Blog

The Canadian newspaper “The Globe and Mail“ says “worst is over” – Florida turned a corner and heading back up. International investors must “jump fast if they want to take advantage” of it.

Hey aspiring snowbirds: The Florida housing market could be rebounding
Florida is known for its amusement parks, but no white-knuckle ride has been quite like [...]

Apr

2013

Anna Maria Island makes top 5 of Tripadvisor´s Travelers´ Choice awards

ANNA MARIA ISLAND
Anna Maria Island made it in the top 5 islands of Tripadvisor´s Travelers Choice Awards 2013!
It has been named one of the top five island destinations in the country. The fact that travelers named the islands that made it on the list shows that Anna Maria Island is no longer a well kept [...]

Mar

2013

Analysis: Move-up buyers shouldn’t wait

Looking to buy a bigger house? Now might be the best time to do so.
Although waiting a few years to sell a home will likely mean a higher sales price, the cost of a bigger new home will increase as well, according to an analysis by Redfin. Financially, it makes more sense to capture today’s [...]

Feb

2013

Road Trip Bradenton

Great ROAD TRIP article about Bradenton and Anna Maria Island in the Pittsburgh Tribune ~ highlights McKechnie Field, Riverwalk, Village of the Arts, South Florida Museum, and much more.
Baseball isn’t the only game in town in Bradenton, Fla.
Dedicated Pittsburgh Pirates fans arriving from a long line drive of a road trip or a relatively short flight [...]

Jan

2013

2012 sales were the fourth highest in Sarasota history

Property sales for the year 2012 were the fourth highest in the 90-year history of the Sarasota Association of Realtors®, achieving 9,169 total sales.
In 2003, sales in our market hit 9,697, followed by 11,267 in 2004 (the current all-time high) and 10,562 in 2005. The annual sales dropped to 6,358 in 2006 and bottomed out [...]

Jan

2013

Vacation properties new revenue stream for many investors

Nowadays, everybody is looking for a way to capture a new revenue stream. More and more investors find that to buy a rental property and rent it to vacationers is a profitable investment.
To attract vacationers who prefer homes to hotel rooms, homeowners can work with a vacation rental agency. Vacationers are coming from up north [...]

Nov

2012

More cash sales, shrinking time on market

All-cash buyers have surged since the housing downturn while the typical amount of time it takes to sell a home is shrinking, revealing the changing dynamics of today’s home buyers and sellers.
Academic experts took a closer look at cash buyers and how time-on-market impacts home sales during the “Changing Dynamics of Recent Home Buyers and [...]

Sep

2012

Historic Pool Home – $275,000

233 47th W St, Bradenton, FL 34209 (MLS # M5830093)
Lots of character in this historic 4 Bedroom / 3.5 Bathroom home. The home is located on a quiet street in West Bradenton and offers a huge caged deck and heated pool.
The oversized, fenced in lot has two lush, landscaped backyard areas, one on each side [...]

Jul

2012

Sales in 2nd Quarter at highest level since 2005

More good news about the Sarasota real estate market. The Sarasota Association of Realtors issued the following press release today.
With 864 closed sales transactions in June 2012, the Sarasota real estate market achieved the highest level of quarterly sales in seven years, with 2,604 sales from April through June. The 864 closed transactions in June [...]

Jul

2012

Bradenton-Sarasota 40th most searched real estate market

Great news in the Bradenton Herald:
Bradenton-Sarasota was the 40th most searched real estate market in the country in June, according to data released Tuesday by Realtor.com
Median list prices for homes in Sarasota-Bradenton hit $249,900 in June, a 6.38 percent increase from one year ago according to the data. The national median list price in June [...]

Jul

2012

Florida Again Dominates International Buying Activity

International buyers from Europe and other regions accounted for about 15 percent of Florida’s real estate sales before the 2007 recession, and they’ve represented the bulk of cash buyers in recent years. Now Europeans with extra cash are looking to invest even faster in second homes in Florida before the value of the Euro drops [...]

Jun

2012

Bradenton is Top Retirement Destination

Bradenton, FL, has been selected by Where to Retire, the only magazine in America geared toward helping people with retirement relocation decisions, as a top retirement destination and will be profiled in the July/August 2012 issue, available nationwide on June 19, 2012.
Where to Retire editor Mary Lu Abbott said Bradenton possesses qualities important to today’s [...]

May

2012

Sarasota ranked #1 destination for the Arts, Bradenton #2

AmericanStyle Magazine announced the Top 25 Cities for Art (ranked by population into three categories of small, mid-sized and large). Sarasota skyrocketed to first place on the list, and Bradenton claiming the #2 spot.
In the small cities category, which includes all cities with populations less than 100,000, Sarasota was ranked #5 for the past two [...]

american-style-top-25-arts-destinations2

May

2012

Pace of short sales increases

Short sales outnumbered foreclosure sales in 12 states in January, indicating that more homeowners are finding an easier way out of a distressed home loan, according to USA Today.
Short sales – which occur when a lender agrees to a home sale for less than what’s owed – were up 33 percent in January year-over-year, and [...]

Mar

2012

Fla. ranked first in 2011 home sales to Canada

SARASOTA, Fla. – The strength of the Canadian dollar, sustained low pricing in the U.S. housing market, and perceptions regarding the general economic outlook continue to encourage Canadians to purchase a home in the Sunbelt states.
According to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) 2011 Profile of International Buying Activity, Florida and Arizona are top choices because [...]