SI Real Estate Tampa and The Beaches

FOR SALE ~20437 Autumn Fern Avenue~ Absolutely pristine 4 bedroom, 3 bath home located on a picturesque conservation lot in Live Oak. Just built in 2011 and has ample space for your family to grow and stretch in this 2600 sq ft, 2 story, 2 car garage home!!  Just listed for $286,900! Beautiful 42” espresso cabinets and granite counter tops accent the generous gourmet kitchen with stainless appliances. Easy access to your huge screened in lanai to complete your outdoor space. The flex room downstairs is perfect for any office, den, library or even a formal dining room.  Upstairs you’re greeted by a loft space with lots of natural light. Down the hall, you’ll find the Master suite complete with dual vanities, granite counter tops, your walk-in shower and garden tub.  The community of Live Oak offers many amenities and recreational activities to enjoy such as: a clubhouse with fitness center, multiple pools, tennis courts, a covered playground, an...

As spring flourishes around us, the real estate market blooms as well! Are you considering making a move this year? Now is the perfect time to prepare for this home selling season! Keeping in mind a few simple marketing tricks to make your home stand out from the competition! First and foremost, jump on the spring cleaning bandwagon! Sometimes the small details of cleaning the inside of closets and clearing away clutter are forgotten, but these particulars are noticeable to potential home buyers. As articulated by Michele Lerner of Realtor.com, “While everyone has clutter, buyers want to see a fantasy version of your house in which they can envision living”. You can do it! While cleaning, take notice that all of the small repairs that have fallen by the wayside have now become more apparent. Take advantage of this time to move those repairs to the top of your to do list. Replacing doorknobs, updating fixtures, pressure washing the exterior of your home, and adding fresh m...

As the buzz of New Year celebrations have settled down, many people are taking a closer look at the pulse of the real estate market for the year ahead. Whether you are considering buying a new home or selling your existing home, 2017 is looking like a promising year for your potential real estate transactions! Kicking off 2017, Realtor.com has released their yearly forecast, predicting a sales volume increase of 4.17% across the southern Florida market. Despite South Florida’s strong population growth and stable job creation, 2016 saw a decrease in home and condo sales – making this year’s sales prediction music to the ears of Realtors and investors! “There is more inventory on the market [in South Florida] than a year ago and prices haven’t fully recovered so it is more of a value play for buyers than other parts of the country” says Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Realtor.com . Additionally, our neighbors in Jacksonville and Orlando, FL are among the top 10 markets e...

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...

Real Estate Pulse:  Recapping 5 years! Active Housing Market keeps persuading buyers and now sellers The last 5 years of the real estate market has been a wild ride to say the least. In 2010, first time home buyers increased dramatically over the norm due to the large tax credit given out by the federal government.  That triggered the highest number of first time buyers ever. While this group accounted for half of the homes purchased in 2010, the other key players were the international (cash) investors who were purchasing the rock-bottom-priced inventory. This same group of investors and first time home buyers were the main consumers of real estate through 2012.  By this time, the excess inventory had been purchased one way or another.      In 2013, values of homes were finally catching up and or exceeding the mortgage pay off(s).  Finally sellers and their listings began trickling into the market. This segment of the housing market was prev...

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, ...

It’s no secret by now that Florida is pushing past the recession this year in 2015. Economists and experts have been optimistic all year, and the data is continuing to back them up. Sean Snaith, a highly respected economist at UCF says Florida’s GDP will continue to climb at least through 2018. Could we really see economic growth lasting that long? Snaith fully believes so, citing average housing prices up, payroll being up and real gross state product steadily rising for a while now. The SI Real Estate team fully agrees, as we are seeing rising home prices as well as increasing rents here in Tampa, Florida. After all, our state boasts sunshine, beaches, palm trees, sand, and year-round weather which are all basically recession proof. The desire for people to own homes in Florida or relocate here has never dwindled. The appeal of Florida has always been strong considering all that this state offers. The issue people were facing was selling their current homes, whi...

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...

Real Estate Pulse:  Tampa’s Rental market is on fire!   Act on it or the property will be gone in a flash! SI Real Estate is a full service real estate boutique in Tampa Bay, including property management.  We have seen a significant increase in rental activity since February, 2015. As the year has progressed, so has the interest in Tampa’s rental market!  Right now, our agents are finding that rental listings are gone in a New York minute.  We are receiving calls and emails from an abnormal amount of new residents relocating to our area, causing the demand to drastically outweigh the supply. This trend has not gone unnoticed by property developers in the area especially our urban core. They are purchasing land and building multifamily high end rentals, rather than luxury apartments or condos for sale.  Jeff Vinik has been at the forefront of this new demand. Starting with revitalizing the Channelside District.  The city of Tampa an...

Big gains in March Home Sales Florida and National market is heating up in 2015 SI Real Estate has been monitoring and reporting the increased activity in the housing market this year. Last month we reported about skyrocketing first quarter new home sales. This month all of the home-sales reports, including both new homes and resale homes echo those same sentiments. Some of the markets reporting sharp rises in March 2015 home sales include the following: Minneapolis, Washington D.C., Atlanta, San Antonio, Jacksonville, Houston, and Seattle. The Real Estate market in Florida has been scorching hot, especially in Miami, Boca Raton and Tampa Bay. Our neighbors to the North (Georgia) are also seeing the same trends. Nancy See, of Atlanta Fine Homes says “I’m seeing a lot of multiple-offer scenarios when a house is well-priced… Buyers are having to act very quickly to get the house they want. It’s almost like a buying frenzy”. This type of great news has not been reported since ...

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...

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...

Earlier this year the president reduced private mortgage insurance rates. FHA loans were more attainable for first time home buyers. Home owners that wanted to refinance and reduce their monthly payments could also participate in the reduction. Now Freddie Mac is about to roll out a new appealing option for home buyers: 3% down payment mortgages coming in March! Contributing to continued Real Estate recovery and stability, the guidelines of qualifying for this type of loan will not be as loose as the guidelines from the adjustable rate mortgage disaster in 2007-2008. Donald Layton, CEO of Freddie Mac, assured everyone that the 97% loan-to-value option will be limited to borrowers who can prove a “very good income”. Basically comforting the skeptics that this option will not be available for the average loan applicant. He also reinforced that “underwriting standards are stronger than ever”. Obviously they have learned from their past mistake of handing out mortgage loans to anyo...

Early 2015 quarterly reports reflect heavy increase in real estate activity, especially new homes. D.R. Horton is a nationally recognized home builder and has developments throughout the United States. They have been the largest home builder in the U.S. 13 years in a row. On Wednesday, D.R. Horton reported a dramatic increase in new home sales highlighted by “sales orders increased 40% in value to $2.1 billion” from the first quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015. These numbers are significant considering that first quarter home sales are usually lack luster. What does this tell us? With the rising consumer confidence reports, buyers are investing in real estate and new homes sales are spiking. D.R. Horton has increased their land acquisitions and developed more communities recently to keep up with demand. Donald Horton, Chairman of the Board said ”our weekly sales pace has accelerated in January 2015, and we are well-positioned to capture demand in the spring sellin...

"Latest Home Sale Data reflects strong demand for affordable homes as 2015 kicks off” Back in 2008/2009 after the Real Estate market crashed, economic and Real Estate experts were repeatedly forecasting a 6-7 year recovery period. They all highlighted 2015 as the year we would see resurrection in the housing market. Well that prediction seems to be coming to fruition now! We are seeing many positive reports and trends from late 2014 to early 2015. We are starting to see the rebound all around Florida, but extra activity in Tampa Bay. The excitement/enthusiasm is building here and our team here at SI Real Estate is noticing. Normally home sales in January are expected to be lower than in July or August. However, this month the Home Sale Data is showing that buyers are confident again. Tampa Bay has surged in January with 4,700 homes sold so far. That is 23.5% better than December ’14 and 22.8% better than January of ’14. Buyers are aggressively purchasing, and homes a...

Since 2009, existing home sales have never been so high. July 2013 recorded and increase of 6.5% in comparison to June of the same year. A seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.06 million in June went up to 5.39 million in the month of July. This indicates a double-digit year-over-year increase in the real estate market. The median price for existing homes was $213,500 in July which was 13.7 % more than in the previous year at the same time. Also, 15% of the July sales were distressed homes foreclosures and short sales which indicated the lowest share since October 2008.   “The size of the increase was a surprise,” given the number of people applying for mortgages has dropped sharply since rates began to rise in early June, said Patrick Newport , an economist at IHS Global Insight. The increasing mortgage rates also play a big role in this.   According the Freddie Mac , “fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.37% in July from 4.07% in June; being the highest since July 2011. ...