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 [...]

Sales of investment and vacation homes jumped in 2011, with the combined market share rising to the highest level since 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).
NAR’s 2012 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, covering existing- and new-home transactions in 2011, shows investment-home sales surged 64.5 percent to 1.23 million last year from [...]

The myth of rental restrictions in Manatee County
Bradenton – There is a broad discussion about the rental situation in Manatee County. As much as we respect the needs of the community, the current economic situation just forces more 2nd home owners to rent their property to vacationers espcially during spring season. Imposing rental restrictions also [...]

Though home sales dropped in Manatee and Sarasota counties, the number of homes under contract is surging, as the Bradenton Herald reports today:
“Pending home sales in Sarasota and Manatee opened the year on a surge, an indication the area is poised for a robust spring season.
While overall sales were down in both counties, January is typically [...]

Florida’s existing home and condominium markets reported higher sales in 2011 compared to the previous year, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®. It was the third consecutive year for statewide home and condo sales activity to end the year on a positive upswing – higher year-over-year sales also were reported at [...]

Luxury Sarasota Home Sales Dec 2011
Sarasota – Connecticut residents Neal and Sandra DeFeo bought the most expensive luxury property in Sarasota County in December – a 4,239-square-foot house off Shell Road on Siesta Key. The DeFeo’s paid $3.015 million, or $1.1 million less than Kevin D. Cogan paid in May 2006.
All told, 18 luxury homes [...]

In Florida and a handful of other states, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will sell homes it owns for only a $100 downpayment, providing buyers meet certain conditions.
Buyers must plan to live in the home and pay full list price. They must also take out an FHA loan, and standard underwriting rules [...]

Citizens Property Ins. raising costs by looking at details
but when you look into details you find, they are screwing their customers with intension.
Florida-owned Citizens Property Insurance can increase its rates no more than 10 percent per year, but the company has two options that allow it to raise rates without impacting that cap: nixing discounts [...]

Bradenton real estate home sales on the rise
MANATEE — Existing real estate home and condo sales rose throughout the Bradenton-Sarasota area in November to mirror upswings nationally. The Bradenton real estate market overcame an uptick in contract cancellations to continue the momentum built earlier this year. November is a historically busy month for housing and [...]

Starting Dec 1st, many homeowners with “underwater” mortgages can apply for a new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac refinance program geared for pretty much everyone who owes more on a home than it’s worth – including landlords and second-home owners.
The federal government’s previous foreclosure-prevention efforts, such as the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), lowered the [...]