Sales stats for March – Current prices of beach real estate

This just in:

Residential real estate sales for the month of MARCH in the following beach areas:

Indian Rocks Beach, Indian Shores, Belleair Beach/Sand Key

There were 27 sales, consisting of:

Condominiums- 16 sales

Single Family Homes - 5 sales

Townhomes- 6 sales

Average square footage = 1523

Average Beds/Baths = 2/2.5

Average list price = $472,594

Average sales price = $410,472

Sales price to List price percentage = 91%

Average Days on Market = 101

Number of properties that are on the beach side of Gulf Boulevard (NOT necessarily Gulf front views) = 12

High sale: $1,025,000 – Sand Key condo- The Grande- Gulf front

Low sale: $146,500 – Townhome, Indian Rocks Beach

DISTRESSED SALES DATA:

There were 3 distressed sales, consisting of 2 short sales and 1 foreclosure (REO, Bank-owned)

NOW- get over to my website and check out my featured listings and you can see the latest foreclosure lists for FREE!

www.MyPinellasParadise.com

Home Is Where the Tax Credit Is | The Big Money

Home Is Where the Tax Credit Is The Big Money

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This opinion piece was titled, "Just let the homebuyer tax credit die", when I saw it this morning on the MSNBC homepage.

Recently, there has been an increase in media coverage of the Federal Housing Tax Credit, which is to be expected, given the proposed end of this program on November 30, 2009.

The incentive to first-time homebuyers is not exactly a bad idea, but, other than the issues mentioned in this piece, there are other caveats to be aware of. For instance, in a recent article written for real estate professionals, one real estate broker commented that he is telling buyers this is a tax REFUND. Come April 15, he is probably going to get numerous angry phone calls from buyers when they find out they're not getting a huge refund!
It's a simple case of understanding how the IRS defines "credit" and "refund", which I strongly suspect are the same in ANY dictionary.

For the REAL info, all first-time homebuyers are urged to visit this site for accurate information on the Housing Tax Credit:

www.FederalHousingTaxCredit.com

Along with qualifying criteria for this tax credit, such as income limits and length of ownership requirements, pay close attention to the deadline of November 30.

IMPORTANT: If you are a first-time homebuyer looking to buy distressed real estate and get the benefits of the tax credit, STOP looking at SHORT SALES. You will not close by November 30. Look instead at properties that are truly available for timely close: bank-owned (aka foreclosures) and regular sales are where you should focus your time at this point.

Great deals are out there and they aren't confined to SHORT SALES or even FORECLOSURES. There are numerous motivated sellers in this buyers market.

Check out my weekly list of bank-owned properties in this local area- updated each week!

www.MyPinellasParadise.com

Foreclosure vs. Short Sales market observation

Just yesterday, I decided to check out some stats on the active distressed real estate listings within our local MLS (Multiple Listing Service).
The area searched was approximately 25% of Pinellas County, which is a good representation of the general marketplace.

The initial look at the numbers of sales in each category over the past 90 days was nothing extraordinary.
Foreclosures- 52 sales
Short Sales- 69 sales

However, the truth is evident when you look behind the numbers at the length of time these properties are spending on the market!

Foreclosures- 13 of 52 listings were on the market over 90 days, and only 1 on the market over 1 year.
Short Sales- 53 of 69 listings were on the market over 90 days! Seven listings were on the market for over one year!

Even though the marketing time of short sales is lengthy, the real shock is when looking at active listings- properties currently listed for sale and classified as foreclosure and short sale.


Active Foreclosure listings - 34.
Of these, 9 have been on the market longer than 90 days. The longest DOM (Days on Market) was for ONE listing at 193 days.

Active short sale listings - ARE YOU SITTING DOWN???? 342
That's right, TEN TIMES the number of FORECLOSURES on the market. But, as any infomercial hawker will tell you, WAIT - THERE'S MORE!
Of the 342, 196 of these have been on the market longer than 90 days, and 36 listings have been on the market over one year.
The listing with the longest DOM? 966 days

So, what do YOU think- are SHORT SALES the answer to finding a great deal? These numbers seem to indicate otherwise.

For the latest list of local foreclosures, please visit my website and see the "Foreclosures" page.

http://www.mypinellasparadise.com/

Have a great week!