Here's what we saw this morning on NBC's Today Show — Real Estate Expert Barbara Corcoran ranking Sarasota as the best place in the United States to purchase a house.
Check out this video:
Corcoran extols Sarasota as a sophisticated town with gorgeous beaches. Sarasota sustained a 34-percent loss in the housing debacle, Corcoran says. She goes on to say that property prices are "shooting back up" and that prospective buyers must act quickly to take advantage of the bottom.
"Now is the time to buy in these markets," Corcoran says.
NBC's real estate expert then ranks the Top 10 places where you can expect the get the best home buy:
Sarasota, Florida
San Francisco, California
Lansing, Michigan
Marietta, Georgia
Grand Rapida, Michigan
St. Petersburg, Florida
Naperville, Illinois
Trenton, New Jersey
St. Louis, Missouri
Saginaw, Michigan
We who live and sell in Sarasota also rank our town as the best place to live after you buy.
For more information, please call:
Louis Wery, CIPS, CRS, ABR, TRC, CLHMS
Coldwell Banker Real Estate, LLC
201 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Suite 1
Longboat Key, Florida 34228
Direct: (941) 232-3001 www.LouisWery.com
Summers tend toward the quiet side so I amused myself by looking for free things to do in Sarasota & Her Islands and, in the process, I discovered a lot about our generous community.
You might try the exercise, which entertains without breaking into your wallet or maxing out your credit cards!
To help you get started, please visit Sarasota For Free and let me know what you think. This resource is interactive and allows you to add ideas and change rankings. You even can take a quiz about Sarasota.
Even in the most prosperous times, it's fun to discover ways to enjoy Sarasota & Her Islands without spending money. This wealthy community shares its bounty with residents and visitors. Open your eyes to the gifts that Florida's Cultural Coast offers.
With edgy economic times, the freebie game becomes even more satisfying.
Many visitors to our area rank St. Armands Circle as the best place to go for free entertainment. They walk around The Circle, watch and listen to the international chatter of other tourists and stroll down to Lido Beach for the spectacular sunset. Some happen upon The Ring of Fame that was started in 1988 and includes five Ringling brothers, Dolly Jacobs and Karl Wallenda, patriarch of the famous Flying Wallendas high-wire act.
No matter what pastimes you prefer, you will find myriad choices to occupy your time in Sarasota. Add to your fun by trying some of the freebies shown on Sarasota For Free.
After all, it's all about having fun in Sarasota!
For more information, please call:
Louis Wery, CIPS, CRS, ABR, TRC, CLHMS
Coldwell Banker Real Estate, LLC
201 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Suite 1
Longboat Key, Florida 34228
Direct: (941) 232-3001 www.LouisWery.com
If you watched the first episode of the new ABC comedy starring Courtney Cox as Jules Cobb, then you saw that the opening credits set the location in the Sarasota area, called the town Gulf Haven and nicknamed the place Cougar Town after the high school football team.
After the set up clips of Sarasota, the shooting locations shifted to California where similar Mediterranean-styled houses abound.
A 40ish real estate agent, Jules (Courtney Cox) parodies the profession with a revealing photo on her For Sale signs and a mouth that begs for prospects to overhear her snarky comments (which I won't repeat in a G-rated blog).
Here is a relatively clean videoclip:
After a passing reference to incest, Jules (Courtney Cox) flashes one of her son's classmates in an effort to show off her assets.
As it turns out, the only character with smarts is Jules's teenage son, Travis, played by Dan Byrd. The adults could use time in rehab.
The show ends up more on the sad side than hilarious.
As for reality? Yes, like Any Town USA, Sarasota has its share of "cougars," women between the ages of 30 and 40 who date much younger men. We also have our December-May romances.
Best of all, we love the many wealthy dowagers who bless our community with impeccable style and culture as well as incredible generosity. These ladies support Sarasota's claim to the sobriquet "Florida's Cultural Coast."
For more information, please call:
Louis Wery, CIPS, CRS, ABR, CLHMS
Coldwell Banker Real Estate, LLC
201 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Suite 1
Longboat Key, Florida 34228
Direct: (941) 232-3001 www.LouisWery.com
In real-estate jargon, curb appeal gauges a buyer's first impression on seeing a home for sale. The cliche "you never get a second chance to make a first impression" rings just as true for houses as for people.
When sellers decide to put a house on the market, they spiff the place up by installing exterior decorations, re-painting or updating the landscaping.
Perhaps they watch one of the television shows such as Designed to Sell, House Doctor or Flip This House to learn how to improve curb appeal in hopes of garnering a higher selling price.
Once the house looks as good as possible, the sellers call their real estate agent to put the property on the market.
Dream houses follow a different script.
The owners love living in their dream home and care for every detail from the beginning. When the time comes to sell, the sellers do not worry about curb appeal because that quality stayed with the property from Day One.
That's the story of this home in the Del Sol Village neighborhood of Longwood Run in northeast Sarasota, a short hop from I-75.
Watch this short video showing this beautiful home tucked away from the daily hustle:
From your first look, you see a beautifully landscaped lawn with tropical planting. Perched on the banks of a lake and preserve, the home offers changing scenes of migrating wild birds and other beautiful flora and fauna.
Your excellent first impression continues when you enter this perfectly maintained home and see the floor plan designed to flow smoothly from space to space. The rooms are large enough for entertaining yet carry a feeling of sociability. The gourmet kitchen serves as a gathering place for informal entertaining.
Enjoy touring! Perhaps you will make this home your dream home, too.
For more information, please call:
Louis Wery, CIPS, CRS, ABR, CLHMS
Coldwell Banker Real Estate, LLC
201 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Suite 1
Longboat Key, Florida 34228
Direct: (941) 232-3001 www.LouisWery.com
When Arthur Ferrante died Saturday on Longboat Key, my wife asked if I remembered him and his piano partner, Louis Teicher, who died last year in Sarasota. Never heard of either of them, I replied.
After all, I was a pre-teen living in Africa and then England when Ferrante & Teicher garnered billboard recognition for four big American hits: "Theme From The Apartment" (#10 on the pop charts), "Exodus," (#2), "Tonight" (#8), and "Midnight Cowboy" (#10).
Of course, I remember the movies scored by these Julliard-trained musicians.
Interesting that, when they stopped performing in 1989, they both chose the Sarasota area.
That started me thinking that so many celebrities seek haven here, perhaps because Sarasotans let celebrities enjoy the community without interference. I remember strolling the Circle (St. Armands Circle on Lido Key, just west of downtown Sarasota) one long-ago Christmas Day and seeing Jerry Springer with his entourage. Springer kept looking around for who-knows-whom. Papparazzi? Fans? Groupies? No matter, the people sharing that warm holiday afternoon studiously ignored him.
Springer relaxed and seemed to forget himself, too, and maybe that's why he keeps his house on Bird Key.
House prices are falling in much of the country, and more than 4 milliondwellings are on the market. That's bad news for sellers, because buyers feel free to make offers and then just wait.
It's a buyer's market, but don't despair. You can increase your chances of selling your house in a resonable time following a few good guidelines.
First play the cards you're dealt. A successful home sale begins before the house is listed, when you decide not to expect to make a killing. All you can do in a falling market, if you have to sell, is have the bet possible product out there at the best price it should be. Not what you wish you could get, not what the neighbor got two years ago, but at the price you should get now. That's reality.
It takes discipline to face that reality. Humility, too. For many sellers, the only disappointment is that their friend, six months or a year ago, got more than they're getting. Ego gets in the way when they're trying to sell. Or a little inflexability should we say.
Second, break though your ego and inflexability by looking at the good deals that your neighbors are offering. The most important thing is to really shop the competition on the market right now. Get out in the car and spend a weekend looking at everything you can. Visit some weekend open houses. Just get a feel for what your buyers are looking at.
Third, make it a turnkey, not a turkey. The word turnkey is used in commercial real estate. It means a property is ready for immediate use. Your house has to be that way when buyers have a cornucopia of houses to choose from. You have to make it 100 percent turnkey situation. Everything has to be ready to roll, because buyers never want to buy a house that needs a lot of work unless it's an absolute bargain. You have to take away all their opportunities to say no.
Fourth, offer incentives. Besides a low price, incentives for buyers include paying discount points to lower the mortgage rate, paying closing costs or providing flexibility about the move-in date.
Consider offerring a premium to the buyer's agent. Add a half-point or a point to the commission, or give the agent a cruise or a big -screen TV. It may not cause the deal to happen, but it can just attract a little more action and make your deal stand out.
Fifth, and most important, price realistically. Don't get greedy, just because it went up to some astronomical value and it went down from there, you have to be realistic that there has been moderation in the market. It takes research, often conducted by a real estate agent, to come up with a realistic price, and discipline to abide by it. It's not enough just to throw out a figure. Using tools on sites such as Zillow, buyers can get an idea of your house market value. You and your agent can't bamboozle buyers because they have so much information about comparable house values.
In a seller's market, sellers typically ask for a 10 percent to 20 percent more than they expect to get. You don't have that luxury in a buyer's market. Normally one would suggest asking for just 3 percent to 5 percent more than you realistically expect to get. Setting an aggressive asking price attracts more prospective buyers to your door, discourages lowball offers and saves negotiating time. You'll know fairly quickly whether they're willing to meet you or not.
In a market where prices are falling, asking prices must fall, too, which is a whole new concept for sellersright now. For example, if the Smiths sold their house early this year for $700,000, you might have to ask just $695,000.
An agent has to have tact to break the news. When we tell our clients this, they think we are the mean guys.
"Overall, the U.S. economy seems poised to grow in coming Quarters."
—Ben Bernake Federal Reserve Chairman
"I think there's going to be a relatively quick correction. I think we're in the process now of bottoming out in the housing market, but I don't expect it to collapse and drag the entire economy down with it like a big whirlpool."
—Brian Wesburg Chief Economist First Trust Advisors
I'm very worried about housing and the potential negative impact on overall economic activity... the big question for me is how will that impact consumer spending?"
—Nancy Lazar Economist International Stratergy & Investment
"If you go back, there have been many declines in the housing markets. Some have ended in recessions. Some have not."
—Allan Meltzer Monetary Policy Historian Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business
The economy has "caught a cold, or has a little case of the flu-but it's not on its deathbed."
—Peter Hooper Chief Economist Deutsche Bank
FACTS Since 1920 there have been three depressions, six sharp recessions and six mild recessions in the U.S. The longest was the depression of 1929-33 which lasted 43 months. The shortest was the 1980 recession, which lasted six months.
The total value of goods and services — including income from abroad — produced per person in the U.S. is about $44,000, according to the World Bank. That ranks seventh in the world behind Luxembourg — $66,000 — and then Norway, Switzerland, Bermuda, Denmark then Iceland.
The highest recorded monthly average pump price in the U.S. was set in March 1981, when gasoline cost $3.12 a gallon in 2005 dollars.
The word "weak" was used 50 times in September Federal Reserve "beige book" — a roundup of regional economic reports — up from 40 in July, according to Merril Lynch. It was used 53 times in January 2001, two months before the last recession began.
Americans spent $1.58 trillion on medical care over the past year — the highest category of personal consumtion expenditure. Americans spent $1.37 trillion on housing and $1.27 trillion on food.
In some luxury areas, housing prices are still climbing. Home sales in Telluride ski resort area in Colorado rose 7% from last year. The average home-sale price in the Vail, Colorado, area was $840,646 in July-up 21% from a year earlier.
As the market unfolds today, property supply increases and prices fall: That's been the trend for 110 years, since 1890. But since 1997, real home prices have increased by 90 percent. There is no economic fundamental — real income, migration,interest rates, demographics — that can explain this escalation. That means there was a speculative bubble. And now the bubble is bursting.
So how is the Sarasota market poised? I'm personally bullish on the city. I live in Sarasota, and, in the last five years, property values have increased between ±60-120 percent depending on the location of your home (mainland versus waterfront). That exaggerated price appreciation doesn't make sense.
Now there are several devolpments under construction coming to the market in the next one to three years. There's going to be a glut especially in the downtown market with so many condos .
With hundreds of new luxury units coming on the market, the question is: Who going to buy them? The Metropolitan is one development that has not met its goal. It only had 30 reservations when the developers had projected 90 reservations by now. Banks will only lend when you have 60 percent sold in the building.
There's a glut of new condos and it's getting worse. This supply will affect condo prices. A home is a home, and excess supply leads to falling prices.
It's wishful thinking to say that things are becoming more realistic. Sellers have not quite reached that point. While we don't know have hard data yet on what exactly is happening in the market, we do know that prices of homes are sluggish. Some of the price action will come in the next few months when the supply increases even further, and demand is lingering, and the national economy slows down.
Some people say that there is so much wealth here that there will always be buyers for high-end properties. That's nonsense. It's not as if there's infinite wealth. After all this is not the only city in Florida people choose. We are also competing with other parts of Florida.
People who bought years ago are lucky but that does not mean the increase in value of their home make them richer. If I were to sell my home and buy a property that has the same amenities, I would have to pay the same price. So I'm not wealthier, even though my home has gone up in value. What has happened in the past five years is that the real price of my housing service has doubled. I'm paying more to live in that home.
On a positive note there will not be a fire sale in Sarasota. I'd expect that a year from now prices may fall 20-30 percent. The ride for now is over and it will not be soft landing when you had 35-40 percent sales driven by speculators. Like many of us we do prefer people who will live in their homes. It's just like the stock market in all runs in cycles. I remember when the real estate market crashed in California back in 1990 and six years later it soared again. So we need a little patience...
The good news is what prices do in the future shouldn't matter much if you buy a place you love. And that's much easier to do now than in the past four years . So hire the best real estate agent to get that great deal.
Lovely lakes, emerald vistas and golf courses designed by Arnold Palmer lure homebuyers east to the Country Club at Lakewood Ranch.
The gated community is comprised of neighborhoods built around 54 holes of golf: 18 at the public Legacy Golf club and 36 at the private Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club, where a handsome clubhouse offers dining, swimming, an athelic center and party rooms.
Residences range from condominiums to detached single-family homes with maintenace-free lawn service to grand estates. Bicyclists, joggers and nature lovers enjoy miles of sidewalks and trails. Nearby, the new Main Street shopping district has specialty boutiques, a barbershop, fine restaurants and a gourmet market.
For the second month in a row, the Sarasota-Bradenton market posted a double-digit drop in median sales price.
A single -family home sold for $309,700 during August, down 11 percent drop during July. It is a sure sign that the houses that are moving in a market saturated with listings are the ones most competitively priced. The biggest mistake today is that sellers price their homes off their neighbor's home down the street. We still see a lot of overpriced listings going on the market.
Sales in The Sarasota-Bradenton have dropped 28 percent, from 1,062 to 765.
At the present clip, it would take nearly two years to sell off just the existing inventory, assuming no more homes come onto the market. So far, the listing rate has been growing at about 1,500 or each month. The current rate of sales is comparable to 2002 before the big boom of 2003-2005. We are now returning to a more traditional market.
Condominiums fared worse in terms of sales than houses, but better in terms of price in August. There has been a 55 percent drop in volume, from 454 in August 2005 to 206 last month. The median sales price dropped 14 percent from $280,000 to $240,000.
The good news is we are in a great city. People love the sun and the arts.
Ritz Carlton Sarasota put our town on the world map for travelers for whom money is no object.
The hotel is included in the Robb Report's annual publication, which hit newstands September 5, includes just one hotel from each of almost 100 cities around the world.
This is great news for the local economy since alongside the Sarasota Ritz, the magazine lists 21 other U.S. hotels — many of them in big cities — putting Sarasota in good company.
Sarasota is definitely the place for cultural activities and is one of the best little cities to live in the USA.
Neal Communities says it exceeded its projections for August, with 18 sales in four neighborhoods.
There were four sold in Wisteria park, four sold in Forest Creek, two sold in Wexford at Lakewood Ranch, and eight at the Harborage for a total volume of $6,531,231, with an average sales price of $362,846 per home, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (September 18, 2006 Business Weekly).
Neal's take on the housing situation was atypical of the gloom that many builders have talked about .
I say that the real reason that Pat Neal's results exceed other builders' is that he knows what the consumer likes, his products (homes) please the eye and, most of all, he stays in a price range that is close to affordable.
Neal Communities is one of the largest privately owned building and development companies in Southwest Florida.
Riffing off a recent blog written by Harold Bubil, the popular real-estate editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, I see many indications that there’s a strong pulse in the Sarasota area real-estate market. Bubil cited Bob Steiner, president of Kelly Equipment in St. Pete who said, after a slowdown, he’s getting more inquiries for cranes so the condominium market may be reviving in Florida.
Remember when we called the construction crane the mascot of Sarasota?
I do open houses several days a week for my property listings and I admit that summer has been slower than ever. Some days I would catch up on a week of Wall Street Journal issues! And my cell phone was pretty dead, too.... I’m glad to say that recently I’m seeing more guests drop by open houses and my cell phone traffic is picking up as well. While the prospective buyers may not be as plentiful as during the past season, they seem more serious about their searches. Fewer folks are looking for decorating ideas and more are looking for property to buy.
I recently returned from Europe with even more enthusiasm for the Sarasota area. No doubt I speak for most people who are fortunate to live in this paradisical region of Florida when I say that there's no place like home when home is on Florida's cultural coast with its world-class beaches and amenities.
Certainly as more people become aware of Sarasota's natural beauty, they will relocate here. I think that these newcomers will help those of us who arrived a little earlier to find better ways to meet the challenges of our growing community.
(941) 232-3001 •••
Every sale Louis Wery makes reflects his commitment to finding the best possible property for his buyers and achieving the highest possible price for his sellers. He is a member of the International Presidents Elite Society, a designation ranking him among the top 4% of all Coldwell Banker International agents worldwide. Louis speaks five languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian).
