Here's some great real estate news on the housing market in Tampa for March.
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Update
Tampa Real Estate Market Update for February 2016
Here's the most accurate Tampa Real Estate Market Update for February 2016. The information is pulled directly from My Florida Regional MLS. The only MLS provider for companies in Central Florida.
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January 2015 Statistics – Tampa Real Estate News
Take a look at the video about the latest Tampa real estate statistics for January 2015. This real estate market update will give you great insight as to what kind of market we are in. The data comes directly from My Florida Regional MLS. MFRMLS is the MLS provider for all Realtors in Central Florida.
Visit my website to get the most accurate MLS search in all Central Florida. I would love to help you with all your real estate needs.
Tampa Real Estate Market – Statistics for March 2014
Hi everybody. It’s Lance Mohr. Just wanted to go over the Tampa real estate market statistics for March.
Looks like we had a good month in March, which is normal. March is always a really good month in the Tampa real estate market. If you’re looking in Land O Lakes or Wesley Chapel, I would definitely look at the Hillsborough County and pay more attention to these statistics than Pasco – if I pull the Pasco statistics, they’re not nearly as good. Because most of the areas on Pasco, or a good majority of them, are much slower and won’t have as much movement because you have slow moving areas like Hudson, Port Richie and Zephyrhills – so I would look at the Hillsborough County because it’s a little bit more of a robust market.
Overall, if you look at the couple things that stand out, sales really peaked up quite a bit from last month. You can see a little over 1007 sold homes last month in February and then you have 1247 – a big increase. March is always a really good month. The first half of March was very slow though. Not just myself but a lot of titled companies, realtors, mortgage bankers, etc.The second half really started to pick up and it continually going through in April is turning out to be a very good month. I think we are going to slow down a little bit more in the next week or so because we have tax returns due on the 15th. And we have Easter coming up, so it’ll be a little bit slower. So the main thing is and looking at this, a couple things to point out, especially in the solds – 8% of the homes that sold were short sales. That’s the lowest level it’s been in years. It’s been lingering for about the past 7 year between 17% and last month it got to 9%. In January it was 12%, then last month it dropped to 9, then 8. And it’s been staying the same for several months now. You can start seeing a lot of banks just reject and reduce short sales and leave the buyers hanging. Because they can now go after the homeowners for deficiency judgments and 1099’s. So if you see right here 38% of all the people who put contracts, who have contracts on their home right now is a short sale but only 8% are actually closing. So that’s a little more than 1 in 5 so if you’re doing the short sale, just be prepared and know statistics. So we’ll go over to March right here and we’re going to look. One thing that you’re going to notice is that overall traditional sales have really jumped up dramatically. Last month in March, 894 homes sold traditional sales compared to the 699 sold homes in the Tampa real estate market in February. So 72% of all the sales are traditional. Just regular home sales, not involving a bank, whether it is bank-owned or short sales or anything else. One thing you’ll notice looking at this is across the board is the sales really went up, especially in areas of price ranges of $200,000-$300,000, $300,000-$500,000 and over $500,000 the sales almost doubled and from $300,00-$500,000, last month 184 sold and you can see the month before it was 133. So a big jump happened in February between 200,000 and 300,000. You have 200 homes sold. But in March, it was 281, big jump. Pending also went up slightly. And active listings have sort of leveled off; they actually went down a little bit. So overall, the health of the market right now we’re just a little under 4 months of inventory, 3.92 months of inventory, as you know from listening to me. A balanced market is 6 months of inventory, so it still leans towards a seller’s market.
If you’re a buyer and you’re looking at buying, then I would buy now. If you like a home, put an offer on it because chances are that they may get another offer. And if you’re a seller you need to price your home competitively because if you don’t it’s just going to stay in the market. I see that over and over from sellers that over price your home. They ask me when I go out and talk to them about sales and they say, “Well, why has the home been on the market for so long?” It’s because they overprice it. Buyers are seeing this and it just isn’t traditional sellers that are doing this. Banks are overpricing homes. Sometimes people think we were in the year that we were last year. Anyhow, I hope that gives you a good overall assessment. Again, I have a ton of educational videos, my YouTube channel, my Tampa2Enjoy website, and you could always visit one of my home buyer or seller webinars. Every week, I do it twice a week at tbbuyerwebinar.com or tbsellerwebinar.com. All right, have a great day and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. My website is tampa2enjoy.com. Goodbye.
Fannie Mae – Housing Recovery Remains Positive
Many people have a bad taste in their mouths over the condition of the housing market over the last few years and even though the market seems to be rebounding, consumer attitude does not seem to be doing the same. Many of the industry experts expect that home prices will rise in the next year. While some reports indicate that weather could have played a role in some states with an extended winter, others are noting that consumer attitudes are just not the same as they were a few years ago. After surveys showed how consumers feels about buying a home in January showed that confidence is falling, which has been that same way for the last four months.
Housing Recovery Expected to Press On Despite Recent Volatility in Consumer Attitudes
“Americans' outlook on housing and the economy has fluctuated somewhat during the past few months, but the trend for most indicators remains positive overall, according to Fannie Mae’s February 2014 National Housing Survey results. Notably, respondents' home price expectations climbed significantly in February – with 50 percent saying home prices will go up in the next year – following a measurable downturn in January, while the share of those who believe it is a good time to buy a home ticked up by 3 percentage points. At the same time, those who believe that it would be easy to get a mortgage dropped 7 percentage points from January's all-time survey high of 52 percent. Additionally, the share of respondents who say the economy is on the wrong track increased 3 percentage points to 57 percent in February, following a four-month decline. Despite a decrease in optimism across some of the indicators last month, consumer attitudes remain in generally positive ranges.
“Similar to the noisy economic and housing data published over the past few months, we've seen a corresponding increase in volatility in our survey results, particularly for home price expectations and perceptions about the ease of getting a mortgage,” said Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.”
In summary, the attitudes of the consumers are certainly going to play a role in how the housing market changes in the near future. When consumers feel that the economy is picking up and the time to buy a house is now, home sale rise while repossessed homes tend to dip during those times. On the other hand, when consumers feel that the housing market is not worth getting into because of a sliding economy, the market falls and foreclosures might even pick up a bit for a month. The consumer attitude is important to the housing market because they are the ones that hold the cash. If money is not being exchanged, the overall market sees that in more ways than one.
FEMA Flood Insurance Premiums Update
We might be seeing a little relief in sight with FEMA’s flood insurance premiums. The Senate has put a 4 year delay on the premium hikes until they figure out what to do. There is a very high possibility that the House with pass the bill. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and real estate agents have been applying relentless pressure on both the House and Senate for months now. Check out the article below for the latest flood insurance update.
Palm Beach Post
“The U.S. Senate passed a four-year delay in flood insurance premium hikes Thursday as attention now turns to the GOP-controlled House, where prospects appear rockier.
By a vote of 67-32, Senators approved a halt to most of the biggest increases for four years, during which time a federal agency would be required to study the affordability of policies and review accuracy of new flood maps.
Stories of premiums shooting from $4,000 to more than $40,000 in one stroke have raised alarms that they will kill real estate sales and damage a recovering economy. It’s an especially big deal in Florida, which has two of every five policies issued by the federal program.”
If Congress and FEMA don’t get this problem fixed it will end up hurting every homeowner – not just the rich. Everyone needs to start reaching out to their members of Congress and voice their concern.
Lance Mohr is a waterfront real estate expert in Tampa, FL. If you have any questions about waterfront homes in Tampa please visit our Tampa waterfront website.
US Senate votes to delay flood insurance hikes – from PressTV
Easy Ways to Update A Home
Another reason to think about buying one of many varieties of houses in New Tampa is the diversity of design and landscaping. Nearly every neighborhood or community is near a major thoroughfare that gives them convenient access to work, doctor's appointments, and cultural activities. If you happen to like one of the homes with these conveniences that a Realtor has shown you, but are hesitating saying yes because you want to change a few things, you can relax knowing there are easy ways to update older houses in Tampa and surrounding areas.
New Colors for the Rooms
Are the interior walls of the home much too bland for your liking? There is no reason they have to stay that way. How To guides often suggest that neutral colors be applied to the walls before placing the home for sale, as it gives prospective buyers the opportunity to visualize if their furniture suits the area without being concerned if a certain shade of green or blue will clash. A new coat of paint is typically applied to the trim and baseboards, as well. Again, this is easily changed and saves you the problem of applying a base coat to the walls and trim.
If the seller mentions painting the home before they move, they have handed you a bargaining tool. Discuss the idea of selecting the colors you want or perhaps getting a price reduction if you take charge of the painting with your Realtor first. That gives you an opportunity to make a counter-offer that benefits you by letting you select the paint that will make the house your home.
Closets and Storage Space
One of the primary things to look for when exploring these homes is storage space, especially the size of the closets. Is there enough room to hang your family's clothing? Check for a conveniently located linen closet with adequate storage space, including shelves. There should be cabinets in the bathroom to hold towels, washcloths and incidental items. Each person has their own kitchen cabinet and drawer needs, so base that section on what is essential for you. The seller may have some hints about what was done to compensate for any shortage of shelving, counter space and closets.
Tampa Real Estate Market Update
I want to talk a little bit about the Tampa, Fla Real Estate market and give everybody an idea on how it is going from someone who works at it 7 days a week about 360 days a year.
Right now there is no question it is slower and a lot of that is because of school. Schools let out in June over a couple weeks time period and anytime school lets out, anytime school gets back in, whenever there is a holiday of any sort, it is slow. We just passed the 4th of July weekend so of course it is real slow, most people were out of town. Even little things like if it is raining really, really hard people are not going to get out looking at homes. It is weird, I have been in this industry for 18 years and in different states and I have always noticed it has been like that every where.
When the tax credit was over at the end of April, I did not really notice a lot of people that were buying just because of the tax credit. Most people are saying interest rates are so low, they are lower than 5% or right near 5%, and the home values have gone down substantially, in a lot of areas 35% to 50% some even a little bit more than that, especially the condos in Tampa.
A lot of it really depends where you are at, areas off Hillsborough and areas like Town N' Country, Brandon or maybe Temple Terrace, some of the more matured areas probably are not moving as well as some of the newer areas. Homes in New Tampa, Riverview and Westchase are all selling very well. There are a lot of areas where a lot of the younger families are tend to move a little bit better than the more matured areas, so keep that in mind.
Also the other thing that I would tell you because I get a lot of people that listen to the national news, and I listen to the national news as well but keep in mind if you are looking at buying a home in Tampa focus on the stats in the Tampa Real Estate market. Do not listen to a lot of the national news, home prices are up and home values are down or the economy is this, the economy is down, every area is different. In Tampa our recession for homes out here started in 2005 beginning of 2006, well the rest of the nation were still going really strong and you get some areas like Austin and Dallas, Texas, those areas really have not felt more than a hiccup. So I would say if you are going to look at the Dallas home prices, focus on Dallas. You would not walk into a Ford dealership and start talking to a mechanic about Acuras. It is no different, do not listen to all the national news about what is going on in the rest of the company, focus on the Tampa market.
You could get a lot of the information at www.gtar.org. There are monthly statistics every month and for every year. So I would strongly recommend to go there and get educated. Of course if a home is a good deal, I know everybody is looking for good deals whether it is a foreclosure or whether it is a banked owned, some of these short sales may or may not be a good deal, I would watch my videos on those. Get your ducks in a row and get educated. If you do not want to get educated, that is okay just get a real estate agent that really knows what they are doing.
I hope this helps you. Again, our market is going good, it is slow, it will probably pick up, it is July. It usually always starts picking up in July and August, then when school goes back in it will dip down for probably two weeks and then it will pick up slightly, then we are going into the winter months it will get a little slower. July is usually a very good month in real estate pretty much anywhere in the US, even in Tampa.
Economists Pronounce the Recession Over
NEW YORK – Aug. 13, 2009 – The majority of economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal say the recession is over and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke deserves another term.
Of the 47 economists the newspaper surveyed, 27 said the recession has ended and 11 predict another trough this month or next. The rest refused to commit. But they were nearly unanimous in saying that Bernanke should be rehired.
“He deserves a lot of credit for stabilizing the financial markets,” says Joseph Carson of AllianceBernstein. “Confidence in recovery would be damaged if he was not reappointed.”
Poll respondents believe Bernanke has more than a 70 percent chance of being asked by President Barack Obama to remain at the helm of the central bank.
Gross domestic product is expected to grow 2.4 percent in the third quarter at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. Economists were also heartened by a better-than-expected jobless report in July.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Phil Izzo (08/12/2009)