SI Real Estate Tampa and The Beaches

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...

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...

SI Real Estate would like to wish our friends, family, clients, and associates a very Happy New Year! We wish you happiness, good health, and prosperity throughout 2014 and beyond. 2013 was a wonderful year for SI Real Estate, and we sincerely thank you for your loyalty and support. As the stabilization of the real estate market continued to improve over the year, it created extreme excitement about what 2014 may hold for the market, especially in our Tampa Bay area. In this blog, we will briefly discuss the most recent events that occurred in the housing market during the final months of 2013, as well as discuss what the real estate industry may see during the year of 2014. Looking Back Due to the short supply of inventory throughout the majority of 2013, the real estate industry witnessed some swift price increases resulting from the increased demand for homes. In response to increased demand, constructing spending reached the highest point the market had seen in the ...

Home ownership has been always a big part of the American dream. Owning your home has a huge impact not only on you but also on people around you. For every sold property in the United States, jobs are being created; generated revenue is making the economy stronger, communities are becoming more stable, and all this contributes to the process of the housing market recovery across the country. SI Real Estate takes the educational part of homeownership very seriously and we believe that is extremely important for our clients to know the advantages of owning your home instead of renting. Here in the Tampa Bay and anywhere else in the United States, being able to purchase your home has been always a sign of responsibility and a source of security for the American middle-class. After the financial crisis in 2008, many Americans have lost their jobs and their real estate went into foreclosure. President Obama and his administration made the housing recovery to one the main goals o...

The 21 st century revolutionized the way we are living and everything around us and the Real Estate industry is not an exception. With introducing new ways of communicating with clients, auctioning properties online, marketing listings on the internet, and in some cases even working with customers living in other countries and purchasing properties they have never seen in real life, the Real Estate professionals had to adjust in order to stay successful. Here at SI Real Estate, we have managed to develop the perfect set of marketing efforts which enabled us to stay strong during the financial crisis and even evolve in a more successful entity during the recent years of the market recovery here in the greater Tampa Bay area. The year 2013 has been our most successful year ever and we are excited to see what the upcoming years will bring.  However, with all great achievements and growth which we have experienced as a company, we have never forgotten about the group o...

1.5 million potential buyers There is new hope on the horizon for those who lost their homes due to the recession. The current administration has created a new rule regarding the waiting period for obtaining a new real estate mortgage backed by the Federal Housing Administration .   Previously, home owners who experienced a foreclosure or bankruptcy had to wait for three years before they could apply for a new mortgage. The new regulation makes it possible for those who have repaired their credit score, can prove their income, and have gone through a full recovery, to be eligible for a new mortgage loan in as little as one year. Many agree on the fact that this is a very positive sign for the real estate market and states such as Florida Nevada, and Arizona, have already taken advantage of this opportunity by redesigning their marketing campaigns to attract clients who have proved themselves to be financially stable after going through a foreclosure. These so-ca...

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. ...

In the last two years, there has been an unstoppable positive turn in demand for real estate. This resulted in increased home buyer’s motivation to purchase. In addition, this newest trend boosted builder’s confidence in the real estate market as well.   According to Mr. Jay McCanless, an analyst for Sterne Agee, “Housing demand, whether its rental or ownership, is a positive indicator,” the main reason for this is a steady job creation over the past three years which especially helped the private sector. Tampa Bay area is no exception; there has been a larger demand for multi-family and single family rentals and ownership. What does this mean for potential home buyers or sellers? The overall positive attitude amongst the members of builders associations and customers seeking new homes caused an increase of six points in the Housing Market Index in July 2013. This was the strongest increase since January 2006 and it also showed that builders are being more confident in bui...

Pending home sales saw a jump of 10% in October which is a positive sign that the real estate market is stabilizing, according to a December 2, 2010 National Association of Realtors® article, Strong Rebound in Pending Home Sales . Housing affordability can be credited to drawing buyers to the table and causing this rebound in Tampa, Florida and across the nation. According to Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist of the National Association of Realtors®, “It is welcoming to see a solid double-digit percentage gain, but activity needs to improve further to reach healthy, sustainable levels. The housing market is clearly in a recovery phase and will be uneven at times, but the improving job market and consequential boost to household formation will help the recovery process going into 2011.” Yun went further to say, “A return to more normal loan underwriting standards and removal of unnecessary underwriting fees for very low risk borrowers is needed and could quickly help in the housing and ...