Brandon Florida Real Estate

Anyone ever used Angie's List?  Or maybe you had never heard of it, like myself?  I didn't know this website even existed until this morning.  I was watching TV and saw the advertisement for it.

So what exactly is Angie's List?  "A word-of-mouth network for consumers.  Angie's List is a growing collection of homeowners' real-life experiences with local service companies. The people who join Angie's List are like you - looking for a way to find trustworthy companies that perform high-quality work."

It says that over 500,000 members across 124 cities use Angie's List.

When someone uses a company, they can grade that company on their services performed.  I thought it sounded kind of cool, till I tried to search for local companies around me to see what it was all about and I got to a payment request screen.  Then I didn't go any further.  Guess you have to pay to see any of the info. 

Any of you ever used this website before?  Was it worth paying for or not?

Anyone care to share with us what your thoughts are on what is going to happen short term or long term due to many of the sub-prime lenders closing their doors and some of the large prime lenders now screaming of financial difficulties and some of them may be going under?

I hate to say this....but didn't they see this coming?  I mean really, there for a long while it seemed like if you had a pay-stub and an address to a house you wanted to buy, they could find you a loan.  It seemed like all the ads you saw, read something along the lines of, "You find the home and we'll find you the loan."  Didn't they realize that all that would eventually catch up to them?  I mean, honestly?  Did they think they could max people out at the top of what they could afford including the people with poor credit and expect that no one would be affected later on down the road?  Or did they just not care at the time?

This isn't like lending 20k for a car, these are several hundreds of thousands of dollars we are talking about.

I think it became way too easy to get a loan and just about anyone could get one, some how or some way.  I think if they would of kept some of the strict requirements for getting a loan over the past several years, we wouldn't be seeing such a large downfall that we are seeing right now.

I think everyone was riding the wave all the way to the end and when it crashed, many people are now drowning.  I think many people foolishly over extended themselves to the max they could get a loan for and then when the ARM kicked in, they could no longer afford their home.  Why don't lenders only lend up to a certain percent that someone can afford taking these sorts of things into account?  If someone can afford $250,000, then why doesn't a lender say that they will only lend maybe 80% of what you are truly qualified for to maybe help in situations like this when the ARM changes, it would still be affordable for that person.  So maybe they could be approved for $250,000 but only be able to get a loan for $200,000.  If that had been the case, how many less people would be affected when their ARM changed?  Probably not as many.  Who knows, I'm just throwing out there some "maybe scenarios". 

I think people got caught up in the craziness of the housing boom and many didn't think about what would happen in the next 2-5 years.  Many of those people were first time home buyer's that had no clue what to expect. 

I read a story this morning that we haven't seen the worst of it yet and over the next 2 years it will get worse with more people going into foreclosure.  Do you think this will happen?

Do you think we are at the worst part right now or do you think it will get worse?  What do you think will happen over the next year or so?

I have to think we haven't seen the worst part yet since I've heard that while processing loans these days, a loan that someone would of been able to get a week ago is no longer available or that lender isn't writing anymore loans or the lender is going belly up.

We use to hear how hard it was to find the buyer's......now it seems to be hard to find a lender willing to lend and have a deal actually close.  Does this seem to be the "norm" across the board now?  How hard are you having with trying to get people a loan?  Are your deals still closing or are they falling apart during the process due to lenders?

Just would like to hear any one's input on this.  Feel free to give your 2 cents....or more!

I was doing some reading online tonight and came across a link on Realtor.org for people's funniest real estate stories.  I never knew this page existed on the site until tonight.  I decided to check it out and got a laugh out of some of them.

There are quite a few of them for your enjoyment, and you can even submit your own if you like.

Feel free to check them out here.

I don't have any funny real estate stories to share, but do you?  Anything strange happen to you at an open house or while out showing properties or maybe just a funny story of something that happened while working with one of your clients you care to share?

Parrish will be seeing a few more new stores opening in the next month or so.

"A pizzeria/Italian restaurant and a Chinese restaurant are already confirmed as new tenants of the Shops at Silverleaf, where Publix opened a new store on July 26. The plaza is on U.S. 301, near Chin Road."

"A nail salon, a dry cleaner and a hairdresser have also signed leases for space alongside the grocery giant, according to North American Properties, which owns the plaza."

I think Parrish needs more of a variety of restaurants and shops instead of more nail salons and Chinese restaurants.  I think they need to start building some more nice restaurants and different variety of stores for the residents of Parrish.  Maybe they are in the works for things to come soon.  Who knows.  There isn't much in Parrish, so anything is better than nothing I suppose.

I was reading the paper this afternoon online and came across this story.  I thought it was a neat story to share with you.

It's a story about a woman who was surprised on her 83rd birthday.  Her daughter planned a surprise party for her 83rd birthday at a home she was born in and grew up in, in Ellenton.  The home use to be in disrepair and needed a lot of work and was ready to be condemned.  Fortunately a couple bought the home and restored it to what it is today.  It is now a beautiful home the way Mary Martha remembered it as a child and growing up. 

The home today has been fully restored and is now an antiques and collectibles store on Leffingwell Ave in Ellenton.

I thought about what it must have been like for Mary Martha to see the home she grew up in fall into disrepair and almost get condemned and then to have someone restore the home to what is was like when she was growing up.  I have to think that meant so much to her and to see the home once again fully restored in beautiful condition. 

Ellenton has a lot of old homes that have a lot of meaning to many people.  I hope that some of the older homes that need to be repaired are purchased and restored like this one was, instead of bulldozed down and something new built in it's place.

If you are, I highly recommend Michelle Chevalier with CornerStone Title.  She is very nice and very easy to work with.  She will go to great lengths to sort out any problems to get a deal closed as smooth as possible. 

She keeps in contact with the lender and also keeps us posted with regular updates on any deals we have going.  She's fast to respond to any issues that may arise and does whatever she can to help fix the problem.

Here is her contact information:

Michelle Chevalier
Licensed Agent, Senior Closing Manager
CornerStone Title
11061 Gatewood Drive
Bradenton, Florida 34211
Off: 941-708-0300
Cell: 941-725-0099
Fax: 941-708-0365

The next time you need a Title Company, keep Michelle in mind.  You won't be disappointed.  I've invited her to join us here on ActiveRain, so hopefully she will and she can then explain to everyone her services that she offers!

Below are the stats for properties that SOLD and closed in July for Manatee County:

July 2006
# of single family homes SOLD = 234
# of condos SOLD = 49
Avg SOLD price for SFR = $372,162
Avg SOLD price for condos = $286,861

July 2007
# of single family homes SOLD = 182
# of condos SOLD = 45
Avg SOLD price for SFR = $338,946
Avg SOLD price for condos = $204,222

As of today, there is:  4,273 SFR Active on the market and 2,002 Condos Active on the market for sale.

To check previous months stats, click here.

*Information is deemed to be accurate, but is not guaranteed.

This is just a reminder that the Florida Sales Tax Holiday starts today.  The holiday goes from today until midnight August 13th. 

During the next 10 days would be a good time to get all of your school shopping done for your kids.  Stock up on all the school supplies and school clothes for your kids now while also saving some money at the same time. 

This holiday is statewide and recognized in all stores, so it doesn't matter where you shop.  Here is a specific list of what is tax exempt and what is not.  Please read through the list carefully, so you are aware of exactly what is exempt and what is not.

Happy shopping!!!

Another bill was introduced to Congress on Friday to reduce the costs of insurance premiums for homeowners in disaster-prone areas .  But really, how far will this bill go?  It's failed before, so are they really going to pass it this time around? 

"The bill would create a voluntary, market-driven national catastrophic fund designed to lower the cost of insuring homes in areas where the threat of hurricanes, floods and earthquakes have sent premiums skyrocketing. It also would make federal loans available to assist in rebuilding states hit by natural disasters."

More and more people can't afford the high insurance premiums in Florida.  Some people's premiums have doubled and tripled over the last year or two.  That's absolutely ridiculous!!  Between the taxes and insurance in Florida, it's almost like having another mortgage payment each month for some people.  And for senior citizens on fixed incomes....they just can't do it.

I certainly hope they do something about this issue and SOON!!  These ridiculous costs are driving people out of our state.

A recent survey was mailed out to the residents of the Creekwood Subdivision asking them if they want to keep their community pool or have it close down.  It also contained a repair list of costs totalling $100,000 to repair the pool.

Apparently when the pool was first constructed it was constructed poorly and the maintenance on the pool ever since has not been done properly by the company that was hired.

The pool has been closed off and on and was even closed through the entire summer last year.  If they close the pool, it will drastically lower their home values.  Many people move into communities because of the convenience of a community pool.

My question is, why didn't the association or the builder of Creekwood ever go after the builder of the pool and make them properly fix what they obviously screwed up from the beginning?