COMING SOON.

This house is coming on the market at the end of May.  Take a look at it now!!  It is a 4 bedroom home, can easily be made 5 bedroom, has a spacious  car garage, a yard with plenty of room (you could add a pool), on a cul de sac, and includes the range, microwave, dishwasher, garbage disposal, refrigerator, washer and dryer.  Just across the street is a scenic pond.

More details soon!!

According to National Association of Realtors (NAR) statistics, For Sale by Owner, or FSBO, sales accounted for 9% of home sales in 2012.  The average FSBO sale price was $174,900 compared to homes sold by professional Realtors that averaged $215,000.  Maybe this $40,100 price differential was due to location, however it is not really likely.  This means that the FSBO who sold for $174,900 did save the 6% commission, or saved $10,494.  If one follows the average transaction price of a professional Realtor, that same FSBO might have sold the house for $215,000.  Deduct the 6% commission of $12,900, the FSBO may have netted an additional $38,594 had he used a Realtor.

These are national statistics from the National Association of Realtors, not mine.

OK, so let's not even consider the difference in net.  Try this.  According to the NAR, there are other issues to consider, including:

Most Difficult Tasks for FSBO Sellers:

• Understanding and performing paperwork  . . . . . . . . .  18%
• Getting the right price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14%
• Preparing/fixing up home for sale: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11%
• Helping buyer obtain financing: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6%
• Attracting potential buyers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6%
• Selling within the planned length of time: . . . . . . . . . . . .  6%
• Having enough time to devote to all aspects of the sale . 1%

​​Other things a Realtor will ensure include:  pricing the home appropriately for the market; having a qualified buyer come to the house; and the presentation of a valid and qualified offer. A licensed Realtor will accompany the buyer, and has access to a secure lockbox on a properly listed home.  This is something that many FSBOs overlook, that the person coming into the house is both qualified and a legitimate buyer.

It really is easy to get a contract. Realtors earn their commissions in the stages after the contract: making sure all the deadlines in a contract are met, ensuring that the financing is on track, keeping the seller and the buyer updated on the progress of the transactions, making sure all the appropriate inspections are completed within the contract requirements, and much more. 

In most cases, even though there is a commission to pay, taking advantage of the knowledge and expertise of a professional Realtor will mean more money in the pocket of the homeowner when the sale is completed.

Find out what your Florida home is worth, then call a professional Realtor to get it sold.

It is a very short walk to the Pinellas Bike Trail, which of course, is a safe place for a walk since bicycles and pedestrians share the trail.  We like to walk down the trail and into downtown Dunedin.  Lots of shops, restaurants and even good pizza or ice cream shops.

There are plenty of houses for sale so if you are looking for Dunedin real estate, whether for a year 'round residence or as investment or rental property, give us a call.  The lifestyle is what attracted us to Dunedin, and the lifestyle is what will keep us here.

Back to the Dunedin Smokehouse, be sure to try the pulled pork, or the smoked chicken, or the Asian burger, or any of the freshly made desserts.  You'll keep coming back!

In the meantime, if you would like to live in a wonderful community with lots of things to do, we will be happy to help you find and buy the perfect home to suit your lifestyle.

Of course, there are lots of wonderful shops in the city, and restaurants are everywhere, and they are good!!  There are 55+ condos from less than $75,000 to higher, single family homes along the golf course, waterfront estates, and plenty of other opportunities for real estate in Dunedin.

So check it out, the lifestyle is terrific!

Then on Saturday, at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium, home of the Dunedin Blue Jays, there is a FREE giveaway of two trees for Dunedin residents.  Simply bring proof of residency, driver's license or utility bill, and get two trees in 3-gallon pots.  Then you can go home and plant the free trees in the yard of your Dunedin real estate.

And this is just another quiet weekend in Dunedin, where there is always something happening.  Of course, there is the Dunedin Causeway, with a beach, rental sailboards, and the access to Honeymoon Island, perennially one of Dr. Beach's nominees as best beach in the country.

Find out lots more about Dunedin real estate, or other communities in the area with just a click of your mouse.

Take a walk along Bayshore Blvd., stroll down Main Street and try a delicious ice cream creation at Strachan's Ice Cream store, or have a wonderful meal at any of the many restaurants in Dunedin.  Or simply enjoy the sunset at the Marina.

It is a great place to live and own real estate.

The Dunedin lifestyle allows us this privilege, of being close to work, having the Florida lifestyle in our favorite little city, enjoying fresh seafood, al fresco dining (although we'll wait for the weekend when it is a  tad warmer), watching the sunsets over Honeymoon Island, and never having to open a car door.  We can go for a healthy walk on the Pinellas Bike Trail, stroll around downtown for ice cream, or cocoa, or Tapas at Casa Tina's, or fresh catch of the day at the Dunedin Marina restaurant, or savor a unique local brew at Dunedin Brewery, and then just walk home.

The Dunedin lifestyle is what we have been looking for for years.  Now we are living it.  Quaint cottages and Craftsman homes, tree lined streets, excellent restaurants, street festivals seemingly all year round, spectacular coast sights such as Honeymoon Island and Caladesi Island with the sun setting over both, and always meeting someone we know on our walks.  It is a wonderful place to live and be.

This community, within the unincorporated borders of Palm Harbor, is currently zoned, in 2012-2014, for Sutherland Elementary School, Palm Harbor Middle School, and Palm Harbor University High School.  All are excellent schools.

Palm Harbor real estate has plenty of benefits and lifestyle advantages.  Among these are the Pinellas bike trail is just a short bike ride away and from there, access to the entire bicycle system in Pinellas County with more than 45 miles of bike trails is available.  You can easily ride to the Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs, head out to Honeymoon Island via the Dunedin Causeway arm of the bike trail, or go to the very friendly downtown Dunedin, with its specialty shops, restaurants and micro-breweries.

Here is a summary for real estate in this neighborhood.  At present, there is only one home for sale in Indian Trails and it is listed for $285,000.  There are three houses currently under contract and in the last 90 days, four homes sold.  The average sale price in Indian Trails, Palm Harbor was $224,425 and the average square footage was 2,738.  Average days on market for these 4 sold homes was only 79 days.

The highest sale price in the last 90 days was $275,000 at a price per square foot of $98.80.  The one listing at $285,000 is a 2,796 square foot home for $102 per sf.  It has been on the market for 705 days.

Check out Indian Trails in Palm Harbor.

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

Royal Stewart Arms is a condo community with 454 condos, ranging in size from a 1 bedroom 1 bath unit of 539 square feet to a larger 2 bedroom 2 1/2 bath condo with 1,181 square feet. Most of the units are 2 bedroom 2 bath condos and all are equipped with natural gas for cooking. This waterfront community offers shuffleboard, tennis courts, a recreation building, and a fishing dock where people gather to catch dinner and while away the time telling fish stories.

Among the benefits of living in Royal Stewart Arms 55+ community are the location at the entrance to Honeymoon Island state park, wind surf rentals on the Causeway, the beaches along the Causeway not to mention the former #1 beach in the United States, Honeymoon Island. The Pinellas bike trail, which goes from Tarpon Springs to St. Pete also has a spur from the mainland out to Honeymoon Island state park and goes right by Royal Stewart Arms. The Pinellas bike trail offers exercise to bicyclists, roller blade enthusiasts, joggers and just plain walkers - all for free. There are also restaurants on the Causeway that are social gathering places for the many residents in Dunedin, FL who live on the Causeway or in Royal Stewart Arms.

The condo association monthly dues range from about $360 to $446 and cover the recreation center, shuffleboard, tennis courts, building and grounds maintenance, building insurance, elevators, and laundry rooms on every floor in each building. Each building has its own association and board of directors who plan the budget and social events.

The Royal Stewart Arms 55+ community is a wonderful place to live and play. The City of Dunedin, FL provides the normal services, trash pickup, water and schools. So if you are looking for a great place to live, come to Dunedin, FL. You'll be glad you did!

If you are interested in finding out some of the ramifications, take a look at the info in our Fiscal Cliff report, co-authored with Brian P Forrester of VanDyk Mortgage.  Brian is a Senior Loan Originator with VanDyk Mortgage and a CPA.  We at Sun Bay Associates at Keller Williams Realty have been Realtors with 20 years of experience and much of that experience has to do with short sales and other distressed properties.

One of the key provisions of the Fiscal Cliff legislation is that the Mortgage Debt Relief Act was extended to January 1, 2014.  This will allow homeowners and home sellers who have part of their mortgage debt on their primary residence, to be forgiven by their lender due to a short sale, foreclosure or loan modification.

There are several other benefits from the Fiscal Cliff Bill that affect both the real estate and mortgage industry. See additional information on our summary report, or give us a call.

Our goal is to help our country recover from the real estate recession one homeowner at a time.

There are at the moment, 75 single family homes for sale in Oldsmar, ranging in list price from a house at $84,900 that has 284 days on market to a high list price of $1,199,900 for a house that has 318 days on market.  The average list price for a single family home in Oldsmar is $388,842 and an average days on market of 160.

There are currently 60 houses under contract in Oldsmar.  And in the last 30 days, the Oldsmar real estate market has seen 20 houses sell.  The average sold price was $242,680 with an average of 78 days on market.

In the previous 30 days, there were 75 houses for sale and 22 houses sold.  This is a good indication that the Oldsmar real estate market has stabilized and at the least, prices are no longer plummeting.  

Check out the latest listings for Oldsmar real estate, just to satisfy yourself about what is now available.

Now, a seller has a house worth $200,000 and wants to move up to a house worth $250,000.  If the value goes up by 5%, his house is now worth $210,000.  At the same time, because a rising tide floats all boats, the $250,000 house he wanted to buy is now worth $262,500. Thus, by waiting for his house to go up by $10,000, the house he wants to move up to has gone up $12,500, costing him $2,500 for waiting.

Rising interest rates on mortgages hurt the purchasing power of the buyer, and in turn, lowers the pool of buyers for a given house.  This ultimately can harm the seller because he waited to put his house on the market while waiting for prices to increase.  This also makes the move up house he wanted harder to qualify for.

Of course, it is possible prices will go up faster than interest rates, however this is not very likely.  In short, if you  want to sell your house and move up, do it today.  Interest rates are not going to stay at the current record lows forever.  You are welcome to visit our website and scan our Sun Bay Associates real estate newsletter to follow the real estate market trends.

For now, Happy New Year!!

Sequestration, the mandatory cuts Congress passed because the Congress did NOT adopt the recommendations of the Super Committee on how to avoid a fiscal cliff, will be tripped at the first of 2013.  Sequestration mandates $100 billion in cuts for 8 years, mainly impacting defense.

Among the many aspects of the fiscal cliff are the following:

• Payroll tax will increase to 6.2% from 4.2%, an increase in revenue of $110 billion
• END emergency unemployment benefits, a reduction of $30 billion in spending
• CUT Medicare reimbursement rates, a reduction of $15 billion in spending
• a 3.8% surcharge for a limited number of high income individuals, increasing revenue by $20 billion
• END Bush era tax cuts, an increase of $310 billion in revenue
• END specific types of business tax expensing, an increase of $60 billion in revenue
• CUT defense spending by $35 billion
• CUT non-defense discretionary government spending by $35 billion

All the above theoretically result in a $615 billion reduction in the deficit.

Mr. Yun anticipates that without the fiscal cliff, there would be an increase in the Gross Domestic Product of 2%.  Should the fiscal cliff actually occur, Mr. Yun expects a decrease of 4% in GDP, which would throw the country back into recession.

For 2013, Mr. Yun also expects that without the fiscal cliff, there would be an increase of 2 million net new jobs.  If the fiscal cliff does happen, he anticipates a NET loss of 1-2 million jobs.

One particular source of revenue that Congress is looking at is the Mortgage Interest Deduction.  If completely eliminated, the MID can represent about $90 billion in new revenue, according to Mr. Yun.  Presently, only people with a mortgage can take advantage of the MID.  However, Mr. Yun stated that if the MID is reduced or eliminated, housing prices will be depressed, causing wealth across the board in the housing industry to disappear, thus reducing or eliminating the MID has a negative impact on every homeowner.

One last point from Mr. Yun is that if housing prices rise in the coming year, many homeowners currently "underwater" or owing more than the value of their homes, would see the price increase bring them to even or  above water on the mortgage to value.  This then results in fewer foreclosures.  On the other hand, if housing prices drop, "underwater" homeowners will continue to be "underwater" and there would be more foreclosures.  

In all previous recessions, the housing industry and all the peripheral industries from construction to building supplies, to flooring installers to electricians to roofers to appliance providers to lawn services to many, many more businesses have led the way out of economic hard times.

In short, it behooves not only all homeowners, but the nation's economy in general, for the leadership in Washington to find a solution to the impending fiscal cliff.