Properties, Houses and Condos for Sale in St Petersburg Treasure Island Florida

Everybody is talking about a Short Sale In St. Petersburg Tampabay, Pinellas County.
But most people are not familiar with the term Short Sale.
For homeowners that need to sell their property but can not find a buyer for the price they need to pay of their mortgage, a short sale sometimes is the only option other than going in foreclosure.

Here in St Petersburg Tampabay the market is over floating with Real Estate listings. People have bought properties 3 or 4 years ago and have paid more than they could get in today´s market.
Now these homeowners need to sell and can´t find a buyer. If someone makes an offer it is usually much lower than asking price. The home owner might not get his money back or he might not even get the amount of the mortgage back.

Now the options are limited, file for bankruptcy, or go into foreclosure.
The other option, which might make much more sense, is a short sale.

Our St. Petersburg Tampabay area is high on the list for cities with Short Sale properties.
Talk to your bank or lender, see if they will accept less than the mortgage amount and forgive the balance.

There are a lot of factors that come into play and it is not as easy as it sounds, but you and your Realtor can work on it and chances are, you get out of the deal without loosing everything.
See, banks are not in the Real Estate business, so they do not like foreclosures at all, they do not want to homes or condos, o, they are motivated to find a better solution. In some cases it can be loan modification but in most cases that I have seen here in St. Petersburg Tampabay it is a Short Sale.
To get things started, have your agent prepare a CMA that shows the real market value of your property, take this and documentation of your income and reasons why you have to sell and bring it to your bank. (or let us do it for you)
Do it early, do not wait till the very last minute, this process takes a little time and time is not on your site.
So, get started before it is too late.

Give us a call if you need additional information
727 409 8706

Eggs at the Saturday morning market in St. Petersburg.

That's right. You can buy the tastiest eggs in downtown St. Pete at the Saturday morning market.

If you get there late, they might be out of eggs but no problem you can order them on this website and the eggs will be waiting for you on Saturday.

I am serious, not all eggs are the same. You have to try theses they are awesome.

http://www.myspace.com/thedancinggoat

Eggs at the Saturday morning market in St. Petersburg.

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Tampabay Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us.   727 409 8706

Saturday morning market in St. Petersburg

I just love the Saturday morning market here in downtown Saint Petersburg. My mother is visiting from Germany and right now I am dragging her all over town, so this morning we went to St. Pete and visited the market. We found wonderful whole grain bread made from a German recipe. The bread tastes awesome and it is healthy.

Saturday morning market in St. Petersburg

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Tampabay Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us.   727 409 8706

Waterfront homes, townhomes and condos in Saint Petersburg Tampabay for sale.

When we go to the other side of town, places like North East St. Pete, South East Saint Petersburg, Pinellas Point, Maximo, Coquina key, Tanglewood, Caya Costa, Downtown Saint Petersburg etc. you will also find gorgeous waterfront properties for sale but you will be at least 20 minutes away from the  sandy beaches. Due to the unique location of Pinellas County which is right in-between the Gulf of Mexico and Tampabay our waterfront properties are all different and have different things to offer. If you buy your home or condo right on the Gulf of Mexico, you have a beautiful sunset right in your backyard every day but you cannot have a boat. If you buy waterfront property on the Intracoastal Waterway, you can have a boat but might have to drive a mile or two to see the sunset. Buying waterfront property on Tampabay, the east site of Saint Petersburg, you will have a long drive to see the sunset and due to a lot of sand bars you might and might not be able to have a boat. My point is that you if you find your waterfront dream home on the internet check out Google earth or look at a map. Waterfront property here in the Saint Petersburg area can be different from one block to the next.

Consult a realtor that knows the Saint Petersburg Tampabay area.

Waterfront homes, townhomes and condos in Saint Petersburg Tampabay for sale. #1

Waterfront homes, townhomes and condos in Saint Petersburg Tampabay for sale.

A lot of people that want to buy in St. Petersburg Tampabay are from out of town, out of state even out of the country. The buyers typically start their search on the internet. Not knowing our neighborhood they might type in Pinellas County, Saint Petersburg or Tampabay. Well, our little Peninsula has a lot of different areas where you can find waterfront properties. In this post I will try to break it down for you so you can do a more specific search. When it comes to buying or selling or for that matter living in Saint Petersburg we (the locals) separate St. Petersburg into "The beaches" meaning the west of Pinellas County and "The Bay" meaning the East. We also have "Central Ave" which further divides Saint Petersburg into North and South.  If you ask the question "Where do you live?" people will say  "On the beaches, meaning the Island of St. Pete Beach or Treasure Island or Madeira Beach or Redington Shores or North Redington Beach or Indian Rocks Beach Bell Air or Indian Shores. If someone says "I live on THE Island you know he means Tierra Verde. All these little Islands - towns are on the Gulf of Mexico and it doesn't matter which waterfront property you buy, you will never be more than a mile or two from the beach.

Waterfront homes, townhomes and condos in Saint Petersburg Tampabay for sale. #2

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Tampabay Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us.   727 409 8706

Why didn’t they take my offer? Because it was a low ball offer!

I do not know how many times I had to say this is the past year. I do not have a problem presenting low ball offers as long as my buyer understands what the real market value is and as long as he understands that he might not get the property and might not even get a counter offer. “Can’t hurt to try”  Right ????  Wrong !!!!!!!!!  I do not know how it is elsewhere in the country but here in Saint Petersburg the time for low ball offers is nearly over.  Properties here are either prices at current market  value which means they are already 30, 40 50% less than 3 years ago or they are completely overprices which means the sellers are not in distress and do not need to sell.  There are hardly any properties left on the market that you can get for “cents on the dollar”  Maybe I am wrong, but I have a feeling that in a year from now we will end up with a lot of  “low ball buyer” that say  “I wish I had”

Why didn’t they take my offer? Because it was a low ball offer!

Like I said, I have no problem with presenting a low ball offer as long as the buyer understands what the current market value is and that he might not get his dream home.

Sand Sculpture Competition in Treasure Island Tampabay

Here are all of last week's Sand Sculptures. It was a great event in Treasure Island Tampabay.

It was a three day festival with lots of food and drinks and music and fireworks etc.

Which one is your favorite?

I like number 7 the best. It looks like a real "sand castle"

Not so sure about the gorilla, but hey beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

A day in a Realtor's live here in Saint Petersburg Tampabay

I just have to write this.  A few days ago we closed on a property in St. Pete for a client of mine and at closing when we talked about the little obstacles we run into during the process, my buyer said "I always thought it was easy to be a Realtor, I had no idea what you have to deal with" Ever since that conversation this sentence is stuck in my mind.

What do our buyers and seller think we are doing all day long?

I am one of the Realtor who tries to make buying and selling real estate  in Saint Petersburg a good experience for the buyer and seller and therefore I deal with most of the "Little Things" myself instead of bothering the buyer or seller with it. I aim to have two happy parties at the closing table and not a buyer and seller that are mad at each other or mad at the banks or the other Realtor or the Title company or or or. But by doing so, my clients think the deal was a walk in the park and do not understand how much work, time and energy was involved.

So, today I will just give you a "list of thing that happened"

Original plan (so much for time management) was to work out of my house till noon and fine tune my new website so it can go live.

6.30    Woke up and had a cup of coffee while I switch on my computer.

7.00   I started working, have 57 e mails, deleted most of them.

Answer one property inquiry about a condo that is already under contract, did comparable sale on a listing inquiry, did a property search for a few clients, looked at the new bank owned and short sale listings in Saint Petersburg, started to write my newsletter for this month, added a price change to the MLS search, downloaded real estate pictures of waterfront home to my computer, e mailed a bunch of waterfront homes to a buyer up north. Printed an offer that I had received and started a file, forwarded this offer to my seller.

Called my seller and left a message to see if he got the offer.

Called the listing agent to see if water was on one of the properties here in St. Pete that we need to do a home inspection on.

Called Title Company to see if they had received one check I send yesterday and to find out if another one from last week had cleared.

Answer a call and gave a clients some phone numbers for home inspectors.

Answer a realtor's call about a listing that I had in St. Pete

Called one of my owners to set up a showing.

Printed a few properties and made 5 phone calls to schedule showings for my buyer and to get showing instructions

Answered a phone call about the condo budge of Seminole Isle.

Answered a phone call about rental restrictions in Sunset Vistas on Treasure Island

Made about 10 phone calls to mortgage brokers to find out who can still finance Condotel.

10am, left the house, got my Starbucks coffee, stopped at the bank to drop of a commission check. Run into a buyer that saw my car sign and had a few real estate questions about Madeira beach. Finally got to the office about 11.30 am

Made 12 phone calls to banks about short sale listings we have, faxed a short sale package for the 4^th time to the same bank (they lose them. . .)

Wrote up an addenda to a contract to get an extension for closing date.

Looked over a 30 page home inspection report. Called my seller to talk about inspection report.

Checked my messages on Listing book.

Talked to my website provider about a new feature.

Showed a condo in Sereno complex in Madeira beach.

Ordered condo docs for St. Pete Beach Yacht and Tennis club.

Called another agent to get a missing signature on a contract.

Answered a few more e mails that came in during the day.

Made a few phone calls to find a real estate sign that got lost.

Called the city of St. Pete to find out watering restrictions on a particular house.

Hunted down Title Company in Treasure Island which did not send the HUD statement in time.

It is 5.40pm now, leaving the office to check on a lockbox that is apparently not opening. Go to Silver Sands in St. Pete Beach to take some additional condo and beachfront photos for a buyer.

Made it home by 7 pm only to find more emails to answer and phone calls to return.

Being a Realtor here in sunny Saint Petersburg Tampabay and showing beautiful waterfront properties is fun and interesting and I love all the different things you have to do, but it is not a Walk In The Park.  Long hours and lots of problems that need to be solved.

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Tampabay Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us.   727 409 8706

Direct Gulf front condos or house in St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island, Madeira Beach, and Redington Beach

I have a lot of buyers from Canada or somewhere up north and most of them are looking for direct Gulf front condos or homes.   Buyers find a lot of real estate listing for sale on the internet and sometimes the description can be confusing and you cannot figure out "Is it direct Gulf front or across the street"?

Here is a great thing to remember, look at the address. If the home or condo is located on Gulf Blvd and has an EVEN street number  it most likely is a direct Gulf front condo or home. Only in a few cases do we have a tiny little road that runs parallel to the west of Gulf Blvd,  but for most part Gulf Blvd here in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira Beach, Redington, Indian Rocks and Shores runs directly along the beach.

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Tampabay Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us.   727 409 8706

Short Sale in St. Petersburg Tampabay.  Start to finish in 3 month with Citibank.

As always, Real Estate Short Sales can be difficult, it depends on a lot of things but I have to say this one with Citibank was painless. We listed a Short Sale property here in Saint Petersburg Tampabay on 8/5/09 had some problems with showings because of renters but managed to get an offer on it beginning of September. BPO was done end of September, bank countered the offer buyer did not accept the counter, property went back on the market the second week of September. We got another offer on this Short Sale the first week of October Citibank accepted it the first week of November and we got a clear to close and Citibank is forgiving the significant difference between mortgage amount and sale price.  So, Short Sale in St. Petersburg Tampabay, start to finish in 3 month with Citibank.

Citibank was great to work with on this Short Sale, not at all like Bank of America.

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Tampabay Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us.   727 409 8706

Do you see this too? 4% commission for the selling agent on a bank owned property in Saint Petersburg Tampabay.

Over the last few weeks I see more and more 4% commissions for selling agents when it comes to REO properties.

To say the least, here in Saint Petersburg Tampabay we have a very challenging real estate market.

Regular sellers try to negotiate the lowest commission possible with their listing agent and now on top of being up against extremely low asking prices these sellers also have to face a 4% commission to selling agents on bank owned properties in our Saint Petersburg market.  Never a dull moment in Real Estate.

Do you see the same trend in your area?

I could not believe what I heard today  "I do not show Short Sales in St. Petersburg"

It doesn't matter how long you are in the Real Estate business, there is something new every day. Imagine this, it is 7.30 am, I had one too many drinks last night, it is a full moon and my coffee pot was very slow........My phone rings, I answer in my best realtor voice (despite the above mentioned problems) and I have a not to friendly voice at the other end, asking if one of my listings was still available. She goes on telling me that she has been trying for more than two weeks to see the house but that I obviously make it impossible to show the listing. I had NO clue what this lady was talking about and she went on telling me that her realtor has been trying to make an appointment with me for over two weeks and cannot get one. (Please keep my morning problems in mind) I heard myself say.  I am sorry but this is BS. I never ever use these words or the abbreviation but this accusation was simply outrageous before coffee at 7.30 in the morning.  I make an all day story short, in the end we found out that her realtor had never ever contacted me and that he simply does not show Short Sales but instead of saying to his clients "I do not show Short Sales in St. Petersburg"   he tells them that the listing agent can't be reached or that the house is tenant occupied and can't be shown.

The story had a happy ending, I showed the house a few hours later and wrote up an offer.

BUT I just can't get it out of my mind "I do not show Short Sales in St. Petersburg"

I wonder how many Realtors are out there NOT showing Short Sales?

Is this a onetime incident or do you have similar experiences?

Waterfront homes, townhomes and condos in Saint Petersburg Tampabay for sale.

A lot of people that want to buy in our area are from out of town, out of state even out of the country. The buyers typically start their search on the internet. Not knowing our neighborhood they might type in Pinellas County, Saint Petersburg or Tampabay. Well, our little Peninsula has a lot of different areas where you can find waterfront properties. In this post I will try to break it down for you so you can do a more specific search. When it comes to buying or selling or for that matter living in Saint Petersburg we (the locals) separate St. Petersburg into "The beaches" meaning the west of Pinellas County and "The Bay" meaning the East. We also have "Central Ave" which further divides Saint Petersburg into North and South.  If you ask the question "Where do you live?" people will say  "On the beaches, meaning the Island of St. Pete Beach or Treasure Island or Madeira Beach or Redington Shores or North Redington Beach or Indian Rocks Beach Bell Air or Indian Shores. If someone says "I live on THE Island you know he means Tierra Verde. All these little Islands - towns are on the Gulf of Mexico and it doesn't matter which waterfront property you buy, you will never be more than a mile or two from the beach

When we go to the other side of town, places like North East St. Pete, South East Saint Petersburg, Pinellas Point, Maximo, Coquina key, Tanglewood, Caya Costa, Downtown Saint Petersburg etc. you will also find gorgeous waterfront properties for sale but you will be at least 20 minutes away from the  sandy beaches. Due to the unique location of Pinellas County which is right in-between the Gulf of Mexico and Tampabay our waterfront properties are all different and have different things to offer. If you buy your home or condo right on the Gulf of Mexico, you have a beautiful sunset right in your backyard every day but you cannot have a boat. If you buy waterfront property on the Intracoastal Waterway, you can have a boat but might have to drive a mile or two to see the sunset. Buying waterfront property on Tampabay, the east site of Saint Petersburg, you will have a long drive to see the sunset and due to a lot of sand bars you might and might not be able to have a boat. My point is that you if you find your waterfront dream home on the internet check out Google earth or look at a map. Waterfront property here in the Saint Petersburg area can be different from one block to the next.

That was it for today and for Waterfront homes, townhomes and condos in Saint Petersburg Tampabay for sale.

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Tampabay Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us.   727 409 8706

I am not getting it, need your help on a short sale - foreclosure - bankruptcy question

I have a lot of short sale listings on my desk and so far we have closed each one of them. In every case the deficiency was waived by the banks and the homeowner did not have to file bankruptcy. Only in one case, where the bank forgave about $120,000 the seller had to bring $500 to closing. Now, I increasingly see that homeowners that think about a short sale and the bank even suggest a short sale to them, talk to lawyers and they recommend to simply letting it go, wait for foreclosure and file bankruptcy.

Can someone explain this to me?

I mean the last case was a single family home with one mortgage of $240,000 owner had paid about $250,000 for it we had it under contract for just under $200,000. In the middle of the short sale process a lawyer told the seller that they should not go forward with all this but file bankrupt ASAP.

Like I said in the beginning, I am not getting it, need your help on a short sale - foreclosure - bankruptcy question. What is going on? Why would filing bankruptcy instead of first trying a short sale be better?

Homeowners in this situation should always aim for a short sale not foreclosure or bankruptcy. Worst case scenario, if the short sale fails, foreclosure and bankruptcy are still available. Why ruin your credit more than you have to?

Can anybody explain why attorney - lawyer would recommend not to do a short sale?

Real Estate newsletter for Saint Petersburg Tampabay,Seminole, St. Pete beach, Madeira Beach  real estate market report.

Hello to everybody. Hope you are having a great summer and taking time off to smell the roses. This is your South Beaches Real Estate newsletter for August, hope you enjoy it.

What is the real estate market doing? The numbers speak for themselves.

June numbers   Existing home sales rose 28 percent last month with a total of 15,850 homes sold statewide compared to 12,339 homes sold in June 2008, according to FAR.

In Florida's year-to-year comparison for condos, 5,241 units sold statewide compared to 3,771 units in June 2008 for a 39 percent increase. The statewide existing condo median sales price last month was $112,900; in June 2008 it was $180,400 for a 37 percent decrease

July numbers    According to Pinellas Realtor Organization. July home sales rose 26 percent from a year earlier, from 841 to 1,134. Prices dipped 21 percent over that year, from $172,500 to $136,200. The supply of homes on the market is still high but constricting: 12,479 in July 2009 versus 15,919 in July 2008.

I just checked the MLS and we have 98 active short sale listing and bank owned properties just on the Barrier Islands between Tierra Verde and Indian Rocks Beach. Starting at $89,000 all the way to $2,900,000. One really sticks out. A direct beachfront condo at the Fairwinds. Not even 3 years old, over 3300 heated square feet, incredible views onto the Gulf and the beach. Sold in April 2006 for $1,575,000 and is now on the market for $800,000.

The numbers you just read in ourReal Estate newsletter for Saint Petersburg Tampabay, Seminole, St. Pete beach, Madeira Beach real estate market report are showing that it has really picked up.

Property taxes.  For all you guys that do not want to wait for the tax bill. The Pinellas county property appraiser just released the estimated taxes for 2009 a few hours ago.

Click here, http://www.pcpao.org/ on the left hand site click on "search our data base" and so on........ Once you have clicked on your property you will see a new yellow line and these are your estimated taxes for 2009. Scroll down and see how it changed over the last few years.

Have you ever hit the F1 button on your Computer? Do so if you need help. It will open the help screen for the program you are in.

 I have had it. I am throwing out my Windex and replace it with vinegar. I have three very good reasons.

I just paid $3.98 for a bottle of Windex  (26 ounces) that would make about $20 for a Gallon. Vinegar at Sam's club is less than $2 per gallon.

Vinegar is much easier on the environment

It can do so much more than Windex and I get to throw out half of my cleaning supply that is now a health hazard zone under my sink. Check out this website if my three reasons made sense to you.

http://www.versatilevinegar.org/usesandtips.html

We get a lot of comments on our new "weather report" check it out; let me know if we forgot something.

 Ok. This was it for  the August Real Estate newsletter for Saint Petersburg Tampabay, Seminole, St. Pete beach, Madeira Beach  real estate market report.

Check out our Q&A section if you have a moment. As always, we are only a phone call away when it comes to all your real estate needs.

Have a fabulous week

Anne and Manny

I can't make my mortgage payments anymore, what should I do, can I do a short sale or loan modification? I am a home owner in St. Petersburg Florida.

A lot of people are faced with this situation right now and everybody is overwhelmed by it.  Trying to get answer to the question  "I can't make my mortgage payments anymore, what should I do, can I do a short sale or loan modification?"  can be frustrating, time consuming and most of all very confusing. Add all this to an already difficult situation, a lot of home owners choose to do nothing.  Unfortunately sticking your head in the sand when you cannot make your mortgage or loan payment anymore does not help you at all. Do not get me wrong, I completely understand that facing foreclosure here in St. Petersburg Tampabay is probably the toughest situation you have ever been in and it affects not just you but your whole family but you need to take action, you need to do something you need to get help.  One thing to do would be to hire a lawyer and let him deal with it. Well, if you cannot make your mortgage payments anymore chances are that you just do not have the money to hire a lawyer, another thing is that most lawyers I have talked to do not want to deal with short sales or pre foreclosures. It is too time consuming for them and they make more money if they convince you to go into foreclosure and file bankruptcy ASAP. Not a problem, there are other ways and other options for St. Petersburg Tampabay home owners / sellers.

Two things you should do immediately. Educate yourself, check out the website www.Hopenow.com you will find a ton of great information on loan modification, short sales and foreclosures.

Next step is to call a St. Petersburg Tampabay Short Sale Realtor. It is very important that you find a real estate agent that specializes in Short Sales and pre foreclosures. If you do not know a real estate short sale expert in your area, do your research online. Google phrases about short sales and add your city to it.

Pick someone that you feel comfortable with and make an appointment to meet with them.  If you picked the right realtor they will be able to give you all the information you need and you will get home with a step by step plan of what to do and most important it will give you a peace of mind you did not have before.

I can't make my mortgage payments anymore, what should I do, can I do a short sale or loan modification?  You just got the answer to this question. Time is not on your site, get it done and over with and get ready to start a new chapter, put this short sale, loan modification, foreclosure situation behind you and start out fresh. Find you St. Petersburg Tampabay short sale, pre foreclosure real estate agent today and give him or her a call.

Is your short sale listing agent / Realtor here in St. Petersburg, Treasure Island or Seminole working with a lawyer?

It is hard enough for the seller/ owner to be faced with a Short Sale or Pre Foreclosure situation. Not only is it a complicated and complex process but it is also very emotional and depressing for the owner and the whole family. So, if you are in a situation that you need to find a Short Sale Realtor, make sure you find the right one. A Realtor that actually has a short sale designation and went to school to learn all the ins and out and the pitfalls. A Realtor that knows all about Short Sales, the time involved, the forms to fill out AND a Realtor that works closely with a Short Sale Lawyer. Before you list your house or condo here in Tampabay St. Pete with just any agent, make sure you understand the legal part of the Short Sale. There might be other/ sometimes better options for you.

You can call me anytime 727 409 8706  I am a Real Estate Short Sales Specialist and I work with a layer. We handle all our cases confidential and will give you all the information you need to make a good decision.  We also put you in touch with the law firm we work with and you will get a personal free short sale consultation and all your questions will be answered.

I know it is not easy to make the first step and call me, but doing nothing in a short sale situation will not help you.

It can be overwhelming but you need to get started somehow and the best start is to pick up the phone talk to me and after this sit down with our lawyer. Once you have done all this, you will feel much much better and you have made the first step into a new phase in your life. If you cannot make your mortgage payments anymore, sticking your head in the sand will not help, you need to take action. Get it done and over with so you can start out fresh. Just call me 727 409 8706 and we will help you deal with it.

Anne

Is your short sale listing agent / Realtor here in St. Petersburg, Treasure Island or Seminole working with a lawyer?

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us.   727 409 8706

 Prestigious Yacht/Club Estate - South Causeway Isle in St Petersburg, Waterfront Single Family Home for sale.

Georges waterfront, wide open water views over 4,000 sq ft, 6 bedroom, 4 bath, 2 car garage, heated in-ground pool and a wonderful boat dock. This used to be a million plus $ home, right now the asking price is 699,000. If you are looking for a huge waterfront home with beautiful landscaping, the might be the best deal in town.

If you think about buying or selling a house or condo in the Saint Petersburg Florida area, please give me a call. Ask me about waterfront homes or condos in St. Pete beach, Treasure Island, Madeira beach, Seminole and other Clearwater Tampabay neighborhoods. Find out what we can do to sell your home or condo and what the value of your property is. Check out great real estate deals or visit condo associations like Seminole Isle.

We also work with short sale bank owned and foreclosures. Find a property or go to my website for more real estate information or simply contact us.   727 409 8706

Right now (to me) the most fascinating thing in Real Estate here in St. Petersburg is CASH BUYERS. All these years in Real Estate I would see a  "cash buyer" once in a very blue moon.   Just this April nearly 48% of all deals closed in Pinellas county were cash deals !!!  No, I am sorry, I do not have an explanation for it, if you have one PLEASE let me know.

Inventory is flying off the shelf in St. Pete right now. I am serious. It feels like someone has pulled a switch or rang a bell. Buyers are very active. Realtors all over Pinellas County are writing offers and a ton of condos and house are under contract and will close soon.  I have attached a chart of all regular pending sales and distressed pending sales. Open it, it will tell the story much better than I can.  Real Estate Prices are not going up just yet, but the really good deals are disappearing very fast. Also, if you scroll all the way down in this Newsletter you will see some statistics from the President of the Pinellas Realtor Organization for the month of April.

Finally our new website is up and running. If you have a moment please check it out and let us know what you think, would really appreciate your input.

Here is my "tip of the day" Ctrl +F    on your keyboard let's you search a document for a specific word or phrase. I could not live without this short cut, it saves a lot of time.

What are you doing on Saturday morning the 20^th of June?  Want to come out to Treasure Island and help planting some Sea oats? (12,000 of them)   http://southbeaches.activerain.com/post/1103060/treasure-island-beach-needs-you-

Nothing to do on Monday nights?  Look at this, I think it is a cool idea.  http://southbeaches.activerain.com/post/1102837/this-is-so-cool-downtown-saint-petersburg-now-has-something-to-do-on-monday-nights-i-love-the-idea-of-an-old-movie-on-the-rooftop-under-the-starz-

Pirates will be out soon, put it in your Calendar. http://southbeaches.activerain.com/post/1100053/madeira-beach-john-levique-pirate-festival

If you like Andy Warhol's work, this one is a MUST   http://southbeaches.activerain.com/post/1076697/andy-warhol-in-st-petersburg-do-not-miss-this-one

Want to save lots of time and energy and dish soap and water and electricity? Freeze you Spaghetti.  I am not kidding you, I do it all the time (and yes my friends laugh about it) If you are a family of four, stop reading right now. This is a household tip for all the single people out there. Instead of cooking one serving of Spaghetti, cook ten, portion them in zip lock bags and throw in the Freezer. 2 minutes in the microwave and you have perfect Spaghetti whenever you want. No messy pots, no waiting for the water to boil.

This is from -Ann Guiberson, President/CEO of the Pinellas REALTOR® Organization

It is important to get on top of the distressed segment of the market as it accounts for 20% of all active listings, 58% of the pending contracts, and over 37% of the sold properties at the latest count in April.

In looking at the other numbers for this month, there is mostly good news. Absorption rate is up for both single family and condos. With single family at 8.5%, it was well over the best we've seen in two years. The same is true for condos at 5.3%.

Single family listings continue to drop. They're down 18.6% from April 2008 and they are down 14.7% for the year so far. Unit sales are up 14.6% from a year ago. For the first four months of the year, unit sales improved by 15.6% over the same period in 2008.

Bargain hunters continued to dominate with 35.9% of sales going for $100,000 to $200,000. Homes selling for under $100,000 accounted for 28.8% of sales. For the first time, there were a significant number of sales under $30,000-5.8% of all single family sales. At the other end of the spectrum, sales at the upper end are still very slow. Only 10.5% of sales were at $400,000 or more, and there were no sales at $1 million or more.

In the condo market, we are also seeing a significant drop in listings. They were down 16% year to year in April and down 16.5 percent year to date compared to the same four-month period in 2008. Sales are slowly improving. April showed a 6.6% improvement over last year. Year to date, condo unit sales are nearly even with the first four months of 2008.

Median price fell dramatically in a year over year comparison. Condo median price in April was $115,000 down 38.7% from April 2008.

Nearly 20% of the condo market sales were priced in the $60,000 to $90,000 range and just over 41% of all condo sales were under $100,000 in April. Added to the lower end, an additional 22.3% of condos sold between $100,000 and $160,000. At the upper end, only 7.7% of the condo inventory sold for more than $400,000.

Other good news, year to date almost 30% of residential properties are selling within 30 days. Month by month that number has been steadily going up. All cash closings have reached 47.72% of all closings year to date with conventional financing at 34.49%. FHA loans make up 13.26%.