Real Estate Views from St Pete

This evening enjoy wine and cheese at ALVA International until 8 pm - author (and client and friend) Nino Fabiano is signing his newest book Egmont Passage Tale of the Dreamcatcher.

A tale of intrigue set on Tierra Verge, the book blends local history with current events.

Pirates Amy and Tami dressed for the occasion.

Nino will also be here tomorrow from 10 am to 1 pm.  Come buy one or both of his books, and have it autographed.

Vinoy Place continues to do well despite a slower condo market in downtown St Petersburg. Built in 2001 and 2002, the 4 towers and 10 townhomes have 102 units.

So far in 2009 there have been 5 closed sales of Vinoy Place condos, ranging from $775,000 to $1,200,000, with an average of $890,000. The price per sq ft has ranged from $262/sf to $331/sf, with an average of $293/sf.

There are currently 8 Vinoy Place condominiums available for sale through the MLS, ranging from $580,000 for a 1,793 sq ft short sale to $2,200,000 for a 4,033 sq ft townhome.

Ovation condos have begun closing - so we now have a definitive answer for the question we're frequently asked - When will Ovation start their closings.

The first buyers to close are Richard and Melissa Middlesworth. Check out the Ovation article in tomorrow's St Pete Times.

Ovation is the latest luxury condominium developed and built by JMC Communities. Mike Cheezem has been building quality condominiums for many years here in the St Petersburg area. It means a lot to buy a condo knowing that the developer will stand behind what he builds, and will be there in the years ahead to take care of any problems that may arise.

It's a real pleasure to work with the JMC Community, and so good to know that whether selling a new unit of theirs or a resale, that they will be there to handle any issues.

In an era of extended finger pointing, it's a welcome change to deal with a company that takes responsibility. That's part of what you're buying when you buy a JMC condo.

The sales staff for Ovation will be moving into the Ovation building on Tuesday. If you have an interest in buying in Ovation and want to see one of the two furnished models, please call The Simms Team at (727) 898-2582.

Antonino Fabiano, one of our favorite clients and friends, and author of Dreamcatchers, will be holding two book signings at our office, ALVA International, Inc., 238 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg, Florida, on Friday, August 28th from 5-8 pm and Saturday, August 29th from 10-1.

Why a book signing at a real estate office? Well,

Why Not?

It's a win-win in our opinion - exposure for the book, the author, and our new (since Christmas) real estate office. It's a great downtown St Pete location where lots of people walk by.

Egmont Passage: Tale of the Dreamcatcher uses the St Pete area as a backdrop, and weaves history and current events into an interesting tale.

In the current economic environment, the more we can help each other succeed, the more each of us will thrive. I think making more people aware of this interesting book will enrich their lives as well.

If you can't make it to St. Petersburg to get your autographed book, you can order Dreamcatchers online.

We rather ignore hurricane season which lasts from June 1st until November 30th unless there's a named storn. Then some people are glued to every weather report to guess which direction it's going to take. I prefer to get the advisories directly from the National Hurricane Center rather than listen to the hype. The advantage of hurricanes is that you know about them days ahead of time. The disadvantage of hurricanes is that you know about them days ahead of time.

Personally, I keep track, but don't get concerned until much later when it's evident if it's really headed our way. But then, we keep our hurricane supplies on hand all the time, and we know where we'll go if we need to evacuate. Not being worried is NOT the same as not being prepared.

There have been several reports on the best college to attend for various reasons, from Wall St jobs to partying. Today Forbes.com posted a list of which colleges generated more billionaires. Here are the top 5 graduate billionaire generators.

#1 - Harvard with 54 billionaires  (5% of the world's billionaires)

#2 - Stanford with 25 billionaires

#3 - Univ of Pennsylvania with 18 billionaires

#4 (tie) - Columbia and Yale with 16 billionaires each

Some 10% of Forbes 400 Billionaires last year didn't have a college degree.  So I guess Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg count in that group since they attended Harvard but didn't graduate.

I thought the content of the video was right on, and the way the video is displayed in the blog is cool technology. This will also give a taste of what a RE Bar Camp is about.

Stephan Swanepoel spoke this morning in Tampa on 7 Strategies to Succeed in Today's Real Estate Market at an event sponsored by Engel & Voelkers. Swanepoel is known for spotting trends early on - when you read his books, be sure to read the paragraph-long trends as well as the chapter-long trends so you can be looking for what's coming.

He publishes an annual trends report and for the next issue, he'll be breaking that into two books - one with information to make your business profitable and the other to cover social media, which has grown so fast it fills an entire book.

Topics covered by Swanepoel included information overload on the internet, foreign companies now expanding abroad, MLS consolidation, the remaking of NAR, huge consolidations caused by the economy, the need to master short sales and foreclosures, and of course, navigating the social media.

And, yes, he mentioned Active Rain!