$1 Million - Champagne Wishes & Caviar Dreams? Look What It Can Get Today!

When we relocated to the Tampa Bay area from Atlanta in 2002, we were at the early stage of the amazing journey that would take hold of property value along the beaches of Tampa Bay! At that time, there was no such thing as a condo for a million dollars. That was a price threshold that no one dared to break through. We had listings in the $900,000 range that sat on the market for months... no one was even easily stepping up to that amount.

Then, in late 2004, two things seemed to happen at once. The $1 million threshold was broken through with a vengence AND all of the sudden there were builder's cranes on every corner. Driving down Gulf Boulevard, we often laughed that the new state bird of Florida was the crane! Developers were rushing to create slick promotional packages for new developments and buyers were lined up to take advantage of the early entry deals. It was then that the idea of "flipping" took hold and sometimes a property could be sold and resold several times before it was even built! The buyer that finally closed on the unit upon completion might have paid substantially more than his next door neighbor who was an original buyer.

Over 1000 people were moving to Florida a day, and property values were moving up at such a rate that investors were flocking to buy multiple properties. Add to that the interest only low rate mortgages and 'drive by' appraisals and quickly people got in over their heads... literally without knowing it. In 2006, you could not find any new property on water for under $700,000! And there seemed an endless appetite for those properties at any price. Yet underlying this euphoria was a stream of devastating hurricanes that sent a shock wave through those considering living along the coastline. Simultaneously, property insurance skyrocketed as did property tax. Now those carrying costs grew! Density laws were forcing larger and larger residences and price points continued to climb... $2 million, $3 million. Where was the ceiling?

By the beginning of 2007, the dam was bursting! New complexes that could see the writing on the wall were rushing to get their units closed... and being sure their corporate entities were secure that they would not face the final liability. Complexes that were still under construction found that many of their buyers elected to 'walk' and leave their deposits behind. In some cases, they were the lucky ones.

The buildings built after 2004 all fell under the newer, stronger building codes and after 2005, almost all new construction was block construction rather than frame. The point is that going forward there will be very little inventory that was built in 2008 or 2009... no one was building any more. The savvy buyer today will look for waterfront buildings built in 2005-2007 at 30-40% off their original appraised values!

The Purtee Team knows which buildings should be considered (and which ones have issues)... and can help determine the best opportunity within those buildings. Contact us today to learn more! www.floridagulfproperty.com

High Speed Rail - Impact On Tampa Bay!

As part of the $787 billion federal stimulus plan to generate jobs, The Federal Rail Administration (FRA) has been given an allocation of $8 billion to distribute to states through competitive grants for high-speed intercity passenger rail programs. The first round of applications were due for funding for engineering, construction and program development projects on August 24th. This Friday, October 2nd, marks the deadline for the second round of applications which focus on the actual corridor program.
40 states will file detailed high-speed rail applications with the FRA and in December President Obama will announce which states will be granted funds from the stimulus plan. An additional $5 billion could be allocated to 10 high-speed corridors nationwide. According to the Tampa Tribune, Florida is seeking $2.5 billion and is a leading contender. See full article.

"If Florida gets the $2.5 billion it seeks, it will represent a stunning reversal of political fortunes - after 25 years of promise and setbacks - that will provide thousands of new jobs as early as 2011, when construction on the 95-mile Tampa-Orlando segment could begin. The Florida funding request also covers planning an Orlando-Miami segment that could complete a 361-mile high-speed rail corridor between Tampa and South Florida in 2017."

The advantages that Florida has include the fact that the environmental plans for the Tampa - Orlando corridor are complete, unlike other U.S. corridors. Florida is the ONLY state that has acquired a high-speed rail right of way via the Interstate 4 median, estimated to be worth more than $100 billion!!!

Key Facts:
Speed: Up to 150mph.
Travel Time: Tampa to Walt Disney World - 42 minutes; Tampa to Orlando International airport - 64 minutes.
Annual Ridership: 2.8 - 3.2 million passengers, with trains making 14-22 round trips daily.

Think about the impact of what this would mean to Florida, Tampa Bay and relocation!
Why Tampa Bay? Check out our website: www.floridagulfproperty.com

Remodeling A Home Can Be "Oh So Sweet" or Bittersweet

In this current time of real estate challenge, many are taking on remodeling their homes for two primary reasons: 1) To make it more attractive to compete when selling it; or 2) Deciding to stay put and make the current home more desirable instead of buying a new home.

The problem arises when the small, seemingly manageable project, turns into an expensive nightmare. This came home to us recently when my daughter and son-in-law decided to paint their living room. Easy task, right? Not so much... the contractor who was hired painted OVER the wallpaper after telling them he was a professional and it would not be a problem. Well, as the paper got wet it began to bubble up and the result was a fiasco! So the paper gets pealed off and the imperfections of the wall begin to surface. To texture or not to texture - both paths have issues. Needless to say, the time and the money that eventually poured into this project continued to grow.

It is interesting that just yesterday I ran across an article that might have helped them so I wanted to share it with you. It basically offers 4 steps to avoiding a remodel disaster. If you are considering a remodel job, take a moment to read this article. http://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/4-steps-to-prevent-a-remodel-gone-wrong-1.aspx

• Research before the job starts
• Document everything
• Raise concerns immediately
• Escalate if necessary

As realtors (and homeowners) ourselves, we understand the key remodel jobs that improve the home value. We actually have two places on our website regarding "Preparing Your Home For Sale". There is some good information there, and we are here to help, too! www.floridagulfproperty.com

In Depth Real Estate... And Travel Too?

Florida, and especially the Tampa Bay area, is such a favorite destination for both visiting as well as relocation. The rental properties we have access to, for both corporate and seasonal, are available for review right from our website home page http://www.floridagulfproperty.com/

With so many people considering the area, it made sense to combine a direct travel link right to our website. It is customized for us and is highly price competitive! It makes such a good resource for adding a rental car or booking a flight. We actually have clients who have bookmarked our travel page and use it exclusively for their travel! As you learn more about The PURTEE Team, you will find us constantly seeking ways to make our client's real estate transaction a great experience. We like going beyond their expectations!

Don't get me wrong... we are not sitting at a travel desk like our friend in the cartoon. But we have linked up to YTB which gets its feeds directly from Travelocity, but with more bells and whistles... and with their total support and guaranty. Try it out on your next trip - Click Purtee Team Travel

So relax, we have you covered on your travel and your rental to enjoy while you are here. And perhaps when you see how great it is to be in our area, you will want to find a place of your own.

A member of The PURTEE Team is standing by to help.

Lenders & Short Sales - Time Versus Money?

Since The PURTEE Team represents both buyers and sellers in this trying market, we see the frustration that can arise from a pending short sale transaction. So many banks and a variety of lending sources are back logged with the unprecedented number of foreclosures and pre-foreclosures. It is the pre-foreclosures, or 'short sales' that we are discussing today.

If a property owner has found himself unable to keep up with his mortgage due to economic hardship, or is facing foreclosure, a short sale might be an answer to lessen the blow to his credit and decrease the debt owed on his mortgage. Just because the property has devalued and may now have a market value that is LESS than the mortgage balance not NOT mean that owner automatically qualifies for a short sale.

A property owner has paperwork to fill out (just like when he had to originally qualify for that loan) to literally justify that he can no longer afford to pay to live there. For owners simply wanting to "get out from under" on a certain property, a short sale takes on a different meaning. In this case, the owner takes the loss and has to make up any deficit or shortfall in his mortgage payoff when selling his property... resulting in the owner bringing cash to the closing table.

But let's take the owner who does qualify for a short sale... from Lender to Lender and Transaction to Transaction, the situation changes which can leave both Buyers and Sellers with a sense of frustration.

The various banks and lenders have stacks and stacks of pending transactions that would qualify as a short sale. This basically means that any bank approval of a short sale offer means a loss for the bank, obviously not something they are eager to do. In certain circumstances, the lender may negotiate a payoff with the owner to absorb a part of that shortfall. Here is where being involved in a short sale transaction requires a huge amount of patience. Even at that, things don't always go as planned. Earlier this year, we worked diligently with an owner to try to get a short sale through the lender. In this case, we represented both the buyer and seller. Our buyer had made a reasonable offer and we were trying to get it through the system. What we found was that files were closed without notifying us, negotiators changed and the rules for what they needed with them. The buyer actually increased his bid twice to what was outlined as the number the bank had to have. The first time went nowhere and the second took a full 4 weeks longer to get approved! Although it was grueling, the closing actually took place!

Another short sale had a full price all cash offer at $110,000 and the lender came back and said they needed $4000 more to close. The buyer refused to budge over the full asking price which was justified by the comparable market analysis. At this point, the buyer walked and the lender foreclosed on the property. Want to guess what happened??? The lender paid $45,000 to do the foreclosure and had to eventually bring the property back on the market at $25,000 less than the offer they had in hand!

In the last month, we represented a buyer who had a bid on a short sale property of $915,000 and waited 3 months to get an answer from the bank. He finally brought his offer up to $950,000 and stood firm. Unfortunately, the bank stood firm at $980,000 and wouldn't budge. Now the buyer has lost interest and moved on... leaving the poor owner and lender with no offer at all! Over $30,000. So the bank is facing foreclosing and the possibility of bringing it back on the market at an even lower price!

TIME OR MONEY? One of the great challenges we face is dealing with these lenders that are slow to respond and don't jump at a reasonable offer. Currently, we have several short sales that are in various stages of trying to get bank approval for a viable offer. Our advise to both buyers and sellers... if you don't have the patience to wait it out, don't bid on a short sale. However, if you do and succeed in getting the offer through, it is well worth the wait!

Learn More About Short Sales and Pre-Foreclosures In The Tampa Bay Area

Featured Listings Are Only The Beginning!

As the use of our website (http://www.floridagulfproperty.com/ ) increases... with all of its tools from Free Reports to Daily Real Estate News to Rentals to lots and lots of Community Information... it is easy to understand why our Hot Deals Page and Featured Listings are reviewed most often. The thing that can be overlooked is that these are our client listings, not a selection from the whole market area.

Our listings continue to change, or sell. We keep you up to date with each of them, and move a property to the Hot Deals page when it becomes a pre-foreclosure, short sale or has a particularly motivated Seller. However, we know the market very well and know of deals that might be listed by other agents. We have total access to the entire Tampa Bay real estate market. As part of The Purtee Team, we are constantly searching for clients and keeping up with those special gems of properties that we know are available at an incredible value! For example, we had a client who wanted a condo in a certain new building in Clearwater Beach - but he did not want to pay over $400,000. Condos in that building sold up to the high $700,000's! Through mailings and keeping a close watch on the building, we actually were able to get two clients a purchase in there for just under $400,000. They are thrilled and have made a great purchase!

Refer back to the Exclusive Buyer Program. It really does work and can be an amazing tool in finding just the right property. There is not fee to get this service.

Getting Meaning From The Statistics

As realtors in the Tampa Bay area, we find it critical in today's market to keep a close eye on the statistics. The PURTEE Team has just posted August stats on our website and they are available here: August 2009 Tampa Bay Real Estate Statistics. There is an abundance of information to review and we plan to start posting the month end statistics as soon as they are out. In the meantime, I pulled some additional information worth noting...

Strictly along the beaches I did a comparison of the last 30 days (Aug. 21 - Sept. 21) over the last 4 years.

In 2006, when real estate in this area was at its peak, there were 62 properties sold. Of those sales, the average list price was $720,036 and selling price was $671,492 or 94% of asking price. This represented an average selling price of $425/sq ft.

By 2007, things had shifted. There were 65 properties sold; average list price of $691,364 and selling price of $619,586 or 91% of asking price and average selling price of $360/sq ft.

Well... 2008 had more in store. There were 74 properties sold; but the average list price was now $641,834 and selling price of $563,768 or 90% of asking price and average selling price of $299/sq ft.

So, want to hazzard a guess about this year and this past month's statistics? For 2009, 92 properties have sold. Would you like to know why? How about an average list price of $441,588 and selling price of $394,755 again at 91% of asking price and average selling price of $239/sq ft!!!

Now does this seem like an incentive to take advantage of sales at over 40% off their 2006 high? We are watching closely... average properties sold, average selling price and ratio to list price, as well as the selling price per square foot. If you are watching this market as well to know when to make a purchase, keep up with the news that we offer.