SI Real Estate Tampa and The Beaches

Who you choose to represent you when you buy or sell your home is one of the biggest decisions you’ll make during your move. Your real estate agent can make the process easy, quick, and painless – or long, expensive, and painful. Here are 5 adjectives you should for in your real estate agent if you want to get the most out of the sale of your home or your home purchase: 1. Tenacious Real estate is at times a complex world. There are seemingly endless challenges to navigate through: the house you love was snatched up by someone else; someone put a bid in on your home and then pulled out at the last minute; there are issues with the community, or zoning, or construction! These are some of the reasons why you need a savvy real estate agent who is tenacious, never gives up, and doesn’t stop until you have successfully bought or sold your home at the right price with the least obstacles. The best real estate agents are the ones who not only have plan B, but plan C, D, a...

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...

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...

Tampa Bay investors are finding out how hot the area is lately, ranking #6 among the top 50 cities for Real Estate investing. Everyone likes generating wealth, especially if the return (ROI) is on a real estate investment. It is extremely satisfying when you put your money to work for you. Real Estate investors look all over the place searching for the best property to invest their money in. Their money has been working extra hard here in Tampa. Over the past 12 months, Tampa’s investors have averaged 16.7 percent gross return on their investment. That is incredibly high, a very attractive rate of return and savvy financial or real estate professionals know it!  Good numbers equal good returns.   The housing market has been on a steady and stable uptick all year. This has led to the increased activity in the real estate market that we are now seeing.  As more people learn and hear about the stabilization here in Florida, they want in on the action. Not so fast, ...

2015 has been a pleasant year for the Tampa Bay real estate market, marking a full resurgence. Normally sales fall off during the summer vacations, but not this year!  Homes listed for sale are continuing to seek out higher prices, while buyers are actively finding properties to put contracts on. A local North Tampa homeowner listed their house at $ 450,000 3 weeks ago and had a pending contract 8 days later, including backup offers. SI Real Estate has also participated in this high level of activity, selling three different properties in less than 10 days recently. While we normally see soft interest during summer months, especially July that has is not the case in 2015! ”Statewide in July, the inventory of available homes tightened to a 4 1/2-month supply. Most analysts consider a six-month supply to be evidence of a balanced market between buyers and sellers,” said John Tuccillo, chief economist of Florida Realtors. He is demonstrating here that inventory is d...

July New Home Sales up 25%! If you have been following SI Real Estate’s blog this year… we have been tracking the housing market from January all the way through now.  As predicted, the market has been rebounding all year! The most recent news is fantastic, with New Home Sales up 25% in July 2015 versus July 2014.  That is a LARGE rebound in a short amount of time. Another pertinent statistic for tracking the real estate market: we saw an increase of new home sales from June to July, up 5.4% or 26,000 more home sales in July. The numbers that were just released reflect what we are seeing here in Tampa Bay. SI Real Estate’s most recent for sale listings have been extremely active, one of which went under contract in just 6 days - pretty much for the exact listing price too. Homes priced at $750,000 + have been seeing increased activity as well.  Around 6% of all new home sales in July 2015 were at the $750K+ price range.  That is 3% more than June, ...

It’s no secret the housing market is making a strong comeback. Inventory is incredibly scarce.  Buyers are confident enough in the economy to be actively searching for real estate to purchase. This is leading to a shortage of ready-to-move-in homes. When there is a housing shortage, buyers need to act quickly and sellers are now stepping in. This has been the driving force behind skyrocketing pending home sale statistics. Probably the most positive statistic (there are many this month) is “45% of homes sold within 30 days of being listed”. That is a staggering number compared to what we were seeing since the recession began. Another major factor leading to the housing market surge is because of the historically low mortgage rates. If you could afford a $300,000 home last year, you can get approved for a $330,000 mortgage today. This is due to rates hovering right at 4% and buyers have more purchasing power after sitting out last year. We have not seen this much bu...

Almost everyone over the age of 20 has said the phrase “that’s it, I’m moving to Florida” at some point during their life. Usually it is said out of frustration with the weather, or another popular reason being high taxes elsewhere. In the 90’s and early 2000’s, Florida was an incredibly popular destination to move to. The younger crowds flocked to Miami or Tampa, the wealthy to Miami and Fort Lauderdale, and then the retirees to Naples or Fort Myers.   Since 2007 though we have been lagging behind…. Until recently. Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida, says Florida's economy is now solidly passing the Nation’s. Not only are we recovering fully, but we are about to start leading the pack again. Tourism is back to full throttle. Booking hotel rooms or going out to dinner is becoming a serious issue again with all of the traffic. People are spending money again and are confident the economy has stabi...

Although there has been a high number of a sale in the Tampa Bay real estate market the last couple of months, the industry is sending some mixed signals. What is happening in our changing market? According to The Tampa Tribune , “Homes sales are climbing, up 16 percent from a year ago and 24 percent from last month”. However since there is such a high number of bank owned and distressed properties, the median sale price is only $111,100. Of the 2,375 real estate sales in Tampa in February 2011, a large majority were bought by investors. They see properties in distress, prices continuing to decline and investors are cashing in. The spring selling season is around the corner however, and projections are expecting more traditional homebuyers to start jumping in. Most first time and repeat homebuyers are not interested in the distressed properties. They start off looking at the price tag, but are not prepared to deal with the challenges once viewing the property. They see the value ...

Over the last couple of weeks, SI Real Estate has been posting updates on what we see in the Tampa real estate market. We have shown trends of Housing Affordability being the highest in 20 years , we have discussed that Tampa, Florida is one of the most searched real estate markets  online, and the large increase in Purchases and Multiple offer competitions in the Market . All of this adds up to the conclusion the market is changing and we want to be ready for it. SI Real Estate is front and center in the Tampa Bay real estate market we are seeking some new real estate agents to join our team. SI Real Estate, Tampa is your full-service real estate boutique that assists buyers, sellers, relocations, and investors with their real estate needs. We maintain an entrepreneurial spirit with a relaxed, yet serious and productive environment. We are a team of talented professionals with experience, drive and motivation. Our reputation and client rapport is renowned for unique quality and...