Punta Gorda Home

Mortgage rates have reached such an unprecedented low that it has rendered many online mortgage payment calculators useless.  After the federal reserve ceased it’s purchase of mortgage-backed securities, many analysts warned that lending rates would soar, but it just hasn’t worked out that way.

Interest rates have recently plummeted below 4 percent, now averaging between 3.125% and 3.75%, first time record lows.  The all time low rates mean great news for home buyers in the area, and with the recent report by Savills, naming the Sarasota area one of the best buys for resort or vacation property worldwide, we may be seeing an even larger onset of investment buyers flocking to the local area.

A slowly recovering Mid-Florida real estate market previously fell subject to yet another pit fall due to the BP oil spill in the northern gulf.  Wide spread belief that the spill, which primarily affects the panhandle area of Florida, somehow involved the Mid-Florida gulf region as well caused many potential buyers distress.  However, following expert analysis of the local beaches, waters and wildlife resulted in a lack of evidence depicting any damage at all to the local ecosystem,  buyers have begun to trickle south.

While the Panhandle’s economy has been devastated by this recent event, those in Charlotte county, Lee County, Sarasota County and Manatee County may actually come to benefit.  Home sales are rising in the region, and it may be due to the relocation of northern Florida home buyers and businesses.   After learning of the untouched local beaches and low median home value, many interested investors have been swarming the area in search of that next great investment.

Not since the summer of 2005 have we seen such a massive increase in local home sales.  A 44 percent increase in North Port, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda home sales, and a 35 percent increase in Sarasota and Bradenton home sales shows first time home buyers and investors getting back into the game. After news of extended government real estate tax incentives, buyers are chomping at the bit, taking advantage of the current median home value and playing hard ball in search of local deals and investment properties.

Home prices in Charlotte County (Port Charlotte homes, North Port homes) were down 27 percent from one year ago.  Dropping from a median value of $145,600 down to $106,600 and home buyers are taking advantage.  With 311 homes changing hands in June of 2010, compared to the 216 homes in June of 2009, Port Charlotte and North Port home sales have risen 44 percent in one year’s time.  Home owners in the region are breathing a sigh of relief as this rise in home sales is the second largest sales increase in the entire state of Florida.

Home values in the Sarasota and Bradenton area (Venice homes, Sarasota homes, Bradenton homes, Lakewood Ranch homes) saw a slight increase, rising 5 percent from June of 2009 to June of 2010.  Median home values in the area have risen from $166,400 in May 2010 to $170,400 only one month later.

Though seeing only a third of the sales that Charlotte County residents have enjoyed, Sarasota and Bradenton home sales are on the rise.

Real estate analysts believe the recent spike in home sales may be due to the $8000 federal tax credit that first time home buyers are receiving this year, spurring potential buyers into a real estate buying spree over the last 6 months.

“Take Pride in the Cape” is the newest program created by a group of civic volunteers in Cape Coral, FL.  The program recently reached a huge milestone when it completed cleanup of it’s 300^th foreclosed and abandoned home.

Volunteers have been working together to clean and repair Cape Coral homes abandoned by their owner’s after bank foreclosure.  The group is made up of various citizens who worked for the city and have seen the Cape Coral real estate market collapse first hand.  The volunteers organize every Friday, clearing out 16 properties per weekend.

The market may still be down, but these locals refuse to let their own gulf coast home values be ravaged by the many foreclosed  houses left to rot after the homeowners were forced out by banks who are unable or uninterested in maintaining the properties themselves.

Dr. Mike Parsons, an FGCU Marine Science Professor has managed to quiet the concerns of local homeowners, assuring them that the mid-florida gulf coast, including Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, North Port, Cape Coral, Venice, and more may in fact be the safest area along the gulf coast.  The location of our beautiful community sparing it from oil wash up, polluted beaches and wildlife loss from the BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

This determination may have comforted the homeowners and beach goers in our area, but it seems the perception of those who would choose to move or vacation here has yet to be altered.  Most out of state vacationers and residents automatically assume that the spill in the gulf will leave the entire state covered in oil, but that is simply not the case, a fact that has proven difficult to convey to prospective real estate clients.

In the meantime, Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte realtors, builders, and business owners await the tourist season, hoping that seasonal residents who return to the area will spread the word after witnessing first hand that homes, beaches and businesses in our area are oil free and  projected to stay that way.

The IRS has recently approved a higher standard deduction for taxes paid on local real estate.  Concerns that home owners paying state or local real estate taxes then finding themselves unable to file itemized deductions for the expense prompted the increase in the new standard deduction.

There are six qualifying factors to receive the higher standard real estate tax deduction, and they are as follows:  1.)  The deduction must be equal to or less than the taxes paid, or $500 for single homeowners, and $1,000 dollars for joint filings, whichever is smaller.  2.)  They must be real estate taxes that were imposed on you.  3.)  You must have paid your tax bill.  4.)  The taxes must be levied for public welfare and be based on the assessed value of the property.  Taxes relating to improvements to property, such as assesments for street, sidewalk or sewer repairs do not qualify for the deduction.  5.)  Taxes paid for foreign property, or commercial property do not qualify.  6.)  You must file with a 1040 or 1040A and attach a form titled “Schedule L” which pertains to the “standard deduction for certain filers”.

For more information please visit the IRS.gov site where you can view and download all applicable forms and instructions, or call 1-800-TAX-FORM.

Numbers released from the Naples Board of Realtors in December 2009 showed a 230 percent increase in sales from November 2008 through November 2009.  The phenomenal increase in high priced home sales prompted experts to predict a rebound in the local real estate market sometime during the year 2010.

While the median home price is still down approximately $100,000 from the same time last year, many real estate agents and brokers expect that to change sooner rather than later.  Multiple bids on homes, something that was considered “the norm” several years ago, have started coming back into play, bringing up the median home value, one transaction at a time.

Bidding wars, which were only seen often when dealing with foreclosures or short sales, are beginning to resurface, bringing with them new hope for sellers who have been waiting years for their home values to increase.  It seems that some good news for desperate sellers may finally be on it’s way.