The problem is that even now, margins on new homes are still pretty good, though well below the levels of a year ago. As a result, builders will just keep building until those big margins evaporate. High prices are sewing the seeds of their own demise. They always do.

Myth #3: Low interest rates will keep values rising, or at the very least, put a floor under prices

What really matters for all assets, whether it's houses, stocks or bonds, is real interest rates - in other words, nominal rates after subtracting inflation. And real rates fell sharply starting in 2001. That caused a legitimate, one-time increase in housing prices.

The rub is that prices rose far more than could ever be justified by declining mortgage rates. That's where the bubble kicked in. Today's relatively low rates are not, and never were, a reason why prices would keep rising. Once real rates drop and stabilize, the impetus goes away - again, the gain is a one-time, not a recurring, phenomenon.

Today, real 10-year rates are still extremely low. They have nowhere to go but up. When the one-time gain of 2001-2004 reverses, housing prices could take a further hit.

By the way, a decline in rates due to a fall in inflation isn't the boom to real estate it's advertised to be. Sure, rates go down, but workers also receive lower raises. So the fall in rates turns out to be a wash. As for what matters - real rates - what goes down later goes up, and housing prices go in the other direction, namely south.

Myth #4: restriction on development in the suburbs ensures low supply, and guarantees rising prices

This argument ignores that the tough zoning laws and anti-development fervor have been a feature of America's tony towns since the early 1970s. The "not in my town" phenomenon is nothing new.

Sure, it's still difficult to get new building permits in suburbs of New Jersey, New York, Washington, Seattle and San Francisco. But America's housing market is extremely fluid. People move farther from job centers, and commute longer hours, to get bargains where housing is plentiful. Then the jobs move to the areas with the cheap houses. People in their 50s and 60s cash out early in San Diego and buy a bigger house for half the money in Texas or South Carolina.

And the cities are just as enthusiastic about developing blighted areas with new, tax-paying high-rises as the suburbs are slamming the door. In the New York area, Brooklyn, Jersey City and Hoboken - and even Manhattan - are sprouting more new housing than in decades, despite a job market that's hardly robust.

A year ago, the reigning cliché was that real estate had entered a new world of "no supply." Now, a record 3.85 million homes are up for sale, and buyers are getting scarce.

No, the world hasn't changed. And the myths haven't changed either. Next time, don't believe them.

by: Shawn Tully

Proposed Property Tax Bills Cause Sticker Shock

2006-08-26T12:04:00.000-05:00

When Hyde Park Walk was converted from apartments to condos last year, all 134 units were quickly sold. Charlie Augustus was among the buys. He says everything seemed great, until this week when he discovered what his taxes might be.

Charlie Augustus Homeowner:
“I thought it was preposterous to be perfectly honest with you.”
Charlie’s county tax bill could almost double this year, going from $2,400 to almost $4,600. The proposed increase was included in a notice that was mailed to all Hillsborough county homeowners this week. But its new homeowners and people that bought new property that usually see the biggest increases. Hillsborough county property appraiser Rob Turner says one reason for that is because when homes are sold they are re-assessed.

RobTurnerCounty Property Appraiser:
“(When people call) I say well, ‘what did you pay for it?’ They’ll give me a number and our assessment is still often below that number.”
The other factor driving the higher bills is the county’s millage rate, which essentially is how much the county is charging its homeowners.

But the good news according to Turner is that once a new homeowner’s property is re-assessed, a cap prevents future jumps.

RobTurnerCounty Property Appraiser:
“Once the homestead base value has been established, then after that, it can only increase no more than 3%.”
Turner adds the notices that went out this week are not bills. He says the final tax bills will be sent out after the county budget is set this fall.

by: Preston Rudie

Florida’s Existing Home Market in July 2006

2006-08-23T11:58:00.000-05:00

Florida's housing sector continued to show signs of market adjustments in July as mortgage rates edged up and the inventory of homes available for sale remained at higher levels in many markets. Statewide, the existing-home median price rose 1 percent to $250,800 last month; a year ago, it was $248,200, according to the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). A total of 14,451 existing single-family homes sold statewide last month, a decrease of 33 percent from the 21,691 homes sold during the previous July, according to FAR.

In July 2001, the statewide median sales price was $132,000, representing an increase of about 90 percent over the five-year period, according to FAR records. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half sold for less.

Nationally, the median sales price for existing single-family homes was $231,500 in June, up 1.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). In California, the statewide median resales price was $575,800 in June; in Massachusetts, it was $370,000; in Maryland, it was $320,750; and in New York, it was $279,000.

Over the past few months, home sales in the U.S. have held to a narrow range -- a sign that the U.S. housing market is stabilizing, according to NAR housing industry analysts. Sales overall remain historically strong, NAR notes, with 2006 projected to be the third strongest sales year on record.

Looking to Florida's existing condominium market, sales of existing condos also decreased in July, with a total of 4,260 condos sold statewide compared to 6,739 in July 2005 for a 37 percent decrease, according to FAR. The statewide median sales price for condos last month was $210,200; a year ago, it was $211,900 for a 1 percent decrease. The national median existing condo price in June 2006 was $226,900.

According to Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.76 percent last month, up from 5.70 percent in July 2005. FAR’s sales figures reflect closings, which typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

Among the state’s larger markets, the Miami metropolitan statistical area (MSA) reported 673 existing homes sold last month compared to 1,092 homes sold in July 2005 for a 38 percent decline. The market’s median existing home price rose 5 percent to $382,200; a year ago, it was $363,800. A total of 837 existing condos changed hands in Miami in July for a 12 percent decrease over the 949 condos sold the previous year. The market's median existing condo price was $252,000; a year ago, it was $281,900 for an 11 percent decrease.

Pat Dahne, chairman of the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches and broker-owner of Pat Dahne Realty Group, says of the adjusting housing market: "It's like a car slowing down. You can go from traveling 40 miles an hour to 30 miles an hour, and that's a 25 percent drop in your speed. But it doesn't mean you're going backwards." Miami's diverse economy provides a strong foundation for its housing sector, Dahne says. "Tourism and service industries are an important part of the economy, but there is also healthcare, major banking and finance centers, manufacturing and international shipping with the Port of Miami," she notes. "Many businesses have their Latin American headquarters here -- Miami is a business hub with global appeal."

Of the state’s smaller markets, the Ocala MSA reported a total of 525 existing homes sold in July compared to 528 homes sold a year earlier for a 1 percent decline. The area’s median existing home sales price rose 20 percent to $177,200; a year ago, it was $147,400.

"In our area, the median sales price remains solid and homes are continuing to sell … the market is leveling to a more even playing field between buyers and sellers," says Wilbur Van Wyck, president of the Ocala/Marion County Association of Realtors and broker-owner of Coldwell Banker Riverland Realty. "Part of our appeal is the natural beauty of the area. We have Silver Springs, Rainbow Springs and the Ocala National Forest; we're not far from the Gulf of Mexico and those beautiful beaches. Whether you enjoy horseback riding, hiking, camping, fishing or beach activities, there's an outlet for it around the Ocala area."

See the Chart

from: National Association of Realtors

Receipts: Growing, Growing, Gone

2006-08-18T12:08:00.000-05:00

Property insurance rates doubling. Gas prices topping $3 a gallon. Trash bills, water bills, electric bills — all going up.

Whatever it is, it seems to cost more these days.

Don’t expect your local government to help.

Cities, counties and school boards across Tampa Bay are using your money to grow at record rates, sucking in huge increases in property tax revenues and in return offering only marginal cuts to the tax rate, if any.

It has become a shrewd political maneuver in this era of robust property growth. Politicians can tout new parks or libraries and cut your tax rate. But the bottom line is, you’re paying more. Much more.

Since 2001, the size of local government across the area has nearly doubled. Five years ago, the city of Tampa took in $97.7-million in property tax revenues. This year, it expects to collect $167.7-million, an increase of almost 72 percent. The city of Clearwater’s property tax revenues skyrocketed 85 percent in the same time.

With all that extra money, what did you get?

“People live on a budget. And when the budget gets tight, people have to tighten their belt,” said Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair, who has pushed his government for substantial spending cuts. “Government should be no different. But for some reason, it plays by different rules.”

Local governments have plenty of explanations for the rising budgets, and they mirror residents’ woes: Property insurance costs have skyrocketed. Pension funds are thinning. Gas prices are up. So is the cost of health insurance.

But unlike most residents across the Tampa Bay area who have to do more with less, governments are able to take more in taxes to make up the difference. The city of St. Petersburg, for instance, will cut its tax rate by at least 5 percent next year, but will still collect $10-million more in property tax revenues.

Why? Because the value of property keeps going up.

Hillsborough County has seen similarly dramatic gains in property tax revenues despite cutting the tax rate in each of the past five years. This year, commissioners have tentatively approved their largest rate reduction in at least two decades.

A booming population in Pasco County demands more fire, police and other services, said budget director Mike Nurrenbrock, explaining his county’s increase in tax revenues. The Sheriff’s Office alone wants to add 98 jobs to keep pace, Nurrenbrock said.

And Pinellas County government plans to grow 12 percent next year. (By comparison, the state budget grew about 14 percent.) Millions of dollars are being pushed into social services programs, including help for the homeless and the creation of below market housing.

The county also is pushing a modest tax-rate cut, about 3 percent.

County Commission chairman Ken Welch said that those who call for more dramatic tax reductions in these flush times raise valid concerns. But where should government cut? The money that houses and feeds the homeless? The money that pays for the transportation needs of workers or helps them afford rent? “The lines really blur when you are on the ground, so to speak, in the midst of battle,” Welch said. “Philosophy goes out the window.”

From a broader perspective, however, local government spending appears wildly out of control.

City property tax revenues have doubled in the last six years, according to a state analysis, more than twice the rate of personal income growth in the state. School board revenue collections have increased 70 percent since 2000 (the state mandates much of that share), while county governments have collected 80 percent more, according to the study. Local governments have an “insatiable appetite for money,” said David Daniel, vice president of governmental affairs for the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “And at the end of the day, it’s our wallets that are getting squeezed.”

Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard is hearing the complaints. But whenever the city contemplates reducing some service, he also hears people argue against the cut.
“We need to get to a point where people applaud and re-elect people because they don’t do something to them,” said Hibbard. “They don’t add some new service. They don’t add some new facility.”

“Unfortunately, it seems like government is always growing,” said Safety Harbor’s interim Mayor Andy Steingold. Steingold is paying $5,000 more in property taxes himself this year. “I feel it, too.”

Most governments wait until summer to lay the bottom line on citizens. And even then, most don’t see the televised public meeting or understand the obtuse newspaper story. Many area residents found the grim reality in the mail this week, in the form of county Truth in Millage notices. Property taxes on the Oldsmar condominium Vanita Hall rents out have tripled in four years. Her Truth in Millage notice was just the latest bad news for Hall, who is struggling to keep up with the risings costs of her four rental properties in the Tampa Bay area.

Hall will have to pay $1,800 in property taxes on that one condo alone, she said. She paid $600 in 2002.

“What are they doing that’s different?” asked Hall. “I don’t see anything for that money. Water’s more expensive. Electric is more expensive. What gives?”

Bert Swain, the co-owner of Rollin’ Oats whole foods market and cafe in St. Petersburg, is facing a double whammy familiar to small business owners who don’t get the 3 percent tax bill cap that most homeowners get. Swain, 55, already has seen his insurance rates triple in the last year. This week he received his Truth in Millage notice — he will have to pay $12,422 next year, $2,400 more than in 2006. “I think every one wants to know, ‘Where are my taxes going?’ ” Swain said.

In Hillsborough County, the government started budget talks this year with a staggering $149-million surplus, said Blair, a county commissioner.

But before commissioners could even consider a tax rate decrease, $112-million was already spoken for, sucked into the county operation.

The county did cut its tax rate, but Blair said it missed an opportunity for real relief. Using the entire surplus, the county could have cut its overall tax rate by almost a third.
“What bothers me is, we have people waiting to the very last day to pay their utility bills because they can’t afford it,” Blair said. “And we have all this money — that’s theirs — and we think we know how to spend it better than they do.”

by: Aaron Sharockman

Homeowners Can File For Hurricane Grants

2006-08-17T07:26:00.000-05:00

The state is accepting applications for homeowners to fortify their houses against hurricanes with the help of a grant up to $5,000. Homeowners must call a toll-free number or apply online to receive a free inspection that will recommend needed improvements.

Once the inspection is finished, homeowners can apply for the grant money.

The program will cover up to $10,000 in improvements, with the state paying for up to $5,000 of the work. Homeowners will be responsible for the other $5,000.

To qualify, homeowners must provide proof of homestead exemption and that the home’s insured value is less than $500,000.

However, the state has only 130 inspectors certified to visit homes, and it might take several weeks before more are trained, certified and screened with criminal background checks and drug tests.

The inspection report is necessary to apply for the state grant that will cover work such as reinforcing roof decking, adding shutters, applying a water seal to seams in plywood roof decking and installing stronger garage doors.

The report also will include anticipated insurance savings if the work is done.

Once the report is finished, homeowners can apply for the grant money and pick from a list of state-approved contractors to make the repairs.

To apply, call 1-800-342-2762 or go to www.mysafefloridahome.com to fill out an application.

The program is fueled by $250 million the Legislature appropriated last session.

by: Neil Johnson

Condos Being Reverted Back to Rentals

2006-08-14T07:29:00.000-05:00

Even when it was clear in December that the condominium market was slowing, Ted Charron went ahead and bought a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in Tampa, Fla., where some industry experts say the froth is especially frothy. He did not buy the condo to turn it for a quick profit, however, but to tap the growing demand for rentals, a by-product of the condo conversions that have swept through metropolitan areas nationwide.

“It wasn’t a flip, more of a long-term investment,” said Charron, an information technology director who works in nearby St. Petersburg. “Because there are so many of these conversions, there’s just not a lot of places to rent, so I think the demand for rentals is actually going to go up.”

Growing demand for rentals stems from many factors. Buyers are finding the market less affordable, leading to fewer sales and a greater pool of renters. And conversion of condos took rental inventory off the market. Now that demand for condos has cooled, conversions are slowing and in some instances, condos revert back to rentals.

“There was a huge craze,” said Larry Leitzman, a Tampa-based research and marketing coordinator at Grubb & Ellis, a national real estate agency. “Everybody was taking apartment buildings and converting them to condos. A lot of them are reeling them back in and taking the apartments that didn’t sell and converting them back to rentals.”

The new owners of the Preserve at Mobbly Bay in Tampa responded to those pressures as well, but in a slightly different way. They had every intention of converting the Mobbly Bay apartments to condos when they bought the 17-building complex in November of last year.

Eight months later, however, the answer to whether the property is going condo is: Absolutely not. Atlanta-based Mobbly Bay LLC decided that so many condos have been built or converted in the last two years, that it will wait another year or two to consider when it can convert the 316 units.

Other markets that have seen reversions include Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando in Florida, as well as Las Vegas, San Diego and Phoenix, according to Hessam Nadji, managing director of research services at Marcus & Millichap, a national real estate investment brokerage company.

Between 25percent to 40percent of the condos being developed or converted in those markets are likely to be offered as rentals instead, he said.

Condo conversions nationwide peaked in September 2005 and by June of this year levels had fallen back to those last seen in early 2004, before the bulk of the conversions happened. Nearly 28,000 units costing more than $4billion were converted in September, while only 3,354 units were converted in June at a total cost of $449.4million, according to a report from Real Capital Analytics, a research and consulting firm.

Nadji sees further softening in the second half of 2006 and in 2007, the market will be absorbing the bulk of the excess condo units.

by: Vinnee Tong - Associated Press

Real Estate Brokers In The Hot Seat

2006-08-12T11:50:00.000-05:00

The fight over competition in the real estate industry went to a new battlefield this week as representatives of consumer groups, brokers and government agencies clashed before a House subcommittee. Few participants pulled any punches.

Steven Brobeck, executive director of the Consumers Federation of America, told the subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity that the real estate business model is a “cockamamie system . . . nonsensical and ridiculous.”

Among Brobeck’s beefs: He claims prices are rarely advertised, that restrictive state laws and anti-competitive practices prevent consumers from getting discount service, and that there are roadblocks to securing key product information through the Internet.

Aaron Farmer, a discount broker in Texas, described how full-service brokers discriminate against discounters: They refuse to show discounters’ listings, Farmer said; pressure home magazines to not accept advertising; and refuse to allow discount brokers’ clients to view home listings full-commission brokers control. They even destroy for-sale signs.

The full-service brokerage industry, as represented by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), has fought to maintain the status quo. In nine states, for example, there are minimum-service laws that effectively force all agents to provide full service - discounters would otherwise be willing to offer limited services and charge home sellers much less than the traditional 6-percent commission.

Glenn Kelman, CEO of the discounter Redfin, had stark stories of threats and intimidation. “Sixty-three percent of our customers report meddling from other agents, who . . . make up grade-school legal mumbo-jumbo to scare our clients. One customer was so upset by an unsolicited hostile call he sat on the kitchen floor and cried.”

Kimberly Gorsuch-Bradbury, senior VP for the Real Estate Networks division of LendingTree, also spoke. Her company expanded into the real estate industry several years ago with an Internet enabled, discount-and-rebate business model.

Gorsuch-Bradbury said that NAR’s own surveys revealed that “only 7 percent of sellers reported that they wanted the agent to help with paperwork, inspections and preparing for settlement and only 10 percent of buyers reported that they wanted help with price negotiations and paperwork.”

In other words, those services could be easily unbundled — and consumers could pay for only what they want.

Standing up for brokers
Full-service brokers also had their say. Industry competition is ample, argued Geoffrey Lewis, chief legal officer for RE/MAX International.

“Consumers are bombarded with choices. Home sellers and buyers can choose between full service, limited service, discount commissions, flat fees, rebates and other incentives . . . There is no evidence that free market forces are being impeded.”

Even RE/MAX, according to Lewis, does not lobby in support of minimum-service requirements nor does it oppose rebates, refunds to buyers or sellers made at closing that some states or state real estate commissions prohibit. “Brokers and agents should be allowed the ability to freely negotiate transaction service pricing with their clients,” said Lewis.

Speaking on behalf of NAR was president-elect, Pat Vredevoogd-Combs. She argued that NAR membership is open to all, including discounters. NAR does not encourage price-setting; it has a compliance policy in effect saying that pricing decisions are to be made independently by each firm.

As for the discount brokers contention that full service brokers often won’t show their listings to the discounters’ buyers, Vredevoogd-Combs argued that agents have a fiduciary duty to place their clients’ interests above all others, including the agent’s own. State license laws and regulations reflect that and commissions can investigate complaints and impose penalties if they find agents violated their duties.

As for commission rates, she said no evidence exists to prove that agents have agreed to fix commission rates. If commissions cluster within a narrow range, it’s only due to normal economic behavior: Competitors lose market share if they raise rates, and can’t cover their costs if their rates are too low.

According to Brobeck, however, “Since there are only about 7 million home sales each year, most brokers are involved in only a handful of sales . . . As a result, most enthusiastically support a system that keeps commission rates high.”

from: CNN Money

Housing Authority Clings To Insurance

2006-08-10T09:54:00.000-05:00

The first cancellation notice arrived in early 2006. A second followed.

Suddenly, the Tampa Housing Authority found itself in a position familiar to many Florida homeowners lately - fighting to retain adequate property insurance coverage as more and more companies flee the state.

Housing officials said they were able to avoid having a portion of the coverage canceled, but still expect the agency's annual insurance premium to jump from $1.09 million to more than $2 million, beginning in October.

That spike is forcing the authority to consider further reducing the amount of coverage it carries. The less coverage it buys, the more likely taxpayers could be burdened with rebuilding public housing if a major hurricane thrashes the city.

Experts would argue the housing authority is already underinsured - carrying insurance up to $50 million on property valued at $190.7 million.

In addition, the majority of housing residents don't have rental insurance, meaning that their belongings are not covered in the event of disaster.

Jerome Ryans, housing authority president, said he is not as worried about major hurricane damage as he is for the agency's properties in Hillsborough County flood zones. Ten housing complexes are in hurricane evacuation zones.

Some housing officials said they think the chances are negligible that a catastrophic storm would exhaust Tampa's coverage.

"I'm not sure we'll ever see that kind of storm," said Martin Williams, the housing authority's director of human resources, who also leads the agency's efforts to buy insurance.

If it did happen, however, Williams said the authority would rely on the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to help pay for damage not covered by insurance. He said that Tampa's housing authority is essentially banking on the federal government to serve as a last layer of catastrophic insurance.

"With that kind of destruction, HUD will definitely come in and help out," Williams said. "There will still be poor people who need housing. That's what they are there for."

HUD officials did not return calls for comment.

"You can't depend on HUD and expect them to give you emergency funding," said Bill Lewellyn, a vice president of the Housing Authority Insurance Group of Cheshire, Conn., which provides coverage for about 1,300 housing authorities across the nation.

Few public housing buildings in Louisiana and Mississippi have reopened after Hurricane Katrina, Lewellyn said, and the lack of federal funding could mean that at least 30 percent never will.

Skimping On Coverage
Katrina caused more than $450 million in damage to housing authority buildings in New Orleans and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, about five times what HUD spends a year overhauling low-income housing developments across the nation.

That was just one storm during a two-year period of devastating hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 that caused property insurers to reduce coverage and dramatically raise rates.

For instance, Allstate Floridian, the state's third largest insurer of homes, decided last year to drop all 16,000 commercial properties it covered.

Most Florida housing authorities, such as Tampa, buy policies from companies that rely heavily on reinsurance - coverage that insurers buy to protect against catastrophic losses.

The Tampa Housing Authority has cobbled together policies from six insurers for its $50 million in coverage, Williams said.

The coverage is broken into three layers that can be tapped depending on the extent of the losses. Landmark American Insurance Co. provides the first $5 million in coverage; companies such as Axis Surplus Insurance Co. and Essex Insurance Co. make up the rest.

Experts aren't sure it's wise for taxpayer-backed agencies such as the housing authority to skimp on coverage, especially in a state hit by eight hurricanes in two years.

"Generally, if you can't afford the insurance premium, then you can't afford to be without insurance," said Gary Pullen, executive director for the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office of Tallahassee, a nonprofit group for insurers that cover large commercial properties such as skyscrapers, airports and power plants.

Better Fully Insured
Tampa housing officials have until September to decide what to do.

The authority still is receiving quotes - the best to date being $2.3 million, but it does not include protection from wind or hail, said Kris Warren, senior vice president.

The agency has a reserve fund that it could tap to offset the increased premium this year, she said. If the premiums remain high, however, the authority could be forced to cut programs and personnel.

"Services we provide through management and maintenance could be affected," she said.

Ryans has written HUD Secretary Orlando Cabrera to ask for relief, not only for Tampa but also all housing authorities in Florida. Cabrera has not yet responded, but he will be in Tampa later this month for a statewide housing conference.

Ryans also has suggested several steps to his board of directors, including trying to change the housing authority's renewal date from October to April.

"The rationale here is that negotiating a rate for commercial property in the middle of hurricane season could almost be suicidal," he wrote June 8 to board members. Hurricane season began in June and ends Nov. 30.

Punta Gorda housing officials know it's better to be fully insured.

Hurricane Charley destroyed 154 public housing units when it hit Punta Gorda in August 2004, leaving just 30 units intact. Of the 37 original public housing buildings, only 11 are open today. The rest are vacant slabs awaiting redevelopment. Many residents - most of them elderly - were relocated to other Florida cities.

Insurance adjusters estimated the damage at about $6 million. Even though the properties were fully insured, the housing authority has received only $4 million to date. Housing authority officials have hired attorneys and expect to settle the claim soon.

"It's been a terrible couple of years," said Jean Farino, the Punta Gorda agency's executive director.

For housing authorities considering skimping on insurance, Farino offers this advice: "Don't."

The decision, however, is not always that easy.

"We're trying to figure out whether we're going to cut the grass or keep the property insurance," said Ellen Ramsey, chief financial officer of the Jacksonville Housing Authority. "HUD's not made any indication they are going to bail us out."

Like Ryans, Ramsey said she plans to write HUD and ask about relief for coastal states.

"Whether or not we're successful, I don't know," Ramsey said. "The HUD budget is in really bad shape right now."

If a major hurricane hit and caused significant damage, Ramsey said the Jacksonville agency likely would look beyond HUD to find the money and means to rebuild.

"I don't want to say we're gambling, but I don't know how else you would put it," she said. "It's just not a good situation. I don't know if any of us have any answers."

by: John Allman and Baird Helgeson

Got Mad. Got Even

2006-08-09T20:21:00.000-05:00

Jack Fenwick wants to send a message to insurance companies that drop homeowner policies or jack up their rates.

“If they do that,’’ he said, “we’ll just take our car insurance business somewhere else.

“It’s not about loyalty anymore.’’

Fenwick is one of a growing number of Florida homeowners — no one is exactly sure how many — who were dropped by their property insurance company and decided that two can play that game.

On its Web site, the Pasco County-based insurance activist group Homeowners Against Citizens, or HAC, calls for a boycott of at least seven insurance companies, including Allstate, State Farm and Nationwide, that sell both auto and homeowner polices.

“The major insurers earn millions in profits selling us auto insurance but refuse to sell homeowners,’’ the notice reads. “Boycotting will cut their profits drastically and that may be one way to force them to return to writing homeowners insurance in Florida.’’

After his homeowners policy was dropped by Hartford, Fenwick, a retired insurance agent who lives in the Island in the Sun Mobile Home Park in Clearwater, found his only alternative was state-run Citizens Property Insurance. His premium tripled.

Now is not the time to get mad, he said. It’s time to take your auto insurance elsewhere.

“It’s sort of like a punishment,’’ said Fenwick, 81. “And it might be a way of getting lower auto rates.’’
According to insurance industry officials, the threat so far of a mass exodus to Progressive and other auto-only insurers is just that.

Many people won’t drop their auto policy because they don’t want to jeopardize the chances of possibly having their property insurance reinstated in the future, or because they don’t want to lose discounts they retain on their auto policy.

And enacting laws that would force insurance companies to write all lines of business, including companies such as Progressive that only write auto insurance, would likely meet stiff industry opposition and could be challenged in the courts.

But for some, none of that matters.

First Floridian insures Dale Piskie’s car and the contents of her Tarpon Springs condo. Three months ago, the company told her it would not renew her homeowners policy, but would continue to write her auto policy.

“I got mad,’’ said Piskie, who is a board member of HAC. “I had First Floridian since 1991, I put up with the increases in premium, and all of a sudden, they’re not going to insure me.”

So she switched her auto insurance to Liberty Mutual.

“It doesn’t hurt me to do that,’’ she said. “If I could tell (First Floridian officials) in person, I would. Because it’s not right.’’

The top two auto insurers in the state, State Farm and Allstate, say they have not seen mass cancellations of auto policies. But they know the resentment is out there.

“It’s the public’s response to what is an industrywide crisis right now,’’ said Michal Shanley, a spokeswoman for State Farm Florida, which, she pointed out, writes only property insurance. State Farm’s auto business is written by its parent company.

And while State Farm has asked regulators for a 52 percent statewide rate increase, the company has not shed large blocks of policies.

Allstate Floridian has. In May, the company announced it would not renew about 174,000 homeowner policies, including about 17,000 in the Tampa Bay area.

As an incentive to stay with the company for auto insurance, Allstate, like many other multiline insurers, will allow customers who will be dropped to keep their discounts for auto insurance.

“We have put mechanisms in place through our agencies for folks to continue to receive discounts on their auto insurance,’’ said Allstate spokesman Ryan Priest. “They retain the discounts and benefits of being an Allstate customer in order to try to alleviate those situations.’’

Priest thinks that because the auto insurance business in Florida is so competitive and discounts so enticing, instances of boycotting insurance companies will be few.

“People are unhappy about some of the decisions that companies have had to make,’’ Priest said. “But we find many people, once they have an understanding of the situation, begin to look for solutions outside of those type of measures, rather than sticking it to the company, so to speak.

“It (a boycott) is an understandable reaction. But it seems like it’s been fairly rare.’’

Whether it stays that way is debatable.

“People resent the fact that insurance companies are making a profit on their auto insurance, but are not willing to insure their homes,’’ said Bill Newton, executive director of the Florida Consumer Action Network.

“You can’t legislate that (auto insurer) Progressive has to enter the homeowners business, but there’s nothing to stop people from voting with their dollars,’’ he said. “And loyalty has nothing to do with it.’’

Newton said discounts for auto insurance don’t usually come close to matching the soaring cost of higher property insurance through Citizens. And he pointed to the financial connections between the large, national insurance companies and their Florida subsidiaries.

“They (the parent companies) just set up separate companies, to protect their surpluses. It’s a clever arrangement,’’ Newton said.

In the end, the ability to change auto insurers is “one of the few things we have to bargain with,’’ he said. “And movements like this can catch on like wildfire.’’

When Liberty Mutual recently dropped the policy on Barbara Signorelli’s home in Seminole, she repaid the company by dropping their auto policy,

“They (Liberty Mutual) lost a good car policy,’’ Signorelli said. “I never had a claim in 11 years, and I sent them a dozen customers. Then they drop me.

“So they’re not getting anything more from me.’’

Signorelli spent three weeks on the Internet searching for a company that would insure both her home and car. She eventually found one — Fireman’s Fund — and switched both her policies.

“My homeowner’s premium will go up about $2,000 and I’ll probably have to get a second job to pay for it,’’ she said. “But we just can’t stand by and do nothing.’’

by: Tom Zucco

Builder: Oversupply Slump Worst In 40 Years

2006-08-09T18:23:00.000-05:00

Homebuilder Toll Brothers said the current slump in residential construction is unlike any it has seen in 40 years as it became the latest to warn of a glut in new homes for sale and a slowdown in the closely watched real estate market.

The builder of luxury homes also reported weaker than expected preliminary results for the just completed quarter and cut its outlook for the homes it will sell in the current period. Toll Brothers shares fell 4 percent in premarket trading.

The housing and homebuilding markets have helped drive the national economy during the past few years. Any downturns in these critical sectors could add to the problems of an already unsteady situation.

In a statement, company chairman Robert Toll warned there is a glut of supply of homes for sale in the market, as the building boom of recent years seems to be turning into a bust.

The slowdown "is the first downturn in the forty years since we entered the business that was not precipitated by high interest rates, a weak economy, job losses or other macroeconomic factors," Toll said in his statement.

"Instead, it seems to be the result of an oversupply of inventory and a decline in confidence," he added. "Speculative buyers who spurred demand in 2004 and 2005 are now sellers; builders that built speculative homes must now move their specs; and nervous buyers are canceling contracts for homes already under construction."

Markets where the company recorded big increases in cancellation rates included Orlando, Northern California, Palm Springs, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

The company's reported homebuilding revenues were approximately $1.53 billion in the quarter ending July 31, compared to the record of $1.54 billion a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call had been forecasting a 7 percent increase in overall revenue at the company.

The Pennsylvania-based builder said it expects to deliver 2,500 to 2,800 homes in the current quarter, a cut of at least 14 percent from its previous guidance of 2,900 to 3,300. And the company announced signed contracts in the just completed quarter plunged 45 percent to $1.05 billion from a record of $1.92 billion a year earlier.

The company said it is not under as much pressure as many builders to cut prices because it builds relatively few homes on spec. But Toll said that much of the supply of finished and near-finished product is being marketed using advertised price reductions and increased sales incentives, which in turn is leading many potential buyers to delay their purchase decisions as they wonder about the direction of home prices.

But Toll said the company believes that, as there is a cutback in supply by builders, the housing market should be able get back on the growth track of recent years.

"With many potential buyers on the sidelines right now, we believe there is growing pent-up demand that will come into the market once buyer sentiment improves."

Toll said on a conference call Wednesday afternoon that he expects the slump to last at least through the end of the year, however, adding it could drag on for another two.

"But the market isn't dead," Toll said. "It's concerned with the direction of home prices and if it has reached the bottom. You might argue that this is the best time to buy a home, with comparatively low mortgage rates and incentives. It's very hard to pick a bottom and anyone who tries will probably have a problem."

Toll named some once previously hot markets as underperformers lately.

Florida has been fair or poor, for the most part, not an unexpected assessment during the summertime. Other down markets were Las Vegas and Reno, Chicago, Minnesota and the Maryland shore.

Stronger markets he named were Hoboken, Delaware, Colorado and Phoenix.

from: CNNMoney.com

Kress Building On The Market

2006-08-09T15:14:00.000-05:00

The owner of the Kress building is so frustrated with the city that she might sell the property to another developer.

The property on North Franklin Street is listed for sale, throwing into question whether a plan to put 974 condo units there will materialize.

Property owner Jeannette Jason says the delays at city hall prompted her to try to sell the property. She has been battling with city officials for months over whether the facades of the adjacent F.W. Woolworth and J.J. Newberry buildings should be designated as historical.

“Market conditions have definitely changed,” Jason said. “We’ve been delayed over a year. Can we still go forward with the condo market? Can we still go forward with the price points we proposed?”

The price range was $150,000 to $450,000.

Jason does not want the buildings labeled historical. Last week, the council approved a settlement agreement that outlines steps the developers must take to preserve the buildings without the formal designation - a move that was seen as a victory for the developers and a defeat for historical preservationists.

Still, the process is far from over. The city now needs to formally undo the previous historical designation of the facades, a process that includes several more public hearings.

The decision last week, however, essentially reversed a March decision to label the buildings historical.

But bad feelings persist from the March decision, after which Jason’s father, Doran, declared the project all but dead.

“After the March hearing, Doran pretty much threw his hands up and said he had enough,” Jason said.

“The city doesn’t have a lot of confidence in us as developers.”

Jason said she has been interested for a long time in finding a development partner. That remains an option, but so does an outright sale.

According to the marketing Web site, the estimated development expenses are expected to reach $201 million. Estimated gross sales could reach $386 million.

The suggested starting bid on the property, which also includes the former Grant building, is $32 million.

The zoning and settlement agreement run with the property, City Attorney David Smith said.

If a new developer wants to make any changes, the developer will have to ask the council for a rezoning.

Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena, who has argued that the buildings should formally be designated historical, is skeptical.

“The fact these buildings are for sale underscores the need for protection with designation,” Saul-Sena said. “Regardless of their ownership.”

by: Ellen Gedalius

Streetcar Expansion Study To Cost About $200,000

2006-08-08T15:18:00.000-05:00

A plan to extend the electric streetcar line took a step forward Monday.The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority voted to spend about $200,000 in federal money to figure out the cost to extend the 2.4-mile line four blocks.

The extension will run from Channelside Drive and Franklin Street to Whiting and Franklin streets. The study also will identify funding sources. Construction estimates have run as high as $6 million.

The company hired to perform the six-month study, URS Corp., was the only bidder and is the same company sued by the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority after a segment of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway’s elevated lanes collapsed during construction in April 2004. The $100 million lawsuit is pending.

Transit authority board members backed the contract without comment, though two frequent critics of the TECO Line Streetcar System were absent.

County commissioner and transit authority board member Ronda Storms was tending to a family illness, and Commissioner Brian Blair, also a board member, was in Chicago at a National Association of Counties conference. Both have questioned the streetcar system’s viability given its low ridership.

HARTline Executive Director Ray Miller said he had no second thoughts about hiring URS.

“URS is a big company, and the people who design expressways don’t work on railroads,” he said.

Miller said the extension will bring more tourists and conventioneers, the system’s main customers, into downtown. It also might serve new residents of the Channel District.

By: Rich Shopes

Home Glut Brings Price Cut

2006-08-08T15:15:00.000-05:00

Home sellers have wooed buyers by offering free trips to California and $9,000 bonuses. They’ve advertised cut-rate financing and promised to cover buyers’ closing costs.

But coming off an unusually weak summer sales season, many Tampa Bay area home sellers are confronting a market reality they’ve dreaded: They’ll have to cut prices.

The price declines aren’t the ear-shattering pops predicted by housing bubble gloom-and-doomers - the Tampa Bay area’s low unemployment and popularity with retirees works against that scenario.

But with an average of nine homes on the market for every buyer - the biggest supply and demand imbalance in years - prices are suffering.

In Pinellas County, sales prices of single-family homes dipped from $252,000 in June 2005 to $238,000 in June 2006, a decline of 5.5 percent. The market hasn’t given back so much since the 1990s.

Across-the-board declines have yet to show up in statistics for Hillsborough and Pasco counties, but “price reduced” on “For Sale” signs have become as common as mildew on mailboxes.

Another sign of deflation emerged in the condominium category. Regionally, condo prices dipped about 3 percent from May to June, from $178,000 to $172,000.

“There’s no doubt the prices aren’t going up, and in most cases they’ve fallen, slowly or substantially,” said Jim Knetsch, owner of RE/MAX Realty Associates Inc. in Carrollwood.

Builders have resisted outright price cuts, but KB Home, the nation’s fifth largest, was among the first to break ranks by slicing prices $10,000 across the board in one of its Pasco subdivisions, Tierra del Sol. Buyers who signed contracts at the previous higher price are allowed to rewrite their contracts at the lower price.

KB Home’s Cara Kane said the company spurns the incentives used by other builders as “temporary discounts.”

“With our lower prices we’ve been seeing good traffic. Some of the other builders might not be,” Kane said.

Overall in the Tampa Bay area, new home sales prices dipped slightly from $315,000 in the first quarter of this year to $314,000 in the second quarter, according to the housing tracking firm Metrostudy.

“We’re still seeing select inventory price reductions,” Metrostudy’s Tony Polito said. “As for outright declines, we have seen few of those.”

It’s no mystery what’s pressuring prices: Home listings have exploded as sales have softened. Many listings are from investors who bought during the boom and fueled what builders viewed as a freakish market last year.

Total listings in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco have hovered around 35,000 as monthly sales struggle to break 4,000. A year ago listings stood about 9,000, roughly 6,000 of which sold.

Places like Meadow Pointe in Pasco and Live Oak Preserve in New Tampa sport a surplus of listings that are dampening prices. Meadow Pointe’s roll of unsold homes has grown about tenfold from about 30 to 300 from year to year.

In his neck of the woods near the Pinellas-Pasco line, Trinity Realtor Bob Memoli said prices have declined roughly 5 percent from last year’s peak. In waterfront neighborhoods such as Gulf Harbors in New Port Richey, declines can exceed 10 percent.

“The customers are not wanting to accept that, ‘My neighbor sold his house last year and got $380,000 for it, and now you’re telling me I can only get $350,000.’ It’s an education process,” Memoli said.

The price cuts are nailing some investors who entered late in the game. They face the prospect of breaking even on their homes - or worse. Many have turned to renting as a desperate expedient.

“We’re getting calls, ‘We can’t sell them. Please lease them,’ ” said central Pasco Realtor Pam Koenig, who pulled listings for 130 properties chasing renters in Land O’Lakes alone.

Among the more optimistic real estate watchers is Mike Mayo, a spokesman for the Pinellas Realtor Organization. He points out that Pinellas condos rose in value the past year despite a glut of units.

“You don’t want to create a panic. We’ve got enough to deal with what’s going on with the property insurance market,” Mayo said. “We’re not seeing the bubble bursting.”

Still, Realtors like Knetsch think the market has yet to hit bottom. With the current glut, those who want their home noticed slice the price. Polito predicts supply and demand won’t return to rough balance until mid 2007. With that equilibrium could come a resurgence in prices again.

“Every time this year we thought the market might have found its footing, it was a dead-cat bounce and the market fell further,” Knetsch said.

by: James Thorner

Federal Reserve Pauses Rate Hikes

2006-08-08T08:17:00.000-05:00

The Federal Reserve decided Tuesday not to raise interest rates for the first time in more than two years, but the central bank left the door open for more hikes in coming months - news that disappointed Wall Street.The nation’s central bank said it was pausing, after 17 straight rate hikes that started in June 2004, because the economy was cooling.

Investor hopes for a pause had grown in recent weeks as more reports pointed to the slowing economy being a bigger risk than rising inflation. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke alluded to these concerns in testimony to the Senate last month.

Most notably, the nation’s gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic growth, grew at a weaker-than-expected rate in the second quarter, and job growth missed forecasts in July for the fourth straight month.

Concerns about higher oil prices and a slowdown in the housing market also appeared to play a role in the Fed’s decision.

“Economic growth has moderated from its quite strong pace earlier this year, partly reflecting a gradual cooling of the housing market and the lagged effects of increases in interest rates and energy prices,” the Fed said in its heavily scrutinized statement.

With the central bank holding off on a rate increase, its target for the federal funds rate, an overnight bank lending rate, remains at 5.25 percent. The fed funds rate affects rates on credit cards, auto loans and home equity lines of credit.

Some dissent, and debate
But the decision to pause was not unanimous. Jeffrey Lacker, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, voted to raise rates by a quarter of a percentage point.

“It’s a tenuous pause. The dissenting vote shows that there was heated debate,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Economy.com.

And the Fed did leave the door open for possible rate hikes in the future. In its statement, the Fed said that “some inflation risks remain” and that more increases would “depend on the evolution of the outlook for both inflation and economic growth, as implied by incoming information.”

The Fed used the same language to discuss the rate outlook when it raised rates by a quarter-point in June.

Stocks, which were slightly higher before the announcement, rallied right after the Fed said it would pause but soon lost those gains as investors focused more on the Fed implying it may not be done raising rates.

“The statement gives the Fed all kinds of room to raise rates at the next meeting and that’s probably why the markets don’t like this news all that much,” said John Norris, chief economist and senior fund manager with Morgan Asset Management.

The Fed’s next policy meeting takes place on September 20.

One attorney who specializes in real estate said that the Fed’s pause is a positive sign for not just for housing but in the long run for stocks as well.

“This is good for the psyche of the market,” said Neil Garfinkel, a partner with Abrams Garfinkel Margolis Bergson, LLP. “It sends a good message to the ordinary consumer and potential home buyers but now it’s a question of what the Fed does from here.”

More rate hikes coming?
Margo Cook, head of institutional asset management at the investment arm of the Bank of New York, said it’s possible the Fed will still raise rates in September.

But even if it does, the Fed probably won’t go much further since inflation isn’t that big of a risk, she said, noting that bond investors may realize this while the stock market is busy worrying.

“You have to believe the Fed is nearing the end. The language does imply that and at some point the stock market will understand this,” she said. “Could the fed funds rate get to 5.5 percent? Absolutely. But I don’t see why it would go beyond that this year.”

To that end, bond prices were little changed, leaving the yield on the 10-year Treasury at about 4.92 percent in a sign that bond investors don’t expect rates to head much higher.

In addition, other traders think the chances of a rate hike in September have diminished. According to future contracts traded on the Chicago Board of Trade, investors are now pricing in about a 30 percent chance of a rate increase in September.

Before Tuesday’s Fed meeting, traders were betting on a more than 75 percent chance of a rate hike in September following the expected pause in August.

But at least one economist said that the Fed’s decision to pause sends a confusing message to the markets, especially since the Labor Department’s productivity report for the second quarter released Tuesday showed signs that labor costs were picking up. Increased wages are often viewed as a key sign of inflationary pressures.

“I think the Fed has made the biggest mistake. They are showing that they are not a vigilant inflation fighter and that’s not what we like to see,” said Richard Yamarone, chief economist with Argus Research.

by: Paul La Monica from CNNMoney.com

Condo Developer Wins Building Facade Dispute

2006-08-04T15:20:00.000-05:00

A condo developer won a significant battle Thursday that could spur the transformation of a decrepit city block into a residential community. Preservationists, however, were devastated by the city council’s decision not to label the facades of the J.J. Newberry and F.W. Woolworth buildings historic. The council’s vote Thursday essentially reversed a decision made earlier this year.

“This is a black day for preservation in the city of Tampa,” said Beth Johnson, an attorney for Tampa Preservation Inc.

The Doran Jason Group wants to bring three condo towers, with 975 units, to Franklin Street downtown. The developer would build one tower at the Newberry building and one at the Woolworth building. The Kress building, in the middle, would serve as a lobby with office and retail space.

All sides agreed to designate the Kress building historic, but the decision whether to preserve the facades of the Woolworth and Newberry buildings grew contentious.

Preservationists had argued that the buildings played a critical role in Tampa’s history and should be saved and labeled historic. Historic buildings cannot be significantly altered, except under extreme circumstances.

The developer, however, promised to preserve the facades, but did not want to be regulated by the city’s Architectural Review Commission, which has a reputation for nitpicking.

Several months ago, the council sided with the preservationists. Still unsatisfied, the city, developer and preservationists underwent mediation sessions.

The result was a settlement agreement that calls for the facades of the buildings to be preserved, but says the process should be regulated by city staff rather than the Architectural Review Commission. Plus, the agreement recommended against labeling the Woolworth and Newberry buildings historic.

After about 90 minutes of contentious debate Thursday, the city council voted 5-2 to accept the agreement. Linda Saul-Sena and John Dingfelder voted against the recommendation.

Dingfelder said he was concerned that allowing the developer to skirt the Architectural Review Commission process sets a bad precedent.

“We’re treating the facades as second-class citizens,” Dingfelder said. “It’s all we have to remember these buildings.”

Mayor Pam Iorio supports the agreement.

“It’s a very sensible way to preserve these facades,” Iorio said. “It maintains the historic integrity of the facades while allowing some flexibility in the process.”

The issue is not completely resolved. The city now needs to formally undo the previous historic designation of the facades, a process that includes several more public hearings. The preservationists also can appeal.

Grandoff, however, said the developer will start work on the building as soon as possible.

by: Ellen Gedalius

New Rocky Point Hotel/Condos Coming Out Of The Ground

2006-07-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

A Westin Hotel & Residences is now under construction at Rocky Point.

The 14-story, 270,000-square-foot hotel will hold 193 guest rooms, 20 condos on the top two floors, 4,000 square feet of meeting space, fine dining restaurants, private dining rooms, al fresco waterside dining, a Starbucks Coffee and a fitness facility with indoor pool.

The condos feature floor plans ranging in square-footage from 1,200 to 2,070 square feet with 10-foot ceilings, flat-panel TVs in the living rooms, kitchens with European-style cabinetry, polished quartzite slab countertops and GE stainless steel appliances.

The $59 million project is expected to be complete in October 2007.

The Impact Group of Tampa is developing the hotel. Impact has developed more than 16 projects throughout Florida including the Hilton Garden Inn in Ybor City. The company is currently involved in real estate developments in Florida and California valued at more than $110 million, it said.

Impact is working with the Hardin Group to build the Westin. Hardin's projects in Tampa include Bayshore Tower, Parkside at One Bayshore, Grand Central on Kennedy, Christiansted Condominiums, Ventana, Marriott Waterside Hotel, Wyndham, Harbour Island, Hyatt Regency and SunTrust Center in downtown Tampa.

Sales Tax Holiday Set For July 22-30

2006-07-22T07:36:00.000-05:00

The annual sales tax holiday is one of Floridians’ favorites, and area retailers are gearing up as parents prepare to save a little pocket change on back-to-school necessities.

From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, July 22, through midnight Sunday, July 30, no sales tax or discretionary sales surtax (local option sales tax) will be collected on sales of books, clothing, footwear and certain accessories selling for $50 or less; or on certain school supplies selling for $10 or less, according to the state Department of Revenue.

Governor Jeb Bush signed the holiday into law on June 1 and encouraged Floridians to take advantage of the savings.

The sales tax holiday will save shoppers an estimated $32.1 million in state sales tax and an additional $7.2 million in county sales taxes, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

“I am delighted that millions of Floridians will again have the opportunity to save money during the sales tax holiday,” Bush said. “I’m particularly pleased that shoppers will again be able to save money on books. Reading is a critical part of lifelong learning and success, and the sales tax holiday is a great way for families to save money while encouraging reading.”

The rules governing the holiday are specific, and tax-holiday-savvy shoppers are best able to get the maximum savings. For example, according to the Department of Revenue, the sales tax exemption applies to each eligible book or item of clothing selling for $50 or less and each eligible school supply selling for $10 or less. The exemption applies regardless of how many items are sold on the same invoice to a customer.

However, the exemption does not apply to books or to any item of clothing selling for more than $50, or to any school supply item selling for more than $10.

“School supplies” include pens, pencils, erasers, crayons, notebooks, notebook filler paper, legal pads, composition books, poster paper, scissors, cellophane tape, glue or paste, rulers, computer disks, protractors, compasses and calculators.

However, school supplies does not include items such as binders, computer paper, construction paper, correction tape, fluid or pens, highlighters, markers, masking tape, poster board, printer paper, staplers or staples.

“Book” means a set of printed sheets bound together and published in a volume. The term “book” does not include books with no publisher, newspapers, magazines, other periodicals, or audio books.

The rules get trickier when it comes to clothes. While most people think of the sales tax holiday as being for back-to-school clothes, several other items are tax-exempt during the nine-day period.

In general, “clothing” means any article of wearing apparel, including all footwear (except skis, swim fins, roller blades and skates), intended to be worn on or about the human body, according to the department of revenue.

However, “clothing” does not include watches, watchbands, jewelry, umbrellas, handkerchiefs or sporting equipment. Note, however, that bowling shoes, athletic supporters, baseball cleats, cleated and spiked shoes, gym suits, hunting vests, martial arts attire, ski suits (snow), sweatbands, athletic uniforms are tax-exempt.

Parents with babies or mothers-to-be can save during the holiday as items such as baby clothes, diapers, diaper bags and receiving blankets are tax-exempt.

Shoppers also should know that the sales tax exemption does not apply to any eligible items sold at a theme park, entertainment complex, public lodging establishment or airport.

Other rules include articles sold as a unit. For example, a pair of shoes selling for $60 cannot be sold one-shoe-at-a-time for $30 each, or a pen and pencil set priced at $20, cannot be split into two pieces for $10 each.

In addition, sets that include exempt items and taxable items will be taxed. For example, a gift set of a wallet and key chain selling for less than $50 would be taxed even though the wallet is tax exempt because the key chain is a taxable item.

Eligible tax-exempt items can be purchased with a gift certificate during the holiday period. However, a gift certificate cannot be used to reduce the price of an item to make it tax exempt.

Other rules apply to exchanging items after the holiday is over, refunds, returns, rebates, rain checks, layaway sales, mail-order sales and more. Retailers and shoppers can get all the details at sun6.dms.state.fl.us/dor.

by: Suzette Porter

Warren Sapp's Soda Shop Comes to Tampa

2006-07-18T18:10:00.000-05:00

Warren Sapp is returning to Tampa, but he won't be delivering sacks. Instead, he'll be bringing healthy fast food through his new venture, HipHopSodaShop.

Sapp, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneer who is now a defensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders, is joining with H3 Enterprises Inc. to open two HipHopSodaShops in Tampa and Orlando.

The locations work well with Sapp who was raised in Orlando, and won his first and only Super Bowl with the Buccaneers, executives with H3 (OTC BB: HTRE) said.

"The HipHopSodaShops provide a safe and fun environment where the hip-hop generation can go and do what the hip-hop generation does," said Sapp in a release. "I can't think of a better way of giving back than putting my own money to work on my own turf while creating good jobs, great entertainment and invaluable educational opportunities within my own neighborhoods. I'm looking forward to heading back to 'The U' [University of Miami] soon to start development of our first store in Miami."

The Tampa location is expected to open within the next two to three months on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, less than a mile from the University of South Florida. The 5,000-square-foot store features a central "CyberSports Arena," more than a dozen high-definition and plasma television screens, and merchandizing and entertainment areas.

Sapp partnered with H3 in June to help open stores in Jacksonville as well as Central Florida. Terms of that detail were not disclosed.

from: Tampa Bay Business Journal

Tampa Bay Business Among Nation's Best

2006-07-17T17:19:00.000-05:00

Some of the leading economic indicators say that business remains strong in Tampa Bay.

Unemployment is down, employment is up and retail sales are breaking records, according to figures released by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

Real employment numbers are up in all segments except manufacturing, which shows a 2.5 percent decrease from May 2005. Overall, employment in Tampa Bay is up 2.4 percent, to 1.3 million from a year ago, the report said.

Tampa Bay continues to show lower unemployment than the rest of the nation, recording a 3 percent unemployment rate in Metro Tampa Bay, compared with 4.4 percent nationally. Hillsborough County, at 2.8 percent, is slightly better than Pinellas County at 2.9 percent unemployment.

While the number of homes sold dropped 19.6 percent to 2,265 in Hillsborough and Pasco counties from May 2005, the average price rose 16.2 percent to $235,000, based on a report by the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors.

Tourism, with 17.88 million visitors in 2005 in Hillsborough, set a new record and resulted in more than $3 billion in direct spending. Retail sales finally eclipsed the 2000 figures of $18.6 billion, with $18.9 billion in 2004, the most recent year figures are available.

Airline passenger traffic is trending slightly downward, falling 0.3 percent below the first five months of 2005. But that means only 25,000 fewer passengers passing through Tampa International Airport's doors.

from: Tampa Bay Business Journal

The Nightmare Next Door

2006-07-14T21:15:00.000-05:00

You can choose your friends, you can choose to be friends with your neighbors, but for the most part, you cannot choose your neighbors.

Maria Ly, 34, was reminded of this every time she looked out her dining room window and saw her downstairs neighbors' laundry flapping in the wind and whenever she woke up to their loud late-night chatter.

These were just a few of the many nuisances that wafted up from the condominium below.

Turns out, the couple didn't like her either. They called the police on her three times. "They said I deliberately walked too loudly," the Bay Area architectural designer recalls with exasperation. "That's when I decided it wasn't worth it."

Less than a year after her neighbors moved in, Ly moved out.

A drastic response, granted. But disputes between neighbors have a tendency to drive people to desperate measures. After all, it's hard to ignore the eyesore next door or the nightmare neighbors who live there.

Your sanity isn't the only thing that suffers. Knee-high grass, a botched addition or a hideous paint job can reduce the value of your home as well - and keep your property on the market longer when it's time to sell, according to Diane Saatchi, senior vice president with the Corcoran Group.

"People know that if there's something wrong with the house they're buying, they can fix it," she says. "If it's the neighbor's house, it's not so easy."

All the more reason to solve the problem before pulling up stakes. Follow these steps and you just might be able to preserve your property value and your peace of mind.

Step 1: Gather the Facts
Of course you're not going to be happy when your neighbors have a hundred of their closest friends over for a late-night barbecue (and don't even have the decency to invite you).

But try to give them the benefit of the doubt on a first offense. "Just because they have one loud party doesn't mean it will happen again," says Cora Jordan, an attorney and author of Neighbor Law.

That's not to say that you should sit by idly while the party blares on. Jordan suggests jotting down notes about any nuisance, whether it's a raging party or a failure to rake the leaves.

Then do a little research to see whether your neighbor is breaking any local laws. You'll often find that information posted on your hometown's Web site.

If you live in a community governed by a homeowners association, page through your covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs) for the rules. File all this information away; if your neighbors make a habit of their bad behavior, these details might bolster your case down the road.

Step 2: Play Mr. Nice Guy
If the transgression is more grievous than a one-off party (their sprinklers are doing damage to your house) or if it's become a regular event (they leave up holiday decorations till July every year), you need to say something.

"Don't assume that they know there's a problem or that it's intentional," says Andrew Kidde, programs co-manager at the Bellevue Neighborhood Mediation Program in Bellevue, Wash.

Start off by being friendly. Kidde recommends phrasing your complaint as a question rather than a statement. "That way your neighbor is less likely to be defensive," he says.

For example, imagine that his oak tree is grossly overgrown and therefore is blocking your million-dollar view. You could bang on the door and demand that he trim it, though he's apt to think you're a total jerk and may be less inclined than ever to clip those branches.

Now consider Kidde's approach: You see your neighbor outside raking leaves, so you strike up a friendly conversation, then say, "I've been meaning to ask you about this tree...." You needn't be an expert in psychology to see that most people will react more favorably to this approach.

It certainly worked well for John Schwarz, 61, a retired ophthalmologist who lived next door to a boisterous Bichon in Boca Raton, Fla.

"I wrote a card that, in the nicest way possible, asked my neighbors if they could please do something about the dog," he says. "Now we rarely hear the barking."

The moral of the story: It's more effective to be nice. At least until you're sure nice won't work....

Step 3: Call for Backup
If your neighbors are annoying you but not breaking any rules, proceed directly to the next step. But if they're violating local laws or association codes, now's the time to pull out your research.

Depending on how things stand, you can either write your neighbors a formal letter spelling out their obligations or take your complaint to the proper authorities.

"If you're not sure who to call, start with city hall," suggests Jordan. Some cities are vigilant about enforcing ordinances. "They'll cut the neighbor's grass if it's too long and send them a bill," she says.

Others are less eager to get involved in personal disputes. Frequently, homeowners associations have more power when it comes to enforcing neighborhood protocol, as residents who break the rules are breaking contract.

The association can issue fines for code violations (as much as $100 each) and ultimately sue the residents at their expense.

Step 4: Find a Middleman to Find Middle Ground
Too often a problem doesn't end even when an official party gets involved. Instead, bad feelings spread like noxious weeds and everything becomes a nuisance. If unchecked, this kind of dispute can go on for years. In these situations, mediation can be surprisingly effective.

"In one case, neighbors who'd been friends started fighting over a tree house that was 13 inches over the other person's property," says Martin Eichner, mediation director for Project Sentinel, which runs dispute-resolution programs in Northern California.

They feuded for years, called the city, hired lawyers and still couldn't solve the problem. Finally, they turned to mediation, and "in three hours they resolved the matter on their own terms."

The solution: The tree house builders gave their neighbors an extra 13 inches elsewhere on the property.

There are more than 500 community mediation centers in the U.S., and for the most part, they provide services at low or no cost. The mediator contacts your neighbor on your behalf, arranges a meeting in a neutral location, and helps you hash out your problems.

"It's not the mediator's job to say who's right or wrong," says Irvin Foster, co-chairman of the National Association for Community Mediation. "They're there to help you come to an agreement you both can live with."

Step 5: Consider Court, but Only as a Last Resort
Think twice before hiring an attorney (unless you have a boundary dispute, for which court may be a necessity). In most cases, a lawsuit isn't worth the time and expense.

There's one exception, however. If your problem can be solved with money (your neighbor murdered your prizewinning rose bush or deliberately broke your fence), you might try small-claims court.

The amount you can collect is usually less than $10,000, but the process is inexpensive - all you pay is a filing fee of $100 or less - and doesn't require a lawyer.

One hopes that going through these steps will lead to a resolution. But unfortunately, neighbor dramas can sometimes drag on in spite of one's best efforts. When all else fails, you ultimately have only two options: Live with the problem or leave.

Maria Ly obviously chose the latter. She put her condo up for sale and was up front with potential buyers about the noise from below. (In some states, you must disclose certain neighbor nuisances, according to Saatchi.)

After four long months on the market, the condo sold, but for 5% less than similar properties. Whether or not the neighbors are to blame, Ly isn't certain.

And at this point, she really doesn't care. "I'm just happy not to have that stress anymore."

The Minutiae of Mediation
When should I use a mediator? It's almost always worth a try, especially if your complaint isn't backed up by any law or homeowners association rule. Most mediation centers report that 75% of clients come to an agreement.

How does it work? With most programs, you call the center and speak with an adviser about whether this approach makes sense. If it does, he or she will contact your neighbor to set up a meeting, usually within a week. Most cases are dealt with in a single two- to three-hour session.

Will the mediator decide who's right and who's wrong? No. The mediator simply helps you and your neighbor come to your own agreement. If you choose, you can put it in writing, making it legally binding.

What happens if my neighbor doesn't follow through? If you decide to make your agreement legally enforceable, you can use it to support your case in court (though the mediator can't testify on your behalf). If you don't document it, you might have to return to mediation.

How do I find a mediator? Search the National Association for Community Mediation website (nafcm.org) or contact your city hall. If your community doesn't have a program, you may be able to find a private mediator in the Yellow Pages.

How much will it cost? Most community programs are free, though some charge a small fee ($10 to $50 a session, depending on your income). Private mediators typically charge $150 an hour.

by: Sarah Max

Condos Switch Back To Rentals

2006-07-12T11:30:00.000-05:00

In March, Russell Patterson bought a one-bedroom unit in the apartment-to-condominium conversion complex Oxford Place at Tampa Palms.

He chose the development because the units were priced right, he said, and he thought it would become a sought-after place for young professionals. He planned to rent it out and sell for a profit when the conversion was complete.

Now, the developer has decided to turn the units it hasn't sold - about 180 - back into apartments. The rents on those units are less than the $995 a month Patterson needs to charge to pay his mortgage and homeowner's association fees. Even more frustrating, he said, his contract forbids him to sell his unit before the developer sells all of its own.

"I'm stuck, and this complex is not what I was sold," Patterson said. "If I had known part of it would stay an apartment complex, I wouldn't have bought here."

The condominium conversion business has been white-hot in the Tampa Bay area, with more than 28,000 apartment units sold as condos in the past two years. As mortgage interest rates edge up, however, fewer people are buying homes. And the droves of investors that helped fund conversions no longer flock to such projects.

As a result, nearly every converted apartment property has empty units, and some developers are changing course and renting units instead to keep from losing money or being forced into foreclosure. Some are taking drastic measures to compete with other condo sellers, a move that leaves people who purchased an apartment feeling trapped and fearing their property values will go down.

"I'm not crazy about this. ... We'd rather have owners" in the complex, said Matt Carter, who bought a two-bedroom converted condo in New Tampa. "At the same time, though, owners are renting out, too, so I guess this is going to happen one way or another."

New York-based Real Capitol Analytics Inc., which tracks real estate trends, reports 68 apartment complexes were purchased for conversion in the Bay area in 2005, and 23 have been bought this year.

"That's surprising," company spokesman Dan Fasuel said. "The conversion game is over. There is a lot of unsold product, and developers are wanting to get out. Some of these guys may face foreclosure."

Even so, some developers are still trying to get in on what used to be thought of as fairly easy money. They're just having to be more creative.

Finding Ways To Get By
Melrose Court in south Tampa is using mimes, clowns and inflatable superheroes to attract buyers' attention, said Cindy Corrales, the sales director.

"There are so many condo conversions going on right now, we're trying to stand out," Corrales said. It has paid off, she said, noting that the complex is 70 percent sold out.

Other developers offer free upgrades, a year of paid condo and homeowner's association dues, and rent-to-own programs.

New York-based Tarragon Corp. has converted 30 complexes in Florida and is looking for more properties, said Tony Martin, the company's executive vice president.

Tarragon bought and converted four complexes in Tampa - Oxford Place at Tampa Palms, The Quarter at Ybor, Vista Grande and Cordoba Beach Park. All have vacancies, and the company has decided to keep units at all four as rentals for now.

Martin said he understands that previous buyers fear the new business plan will cause property values to drop. But that won't happen, he said. "We help investors set their rates by renting our units for market rate."

Converters who can't afford to hold on to their properties and lack rental experience may be forced to lower prices, he said. Tarragon's strategy is to rent instead. The company also offers rent-to-own programs, in which a portion of a tenant's rent is set aside for a down payment on the unit.

There is a glut of converted apartments, Martin said, because too many developers jumped in on the condo craze and chose some complexes that shouldn't be condos because of location or quality.

However, there is still a market for condos in prime locations, such as near downtown Tampa, he said. When the real estate market strengthens again, Martin said, Tarragon's condos will be in demand.

"It's a tough business today," he said. "I don't think anybody predicted this."

In the meantime, he said, "true converters try to manage their way through these types of markets."

Ron Williams, a real estate agent with Keller Williams, said condo buyers are sometimes shocked when they learn rental units will remain at their complex. Most converters warn of the chance of this scenario in the condo association documents, which tend to be 1,000 pages or more, "but you can't find a client that's read their docs," Williams said.

Some banks require a percentage of contracts before funding a conversion. As a result, some developers are delaying closings until they make their percentage. For a buyer, waiting to close on the property could mean they will have to move twice, Williams said. In this situation, a buyer moves in as a renter until the closing date. If the developer decides not to go through with the deal, the buyer can continue to rent or move out.

Lenders are growing more cautious of funding conversion deals, and some are restricting the number of investor buyers, said Bob Saltzman, area manager for National City Mortgage.

"We were careful not to get too involved in this trend because we saw this coming," he said.

Fitch Ratings, a New York financial analysis company, predicted last year that 10 percent of loans made to condo converters in 2005 would default.

Holding Out Hope For Tampa
There are still some developers who maintain that Tampa is a great location for conversion investing.

Eli Riesel, of ABBA Group, a conversion company based in Miami, said: "Tampa is the last big city in Florida that hasn't had its prices inflated. It's the last good place for conversion."

In the past year, the company has purchased eight apartment complexes for conversion. It is selling units in three, and Riesel says the first phases have sold out.

He said he is aware of other developers' troubles, but that conversions can still work.

"Some others are trying to depend on end users, and you can't do that right now," Riesel said. "It would take too long to sell. We have good contacts of investors from all over the world - Russia, England."

Those investors could end up helping Bay area renters who are grappling with rising rental rates, said Bernard Markstein, director of forecasting for the National Association of Home Builders.

The conversions led to a reduction of 18,000 rental units in 2005 and an occupancy rate of 98 percent, according to the commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.

The result is predictable. Apartment rents have soared dramatically, rising $200 to $300 a month for some renters this year. Because many of these investors will be renting out their units, Markstein said, the inventory will swell again, and competition will force rental rates down.

"Real estate is cyclical," Markstein said. "This is the way it works."

by: Shannon Behnken

Dirt Rich

2006-07-08T20:22:00.000-05:00

The Tampa Bay area's home price boom has been mostly a land price boom.

Land accounts for nearly half of an average home's value in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, up from about a third of a home's value in 1998 and a quarter of a home's value in 1984.

Waterfront lots have appreciated the most, but the trend played out across most of the region, even in monster suburban subdivisions built on former cow pastures.

At a time when builders can replicate homes by the thousands, it's increasingly land that sets a home's value, said University of Wisconsin economist Morris Davis, who drew up the findings in a recent report released with Federal Reserve economist Michael Palumbo.

"When house prices grow faster than construction costs, it's arithmetically impossible to be anything but land prices," Davis said.

Even for those homeowners benefitting from rising land prices, the news isn't all good. The trend will likely lead to greater volatility in the housing market, according to the study. If land is the main basis of a home's worth - and not such costs as labor, lumber and concrete - home prices could rise and fall more sharply in concert with land's boom or bust cycles.

Ted Eckerson has witnessed the phenomenon first hand. Eckerson moved into South Tampa's Ballast Point community in the 1960s, when his South Quincy Street ranch home sat on a dirt road.

Homes in his part of Ballast Point are mostly weathered, single-story affairs with carports, many worth less than $100,000. But the real value rests with the land. The neighborhood stretches a few blocks from the bay, across Gandy Boulevard from ritzy Bayshore Beautiful.

Ballooning land prices have boosted the worth of Eckerson's lot to nearly a quarter-million dollars. So he tore down his old house and gave the lot the house it deserved, a new 3,000-square-foot stucco pile with pillars.

"I'm scared to ask what's it's worth," Eckerson said as workers put the final touches on the house. "The high prices have leaked over from Bayshore Boulevard the past few years."

It's the same story in such Pinellas County neighborhoods as Yacht Club Estates, Kenwood, Redington Beach and Snell Isle: Land is so valuable that some homes have become almost disposable.

"Land prices are magnified greatly when you're on the water. If you can smell water, view it, spit in it, that property has taken off," said Warren Weathers, Hillsborough County's assistant property appraiser.

Economists were surprised to learn bay area land had appreciated so much, Davis said. Local land prices still haven't reached Miami's, where 71 percent of an average home's value is the lot, but since 1998 Tampa has bested Miami in the rate of growth.

"Tampa made no sense to me at first. It doesn't have Miami's name. I hadn't really known Tampa was as expensive as it was," Davis said.

To measure land's key role in shaping housing costs, the study's authors essentially took the average price of more than 1,000 homes in the area and subtracted the cost of construction.

What was left they dubbed "land," a category that encapsulates not just raw dirt but location and amenities. Expensive homes were overrepresented, so a Clearwater Beach home influenced the average more than a suburban lot in Pasco County.

The researchers didn't analyze why the price of land increased. But they note that land, the supply of which is more or less fixed, fluctuates in price almost solely based on demand. Factors affecting demand are immigration, housing speculation and low interest rates.

That's why land makes up more than 88 percent of an average home's value in densely packed San Francisco. With few exceptions (parts of Texas walloped by a collapse of the oil industry in the '80s and '90s), the land boom was replicated across the country.

Some developers caution about relying too much on the study's findings on the outskirts of the Tampa Bay area.

While the price of raw land has tripled over the past six years in Pasco, land is nowhere near half the value of a home in Wesley Chapel and Land O'Lakes, said Kevin Robles of McCar Homes. A random check of a few dozen suburban Pasco houses shows the lot's share of a home's price at about 20 percent.

"What is it they say about lies, damn lies and statistics?" Robles said. "Has land gone up? Sure it has. But as the housing market slows, demand for land has begun to abate."

For Davis, the news from the suburbs doesn't necessarily contradict his report. Since living in Pasco requires longer commutes to reach jobs and amenities in Tampa, land should be relatively cheap there. In other words, the market rewards residents near the center and punishes residents on the periphery.

"Not everyone can live downtown," Davis said. "So land prices adjust to keep people out."

The authors conclude that home prices will grow more volatile in the future as land, as opposed to construction costs, represents a larger share of a home's worth.

And the movement won't always be up. If land values decline in certain regions, home prices will follow them into the trough.

"Look, we don't know what's going to happen in future, but if the future looks like the past, housing prices will grow faster and grow more volatile," Davis said.

by: James Thorner

Manage Your Mortgage, Save Thousands

2006-07-04T09:20:00.000-05:00

By now, rebalancing your retirement savings should be second nature (it is, right?). But it's not just the asset side of your personal balance sheet that needs tending to.

Your debt, specifically your mortgage, deserves thought from time to time.

Size alone commands attention: The average homeowner owes $115,200, a small fortune. The no-brainer move - refinancing a mortgage for a lower interest rate - is off the table for many because rates are well off their lows. But other moves, from keeping fees down to tapping your loan for other goals, can be wise anytime.

These three make sense today.

Refi the expensive HELOC
Home-equity lines of credit were the crack cocaine of the home-improvement binge of the past few years, and it's easy to see why.

Three years ago, the minimum monthly payment on a $100,000 line of credit was just $333. But now that the prime interest rate (which is the rate most HELOCs are pegged to) has doubled to 8 percent, the minimum is $666.

If you can't pay off the HELOC, you may be able to convert it to a conventional loan.

Another solution is to refinance it and your mortgage into a single fixed-rate loan - if, that is, you can find a rate that beats what you are paying for both loans and saves you enough to cover refi costs.

You'll need to calculate your blended interest rate: Divide your mortgage balance by total debt (mortgage balance plus HELOC balance) and multiply that by your mortgage rate. Then divide your HELOC balance by total debt and multiply by your HELOC rate. The sum of those two results is your blended rate.

Let's say you have a 6.5% mortgage with a $200,000 balance and a 10.5% HELOC with a $100,000 balance. Your blended rate is 7.8% - a rate you can still beat today.

Cancel PMI
Lately, with home prices rising so fast, it's been tough for buyers to cobble together a decent down payment.

If you put down less than 20%, you may be paying private mortgage insurance (PMI). The extra cost - $16 to $50 a month for every $100,000 of debt - may seem so inconsequential that you forget you're paying it, but it adds up over time.

If you took your mortgage out after July 1998, your lender must automatically cancel your PMI once you've paid off 22% of the loan. But as long as you've paid the loan on time for two years, you can ask that PMI be discontinued when your equity reaches 20%.

Here's where rising prices become your friend: You may hit the 20% mark sooner than you expected if prices in your area have risen significantly - all that gain belongs to you, not the lender.

You'll have to spend about $350 for an appraisal to prove that your gains and principal payments add up to 20%. But just a few months of PMI savings could cover that cost.

Know when to prepay
There's nothing like paying off your mortgage for a feeling of freedom. But that doesn't mean it's a good financial move.

Prepaying your mortgage (or any debt) is economically the same as earning a return equal to the interest rate on the loan. However, recent low mortgage rates - you could be paying less than 6% on a 30-year loan - don't outstrip what stocks have returned historically.

A better move now for older workers with poorly funded retirements and a lot of home equity may be to take on more debt, says Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates. "If you're planning on selling that four-bedroom behemoth when you retire, you could take money out of your home with a cash-out refi and invest it," he says.

Not a bad solution if you've enjoyed big gains in your home's value and can put that money to work effectively.

by: Gerri Willis

Anticipation Builds For Future

2006-07-01T20:17:00.000-05:00

During a recent groundbreaking ceremony for Franklin Street City Lofts, the small lot was a gathering place for something new in the north end of downtown.

People were meeting their neighbors and exchanging encouraging words about an area that had fallen into neglect for almost 30 years.

North Franklin, with its winding brick street and shaded areas, is re-emerging as a cozy neighborhood.

City Lofts, four town homes priced from $899,000 to $1 million at 1920 N. Franklin St., represents one layer of how varied the street is becoming.

City Lofts, which is being developed by Jay Mize and Dan Sefair, will be surrounded by other projects. The Arlington, a former hotel at 1209-1227 N. Franklin St., will soon open 21 units, a mix of offices and condominiums.

Next door to City Lofts, developers Joshua Fernandes, Matthew Mosk and Alex Gomez plan 18 condos along with offices in a four-story building at Franklin and Fortune streets.

"With land prices climbing to $200 a square foot, this is probably the last area of downtown where you won't see all high-rises," Mosk said.

The structure will fit into a pedestrian-friendly streetscape, Mosk said, and unit sizes will vary.

"People like to live in all different spaces," Mayor Pam Iorio said at the City Lofts groundbreaking Monday.

She noted North Franklin has a mid-rise development, the seven-story, 40-unit Residences of Franklin Street, soon to open at 1108-1124 N. Franklin St.

In the planning stages is The Royal, a 27-story, 182-condo project at Franklin and Harrison streets.

"This mix of residential and business [building] heights is hard to achieve in the downtown core," said Iorio, who views the developers in the north end of downtown as pioneers and has made redeveloping Franklin Street a priority.

"This is the beginning of a real neighborhood," she said.

City Councilwoman Linda Saul-Sena called Sefair and Mize "gutsy" for investing in an area formerly known for vacant buildings and homeless people.

"This isn't the Trump Tower, but it's a classy project," said Jonathan Moore, of Rojo Architecture LLC, who helped design City Lofts.

Moore said the city has asked him to work on a plan for the area's Massey Park, closed last year after homeless advocates were arrested for distributing food there.

"Massey Park needs to be there for families and people walking dogs," he said.

All the change along North Franklin is what attracted Interarch Design Inc. The 20-year-old design company will move from Madison Street and Ashley Drive to The Arlington within a month.

"At first, we didn't think the space would fit our needs," said designer Dave Fraser. "But then we bought two of the downstairs units and combined them for 3,000 square feet."

The nine employees will be removed from the hustle and bustle of the downtown core. But Fraser said everyone is looking forward to being part of a newly developed section, where it will be easier to get to know neighbors.

"It's still very convenient to everything," he said.

Renovations are ongoing at The Arlington, built in the 1910s, and Fly Bar & Restaurant, 1202 N. Franklin St.

Working on the interior of a corner unit at The Arlington, carpenter Richard Kent said the new tenants, a law firm, want a classy space in keeping with the wrought-iron balcony look of the restored building. He said there will be stained concrete floors and column wrapping.

"It will be very high-end yet still comfortable," he said as he glued pieces of wood.

"This whole building has been a labor of love," said Scott Floyd, a construction manager on The Arlington renovation.

Floyd said his great-grandfather owned a drugstore in the former Arlington Hotel in the 1930s. After the hotel closed, the building eventually became a Badcock Furniture store from the 1950s until recently.

"He'd sell popcorn and sodas when the Gasparilla parade came by here," Floyd said. "That was when this area was really a part of a busy downtown."

Matt Budesa, the Fly's general manager, said getting crowds back is the goal. The bar and restaurant, set to open in mid-July, will stay open late and feature live music.

"We need new life and some energy," he said.

by: Janis Froelich

Developers Make Revisions On Proposal To Build 1,500 Condos

2006-06-29T19:33:00.000-05:00

This is an update on this article.

Developers who earlier this year sought to build 1,500 condominiums on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard are still working on revisions to that plan.

The Giunta Group's original rezoning request, which called for five-story condo towers on top of parking decks, caused outrage in neighboring communities, including Tampa Palms and Lake Forest. The case was scheduled for a zoning hearing on May 1, but the developer was granted a continuance until Aug. 14 to come up with an alternate plan.

Various county departments, including Transportation and Natural Resources, had objected to the project, which would have dumped more than 10,000 cars onto Bruce B. Downs Boulevard daily and could have affected hundreds of acres of protected wetlands. The county's planning commission said the 644-acre project was inconsistent with surrounding uses. The planning staff also recommended denial.

Nearly two months later, the county still is getting opposition letters from residents.

The new proposal will have to be submitted to the county for review 20 days before the August hearing. Ty Maxey, principal planner for Engelhardt, Hammer & Associates, said he is working on revisions to the plan and doesn't know whether they will be ready to submit it in July.

Maxey had pledged to meet with neighboring homeowners associations before resubmitting the rezoning request, but he hasn't contacted the Tampa Palms or Lake Forest associations.

"We're not going to meet with them until we have something to show them," he said.

The Giunta Group, led by the heirs of Kash n' Karry founder Mac Greco, also is seeking to rezone two parcels near Wharton High School for a shopping center, a town house community and a 350-lot subdivision. That case has been continued three times and also is scheduled to be heard Aug. 14.

by: Laura Kinsler

Existing Home Sales Up From April

2006-06-26T23:39:00.000-05:00

Real estate sales continue to plummet in Tampa Bay against a year ago, although sales ticked upwards when compared to last month.

In Tampa Bay, the 3,548 homes sold was a 35 percent decline from May 2005, but 11 percent higher than April 2006, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.

The drop in sales isn't affecting prices, as the median sales price rose 18 percent to $230,000 from a year ago. Last month, the median price was $225,500 in Tampa Bay.

Statewide, the results are similar, overall sales are down 24 percent from a year ago, yet up 14 percent from last month. The median price across Florida is $256,400, 11 percent higher than May 2005, but 104.7 percent higher from 2001.

Home sales across the nation are settling into a slower pace, which is good for the long-term health of the sector, according to National Association of Realtors' housing industry analysts. Still, NAR expects 2006 to be the third strongest sales year on record. Analysts note that the adjusting housing market will continue to provide a strong underlying base to the economy, while slower appreciation will help to preserve long-term affordability.

Looking to Florida's existing condominium market, sales of existing condos also decreased in May, with a total of 5,725 condos sold statewide compared to 8,337 in May 2005 for a 31 percent decline, according to FAR. The statewide median sales price for condos remained relatively flat last month at $222,000; a year ago, it was $222,100.

In Tampa Bay, condo sales plunged 36 percent, to 816, from a year ago, while the median price rose 13 percent to $178,000.

Meanwhile, interest rates continued their slow climb upwards. According to Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 6.60 percent last month, up from 5.72 percent in May 2005.

from: Tampa Bay Business Journal

Consumer Group Goes After Real Estate Industry

2006-06-19T20:33:00.000-05:00

A great article from CNNMoney.com below. I am a firm believer of the real estate industry to make a radical change to focus more on the consumer-driven market, instead of focusing on the agent-driven traditional brokerages.

By Les Christie, staff writer

Consumer Federation of America says home buyers pay higher prices because 'cartel' stifles competition.

A leading consumer rights group, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), on Monday issued a report charging that real estate industry members act as a cartel to stifle competition, resulting in higher prices and poorer service for homebuyers.

It's the latest episode in the long-running soap opera that pits consumer groups and the government against the real estate industry. The dispute has become increasingly heated in recent years as soaring home prices have resulted in huge commissions for the industry. At the same time, the technology advances that have dramatically lowered costs in investment, travel and other industries have not had a great impact on real estate.

"Many traditional real estate brokerage firms, and their organizations, function as a cartel that tries to set prices and restrict service options," said Stephen Brobeck, CFA's executive director at a press conference in Washington D.C.

The CFA charges that consumers are harmed in three main ways:

Traditional brokers charge high, uniform prices regardless of the quality of the broker involved. Even a newly licensed, inexperienced agent receives the same commission no matter what the level of service offered.

Traditional brokers who work with both seller and buyer in a home sale almost always function as facilitators. Brokers try to make sure a sale is completed (and they get paid), rather than as fiduciary agents acting in the best interests of their clients, as the brokers claim to do.

Brokers "double-dip," promoting their own listings or the listings of their firm over properties better suited for their clients.

For those who have not followed the controversy closely, the CFA explained how traditional real estate brokers are able to control the sales process:

By having sellers pay all commissions
Home sellers' 6-percent commissions are split between their broker (the listing agent) and the buyer's agent. That creates reluctance among sellers and their brokers to lower commissions: They depend on their homes being seen by potential buyers, and buyers agents will be more likely to show homes with full commissions than discounted ones.

According to the CFA, if sellers and buyers each negotiated compensation separately with brokers, brokerage services and prices would quickly become unbundled and clients would pay only for the services they need.

Discriminary practices targeting non-traditional brokers
Brokers will sometimes offer rebates to buyers or sellers - cash back at closing - to attract their patronage. But many state commissions have banned rebates, prohibitions that the Department of Justice has gotten overturned in some cases.

State legislatures have also enacted minimum service regulations, which prohibit brokers from unbundling services and charging a fee for each. "We're asking states to end minimum service laws because we think they harm consumers," James Cooper of the Federal Trade Commission, noting, however that Washington can't dicate remedies to the states.

There are also more subtle forms of discrimination by traditional brokers. In one, "boycotting," discount brokers say that traditional brokers refuse to show their listings to clients.

Restricted listing services
The CFA says traditional brokers dominate the unregulated multiple listing services and restrict full access to broker clients, hide commission splits from consumers, and restrict non-traditional brokers from access or full information.

Lack of consumer knowledge
The CFA says homebuyers and sellers, especially first-time ones, are at a great disadvantage in that they know little about industry practices. Those selling one home and buying another tend to be preoccupied with matching these sales. Many consumers do not shop and negotiate for brokerage services as carefully as they would purchase a car or other much less expensive transactions.

Lobbying efforts
Many real estate brokers also sit on state real estate commissions; they make up the majority of all state boards, according to the CFA. They regulate themselves and make rules that disadvantage competing business models.

The National Association of Realtors released a comment on the CFA report calling the industry, "One of the most competitive business environments in the world, characterized by low barriers to entry, intense personal client service and a results-based compensation structure. Real estate consumers can choose from nearly 80,000 real estate brokerages and more than 2 million real estate licensees, more than 1.3 million of whom are Realtors. Competition is fierce. In fact, discount brokerages and many innovative business models are doing very well today and the average real estate commission, as computed by Real Trends, has fallen from 5.5% in 1998 to 5.1% in 2003."

Tom Stevens, president of NAR, says the real estate brokerage is "an intensely client-driven business and every client's needs are different. You can't compare it to buying an airline ticket or stocks."

Brobeck agrees that, despite the best efforts of the industry, the commission structure is eroding in some markets.

"Sellers with a $600,000 home are saying, 'I'm not going to pay a commission of $36,000,'" he says. But in some slower markets, commission rates can still hover at around 7 percent. Overall, commission rates probably average well about 5 percent. They are much lower in other countries and would drop in the United States except for anti-competitive practices.

"Prices should be left up to the marketplace," says Brobeck, "but the cartel still sets the prices."

Deed Restrictions and Homeowners Association

2006-06-18T10:48:00.000-05:00

It's a standard of success for many Americans - owning your own home.

It's where you can spend weekends painting, watching your children play basketball in the driveway, and walking the dog around the block.

In the Tampa Bay area, homeowners increasingly are being told to get that paint color approved, put the basketball hoop away at night, and walk the dog only in designated areas.

If you don't like the rules, don't move into the neighborhood, say supporters of the deed-restricted communities where these regulations are typical.

But finding a neighborhood without restrictions is becoming harder to do in the Bay area.

Changes in land development codes and growth management regulations mean nearly every single-family home built in Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties during the past decade has a homeowner association, bringing the number of association-run communities to more than 1,000.

That is part of a nationwide trend that has seen homeowner association communities rise from 6,000 in 1970 to about 157,300 in 2006. The heaviest concentrations are in fast-growing states such as Florida, California and Arizona.

Buying in homeowner association communities might mean gaining control of neighborhood aesthetics, but it also means losing basic rights. Some homeowners aren't aware of that, especially if they don't read the rules. Those rules are often more than 100 pages long and filled with legal jargon.

Not knowing the rules can cost residents thousands of dollars and, in extreme cases, their homes.

Newer Homes, Little Choice
The changing housing market affects the Bay area's middle-income buyers the most. They're the ones most likely to look for homes that cost about $201,700, the median home price in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area.

The median price of a single-family home in Hillsborough County is $212,000. Most houses that hover around that price are in areas saturated with deed-restricted communities, such as Carrollwood and south Brandon.

Neighborhoods with fewer deed-restricted communities tend to fall at both ends of the spectrum - high-end houses in south Tampa, where the average home price is between $325,000 and $425,000, and low-end houses in areas like Sulphur Springs, where the average price is $120,000.

Rolando Genao considers himself an average buyer. The 40-year-old small-business owner and father of three relocated from Danbury, Conn., to Tampa to escape cold winters.

When Genao started house hunting, price was the most important factor. Genao also considered location and the quality of schools.

Whether a community had deed restrictions and a homeowner association was not something he considered. He didn't have to. Most neighborhoods in his price range - about $300,000 - were run by homeowner associations.

Genao expects to close soon on a house in Countryway, a deed-restricted community in northwest Hillsborough County.

He will pay a $340 annual homeowner association fee to maintain community tennis courts, playgrounds and landscaping.

Having never lived in a deed-restricted community, Genao took some time to read the rules. Nothing seems unreasonable, he said, and he likes the idea of living in a well-maintained neighborhood.

Still, Genao is not convinced it takes a homeowner association and deed restrictions to have a nice neighborhood.

"I wish the luxury of having a nice area, and people who take care of it, would be free," he said.

No Rules. Just Right?
That type of community is possible, said Peter Anello, a resident of Four Oaks, an 81-year-old, association-free community tucked between Citrus Park and Carrollwood.

Since purchasing his home in 1985, Anello has watched deed-restricted communities pop up around him, but he said he's proud that his neighborhood has maintained its character.

"We're very individualistic out in the neighborhood," he said. "It's like a little gem."

Because there is no association, there is no protection from a neighbor who fills their yard with lawn kitsch or leaves a rusty car in the driveway.

Anello said he would rather have nearly a half-acre of property and a street lined with nearly century-old grand oaks than a neighborhood where all the houses look the same.

In a deed-restricted community, "You have trouble finding somebody's house because they all look alike," he said.

With fewer communities like Four Oaks available, other homeowners looking to escape restrictions find themselves moving to more rural counties.

That's how Walter Morrissey found himself in a restriction-free neighborhood in Hudson, after getting fed up with Pasco County's Beacon Woods, where he was banned from parking his pickup in his driveway.

Morrissey's new neighbors in Brooksville formed an informal association to help clean up common areas, but there are no rules telling residents what they can or can't do on their own property. Gaining that freedom, Morrissey said, was worth the move.

That view is becoming outdated, said Ellen Hirsch de Haan, a prominent Largo-based homeowner association lawyer.

People no longer buy a home expecting to stay there for decades, she said.

Not only do people looking for a quick turnover want a guarantee that the neighborhood will look the same in a few years, but de Haan said they also want easy access to amenities, such as pools and parks, that come standard in many large homeowner association communities.

People would lean toward these neighborhoods, de Haan said, even if more choices were available.

"Is it more important to be able to paint the house the colors of your favorite college team, or have a community that is well-maintained?" de Haan asked.

by: Julie Pace

Florida Sales Report for the Month of April

2006-06-13T16:37:00.000-05:00

by: Marc Vitorillo

Florida Sales Report on Existing Homes & Condos

Apr 2006: Tampa Bay single-family home sales are down -37%, but appreciation up+23%. Condo Sales are down - 38%, but appreciation up +12%.

Click on the icons below to see the report.

* This information is based on a survey of MLS sales levels from Florida's Realtor boards/associations. Above sales are compared to Last Year's figures.

Sierra Family Fronts $3.5 Million for Avila Golf Course

2006-06-12T08:15:00.000-05:00

Usually when a private golf club wants to renovate or improve its facilities, it has to assess its membership for the money. Avila Golf & Country Club is spending $3.5 million to update its golf course, expand its fitness center and provide an outdoor dining venue -- and the members won't have to spend a dime.

The Sierra family, headed by local developer Bob Sierra, owns the club. The Sierras built the club in 1979 and have owned it since.

Now it's time to rebuild the greens, and Sierra is reaching into his own pocket to foot the bill.

Golf greens require rebuilding every 10 to 20 years in order to maintain the U.S. Golf Association specifications and foster the consistent putting surfaces that bring golfers back. At Avila, it's been 18 years since Jack Nicklaus and his design company remodeled the course that Ron Garl originally designed.

Nicklaus is back again to oversee the greens renovations and ensure the course retains the elements he incorporated in 1988.

Wadsworth Golf Construction Co., with its Southeast regional office in Oldsmar, is doing the heavy construction work.

Wadsworth built the Bayou Club in Largo in 1990 with Fazio Golf Course Designers Inc. It also built Bloomingdale Country Club in Brandon in 1983 with Ron Garl and all four courses at Westin Innisbrook Golf Resort with Edward Packer. Wadsworth has built or remodeled many other local courses including Northdale, Old Memorial, Feather Sound, River Wilderness and Tampa Palms.

Paring down a green to the raw surface and rebuilding it layer by layer with gravel, sand and topsoil in finite amounts costs about $30,000. Without the meticulous care in constructing each level of green surface, the green's smooth characteristics will wear out before the 10 years and become rough and bumpy and require resurfacing sooner than scheduled.

Every time a green is top dressed and aerated, the composition of the top level is changed slightly. Clubs try to minimize this change by keeping the topsoil mix the same for each green, but over time, the greens break down and require resurfacing.

Avila also is renovating its tees and sand traps to bring them back to first class status.

by: Tampa Bay Business Journal

Shake-Up In The Housing Market

2006-06-11T09:26:00.000-05:00

One by one, Alex and Deena Fuertes watched their neighbors sell their homes for big profit. Three months ago, they decided to try to cash in while they still could.

The couple asked $295,000 for their 2,000-square-foot Valrico home - $135,000 more than they paid two years ago - and signed a contract on a smaller pre-construction town home. They thought the profit on the sale of their house would guarantee the family a low enough mortgage that Deena could afford to stay home with their two young children.

But the offers they'd hoped for didn't come. They lowered the price several times, then decided to stay put. Now, the Fuerteses face losing their $10,000 deposit on the town home.

"I was thinking money, money, money," said Alex Fuertes, a truck driver. "Now, I'm looking at it like it's just not worth it. The market is so bad right now that everybody is trying to get something for nothing."

Buyers and sellers alike are finding that the real estate boom of the past five years is fizzling. There are now about 28,000 pre-existing homes on the market in Tampa Bay, nearly four times as many as in spring 2005. Homes are taking months to sell instead of days or weeks like last year. And prices are appreciating at a much slower pace - a couple thousand dollars every few months instead of every few days.

Real estate agents say their clients are frustrated because they're holding on to hope that they can make as much money as their neighbors have. Many aren't prepared for a long wait to sell. In desperation, some offer incentives such as cash, upgrades, even cars to entice buyers.

Cathleen Smith, the Tampa Bay regional senior vice president for Coldwell Banker, said she's seen a dramatic change in the market since January and advises her agents and clients to change their mindsets.

"A lot of people think they've missed the market, and they want to sell before the prices go down," Smith said. "But most sellers are still thinking of their house value from last year."

Prices of homes in competitive neighborhoods used to go up by as much as $75,000 in one day, Smith said. But today, she noted, a $350,000 home will still cost $350,000 tomorrow. Florida homes have consistently increased by double digits for the past couple of years, according to data from the Florida Association of Realtors.

Lawrence Yun, an economist with the National Association of Realtors, predicts that prices in Florida will continue to appreciate, just at a much slower pace.

Existing home prices in the Tampa region, for example, are going up slightly from month to month, from a median price of $222,800 in March to a median price of $225,500 in April.

The number of homes sold, however, is declining.

The Florida Realtors group last month released data that showed that Florida is seeing some of the largest sales declines in the nation. April sales declined 31 percent compared with sales at the same time last year.

Sales in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area have dropped 37 percent since April 2005. That was one of the biggest drops in the state.

Real estate is slowing all over the country because of rising mortgage interest rates, but Florida has the added pressure of rising insurance rates. Realtors report clients dropping contracts because they can't find or afford insurance, Yun said. Also, he said, areas that saw the largest increases in prices during the real estate boom can expect to cool more than areas where prices didn't increase as much.

The changing market has forced real estate agents to work harder to sell homes, walking through neighborhoods and ringing doorbells, said Shirley Cicero, of Keller Williams in Brandon. Cicero said she has always gone door-to-door to attract clients and potential buyers but has noticed more agents doing the same thing.

"It's not like the frenzy of last year," she said. "This year, at least we get to market our homes. We have to market them right to get the best price."

A key to making a good profit, Cicero said, is pricing the house right to begin with. If buyers are greedy, they often end up disappointed when they have to lower their prices, she said. The price range that is selling most quickly, she said, is the $200,000 to $250,000 range.

George Bodmer, the executive director of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, said even though sales are slipping and price appreciation has slowed, 2006 still will likely be the third-best year in real estate for the Tampa Bay area.

"But when you're coming off the first-best year, it looks like things are going down," Bodmer said.

Sales of new homes have slowed, too. The Commerce Department recently reported that new home sales nationally have dropped 11.2 percent since January and are remaining on the market longer with slower price appreciation.

The backlog of unsold new homes rose by 2.4 percent to a new record of 565,000 homes on the market at the end of April. It would take 5.8 months to deplete that backlog at the April sales pace, according to the Commerce Department.

Michael Carliner, an economist with the National Association of Home Builders, said the slowdown should not severely affect the overall economy. It will, however, change it because the housing market has been its driving force, Carliner said. Other sectors, he said, will have to pick up the slack.

As far as Alex Fuertes is concerned, buying and selling is just a matter of timing. If he were only trying to buy now, he said, he'd love the market and would low-ball sellers to get a good deal.

As a seller, though, he plans to stay out of real estate until it changes again.

"We can't complain because we could still make a pretty penny," Fuertes said. "But I didn't want to go down that much. I know things will bounce back up in about two years, and I may sell then."

by: Shannon Behnken

Top 10 Ways To Make Home Buyers Hate Your House

2006-06-08T08:37:00.000-05:00

Are you selling a home? Did you know that even though home buyers are all looking for something different, the majority of them will turn around and walk back out of your door if they notice one or more of these Top 10 problems.

1. Odors
House odors are number one on the home selling uh-oh list. And narrowing it down, odors from cigarette smoke and pets take top billing, with mildew not far behind.

If you smoke indoors--the house smells like cigarettes. If you have pets, the house might smell bad--even if you don't notice it. Ask someone who doesn't live there to take a sniff, and don't get angry when they tell you the truth.

Eradicate the odors so that you can present potential buyers with a clean, fresh atmosphere--not a house that's full of perfumes to cover up the odors.

2. Dogs that Meet You at the Door or in the Driveway
Dogs frighten some people and irritate others. You'll have a much better response from showings if you control your pets--dogs, cats, whatever.

You say you plan to put them in a bedroom or garage and then ask people not to open the door to that area? Bad idea. Would you buy a house you can't inspect? Of course not.

Remove pets during showings if possible. If you can't, contain them in crates for their own safety and to show respect for the feelings of potential buyers.

3. Dirty Bathrooms
Grimy bathrooms are an instant turnoff. Scrub them, paint them, buy a new shower curtain, rugs and towels--do what it takes to make them shine. If you're serious about selling the home, the extra work is a must.

4. Dimly Lit Rooms
Dark homes are a turnoff to most home buyers, so try to brighten them up:

Replace dim light fixtures
Install additional light fixtures
Install (quality) sun tunnels or skylights
Remove heavy drapes to let the light stream through windows
Repaint some rooms with colors that reflect light
Trim tree limbs that shadow the house
Dirty and fogged windows are another buyer turnoff. Clean them inside and out to bring in more light. If possible, replace any double-pane windows with broken seals. You can find them by looking for a foggy residue that cannot be removed.

5. A House Full of Busy Wallpaper
Busy wallpaper in every room turns off most buyers, and even people who love wallpaper rarely like what you've chosen. It's a personal decorative touch that they want to select themselves.

It's the masses you must appeal to when you're selling a home, so take a hard look at your wallpaper and decide if it should be removed and replaced with paint. Don't paint over it, because it will be obvious that you did--and buyers know that makes removing it even more difficult.

6. Damp Basements
Dampness or damp smells in the basement throw up a red flag to buyers that the foundation leaks!

Most problems we see are not caused by faulty foundations. They occur because rainwater is being diverted towards the foundation instead of away from it.

Clogged underground drains
No rain gutters along roofline
Downspouts aimed the wrong way
Go outside the next time it rains and determine where runoff water is going.

7. Bugs
Roaches, spiders, any insect that shouldn't be in the house. Get rid of them.

8. Poor Curb Appeal
You must grab a buyer's interest from the curb if you want to sell the home for top dollar. Home buyers often refuse to go into a house with an unkempt yard, sagging doors or peeling paint. You say you can't afford to paint? Okay, but get that yard in tip-top shape and grab a screwdriver to fix those doors.

9. Gutters with Plants Growing in Them
I'm serious. Some people never clean their gutters, and it always makes buyers wonder what else hasn't been maintained.

Remember the drainage issue in #6? Cleaning packed gutters might help.

10. Sellers Who Hang Around for Showings
Yes, you... leave the house during showings. Home buyers feel awkward about opening closet doors and lingering for a really good look at the house if the seller is home.

If you're selling by owner, give them some space, don't hover.

Parting Words
Most of the Top 10 problems are home selling issues you can correct without spending a lot of money. Do it now, before you put the house on the market, because if your house develops a reputation among agents as the house that smells, the house with the huge barking dog or the house where the owner won't leave people alone, it will be too late. Your house will be last on their list to show potential buyers.

by: About.com

On Port, Rooms With A Rusty View

2006-06-05T01:49:00.000-05:00

Rusting silos, teeming dry docks and tugboats pushing grimy barges are not everybody's idea of a pleasing visual milieu.

Casey Ellison, however, loves looking at the Port of Tampa from his fourth-floor condominium in Victory Lofts, where units cost up to $850,000.

"It's very entertaining," Ellison said. "You get to see all kinds of ships coming and going out of the port."

Many people think the ultimate Florida vista must include golden sunsets, frothy waves and a turquoise ocean. But there's a vigorous market for high-end properties overlooking industrial areas such as ports.

Channelside developer Brooks Byrd was surprised when residents buying into his 20-story Grandview development on Harbour Island passed up brilliant sunsets for units looking across Garrison Channel at the Port of Tampa.

"The primary reason that my residents gave me is they liked looking at these big ships moving around," Byrd said.

Industrial areas are the "last frontier" in the urban renaissance that has been luring residents to central city areas for years, said Theodore Trent Green, professor of architecture and urban design at the University of South Florida.

"We're probably late getting started," Green said. "If you look at cities like Seattle and Portland [Ore.], they have a number of very pricey condo buildings within walking distance of a working port."

Green said developable land is often scarce in downtown commercial areas, so developers look to industrial districts. Ports typically have lots of land, he said, and are always looking for economic development opportunities. It's even possible some ports will invest in, or provide land for, residential redevelopment.

Ellison and other Channelside condo dwellers have a birds-eye view of International Ship & Marine at the north end of Ybor Channel.

"At night, there'll be guys rappelling down the sides of the boat, welding on the ship," Ellison said. "Actually at night when the sun is setting … the colors that come up out of all the metallic surfaces … it's a great view."

That view includes TECO's new natural-gas powered power plant, the Mosaic fertilizer company's berth and a half-dozen industrial silos, some in use and some long abandoned.

One of those abandoned silos, rusting and in bad repair, is on International Ship property, a Tampa Port Authority spokeswoman said.

Another set of abandoned silos, on the east side of the channel, belongs to Florida Rock Industries in Jacksonville.

How long the abandoned silos will continue standing is uncertain.

A spokesman for International Ship would not comment. Jim Reed, Florida Rock's director of real estate, said the company is talking to potential buyers but has no immediate plans to take down the silos.

Reed said he's not sure whether the property is more valuable as industrial or residential.

"The area on the side of the channel where we are is quite distinct from the other side," Reed said. "On the other side, they're promoting multiuse and hotels. On the side we're on, it's still purely industrial. The real question is if that expansion to other uses is going to find its way around to the property on this side of the channel."

Fida Sirdar, developer of The Place at Channelside condominiums, said some residents might find even the rusting silos visually interesting.

In his home of Toronto, people are trying to preserve the same type of silos found around the Port of Tampa and turn them into a music hall.

"A lot of people actually like them," he said. "That's their history; that's the heritage of the city."

by: Mike Salinero