The View From Here

Dear friends:

End of Summer Review

Good news about our local real estate market keeps cascading in daily. Happily, the earliest signs of recovery are manifest in just about every sector of the economy.

Just last week, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune trumpeted some of the best news we’ve heard in more than three years. Under the headline “Housing Sales Up Sharply” the front page article led with these words:

“Home sales in the Sarasota-Bradenton market rose 30 percent during July as buyers scurried to lock in a federal tax credit before it expires in November. July's sales performance was the biggest percentage point move in the region since June 2004. Nationally, sales spiked by the biggest amount in a decade.”

While all these positive developments underscore our unfailing belief in the fundamental resilience and desirability of our market, now is no time for jubilation or to step back and congratulate ourselves for making it through the storm. While a strong recovery is in progress in the under-$400,000 market, sales remain sluggish throughout all other price tiers; with the most aggressively priced properties having the most success at finding buyers. Moreover, the human tragedy of foreclosure still surrounds us as we do everything possible to mitigate its terrible toll on families.

We are proud to have played a major role in Sarasota County’s superlative new effort to bring real guidance, help and reassurance to those who are facing the prospect of losing their homes. Read all about it in this month’s article The Faces of Foreclosure.

This month’s topics also include Bad Apples in a Good Bunch, which has something to say about all the dedicated, hard working real estate agents taking the bum rap for the very few who have been less than ethical in their practices.

Finally, discover some of the best luxury condominium opportunities on today’s local market in Summer Sale. I can assure you, you’ll never be able to purchase new, up-to-code construction in prime locations—with such built-in luxuries and fabulous amenities—at prices like these ever again. Values like these are fading fast.

Meanwhile with summer also fading fast, we’re looking forward to the season that always reminds us why we all settled in Florida to begin with. Weather-wise, we’re just on the cusp of trading good for spectacular. Shouldn’t you be here?

We hope you find this edition of Saunders@Home entertaining and informative. Read on and enjoy!

Cordially,

We would love to hear your comments and suggestions as to what you would like to read in the weeks and months ahead. Please email them to me, care of editor@michaelsaunders.com. Meanwhile enjoy our seventeenth issue.

Did You Know? Our office in the lobby of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Sarasota is staffed by an elite team of real estate professionals with extensive knowledge and expertise in our area’s three Ritz-Carlton properties. Contact 941.364-8884 or visit michaelsaunders.com for more information.