Headlines for Anna Maria Island

For the last year I have been sounding like a broken record. Anna Maria Island continues to make headlines in major newspapers and publications. New York Times, USA Today, Southern Living, Island’s and lots more. The latest positive press that Anna Maria Island has received is in the Boston Globe.

The Boston Globe just wrote a feature on great places to visit in Florida. They based the article on asking Floridians where Bostonians should visit? Orlando, Key West, Miami, and you guessed it, Anna Maria Island. It’s amazing that such a small island with only 6000 properties is mentioned in the same breath as Orlando. Awesome!!

Below you can find a portion of the article in the Boston Globe by Patricia Borns.

Retreat to Anna Maria Island
“If you came to visit me, I’d take you straight to the beach,’’ says Rhea Chiles, Florida’s former first lady. For her and her late husband, Lawton – known as “Walkin’ Lawton’’ for his gubernatorial campaign walk from Pensacola to Key West – Anna Maria was a haven from political life. “This place transcends thought and words,’’ Chiles says of the island, 3 miles long by a quarter-mile wide

Logo Boston Globe

(www.annamariaislandchamber.org). “It’s still one wide, noncommercialized beach. Go to the Sandbar Restaurant, order the wasabi-encrusted salmon, and wiggle your feet in the sand.’’ Chiles’s Studio at Gulf and Pine serves as artistic and intellectual salon (www.studioatgulfandpine.com). “We have one small thread of a bridge leading to mainland Sarasota,’’ she says, but visitors seldom take it. “They come for the beach experience. It’s a feeling there’s no place you’d rather be.’’

Anna Maria Island News

ANNA MARIA ISLAND — Hoteliers are making Anna Maria Island all the more appealing as a tourist destination.

Aside from white sandy beaches and warm weather, island hotels and resorts are promoting another commodity on tourists’ radar: value.

In an effort to increase tourism spending this fall and winter, which are relatively slow seasons in Manatee County, some hotels and resorts are providing the incentive of a free night’s stay to guests.

The Bradenton Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau pitched the idea to Manatee County hotels this year and got 16 properties to participate, including a few on Longboat Key.

The properties that are offering a free night to guests who book two, three or six nights are getting the benefit of the CVB advertising their deals online as well as increased reservations.

“Overall, the CVB’s efforts are creating huge, huge increases in both occupancy and tourism,” said Larry Chatt, general manager of Island Real Estate.

Island Real Estate’s vacation properties have seen October’s reservations increase 45 percent from October 2008. In addition, November bookings are up 25 percent and December stays are up 40 percent over the same months last year.

“People are learning that they can get a fantastic vacation for almost half-off in-season,” Chatt said.

Anna Maria Occupancy

While the months of September-November have the lowest average daily room rates, those months also bring in the least amount of tourism spending for Manatee County hotels and resorts.

In September 2008, the occupancy rate for all of Manatee County was 34.7 percent, the lowest rate for any month since 2005.

That rate improved this September to 40.1 percent. Occupancy for Anna Maria, which is offering a bulk of the free-night promotion, also saw improvement. The island’s occupancy rate improved from 32.8 percent in September 2008 to 39.4 in September 2009.

“The CVB decided we needed to provide our visitors continued value especially going into our slower seasons,” said Gentry Baumline-Robinson, spokeswoman for the CVB’s public relations agency Hayworth Creative. “So far it’s been a success.”

For more on this article visit the Bradenton Herald.

Anna Maria Restaurants

Anna Maria Island continues to make headlines in world wide press. Sure, I suppose if we looked hard enough anyone could find some headline about Anna Maria Island once a week. Perhaps your in Firestone, Colorado, or Bristol, Rhode Island or New York City and fall upon an article about Anna Maria Island. Ok, not so much of a big de…al? Wait a second, New York City is a pretty big town last I checked.

Yup, that is right. A few weeks ago in the end of July 2009 the New York Times Travel section headlined Anna Maria Island Restaurants. The New York Times writer Cindy Price got it “write.” She captured Anna Maria Island with accurate “taste” tests of Anna Maria Island. The article featured many of the great Anna Maria Island restaurants that we all know and love. Cindy writes about stumbling across such a phenomenal place that you want to pinch yourself to be sure it is real.

“Just when you think you’ve seen everything under its proverbial sun, you stumble across a place like Anna Maria Island — a seven-mile slip of cushy white sand tucked in the Gulf of Mexico where you can dump the car, rent a bike, swim in smooth, teal waters and eat remarkably well.” New York Times.

Not to be critical but Price did miss one great resource for restaurant information. Island Real Estate’s Anna Maria Island Restaurant informational page. It lists at least 25 restaurants on it’s page with links of pictures and real descriptions of what you can expect with comments from other travelers. Click the link for Anna Maria Island Restaurant Information.

For now, Ms. Cindy Price is my new hero. Thank you New York Times as well as Ms. Price. For the full New York Times Article….more.

Hotel for Family

Anna Maria Island tourism is way up versus last year. Many companies are not seeing the dramatic increase in tourism but most do agree, this is probably the best year ever for vacation rental occupancy. Vacation rentals offer a phenomenal value for families. Instead of renting out several hotel rooms, families are finding that renting an Anna Maria Island house equipped with a kitchen offers fantastic value.

“I can rent a vacation home on Anna Maria Island, split it with another family and cook great meals on the barbecue, pool side. The savings in dining out and booking a home that sleeps both families paid for our airline tickets down to Anna Maria Island from Buffalo, NY said Mary.”

Many are taking advantage of Anna Maria Island for a more economic vacation this year. Island Real Estate of Anna Maria Island is seeing a lot of travelers from Sarasota, Lakeland, Tampa, Orlando, and St. Pete this year.

Rick Catlin wrote a fantastic article in the Islander newspaper that uses several of our statistics at Island Real Estate vacation rentals. Read below for Anna Maria Island continuing to make its own headlines….

Island may set summer tourism record

by Rick Catlin. Islander Reporter
7/14/09

If advance reservations for Island accommodations mean anything, Anna Maria Island could easily be headed for a record-setting summer tourist season.

Following the Islandwide sellout of accommodations for the July 4 weekend, Island accommodation owners and managers are reporting advance reservations for July and August that are well ahead of last year’s numbers.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Larry Chatt, head of Island Real Estate’s vacation rental department.

Advance reservations for July are already up 60 percent from last year, while August reservations are 30 percent ahead of August 2008, he said.

“Reservations are through the roof,” Chatt said, observing that advance reservations for October, traditionally the start of the winter tourist season, are already up 85 percent from last year.

“The level of positive press nationwide that the Island has received this past year has been extremely helpful,” said Chatt. “More and more people are discovering the Island and saying, ‘That’s where I want to go.’”

A number of summer vacationers are going to Walt Disney World in Orlando, then bringing the family to the Island for rest and relaxation, Chatt said.

Another reason for the tourist upswing is value for money, said David Teitelbaum of the Tradewinds, Tortuga and Surfside motels in Bradenton Beach.

“People realize they can get the old Florida atmosphere at a great price on the Island. They’re not paying a fortune to get a two-bedroom unit with a kitchen for a week or two,” he said.

“Our bookings are far ahead of last year,” Teitelbaum said. “I predict we will have our best summer ever. The July 4 weekend was fantastic, a sell-out, and we’re getting a tremendous amount of calls for reservations in late July and August.”

And summer specials for a vacation rental are really helping tourism, added Chatt.

On Island Real Estate’s Web site, one of the most popular links is for available specials.

“People really do see that they can get value for money, particularly with a special offer,” he said.

For more of this article or other Anna Maria Island news visit the Islander Newspaper…

For more information on Anna Maria Island Vacation rentals or if you are in the arena for your little “peace” of paradise on Anna Maria Island visit my Anna Maria Island real estate investor specialist website.

Pool Holiday Rental

We continue to see signs of the housing turn around. It appears as though the first time home buyers credit of up to $8000 is beginning to take hold. Construction starts in United States for the month of June jumped 11% as compared to the month of May. The last four out of six months, housing starts have been up. It doesn’t hurt that home builders are in a rush to finish homes by November for their buyers to take advantage of the first time home buyer tax credit.

Our little Anna Maria island there are not many folks taking advantage of the first time home buyers incentive. Most feel as though Real Estate resort areas LEAD the market. I would hope everyone agrees that Anna Maria Island is a resort area. So, if the rest of the United States Market is moving out of the housing slump then it is investors are too late for Anna Maria Island’s low. I believe our little Anna Maria Island is a resort area and is a LEADING indicator for home sales information.

Absorption rates of real estate is a very important indicator. Nationwide our absorption rate moved down from 10.2 months of real estate inventory for sale to 8.8 months. (Source CNBC) Investors are entering the market due to low interest rates and fantastic real estate buys.

Below you will find Quarter 2, 2009 Anna Maria Island Real Estate inventory absorption chart. This shows the past number of years of inventory we have had on Anna Maria Island. The most important aspect of the chart below is the blue line which shows the amount of inventory on the island by quarter. It is an absorption figure which shows number of months of Anna Maria Island property for sale. It is a simple calculation. If there are 500 properties for sale and for the past quarter we averaged 50 properties sold per month then our inventory absorption is 10 months or there is an equivalent of 10 months of inventory on hand. The most important part of the chart below is our absorption level relative to previous periods of time.

This chart is property of Island Real Estate of Anna Maria Island and Alan Galletto and should not be duplicated.

Anna Maria Island Inventory

See the story below thanks to the Associated Press on the seven month high for housing starts… For more information on Anna Maria Island Real Estate for sale visit Island Real Estate’s website.

updated 1:49 p.m. ET, Fri., July 17, 2009

WASHINGTON – Construction of new U.S. homes rose in June to the highest level in seven months as builders rushed to pour foundations for homes that must be completed by the end of November for first-time buyers to take advantage of a special tax break.

The Commerce Department said Friday that construction of new homes and apartments jumped 3.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000 units, from an upwardly revised rate of 562,000 in May.

It was better than the 530,000-unit pace economists expected, and was the second straight monthly increase after April’s record low of 479,000 units.

The music video is by Shinedown’s and titled “Second Chance.” It probably is important to note it has taken top honors in various music video countdowns. I will keep my fingers crossed that it will make an MTV award appearance so more folks hear about Anna Maria Island. Anyways, to take a look at it go to VH1 and you will probably recognize the Starfish Company as well as Bean Point and some tough to spot scenes in Holmes Beach by the Pure station. A few

Rockin in Anna Maria

months back I was having a quick bite to eat at Tortilla Bay and noticed buses and a ton of lights over at the Pure station on Marina Drive and Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach, FL. Asked “What is going on over there?” Music video I was told. “Wow!”

View video on VH1. Now we need a movie! By the way it is a nice song and pretty popular if you don’t recognize the title. I think it has just become one of my favorite songs.

Slow for Rental Scams

The original article leads readers to believe that the scam is mostly occurring on the Gulf Coast however feedback after the original story hit “Early Bird” many Florida Real Estate professionals came forward with similar feedback. Below a few additional suggestions have been made that I think would be helpful to educate us all regarding on-going rental scams.

“Donna Fries, a Panama City Beach Realtor, says the scam operates in her area too. She says the fraudulent ad uses the real owner’s name or the Realtor’s name, but a contact method that goes only to the criminals.

She offers the following suggestions for detecting the scam:

• The Craigslist ad is a carbon copy of the original ad with correct spelling, good English and a photo. Follow-up email responses, however, usually have incorrect spelling and awkward English.

• Scammers offer rental prices up to 40 percent below actual value, making it an attractive deal. If potential renters see identical ads in different locations with different prices, the lower-priced one is probably a scam.

• Criminals ask for deposit and rent money to be sent by Western Union or another method that works like cash, and it usually can’t be tracked or refunded.

• Many times, they use a foreign phone calling card that cannot be traced.”

I want to help. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call or email me. Have a great day and remember….if your rental seems too good to be true, proceed with extreme caution.

A few things point to the bottom has come and gone for Anna Maria Island Real Estate. Firstly, in the month of April, Island Real Estate of Anna Maria Island sales professionals averaged more than one contract every other day. The sales activity was similar to the highest activity months in 2004 and 2005. I suspect in the next few months we will see a continued drop in inventory and more importantly a substantial drop in the amount of months of inventory on hand. As supply continues to drop, prices will increase.

In addition, interest rates last week inched above 5.0% with several economists claiming our economic low has come and gone and we would see an improvement in the economy later this year.

Anna Maria Island Real Estate Inventory

Act now, there are still a few real estate deals in Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and Anna Maria City.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

News and Information

There is some fabulous news for Florida home owners. More specifically, Anna Maria Island vacation home owners and potential buyers of Anna Maria Island Real Estate.

Firstly, HB 521 was passed which puts the home owner in the drivers seat when appealing assessment values of their home. Currently the burden of proof lies with the Anna Maria Island home owner to prove the property assessment is incorrect with Ken Burton Jr. Not any more. Bill HB 521 changes the burden of proof to be on our local tax assessor to prove their estimated value is correct.

Florida Realtor Days

I had the opportunity to attend the Great American Realtor days in Tallahassee, Florida. I cannot say I enjoyed the drive from Anna Maria Island although I did have the chance to visit a few towns I have never had the pleasure of visiting. The most interesting visit was a small fishing village just North of Tampa called Cedar Key. Cedar Key is a very small village with the closest grocery store being 30 miles away. Their real estate has started to pick up in the last month and the realtor I spoke with proudly stated there were 2 contracts pending for her office which has not happened since 2006.

The Florida Association of Realtors (FAR) has the event very well planned. One meeting prepared the ~1000 real estate professionals with the talking points of our visits with our local representatives. Some of our highlights of the talking points were SB 1718, SB 2250, and HB 809 which was legislation to reduce the current eviction fees for landlords of $265. In addition, we worked to be sure our representatives knew we supported HB 7057 and SB 532 which limits the growth of property tax assessments on businesses, second homes, and non-homesteaded properties to a cap of 5% annually. Finally the last legislation that caught my eye was legislation that supports a “preponderance of evidence” for challenging property tax assessments. SB 1006 and HB 521 changes the philosophy of property owners challenging their assessments. Instead of a property owner proving their property is lower in value, the local tax collector must prove the value of your property is correct. There is a subtle difference between the two but if passed it could make a large impact on the ease of fighting your property value estimates. The above links for each individual bill is a link to the progress of each bill in Tallahassee. In addition for a list of more legislation visit FAR’s website.

Realtor Days - House

Our local boards made appointments with our local representatives so we could have about a half an hour with them during their open session. While the Manatee board chose not to attend the Great American Realtor days, (GARD) I was able to attend a few very well run meetings with the real estate board from Naples and they were a well oiled machine. It was very impressive.

Lastly I was able to attend the open session of legislation in Tallahassee. The most interesting point was while our political representatives were discussing legislation points there was a “circus” occurring on the political floor. Pictures being taken and conversations occurring were just a few of the activities taking place as the politicians voted on legislation. It is difficult to understand how our politicians can be productive in open session when a “circus” is occurring on the floor but I have always learned not to judge a book by its cover…

Part of 2009 Florida Leadership Academy

FAR has a lunch and dinner networking function that is fabulous. Wonderful food and wonderful company. The event was closed out with Cynthia Shelton and Charlie Christ giving a speech to the Florida Realtors on hand. Cynthia quoted some staggering first quarter real estate results for areas of Florida. Cape Coral, Miami-Dade, Naples, Tampa were among the few quoted with real estate transactions for the first quarter up more than 20% with some as high as 80% more transactions versus the first quarter of 2008. Unbelievable…Now is the time to buy!

Thanks to Cookie Douglas for the photo while our politicians were in session. She specializes in Fort Myers real estate.

2009 Florida Leadership Academy