I know, it takes cash or good credit and knowledge that you will have some income during these recessionary times but barring that homes are selling at prices not seen since the 1990s. Here in the Carrollwood North Tampa area home prices are down 50% in some places. I just wrote a contract for a buyer on a stunning home in Fishhawk. This one is a David Weekley home that is a short sale and it will probably go at about 50% of what it originally sold for when it was built. Investors are having a field day, buying lower priced newer homes and using them for rentals. Some are even flipping them for a profit. The down side is that it is like the wild wild west out there in the short sale market. One has to be real careful. Had one deal my buyer turned down, where the agent was somehow involved as an intermediary and my buyer would close with the agent and he would turn around and close with the seller and the sellers lender. They had all these additional contracts that my buyer had to sign so I advised my buyer to take it to an attorney first. He said forget it and I don’t blame him. Overall most are on the up and up but if something smells fishy, it stinks.  That’s my opinion, tell me yours.

(Just Another Perfect Day In Paradise) this whole weekend.  The high was around 74, low humidity and most of the time you could not find a cloud in the sky. I was blessed to get out and play a round of golf at Northdale GC with a buddy from church. Northdale is a planned community built back in the early seventies located in the north part of Tampa. It is actually outside the Tampa city limits by about 2 miles. The course was was in decent shape but it was packed. Why wouldn’t it be, the greens fees were $25 with cart and it is close in to town. Neither of us played that well but it was fun none the less.

Northdale and all the areas around there are great places to live. The schools are good,the crime is low and everything you need is close by. Downtown Tampa is about 45 minutes during rush hour (don’t know why they call it rush, ’cause you can’t rush anywhere) and 15-25 at other times. There are plenty of deals to be found in and around that area which is also known as the greater Carrollwood area.  Come on up here to see us.

There are plenty of short-sales and foreclosures so I can easily find you a great deal. Give me a call.

once in a while we do get a cold snap (or two). I know the citrus and strawberry growers have to stay up all night to protect the crops but rumor has it that it takes a cold snap to sweeten the orange and grapefruit crops. That may be an old wives tale but I haven’t heard anything to the contrary. After living here in Tampa for 30 years I have come to expect that after the second cold spell that usually happens in January or early February we can then expect the “Chamber of Commerce” weather to stay around until late April to mid May.  Don’t get me wrong, we have some great weather year round compared to other areas of the country, but it gets even better then.  To prove the point, this is the time of year we have our State Fair and Strawberry Festival. If you want to walk until you drop and eat until your explode you will have a great time at both as they run from now until early March.

Come on out and enjoy the great time to be had by all.

Tampa is a great place. And to think we get to live here in paradise year round. Carrollwood was a perfect area to stay, with it’s close proximity to Raymond James Stadium. All you have to do is get on Dale Mabry Hwy (that used to be a highway back in the day and is now an 8 lane street with red lights) and head south about 3-4 miles and voila you are there. We had a number of celebs that stayed at Emerald Greens Golf and Tennis County Club, of which I am proud to be a member of. We are blessed to have a safe bedroom community with ample restaurants and entertainment nearby and to add icing on the cake we have great housing prices too. It doesn’t get any better than that.

but these are real instruments and not scams as my soon-to-be-ex claims they are. I recently attended a seminar put on by Wells Fargo, one of the leading, conservative and reputable lending institutions out there today, (that’s not to say there aren’t others out there also). What I gleaned from this session is that this is an instrument that can improve the quality of life of seniors that own their homes. This can only be used if the youngest person who’s name appears on the deed is 62 or older.  The max you can take advantage of is $417K even though you may have more equity in your home. The end result is that you can take payments or a lump sum and can live payment free in the home until the last person on the deed passes away. While I was there in the meeting another Realtor was inquiring with the intent to exercise this option on his own home. Now there are a myriad of factors that govern how much money you get etc but the intent of this blog post is to say that as far as I have been able to see this is a real and viable option to provide our seniors out there with the ability to enjoy their last years more fully.

As usual I invite your opinion.

You will not believe the $ property owners are getting to rent out their homes to people coming in for the big game. I am hearing figures of $1500-3000 per day with 4 day minimums. Tampa is already a great place to live, and now millions more will find out for themselves how good we have it here. From the weather, to the water, to the entertainment and tourist attractions, Tampa Bay has it all. We love it here and we welcome our visitors.

in December 2008! That also means that if you are sitting on the fence waiting for housing prices to drop you may end up waiting too long. When housing sales increase and inventory decreases that means housing prices will again start to rise. The median price is now around $145K, down from a high of $198K so now is the time. I wish I had some extra $ to pick up some of the deals I have seen out there.

here in our local Tampa Bay area we are starting to see a positive shift in the market. Be it ever so slight it is still a shift. Here in the Carrollwood area I am seeing about a 25-30% drop in prices which is starting to spur that rare breed of buyer that either has a stable job or has cash on hand that can now buy that property that was out of reach a few years ago. Couple that with low interest rates and some buyers find it a deal they can’t pass up. Nationally I am hearing a recovery is not expected until 2010.

I invite your comments.

What do you think?

Now lets look at foreclosures. That is where the bank has already taken possession of the property. Banks don’t want to be in the real estate business so they will usually try to get rid of that property ASAP. However that doesn’t always mean you will get a steal of a deal.

My latest buyer said to heck with all that. We found a builder in the Plant City area near where he works and close to his family that was making one heck of a deal on a new home. He couldn’t pass this one up. He is getting a home where and how he wants it for roughly the same price. It even sits on a small body of water that is out his back door. Can’t beat that.