Follow our tips of a fun and profitable yard sale.
If nothing else, the holiday season leaves us with new gadgets, decorations, toys and other materials to add on top of what already may be a cluttered home. To make some room, why not turn your old things into cash? This time of year is perfect for hosting your own yard sale here on Florida’s Gulf Coast, as seasonal residents are in town and the weather is pleasant enough to keep them strolling through without sweating. (more…)
Tonight’s newest episode of House Hunters, on the HGTV network, will feature one of our own—Denise Mattmuller—as she takes buyers on a televised tour of three properties on Siesta Key.
In case you’re not familiar with the popular program, House Hunters takes viewers behind the scenes as individuals, couples and families learn what to look for in a property; and decide whether or not a home is meant for them. Focusing on the emotional experience of finding and purchasing a new home, each episode shows the process as buyers search for a home.
This particular program not only showcases the breathtaking beauty of Siesta Key, but also imparts a feeling for its marvelous tropical ambiance and picture-perfect weather.
We hope you’ll plan to watch tonight (Thursday, November 11) at 10:00 p.m. Locally—including Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties—the program airs on Channel 41 on Comcast, Channel 165 on Verizon FiOS and Channel 57 on Brighthouse. If you live elsewhere, have satellite reception or a custom cable TV package, please consult your own cable listings.
Congratulations to Denise on such wonderful exposure for herself and her clients!
If you were attending an outdoor event and needed to know how warmly to dress, would your first thought be to consult last month’s weather forecast? Of course not. Yet that’s not unlike what many home buyers do, thinking they’re obtaining the most “up-to-date” assessment of today’s local real estate market. Regrettably the data they’re fed in the mainstream media is often as much as two months old by the time it is compiled, released publicly and positioned as indicative of current market conditions.
Unfortunately, if you rely on the best available housing statistics for Florida—as culled monthly by the Florida Association of Realtors and reported to the media—you are, in fact, using stale data to inform fresh decisions. Sales that occurred in October won’t be reported officially until late November. By the same token, a definitive glimpse at November sales won’t be released until late December. By then, the market—with all its day-to-day volatility—could easily reveal a whole new reality.
Follow these helpful tips to make sure your thumb stays green this fall.
With the first touches of cooler weather greeting us in the mornings, the presence of fall has made itself known here on Florida’s Gulf Coast. While the mercury doesn’t quite drop as far down as it does up north, our slight dip in temperatures and less frequent afternoon showers usher in a change in routines and procedures for those who tend to gardens.
Autumn is finally here, and the slightly cooler, dryer weather is just weeks away. So, whether you are interested in producing a plentiful bounty of flowers and vegetables or replicating the rich, warm traditional colors more common up north, here are our top 10 Florida fall gardening tips:
1. Don’t Leave It – Remove leaves from lawn to reduce problems and use as compost or around plants as mulch. Mulch is also an important consideration this time of the year to help keep weeds in check, to help enrich the soil and to prevent the soil from drying out when we get further into the dry season.
2. Don’t Get in Shape – Do not cut back shrubs. Wait until spring to do major shaping, although you can prune out dead or diseased branches. Also, removing long Azaleas shoots will make them look better
3. Strawberry Fields – October is the month for planting strawberries. A good rule of thumb is that one-hundred plants will provide between a pint and a quart of fruit a day for several months during the season. Be careful to keep the soil moist by watering every two to three days and be sure to mulch and then fertilize the strawberry plants with 1 pound of fertilizer for each 100 square feet of bed, plus an additional band of fertilizer 6″ deep along the center of the beds every eight weeks.
4. Bed of Roses – October is also the time of the year to prepare your beds for planting roses. Although roses in Florida put on their best show during the cooler and dryer months, beware that growing roses in Florida can sometimes be difficult. Prepare your soil by digging in dry cow manure and peat moss then plant out your roses. You will be much better off in the long run if you select potted plants locally rather than buying bagged or bare rooted roses from out of state. (more…)
If you could position a glass dome over Lakewood Ranch—inclusive of such nearby neighborhoods as Greyhawk Landing and Heritage Harbour—you would have on exhibit a near-perfect microcosm of our region’s accelerating real estate recovery. For within this award-winning community and its many unique neighborhoods, buyers have scooped up the best-priced properties to such an extent that inventories of available homes have been pared down to levels that are at, near—or below—those typically considered normal in a balanced market. Moreover, they are confidently cherry-picking properties across all price ranges, so long as real value is at the core of every transaction.
As a matter of fact, based on the current pace of existing home sales in Lakewood Ranch—especially for properties priced below $150,000, below $300,000 or below $500,000—less than a four month supply is available for purchase in all three of these price ranges. Similarly, for homes priced from $500,000 to $1 million less than a six-month supply is available. Properties priced above $1 million have yet to re-establish a healthy balance—typically defined in the industry as a six to seven month supply, based on the rate of current sales. Yet with its supply now down to less than ten months, even the market for $1 million-plus homes in Lakewood Ranch is approaching equilibrium. Moreover, across all price ranges, less than a five month supply of properties is on hand. (Source: Trendgraphix, June 2010). Although it will be a very long time before sellers see prices rivaling those of 2004/2005, technically speaking Lakewood Ranch is on the threshold of becoming a sellers’ market again.
To pinpoint precisely how dramatically the Lakewood Ranch market has improved, one need only compare today’s level of inventory to that of two years ago when sales were painfully sluggish. Across all price ranges, the inventory has been drawn down from 958 properties in May 2008, to 341 properties in May 2010; a decline of over 64%. The number of properties priced below $500,000 has dropped by 61%; and those between $500,000 and $1 million by 71%. Even the inventory of properties priced above $1 million is down by 68%.
Posted by Michael Saunders & Company on May 27, 2010
International buyers have always had a soft spot in their heart for Florida; particularly it’s fabulously cultured West Coast. Not a day goes by that we don’t hear a foreign language—or heavily-accented English—being spoken in close proximity to wherever we happen to be. For this reason, we have gone to great lengths at Michael Saunders & Company to court the international buyer throughout our 35 years of service to the region. We never take lightly the fact that a buyer from England, Canada or the European continent may be just as inclined to buy one of our sellers’ properties as someone from Michigan, Indiana or New Jersey.
Right now in particular, international interest in owning properties here has never been more intense. Maybe it’s our bottoming home prices, the lowest in ten years. Maybe it’s our current mortgage lending rates, the lowest in 50 years. Maybe it’s the fact that the financial turmoil sweeping through the European continent reminds its citizens yet again that America—in spite of its economic ups and downs—is still the safest haven on earth to invest money. Then again, maybe it’s the weather.
Whatever their reason for coming to Southwest Florida, we have long cultivated formalized brokerage affiliations in countries throughout the world whose citizens display a particular fondness for wanting to be here. These exclusive affiliations include such internationally renowned real estate networks as Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Luxury Portfolio, Christie’s Great Estates, Mayfair International Realty and the European Real Estate Network (or EREN); which are made that much more powerful through Michael Saunders’ active involvement in many of their governing bodies. The end result is a steady stream of customers being constantly referred to Michael Saunders & Company because our network partners can be confident they will receive the individualized service and special attention they need.
Posted by Michael Saunders & Company on April 8, 2010
Image courtesy of floridarealtors.org
Look for balloons flying in neighborhoods all across the region this Sunday to signify one of the biggest open house parties Florida will ever see. To offer home buyers the convenience of touring dozens of different homes in a single timesaving weekend, the Florida Association of Realtors is hosting this weekend’s first-ever Florida Open House Weekend.
Tens of thousands of homes across the state are open for viewing this Sunday, April 11th with at least 175 of them listed locally by agents of Michael Saunders & Company. Many of the homes are pictured here. The rest can be previewed by visiting michaelsaunders.com. All are open Sunday—from 1:00 until 4:00 p.m—and marked by blue balloons.
Anyone interested in purchasing a home in the near future—perhaps even before the first time home buyer tax credit expires—should not miss this opportunity to preview and compare many different properties on a single day.
With less than three weeks remaining to earn the tax credit, you will find yourself in something of a sprint to cross the finish line. But getting in under the wire is still do-able if you place a home under contract by April 30th; and have cash or financing in place to meet the June 30th deadline for closing. To learn if you qualify for the tax credit, visit Realtor.org.
Here in the Sunshine State, the months of spring bring a return to the balmy afternoons and cool, breezy evenings that make our corner of the nation a cherished vacation destination. Flowers bloom, lush emerald grasses replace our dry yellow lawns, area beaches crowd with sun and water worshipers, and flip-flops and shorts reclaim their relevance in our casual, everyday wardrobes. But, as the mercury gradually rises to reach the sultry temperatures that complement the months of summer, so do the costs of keeping your home cool.
Luckily, you can cut your electric bills significantly by following these 10 energy-saving cooling tips this summer:
1. Become a Fan – While a ceiling fan won’t make your room cooler, it will definitely make it feel cooler by circulating the air and speeding sweat evaporation. Plus, ceiling fans cost far less to run than your air conditioner. If your home doesn’t already have ceiling fans, they aren’t very expensive and can be installed rather easily.
2. Wear Shades – White window shades, drapes or blinds work to reflect heat away from your home. On a sweltering summer day, the sun is your enemy when trying to keep your home cool. So, be sure to close the blinds, shades and draperies that face the sun (east-facing windows in the morning and west-facing windows in the afternoon) to keep the direct heat out and help fans or air conditioners cool more efficiently. (more…)
The Lake Club is an exclusive Lakewood Ranch neighborhood for those seeking the finer things in life. Greeted by its own private vineyards and sounds of water fountains, you are lead to an unprecedented lifestyle of luxury, privacy and exclusivity within this master-planned neighborhood. Meticulous attention has been developed within the 1,500 acres to exceed the highest standards for construction, energy efficiency and environmental responsibility.
Market Activity – The Lake Club
At this time, there are 33 homes built and seven are under construction. Homebuyers have taken notice of the charms presented by The Lake Club. There are currently 15 active listings. In the past 30 days, two homes have sold and two homes have gone under contract. When complete, The Lake Club will include approximately 1,000 homes, all of which enhanced by the community’s well-manicured grounds.
Why Buyers Choose The Lake Club
A magnificent 16,000-square-foot, $10 million grand clubhouse is the crowning jewel of The Lake Club and provides residents a resort lifestyle all year around. A gorgeous tapestry of parks and interweaving picturesque lakes create the overall landscape design, layered with a rich canvas of Italian cypress, Medjool date palms, live oaks, and floral components such as bougainvillea and rose bushes. This stunning landscape blends in uniquely with the community’s cobblestone streets, stonework fountains, magnificent bridges and custom estate homes, which capture the elegance of European Old World charm.
New Homes & Condominiums director Amy Drake discusses why an over supply of inventory and lowering prices make this a great time to buy new construction in real estate.
To see our complete collection of videos, click here.
If you have questions for Michael Saunders, email AskMichael@michaelsaunders.com.
Does refinancing fit your situation?
Whether you're buying a home or refinancing, MSC Mortgage provides valuable online tools
and resources to help you make the decisions that are right for you.
For the best service with any of your home financing needs,
talk to one of our private mortgage bankers today.
