by admin | Sep 25, 2023
From the Desk of Brian Andrus… Greetings, What should someone apply to BOTH residential and commercial markets? Local expertise and experience. One should use it when becoming engaged in either market in our area. There are factors that affect every deal, and every deal is different. I oversee a lot of transactions myself and from our associates, and I learn something from each one. One can talk about it (media, associates, etc.) as it is interesting. But getting a deal actually DONE and DONE WELL requires evaluation of a number of factors. Having long local experience and expertise in our area, I still take each property in a new unit of time. Price increases/decreases, construction quality, construction costs, repair costs, etc. differ in our own unique marketplace. We are in a vibrant and growing area and the market changes regularly. All the while we continue to grow with 800+ new additions daily to the Florida population. Here are some residential real estate highlights: • There starts to be a bit more inventory, and then that disappears through sales. The demand exists and the supply lacks. What’s up? The problem, as you likely already know, is many potential sellers don’t want to sell and thus end up becoming challenged when looking for a new place. It also may be the seller does not want to give up a low-interest-rate loan. • I checked with a local broker today and found a 6.75% interest rate on a $700,000 mortgage. That is for a 30-year amortized loan. If you amortize less (such as 15, 20, or 25 years) the interest rate goes...
by admin | Jun 17, 2015
June 17, 2015 Newsletter – Here’s a hopefully useful update. There have been some changes in trends and recent information that may be of interest to you. I’ll start with the question I am often asked. What’s the real estate market like in the Clearwater area? Okay, that’s too general, so let’s split it up into various types of properties – Single Family Homes and Townhomes/Condos. Let’s also look at the type of sales (regular or traditional; Foreclosures and Short Sales). This will enable us to better answer the question. Residential – Single Family Homes The local county – Pinellas County – consists of the cities of Clearwater, Belleair, St. Petersburg, Safety Harbor, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs and more. In April 2015 there were of 985 single-family homes sold in the traditional manner – meaning not via a foreclosure or as a bank owned property or as a short sale (one where the property is being sold “short” of what is owed on its mortgages). This is a whopping 32% increase over the sales in April of 2014. That’s one heckava increase. The main reasons for this increase include lenders now being more active with more loan programs (and low rates still continue!), there is an increase of “For Sale” inventory and real estate is viewed again by many as a viable investment. If anyone watches TV, there is an increase in advertising. For those who look at newspapers, there is much more coverage on the subject. And online advertisers and marketing companies have increased dramatically and are competing for the business of real estate professionals as well as the public. Short Sales of Residential Homes This used to be a hot arena of activity. Short...
