SI Real Estate Tampa and The Beaches

By and large, we saw a healthy housing market last year – but what should we expect as we embark on a new real estate journey in 2017?  For home buyers, this is your que to strike while the iron is hot! If you’ve been waiting for the right time to buy your new home – your wait is over! Increase your buying power by taking advantage of these lower mortgage rates before we see an increase between 2017 and 2018. As Bill Dallas, CEO at Cloudvirga explains, “We expect GDP [gross domestic product] to increase 2.1% in 2017 and 2.0% in 2018, which in turn would cast an upward pressure on mortgage rates”. Alternatively, sellers are also at an advantage. For those with changing household sizes, moving up or downsizing may be a motivating factor for selling your home. Our current seller’s market, combined with buyers seeking low interest rates, makes for a swift and profitable seller transactions! As Theresa Williams-Barrett, Vice President of consumer lending and loan adminis...

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...

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, ...

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, ...

SI Real Estate has been watching the market in Tampa Bay closely this year. We have reported several times since the beginning of 2015 that the market is on the upswing, with statistics to back it up. Hillsborough County just released more first quarter data, and the real estate market is continuing to surge! Housing data released Monday by Florida Realtors showed 3,213 single-family homes sold, 28.6 percent more than February 2014. Buyers are finding that inventory is still thin, causing prices to rise. The Tampa Tribune interviewed Thomas O’Bryant, executive director of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors. “Home prices are going up,” he said. In Hillsborough County, the median price for a house in February was $177,000, up 7.3 percent over February 2014. “Sales of townhomes and condos also were on the upswing in Tampa Bay (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties) The median price was $106,400, a 12.1 percent bump” from February 2014. We are seeing more activ...

As we continue to witness the real estate recovery and its effect on our Tampa market, many home buyers and investors are scratching their heads and wondering where all the “great deals” went? Tampa, Florida has seen inventory fly out the window. Along with that inventory went most of the homes that investors and home buyers were seeking out. The FNC has recently reported that the price between homes’s foreclosed value and original market value is finally beginning to close. The average price discount for a distressed property was around 25% of the homes market value. By the end of last year this number has been cut in half and now sits around 12.2%! Not much difference anymore!  Buyers and investors are more and more being out bid by other buyer and investors.  In many cases it is simply a price gap and offers being too low. Many Tampa, Florida communities have seen this first hand and quite a few home buyers and investors are not catching on to the trend… yet!  ...

A recent study conducted by the National Association of Realtors shows that housing affordability has been at an all time high thus far through 2012. The Housing Affordability Index is relative to median home prices, median home income, and average home mortgage rate. Buying power is the result of a higher index. Here in the Tampa, Florida market, the Housing Affordability Index is higher than most cities in the country. President of the National Association of Realtors, Moe Veissi, says the most recent study highlights the opportunities that more and more people are ready to buy, and some may not even know it. The “100 point” mark is reached when a median income level producing household is ready to purchase a median priced existing single family home. Being that the index is above 200 right now, the majority of Americans have double than what is actually needed to buy a home. Florida’s Bay area, which includes Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, is currently at 154.4 as it re...

• Long term Investment According to Realty Times ,” An average appreciation rate during normal times is around 6.5 percent a year. That means if you buy a home for $100,000, in just ten years you will have a home that could feasibly sell for around $174,000” • Personal and Community Stability Owning a property creates a sense of community and accomplishment. People take better care of property; have higher graduation rates and lower crime rates in more stable communities with large percentages of homeowners. • Tax-Breaks Tax benefits are a huge asset to many Americans, you can deduct mortgage interest, and there are tax credits and money back for making energy efficient upgrades. These breaks might not seem like a lot at first but for middle income families they can add up fast. • Benefit to Economy and Job Growth According to Houselogic , “For every two homes sold, one job is created in the U.S.” Each housing purchase is estimated to generate $60,000 towards economic act...

When it comes to buying, selling or renting real estate it is important you find the best representation to work alongside you. What qualities are the most important when selecting a Real Estate Agent to help you: 1. Trust In making the decision to purchase, sell, or rent a property the most important quality to look for in your real estate agent is whether you trust them. They will be advising you on what the best home prices in the local market, they will be drafting legal contracts for you and you need to know they have your best interest at heart. You also need someone who is going to be honest when you need it. 2. Experience Experience is one of the best ways to see how well a real estate agent has done their job in the past. The best way to judge experience may not be the highest number of listings, but instead the number of real estate buyers and investors who complete their real estate transaction with confidence they had the best real estate agent to represent them. I...

Excellent news - the U.S. real estate market is rebounding faster than expected. For the first time in five years, existing home sales have increased for four consecutive months., the National Association of Realtors announced today. Existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhouses, condos, and co-ops rose 7.2 percent to a total if 5.34 million in July. An NAR survey showed that 30 percent of the homes purchased in July were by first-time home buyers, as buyers have started to come off the fence to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index reached 18 this month, its highest level since June 2008. The numbers show that confidence among home builders is continuing on a steady rise. This increase can be contributed to buyers taking advantage of the dramatically discounted home prices, with nationwide housing affordability continuing to hover near its highest level in more than 18 year and the $8,000 ...