SI Real Estate Tampa and The Beaches

All year long we have been watching the real estate market heat up in Florida. There are many reasons why we are seeing a different resurgence this year!   A few of the key catalysts are: the Florida Legislature, interest rates and PMI insurance reductions. Each of these played a high valued role in the 2015 housing market. Combining all three, we can see housing is more affordable and there are a lot more people looking for housing!   Florida Governor Rick Scott is very enthusiastic about the housing market citing this past month as another remarkable one for the state. He is particularly proud of his tax cuts, saying “our work to cut taxes and create a business friendly environment is creating jobs and attracting more families to Florida because there are so many opportunities for success.” The team at SI Real Estate could not agree more. We have been helping families relocate to the Tampa area all year long, and know many more families are relocating this year,...

The real estate market has seen an abundance of activity in 2012, both positive and promising.  The local Tampa real estate market has shown significant growth since January.   It continues to point in the right direction. We started the year off hoping that the unemployment rate would continue to fall. To our benefit, it has fallen over 1.7% which is far better than the national average .  There were also predictions of an increase in new home construction stemming from depleted inventory resulting in a more balanced supply and demand curve. Jumping forward, September realized more new home starts than any month in the past four years!  Not only is this a strong indicator of builder confidence, which was the highest it has been in six years, but new home starts result in construction jobs created.  Economists from the Home Builder Group suggest that with each new home built, three additional jobs are created and about ninety thousand dollars...

SI Real Estate prides itself on first class personalized services that are second to none. Client’s needs and expectations are highest on our list of priorities and we do our best to exceed them at every opportunity. Our real estate professionals have extensive experience in the field and are equipped to handle any situation that may present itself through the selling process. We have sold homes that come in all shapes and sizes and will not be satisfied until the job is done and YOU are happy. So you ask yourself, why sell my home now?  While many consumers are still may be sitting on the fence, others are getting reconnected with the changing real estate market. One reason we encourage home owners to list with SI Real Estate now is because of the limited housing inventory available. Inventory in our local Tampa, Florida market has dipped 23% from levels of one year ago!  A healthy real estate market should have six months of property inventory available. The avera...

A recent report by Florida Realtors reports that Florida’s pending sales, median home price and closed sales all increased in the month of October . Real estate closings for existing home sales were up 25.3% from a year ago and totaled 17,779 transactions. Florida boasted a median sales price for existing homes of $184,300 in September which is up 11.4% from this time last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. This is actually higher than the national average.   The President of Florida Realtors, Summer Greene, reported that the state’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest it has been in four years! This coupled with the increases in pending homes sales, closings and prices will bring an even brighter outlook to the real estate market in Florida. Condo sales saw a year over increase of 16.4% and a median price of $107,000, which is also up 20.2% from a year ago.   On a national level, housing starts experienced a 3.6% uptick as well, reported by th...

A report published by the web based real estate company, Zillow, shows that the amount of homes for sale fell by 19.4% in the last year! Zillow divided the statistics by price tiers. The greatest reduction of inventory has come from the top two tiers. Three metro areas of Florida made the list with Tampa, showing a year over reduction of 19.8% for the top tier, and 23.3% for the mid-tier homes. The overall average reduction in inventory was 22.9% for Tampa Florida real estate market. This should make it easy for fence sitters who are waiting on the sideline for the “right time” to list their homes. Those who have questioned selling their home for the last year are beginning to realize that they missed the bottom a while back and may be scrambling to catch up. As far as buyers are concerned, the time has passed for them to offer $10,000 under listing price. The days of low ball offers are over. Buyers are now starting to participate in bidding wars over properties that used...

As summer comes to an end, we take a look back to reflect on what has transpired over the last few months, especially in the Tampa Bay area real estate market. On a national level, the real estate market saw an increase of 2.3 percent in existing home sales, while Tampa Florida experienced similar gains. Tampa, Florida saw an increase in median sales price of approximately $15,000 compared to this time last year. New construction home sales also saw a jump in the right direction, boasting a 25 percent increase according to a recent report by the Commerce Department. This increase can partly be attributed to the record low interest rates and shrinking home inventory the state has been experiencing this year. If the jobless rate continues to shrink as we have seen this year, the affordability rate will undoubtedly rise, causing more and more consumers to enter the home purchasing arena. The National Association of Realtors reports a 9.4 percent increase in home prices compared to ...

Fannie Mae chief economist Doug Duncan recently stated that the U.S. will continue to see economic growth through 2012. He noted that although the growth may not be as fast paced as the beginning of the year, it will be heading in the right direction, none the less. The housing sector has shown positive signs thus far in 2012, and while mortgage rates remain at an all time low, more and more real estate consumers are starting to cash in and take advantage. Compared to the same time last year, home sales are up by 9 percent. Duncan also pointed out that residential home investments are expected to increase this year and should help contribute to the general economic growth that has been thirsty for such activity since 2005. Homeowners are showing greater levels of confidence in regards to the housing market and more specifically to home price expectations and outlook. A more local real estate report for Tampa, Florida also shows optimistic signs of progression. Median home sale pri...

For a few years now, consumers from Florida to California have been hearing more and more that now is the time to buy your home, or real estate in general. Well that time is now quickly passing by as home prices continue to push upward. The S & P home price index showed improvements for the second straight month in 19 of the 20 cities they are tracking. Tampa, Florida is high on the list of cities being tracked. Not only is our local Tampa real estate market our performing most, but as whole national prices rose 1.3% in the last month of the first quarter. It is indisputable that we are seeing the consistent upward movement in housing prices. The first time in over six months that national prices are also showing such an increase. This is the hottest real estate news this week! MSNBC and all major networks are giving this news its proper headline… Real Estate News: Prices are UP! Sales of newly constructed and re-sale homes are also up! People are viewing the purchase of a...

Pending home sales see a 4.1% increase from February to March 2012. These figures have increased 12.8% since last year at this time, which is also the highest it has been since April 2010. Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, says, “The housing market has clearly turned the corner. Rising sales are bringing down inventory and creating much more balanced conditions… which also means home prices will be rising in more areas as the year progresses.” This information is simply information, unless you use it to your benefit when mapping out your Real Estate Goals. Call SI today to talk about how you can take advantage of a changing market!

The net sum of a great deal of graphs, much raw data, and more information from economic and industry trends analyzed by experts, and first hand experience of a professional, is that the Tampa Bay Real Estate Market is making a visible turn. There is a obvious uptick in the prices of homes overall, prices per square foot of real estate, days and overall time on the market, and even new construction starts. To recognize this trend and real estate market, it is our opinion that one must have been a vigorous professional when it was trending up, when at the peak, when at the bottom and even worked at the bottom of this market for the many years the bottom existed. We are no longer at the bottom! It is official! In fact, we have been moving away from the bottom of the market over the past year of 2011. The news is positive, the facts are affirmative. Are you ready for a full real estate recovery? What is your opinion? Here are some highlighted facts for your careful revie...

Another Reason Why Now is the Time to Buy Real Estate in Tampa, Florida! If prospective real estate buyers in Tampa, Florida ever needed a reason to buy now, the fact that the national 30-year fixed-mortgage rate is back at a near record low average of 4.28% is a good place to start serious consideration. Incredibly low mortgage rates and real estate prices should be adequate incentives to prompt home buyers to act now. According to the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace weekly update, the recent decrease in mortgage rates is down 0.02% from last week. Consider the facts. Rock-bottom real estate prices combined with record low mortgage interest rates add up to NOW factually being the best time to buy an existing home or the brand new home you have been dreaming of! Florida’s average rate is now 4.21%, which is down from 4.24% from a week ago. The average rate for 15-year fixed home loans remained at 3.86%, and the rate for a 5-1 adjustable-rate mortgage is 3.23%. So, if you have been d...