Walkable Communities

This morning I attended a very interesting presentation by Dan Burden, the guru of walking/biking communities.  Sarasota and Bradenton have a wealth of water ways and water fronts and water activities.  The livability of our communities depends on the future success of our civic leaders further developing these fine cities into walkable/bikable communities.  Sarasota, St. Armand's and Bradenton Beach have led the way with their wonderful walkability and Bradenton is working hard to develop it's riverfront and downtown.  There are lots of wonderful ideas, including public art and social gathering areas and volunteerism that need the support of the community.

Mr Burden has a wonderful web site http://www.walklive.org/ that I recommend.  This concept embraces many walks of life...public health, social services, transportation, commercial and residential real estate, merchants, store owners and governmental workers...all working in concert to encourage developing our downtowns as destinations and not as cities to  drive through. 

"Season"

Wow, the social calendar is in full swing around here! And the real estate market is coming back to life! Snowbirds are moving in and the hunt for real estate is beginning in earnest now for those who have been "hovering" for the past few years. The buyers are competing with investors for properties under 100K and cash is still king. Lots of interesting things are happening here so I will start blogging on a regular basis now.

One topic I am particularly interested in is the new building for the Manatee Players! With the downturn of the economy they have struggled to keep their donations coming in and the current season is still being held in the old building. Good things are starting to happen for them too and they are now beginning to finish up the exterior of the building. If you get a chance to drive by the new location be sure to check out their progress!

Catching Up on Real Estate News

It has been a slippery slope in the real estate industry since I last posted a blog! I couldn't figure out how to post my last one and so I dropped the idea, but now I'm back!! For 3 years now we have been in a declining real estate market. At first, hardly anyone realized it was any more than a pullback from the outrageous pricing in the previous two years, '04 and '05. Then, prediction after prediction came out by all sorts of organizations and economists stating we would recover by a certain date. Of course, in retrospect, none of that happened. Florida revamped it's portability of homestead exemptions, the government tried to shore up our increasingly devalued dollar and everyone in real estate related fields put on their game face and looked for signs of recovery. The car industry was faltering, employment was steadily increasing, particularly in related fields and people started missing payments on their mortgage. Little did we realize a year ago just how bad the defaults would become.

Some of those are valid and many are not. Often I show short sales and the owners are sitting there with two cars, wide screen tv's, gorgeous furnishings etc. More of us could afford these extras if we didn't have to pay a mortgage!! Then to add insult to injury, the same folks who aren't making their payments are destroying the home when they finally do leave. To the point where some banks actually offer to pay (to the same people who aren't paying them) an amount of cash for them to leave without damaging the property.

Please let me express my sincerest sympathy for the folks who lost their jobs, had medical problems or other major catastrophies in their lives and unwittingly fell on hard times. I, as well as most Realtors, have a special caring about our buyers and wish them a wonderful life in their new home. Likewise, it's shocking to see so many abuses of the lending institutions. Much finger pointing is going on but this is a shared responsibility by everyone involved. Aggressive lending, crooked appraisers, falsified applications, dummy leases...I've heard it all. This swirl of short sales and foreclosures has severely impacted the average buyer and seller. It has damaged many neighborhoods and neighbors and we will likely feel the impact of this for years to come.

Important Growth

Even though the real estate industry has been sluggish there are so many projects being reviewed and in various stages of planning that it's easy to forget the fear of overbuilding. Some are major neighborhoods being erased and rebuilt. Others are groupings of residential and commercial together. And some are commercial endeavors, several small and one very big one. Even Nordstrom's is considering a move here. If there's a nugget of truth in "build it and they will come" this area is heading for a population explosion. So many indicators of a vibrant growing area - the economic scene, low unemployment, new companies, expansion in the pharmaceutical sectors, public and private organizations working together to co-ordinate growth, better public transportation, emphasis on schools - all combine to make this a great place to live and play. If you want all the stats check with the Chamber of Commerce. I'm sure you will be impressed.