Real Estate Views from St Pete

Schrebergartens are small garden plots seem frequently in Germany, which allows people living in town without garding space a place to plant flowers and vegetables. Actually many of them also have smal one room (or possible two rooms) cottages where the owners may spend a weekend overnight. 

I wonder if something like this might be a new twist for people living in downtown highrises, who want to do more gardening than just containers on the balcony. This garden land is often less desirable land - close to major roads, or industrial areas - not the best for a home, but fine for a garden.

A trolley is so much more appealing than a bus. Think of San Francisco and of New Orleans. Trolleys are a great way to see the city and to do some sightseeing. Some are open air, some are air conditioned; some are wood, some are not. Maybe it's the design that catches you - whatever the variation, you know it's a trolley. Maybe it's reminiscent of "the good old times". Maybe it's a feeling of leisure, rather than utility. Maybe you feel more connected with the city than in a bus.  Whatever the reason, they're certainly popular.

In St. Petersburg, Florida, it's called The Looper. The usual run is around downtown Saint Petersburg, stopping at the main hotels, museums, Baywalk, tourist attractions and restaurants. You can take it out to The Pier, where you can view, shop and eat, with a wonderful view back at the St Pete skyline. More venturesome? Then take a trolley out to St. Pete Beach and spend the day there on the Gulf of Mexico.  Tired of beaches but want more sightseeing?  Take another trolley from St Pete Beach all the way up to Clearwater Beach and see the many beach communities in between, each with their own flavor.  If you live downtown, this is also a treat for your visitors - send them off to the beach for a day, and then to tour the museums, including the famous Salvador Dali Museum.  Want a wonderful weekend away for yourself? Stay at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort, a renovated 1920s Mediterranean building with a wide veranda overlooking the harbor and the city or stay at one of our many Bed and Breakfasts. Eat at Fred's or Chateau France, or Grattzi's, Dan Marino's or Cafe Alma.  Stroll along the shops and the waterfront, visit the museums or a play, or take a boat tour.  Whether you're here to visit or to live, St. Petersburg, Florida is the place to be - our piece of Paradise.

The last few years have seen many people wanting to move downtown. Is it because of time lost in commuting? Increased gas prices? Children grown and off?  Yes, all of these, but more. Many ages are moving downtown - from young professionals to retired. The real desire is to be surrounded by life and vibrancy - to walk to restaurants, shops, museums, festivals, music, the theater, and more. In downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, you also get to walk in parks with water views, and see marinas, and look at harbors and open Tampa Bay; you can watch the walkers, the joggers, the bicyclists, the boat races, the Segway tours, the trolleys. You can find early morning coffee and late night snacks. Downtown St Pete also has the annual Grand Prix in some of the streets, and baseball, and art shows in the park, and food festivals, and music festivals.

Downtowns have very little land, and what there is, is expensive - so homes are generally vertical, meaning highrise condos (and surrounding city homes and townhouses). This allows hundreds of homes to have a waterfront view. Vertical living has become very popular. Smaller (usually but not always) than a home, but generally with many facilities right in the building to compensate for this - exercise rooms, billiard rooms, pool, spa, grilling areas, party rooms, tv rooms, card rooms, libraries. Secured garages, generally a concierge.

Many of these downtown condos in  St Pete are full time owners - others are seasonal, with some owners coming for the winter, and others coming several times during the year. Some from Tampa or Orlando come just for weekends. Some living on the Gulf Beaches come to stay for events downtown.  And yes, some are investors and flippers as well. It's the lifestyle - and developers are competing with luxurious features, European cabinetry and appliances, and unique architectural design.  There are many to choose from, already built, under construction, or still in the pre-construction stage.

For more information contact The Simms Team, RE/MAX Metro, Saint Petersburg, Florida. Phone 888-746-6788 or e-mail.

Despite national statistics that the size of a home is increasing each year, and the McMansions that are sprouting up all over, there are proponents of having a smaller but better designed house. Sometimes the bigger house is for our things, rather than for us. Sarah Susanka has written several books on this. Her original book "The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live" is my favorite.

Susanka discusses how to design a home by how we use it, aligning spaces so you visually see beyond the room, providing for alcoves for certain activities rather than separate rooms. It's not all about saving money on the construction, but saving on size allows you to spend more on quality and charm.

The St. Petersburg, Florida area has dozens of neighborhoods in many styles. The Old Northeast, Kenwood, Granada Terrace and Roser Park are among those with charming, older homes. Some of the older homes have been torn down, and it's a delight when the new home built on the lot fits in with the syle of the neighborhood.

The Tampa Bay, Florida area attracts a lot of Europeans looking for sunshine and warm weather. Few buyers from Latin America buy in the Tampa area - most buy in the Miami-Ft Lauderdale area, with a lesser number going to the Naples-Ft. Myers-Sarasota area and to the Orlando area - according to the 2005 NAR Profile of International Home Buyers in Florida.

Years ago most of the international buyers in Tampa-St. Petersburg came from Canada - that's chenged. The NAR report shows the following:
30%   United Kingdom
11%   Canada
 7%    Germany
 7%    Ireland
The number from Ireland was surprising to us, as our team hasn't yet had buyers from Ireland.

Neighborhood, for some people, means knowing your neighbors and chatting with them, picking up their newspapers when they're away, calling you if one of your children is somewhere doing something he shouldn't . A very popular neighborhood here in St. Petersburg, Florida, is the Old Northeast, with homes built primarily from 1910-1940. Yes, people like being close th the park and Tampa Bay, and being close to downtown St. Petersburg. Yes, they like the brick streets and the big shade trees, and the interesting architecture. Most of all, they like the feeling of community - of knowing their neighbors, of feeling part of something.  Two aspects of the architecture encourage this. The garages are behind the house, with alley access. Most of the people actually park on the street, and walk up to their front door and enter the house that way. The homes have front porches.  When you sit on your porch, you wave to the people out walking on the sidewalks, exercising their dogs, or stolling with their children or grandchildren. They stop on the sidewalk and talk with you for a moment - and you can set your clock by some of them. In the typical Florida home, the garages are in the front of the house - and having a two or three car garage facing the street isn't charming or inviting, and often overwhelms the rest of the front elevation. Then, you push your remote, drive into the garage, and go into your house from the garage - and when you do relax, it's on your patio or screened porch in the back of the house. How do you get to know your neighbors that way? Most people are uncomfortable walking up to someone's house, ringing the bell, and saying - I just wanted to say Good Morning.  Talking to someone sitting on their porch?  That's easy.  Neo-traditional neighborhoods are now being built, trying to recapture this feeling.  Some cities, like Saint Petersburg, are fortunate to have established neighborhoods like this.

What's your strangest exclusion? We're all familiar with the refrigerator being excluded from the listing and consequently the sale, or Grandma's chandelier. Our strangest request was from sellers who wanted to exclude the front door from the sale.  It was custom made for them, and had been the front door on every house they had owned since they were married. Obviously we also had to exclude the front door photo from the photos of the house! ... since we had taken a very nice photo of the door, we had a large print made of it, then had it framed, and gave it to the sellers as a uunique and very personalized closing gift.