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Forbes.com: Bradenton/ Sarasota is #1 destination of Americans hunting for homes

Bea Weiss, Real Estate Consultant, Attorney — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:53:59 +0000

More good news for the Bradenton/Sarasota Real Estate Market: Forbes.com names the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota area as #1 area where Americans are hunting for homes!

All of the top 10 cities “picking up strength” are in the Sun Belt. Florida dominates the list with five snow bird hubs in the top 10: the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota area (No.1), Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach (No. 4), Cape Coral-Fort Myers (No. 5), West Palm Beach-Boca Raton (No. 6), and Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford (No. 10).

In Bradenton a little over six times as many people from outside the area were looking for properties there as the number of people living there looking for properties elsewhere.

Another sign of improving health in the Florida real estate market: Existing home sales along the coasts picked up somewhat dramatically this year, even in the slower summer and early fall months.

…both investors looking to purchase rental properties and Baby Boomers scouting for vacation and/or retirement properties are hunting for bargains in floundering housing markets in Florida and California. “Part of the long term trend is Baby Boomers moving toward retirement, and some of those that put off their searches while home prices were skyrocketing in the Sun Belt, are now looking again because prices have fallen so much.”

Give us a call at 941866.1666 if we can help you buy or sell a property in Bradenton / Sarasota, Florida.

Best Place to Live in Florida: Sarasota!

Bea Weiss, Real Estate Consultant, Attorney — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:18:21 +0000

Looking for a new place to call home? Florida Travel + Life picked Sarasota as #1 place to live in Florida!

Here is what they have to say about why Sarasota made the top of the list:

Sarasota has long lured the gifted and creative to its Gulf of Mexico shores. Perhaps it’s the turquoise-tinged water, the white-sand beaches or maybe those coastline-hugging barrier islands that inspire the imagination and even lead to reinvention. It happened to Californian Kathy Kittinger, a corporate executive turned photographer, who followed family here in 2005 and quickly piqued local curiosity as she converted the grounds of a bungalow in the Towles Court arts colony into her outdoor garden studio. “Everyone wanted to come in and stay,” she says. “Then they wanted to buy my accessories and furniture.” The Garden Room (a small, quaint cafe and gift shop) at Shoogie Boogies was born. “I never dreamed I’d be a photographer, let alone a cafe owner,” she says.

Dreams, however, are the stuff of Sarasota history. Its earliest pioneers arrived in the 1840s, tempted by water teeming with fish and prospects of cattle and citrus farming. Soon the city began enticing wealthy wintertime residents like John and Mable Ringling. The circus king of America was an avid land developer of the Sarasota Keys in the 1920s; the Ringlings were also passionate art collectors. Their bayside home, Cà d’Zan, and the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art remain city landmarks.

“Sarasota has always had a sought-after lifestyle,” says Michael Moulton, a realtor with Michael Saunders & Co. “Sarasota has the amenities and culture of a city of 1.5 million people [although it has just under 52,000 residents], and buyers get more bang for their buck here,” Moulton says. “We’re on the radar for anyone considering Florida as the place to retire or semiretire.” That was the case for noted author John Jakes, who made the transition from winter resident to full timer last December. “Sarasota’s professional theaters are first-rate and the quality of our opera house is incredible for a small city,” says Jakes, whose Civil War series was adapted into the 1980s TV miniseries North and South. “I always thought I’d end up here.”

Explore Sarasota and Her Islands
Sarasota’s five main barrier islands — Longboat, Lido, St. Armands, Bird and Siesta — are called keys. Connected to downtown by the John Ringling Causeway, here wealthy, often famous, residents live nestled between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf beaches. Northernmost Longboat Key boasts prime real estate, reinforced by limited public beach access and the Longboat Key Club & Resort where annual and seasonal memberships are available to nonresidents. Longboat, Moulton explains, also has less traffic than Lido and Siesta, which have large public beaches.

Prices on Longboat have dipped as low as $350,000 for an older two-bedroom, two-bath Gulf-view condo; $3 million buys into newer mid-rise buildings En Provence and La Firenza. St. Armands and Lido keys, separated by a barely noticeable canal, offer a mix of older motels turned timeshares, bungalows, a handful of 1920s homes built during Ringling’s reign, and midcentury Sarasota School of Architecture masterpieces. At Lido’s southern tip, Ritz-Carlton Beach Residences start at $1.5 million. Homes on St. Armands Key rim the circle, a Ringling-created garden with Italian statuary that offers shops and restaurants like Café L’Europe, once the place to be seen, says Betsy Coolidge, whose visit 25 years ago led to her marrying one of its owners.

Bird Key, a man-made island between downtown and St. Armands, has a yacht club and just 510 homes — all single-family, and one-third of them on the bay or wide canals. Home to TV talk show host Jerry Springer, the key has nonwater properties that are half their former $1 million asking price. Many will fall to the raze-and-rebuild trend seen in Miami. Homes on the bay start around $3 million, says Moulton, who resides here.

Siesta Key is an island unto itself, literally and figuratively. “You’re going to get 25 to 30 percent more house on Siesta than Longboat for the same price,” Moulton says. Its northernmost access is a mile or so from the causeway, and its easygoing ambience is embodied by Siesta Key Village, with places like the Siesta Key Oyster Bar and Sunday drum circles on its powdery sands. Beach “experts” of all sorts have proclaimed Siesta Key’s beach one of the best in the country.

Bayfront communities in coveted locations just west of U.S. Highway 41 include “Harbor Acres’ McMansions and Cherokee Park, where a lot of Sarasota’s old money lives,” Moulton says. Both are close to Southside Village, home to tea boutique Spice Girls, Morton’s Gourmet Market and Libby’s Café + Bar. Sarasota’s downtown condos offer views of Sarasota Bay and range from $300,000 (usually in need of a major rehab) to $1 million-plus. “The typical downtown condo buyer is coming from a single-family home on the islands,” Moulton says. These residents can walk to Marina Jack or to the six-block downtown, where they find homegrown boutiques like Belle de Jour and plenty of restaurants, including newcomer Brasserie Belge.

The number of available homes is now at its lowest since 2008. “The overall market is just under six months inventory,” Moulton says, and some neighborhoods could soon experience an uptick in pricing, making Sarasota a good buy now.

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Wall Street Journal: Today’s market once-in-lifetime opportunity

Bea Weiss, Real Estate Consultant, Attorney — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 22:27:11 +0000

The monthly cost of owning a home is more affordable now than in the past 15 years, and is less expensive than renting in numerous cities, according to The Wall Street Journal’s third-quarter survey.

Low home prices mixed with low mortgage rates – hovering at 4 percent or lower – create an appealing buyer’s market, analysts say. For example, buyers today have a 77 percent increase in their borrowing power compared to 1991, according to Dan Green, a loan officer with Waterstone Mortgage in Cincinnati. He says that in 1991 a $1,700 mortgage payment allowed a borrower to take out a $200,000 mortgage; today, at current interest rates, the homebuyer can get a $350,000 loan for that same monthly mortgage payment.

In 12 our of 28 cities tracked by The Wall Street Journal, monthly mortgage payments on a median-priced home – including taxes and insurance – were lower than the average rent levels.

In Atlanta, owning was the most favorable compared to renting. The monthly rent on a median-priced home there was $539 during the third quarter (with a 20 percent downpayment) compared to the average asking rent, which averaged $840, according to data provided by Marcus & Millichap.

Nationwide, apartment rents are expected to rise by about 4 percent this year, which may make the owning vs. renting picture tilt even higher, according to some analysts.

Despite the appealing housing picture for homebuyers, some continue to stay on the sidelines, unable to sell their current home, qualify for a mortgage due to the tighter credit requirements or keep a steady job, housing experts say.

Source: “Stronger Lure for Prospective Home Buyers,” The Wall Street Journal

Here is the full article:

Home prices and mortgage rates have fallen so far that the monthly cost of owning a home is more affordable than at any point in the past 15 years and is less expensive than renting in a growing number of cities.

The Wall Street Journal’s third-quarter survey of housing-market conditions in 28 of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas found that home values declined in all but five markets compared with the second quarter, according to data from Zillow Inc. Meanwhile, rent levels have risen briskly across the country and mortgage rates, hovering around 4%, are the lowest in six decades.

As a result, monthly mortgage payments on the median priced home—including taxes and insurance—are lower than the average rent levels in 12 metro areas, according to data compiled for The Wall Street Journal by Marcus & Millichap, a real-estate brokerage that tracked 27 metro areas. It remains less expensive to rent than to buy in 15 cities. But affordability hasn’t done much to lift the sagging housing sector because many would-be buyers are unwilling to purchase a home or unable to qualify for a mortgage.

“It’s one of the most striking developments of the housing downturn,” said Paul Dales, an economist at Capital Economics. “The initial building blocks for a recovery are in place, but the legacy of the recession is really preventing households from taking advantage.”

In Atlanta, which had the most favorable values for owning versus renting, the monthly payment on the average home was $539 assuming a 20% down payment during the third quarter. By contrast, the average asking rent stood at $840, according to the Marcus & Millichap data.

But real estate agents and economists say the trend hasn’t boosted demand. That is because affordability alone hasn’t been enough to overcome the obstacles in the way of a housing recovery. Some homeowners who would like to move up to

Also, while the monthly carrying costs on a mortgage are lower than average rents in some cities, home ownership carries other costs—including taxes, insurance, homeowner association dues and maintenance—which may dissuade some potential owners.

Other would-be buyers can’t qualify for mortgages because lending conditions are tight or because they don’t have enough equity in their current homes to use as a down payments. “The reality of coming up with the down payment and the loan-qualification standards makes things much different than the raw numbers suggest,” says Hessam Nadji, managing director of Marcus & Millichap. And even those who may qualify remain skittish about buying property in a market where prices could fall amid foreclosures and weak job growth.

Ryan Young illustrates the point. He is under contract to buy a three-bedroom home in Washington Grove, Md., that will have monthly mortgage, tax, and insurance costs for around $150 less than the $1,900 he is paying to rent a slightly smaller house in Bethesda, Md. He qualified for a 30-year mortgage with a 3.95% fixed rate. Still, Mr. Young says he is cautious about owning his first home with the prospect of future price declines. “Buying a house is not a good financial decision, per se, but we needed a bigger place,” said the 35-year-old scientist, “and we don’t want to move every couple of years into a new rental.”

Other cities where owning is now cheaper than renting include Detroit, Minneapolis, Orlando, Las Vegas, Miami, St. Louis, Chicago and Phoenix.

Home ownership is also looking more affordable because after several years of declines, apartment rents will rise by around 4% this year, says Mr. Nadji. He says rents are poised “to pick up even more momentum across the country next year.”

Even cities where it is still cheaper to rent than own have seen big boosts in affordability. In San Diego, the monthly cost of owning a home has averaged around 83% more than renting over the past two decades. During the third quarter, owning was 22% more expensive than renting, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

A new development in Canonsburg, Pa. The inventory of homes on the market has fallen from levels seen a year ago, as prices and mortgage rates continued to decline.

Mortgage rates are a big reason why affordability continues to improve. In 1991, a $1,700 mortgage payment allowed a borrower to take out a $200,000 mortgage. Today, it gets that homeowner a $350,000 loan, a 77% increase in borrowing power, says Dan Green, a loan officer with Waterstone Mortgage, in Cincinnati. At the same time, low mortgage rates aren’t spurring sales because few analysts expect rates to rise anytime soon. The Federal Reserve in August said it would keep rates at ultralow levels for two years. In a normal interest rate cycle, “when they go low, they don’t stay for very long, and people jump in,” said Mr. Dales. “This time, there is no urgency.”

Affordability could continue to improve as prices slide even lower in coming months. Price declines are likely because the share of “distressed” sales, including bank-owned foreclosures, tend to rise in the winter, when traditional sales activity cools. Banks are often much quicker to cut prices to unload properties quickly, which means that the greater the share of “distressed” sales, the more prices tend to fall.

One hopeful sign is that inventories have fallen from their bloated levels of one year ago. All 28 cities in The Wall Street Journal’s latest survey saw homes listed for sale fall from one year ago, when markets were reeling with a substantial overhang of properties amid a big drop in demand. Visible inventory was down sharply in several markets, including by almost half in Miami and 40% in Phoenix.

Low inventories have spurred more bidding wars at the low end of the market as investors compete for homes that they can convert into rentals. In Sacramento, it would take just 2.5 months to sell the listed inventory at the current sales pace. Las Vegas has a 4.3 month supply of inventory, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. But the potential supply of homes is much bigger because banks have yet to process hundreds of thousands of potential foreclosures.

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MSNBC Today Show: Time to Buy Sarasota!

Bea Weiss, Real Estate Consultant, Attorney — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:04:21 +0000

Sarasota got featured on the Today Show as the #1 market where it is time to buy!

„Today“ contributor and Real Estate Expert Barbara Corcoran picked the cities where prices have dropped the most during the downturn, but in the last quarter, prices are shooting up.

So if you´re in search of a home or investment property in Sarasota and want the biggest bang for your bucks call us today at 941.866.1666. We´re here to help!

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Good news for Florida Real Estate

Bea Weiss, Real Estate Consultant, Attorney — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:44:39 +0000

Though the past four years have seen many cities suffering from large numbers of foreclosures and a loss in home values, ten of these real estate markets are now leading the nation towards a general recovery and stability of the housing sector. The six markets included – Miami, Orlando, Ft. Myers/Cape Coral, Ft. Lauderdale, Sarasota/Bradenton & Lakeland/Winter Haven.

Here is Realtor.com’s opinion of the Sarasota FL real estate market:

Sarasota-Bradenton, FL: A total of 11 percent of all foreign buyers in Florida are in Sarasota-Bradenton specifically. Number six on the turnaround report, the market has seen a list prices increase of more than 17 percent year-0ver-year and a decrease of inventory of 32 percent according to the Realtor.com October data. The market still has a long way to go, after losing more than 55 percent of home values from 2006 to the second quarter of 2011 due to foreclosures.

The Realtor.com analysis found that:

• Sarasota-Bradenton attracted 11 percent of Florida’s international buyers.

• List prices in the market are up 17.5 percent from 2010.

• The number of days a home spends on the market before being sold is down 32 percent.

Let’s take a closer look at all markets:

Miami, FL: The number one town on the report, Miami has gone from being one of the first victims of the subprime crash to having a healthy inventory that is only half the size from a year ago. Today, Miami is only reporting one foreclosure for every 407 homes, compared to the national rate of one per every 213. And, condo sales have increased 79 percent in the first five months of this year, largely due to an influx of foreign investors.

Orlando, FL: Ranked second on the report, Orlando leads the nation in the ratio of Realtor.com searches to listings. Inventory has also obtained a balance with demand. Foreclosures hurt the market in 2007-08, but foreclosures in Orlando were down 58 percent in September, compared to last year.

Fort Myers-Cape Coral, FL: Median prices in Fort Myers-Cape Coral have increased almost 33% year-over-year, according to Realtor.com’s October 2011 Real Estate Trend Data. In addition, foreclosures are down–only one in 313 homes in September–while inventory has been reduced and foreign buyers have been attracted to the area’s real estate prices. The metro ranked third on the turnaround report.

Fort Lauderdale: FL: A decrease in inventory coupled with an uptick in prices earns Fort Lauderdale the number five spot on the report. Inventory decreased almost 38 percent year-over-year, according to Realtor.com’s October data report. Prices have fallen about 46 percent since 2006, but are now going up.

Sarasota-Bradenton, FL: A total of 11 percent of all foreign buyers in Florida are in Sarasota-Bradenton specifically. Number six on the turnaround report, the market has seen a list prices increase of more than 17 percent year-0ver-year and a decrease of inventory of 32 percent according to the Realtor.com October data. The market still has a long way to go, after losing more than 55 percent of home values from 2006 to the second quarter of 2011 due to foreclosures.

Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL: A year ago, Lakeland-Winter Haven topped national foreclosure filing lists, but now the area’s distressed sale market share has decreased 46 percent. The area–ranked 7th on the turnaround list–has seen total listings decreased more than 36 percent year-over-year and median age of inventory decrease more than 17 percent, according to Realtor.com’s October data. Prices are also up 12 percent compared to last October.

Realtor.com’s Top Ten Turnaround Town Report is compiled using a formula based on price appreciation, changes in inventory, median age of inventory, searches by Realtor.com visitors, and unemployment data.

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More activity in the ‘distressed property’ real estate market

Bea Weiss, Real Estate Consultant, Attorney — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:54:55 +0000

After a year of fewer foreclosures, as bankers reeled from revelations that they were falsifying documents in foreclosure cases, the latest monthly numbers suggest banks are starting to repossess houses again.

Here is an excerpt of an interesting article from the Bradenton Herald on this topic:

The big banks are back in the foreclosure business.

In October, foreclosure actions rose 44 percent from the month before in Charlotte County, 20 percent in Sarasota County, 37 percent for Florida and 7 percent for the country as a whole, according to data from RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif., market research firm.

Only Manatee County bucked the state and national trend. Its foreclosure actions fell 25 percent from September.

The overall rise in foreclosures was welcomed by real estate agents who have been frustrated by what they view as artificial supply shortages in the face of strong investor demand. But if foreclosure filings keep increasing in the coming months — as expected — it could drive home prices down again and may make it even more difficult for non-distressed owners to sell.

What could make the situation worse before it gets better, experts say, is an increasing number of underwater homeowners don’t see the point of struggling any longer.

“People are worn out and the stigma tied to foreclosure is gone,” Shari Olefson, an attorney with Fowler White and author of “Foreclosure Nation: Mortgaging the American Dream.” “At cocktails they are no longer embarrassed if they have stopped paying, they are embarrassed if they are still paying. And they are being empowered by the Occupy Wall Street movement.”

For the time being, real estate agents are glad fresh supplies of foreclosures are coming on the market.

Court records show that the 10 largest lenders in Sarasota and Manatee counties filed 591 early-stage, or lis pendens, actions in October — a 32 percent increase from the 447 filed in September.

Bank of America — the owner of Countrywide — led the way with 170 early-stage filings, compared with 118 the month before.

At the same time, short sales — in which banks permit owners to sell properties for less than they owe on their mortgages — also are on the upswing.

Across the country, 230,678 foreclosure actions were filed in October, a 7 percent increase from the previous month, but still down nearly 31 percent from October 2011.

Nevada, California, Arizona and Florida posted the top state foreclosure rates.

One in every 180 Nevada housing units had a foreclosure filing during October — more than three times the national average.

California came in second with one out of every 243 housing units. Arizona was third with one out every 259 and Florida was fourth with one out of every 268.

Read the full story

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Bradenton/Sarasota area on list of recession resistant cities

Bea Weiss, Real Estate Consultant, Attorney — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:59:13 +0000

Forbes - using Zillow data - recently created a list of “America’s Recession-Resistant Cities For Real Estate.” Florida, one of the states to suffer most from the real estate boom and bust, contributes six cities to our list – more than any other state. Sarasota came in on #7!

Here are some excerpts from a Sarasota Herald article covering that topic:

To some, it might seem surprising that a business magazine catering to wealthy readers would name Sarasota-Bradenton and Punta Gorda on its list of “America’s Recession-Resistant Cities For Real Estate.”

But Forbes’ recognition this month for a region that has suffered mightily in the Great Recession is more a study of the present than the past.

To real estate professionals and other observers in Southwest Florida, there has been a clear stabilization in pricing for 2011. Admittedly, that has happened during a sizeable drop in the supply of distressed properties because of the robosigning crisis.

Teaming up with Zillow.com, the real estate analysis site, Forbes calculated median sales prices by quarter for homes, condominiums and apartments at all price points in more than 154 communities nationwide.

The resulting list had five Florida cities: Fort Myers at No. 2, Port St. Lucie at 6, Sarasota at 7, Destin at 10 and Punta Gorda at 18. That was more than any other state.

“The Florida metro areas have really paid their dues, coming off quite a lot since 2006 in terms of home values,” Zillow economist Svenja Gudell told Forbes. “We are finally seeing those numbers start to stabilize.”

In Fort Myers, for examples, Forbes said that prices have been steadily appreciating — and at a faster rate in the most recent quarter — since November. A similar phenomenon has occurred in the Sarasota-Bradenton and Charlotte County-North markets.

“We are starting to see some organic growth that can’t be traced back to tax credits, whereas in 2010 we saw some home value appreciation simply because of them,” Gudell said.

Give us a call at 941.866.1666 if we can help you buy or sell a home in the Bradenton / Sarasota area.

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Island tourism continues upward trend

Bea Weiss, Real Estate Consultant, Attorney — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 20:31:51 +0000

Good news for all owners of vacation homes on the island:

Visits to the Anna Maria Island/Longboat Key area showed no sign of decline in June, tourism rose 6.5 percent that month compared with June 2010, according to the latest Research Data Services monthly tourism report for the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The RDS reported 47,500 visitors came to the area in June, while 44,600 were reported in June 2010.

Occupancy of Island and Longboat Key accommodations was 61.5 percent in June 2011, while June 2010 occupancy was reported at 58.2 percent.

It was all good news for Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce president Mary Ann Brockman.

“I haven’t had any complaints about the summer season. Everyone I talked to said it was going great, and I really expect July and August will also be up from last year,” Brockman said.

Through the first six months of this year, visitor arrivals to the AMI/LBK area are up 3.5 percent from the same period in 2010. The RDS reported a total of 275,500 visitors through June this year against 266,300 for the first half of 2010.

In addition to a tourism boost in June, economic spending also rose, climbing 11.3 percent from the $24.8 million in direct tourism expenditures reported in June 2010 to $27.6 million spent in June this year.

Direct expenditures for the year-to-date were up 5.5 percent through June 2011 compared with the first six months of 2010. The RDS reported $218.3 million in direct spending for the first half of 2011, while direct spending in the first six months of 2010 was $206.9 million.

90.9 percent of visitors said they would return for another vacation, while 93.6 percent said they would recommend Anna Maria Island as a vacation destination to friends.

The top five attributes for an Island vacation listed by vacationers were beautiful beaches at No 1, good food and restaurants was No. 2, a clean and unspoiled environment was third, complete relaxation was fourth, and clear, blue water was No. 5. Multiple choices were allowed in the survey.

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Ten Tax Tips for Individuals Who Are Moving This Summer

Bea Weiss, Real Estate Consultant, Attorney — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 19:11:43 +0000

Summertime is a popular time for people with children to move since school is out. Moving can be expensive, but the IRS offers 10 tax tips on deducting some of those expenses if your move is related to starting a new job or a new job location.

Move must be closely related to start of work Generally, you can consider moving expenses incurred within one year from the date you first reported to a new location, as closely related in time to the start of work.
Distance Test Your move meets the distance test if your new main job location is at least 50 miles farther from your former home than your previous job location was.
Time Test You must work full time for at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months after you arrive in the general area of your new job location, or at least 78 weeks during the first 24 months if you are self-employed. If your income tax return is due before you’ve satisfied this requirement, you can still deduct your allowable moving expenses if you expect to meet the time test in the following years.
Travel You can deduct lodging expenses for yourself and household members while moving from your former home to your new home. You can also deduct transportation expenses, including airfare, vehicle mileage, parking fees and tolls you pay to move, but you can only deduct one trip per person.
Household goods You can deduct the cost of packing, crating and transporting your household goods and personal property. You may be able to include the cost of storing and insuring these items while in transit.
Utilities You can deduct the costs of connecting or disconnecting utilities.
Nondeductible expenses You cannot deduct as moving expenses: any part of the purchase price of your new home, car tags, drivers license, costs of buying or selling a home, expenses of entering into or breaking a lease, security deposits and storage charges except those incurred in transit.
Form You can deduct only those expenses that are reasonable for the circumstances of your move. To figure the amount of your moving expense deduction use Form 3903, Moving Expenses.
Reimbursed expenses If your employer reimburses you for the cost of the move, the reimbursement may have to be included on your income tax return.
Update your address When you move, be sure to update your address with the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service to ensure you receive refunds or correspondence from the IRS. Use Form 8822, Change of Address, to notify the IRS.

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Florida leads in terms of attracting foreign buyers

Bea Weiss, Real Estate Consultant, Attorney — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:17:26 +0000

Most states report some degree of international buying activity. Yet Florida alone accounts for 58% of all sales to international buyers. Moreover, Florida’s share—presently at 31.0%—is higher than the combined shares of California (12.0%), Texas (9.0%) and Arizona (6.0%). This represents a threefold increase in international property transactions in just four years. In 2007, Florida enjoyed only 10% of international sales.

Typically, international buyers spend more per property too. The average price paid by international buyers was $315,000 compared with the overall U.S. average of $218,000.

Another interesting fact is that 62 percent of international purchases are reported as being all cash. This percentage is significantly higher than all-cash purchases for domestic buyers.

REALTORS participating in the survey furthermore reported that their clients often found them online or through their company’s system of international referrals. This is arguably the most important point in the survey for would-be sellers in the process of choosing a Real Estate Agent.

With international buyers so integral to our market, make sure to list your property with a true international Real Estate Company to achieve the best result. Contact us today if you are interested in selling your home.

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Sea to Sky Realty . Weiss International » buy

Forbes.com: Bradenton/ Sarasota is #1 destination of Americans hunting for homes

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Here is Realtor.com’s opinion of the Sarasota FL real estate market:

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