Turning the corner

Aha! She's a realtor...I'm getting those looks now as neighbors and others approach me about real estate and local questions. It's a great feeling since I felt fairly anonymous for a couple of months. But, it's also a sign that the tide is indeed turning and that Buyers are getting interested in the market again. I first noticed it on Mar 12, all of a sudden, the phones got busier and people started stopping by the office. There were people showing up at Open Houses too. Of course we have a backlog of 5 months of homes here, normal is 4 months and a very quick market as we have been having was only 2 and a half months. When the inventory gets low, prices skyrocket. Now the inventory is a little high but not precariously high. Sellers aren't able to escalate prices too high, but the odd phenomenen is that there are fewer houses selling, but the average sales price is continuing to climb. New Homes Sales are down and the Builders are very quickly responding by lowering their prices or adding value to the price with free upgrades, help on closing costs etc. They are also best friends with the Realtors again! Not quite fair, since some of them such as US Homes and Lennar (to name a couple) remained true to their established relationship with the Realtors. Many builders cut off the agents when the market is hot. I would say that more of them are also accepting Investors now than they were a couple of years ago. Once the inventory gets down to 4 months these incentives will probably be gone. Then it will be a more equal market. The fed rate hike isn't really causing problems for the Purchasers either since the current rates already had the expected hike built in to the price.

Lakewood Ranch, Florida

As a REALTOR, I've picked up information about the projects that make up this community and previewed some of them also. Yesterday I went to an event on "Main Street", brick sidewalks, fountain, great shops, by a lake. It's easy to see why some people just go straight to Lakewood Ranch to buy and don't shop other areas. The Welcome Center is full of information - all about "green" home construction and the different builder location and price ranges. Not only that but they are consistently friendly and helpful. Lakewood Ranch is one of the beneficiaries of the 44th Ave Extension that is planned. They have everything there, their own Corporate Center, medical facilities and even a college (Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine)LECOM, a polo field already exists and a hockey arena is yet to come!

Road Expansion in Bradenton

This county is really growing! And, they seem intent on keeping up with the roads needed to move people around. The new plan is to extend 44th Ave from the central part of town all the way to Lakewood Ranch. It's a great idea and gives the Lakewood Ranch people closer access to shopping and the beaches as well as another major corridor for traffic patterns. Right now there are only two major roads going east and west. That extension will go through some rural feeling communities so I'm sure that some of those owners will sell rather than have the land around them get developed. The area that seems to be intent on keeping larger lots and maintaining the rural feeling is Parrish.

Schools

While I'm spending time previewing and going to visit new homes sites I'm also learning about local shool information. They have a "Choice" system here as well as magnet schools. I've also visited one of the private schools. So far it has been very impressive, what's being offered, the dedication and the enthusiasm of the educators. There's a lot of pressure to pass the FCAT's but there's a magnet school that focuses on Communitcation first and scores second. Those children start a half hour a day in Spanish from K on to 5th grade. They write and produce TV shows, they include music, dance and recess in their day and generally allow them to be kids! My children are grown now but I have seen the emphasis on curricula so strong that sometimes you just wish the kids could go out and catch fireflies in the evening instead of such a busy schedule.