Florida Real Estate

Good Times

Are we experiencing a real estate bubble? By all accounts, the Florida housing market saw some vigorous activity in 2020. Some parts of Florida saw sales volumes increase over 50% year-over-year. Prices have moved up steadily during the period too. Incredibly, the pace has only increased in the first two months of 2021. Tempered only by the low inventory, it appears that the strong surge in market activity won't slow down anytime soon. With all of the disruption caused by Covid-19, many have opined that a crash, or at least a correction must lie around the corner. But does it?

The Florida Housing Crash of 2006

Yes, it's been fifteen years already since the Florida housing market reversed course and entered a freefall that would take

See the island you love before it was transformed by the Mackle Brothers into the greatest place on Earth. This video was shot circa 1964, just as construction was beginning. See the original sales models that depicted the development in detail. It's fun to see the undeveloped island, now that we're so familiar with the final product of the Mackle's vision.

Deltona started selling property here in 1965.

Video Transcription

This is Marco Island - sometimes called Florida's last frontier. Over two thousand years ago, it was inhabited by Calusa Indians, who left enormous shell mounds as monuments. Then came the Spaniards, and after them, the Pirates, who it is said buried on the beach the gold they looted from the Spanish galleons. Its modern

"Season" is in full swing on Marco Island and Florida in general. This is the time of year when the snowbirds from the frozen north fly down to thaw out under the famous Florida sunshine. Everyone is having fun having escaped the frigid grip of Mother Nature. Nothing could be more natural than wanting to buy a piece of real estate here when you realize that you're walking around in shorts in February.

For those of us in real estate, this is our busiest time of year. Buyers and sellers alike attempt to cram a year's worth of transactions into four months. Now, any time of year, it's essential to approach your real estate purchase with due diligence. But, in this busy real estate marketplace, you need a special strategy to ensure success. To make sure

A lot of Canadians have second homes in the United States because they like to travel and enjoy spending their vacation time in areas where the weather is inhabitable! Canadians actually are the leaders when it comes to foreign home purchasers in the United States. Are you a snowbird, or do you want to be? It's no secret that there are some great places in the U.S. where you can purchase a vacation home, but you might be worried about taxes. These are one of the most problematic things about purchasing that vacation home, and can make your investment a lot more of a problem than you thought it need to be. But, don't fear! With the tips below you may be able to minimize your taxes!

What About Title and Ownership?

A lot of people don't realize

We are all familiar with Black Friday - the day after Thanksgiving when Christmas shoppers, trying to grab bargains, have been known to fight over merchandise.  It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas - if you know what I mean.  The Florida real estate biz is humming like we haven't seen in years.  In certain price ranges and neighborhoods, buyers are getting worked up into a frenzy.

Here's a little anecdotal evidence for you...  I've made four offers for a single client of mine over the last few weeks and we haven't been able to even negotiate them.  In three of the four, there were multiple offers.  With these, our good offers we beaten by full-price offers or similar offers that were preferable because they were cash.  In the remaining case,

If you're on our website, you're probably thinking about buying property in Florida. Most of you have probably looked around Florida and already decided on Marco Island, but some of you may still be undecided.  There are so many great towns out there like St. Augustine, Vero Beach, Key West, Clearwater, Sarasota and a dozen more.  They're all different, but they're all great Florida towns.  Deciding where to land when you make the leap can be tough.

Sarasota Is The Best?

I was in your shoes not too long ago.  My wife and I had decided that Sarasota would be the best place to finally start our Florida lives.  Twenty years in the making, we were finally going to do it.  We had vacationed down here so many times, we lost count. We loved Florida, but

Of course, the real estate market here on Marco Island has shown strength in every category for a year now.  The national market has done well too.  It looks as if 2012 will mark the long-awaited turn-around.  Both home sales and prices rose almost every month of the year.  The market was very attractive to buyers and investors all year with record low interest rates, affordable prices and a shrinking inventory.  I think it was this shrinking inventory that prompted so many buyers to leave the sidelines here on Marco Island.

The median sales price is the stat we use to track price appreciation.  Especially in a small market like Marco Island, this statistic is less subject to unrealistic skewing when compared to average sales price.  For the country as

It's August 2012 and we're just a few months from another presidential election.  Of course, nowadays, there are other factors that are strongly influencing home prices besides the upcoming election.  Nevertheless, I thought it might be interesting to see what influence pending elections had on real estate prices, historically.

Well, election years, both presidential and mid-term, are bad for price appreciation.  The uncertainty of the future causes people to sit tight and wait.  In these big election years, U.S. home prices averaged 5.2% gains per year. In non-election years the average gain has been 5.8% since 1969.  When you look at median prices, you get similar results.  Non-election years outperformed election years handily: 6.3% annual gains

Even if you've purchased several homes in the past, there always seem to be costs at the closing table that you weren't prepared for.  While mortgage brokers are now required to disclose all of their closing costs, there are other costs not associated with a mortgage you will need to be aware of.  This is especially true if this is your first home.

1. Appraisal Fee- While appraisals tend to be very subjective, they are still required by all lenders.  The appraiser will compare the home you're interested in buying to other homes with similar features in the same neighborhood or area that have recently sold.  They like to use data from the last 3 months but will go up to 6 months out if necessary.  Costs range from $175-$500 depending on the size of

Calculating property tax in Florida can be a little more complicated by the variety of discounts one may be eligible to take.  The big one is the homestead exemption which is basically a discount available if your Florida home is your primary residence.  We thought we'd summarize the rest of the discounts for you today.

The most important information to take from this article is that the taxes shown in the public records for a particular home may be quite different for you when the taxes are recalculated.  Every person has different eligibility and this means two people will be taxed entirely differently on the same property.  Before you buy your Marco Island property, ask us for a tax estimate and will have one calculated for you.

EXEMPTIONS: