SI Real Estate Tampa and The Beaches

Searching for a home to purchase? You’ve probably noticed the increasing inventory of new construction homes available. Builders are developing new communities all over Florida, especially in the greater Tampa Bay area. If you’re ready to start exploring the option of purchasing a model or builder home, don’t go it alone! There are countless advantages of having an agent with connections to builders and the community, along with new construction experience, by your side for a new home purchase… Always use a Realtor ® As you admire the freshly built model home, you may be surprised to learn that the “new home sales consultant” greeting you might not actually be a Realtor. Builders employ sales agents and staff to sell their homes, but these individuals are not necessarily required to have a real estate license. While not hiring a Realtor may seem like a thrifty choice, it is always in your best interest to have representation in negotiating your purchase, sel...

Flipping through the television channels and social media, you may have noticed that many people are shifting towards downsizing their living space. Shows like  Tiny House, Big Living  and  Tiny House Nation  document the trending transition to tiny homes. So why are so many Americans jumping on the tiny home bandwagon? According to  TheTinyLife .com , the average home is 2600 square feet – compared to the minimal square footage for tiny homes, averaging between 100 – 400 square feet! Those joining the Tiny House Movement are doing so to protect the environment, live frugally and have the freedom to travel. With their petite structure, m any tiny house homeowners have found financial freedom that would have been difficult to achieve had they opted for a mortgage on a traditional home. The savings from high property taxes, lower maintenance costs and less major repairs are illustrations of many sources of household savings through  Tiny Homeown...

Traveling back to the 1960s, homeowners were just beginning to enjoy the luxury of having a television in the home.  The families of the 1990s experienced the convenience of owning their very own computer. Fast forward to 2016, and not only has technology advanced in the way of entertainment, but it has become a part of our everyday lifestyle.  For years, technology has filled our homes – now our homes have become an integral part of new age technology. While the definition of a  smart home   is debatable, most consider a smart home a house that has remotely controlled systems including temperature, lighting and electronic devices. Once considered a luxury for the wealthy, smart homes have become a mainstream component of homeownership. Combining security with convenience, smart homes offer families enhanced peace of mind. Beyond the ability to remotely access security footage from your smart phone or tablet, some smart homes have the unique capabilit...

It’s time to take the next step and buy your first home. Where to begin, you ask? By and large we find ourselves scouring the internet for real estate listings and then driving by potential homes only to find that it’s been sold, or doesn’t live up to those beautiful online photos. Here’s the good news! Before getting too wrapped up in the home searching process, there are a few steps you should take to save yourself time, money and lots of disappointment. First and foremost: Prepare Your Credit for Mortgage Approval .  Now that you’ve decided to turn those rent payments into mortgage payments, the natural tendency may be to start looking for your dream home. But taking a step back to analyze your finances will be of absolute benefit to you when it comes to the mortgage approval part of the process!  The preliminary home search stage is the perfect time to check your credit score and the contents of your report.   If needed, you may dispute any erro...

For those selling your home, you may have seen an influx in Generation Y, or “Millennial” buyers flocking to your open house in recent years. Yet, with the most recent U.S. Census confirming that Millennials have surpassed the Baby Boomers, it’s no surprise the number of Millennial home buyers is on the rise. So what does this mean for the housing market? According to Realtor.org, “For the third straight year, the largest group of recent buyers were Millennials, who composed 35% of all buyers, more than the combined amount of younger and older Baby Boomers at 31%”. Millennials are a new brand of home buyer. Contrary to previous generations, Millennials are delaying marriage and family to a later time in life. Whereas, home buying is at the forefront of their priorities. Seen as a smart investment, these young purchasers are seeking the stability and security of home ownership. In most markets, Millennials are finding that renting is more expensive than buying - even aft...

Real Estate Pulse: Existing Home Sales Continue to Rise The lack of homes on the market, price jumps and bidding wars does not stop buyers from closing on the homes of their dreams. In April 2016, the number of homes sold shot up 4.9%, year over year to 471,000 purchases across the United States of America, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were up 11.9% in April from March, likely because of the season change.   Spring and summer are the most active time of year for home sales. The reports only looked at existing homes, not new construction and there were no seasonal adjustments taken into consideration for seasonal fluctuations. Just clean cut data. Looking at Florida's townhouse-condo market, statewide closed sales totaled 10,738 last month, down 5.3 percent compared to April 2015.  However, the closed sales data reflected fewer short sales and cash-only sales in April: Short sales for townhouse-condo properties declined 4...

With the housing demand exceeding the supply in markets across the U.S., homebuyers may be facing quite the challenge to find the perfect home this spring.  The total housing inventory at the end of February 2016 was 1.88 million, 1.1 percent lower than last year leaving us with an unbalanced market between home buyers and sellers.  In Tampa, there are less homes than buyers and clearly we are in a seller's market. In competitive markets such as these, it is incredibly important that homebuyers and sellers work with a Real Estate Professional. Realtors who have the National Association of Realtors Accredited Buyer’s Representative designation specialize in working directly with buyer-clients. Helping them through the challenges of finding their ideal home and securing that home by way of negotiating purchase prices and contracts is the top priority. The National Association of Realtors, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing mo...

Real Estate Buyers: Why a VA loan? Why not?! W hen you are looking for the best, lowest mortgage rate, the VA home loan is where it’s at.   The VA loan program is the most powerful home loan program on the market for many veterans, service members and military families (Active Duty, Retired, and Disabled).   These flexible, government backed loans are offered with significant benefits that open the doors of home ownership to veterans who might otherwise grapple (or not) to obtain a mortgage on a new home purchase. VA loans feature competitive rates and terms to qualified borrowers with little to no money out of pocket.  According to Ellie Mae, VA mortgage rates continuously beat conventional rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) or more on any given day, with gaps as wide as 150 basis points for some borrowers with less-than-perfect credit scores.  March marked the 23 rd month in a row in which VA mortgage rates being lower than conventio...

It’s no secret that spring is the busiest time for home buying and selling. Homeowners planning to put their homes on the market should start preparing NOW!  Following these few easy tips can make for a much smoother selling experience. If you are a prospective home seller, here are a few guidelines to help you get ready for the Spring Market: Minimize Clutter Don’t you love walking into a newly furnished model home? The open, clear, fresh new home is one you can picture yourself living in instantly.  What you don’t see in this model home is a stack of magazines on the table, perhaps a stack of mail or even children’s artwork casually hanging on the refrigerator. While everyone has clutter, buyers want to see the model home version of your home for sale. A home they can envision living in.  Putting away single framed family photos, clearing off shelves and counters can also help reduce clutter instantly.   Start Packing! As you begin to clear...

Real Estate Season - Home Buying and Selling Hot Springtime Demand About To Start!     The first month of each year when home buying starts to heat up is always April. Experts at the Florida Association of Realtors are expecting the next 4 months (April to July) to have the highest number of buyer and seller transactions all year. Considering real estate transactions have already started this year off at an extremely fast pace, it is exciting to think about the upcoming spring season of 2016.   Sellers will remain in the driver’s seat at all pricing levels. Inventory of homes around $100 to $125K are sparse and extremely competitive, down 8.6% since January of last year. At this price point, there are typically investor type properties needing work and / or updating. You can also find homes and townhomes that attract first time homebuyers looking to step into the real estate market. Overall inventory has been sub 4 month levels all year long here in Florida, a...

Real Estate Pulse 2016: Short Supply Continues to Push Home Prices Up It’s no secret that for the past 6-8 months the supply of single family homes has been well below average. Here in the Florida market, the lack of homes to purchase is causing a buyer frenzy. Specifically in the Tampa Bay and Miami housing markets, the shortage is readily apparent. Prices have shot up  alread y  in the beginning of 2016 as both first time home buyers and move up buyers struggle to find what they want without paying a supply shortage premium. Shoppers are also having to compete with other buyers when they do locate a property that fits their needs. Closed sales in the first part of 2016 have drastically outnumbered the amount of properties put on the market in Tampa Bay as well as statewide in Florida. This has further reduced the supply of available homes, forcing prices to jump up in a hurry. All of the large counties in our area: Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Pinellas h...

Now that the Real Estate industry has final numbers from 2015, they are releasing that data and the subsequent results of last year. As we have reported many times throughout the last 12 months, 2015 was a very strong year in the housing market. After reflecting on 2015, FL Realtors President Matey Veissi states “Florida’s economy is in growth mode, more jobs are being created and mortgage interest rates remain at historically low levels which will continue to drive the state’s housing market in 2016.” Let’s see what else the 2015 FL housing market report says and the impressive numbers it contains. We are going to grade the major indicators we talk about and how we feel they did in the last year’s market.   Total closed sales on existing homes  is always a leading indicator for housing market experts. In 2015, there were 274,769 resale transactions! That is an increase of 12.4% from 2014, which is enormous. On the pricing side of resales, there was another sharp increas...

SI Real Estate Tampa Bay is excited to see what 2016 has in store for the housing market. We were pleasantly surprised with the uptick in real estate activity in 2015. Of course everyone is turning the page to the New Year, and consumers are contemplating what to expect in the housing market. The professionals here at SI Real Estate fully believe this year will be an even better one, eclipsing the fantastic turn-around last year that took place throughout the US. Some of the key reasons for this that we are going to talk about: interest rates/lending, inventory, and pricing. Interest rates have been historically low since the recession began. They are still extremely attractive, even with the negligible increase last month. Yes there should be at least a couple more increases in 2016, but they will likely be small bumps like the quarter point increase in December. This is not expected to affect the attitude of home buyers and will actually help strengthen the economy. Lending...