The Saunders Blog

Launch Time – Top 10 Features of our Newly Launched Web Site

Updated and Enhanced: The new michaelsaunders.com is designed with a focus on your needs.

After months of rigorous planning, meticulous development, thorough testing and scrupulous user feedback, Michael Saunders & Company is pleased to announce the launch of its new web site, michaelsaunders.com. An entirely updated version of the award-winning web site we first introduced in 1995, the new site is home to a new level of user features and upgrades specially designed to provide the compelling neighborhood content, market data and advanced property search capabilities buyers and sellers have come to depend on for their real estate needs.

 As you already have experienced a taste of the new site to find this blog, this is your chance to learn more about the exciting results brought about by its technological makeover. Keep in mind, we have a few more tricks up our sleeve that are yet to come. So, here are the top 10 features of our newly launched web site:

 1.  Instant Market Data – While traditional data sources rely on months-old market data, we now provide users with a clear view of current conditions provided by Altos Research, an award-winning company that monitors millions of properties in order to deliver the most comprehensive database of local market conditions available. Select your area of choice and learn up-to-the-minute market information.

 2.  Enhanced Property Search – In conjunction with our striking new “Gallery” display feature, our simple, straightforward search function includes property information delivered directly from MLS.

 3.  Just Listed – Be among the first to identify new listings available in your area of choice. Located on our home page, our Just Listed option delivers the most recently listed properties on MLS with full information and mapping capabilities.

 4.  Best Opportunities – A smashing success on our former site, we would be remiss to discontinue our popular Best Opportunities feature, showcasing the area’s most aggressively priced properties. Also located on our home page, this option brings you to the forefront of the greatest local values in real estate.

 5.  In-Depth Neighborhood Information – The new michaelsaunders.com features neighborhood pages combining real estate listings with high definition community video tours, local business reviews, a library of area photos, and much more. Basically, each neighborhood now has its own website complete with the information to serve your needs.

 6.  Local Real Estate News and Advice – Designed as your homepage source for gaining market knowledge and advice, our Local Real Estate News and Advice section is your command center for comprehensive real estate information. Tabs include Video introductions to areas, a snapshot of recent posts to The Saunders Blog, a link to sign up for our informative monthly newsletter, and access to the Michael Saunders & Company Newsroom—where you can learn more about our recent transactions and company news.

 7.  The Saunders Blog – Since you’re reading this post, you already understand the value of The Saunders Blog—an inside look at the real estate market from the professionals. Besides our enlightening and endearing top ten lists, the content on The Saunders Blog are treated to a wealth of real estate news and information from up-close video interviews with Michael Saunders herself and some of the company’s department managers to weekly neighborhood reports and informative articles. You can also sign up HERE to receive new blog posts to your email.

 8.  Connect to Agents – It is no secret that our agents are the best around. Discover the difference when working with a Michael Saunders & Company agent by accessing them directly through our Agents link. Here, you can search for a particular agent or find one by entering certain criteria that matters to you, such as language preference or office location. Or send us a message, and we can match you with the perfect agent best for your needs.

9.  Open Houses – Before taking a driving tour of your open houses, chart your course online with our interactive Open House section. Here, you can view the week’s open houses by photo, area or map, then access a wealth of property details to further match your needs, including mortgage calculations, neighborhood videos and photos, agent contact information and more.

 10.  Your Feedback – Your satisfaction is important to us, so we want our website to be as accurate and user-friendly as possible. On the bottom right-hand side of each page you will notice a small red triangle. Simply click on this triangle to rate your experience with any page or supply feedback for any issues that you may encounter. Your feedback is important, as it helps make michaelsaunders.com better every day.

Ask Michael – Are Today’s Buyers as Value Conscious as they were a year ago?

In this Ask Michael Video, Michael Saunders discusses today’s buyers and if they are as value conscious as they were a year ago.

If you have questions for Michael Saunders, email AskMichael@michaelsaunders.com

Ask Darla – Will Home Sales Change Drastically When the Tax Credit Ends in April?

In this Ask Darla video, Darla Furst talks about whether or not home sales will change significantly when the tax credit ends in April.

If you have questions for Michael Saunders, email AskMichael@michaelsaunders.com

Neighborhood Video Collection – Anna Maria

Anna Maria Island’s beautiful horizon is devoid of high-rise towers.  Fast-food chains and commercial franchises are absent, with only the Old Florida island feeling remaining. The quaint village ambiance is preserved in the real estate.

Ask Michael – Signs and Trends Pointing to a Market Recovery

In this ask Michael video, Michael Saunders explains the signs and trends observed that point to a market recovery.

Neighborhood Video Profile – Longboat Key

Between the destinations of Lido Key and Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key is a fine mix of tasteful luxury and manicured surroundings.  Just minutes from the heart of Sarasota, the long and narrow island feels like a secluded community with an elegant flavor of its own.

The Neighborhood Report – Venice Island

A stroll along the storefronts along Venice Avenue on Venice Island.

People love to live in and visit downtown Venice—located on Venice Island—where they find a small town atmosphere with plenty to see and do. Here, there is an active center of town where you can stroll down Venice Avenue and enjoy the shops and outside cafes, just a breath away from beautiful area beaches. Convenience is key, as one can ride a bike or walk to most places of interest on Venice Island.

Market Activity – Venice Island

In the past 30 days, 17 properties sold and 58 have gone under contract on Venice Island, according to Venice office branch manager Kathy Wood. Recently, Venice office agents Jo-Anne Sckowska and Nell Taylor worked with a vacationing couple who wanted a condominium to use as a vacation place for now and eventually move into. All the properties that met their criteria were in different areas off the island, and Jo-Anne and Nell could tell the homebuyers weren’t very enthusiastic about them. So, the team suggested they view a listing across from the beach with a nice side Gulf view. This listing was a bit dated and needed updating, but was near where they were staying and convenient to all of downtown’s charms. As they walked in and looked out the window at the wonderful view, they were able to overlook the updating needs. They wrote a contract for cash on this island condominium and will go to closing very soon. (more…)

Approaching Equilibrium

A moment that seemed choreographed to cause maximum confusion about whether the housing market is in recovery—or not—took place in real estate markets across Florida last week.  No sooner had the National Association of REALTORS® issued its nationwide snapshot of existing home and condominium sales for the month of January than the Florida Association of REALTORS® released its own statewide recap.  To say the least, the two sets of monthly statistics clashed dramatically, painting very different pictures of the market.

Poised for national sales to finish up slightly in January, economists were caught off balance by NAR’s announcement that unit sales had actually declined nationwide for the second straight month, falling to the lowest level since last June.  Rightly or wrongly, the result was widely interpreted as a sign that the national housing recovery might be faltering.

Then—literally moments later—January sales for Florida were released by the Florida Association of REALTORS®.  The contrast between the two sets of results could not have been sharper; proving once again the old business adage that “all real estate is local.”

Far from mimicking the sluggish national trend, Florida’s existing home sales continue to blaze a trail of sustained recovery in the price ranges below $350,000.  Sales here rose impressively again in January, marking 17 straight months in which statewide sales have increased in year-over-year comparisons.

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The Neighborhood Report – Siesta Estates

Homes in Siesta Estates rarely go on the market. This one is currently listed by Harvey and Ethel Lovelace.

Tucked away at the corner of Beach and Midnight Pass roads on Siesta Key is a private enclave of 16 homes in a private, gated community called Siesta Estates. The homes are newer, built since 1995, and the community offers privacy walls, lush tropical landscaping and underground utilities including natural gas. Although this community lives like a single-family community, it has yard and private pool maintenance included, which make it ideal for owners that travel or want to use the home part time.

Market Activity – Siesta Estates

Homes in Siesta Estates are a minimum of 2,000 square feet with the average being around 2,500 square feet. In June of 2009, the only remaining lot was put under contract by Mary Jo Violett and Kristina Rain with the Siesta Key office of Michael Saunders & Company. A new home is being built on that site. (more…)

The Price is Right

Although it’s impossible to predict the bottom of our real estate market with anything other than months of perfect hindsight after the fact, who can blame home buyers in this economy for at least attempting to time it to their advantage?  In the best of times, saving big on one of life’s biggest purchases is as American as apple pie.  In troubled times, it’s a daily crusade.

Yet, even if one could magically time bottoming home prices to the split second, you would still make a tactical mistake as a would-be borrower if you failed to notice a similar bottoming-out of mortgage interest rates.  Indeed, by allowing interest rates to climb while you wait for prices to fall, you can easily end up paying more for a property than if you actually bought it at today’s price while locked into today’s historically low interest rate.  That rate is presently hovering around 4.88%, give or take.

Meanwhile, there’s scarcely an expert on the market who doesn’t fully believe that mortgage rates have but one way to go—up.   Rates have essentially been held as low as they’re likely to go for quite some time now in order to stimulate sales.   However, March 31^st is expected to mark the beginning of a trend toward fewer stimuli and more tough love for the housing market—mainly in the form of higher interest rates.

That day—the last of this year’s first fiscal quarter—is the deadline the Federal Reserve has given itself to begin scaling back on its widespread purchases of mortgage-backed securities.  Once this deadline has passed, most experts believe the Fed will begin in earnest to wean itself from propping-up a market that is already showing encouraging signs of sustaining itself through the lowest prices of a decade.

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