Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Can the Housing Bill Rescue Your Home?

CNN Money explains how the housing rescue bill can help you. Click on below link if you'd like to read the full article.

I'm available if you'd like to discuss your options. Call me at 813-293-9996.

The legislation - likely to be enacted soon (today!)- devotes $300 billion to helping troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure. See if you qualify. Click below:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/26/real_estate/housing_rescue_guide/index.htm

Best Regards,

Patricc Petti, Realtor
Keller Williams Realty
www.tampaluxuryhomespecialist.com
813-293-9996

President Bush signs massive housing bill

According to today's article on MSNBC (www.msnbc.msn.com):

President Bush on Wednesday signed a massive housing bill intended to provide mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners and stabilize financial markets. To read full story, click on below link.

Homeowners, if you are struggling to make your mortgage payments and would like to know what your options are, feel free to call me at (813)293-9996. You may have heard about "Short Sales." I would be happy to discuss these further. Here's the full story from MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25928299/from/ET/

Best Regards,

Patricc


Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Florida Beaches...

Want to learn more about Tampa Bay's Beaches?

Here's some exciting information about improvements along Clearwater Beach:
(brought to you by The Official Web Site of the City of Clearwater, FL)

...a winding beachside promenade with lush landscaping, artistic touches and clear views to Clearwater's award-winning beach and the water beyond, a place where bicyclists, rollerbladers and pedestrians all have safe and convenient access and where visitors and locals can socialize, dine, play games, or simply enjoy the spectacular sun and surf.

This is Beach Walk

Five years in development, Beach Walk is designed to revitalize the community that surrounds Clearwater's popular south beach destination, which has played host to generations of visitors from all over the world. Part of the city's "Beach by Design" plan, it has already played a vital role in attracting new hotel development to the beach in a time when many older hotels are being converted into condominiums, threatening our community's tourism industry.

The project will transform the look and feel of south Clearwater Beach and bring new vitality to the area, providing a setting that complements the beauty of the true destination: our pristine, white beaches.

Why Beach Walk

Tourism is Clearwater's number one industry, and the beach is at the center of the tourism. City and tourism officials recognized that, in order to meet the expectations of visitors in the new millennium, there was a need to improve the atmosphere surrounding our beautiful beaches. With more permanent residences going up on the beach, it was important, too, to preserve overnight accommodations for the millions of visitors who come back year after year.
Beach Walk is designed to bring visitors closer to the beach and provide an environment that will draw new hotel, retail, entertainment and restaurant business for out-of-town visitors, residents, and day trippers. Already, several new hotel projects are in development in part because of the improvements promised by Beach Walk.

Modern amenities and a true "beachside experience" is what Beach Walk is all about. It will set Clearwater apart as a destination for Tampa Bay, the region, and the world. In short, Beach Walk is the future of tourism in Clearwater.

For more information, or if you're interested in scheduling a presentation about Beach Walk, please contact the City of Clearwater Public Communications Department at (727)562-4681.

The above information is brought to you by The Official Web Site of the City of Clearwater, FL

If you are thinking of buying a place near Tampa, feel free to call me at (813)293-9996. As a Buyer's Specialist, I'd be happy to find a place that matches your specific needs.

Best Regards,

Patricc Petti, Realtor
Keller Williams Realty
(813) 293-9996


Are Gas Prices making you want to buy a Downtown Condo?

The West End Tampa housing complex is under construction near downtown Tampa. Across the country, downtown housing is gaining popularity because the price of gas makes commuting expensive.





Tribune file photo by JIM REED

Check out http://www.tampaluxuryhomespecialist.com/ for Condos for Sale in Downtown Tampa! Here's an article from Tampa Bay Online (The Tampa Tribune):

Gas Prices Drive Demand For Downtown Dwellings

The Associated Press
Published: July 29, 2008


Sick of filling up the tank for 60 bucks? Considering a place near work downtown and tossing the car keys?

Prepare to pay higher rents as more like-minded apartment dwellers flock to urban digs.

Nationwide, rents near job centers and mass transit are rising faster than other areas, according to New York-based real estate research firm Reis Inc. The trend is strongest in Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago, Seattle, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon.

In downtown San Diego, for example, rents have jumped 15 percent in the past year to between $2,400 and $2,600 a month for a two-bedroom apartment, said Greg Neuman, owner of Neuman & Neuman Prudential Realty.

Young renters and empty nesters want to walk to work or drive against rush-hour traffic to save time and gas.

If they live a half hour or an hour away, "they could rent the same apartment for $800," Neuman said, "but they're now spending an hour commute and another $700 to $800 a month on gas."

In urban New York and New Jersey, Kamson Corp.'s apartments are filling up and pushing rents higher, while its suburban ones in Pennsylvania can't hold on to tenants.

"We're finding people asking more questions about mass transit, what kind of services there are in the immediate area," said Mike Beirne, Kamson's executive vice president.

Some apartment owners are including maps on their Web sites and brochures showing where amenities and public transportation are. Others are advertising their so-called walkability score from www.walkscore.com, a site that calculates how close an address is to businesses and amenities. Some landlords are giving gas cards to new tenants and offering discounted parking to those with hybrid cars.

Looking for bargain rents downtown? Try Miami, where a glut of condos left over from the housing boom are turning into rentals and flooding the market. Renters have more choices and more power to negotiate deals.

"Because landlords are motivated, rents are negotiable here," said Paul Sasseville, a real estate agent at Esslinger Wooten Maxwell. Some landlords, he said, will offer design changes, like swapping carpet for hardwood floors, to lock in a tenant for two years.

Renters there have been moving downtown for a few years already as traffic backed up around South Florida. The city has the sixth-worst commute in the country, according to Census data.

"People wanted to get more hours into their life," Sasseville said. "That started being an impact right before gas prices started to increase."

Now gas prices have become just another reason for renters to skip out on the suburbs and settle in the city.

Not surprisingly, many cities also are showing increases in public transit ridership this year, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

The suburban exodus is "both a function of traffic and congestion, spiced up by $4 a gallon gas," said John McIlwain, senior fellow for housing at the Urban Land Institute.

Americans spend more than 100 hours commuting each year, but all-time-high gas prices are forcing Americans to change their smog-producing habits.

If gas prices stay high, renters will need the money they save on dumping their cars to pay for that pricey apartment by the subway. But they can still feel good about being green.

Reader Comments
Posted by ( crystalblue ) on July 29, 2008 at 10:55 a.m.

It would be nice, but the ones build in the downtowns in Florida aren't priced for the avg income.

If you want to find out more about Downtown Tampa, give me a call at (813)293-9996.

Best Regards,

Patricc Petti

Thursday, July 24, 2008

June Statistics for Tampa Real Estate

Hi all,

Just wanted to give an update on the Current Real Estate Market in Tampa, FL. If you'd like to see the actual reports for further analysis, check out my website www.tampaluxuryhomespecialist.com where we'll have these posted in the next day or two. If you have any questions about the market, selling your home, buying a home or just want some basic real estate information, give me a call at (813)293-9996 or email me at patricc@kw.com. I'd be happy to help.

Well, the June numbers are here, and they continue to show signs of a strengthening real estate market!

The Mid-Florida Multiple Listing Service (MLS) reports that the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors (GTAR) closed 1,394 homes in June, up from 1,316 homes in May and up from 1,235 homes in April, and well north of the 791 homes sold in January. This is a little off of the 1,446 in June 2007 but higher than the 1,268 in July 2007, so we might see some press headlines that show the market is slightly off from the year ago period.

There are now 19,363 active GTAR listings, which is down from 19,758 last month and down from our height of 20,942 in October 2007. This is now the second time that we have dropped below 20,000 listings in 2008. In a very positive sign for our market, our months of inventory dropped to 13.89 from 15.01 last month. The months of inventory have not been this low since December 2006! In addition, the average list price is $242,261, which is down from $266,411 last month. The average sales price also decreased to $227,565 from $244,977 last month. Finally, the percentage difference between sell/list increased to 93.93% from 91.95% last month and the average days on market increased to 152 from 124 earlier (possibly due to the long process of short sales – third party approvals).

What price categories sold last month? 196 of the 1394 homes sold in the $200,000-$249,999 price range, making up for 14.06% of the saleable market. Another range that is moving, which represented 11.19% of all sales, is the $140,000-$159,999 range, where 156 homes sold.

The $1,000,000 and up range had a solid month -- 15 units sold for over $1,000,000, which is slightly off of the 18 units from last month but up from 11 in April and 10 in March. The upper end luxury market continues to hold its own, with over 70 homes selling for over $500,000 last month.

Hillsborough County continued its tidal wave of foreclosures with 1,659 in June, slightly off of the 1,671 in May, and up from 1,549 foreclosures in April. There were 615 foreclosures in Pasco County, down from the 733 in May and up from 593 foreclosures in April. Our neighbors over in Polk County saw a big increase with 888 foreclosures, which is up from 685 in May.

Feel free to contact me or visit my website for more information.

Best Regards,

Patricc Petti
Keller Williams Realty
www.tampaluxuryhomespecialist.com
(813)293-9996

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Buying Vs. Renting in Tampa

MSN offers this article on Buying Vs. Renting! Tampa made the list!

- Patricc Petti, Keep Reading...

66 cities where buying makes sense

Falling prices make homeownership increasingly realistic in some areas.

Just don't expect to make a fast buck.

By Marilyn Lewis, MSN Real Estate


With house prices falling around the country, many renters are wondering if this is the time to jump in and score a deal.

The answer, of course, depends on where you live. In much of the U.S., you're better off buying despite falling home values, say new data compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Of the 100 most populous metro areas, 57 have average three-bedroom rental costs higher than the cost of a 6% loan for a typical low-priced house, including Little Rock, Ark., and Akron, Ohio. (The study's authors defined low-priced as 75% of the area's median.) Those renting two-bedroom apartments would be better off buying a low-priced home at a loan rate of 6% in 24 of the 100 largest metro areas.

Of course, a crucial component for renters looking to make the leap is credit history. A prospective buyer with credit worthy of a 6% mortgage will pay a third less in monthly payments than someone who qualifies for an 8% loan – in many cities that can be a difference of hundreds of dollars and push them over the line to where renting actually makes more sense.

Even more interesting to potential homebuyers is the chance to build equity. Here, too, there's good news for many major metros. In 66 of the top 100 markets, you'd be in the black in four years should you buy a low-priced home today.

You'd do best in McAllen and El Paso, Texas, where you could build roughly $90,437 in equity with a 6% loan, and just shy of that with a 7% loan. In Syracuse or Buffalo, N.Y., you'd stand to make close to $80,000. In these slow-growing, smaller cities, prices never got run up to the sky. Now, homes are still affordable. And most importantly, the prices aren't likely to come crashing down.

It’s a home, not a get-rich-quick scheme
Safe doesn't mean profitable, however. With prices falling in many markets, housing is too risky these days to expect you'll make money on a house deal, experts caution. The object now is to avoid losing money.

"Don't expect these markets to take off," says Danilo Pelletiere, research director for the National Low Income Housing Coalition and co-author of the study, "Ownership, Rental Costs and the Prospects of Building Home Equity."

"The housing boom passed them by because, in many cases, not much is happening in these towns."

Buyers should look at the purchase as a conservative investment that's unlikely to pay off like an oil-patch scheme and may even lose value, Pelletiere, says. Base the decision on more than profit, on intangibles like the chance to build stability, to join a community, to enjoy a neighborhood or love living in a particular home.

"I wouldn't want anybody to interpret this data as saying here's where you should put your money," Pelletiere says. "What I am saying is, if you want to put your money into a home, these are the cities where owning makes sense."

Visit this link to see the full chart: http://realestate.msn.com/Buying/Article2.aspx?cp-documentid=8378117>1=35000

How much equity you'd have by 2012 if you bought a low-priced home today...


In the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL area:

6% Loan = $41,847
7% Loan = $40,237
8% Loan = $38,843

Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research and the National Low Income Housing Coalition
* Metropolitan area extends across state borders


If you want more information, give me a call at 813-293-9996.

-Patricc

Monday, July 7, 2008

Homes Sales Rise 1% Across Tampa Bay Area

I've got Great News to share if you haven't yet read this article in The Tampa Tribune:
Home Sales Rise 1% Across Tampa Bay Area

By RUSSELL RAY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 26, 2008


TAMPA - For the first time in two and a half years, home sales in the Tampa Bay area increased while condominium sales continued to plunge.
In May, real estate agents sold 2,270 single-family homes in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, up 1 percent compared with the same month last year, according to figures released Thursday by the Florida Association of Realtors.
It's the first year-to-year increase in Bay area home sales since November 2005, when the median price was $222,900, the association said.
Meanwhile, local condominium sales plummeted 16 percent to 511, compared with May 2007.

Statewide, 12,175 single-family homes were sold in May, down 5 percent compared with the same month in 2007. The median sales price fell in Florida from $239,000 in May 2007 to $203,300 last month, a 15 percent decline.
"Bargain hunters have entered the market en masse, especially in areas that have experienced double-digit price declines," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.

In the Tampa Bay area, the median sales price for single-family homes was $176,100 in May, down from $209,300 in May 2007.

Florida real estate agents sold 8.7 percent more single-family homes in May than the 11,200 homes sold during the previous month. Condo sales in May totaled 4,018, a 3 percent increase compared with condo sales in April.

"Once again, several of Florida's metropolitan statistical areas reported gains in existing home sales for the month," the Florida Association of Realtors said in a statement. "Realtors around the state reported an increase in buyer interest in their markets, noting more showings, telephone calls and other business activity."
Home sales typically rise in the spring.

During the one-month period, the median price for single-family homes and condos also rose. The median home price rose from $198,900 in April to $203,300 in May. The median price for condos jumped from $179,200 in April to $181,800 in May, according to the association.

Last month, interest rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.04 percent, down from 6.26 percent in May 2007.

Nationally, 4.99 million single-family homes sold in May, 16 percent below the 5.93 million homes sold in May 2007, a report from the National Association of Realtors showed.

Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870 or rray@tampatrib.com.

Reader Comments

Posted by ( pepe_santos ) on June 26, 2008 at 7:20 p.m.
In my community, sales have been up 4 months in a row.

Posted by ( Yertown ) on June 26, 2008 at 8:13 p.m.
This is the bottom, folks. If you hate to end up saying "I only wish I knew..." buy now.

Posted by ( nookienow ) on June 26, 2008 at 8:38 p.m.
Home sales are UP, but the average price is diluted because of "short" sales.

Posted by ( bslocum ) on June 27, 2008 at 9:59 a.m.
I guess this means it may be time to get off the fence & buy, 3 homes we have wanted in the last 2 weeks sold from underneath us! So my advice to others is if you see it don't wait to make an offer!

If you or someone you know are curious about whether to BUY or SELL in today's Real Estate Market, Call Me! I'd be happy to help.

Best Regards,

Patricc C. Petti, Realtor ®
Keller Williams Tampa Central
patricc@kw.com
(813) 293-9996
ALHS-Accredited Luxury Home Specialist
http://www.tampaluxuryhomespecialist.com/
http://tampaloftsandcondos.com