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  • The Neighborhood Report - South County Communities

    John Butzko 2:08 pm on August 20, 2009 | Comments:0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: charlotte, , , , ,

    Well-Manicured Courses Attract Golf Enthusiasts to Rotonda

    Well-Manicured Courses Attract Golfers to Rotonda

    The real estate market in southern Sarasota County and beyond to Charlotte County is very active, with two main driving factors: waterfront options and reasonable prices. The many available properties fronting waterways, canals and the Gulf of Mexico are cherished by those who enjoy fishing, boating, kayaking or even sunbathing along the miles of beautiful sandy beaches.

    Areas of Interest

    Home buyers looking for waterfront opportunities have an abundance of properties to choose from throughout Englewood, Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte. Here, we have it all for a fisherman’s dream or a boater’s delight, all surrounded by scenic enchantment. In the Stillwater and Rotonda communities, there has been a notable increase in sales activity. Both communities offer newer construction and offer a variety of housing types. The golf courses of Rotonda provide challenging, well-manicured playing grounds for enthusiasts of the game. (More …)

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  • Englewood's Star Rises

    Michael Saunders & Company 10:20 am on July 31, 2009 | Comments:0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: charlotte,

    Recently, Tripadvisor.com named Englewood, FL SECOND on a list of top emerging destinations in the U.S.  This is very exciting and positive news for our area as well as for the company! Please see the article below that recently ran in the Charlotte Sun Newspaper:

    Englewood is second on a list of top emerging U.S. destinations, according to TripAdvisor.com.

    It is No. 1 in terms of being the best, affordable neighborhood to retire to in the U.S., according to walletpop.com.

    In less than a year Englewood has scored high on several quality-of-life indexes and the accolades are beginning to pay dividends.

    “You can’t buy that kind of publicity and recognition — you can’t put a price on it. It’s beyond anyone’s budget,” said Becky Bovell, director of the Charlotte Harbor Visitor and Conventions Bureau.

    Now Englewood will be featured in stories appearing in “Southern Boating Magazine” in August and again in October in “PassageMaker,” a magazine for trawler and ocean motor boats. (More …)

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  • Market Maintains its Momentum as Southwest Florida Slows for the Summer

    Matthew Haber 4:13 pm on June 23, 2009 | Comments:1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: charlotte, confidence, , , , , , ,

    SARASOTA, Florida—(June, 2009)—“Its very heartening to see that the sales momentum that built so impressively during the first four months of 2009 continued to be strong even as we transitioned from the busy winter season into our customarily slow summer months,” said Michael Saunders upon examining the latest sales statistics for May, just out from TRENDGRAPHIX.. “With bottoming prices, low interest rates and extraordinary, limited-time-only buying incentives—like the First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit—buyers are expressing their confidence in the market by stepping up to buy wherever they detect the best buying opportunities.”

    “Sales continue to be disproportionately clustered in the under-$300,000 price range, thanks to prices that have been impacted by foreclosures and short sales; but sales are also occurring in every price range where sellers wisely list their homes in very close proximity to what comparable homes are actually selling for,” Saunders added. “The most encouraging news from this new data is that closed sales, although down slightly in most cases for May in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte Counties—as would be expected as we enter the slow summer months—largely held their own compared with April; while pending sales are way up compared with last May. Further, with most of these pending sales set to close in the next 30 to 60 days, it looks like the trend toward improved sales, established early this year, will continue throughout the summer.” (More …)

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  • Nationwide Uptick Tells Only Part of the Story

    Matthew Haber 3:46 pm on June 23, 2009 | Comments:0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: charlotte, , , , , , , , , seller, single-family homes,

    NAR’s report for May shows a nationwide uptick in the sale of existing homes and sited favorable affordability conditions and the first time buyer tax credit as the primary reasons:

    Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.77 million units in May from a downwardly revised level of 4.66 million units in April, but remained 3.6 percent below the 4.95 million-unit pace in May 2008.

    Read the full article here.

    It is encouraging to see the continued trend – the first nationwide back-to-back monthly gain since September 2005 – and Michael Saunders & Company recently posted our own area trend report for Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. Unfortunately, month to month reports only tell a piece of the story. (More …)

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  • The Changing Face of Real Estate Marketing

    Matthew Haber 10:33 am on May 19, 2009 | Comments:1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: charlotte, , , , ,

    Much of the Michael Saunders & Company Reinvent Yourself 09 conference held last week pushed the notion that the fundamentals of the real estate industry, specifically the way we market property is and will be changing drastically over the near future. In fact if there is a bright spot to the housing and economic turmoil it is that it forces these changes to happen all the quicker: in the same way that higher fuel costs prompt more efficient vehicles, the evolved real estate agent is now leaner and smarter when it comes to marketing your home.

    Out, are the single property advetisements in the newspapers and magazines – a quick appeasement for a seller, and not much else. Why would a potential home buyer wait until Sunday to look at one property in the newspaper when they can get instant gratification and look at all available properties on the market at once on the web?

    In, are the targeted effects of social networking, otherwise known as the larest ongoing cocktail party on earth. Facebook, with over 275 million active users, now has a population greater than the 4th largest country on earth and is trailing only China, India and the United States in citizens. Bob Corcoran of Corcoran Consulting Inc. outlines some great techniques in a recent article on his website: (More …)

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  • CNN Money Reports U.S. Home Prices at Most Affordable Levels in 2 Decades

    Matthew Haber 3:29 pm on May 18, 2009 | Comments:0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: charlotte, , , ,

    CNNMoney.com today reported that home prices across the U.S. are at their most affordable levels in 18 years:

    Nearly 73% of all homes sold in the United States during the first three months of 2009 were considered affordable. That was the highest percentage ever reported by the 18-year-old Housing Opportunity Index, an analysis of markets compiled quarterly by the National Association of Homebuilders and Wells Fargo Bank.

    While the article does state that the markets for new and existing home sales are still slow, they cite emerging optimism from homebuilders that the improved data – affordability, new homes sales up, pending home sales up – could indicate that the worst is behind us. Please click here for the full article.

    As shown in our April Trends report last week, pending home sales for the region for April are up considerably: for Sarasota county, +18.44%; for Manatee count, +19.53%, for Charlotte county, + 16.91%.

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  • Pending Sales Increase - Inventory Levels Nearing Normal Market Conditions

    Matthew Haber 10:02 am on May 12, 2009 | Comments:5 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: charlotte, , , ,

    SARASOTA, Florida—(May, 2009)—“To see these positive trends solidify is an encouraging sign,” said Michael Saunders—founder and CEO of Michael Saunders & Company—referring to the latest TRENDGRAPHIX report on residential real estate sales for Southwest Florida, which shows a strong April following a stronger March; both of which were substantially higher than a respectable February.   TRENDGRAPHIX gathers current and historical data from the region’s MLS to produce detailed monthly reports based on actual closed and pending sales.

    “We’re by no means out of the woods,” Saunders cautioned.  “Buyers are cherry-picking their way through best-priced properties in every price range; but especially those under $350,000.  We’re starting to see improved sales in the $350,000 and $1.5 million range; but sales in the $1.5 million and up range remain something of a challenge for all but the most aggressively priced properties.  Those that are priced aggressively are selling faster, as evidenced by recent record-breaking sales on Bird Key, in The Oaks and at the Ritz-Carlton, where properties were sold for $4.75 million, $3.175 million and $3.3 million respectively.  The common threads uniting these properties are aggressive pricing and the seller’s willingness to negotiate down the stretch.” (More …)

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  • Reinventing the Foundations of Success, Company-Wide Event Focused on Enhancing our Service

    Matthew Haber 4:47 pm on May 8, 2009 | Comments:1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: charlotte, , , ,

    Working your way to the top of the industry is no easy task. Keeping yourself firmly planted in the summit requires a constant drive to enhance your skills and educate yourself on both the demands of market and your clients to stay ahead of the competition.

    With this in mind, we at Michael Saunders & Company provide our agents with the educational resources needed to help ensure they are performing at the high level expected by their customers. On Thursday, May 14, our agents are invited to attend the company’s most valuable educational event, where some of the highest-regarded speakers in the real estate industry will present business-enhancing information exclusively to Michael Saunders & Company agents.

    Michael Saunders, founder and CEO of the company, opens the event, followed by Matthew Ferrara-a driving force in real estate technology innovation-and Steve Harney-author and sought-after speaker on producing top results in real estate. Additionally, the event includes two Breakout Sessions. The first of which, titled Social Networking, Exploring Your Friendly Future, is moderated by the company’s director of interactive marketing, Matthew Haber. This session is directed by experts from Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Michael Saunders & Company, and AtLarge, Inc., to share their experience with today’s most popular networking web sites and how they can benefit our agents.

    (More …)

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  • Pending Home Sales Rise Nationwide: A Local Perspective

    Matthew Haber 3:20 pm on May 4, 2009 | Comments:0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: charlotte, , , ,

    The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported today that their Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose from February to March by 3.2%. This is positive news indicating that potentially, more sales will close in April, further reducing inventory and bringing the overall market to a healthier cycle. Full story here. The report attributes several factors including the near record high of the Housing Affordability Index – which compares the connections between housing prices, mortgage rates and family income – and the ability of first-time buyers (or someone who has not owned a home in the past 3 years) to receive an $8000 tax credit. Even better for our area, regionally, the South outperformed the nation with an increase of 8.5% on the PHSI.

    A few weeks ago we reported on the reduction of inventories for closed sales and their impressive 39-month lows. Pending home sales tell a slightly different story and attempt to forecast the future by predicting what will happen if everything comes together as hoped. The following numbers are based off of Trendgraphix data for the Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte county markets and are on a different scale from the PHSI:

    Sarasota County Pending Home Sales:
    Mar 2009: 1089 (+25%)
    Feb 2009: 866

    Manatee County Pending Home Sales:
    Mar 2009: 602 (+19%)
    Feb 2009: 505

    Charlotte County Pending Home Sales:
    Mar 2009: 579 (+42%)
    Feb 2009: 363

    A few more months like these are exactly what homeowners and the housing industry needs to correct their course. Keep an eye out next week when we get and analyze our local real estate statistics for April.

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  • Observations of a Healthier Real Estate Market

    Michael Saunders & Company 10:54 am on May 1, 2009 | Comments:0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: charlotte, , , ,

    Two more early indications of a healthier real estate market for the Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties is an increase in activity from our appointment center and on our website, michaelsaunders.com. 

    The MS&C appointment center, which sets up property showings between other area company’s agents and their buyers and listings represented by Michael Saunders & Company experienced an increased call rate of 30% for the first four months of 2009 (compared to the same period in 2008). Even more promising is that the call rate grew as the year progressed, with a 34% rise in April. More remarkable is the fact that the volume of calls are at levels exceeding any experienced in the company’s history – including the peak selling years of 2004 and 2005. 

    Likewise, web traffic to michaelsaunders.com rose 37% for the first four months of 2009 over the same period last year. We also saw a big increase of international traffic to the site. Our top visitors outside of the United States came from: Canada up 23%, United Kingdom up 18%, Germany up 26%, Netherlands up 72%, France up 11% and Switzerland up 25%.

    Willkommen!

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