Join the Sarasota Coastal Clean Up Day This Saturday!

Join the Green Realtors Alliance of Sarasota (GRAS) which is partnering with the Ocean Conservancy for the 23rd Annual Keep Sarasota County Beautiful Coastal Cleanup on Saturday, September 20, 2008. Many GRAS members and others will be strolling the local waterways, catching some rays and picking up trash to beautify our area. Volunteers are needed to help clean up Sarasota's beautiful bay front parks as part of Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Clean Up Day. Sandy Keith, Chairman of GRAS, is spearheading the Realtor® volunteer group.

The group will gather initially at Bay Front Park, which fronts on U.S. 41 near Selby Gardens. Meet by the southern archway entrance to Bay Front Park and then the group will break into smaller groups to pick up marine trash at Bay Front Park & Marina, Bird Key Park, John Ringling Causeway Parks, and Ken Thompson Park. Please consider coming and volunteering. See you there.

Welcome Mary Beth Hudson and Gregory Hudson

Prudential Palms Realty is pleased to announce that Mary Beth Hudson and Gregory Hudson, former owners of Avalar Real Estate, have recently affiliated with Prudential Palms Realty's downtown office, along with 12 former Avalar sales associates. Mary Beth Hudson will become the new manager of the Downtown office. Gregory Hudson will be a Prudential Palms Fine Homes Specialist, continuing as a top-producing sales associate. The Hudsons made the move to Prudential Palms in order to take advantage of the advanced technology and marketing resources available through the Prudential brand.
"We are so pleased to be able to join Prudential Palms, continuing our real estate careers with such a high quality Sarasota company," Mary Beth Hudson remarked. "Both Greg and I, as well as our former Avalar sales associates, realize the strength a brand such as Prudential brings. Their marketing programs and international connections, as well as their technological support and infrastructure, is unsurpassed by any company that we have been affiliated with in our 12 years in the real estate business. We are very excited about all the opportunities this affiliation brings."

Real Estate Term You Should Know

REALTOR

A real estate broker holding active membership in a real estate board affiliated with the National Association of Realtors.

March sales in Sarasota top 500 for first time since July 2007

Pending sales highest in a year, indicating improving market for summer Overall property sales in the local market for March 2008 topped 500 for the first time in eight months, according to statistics pulled from the Sarasota MLS system. There were 514 property sales reported in the Sarasota MLS, easily topping the February 2008 sales of 423. There were 344 single family homes sold by SAR members in 2008, along with 170 condominium units. This compares to 294 single family sales in February and 129 condominium sales, which means March saw an overall increase of 21.7 percent over February. Single family homes saw a small decline in the median sale price, from $285,000 in February 2008 down to $266,750 in March 2008 – a 6.3 percent decline. But condominiums saw a small increase in the median sale price from $230,500 in February 2008 to $235,000 in March 2008. “Once again, the local Sarasota market is proving its resilience, even as the state and national housing market statistics continue to show weakness,” said Helen Sosso, 2008 SAR President. “It is remarkable how our local real estate practitioners are weathering this downturn, and proving once again the value of a professional Realtor® during difficult times. As we’ve been saying for more than a year, this is a prime buyer’s market, with historically low interest rates, moderating prices, and an incredible, high quality inventory of homes on the market.” One of the continuing bright spots in the March 2008 report was the strength in pending sales, which stood at 674 – the highest level in the past year. In March 2007 pending sales were at 706. Pending sales have been edging upward since December 2007, when there were 374 pending sales. Pending sales counts the number of signed contracts in a month, and is a leading indicator of sales activity. There is a direct correlation between pending sales and closed sales that are reported in the following month or two. Inventory levels were lower in March 2008 at 10,025 single family homes, compared to 10,596 in March 2007, and down slightly from February 2008, when there were 10,035. Condominium levels also decreased from the March 2007 level of 6,180 to 5,702 in March 2008, but up slightly from the February 2008 level of 5,588. The days on market, which translates to the average time it took to sell a property, was at 152 days for single family homes, slightly higher than the 144 days in March 2007, but lower than the 160 days in February 2008. Average days on the market for condos was 181, a healthy drop from the 199 days reported in March 2007, and much lower than the 219 days in February 2008. The days on market reflects a quicker pace of sales, meaning the size of the current inventory should begin to decline going forward.
The local Sarasota-Bradenton MSA continued to fare better than the overall state. The MSA was down by 15 percent for single family home sales and 17 percent for condominiums, comparing March 2008 to March 2007. For the overall state, single family homes declined 26 percent comparing March 2008 to March 2007, and condominium sales were down 24 percent month to month. In fact, the smaller Sarasota-Bradenton market again sold more overall properties than the Miami market. There were 1,022 overall sales reported for the local MSA, compared to only 609 in Miami. The median sale price dropped by 18 percent for single family homes, and by 32 percent for condominiums in the MSA. This compares to 15 percent and 20 percent statewide in the two categories, respectively.

Sarasota Association of Realtors®

Sarasota, Manatee and Venice Realtors join with Mid Florida MLS

Local MLS associations, Sarasota, Manatee and Venice are joining together with the Mid-Florida MLS to create a powerful regional Multiple Listing Service entity that will greatly enhance local professional REALTORS the ability to provide a wider range of services and products to the areas home buyers and sellers.

"Forward-thinking REALTOR associations nationwide are looking at consolidation of MLS systems,” said Joe Hembree, 2007 President of the Sarasota Association of REALTORS. “We’ve listened to our members, and I think we’ve made the right decision regarding the future of our MLS system. The consolidation effort strengthens our technology platform, improves our data exchange, and makes life much easier for our members.”

May Aston, President of the Manatee Assn. of REALTORS, is excited about joining MFRMLS. “It is something that our members have wanted for many years,” she says, “and it will provide us with many services that would be difficult or expensive to obtain on our own.

Currently, the MFRMLS member associations include the Bartow Board of REALTORS, East Polk County Assn. of REALTORS, Greater Lake County Assn. of REALTORS, Greater Tampa Assn. of REALTORS, Lakeland Assn. of REALTORS, Orlando Regional REALTOR Assn., Osceola County Assn. of REALTORS, and West Volusia Assn. of REALTORS. The new member associations will include Englewood Area Board of REALTORS, Manatee Assn. of REALTORS, Punta Gorda – Port Charlotte – North Port Assn. of REALTORS, Sarasota Assn. of REALTORS, and Venice Area Board of REALTORS.