What many people don't yet understand is that as of now, the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 will expire on Dec. 31, 2012. What this means to the homeowner in a short sale situation is that if they do a short sale that closes after Dec. 31, 2012, under current law, the forgiven debt may be taxed as income. Presently, if an owner has done a short sale for their primary home, the Mortgage Debt Relief Act has allowed taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt, which means the forgiven debt is not taxed.

Before the Mortgage Debt Relief Act was put in place, the IRS considered forgiven debt as taxable income. Since 2007 and thru 2012, forgiven mortgage debt, for a primary residence, has not been considered taxable. Here is the issue, if Congress does not extend the Mortgage Debt Relief Act, or amend it in some meaningful way, any debt forgiven through debt restructuring, or short sale, may be considered as taxable income. An example would be a homeowner is forgiven $50,000 in mortgage debt when their home sells, in February of 2013. That $50,000 could be added directly to the homeowner's taxable income!

Now, if you are a homeowner who is considering a short sale, or if you feel that in the next several months you may be in a short sale situation, and if you believe that the Congress is going to agree to extend the Mortgage Debt Relief Act to 2013 or beyond, relax. If you have a hard time believing that Congress can agree what time it is, then you should be concerned.

Short sales happen for numerous reasons, mostly as a fact of life that our real estate market has suffered enormously in this recession. In the Tampa Bay area, almost every home purchased between 2004 and 2010 has a lower market value today than when it was purchased. Reasons to sell vary widely, from job transfer, to the kids have all moved out, to a death, a divorce, job loss or whatever else happens in life.

Before you do anything, consult your financial advisor and your attorney about the situation with your mortgage. Find a professional Realtor who is expert in short sales to guide you through the complex short sale process. Because of the backlog of short sales the banks are already processing, a short sale can take many months. So if you are considering selling your home and may be in a short sale situation, don't wait. Act now. You just might not have the tax relief next year that is available today.

Best of all worlds with a Spring Hill address but Pasco Co. location adjacent to the Suncoast Pkwy off SR.52 for a quick commute to Tampa, airport & beaches. Lots of room to grow in this gracious & spacious 5 Bedroom plus huge Bonus Room, 3 full bath & 3 car Garage Pool home with Golf Course frontage! This 2005 home is in the desirable gated Golf & Country Club Community of Quail Ridge and overlooks the 7th Fairway in an area of estate homes. Enter the double beveled glass doors into the living room with soaring 2 story cathedral ceilings, graceful arches, plant shelves & formal dining area. The large kitchen has lots of cabinet storage & Corian counters, a snack bar, step in pantry closet & breakfast nook adjacent to a roomy family room overlooking pool. A bedroom & full bath are conveniently located on the first floor, perfect for an in-law, exercise or office suite. The outdoors beckon with a covered patio & screened pool enclosure overlooking the fairway, cart path & green area beyond. Upstairs has 4 bedrooms including a large master suite with double vanity, soaking tub & separate shower. Huge Bonus Room with window seat is large enough for game, media or play room. This home has it all, curb appeal, unbreakable lexan side windows for the rare errant golf ball, waterfall pool feature, sprinklers, location! Use of country club pool is included in quarterly HOA fee. Full Country Club Membership is a low $30/month additional fee. Membership includes golf, pro-Shop, Tennis, Fitness Center, Restaurant.

This bungalow in Oldsmar, on a corner lot, is an easy walk to the Park and the Bay.  Enjoy the sunsets on the large screened in porch.  Have dinner in the dining room off the kitchen, then head outside to enjoy the large yard with old oak trees.  Newer tilt windows in the dining room make cleaning a breeze.  The great room has plenty of room for entertaining.  This home has been well taken care of by the current owners.  It is move in ready.  Downtown Oldsmar is just a short drive.  Tampa airport is only a 20 minute drive.  The Gulf beaches are just a short drive. The central location is wonderful for almost everything. No busy streets.  Enjoy the benefits of living in Oldsmar.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference."

- Robert Frost

FORGET THE LEADER!

On the playground of any school, and on any day, you can witness examples of children playing "follow the leader." One hops, skips, or jumps, and all the others follow. As adults, however, many of those children play a variation of that game - called "follow the follower."

On the job, they look around, see how someone else is doing their work, and duplicate the effort. What they don't realize is that their fellow employee is also watching someone else. A circular game of "follow the follower" evolves, resulting in a mediocre work force. The same can be true in marriages, education, hobbies, and sports.

Consider the story of a telephone operator in a small town. Every day she received a call from a gentleman asking for the correct time. Finally, one day, she asked the mystery caller who he was and why he called every day. His answer? "I'm the one who blows the whistle at the factory each day at noon. I like to be right on time!" The operator laughed and then responded, "Here at the telephone company, we set our watches and clocks by the noon whistle at the factory!"

Tired of playing follow the follower? Want to rejuvenate your life? Begin acting like the unique person you already are. See what everyone else is doing . . . and do something different. Strike out in the direction of your own imagination instead of theirs.

In the words of Henry David Thoreau, "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined."

Enjoy stunning views from this Lake Tarpon waterfront home. This is a two story home, with lake access from the boathouse and private dock and boat launch on 112' of lakefront. 4 bedrooms, including a large private in-law suite with a complete kitchen downstairs. Relax on the first or second level screened porch and enjoy the lakeview. There is an 80' dock, boathouse and private launching pad for your boat. Enjoy the luxury of an oversized 3 car garage. Two propane fireplaces for cozy evenings. Intercom, central vacuum, security system, crown molding throughout this special builder home. Large eat-in kitchen on the upper entry level, with newer range and microwave, and a breakfast nook. Dining room is just off the kitchen. Spacious property has about 40 citrus trees and 2 starfruit trees. Absolutely beautiful views of Lake Tarpon. New high efficiency A/C in 2005 has 3 zones. New RO system in 2005. Drive has plenty of room for motor home or boat parking. Circular drive at entrance to garage. Retractable stairs in garage to large attic. Hot water tank new in 2007. Downstairs in-law suite has full kitchen, and spacious game room, 43x20. Extra benefits include 15 minutes to Howard Park, 5 minutes to Anderson Park, 5 minutes to golf and tennis. This is a very rare property and has been lovingly maintained. See this diamond on the Lake.  Loaded with wonderful extras. It even has an ozone water system in the main kitchen. Proposed housing development on adjacent property. Owner is a licensed real estate agent.

In our area, one brave Realtor, Liane Jamason, sent an email to senior bank executives about a short sale that had been stuck on hold for a year.  It got done.  Her action made the front page of the St. Pete Times today.

Why can the banks' "negotiators" send routine requests to the sellers every 30 days for bank statements, pay slips, etc. and not take the time to look at the information so they can make a decision.  If they are looking at hundreds or thousands of short sales everyday, they can tell quickly that a seller is in dire financial straits or not.  Many banks still refuse to consider a short sale until the homeowner is delinquent on the mortgage.  If a homewoner is foregoing food, medical care, insurance, general lifestyle and still making payments, why cannot a bank accept the facts and review the short sale possiblity?

We cannot ever get the housing industry out of the doldrums until the banks actually take action on short sales to help the millions of families who are barely hanging on, the realtors who can't make a living because it often takes a year to complete a short sale, the contractors can't build new houses or hire people, because there are so many undervalued houses lingering on the market, and on and on.  Then,  the banks stall for months, and after doing a BPO, come back and say they want 30% more than the contract price of the house, which was the market value six or nine months ago.  This kills the deal, the house has to go back on the market and the stupid cycle starts all over again.

Who is going to fix this??  Realtors have invested time and money to gain expertise in short sales, including the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation.  We know how to present a complete short sale package to the banks.  Our sellers know what to expect and gather the requisite documentation.  The buyers are told to expect the process to take months.  Yet the banks continue to drag their feet, "reviewing" the same files over and over and over and over, until the seller is frustrated, the buyers walk away in utter frustration, Realtors lose months of time and energy and the bank loses even more money on the property because no one is capable of making the right decisions to get that bad debt off the books.  All it takes is for someone to do the right thing, is that so hard?

Can someone please offer a solution!?

"When you come to the edge of all the light you have known, and are about to step out into darkness, Faith is knowing one of two things will happen - there will be something to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly."

- "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by Richard Bach

LEARNING TO FLY!

In the 1930's and 1940's, there were numerous women's magazines.  Ladies' Home Journal and Good Housekeeping were two of them.  They showed women in the role of the day - housekeeping.  They suggested the number of times per week the home should be dusted, scrubbed, organized, and otherwise kept spotless.  They suggested ways to look good when the "man of the house" arrived home from a tough day at the office.  In short, those magazines and their publishers set up an impossible regimen of expectations for their readers.

Many of us know women who have spent much of their lives trying to live up to the model housewife role prescribed by those magazines.  The trouble is, many of them have (or had) dreams of their own, like wanting to write, or to travel, or to participate in the freedoms only men then enjoyed.

Today, any of us can achieve our dreams.  All too often, however, we are still denied our destiny by the expectations set by others.  We are bombarded by radio, TV, CD, DVD, and WWW messages that insist we follow their example, their guidelines, or their models.  We allow our dreams to wither and die - waiting in line for their turn to blossom - never receiving the water of encouragement needed to grow and bloom.

What about your dreams?  Need some encouragement to help you "think outside the box?"  Begin by spending time with others who have already achieved their dreams. Leave your nay-sayer acquaintances behind.  Read inspiring biographies.  Pick up a copy of "Think & Grow Rich" or "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People."  If you haven't yet learned to "fly," pick up "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" or "Illusions" by Richard Bach.

As Jonathan says in the book, "Don't believe what your eyes are telling you.  All they show is limitation.  Look with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you'll see the way to fly!"  

The average days on market was 269.  Days on market is how long it takes from the time a house is listed until it goes under contract.  The shorter the days on market, the more accepting the market place is to the listed price.

In Crescent Oaks Country Club, of the five sold houses, one was on the market for only 35 days.  At the other end of the spectrum was a home that sold for $345,000 and had 623 days on market.

There are currently 12 houses with active listings in Crescent Oaks Country Club.  The prices range from a high of $873,233 for a 5,783 square foot pool home, to a low of $199,500 for a 3 bedroom villa.  The villa only has 5 days on market.  The higher priced home has 951 days on market.

If you would like to follow listings in Crescent Oaks Country Club, visit Sun Bay Associates search site, enter the name of whichever subdivision you want to search, and get the info you want.

The very best news is that the Crescent Oaks Country Club has re-opened the golf course.  So take a look at the opportunity to own a home in a golfing community, with a newly opened and excellent golf course.

Golf carts can go to the golf course from home.  Another bonus to Highland Lakes, Palm Harbor is access to Lake Tarpon.  The community has a secure boat storage area, a launch ramp, and clubhouse near the ramp.  Take advantage of Lake Tarpon and the launch ramp, cruise the lake, go to lunch at the restaurant on the lake, then return to your home and relax.

We have a bran new listing in Highland Lakes, Palm Harbor.  It is in Greenview Villas.  To see more about this great listing on 104-D Tartan Drive, visit this link to Greenview Villas.

Check it out, there are a lot of good reasons to look at this area, especially if you want to live in a community that is vibrant and has activity for everyone.

Desirable maintenance-free end unit villa in cul-de-sac! Truly a must see villa rarely available in Greenview Villas in the 55+ Community of Highland Lakes on Lake Tarpon. New A/C system (June 2010), water heater & water softener (2006). Roof installed by association (2007). 3M window film for hurricane & UV protection. Lovingly maintained & updated.  Tranquil space with a nice view of green common area & a glimpse of golf course and pond. Short walk to community pool with no charge for guests.  4 season Lanai/Florida Room is glass enclosed and air-conditioned/heated. This adds an additional 120 sq.ft. not reflected in public records for an owner measured total of approx. 1200 sq.ft.  Home has a large eat-in kitchen with plenty of cabinets, pantry cabinet & counter space. Villa offers a split bedroom plan & lots of storage throughout.  Plenty of space in large master bedroom with 2 walk-in closets. Baths have huge linen closets. Single piece enclosures in both baths eliminates need for scrubbing tile grout. Second bedroom has a bath adjacent for suite-like privacy for guests. 12+ foot Cathedral ceilings in the great room & light from extra windows that the end unit offers make this home feel very spacious & contemporary. A private garage fits both an 8 passenger van plus a golf cart! Pull down stairs  access additional attic storage. Active community offers clubs, activities, pools, tennis, golf, boat tours of Lake Tarpon and boat to lunch at a lakefront restaurant! Enjoy the Florida lifestyle!

December 3 is the Dunedin holiday boat parade.  This favorite Olde Fashioned Christmas event starts at the Dunedin Marina and lasts from 6 - 9 pm. Come see the boats that are decorated with creative holiday lighting as they sail across the intracoastal waterway. Everyone has a great time. Also, on Dec. 3 the Dunedin Youth Group hosts the Holiday Tour of Homes.  See these beautifully decorated homes in historic Dunedin.

Then, on Dec. 4 there is a concert by the Dunedin Pipe Band in Pioneer Park at 1:30. Come listen to the bagpipes, then visit the many nearby restaurants for a bite of food or perhaps an adult beverage.

And on December 10, from 4 pm to 9 pm, there is an Olde Fashioned Christmas and Holiday Parade in downtown Dunedin. The theme is Christmas from days gone bye. There will be children's games typical of a century ago. There will be carolers, food and beverage, shops will be open to welcome those who want to remember perhaps a less commercial Christmas. And there has been in the past - SNOW!!  Right there on Main Street in Dunedin.

Not only is Dunedin a fun place to visit and find things to do, Dunedin is a wonderful community to live in. So, mark you calendar and plan to visit Dunedin for an Olde Fashioned Christmas. You will be glad you did.

The distribution of ownership can also be interesting.  Of all homes in East Lake, Palm Harbor, 73.24% are owned, 12.56% are rented and there is a vacancy rate of 14.2%.  The higher the vacancy rate, the greater difficulty there can be in selling homes.

If you would like to learn more about what is available in the area, visit our Sun Bay free home search link and find a perfect home.

For serious home buyer, the first thing to do is to be pre-approved by your lender.  That is, unless you are paying with cash.  Trying to purchase a home before being pre-approved can be very difficult.  Many times a homeowner that is trying to sell his home as a For Sale By Owner will get an offer from an unqualified buyer, think he has a deal, and often pass up on subsequent legitimate offers.  Then, when the buyer goes to apply for a mortgage, they don't qualify, can't buy the home, and the seller has lost time and possibly a buyer who could have qualified. 

A professional realtor will insist that a buyer at the very least be pre-qualified, although being pre-approved is much better.  Even when a buyer brings a realtor a pre-qualification letter, it is a very good idea to have that buyer go to a known lender for another pre-qualification letter, whether or not the buyer uses that lender.  This will confirm that the buyer can afford the house.  Pre-approval is a valuable tool to let the buyer know what price range he can afford.  If the buyer is qualified for $250,000, there is no point in looking a $500,000 houses, this will only lead to frustration.

The more information a buyer has the better the chances for a successful home purchase experience.

By the way, now is a great time to be looking for a house.  There are not as many buyers on the market right now, sellers may be willing to look at offers that don't quite come up to their hope because there is less activity.  Why wait until after the holidays when everybody and his brother will start looking again.  Take advantage of the lull and go out and find the perfect home now.  Beat the holiday crush.

So to all, have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Waterfront home, deep water dock.Party in the backyard. Fish right off the dock.  Come into the house and go right on through to the dock.  Or sit in the eat in kitchen, have a cup of coffee and look out on the water.  Plenty of space for entertaining. Pine paneling gives the warm feeling of a true Florida beach home.  There are two woodburning fireplaces inside this spacious home.Tile floors throughout the home. Roof, Air Conditioner and Water Heater installed in 2004. Great neighborhood. Plenty of space for entertaining. Large two car garage with room for workshop. Put your boat in the water and head to the Gulf for a day of fishing or water recreation. Live the Florida lifestyle.

Active With Contract. Short Sale. This home has been upgraded & is beautiful. Large kitchen has upgraded cabinets with Silestone/Granite countertops & quality appliances. Gleaming real oak hardwood floors, bright bathrooms, 3/2/1 with fenced yard.The arched entryway with lush jasmine vines and a private deck welcome you to this picture perfect home. A wood door graced with a beveled glass window previews the quality of the interior.  A gracious designer tiled entryway leads to the open and spacious great room and adjoining kitchen with large adjacent dining area.  The breakfast bar is perfect for entertaining & the gleaming hardwood floors are warm & inviting. The roomy master bedroom has a walk-in closet and ensuite shower bathroom. 2 additional bedrooms & hall bath help this home live larger than the square footage. Double French/Atrium doors lead out to a large screened & covered lanai.  The back yard is completely fenced. The roof was put on in 2001. The garage has washer/dryer hookups.  Great Palm Harbor location with quick access to US 19 and Belcher. 10 minutes from the beaches, parks, shopping mall &, St. Pete College 35 minutes to the International Airport and easy commute to Tampa. Enjoy the bike trail, Caladesi and Honeymoon Islands, great restaurants, live in the middle of this great Florida lifestyle! Truly a wonderful opportunity.

Of course, being on the Gulf of Mexico, Palm Harbor has terrific parks and water recreation.  The fishing in Palm Harbor, actually in the water off Palm Harbor, is great.  This time of year some of the fish being caught are spotted sea trout, redfish, sharks, BIG flounder, Spanish mackeral, kingfish and many more.  The boating this time of year is wonderful.  The weather is not too hot and the water is still pretty warm.  Many neighborhoods in Palm Harbor have direct access to the Gulf of Mexico, making all water recreation very convenient.  Baywood Village is one of several such neighborhoods.

Golf seems to be a great recreation for our visitors from the north.  There are numerous golf courses in Palm Harbor, for all skill levels.  We even have one of the most beautiful, and toughest golf courses in the country, right here in Palm Harbor.  It is the Innisbrook Golf Resort.  This November 11-13, Innisbrook is hosting the LPGA Legends Tour Championship.  Not only can our golfing fans enjoy their golfing recreation, they can watch some of the best golfers in the world play right here in Palm Harbor.

Palm Harbor has its own YMCA, its own library, ball fields and so very much more.  The recreational opportunities are almost limitless.  Couple all of this with the current prices in Palm Harbor real estate and it is easy to see why so many people come to Palm Harbor as snowbirds, or as full time residents.

For the past 60 days in Country Woods Palm Harbor there are two houses listed for sale.  One home on Beagle Path Way is listed for $329,900 and has 128 days on market at this price.  It is a beautiful home with a great layout for entertaining.  The other home in Country Woods Palm Harbor is on Turtle Terrace, is listed for $409,000 and has 364 days on market.  It too is a wonderful executive home and has a pool.

For the past 60 days in Autumn Woods Palm Harbor there are three houses listed for sale, one under contract and one sold.  All three listings for sale have pools.  One, priced at $799,500 has a 3 car garage, 4 bedrooms and 5,327 square feet of living space.  This house has 237 days on market.  Another listing at $389,900 is a 4 bedroom pool home with 2,850 square feet of living space and has 107 days on market.  The third listing in Autumn Woods Palm Harbor is listed for $330,420, has 2,292 square feet of living space and has only 56 days on market.

The one house under contract in Autumn Woods Palm Harbor is listed for $487,000, has a pool, 3 car gargae and 4,152 square feet of living space.  This house had a total of 712 days on market.

Finally, the one house that sold in the last 60 days in Autumn Woods is a pool home, with 2 car garage, 4 bedrooms and 4 baths, and has 4,120 square feet of living space.  This house had only 54 days on market.

So that's all for the last 60 days in Autumn Woods and Country Woods Palm Harbor real estate.  For additional information on these areas, visit our website, www.SunBayAssociates.com and click on our listings tab.  From there, you can search numerous communities and find the perfect home for you!

Happy House Hunting!!

Today there are 10 condos for sale in this 55+ community in the Dunedin real estate market.  Two of these are one bedroom condos and have 302 and 184 days on market.  This simply means that they have been listed for sale for that many days.  The prices for the 10 condos listed for sale range from $89,000 (with 316 days on market) to $209,000 with 240 days on market.  The longer a property is on the market, whether it is in Royal Stewart Arms or anywhere else, is a very good indicator in today's market that the price is too high for the buying market.

There are 2 condos under contract in Royal Stewart Arms.  Both have covered parking.  Of course all condos have ready access to Honeymoon Island state park as well as the amenities of Royal Stewart Arms, including the fishing pier, fitness center, tennis courts and more.

And in the last 60 days, 6 properties have sold in Royal Stewart Arms.  The average sale price per square foot for the three 2 bedroom/2 bath condos that sold is $109.  The sold prices for these condos were $155,000, $120,000 and $110,000.  There were three other condos that sold in Royal Stewart Arms, and these other three are one bedroom units.  The sold prices for the three one bedroom condos were $118,000, $100,000 and $92,000.

For more information on Royal Stewart Arms or other areas in Dunedin or elsewhere in the greater Tampa Bay area, visit our Sun Bay Associates web site and click on the search listings tab.

Happy House Hunting!

He truly felt that realtors have lots of time and was taken aback when I told him just a little about a typical day.  Any realtor can show a house or write a contract.  How about the hours of studying the market so that when a customer asks for the value of her house the agent can actually respond with an informed opinion, instead of relying on what the neighbor sold his house for, two years ago.  Fully understanding the real estate market, whether it is in a specific neighborhood, or a town, or an entire county, takes a lot more than just reading the local papers and taking the opinion of a reporter for gospel.  How many non-realtors actually understand market dynamics, price fluctuation in micro markets, how many houses have sold in their specific areas in the last week, month or year?  This is serious research and can take hours. Driving customers around looking at houses does take time, however it is far from the most important part of a realtor's day.

Then there is the small detail of letting a buyer write an offer that is credible.  Should the buyer take a guess at the value of a house, or rely on an educated realtor who knows the current market value of that specific house, or at least that neighborhood?  Again, there can be hours of research into responsibly representing your buyers so that no one wastes time making offers that are ridiculously low, or high, and that banks will simply not consider when it comes time for financing.  As a professional realtor, our job is to protect our clients from making huge financial mistakes.  Whether that means protecting the buyer from over paying for a property, or protecting a seller from pricing their home incorrectly, whther it is too high or too low for the market, our job is to look out for the best interests of our clients.

Getting the offer is just the beginning of the job.  There are the ongoing negotiations with the other side, getting the proper documentation in order, making sure the right inspections are done in a timely and professional manner, lining up title companies, lenders, repair people when needed, and more.  All the while this has to be done in strict compliance with the realtor code of ethics and applicable local and state laws. 

In short, I would say to my CEO friend, a professional realtor is at least as diligent in performing his/her duties as the most responsible employee who works for that CEO. 

This gorgeous waterfront property is move in ready! At the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in Gulf Harbors this 3 BR 4 Bath beauty has all you need. Large master has new bath w/separate shower, double sink, & jacuzzi tub, dressing area & walk-in closet.  The open kitchen has beautiful views overlooking the indoor pool & deep water (18') canal. The bonus room has a Built-in Queen-size Murphy bed, a full bath & huge walk-in closet. The lot is 0.28 acre w/180 feet of seawall, a floating dock & davits to store your boat out of the water & screened lanai.  Windows recently replaced, Red Oak Hardwood floors in late 2008. New carpet in sunken living room & porcelain tiles throughout. Neighborhood has 2 boat ramps, private beach & optional center w/activities.

This home may be rented for $1750 per month.

As an example, in Clearwater, FL in Pinellas County, in the $200,000 to $25,000 price range there are 86 houses for sale.  According to the statistics published by the Pinellas Realtor Organization, in this price range county wide the absorption rate is 7.5%.  This means that for Clearwater, of the 86 houses for sale, 7 will sell in the next 30 days.  If you assume that the house is priced right, one of the next best advantages is to have the house staged by a professional stager.  Some interesting statistics, from houses in the greater Tampa Bay area, show that of 9 properties that recently sold, the average days on market was 150.  Of these, 6 were not staged for over 100 or more days.  Three were listed and staged at the outset.  The three that were staged from the beginning sold in 29, 3 and 28 days.  All told, the 9 houses averaged 150+ days on market, however the time to contract after each was staged by a professional stager was 20 days on market.  Even one house that had been on the market for 9 months went under contract in 21 days after being staged.

The bottom line is price your house right for the market and then to have an almost unfair advantage, have it staged by a professional stager.