Real Estate Information

If you are need a second home for your retirement, take a look at the Palm Harbor and Dunedin communities in Florida.  There is lots to do, from restaurants to cultural events to outdoor festivals and crafts fairs, to shopping and of course the beaches with fishing and other water activities, and baseball's spring training.  Palm Harbor and Dunedin are on the Gulf Coast of Florida.  Prices are more affordable here than they have been for years, and possibly for years to come.  Interest rates are at or near record lows.  There are several neighborhoods for 55+ living and all offer great lifestyles.

During the peak season, winter, there is something happening nearly every weekend.  Coming in March is the Citrus Festival in Palm Harbor.  This is in Old Palm Harbor from March 18-21.  There will be carnival rides, games, shows with music for all tastes, and naturally lots of FOOD.  Dunedin has a regular schedule of street festivals, with food, music, and crafts.  The Dunedin marina is right across from Main Street with scenic views of Honeymoon and Caladesi Islands, along with spectacular Florida sunsets.

Among the best places to get a great cup of fresh brewed coffee is the Old Town Cafe in Old Palm Harbor.  For terrific ice cream, you have to visit Strachans Ice Cream Shop in downtown Dunedin.

Now that the weather is warming, the fishing will be excellent.  Kingfish are about ready to start the spring migration.  If you like hearing a reel scream as line is stripped off, this is a wonderful gamefish.

Did I mention baseball?  Spring training has the Yankees, Phillies, and Blue Jays all within a very short drive.  See your favorite big league ballplayers in a different setting in intimate ballparks.

If you are retired, or soon to be retired, or just want a second home in the Palm Harbor and Dunedin area in Florida, you need to check it out.  Whether you are interested in fishing, the beaches, shoppinng, spring training baseball, street festivals or simply living in a 55+ community, come on down.  The weather is fine, especially in February and March!!  It feels wonderful to sit in the stands, soak in the sun, munch on a ballpark hot dog and watch your favorite team get ready for summer.

Baywood Village in Palm Harbor, FL is a quiet, waterfront community that is one of the best kept secrets in  north Pinellas County.  The homes on the canal system have direct access to the Gulf of Mexico and most have docks with boat lifts right out the back door, although in Baywood Village, the dockside is considered the front door.  There is a mix of older homes and newly built homes - with all the upgrades one would expect in a waterfront community.

Of course the fishing in the Gulf of Mexico is excellent, only minutes from your dock.  Just a mile or two away from Baywood Village are Anclote Key and Three Rooker Bar, both boating destinations for the community, whether for a day trip at the beach, a weekend for fishing and partying, or for the outstanding fishing in the flats surrounding these islands.  Also, just a short ride by either car or boat is Howard Park in Tarpon Springs, just north of Palm Harbor.  Howard Park has wonderful beach and picnic facilities and is a very popular destination all year round.

Baywood Village is also a short drive from historic downtown Palm Harbor.  There are wonderful restaurants, such as the Thirsty Marlin, Peggy O'Neills Irish Eatery, and the Old Town Cafe which serves absolutely excellent coffee, coffee specialties and desserts.  Not to mention great lunches.

Palm Harbor also has excellent schools, with the jewel being Palm Harbor University High School.

One of the best features of living in Baywood Village is that it is still an affordable waterfront community.  And in the current real estate market, Baywood Village in Palm Harbor is a desirable and affordable place to live. 

Check it out.  The fish are waiting for you - right outside your "front" door.

Bay Arbor in Oldsmar Florida is a gated community that takes you from the bustle of the busy life to the country, just by passing through the gate.  There are several ponds in the community, with lots of deer and otters and other wildlife.  Get the feeling of being in the country and still be just minutes from Tampa International Airport, shopping, parks and recreation, excellent restaurants and those casual meeting places for a cup of coffe and freshly baked pastry.

Bay Arbor is deed restricted, wonderfully landscaped, with streetlamps, a community pool, volley ball court and a very involved board of directors.  Tampa International Airport is less than a thirty minute drive from Olsdmar.  There are many cul de sacs in Bay Arbor so that there is very little traffic on the community streets.

Oldsmar has terrific parks with festivals, fishing piers, playgrounds and lots of other activities, including Oldsmar Days in the spring.  The city is on upper Tampa Bay with all the marine activities that come with such a wonderful natural resource.

Come see Bay Arbor in Oldsmar, Florida.  Enjoy the feeling of being in the country yet still be very close to all the action of living in a thriving community with parks, recreation, fine shopping and the Tampa Bay lifestyle.

Has the Pinellas County real estate market stabilized?  That depends on how you interpret the information.  Although these numbers are for Pinellas County, they also apply to the Palm Harbor real estate and the Dunedin real estate markets as well, since these make up a significant part of Pinellas County real estate.

In November 2009, 28% of the houses sold in Pinellas County were distressed properties.  In December, 31% of the houses sold were distressed properties and in January 2010, 40% of the houses sold were distressed properties.  An eye popping percentage of distressed properties make up the pending sales for November, December and January.  In November, 68% of all pending sales were distressed, in December it was 72% and January 69% of ALL pending sales were distressed properties.

Pricing is also being impacted by distressed properties in the Pinellas County real estate market.  In November, the median price for a bank owned house was $85,500 while the pre-foreclosure price was $140,000 and the non-distressed price was $141,000.  For December the bank owned median prices were $74,600 vs. pre-foreclosure at $128,000 and non-distressed houses at $150,000.  And in January, the median bank owned prices were $84,000 while the pre-foreclosure prices were $130,000 and the non-distressed prices were $135,000.  Thus, the numbers show that the disparity between pre-foreclosure and non-distressed house prices is narrowing monthly.  This is partly because the banks want short sales to be at or very near to market value.  The spread between bank owned and other prices is because the bank owned houses are generally in worse condition and the bank has determined what it needs to get out of the deal, with no negotiation. 

The advantage to a bank owned sale is that it can happen quickly.  A short sale can take months.  Non-distressed properties tend to be in better condition and are relatively quick to close - thus can maintain a higher value.  This is changing because so much of the Pinellas County real estate market comprises of distressed properties that these become the market.  The number of houses being sold is on the rise, in the Palm Harbor and Dunedin real estate markets.  At the same time, the prices are at best flat or still going down.  Thus, the Pinellas County real estate market may be nearly stabilized, but still has a little way to go before anyone will step up and state the bottom has been hit and we are recovering.

To learn more about distressed properties, visit www.SunBayStopsForeclosure.com.  This site goes into details about short sales, foreclosure, deed in lieu and other distressed property issues.

New EPA rules prohibit the manufacture of air conditioning equipment that uses Freon® or refrigerant R22 after January 1, 2010.  Equipment that does use this can continue to be repaired until parts and supplies are exhausted.  After that, new equipment that uses Puron® or refrigerant 410A must be introduced.  This is part of Title VI of the Clean Air Act.

This change can have a great impact on Clearwater real estate market, since the Florida summers get warm and people use lots of air conditioning.

So if you are in the Clearwater real estate market and use air conditioning, take a look at your equipment and if necessary, have it serviced.  When the refrigerants R22, or Freon® is gone, the switch to 410A, or Puron® will be mandatory, and may be costly.

For Sale by Owner.  This sign shows up everywhere, even in the Palm Harbor, Dunedin and Tarpon Springs areas.  Homeowners believe that they are saving a lot of money and getting lots of market exposure when they get some realtor to list their house in the MLS and then never hear from that agent again.  They get no real support, no representation, no marketing help, no negotiation knowledge and they get to take all the phone calls for showing their homes, whether the "buyer" is qualified or not.

Licensed realtors screen out the unqualified buyers, they handle the phone calls and the showings, they do the marketing and the negotiation to protect the seller with the laws and other business realities involved in such a large business transaction.  Realtors market their listed houses to more than just the MLS and depending on their brokerage, may have a very significant internet presence beyond that available to the MLS.  The realtor knows the market value of a house, not the personal "memories value" of a house, and thus can negotiate accordingly with a buyer.

A key bit of information that fsbo's often overlook is the commission factor.  They think that buy having their house as a For Sale by Owner, or listed in the MLS by an agent they will never see again, that they are saving a ton of cash.  Well, to attract a buyer they pay a commission to the buyer's agent, which is usually about half of the full commission.  Then, either the buyer's agent has to take on the workload of what should be the seller's agent, or the seller has to do the work, or hire an attorney.  If the buyer's agent takes on this workload, the interest of the seller is coincidental, because the buyer's agent is working for the buyer's best interest.  By the time all is said and done, including aggravation, the savings is non-existant.  In fact, when a licensed real estate agent represents the seller and deals with the buyer's agent, according to the National Association of Realtors, the seller realizes about 13% more NET profit than relying on For Sale by Owner only.

This is typical nationally, and is repeated in the Palm Harbor, Dunedin and Tarpon Springs area.  Do yourself a favor, list your home with a licensed realtor.

As reported in the Los Angeles Times recently, the Federal Housing Administration, or FHA, is making changes that will cost the consumer a few more dollars to buy a home.  The FHA needs to make these changes, or increases, to provide a buffer for it's low cash reserves.

Among the coming changes are:  increased mortgage insurance premiums, higher FICO credit scores and down payments and a reduction in allowable seller concessions to 3% from the current 6%.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan outlined the FHA proposals in December.  The higher down payment requirement will now require a minimum FICO credit score of 580 instead of the present 500 for a 3.5% down payment on a new home.  Home buyers with FICO scores below 580 would have to have a 10% down payment.  This may not have much impact since most lending institutions already require a FICO score of at least 620. 

Also, the FHA wants to increase the mortgage insurance premium to 2.25% of the loan amount, up from 1.75%.

Is an offer to buy a house an insult even if it is very low??  Of course not.  An offer indicates that the buyer at least has more interest than everyone else who has looked at a house and kept on shopping.  Owners shouldn't get insulted about low offers, they should look at a low offer as the beginning of a negotiation.  All business deals start somewhere and often the two sides are very far apart, in the beginning.  This happens very often in the Tampa Bay real estate market, as well as everywhere else where real estate transactions happen.

The art of negotiating a real estate transaction is the heart of the deal.  The realtor has to present the offers to the seller, and then present the counter-offer, if there is one, to the buyer's agent.  Seller's who get insulted at a low offer, make the deal personal and refuse to negotiate cause one unavoidable result.  They are left holding on to a house that is not going to sell to that buyer - ever.  The seller who may not like the first low offer, and makes a counter-offer, is the seller who will in time sell the house to that buyer, for more than the original offer.  This is a win-win situation and is the goal of all business deals.

When a seller refuses to negotiate when they get a low offer they are simply making a higher offer than that buyer did and "buy" the house, in a manner of speaking.  Since the potential buyer couldn't buy that house, they moved on.  The owner has in essence, outbid that buyer, and ends up continuing to own the house. 

It is important to remember that many times the first, "low" offer came from a serious buyer who took a shot that the seller would be desperate and accept a known low offer.  The buyer in this case fully expected the seller to come back with a counter offer and start a negotiation.  No counter offer equals no deal.

The long and short of it, no matter how "low" an offer is, it is well worthwhile to come back with a counter offer.  This will tell the seller if the buyer is serious and willing to negotiate, or not.  If a buyer makes only very low offers, and will not accept a counter offer, nothing is lost by the seller.  In the Tampa Bay real estate market, this happens quite often because of the number of foreclosures and short sales.  If the seller refuses to negotiate, there can never be a successful negotiation that results in a sale.  Most sellers in the Tampa Bay market will respond with a counter offer and this leads to more successful transactions.

Federal Short Sale Guidance Out

On November 30, 2009, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA), which provides financial incentives to servicers, borrowers, and investors for a closed short sale or a deed-in-lieu (DIL). The guidelines provide $1,500 in federal funds to help borrowers relocate, $1,000 to help servicers offset their  processing costs, and up to $1,000 to investors to secure release of subordinate liens. The guidelines prohibit a reduction in agreed-upon commissions (if they're not more than 6 percent) and take effect April 5, 2010, but can be implemented by servicers at any time.

If you would like more information on the HAFA program, send us an email and we'll respond within 24 hours with additional details.  Doug@SunBayAssociates.com - request HAFA guidelines.

The ideas below come from Realtor magazine and help homeowners on a limited budget how to spruce up their homes for very little money, and even get a great return on the investment.  These can be especially helpful when selling a home.

"Everybody is hot for granite kitchen countertops, but that can be a $5,000 upgrade," says John Wilder, a general contractor and owner of Fence and Deck Doctor in New Castle, Ind. "Instead, home owners can put in 12-inch granite tiles for about $300 in materials and get very high impact for little money.

"With a dated bathroom, I recommend putting in a new medicine cabinet for $100 to $150, light fixtures for about $100, a faucet for $50 to $75, and a vanity for $200 to $300," says Wilder. "And instead of replacing the tile, the existing grout can be lightly scraped and regrouted, which leaves a haze that can be buffed out and will make the tile look brand new. Also install glass shower doors. A French door adds a lot of panache and elegance for $250, and people will notice the door, not the tile. With all that, you’ve done a bathroom remodel for $1,000 to $2,000."

Thus, you can see that it is possible to make a high impact visual change for not really a lot of money.