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Well one person who earns their business is Raul Alvarez of Wells Fargo. He’s been in the mortgage industry for eight years.

He is fluent in English and Spanish, lives in Palm Harbor, and services clients throughout Tampa Bay, Florida. He is very easy to talk to.

So if you are looking for a Spanish speaking mortgage consultant or know someone who is looking for a mortgage consultant who speaks Spanish… then give him a call.

He can be reached on his cell phone at (813) 541-8889.

Or via email at raul.a.alvarez@wellsfargo.com

Or… feel free to check out his website: https://www.wfhm.com/loans/raul-alvarez/index.page

When looking to buy a home for financed home purchases it is advantageous to get pre-approved. That way you will know how much how you can afford.

Raul is bilingual. In addition he speaks  English well and is very easy to talk to so feel free to contact him.

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We are posting this information as a courtesy to some people who have asked me to provide them with this data.

For the period of June 1, 2009 to June 17, 2009 in Tarpon Springs, Florida 19 properties were sold. The listing prices ranged from $68,908 to $899,000 while the sales prices ranged from $61,000 to $870,000. Other statistics are as follows:

Average:

• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms    1,882 heated square feet
• Listing price: $230,142
• Sale price: $215,484
• Sale Price to Listing Price Ratio: 93%

Median:

• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms    1,687 heated square feet
• Listing price: $160,000
• Sale price: $153,750
• Sale Price to Listing Price Ratio: 95%

* Information acquired from GTAR, PSAR & WPBR data.

* Information is believed to be accurate but should not be relied upon without verification.

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The board of state-run Citizens Property Insurance approved raising rates for most policyholders by 10 percent next year. After a heated debate Wednesday, Citizens also agreed to cap any rate cuts at 10 percent as well, rejecting a committee recommendation that rates remain frozen for those customers. This is not good news by any means but is important for home buyers in Florida to know.

This affects policy holders in the following counties:

• Pinellas 101,502
• Pasco 61,156
• Hillsborough 36,392
• Hernando 26,471
• Citrus 4,602

So far policies in force as of May 31, 2009 are as follows:

• PLA – Personal Residential Multi-Peril (PR-M) 618,166
  HRA – Personal Residential Wind-Only (eWIND PR-W) 201,934
  HRA – Personal Residential Wind-Only (ePAS PR-W) 82,444
  HRA – Personal Residential Multi-Peril (PR-M) 85,898
  HRA – Commercial Residential Wind-Only (CR-W) 14,619
  HRA – Commercial Residential Multi-Peril (CR-M) 617
  HRA – Commercial Non-Residential Wind-Only (CNR-W) 30,424
  HRA – Commercial Non-Residential Multi-Peril (CNR-M) 37
  CLA – Commercial Residential Multi-Peril (CR-M) 8,688
  CLA – Commercial Non-Residential Wind-Only (CIW CNR-W) 437
  CLA – Commercial Non-Residential Multi-Peril (CNR-M) 189

Total: 1,043,453 policies in force as of May 31, 2009

Citizens Property Insurance covers homeowners who cannot find coverage in the open market. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is the State’s homeowners’ insurance safety net. It was created by the Legislature in 2002 to offer property coverage to Floridians without private insurance options.

On May 4, 2002, Florida’s governor signed legislation creating Citizens Property Insurance Corporation (Citizens) by merging the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association (FRPCJUA), which provided homeowners property coverage statewide, and the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association (FWUA), which provided wind-only coverage in designated coastal areas. Citizens is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation, whose public purpose is to provide policyholders with affordable property insurance protection.

You can read their strategic plac for 2009 to 2012 here. It looks like one of their goals is to preserve this coverage to Floridians so they voted to increase rates 10% next year for most policy holders.

This recent news should not deter home buyers from buying in Tampa Bay, Florida or for that matter throughout Florida.

Looking for a Citizens agent? Look for one here.

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This home is located in Colonial Hills in Holiday, Florida and has been recently reduced to $98,000. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and it is a corner lot. Its MLS number is 7397904.

It is also available for rent.

The sellers did a fantastic job with the interior. For example the front room has wood laminate with blends nicely with the wall paint:

The sellers also upgraded the kitchen:

They added a built-in wine rack:

Here is a pic of one of the two bedrooms:

My Realtor.com ad can be seen here.

If you would like to know more about this house or are looking for a home in Holiday, Florida or elsewhere in Tampa Bay then feel free to contact me:

Email: Lana.Robbins@FloridaMoves.com

Phone: (727) 542-1729

Or if you like to search the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) online like an agent then feel free to sign up for a free NO-obligation account at www.FreeTampaBayHomeSearch.com (Sign up in the box on the right where it states “Search like an agent! Get a free listingbook account.”)

Or contact me and I will set up a free NO-obligation account for you. All you need is an email address

By the way if you are a home owner and would like to rent out your home then feel free to contact me for more information. We also do rentals.

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According to the National Association of Realtors ® eexisting-home sales (including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-operatives)  increased 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.68 million units in April from a downwardly revised pace of 4.55 million units in March.

If you are like me and want to see the report yourself feel free to go here:

http://www.realtor.org/wps/wcm/connect/5c9013804e3eae35811fc11daf16ff2d/REL0904EHS.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=5c9013804e3eae35811fc11daf16ff2d

National median existing-home price: for all housing types, was $170,200 in April, which is 15.4 percent below 2008. Distressed properties, which accounted for 45 percent of all sales in April, continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes.

Total housing inventory: at the end of April, rose 8.8 percent to 3.97 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 10.2-month supply at the current sales pace, compared with a 9.6-month supply in March. “The gain in inventory is largely seasonal from sellers entering the spring market,” Yun says. “Even with the rise, inventory over the past few months has remained consistently lower in comparison with a year earlier.”

Single-family home sales: rose 2.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.18 million in April from a level of 4.08 million in March, but are 2.8 percent below the 4.30 million-unit pace in March 2008. The median existing single-family home price was $169,800 in April, which is 14.9 percent below a year ago.

Existing condominium and co-op sales: increased 6.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 500,000 units in April from 470,000 in March, but are 9.4 percent lower than the 552,000-unit pace a year ago. The median existing condo price was $173,900 in April, down 18.5 percent from April 2008.

By Region

NAR reported the following with existing-home sales across the country:

• Northeast: jumped 11.6 percent to an annual pace of 770,000 in April, but are 10.5 percent below April 2008. Median price: $237,400, which is 9.6 percent lower than a year ago.
• Midwest: slipped 2 percent in April to a level of 1.00 million and are 9.9 percent lower than a year ago. Median price: $138,800, down 11.7 percent from April 2008.
• South: increased 1.8 percent to an annual pace of 1.74 million in April but are 8.9 percent lower than April 2008. Median price: $148,000, which is 12.8 percent below a year ago.
• West: rose 3.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.17 million in April and are 19.4 percent higher than a year ago. Median price: $222,600, down 21.8 percent from April 2008.

This is good news.

Why? Existing-home sales rising in April with strong buyer activity in lower price ranges shows that this is still a time of opportunity.

A hui hou (until next time)

~ Lana Robbins

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According to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), nationwide housing affordability jumped 10 percentage points during the first quarter of 2009 to its highest level since the series began 18 years ago. What are the numbers? The HOI showed that 72.5% of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter of 2009 were affordable to families earning the national median income of $64,000, up from 62.4% during the previous quarter and up from 53.8% during the first quarter of 2008.

This is great news for those looking to buy in the Tampa Bay area. While the median family income is below the national average, homes in the Tampa Bay area have a median price well below the national average. In the first quarter of 2009 according to the HOI out of 232 cities cited and compared with each other, the Tampa Bay area ranks a respectable #120 out of 232 that were cited and compared.

What also helps is the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit:

A tax credit of up to $8,000 is available for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.

If you want more information you can check out this website: http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/index.html 

Or feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

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Who says that people are not buying homes?

As you can see in the graphs below there are many homes for sale. Unfortunately local and national media outlets are not down in the trenches yet somehow feel as though they “know” the heartbeat of the housing market. Despite some of their inaccurate reporting which make it seem as though no one is buying… people are still buying in the Tampa Bay area.

For the month of April 2009 2,527 homes were sold in the Tampa Bay, Florida areas of Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas Counties while 4,274 homes were under contract:

This is a significant increase compared to February when 1,954 homes were sold and 3,307 homes were placed under contract:

As you can see… people are buying which is no surprise.  Despite some biased local and national media, people have to live somewhere so they either buy… or they rent. For the last month there has been an increase though the local and national media seem to inaccurately portray the housing market as a crumbling one. As you can see… locally the numbers clearly show otherwise.

*All reports are published May 2009, based on data available at the end of April 2008.
All reports presented are based on data supplied by the Tampa Florida Association of Realtors, Mid Florida Association of Realtors, Southeast Florida Association of Realtors, Regional MLS, County Association of Realtors, Sarasota Association of Realtors, Englewood Association of Realtors, Manatee Association of Realtors, Venice Association of Realtors or their MLSs. Neither the Associations nor their MLSs guarantee or are in anyway responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the Associations or their MLS COPYRIGHT© TRENDGRAPHIX, Inc