Real Estate Views from St Pete

Fuel Group, developer of the proposed Westin Hotel and Residences, has sued the City of St. Petersburg for denying their building application. Orginally Fuel Group was going to built a 39 story tower at the corner of 1st St N and 5th Ave N, but reduced the size to appease the neighbors. They still objected, saying it was not appropriate for the edge of the city near the neighborhood. The appeal to the City Council did not get the decision overturned - the council members listened to their constituents.

In Tampa a similar situation has gone on for the last few years - Citivest applied for a permit to built a condominium tower near Hyde Park, and had objects from the neighborhood that it was inconsistent. Again, the city sided with the landowners. In circuit court, the developer won as the judge ordered the city to follow its own zoning rules rather than emotions of the neighbors. Fuel Group would certainly see this as a positive precedent.

Check my crystal ball on the beginning of August ... 

Richard Kessler announced yet another redesign of the Grand Bohemian Hotel and Condos, scheduled to rise on the northwest corner of 2nd St and 1st Avenue North. Condo residences associated with a luxury hotel generally command a premium of 25-30%, a touch sell in a market with so many condos available.

The Grand Bohemian St Pete will reduce the number of condos from 52 to 22 and will increase the number of rooms by 32, making a total of 292. Groundbreaking is scheduled for next spring, with completion early in 2010.

For information on these and other downtown St Pete condos, contact The Simms Team, RE/MAX Metro, 201 2nd Ave N., St Petersburg, FL. Phone (727) 866-0048  e-mail: sharon@simmsteam.com 

blog.ssimms.com      www.ssimms.com 

How often do you refer to clients with whom you've had transactions in the past as "PAST clients"?

In so many aspects of real estate (and life) terminology is SO important.

What is the subliminal meaning to you when you refer to someone as a "past" client? To me, this means someone who WAS a client, rather than someone who IS a client.

Our team has made a concerted effort to NEVER refer to anyone as a "past" client - they are "clients". We feel they are Clients for Life, so are never "past".  Transactions may be "past" but clients never are.

p.s. If there's someone you never, ever want to deal with again, they aren't a "past" Client - they're non-existent. We do keep them in our database, just in case a future team member, who doesn't have the group history, gets a call from them. They can look in their ACT record and see that this "non-client" is someone we never want to work with again.

In Florida, our FAR offers/contracts specify what are required repairs - i.e., what the seller is warranting - and cosmetic items, which the seller is not required to repair. Nothing mentions specifically "safety" issues.

In many of our inspection reports, the inspector will point something out and then say that this is a "safety" issue. This can be a garage door that was installed before they had safety stops, outlets installed before GFIs were required, etc.

Since "safety" issues are not addressed in the offer/contract - how do you handle these items reported in the inspection reports when 

        a)  you're representing the seller

        b)  you're representing the buyer

and to what extent are you propelled by how the item is described in the Inspection Report?
 

Today I spoke with a local appraiser, a colleague who has many years of experience in the area and who is recognized by many of the local banks. What are the current appraisal issues?

He told me that many lenders are now requiring comparable sales within the last 90 days! This can be a problem in many areas here in Pinellas County, Florida. Sometimes, when the appraiser cannot provide enough comparable sales that are less than 4 months old, even by going further outside the particular neighborhood, the lender is turning down the loan. More details at ...

Let me get this straight: the housing industry and the lending industry are having problems because of a declining number of buyers and declining home prices, and are squashing the sale of properties currently under contract - because there aren't enough recent sales. So now there will be one less sale, and an even longer period since the last sales, so they'll be turning down the next sale    ......

Has this been happening in other parts of the country?   Have you had this happen to one of your transactions? 

David and Lisa Webber posted earlier about insurance and polybutylene pipe - and the comments related to the insurance aspect. I started to comment on the pipe aspect but after it went on for several lines I decided I should blog about it instead:

Recently one of my clients had a contract, subject to inspections, on a house that had gone into foreclosure - and was $369,900 "as is" in a neighborhood of homes priced from $500,000 - $1,500,000. It needed a new roof and there were areas where water had come through the ceiling, and in one case was actively leaking. What the inspector pointed out, though, was that the whole house had polybutylene pipe, which was failing, and which was the cause of the leaks through the ceiling. All of the piping would need to be replaced.

The ironic and unfortunate circumstance, though, was that the same inspector had inspected the same house about 6 years (and 2 owners) ago and had made the same comment to the then owner. IN ADDITION, he had told the owner who to contact to replace the pipe at no cost to him, since at that time the manufacturer was voluntarily offering to replace the piping in homes where it was installed. The owner had chosen not to do that.

There were several comments to my earlier post so I thought I'd provide you with the actual mission statement:

The SIMMS Team Mission Statement:  To make a significant difference in our clients' lives; to work with people we like; to ensure that our team members enjoy comfortable lifestyles while achieving personal and professional growth; and to always have fun. 

 

At our annual advance we determined that

• we DID make a significant difference in the lives of several clients;
• we DID work with people we liked;
• we DID survive and maintain our comfortable lifestyles, despite the ugly real estate market, so that we can be more comfortable psychologically and financially in the year ahead;
• we DID achieve both personal growth and professional growth;
• and we DID have fun together.

                   (Added 10:33 pm: and we keep a framed copy of our mission statement facing out on Amy's desk where each of us will see it as we come into our office suite. Our clients can see it, too.)

May you and your families, teams, companies, colleagues and friends have 

    health in 2008

        financial survival and even thriving in 2008

            friends and family to love and to be loved by in 2008

and may you take time to enjoy life while you have it and can share it; take chances; do what you've always wanted to do; have fun; and create joy and meaning for those around you. 

Many companies and/or teams have an annual Retreat - or as we choose to call it, a Team Advance. This is where we look at the year past, the year ahead, set our marketing budget and choices, etc.

This year we started out by measuring our year against our Mission Statement.  Two parts of our missions statement are that 

    we have fun

and

    we make a significant difference in our clients' lives.

We truly believe that if we read our clients properly and put them in the right house, that it makes a difference in their lives. Having the right base, the right foundation, the feeling of HOME, makes a difference in their lives.

So - two questions each of the 4 of us had to answer to start off our Planning Day (actually divided into 3 sessions for the first time, since we've been so busy) were:

•     Who was the client you had the most fun with?
•     Who was the client for whom you felt you made the most significant difference in their life?

The answers differed, as did the meanings. The point we made - which of course we want to duplicate in our plans for 2008 - was: yes, we did have fun, and yes, we did truly make a difference in the lives of some of our clients.

I won't share the stories here - some are sad, some happy, some very poignant - but it's so worthwhile to know that despite the obstacles of 2007 (or perhaps because of them) we DID make a difference.

What a wonderful profession we're in, that we CAN make a difference!

12/27/07 9:56 pm:  There's a bit more to our mission statement, so I posted a Part II blog just now. 

Some people associate Candles for Christmas, but this year I associate Kindle with Christmas.

The Kindle (from Amazon) is pretty close to the size of a paperback - maybe 1/2" wider and longer, but to compensate, it's less than 1/2 as thick.  This wireless book reader holds about 200 books and you can choose from about 90,000 titles on Amazon and download one (generally $9.99 or less - for example, Ken Follett's new book "World Without End" lists for $35.00 but the Kindle version is $9.99) If you want to store more than 200 books, you can either put them on a memory card or - you can delete them and download them in the future free from amazon.

The wireless is like a cell phone - no need for a hot spot, no need to pay for a provider, and one click charges the new book to your amazon account. The speed is amazing - faster than anything I've seen download from a computer. Amazon says a book downloads in less than a minute - but I've average 5-10 seconds a download.

You can make notes in the margins, you can highlight text, you can add bookmarks, you can look up the definition of words.

"Ah", you say, "but I like the FEEL of a book. I don't want a computer or something electronic." Well, Im a bookworm, book reader, book hoarder, and book storer from decades back ... and I like reading on this. I wouldn't like having to sit in front of a computer to read, but I can take this into a cozy corner, a comfy chair, a hammock, and I get just as involved with the plot or the information.

This is really going to lighten my luggage when I travel (it's 10.3 ounces and if you read, you know how much half a dozen hardbacks weigh)- it seems I take one carry-on just for books! (Not quite, but almost.) So when I go to Honolulu in January for CLHMS and CRS, just see how light I travel!

Oh, yes - you can download the first chapter of a book (or several books) for free to see if you like it. You can also pay for newspapers or blogs, but I haven't done that, and so far don't have the inclination to do that.

I can't carry the latest hardback in my purse all day long, but you can be sure my new Kindle is there.

They sell for $399 (but if you read a lot, you'll save that quickly on the price of books - and you don't have to wonder if the airport bookstore has what you're looking for) and are so popular they're on backorder at amazon.

So - treat yourself and have a Kindle for Christmas! Or should I wish you a Merry Kindle Christmas!?

There was a blurb in USA Today this morning that said the state of Illinois is going after anyone behind in their child support payments by$1,000 or more by holding up their professional licenses. It mentions licenses for barbers, security guards, msaage therapists and other workers who need licenses.

Does this affect real estate agents in Illinois? I would imagine they would be included as well - attorneys? accountants?  Do they just not renew the license, not issue new ones, or do they actually pull the existing licenses?

It's interesting that when the housing industry is having such a bad time, that they would take away someone's license that would enable them to work and catch up on payments. Or is this Illinois' way of saying - leave the real estate industry and get a "real job"? 

Do you remember when we used to have fruits as the only verification options in the boxes before we posted? Some would complain because there were only fruits. Others would complain because they found a fruit they didn't know existed.

Time passed, and the fill-ins expanded beyond fruits.

I don't mind LONG passwords or fill-ins, as long as they make sense, which makes them easy to type. It could be

                                    thiswilltakeyoualongtimetofillin

and I'd be OK. But

                                       gruximiero

?   I put in an X instead of a Z but had clicked before I fully realized the mistake.

Fortunately, we don't have to retype our entry or comment, we get a second change. I'd like to think that the system understood my dismay and as a reward, gave me a very easy one to type in

                                          ume

Are you ok with all the choices, or do you have your own preferences?
 

Here in St Petersburg Florida we have lots of boaters, a number that's increasing each year, as in the whole state of Florida. At the same time, marina space where you can rent a slip for your boat in decreasing. Many marina owners want to sell the slips, rather than rent them - thus dockominiums and rackominiums. The best use of waterfront land has also been for condominium projects rather than marinas.

Slips here in St Petersburg and Pinellas County are selling for $200,000 and more. That could be 25% to 33% of the price for a waterfront home WITH a dock.

In other parts of the country, a dock can add up to $1 Million to the price of a waterfront home.

For more ...

There are lots and lots of pages on Active Rain about uploading photos, and the instructions are very easy. I've been doing it ever since they added the feature to the site last year.

So why was I having trouble uploading photos yesterday? I thought perhaps their "photo server" was down, and just blogged about other things than architecture.

Today I figured it out - really by trial and error. Unless the instructions have changed, I don't remember seeing anything about file size. One great thing about uploading to Active Rain is that you can set the size in the popup box to shrink the size of the photo ... but that step comes AFTER the photo has been uploaded.

My camera is a few years old, so it's probably a 6 MB rather than a 10 MB or 12 MB that you have today. Nonetheless, the typical photo is about 3 MB - which I can e-mail to anyone with a professional e-mail host, but which is JUST TOO BIG to upload to Active Rain. The server times out.

So, resize your photos BEFORE you try to upload them to Active Rain. 

     The Pier Hotel - St Petersburg, Florida

Sometimes you don't want the new hotel room that is like so many others, and you long for something from the 20s - but with amenities like air conditioning and high speed internet access. You're just a couple of blocks from the waterfront parks, yet you can have free parking (downtown that means a lot!). Sit on the verandah and read your newspaper in the morning, along with complimentary coffee and continental breakfast. Enjoy their lounge in the evening for complimentary wine before you walk to any number of wonderful restaurants. This hotel was renovated in 2000 and received the Restoration of the Year award from the St Petersburg Preservation Society in 2002.

Check out The Pier Hotel's website for more photos and information. 

And if you're coming to see the Simms Team at RE/MAX Metro - well, we're just across the parking lot, toward the water. You couldn't be more convenient.

p.s. If you want newer, you can walk from our office to new  Hampton Inn and if you want luxury and waterviews, check out the Renaissance Vinoy Resort, a healthy walk away.

400 Beach  -  downtown St Petersburg, Florida

 Market Update - December 2007

Though you can't tell from this photo, 400 Beach looks across this park to the Vinoy Basin, the Vinoy Marina, and out into Tampa Bay. Also not in the photo are the spaces for shops and restaurants on the ground floor, which aren't open yet.

The first closings started this month, and will probably go on until March. Yes, someone has already moved in!

9 sales have appeared in the MLS so far, ranging from $639,000 for a smaller unit not in the tower, to $1,685,000 for a front unit with 3,534 sq ft.

The developer, Opus, still have a few units left. There are 6 units in the Multiple Listing Service, including one "resale" that has closed. They range from $1,675,000 to $5,500,000. HOWEVER - there are really more condos for sale. Nearly a dozen more are on local REALTOR® websites, apparently waiting to close before going into the MLS, and I know of at least another 2 whose owners want to sell. So - already there are 19 on the market,  ranging from $900,000 to $5,500,000. If you want a new, LARGE waterview condo, these will probably be the last new ones for a couple of years.

There are still some "new", meaning not yet lived in, condos for sale in Parkshore Plaza, another luxury condo project on Beach Drive in downtown St Petersburg, just a block to the south.

If view and size aren't as important to you as price, then there are both new and resale units in other buildings downtown. 

Right in the heart of downtown St Petersburg this bungalow continues to live. It's been converted into an office, and fixed up, so it's a charming place to drive by or to visit.

Rather than tear down all of old buildings, I like when they are repurposed, and renovated. The paint colors are neutral but have enough contract that you see the detailing.

The awning on the west side not only adds a bit of interest, but serves to shade the window from the bright sun in the late afternoon.

Can't you picture yourself in a rocker or an
Adirondack chair on the balcony overlooking the street? Doesn't it invite you to come in?

All I'd add would be a bit of color in a pot beside the door - something bright red or bright yellow, welcoming you in. 

A new price record for a condo in Pinellas County, Florida, was set this month with a sale on Clearwater Beach in the Residences at Sandpearl Resort. In this photo from JMC, the resort is at the left and the residences are on the right. 50 of the 253 rooms and suite in the hotel are condo/hotel units; there are 117 condominiums in separate buildings, which can share service of the luxury resort such as room service.

One of the condos sold this month for $4,400,000, a record for Pinellas County. To my knowledge there have been five sales in the $3 Millions - interestingly enough, three of the five are in JMC Communities. Two of them sold on Clearwater Beach this year, one other in Sandpearl and one just to the south in Mandalay Beach Club. The third JMC condo in the $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 range was a resale in The Grande on Sand Key, just south of Clearwater Beach. which sold in 2005.

The other two sales were in downtown St Petersburg, one last December in Parkshore Plaza and the other in 2005 zt Vinoy Place. The Grand Bohemian, also downtown St Petersburg, is showing a contract over $5,000,000 on a pre-construction unit - but it's sometimes a long way from contract to closing in today's market.

When I'm representing a seller, I always want to be present for the appraisal. I always bring along a package for the appraiser, to make the job a bit easier. In the package I have the site plan, a floor plan if available, a list of improvements the seller has made, a list of the properties I feel are comparable along with the reasons why, and a list of the properties I feel are NOT comparable and the reasons why. If I've been inside the comparables, or if a current photo doesn't represent the property when it was purchased, I document that. 

Give input in the research phase; make the appraiser's job easier. You may come up with some comparable sales or insider information that the appraiser doesn't have. Now is the time to share information. 

If you wait until the appraisal is finished, the odds of the appraiser changing the appraisal is nearly nill - even if the assumptions are illogical or incorrect.

Be PROactive, not REactive. 

When you try and try and nothing works - punt! I've been trying for over an hour to upload some photos, since I had planned several blogs about historical buildings for the Dings group - but I keep getting server timeouts.

OK, regroup. Post some articles that don't need photos -- maybe by tomorrow the system will be working again.

It's similar to what's going on in our market with transactions: you finally get a contract on a property, and then you start getting fastballs coming at you - the property won't appraise at list price; the bank wants documentation that the cottage out back is a legal rental; the inspector discovered asbestos wrapped around the pipes under the house; your contract says the seller will only treat if there are LIVE wood destroying organisms, and the report shows fungus; the house needs a new roof; the next door neighbor came over and told the buyer that he didn't want any boat blocking his view.  You can stand on what's right or what's fair or what's in the contract, but if the result is that the buyer isn't going to close, you'd better consider alternatives.

That's what separates the winners from the losers: they don't take NO for an answer. They keep going and going until they get to the YES. 

Renaissance Vinoy Resort - St Petersburg

The historic Renaissance Vinoy Hotel in downtown St. Petersburg Florida has been purchased by FelCor Lodging Trust of Ivring, Texas, who already own 85 resorts in 23 states. Walton Street Capital, the sellers, purchased the hotel 2½ years ago and have invested $10 Million since then - half into hotel renovations and half into rebuilding the marina which was destroyed in a storm. Marriott will continue to manage the property and existing management will stay in place, according to Russ Bond, General Manager.

Hotel guests and Vinoy Club members are looking forward to additional improvements - to the pool and fitness center, for example. Perhaps the new owners will build a wonderful new spa, which was approved by the City of St. Petersburg voters - the hotel needs it.

This is where I come at 5 am to work out - followed by leisurely reading the newspaper and enjoying coffee in a section of the lobby reserved for Vinoy Club members. What a great way to start the day!