Real Estate Views from St Pete

Ray Saenz blogged this morning about appraisers and agents. Linda Davis pointed out that when she has a unique situation, she calls an appraiser to talk about it. So do I.

Then how do get an appraiser willing to take your call on a busy day, and spend a few minutes going over the issue you have - i.e., How would you appraise the wonderful finished space in the attic which has very little standupspace? We often have unique situation that will affect how we price the property for the market.

It's a case of What Goes Around, Comes Around.  We frequently get calls from appraisers, generally to ask the condition of a property we have listed or sold, its amenities, or about a house in a neighborhood we farm. Do you take time out of your crazy day to return the appraiser's call promptly? To take the time to answer his questions? Often his appraisal will be due in a couple hours, so  she needs the information now, not tomorrow. When you are prompt and helpful to them, they will be to you. It's a 2 way street.

 Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.

St Petersburg, Florida is getting greener. Mayor Rick Baker and the City Council declared their intention to make St Pete, the Sunshine City, a "green city". Through LEED they now have earned Silver status and are now pursuing Platinum status.

Yes, janeAnne, we're going green, too.

We have green homes, green builders and green developments in the Tampa Bay area. A St Pete project proposed by Grady Pridgen is planned with a "green" roof.

From the air, St. Pete shows even more green trees than you're aware of when you're walking around. For years it's been a priority to plant trees and flowering bushes in the median of I-275 and along neighborhood streets.  Now we're not just green outside, we're making our buildings green as well.

We know that more people are concerned about Green, and that they are looking for Green homes - soon they'll be looking for Green cities as well.

 Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

The St. Petersburg Museum of History in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, currently has an exhibit on historic neighborhoods Roser Park, Ingleside, and Bartlett Park, which will be open through December 31, 2006.

To raise funds for the Museum as well as the Ingleside Homeowner's neighborhood, they are holding "A December to Remember at Ingleside" event on December 3, 2006 from 6-9 pm.  13 homes will be on tour, all in their holiday attire. After the tour there is food and entertainment at The Mayor's Mansion (a historic one, not the current one). $35 tickets are available through the Museum.

This neighborhood is just south of Bayfront Hospital and All Children's Hospital, near the bay and downtown St. Petersburg. There are large and small homes, old and new. The one in the photo is a new home we sold this year to a young couple relocating from Seattle. It has the feel of the older homes in the area, is on a lot with mature landscaping, has lots of space and charm, with the amenities of a new home. 

Roser Park and Ingleside are two of the historic neighborhood surrounding downtown St. Pete - within a 5 minute drive. Close to the bustle and excitement, but feeling peaceful and "away from it all".

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

Coming Soon to downtown St. Pete

The Grand Bohemian St. Petersburg, Florida will be built just a block from my office, where I can easily take advantage of the restaurants and lounges that front on the street, check out the art galleries there, and listen to the nightly piano music.  Recently revised to have more hotel rooms, this reduces the condos from 82 to 54. Since the condo units will start on the 21st floor, there will be some great water views, despite the building being a block and a half from the bay.

These condos are all about lifestyle - and living the life of Eloise, the six year old girl living in the Plaza Hotel in New York - i.e., having staff at your beck and call, to spoil you and cater to you. These condos are for people who have less time than money. Prices start above $500,000 and go into the millions, and the project is expected to be ready for occupancy in 2009.

These condos-over-hotels (as opposed to condo hotels, which are totally different) are increasingly popular and generally sell at a 25% premium.  In other areas they are selling for $3,000/sq ft including the new W in Miami's South Beach. M40 in New York is said to be selling for up to $4,200/sq ft.

Richard Kessler's Grand Bohemian Hotel in Orlando recently went independent, after winning the Top Westin in the world award for the last four consecutive years.

This will be an exciting opportunity, and 54 owners should be very happy.

 Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.  

Kristal's blog this morning about the train stop by the mall from which You Can't Get There From Here brought to mind how much perception affects transportation issues. People love to ride a trolley, but don't want to ride a bus.  It's ok to commute by train, but not by bus.  When you're visiting a city in Europe it's ok to walk to blocks to the restaurant, but in America we want to drive (or take a cab). Funny.

The Looper Trolley here in downtown St. Petersburg It runs every 15 minutes daily from 10 am to 5 pm, and on Fridays and Saturdays it runs every 20 minutes from 5 pm to 11 pm. The fare is 25 cents, 10 cents for seniors. From the trolley you can stop at Baywalk for shopping, and reach a hotels, restaurants, museums, the post office, Publix grocery store, the USF campus - you can be a block from the hospitals, and you can connect with a trolley that takes you to the beach, and at the beach you can connect to a trolley that runs all along the beaches, from Pass-A-Grille to Clearwater Beach (additional charges for the beach runs). You can take it to the Arts Gallery Nights or the weekly Farmers Market. It even goes right by my office, though I'd need to walk across the street to get to its stop at BayWalk.

Or - you can walk. 

 Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.  

You can call it Green or you can call it Feng Shui or you can call it just common sense, but in our area of Florida, it's great when the back of your home faces south.

Many Europeans are sun lovers and when they come for the winter they want sun - they'll often ask for a house with the rear facing south, and those are the only ones they want to look at.  Americans moving from other parts of the country often don't consider which way the home is facing.

Just before Thanksgiving I listed a home in my waterfront neighborhood in St. Pete, (two houses away from me, in fact) for the third time over the course of several years.  I immediately thought of a couple renting on the north side of the street who wanted open living areas, an updated home, soaring ceilings, and a great view. Before the sign company could get the sign up, I showed it to them and they loved it.

Point of this post, though, is something that came up when we were walking to the listing (how's that for being green and saving energy?) and I was mentioning that the rear faced south, so that the  patio, pool, hot tub and rear yard were always sunny in the winter. One of them said, I guess facing south would be good - I see so many of my neighbors sitting in chairs at the open end of their garage, looking south. I smiled and commented that she only saw neighbors on the north side of the street doing that - the ones on the south side of the street were enjoying the sun from their lanais, not their garages. They thought about it, and it made lots of sense. 

Homes facing east of west are sunny part of the day and in the shade the rest of the day. Those facing north or south get more sun during all of the day, and don't get the sun glaring from the water.  The sun here takes about a 45 degree swing from north to south depending on the time of year. In the winter, the sun is at its south end, and a bit lower, so during the cooler weather we have the warm sun bringing sunshine and warmth, and lighting up the interior of the house. During the hot summer, the sun has swung north, so we have sunlight all day, but no direct sun, as it's shining down into the homes on the north side of the street.

Most people never ask about facing, or the sun - so don't get an answer.  That's one of the reasons it's so important to work with a REALTOR® who really knows the area, and who will suggest questions that you haven't thought to ask.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.    

For many, many years we've celebrated Thanksgiving on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. It once had reasons - Tami would spend Thanksgiving Day volunteering at a dinner for the less fortunate (founder Rosa felt that those attending should be served, not go through a buffet line, and that they should have a glass of wine with their meal, if they chose). We were thankful for so many things, what difference did it make it we celebrated a few days early. Rusty and Patricia preferred to start their camping long wekend on Wednesday instead of Friday so it worked well for them.

Along the way we found many reasons to continue the tradition: the stores aren't as crowded and there are more selections; if you forget something the store is still open; if there are family conflicts over which side of the family gets Thanksgiving, this eliminated the conflict; and we can all relax and enjoy a quiet day on Thursday - no cooking, no cleanup, no obligations. We're thankful for the day of rest.

True to form, Tami cooked the turkey (can't remember how long she's done this, certainly over 20 years) - she arrived at 7 am on Sunday morning to chop the ingredients that make the stuffing that stuffed the turkey that went in the oven....well, you get the idea. We had 15 for dinner (close family, extended family, and a few "familyless" friends who've shared the day with us for years. By mid-afternoon we filled our plates and ate  beside the pool, watching the boats go by. Food, shelter, meaningful work, friends, family, love - we are very rich, and are thankful for it.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.    Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.   

Thanks also to Matt and group for bringing us ActiveRain this year, and to all the ActiveRain participants who've enriched my life through their blogging, and e-mails, and phone calls.

Happy Thanksgiving to All, and to all a Good Day!

Agents have recently been notified by our Association of Realtors that Florida state law does not allow any signs to be placed in the right of way (which, of course, is where most signs ARE placed). We've been notified that the local governments will be taking the signs, and also issuing fines.  They add, we CAN put signs on private property, and remind us that this must be with the permission of the owner.

This takes me back to when I was first in real estate, when I would always knock on the door of the corner homes where I wanted to place directional signs and ask if they would give me permission. Some, in a neighborhood I farmed and help frequent opens, would say - sure, and in the future you don't need to ask (bother me?), just put it there.  If they say no? then try other neighbors across the street.  (It's also nice to send them a nice thank you note the next day).

A realtor-owner of two highrise condominium units that I recently listed here in downtown St Petersburg, Florida, was planning to hold an Open House on his units. When he checked with the condo association, they would not allow a sign on the condo property and suggested that he just put the sign in the right of way. When he called me with this "good news" I pointed out that this was illegal, and suggested that he park his car in front of the condo tower and put his Open House directional sign on his car, not touching the ground. He even improved on that - he opened the sun room on top of his Mercedes, and had the Open House sign sticking out of that, on top of his car.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.   

Sellers often complain that Open Houses allow nosy neighbors a chance to see their house. I think that's good, not bad, as many neighbors know people that want to move in to the community. Take advantage of the neighbor curiosity -

Let's say you're planning to enter the property into the MLS on a Friday, and that's when the sign will be going up. Call the neighbors before either of those happen (or send a note, or best of all, knock on their door) and invite them to a Private Preview Open House, with wine and cheese, on Thursday evening - one that's by invitation only, and just for neighbors.  They get to be the "first to know", they may have buyers, and you get to meet some of the neighbors. How's that for a Win-Win situation?

 Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.  

When you visit a city for a conference or meeting, how sad if all you see is the airport, two taxis and the inside of a hotel. Often meetings take up the entire time, starting with a pre-meeting breakfast and ending with a group dinner in one of the banquet rooms. You're exhausted when you arrive, not only from the travails of travel, but from handling all of the business and unfinished tasks that attack you before you leave. Then you rush from the meeting (perhaps leaving just a little bit early to make the last flight home) to the airport, security, waiting, tight seats, luggage pickup, and back home.

Try to sandwich the conference between two days. If you can add two nights as well, that's even better. But at least target some time on both ends. Plan to arrive by noon, then have a leisurely lunch and check-in to your hotel, and then get out and visit some of the attractions, or rent a car and drive around the area, or take a city tour to highlight what you might want to visit while you're there.

After the conference, get a good night's sleep, and if you can't stay another night, choose the latest flight out that day, so you can follow some of the recommendations you've received about the area and what to see. Also use the day to take advantage of what you've learned - summarize it, determine the most important things you want to implement, and set out an action plan. You won't feel like it when you're on the cramped plane, and you'll have too many things to attend to when you get back, so plan the time for review and planning while you're away. Sitting, thinking, writing notes and a plan have a greater impact when you're looking out at Waikiki Beach, or some snow-capped mountains, and merge the ideas and a sense of place.  

And if you can add another day - pick out someone you'd like to meet, someone whose blog you've read, or someone you pick out of a directory, and take them to lunch. Share ideas, learn a bit about their market, and begin a relationship which could lead to referrals in both directions.

Bring your camera - it will help you see better, and will be available for future blogs. 

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.  

Just 15 minutes from downtown Saint Petersburg, Florida is this peaceful lakefront retreat (note - it's a Florida lake, but would be a New England pond). You can enjoy the view or even take your canoe out on the water. Vaulted ceilings are a welcome feature in an "older" home, as is the large family room with inviting fireplace. This four bedroom home with pool and spa is available for $700,000. More details, including a flyer, can be downloaded. You can also see a Visual Tour. 

You can also be across the bridge and in Tampa in 15 minutes. 15-20 minutes from Tampa International Airport, and about 20 minutes from the Gulf Beaches.  Great peaceful location, but so convenient to everything.  

Split bedroom plan (master on one side of the house, the other three bedrooms on the opposite side) provides privacy for the "masters". The family room, breakfast room and renovated kitchen provide a Great Room style, but you also have a separate living room and dining room. Inside and outside are designed for both entertaining and private moments. Take your choice.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.  

There have been several blog posts about agents not putting in enough information, or correct information, into their MLS listings.  There is also the opposite problem: the listing says the property has a 1 car garage. An agent sets up a showing, and her feedback is: Sorry, it didn't have a 2 car garage so the clients didn't want it.  They didn't like it - the master bedroom was upstairs (didn't you look at the listing where it's NOT checked that the master bedroom is downstairs?)

To save time and embarassment, it's often good while you're talking to the showing agent to comment - this is such a great house. Are your buyers ok with only a one car garage? Will having all the bedrooms upstairs work for your clients? Also, if you know of a feature that has been a rule-out on prior showings, mention it to the agent - if it's significant to the buyers, there's no point in showing it.  If the clients are ok with it, knowing this in advance makes the showing agent look good by saying, this is a fabulous house, but the closet in the master is really small.

Taking the time to point things out, even though they are in the MLS, is helping the agent on the other side, and also saving time for you and/or your sellers if a feature will rule out the house for the buyers.  The point isn't to get numbers through the house, it's to get the right prospects through. 

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

This neat toy is a Power Squid. This is the funky one - you can also get it in all black. Depends on whether you want it to stand out or blend in.

This is a surge protector, and the squidy arms allow you to plug in six devices - if you have large, bulky transformer blocks that need to plug in, go ahead - you don't need to worry about blocking other outlets, which happens in surge protector bars. It also has place to hook in coaxial cable from your tv and places to plug in your phone/fax/modem for dial-up and DSL. . This particular model, the super deluxe, has an 8 foot cord, with a flat rotating plug on the end, so it will fit anywhere. It has 2 illuminated plugs and an audible alarm. 

This isn't a battery backup, but is designed to sever the connection in the case of a power surge.  It responds in less than a nanosecond, and the company guarantees your connected equipment  up to $500,000.  I'd much rather replace the Squid than a computer!

I also like the lights on this - one color light for when it needs to be reset, and another color light when the unit has served its purpose and needs to be replaced. Kind of like Equipment for Dummies.  

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

Certainly a rising inventory is affecting our market here in Florida, but so are rising property taxes and insurance rates. Using "generalities", last year my property taxes and insurance on this home were $756/month. For a new owner this year those costs would be $1,688/month (or with the insurance quote from my past agent, $2,170/month).  Last year, if I took out an 80% loan at 6% on a $900,000 purchase price my payments would have been $5,073/month. At a 28% ratio, I would have needed an annual income of $217,400.

Flood insurance rates only rose by $75 - from $1,020/yr to $1,095/yr.  Homeowner insurance rates rose from $1,729/yr to $4,900/yr (or $9,000/yr with the quote from my past insurance agent). Property taxes for a new owner would not have the benefit of past "Save our Homes" property tax caps, so my $6,319 tax bill would rise to $14,259/yr for the new owner.

Taking the lower insurance increase, the new owner earning $217,400 would only be able to afford a house worth $705,738 vs my being able to afford the home at $900,000. If the new owner took the higher insurance quote, he'd only qualify for a $607,330 house.

Conclusion:  rising insurance rates and property tax rates can make a difference of $200,000 - $300,000 in the price of your new "affordable" home. 

That also indicates that a decrease in the average price of a home does not necessarily reflect that the price of an individual home has dropped that much, but that the average home purchased has dropped  -  reflecting more buyers buying less expensive properties, and thus affecting the average. 

 Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.

The young couple who own this home wanted to just add a second story to the Florida ranchstyle home they bought in St. Petersburg.  They tried and tried to get a design that would work, but continued to be stymied by the 50% rule. To continue receiving subsidies for the city in the form or reduced flood insurance rates for all residents, St Pete must abide by the 50% rule. This means that (in a year) you're only allowed to improve or add on 50% of the value of your existing house WITHOUT considering the land value! So logic tells you that if you want to add a 2,000 sq ft second story to your 2,000 sq ft existing home, this won't work. And most people want to add more than half of the size of the existing house.  So - your only choice is to tear down the existing house and start over, complying with the current flood elevation requirements. Though an owner could elevate the new home only a few feet to meet the requirements, lots are small enough here that most owners choose to elevate the house "a floor" up so that they can utilize the ground floor for additional garages (it's hard to fit a 3 car garage on a typical waterfront lot) and storage space.

The owners looked around again at just buying a larger house before committing to building new - but concluded that it would be less expensive to build new than to buy old and make changes, and furthermore, they had a wonderful lot in a neighborhood that they loved. The location is on the point of a long finger, with open views across Boca Ciega Bay to the Gulf Beaches (yes, with a view of the Don) and the Gulf of Mexico beyond.  Their lot was worth more than they had paid for the lot AND house - another reason to take financial advantage of staying where they were.

They were very considerate to the neighborhood (and increased their own curb appeal and value) by locating the garages on the side of the house, by varying the facade instead of building a rectangular box, and by putting in some mature landscaping - look at the size of a couple of the palm trees!

 Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.

It used to be that noone liked the S word - Secretary. Now noone likes the A word - Assistant.

So many people used this in a pejoratory way. Many people, especially other agents, often call everyone on a team an Assistant, whether they are a buyer's agent, Director of Information, Director of Marketing, Closing Agent, etc. They call them Assistant, think of them as Assistant, and talk down to them (or refuse to discuss anything with them). How short sighted! First of all, it's downright stupid to talk down to anyone, but we're talking results here. Often the "assistant" has more education and experience than the one talking down; the "assistant" may have a broker's license as well as a college education. The "assistant" may be more updated on a client file than the Rainmaker, who has been out of the office all day.  

Who do you think the "assistant" is going to go out of her way to do research for, while waiting for the agent to return - one who appreciates her or one who belittles her.  Whose messages are going to be on the top of the stack? Whose listings are going to be promoted? Who's going to get a Thanks A Latte?

We live in a small world and what goes around, comes around. You never know Who knows Who. Your team is everyone you work with, your colleagues, your vendors, everyone. Treat them with respect and work together.

It's a great time for buyers in Pinellas County, Florida, and it's a great time to sell and buy if you're thinking of moving up.

Absorption rate is currently 7.2% on single family homes, and 4.7% on condos. Much of this is due to investor sales in our recent home market, and much is due to pricing.  Actually more homes sell in the first 30 days on the market than in any longer segment.

Luxury market:  6% of our homes are listed at $1 Million or above (621 homes) and 2% of our sales this year have sold above $1,000,000. Only 11-12 are selling per month, so we have over a 4 year supply. 7.6% of our condo listings are over this mark, and 2.3% of condo sales. Again, there is about a 4 year supply.

The most popular price range for sales continued to be $200-$250,000. Average single family home price varies by bedroom, from $230,300 for a 2 bedroom home to $449,000 for a home with 4 or more bedrooms. This would also reflect the age of a home and current trends - i.e., in 1950 most popular were 2 bedroom 1 bath "retirement" homes, where now the demand is for a much larger home.  By the way, the average age in St. Pete in 39 years old.

Read more in our State of the Market report. 

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.

The Florida International Museum in downtown Saint Petersburg, Florida has announced an unusual exhibit, From Wolf to Woof: The Story of Dogs which will run from January 19 to May 13, 2007. There will be 4 themed galleries with multi-media displays artifacts, photo murals, dioramas and hands-on components. The museum is working with the SPCA to create numerous events during the time of the exhibit.

When I first saw this photo, I couldn't help but think of Kristal Kraft in Denver.

While you're in St. Pete, be sure to visit the Salvador Dali Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of History, the Holocaust Museum and lots of art galleries.

 Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

Looking for all the charming features of a historic bungalow - the hardwood floors that reflect the sun, the glass front cabinets in the dining room, the bumpouts and bays, and window seats  -  but want level floors, windows that are tight, good insulation, a modern kitchen with wood cabinets and granite counters and efficient stainless steel appliances, and modern bathrooms, and large closets? Beautifully landscaped fenced rear yard, a front porch with a swing and bead-board ceiling? You've come to the right place.  Less than 10 minutes from downtown Saint Petersburg, Florida, near Driftwood and Big Bayou, is this enchanting 3 bedroom 2 bath home built in 2006. Inside utility room, attached 2 car garage with alley access, 10 foot ceilings, and 8 foot doors. Priced at $350,000 you can find more details on the property website, which also has the floor plan, additional photos, visual tour, and downloadable flyer.

 Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.