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...

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, ...

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...

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...