Posts Tagged ‘Information’

Anna Maria Island is located in the county of Manatee.  Manatee County is one of the largest physical counties in Florida although the population does not correlate.  Manatee county is recognized nationally for its strong medical and

Bradenton and Manatee Information

educational resources.  Manatee county offers a wide diversity of home choices.  Gulf Front, boating, golf course, country club, single family, condominiums as well of lots of other choices in finding the perfect home makes Manatee county a great place to live.  Some of the more popular communities in Manatee county are Terra Ceia Bay which is in Palmetto, University Park which offers the high life county club style living, plenty of newer communities can be found in NorthWest Bradenton, plenty of gorgeous historical homes along the Manatee river and of course the beach cities that can be found on Anna Maria Island;  Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and Anna Maria City.  One additional community that needs mentioning is Lakewood Ranch.  Lakewood Ranch is an award winning Master planned 8500 acre community that has successfully incorporated both commercial and residential development.  Seven villages have been developed to combine recreational facilities, restaurants, arts and educational establishments.

Estimates on the population of the Manatee County are as follows:
1995          -     233,000
2000          -     264,000
2005          -     300,000
2008          -     330,000
2013          -     370,000  (Estimated)

Population by City  (2008 Estimates)
Anna Maria City     -  1,829
Bradenton                -  53,500
Bradenton Beach  -  1,553
Holmes Beach        -  5,017
Palmetto                  -  14,284
Unincorporated    – 251,000

Sorry Anna Maria Island 2010 Spring visitors, looks like you won’t have use of the public pier at the Holmes Beach

Public Pier Tear Down

public beach. That’s ok we have several on Anna Maria Island, Florida. Just swing up to the Anna Maria City public pier or the Rod and Reel pier. Oops, don’t forget about the pier at the end of Bridge Street in Bradenton Beach, Anna Maria Island, FL.

I have to admit there is not much Holmes Beach or Manatee County could have done to delay the construction of the pier. Some heavy waves made the pier unsafe and soon there after the pier was scheduled to be replaced. Sure we had our normal banter regarding how long the pier should be but the commisioners of Holmes Beach and Manatee County quickly worked through those details and early December 2009 the pier began to get ripped down.

Unfortunately the tear down has seen some unexpected delays. The temporary debris bridge the back hoe operator created to get out to the last piece of the pier gave way and much to the operators surprise he found himself and his backhoe pictured here in the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico. It has been about 1 week and have not seen any progress on ripping down the rest of the pier?

Holmes Beach Pier

So, not to worry Spring 2010 visitors, grab our free trolley up to Anna Maria City and try out a new pier! We will have a new and improved pier for your visit in 2011! Have a fantastic holiday season.

Looking for additional Anna Maria Island property information?

Great Deal on Holmes Beach Duplex

I decided that a listing we have had needs a little more visibility  because potential investors are not aware of the potential. I had the good fortune of showing this property to a potential buyer and upon the showing he asked…”How long has this been on the market? Am I missing something? “There is no question that the curb appeal could be much better. It is a duplex ONE HOME to the beach with a GULF VIEW that should never be lost. Sure the Gulf Front home in front of this property could raise the roof to a second floor and 1/3 of the Gulf view would be lost but 2/3 of the view down 34th will remain! The duplex is a two bedroom one bath on each side and with some interior work, tropical landscaping, roof top terrace and a pool, this duplex would generate some serious income. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I have attached a picture below that shows the proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. The value in this duplex is the proximity to the beach AND two units in the building.  The property is a SHORT sale and currently listed at $679,000. Please call me for more details and I would love the opportunity to help. The property is listed with Alan Galletto at Island Real Estate of Anna Maria Island, Inc. 6101 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach, FL. Email me for additional information.

Sorry – Currently this duplex is PENDING.  Email or call for more information.  (941) 345-1288

I continue to be amazed at how two real estate sales professionals can provide dramatically different services. All

Questions?

Professional Real Estate sales agents boast that they provide the best service. So how can all REALTORS^® claim to provide superior service but provide dramatically different results? The thought that continues to come to mind is passion. The 80 – 20 rule applies to any service industry you research. Doctors, Sales Professionals, Medical Professionals, Plumbers, etc. It really does not matter which industry you are researching. Typically anyone can find the person that is within the upper 20% by asking intelligent and educated questions. Thankfully, finding a top 20% REALTOR^® is fairly easy with the right knowledge.

Let me provide a road map to your journey to find the sales person that will educate and aid you in what could be the largest sale of your life time. Below is a list of questions to ask when researching a listing real estate sales person for the sale of your single family home, condominium or duplex. In a later post I will be sure to publish a top ten list of questions for finding an outstanding buyers real estate agent.

Here it goes…

#10) What separates your real estate services from the rest? (The answer to this question should provide very specific examples of what unique services the real estate professional provides. This general question should also provide more information about their REALTOR^® services.)

#9) How specifically will other real estate professionals access your property? (This is more of an insider SECRET that most REALTORS^® won’t tell you. Full time real estate professionals prefer the use of electronic lock boxes. While the cost is substantially higher than traditional manual lock boxes, an electronic lock box allows the listing agent to retrieve a log of exact times and a list of REALTORS^® that have accessed the lock box. If a manual lock box is being used there is a fair chance that your real estate professional is part-time or not the real estate sales person you are

E-Lock Box

looking for! Electronic lock boxes also make for the EASIEST access to your property. Many real estate sales professionals are LAZY and they force agents to come to their office to pick up a key. Remember, 20% of the sales professionals sell 80% of the inventory and they are very busy. Sometimes due to a 30 minute round trip drive to pick up a key they may have to skip your property in the initial meeting with their buyer. They just don’t have time to run and pick up a key. An electronic lock box allows the buyers agent to show up at the home with their client, they use a special hand held device to type in their PIN and whala, two seconds later they have a key in their hand. That is a pretty big difference as compared to driving 20-30 minutes to come pick up a key. Not to mention IF the office is OPEN to get a KEY!)

#8) Will you be placing my home on the local Multiple Listing service (MLS)? (If the answer is maybe, perhaps or no, then run, run, run. Your local multiple listing service allows for other real estate sales professionals to view your home and easily present your home to buyers. MLS is what all other REALTORS^® use to perform searches

Realtor MLS

for their buyers. If the sales agent does not use MLS they ARE NOT a real estate professional. It is like carpenter using a rock instead of a hammer. Seriously, that bad.)

#7) Do you as a REALTOR^® have your own professional website? (A real estate professionals website is a very important tool for a REALTOR^®. It is similar to an engineer without a calculator. If the sales person does not have their own website they most likely are not the real estate sales professional you are looking for. Ask more questions but this is NOT a good flag.)

#6) How do you keep recent with the latest real estate best practices and technology enhancements? Do you have any

ePRO Designation

real estate education designations? (Your potential listing agent should be able to site several conferences, trainings, as well as real estate societies or communities that they utilize to stay in tune with the latest opportunities for listing properties for sale as well as buyer information. If they cannot site examples for you, it most likely means they are not passionate about the real estate industry. One last very important note, be sure your REALTOR^® is part of the National Association of REALTORS^®. NAR)

#5) Does your office offer incentives for selling listings internally? How do the rest of the agents in the office learn of new listings? (The listing real estate office should have sales meetings where they review new listings. A professional sales office will assist in the sale of your property and typically your professional sales agents office will sell 1/3 – 1/2 of their own listings internally because they intimately know the properties for sale. See more below about the REALTORS^® sales office.)

#4) How many sales professionals does your office have? Is the office always staffed by a real estate professional and what are your office’s hours. Are all your agents full time? (This returns to the fact that the office that your REALTOR^® has joined SHOULD review your property for sale in their sales meeting. The important point to this question is instead of having one person selling your property their entire office team will be selling it. In addition, full time sales

Island Real Estate

professionals attract similar like-minded professionals and expect the same from their office. The listing agent’s office should be open 7 days per week with real estate service personnel on staff 100% of the time. This is also CRITICAL because you never know when a buyer contacts a sales professional to review houses. Buyers usuall work Monday through Saturday and only have Sunday available to review houses. A good buyers agent will learn a great deal from their first caravan of reviewing properties with the buyer. Very often expectations of a home are tweaked and during the caravan the buyers are pointing to properties with for sale signs in the front yard. “What about that one?” If your real estate office is OPEN Saturday’s and Sunday’s the sales professional will be able to contact the office for showing instructions AND if there is an electronic lock box on the property buyer caravan will STOP AND GO SLIP YOUR PROPERTY INTO THEIR SHOWINGS. IF, there is no electronic lock box and IF the office is closed on Saturday’s and Sunday’s you are missing out on a high opportunity for interested BUYERS to review your property!)

#3) How many sales transactions do you perform per year and how do you rank among your peers in the community or county. (This is the toughest of all the questions but it needs to be asked. The top 20% that you are searching for will know this information. If the person struggles to answer this question and you get this far in the line of questions there is a fair chance they are in the early stage of their career. In addition, don’t discount a mature sales professional that is winding down. Was the mature REALTOR^® at the top of their game 5 years ago and now they are just starting to settle down? If the answer sounds convoluted or does not make sense you should probably move on to the next REALTOR^®. Does the “newer” sales agent team up with a more experienced sales professional to overcome a lack of experience as compared to a sales professional that has successfully completed hundreds of transactions?)

Real Estate Education

#2) Where does the sales person live? Do you currently have a listing in this location or which of the REALTOR^® current listings is closest to this area? (Does the sales person live and work in the area you are selling your home? This is not a critical item but if you have made it to question two and have two strong candidates to choose from then I would always suggest choosing the REALTOR^® that lives and works in their farm area -farm area is where you are selling your home. They will be able to more readily sell the positives of your neighborhood first hand as well positives of the community and the services that can be found. The second piece of the question is important later on and be sure to write down the address, City AND the price of the listing the REALTOR^® provides you. You will see why in a few minutes.)

#1) Ask yourself. Do I feel comfortable working with this sales person to sell my property? Do our personalities mesh? Does the sales professional listen to my expectations? (It is not necessary to be the best of friends but your conversations should be comfortable. At times you may be faced with offers that create adverse situations and an open line of communication with your listing real estate professional is critical to ensure your large fiscal transaction meets the success you deserve. Open and honest conversations are critical to your successful sale. If your conversation is strained during “small talk” you should move on to the next best sales professional that passes the questions listed above)

0) Sorry, just when you thought we were done, not yet. Now comes a very quick visit to the Internet to verify what you have heard. After the REALTOR^® has left and they have accepted, “I will call in two days with my decision.” Type in the sales professional that has best passed all our questions above and type their name into Google. Their website should

Realtor Logo

readily come up at the very least and hopefully you find several more results that provide some history of how well the person will be marketing your home. Do you see any newspaper ads where the sales professional has been quoted or used as an expert in their field? Now it is time to see the strength of the REALTORS^® marketing campaign. Go to www.Realtor.com and first go to your area and spend about 20 minutes looking at properties for sale and be sure to make notes of which REALTORS^® you see consistently on the website. Hopefully ONE of the real estate professionals that you consistently see has several listings you have come across. Take your list of two or three and make sure you look at a couple of the listings they have. Do they have a Virtual tour or video of the property for sale? Do they have a great description of the property or just a one line description? Are there plenty of pictures on their listings so that it makes it easy for buyers to retrieve more information about the property for sale? It is a known fact that buyers perform hours of research on the Internet prior to walking through any properties. Properties with a good description, plenty of pictures, and a virtual tour are 70%+ more likely to be viewed physically by potential buyers.

If the Real Estate professional of your first choice has plenty of listings. All their listings consistently show great descriptions, plenty of pictures and virtual tours, YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR Listing Real Estate professional. If you did not cross any of the REALTOR’S’^® listings then perform a more specific search with the listing you wrote down from your interview process. IF you have NOT found good descriptions ask your first choice REALTOR^®, why? There may be a great reason but it is doubtful.

If your first search of a REALTOR^® came up short use your list of sales professionals you wrote down while researching Realtor.com and start the process all over again. After going through the process once you will be a pro and for sure the second go around will produce the best Real Estate Sales professional for you.

I want to help!

Of course if you are looking for help to purchase or selling your property in Northwest Bradenton, LongBoat Key or Anna Maria Island, Florida, I would love the opportunity to help. If you have further questions about my services please call or visit my website. (941) 345-1288

Banks still holding on to money

While the macro economy started turning a corner in the second quarter, Anna Maria Island continues to wonder what all the hub bub is about. Let’s first discuss some banking statistics then move to our little “peace” of paradise.

Per government regulators the amount of United States banks that shut down in 2009 was triple the number that failed in 2008 calendar year. The majority of the banks that have failed in 2009 were smaller, regional banks. Of course the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) covers limited losses to consumers and CNN reported the FDIC has paid out $446 Million in 2009.

The FDIC still has plenty of money although they estimate in the next five years they will pay out more than 70 billion due to the failure of various financial institutions. So far the FDIC has used 20% of their reserves in place.

Anna Maria Island continues to see average transaction years although the rest of the country has not quite caught up yet. So why all the talk about the National Banking situation. Well our “peace” of paradise has been affected by banks providing money for loans on real estate. Single family homes on Anna Maria Island as a primary or secondary property is no problem in regards to finding money from large or small banks. Condominiums as well as Condo-Hotels are another story. A Condo-Hotel is a property that rents nightly or has a staff member on the property to provide accommodation services.

So why bring this up? Some condo prices continue to slip due to the difficulty buyers are having regarding borrowing money for condos. If you have CASH you can pick up some phenomenal condominium deals on Anna Maria Island. Take Palm Isle Village Resort for example. Pick up a two bedroom that grosses more than $35,000* per year in rental income for less than $350,000! Unbelievable! Give me a call for more Condo investment deals!

Anna Maria Island Square Foot Trends

The above chart shows a continue slippage in square foot values for single family real estate. Keep in mind that Anna Maria Island has seen a disproportionate number of smaller single family properties sell which is adversely affecting the average square foot values. I do have limited statistics that shows more regarding the degradation of square foot values so please give me a call so I can provide more accurate facts regarding the specific area on Anna Maria Island that you are researching.

Anna Maria Island Real Estate for Sale Inventory

Inventory continues to drop and is actually at its lowest since 2005.  Of course as supply drops and demand increases our prices will continue to level out and we are seeing a similar affect for single family homes. If you are in the market for an investment property give me a call. Banks are beginning to loosen up their lending and several are supplying real estate money for 30% down and in a few months that will free up more to a standard 20% down.

* By no way are rental proceeds guaranteed and should not be considered to be guaranteed.

Palm Isle Village located on Anna Maria Island is a fantastic resort located less than one block to the wonderful sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. The unique cottage designs offer Gulf views from the widow watches that perch above the roof line of the resort and offer a glimpse into Anna Maria Islands million dollar sunsets. Palm Isle Village Resort amenities has single handily re-established the benchmark for Anna Maria Island’s vacation rental industry. The resort has even made news on Flickr where several pictures of the Widow Watches and exterior architecture has been spotlighted on the web

Floor Plan

based photography enthusiast website. Take a look at this picture of a Widow Watch at Palm Isle Village, fantastic.

Using 2008 rental income both one and two bedrooms can be owned for less than $300 per month. Amazingly this analysis includes all anticipated costs for owning a Palm Isle Village cottage. This analysis INCLUDES debt service! * One Bedrooms start at $299,000 and two bedrooms start at $349,000. The average rental income for a 2 bedroom in the resort is $39,000 and a 1 bedroom is $34,000. Wow!

For more information on Palm Isle Village Resort please call me and I would be happy to provide more information as well as pictures regarding Palm Isle Village. (941) 345-1288 If you are interested in renting out a Palm Isle Village cottage please visit Anna Maria Islands premier vacation rental service.

* The estimate of costs on a monthly basis have several assumptions. While most assumptions are deemed reasonable I ultimately suggest you call for details of our analysis and ensure your specific financial situation meets assumptions already made by consulting with your Certified Public Accountant

Palm Isle Village offers great Gulf Views

For additional vacation rental information or real estate information please visit Island Real Estates vacation rental and property for sale information websites.

Anna Maria Island Vacation Rentals have done very well in 2008 and 2009. We expect vacation rentals in 2010 to

Holiday Rental

continue our positive trends. While the rest of the country is experiencing a recession, Anna Maria Island seems to be bucking the trend. Thanks to the Convention Business Bureau of Manatee county, the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce and the business leaders of Anna Maria Island we continue to present Anna Maria in the light it deserves. A simple, easy living, beach paradise and the rest of the world is finding this out, one visitor at a time.

The below video is of Mark Davis who runs Harrington House a phenomenal Direct Gulf Front Bed & Breakfast on Anna Maria Island. In fact, the only direct Gulf Front Bed & Breakfast on Anna Maria Island.

Take a look at the Anna Maria Island Video.

Manatee Property Tax Information
It’s official, Ken Burton Jr. was on my good side for all of 2008 and I did not even know it until August! I have a feeling some may disagree. It appears as though his leadership within the county of Manatee, Florida has made a modest

Money, Money, Moneeeey

reduction in Anna Maria Island property taxes. I received my personal property tax letter early in the afternoon and waited until late in the evening to open the proposed property taxes. I expected very little in the way of property tax reductions so I was ready for a bad night with a great deal of tossing and turning over the best way to appeal the escalated property taxes.

I have so little faith and am embarrassed to admit my pessimism. I was elated to see Manatee County got my personal property values correct. I have to admit that I quickly moved into denial just after opening my estimated property tax letter. There must be something I am missing?? I reviewed my property value estimates with a fine tooth comb and sure enough, Ken got it right! Wow!

Once the 25% reduction in property taxes sank in, I immediately moved my attention to thoughts of property taxes for all of Anna Maria Island. The following day at Island Real Estate I consulted a Real Estate professional that has one property in Anna Maria City and Holmes Beach. He confirmed the same thing, YES, Manatee County calculated his property values correctly after our 2 year price correction!

So in total, I reviewed two duplexes in Holmes Beach, Property Values were right on. Three single family homes in Holmes Beach, property Values were correct. One Vacant lot in Anna Maria City, property value was about 15% high. Two Single Family homes in Anna Maria city and both property values were correct. This is fantastic news! Now for the bad news. After consulting a Bradenton Beach Condominium owner it appears as though Bradenton Beach owners may not be as happy with their reduction in 2008 property taxes as the rest of Anna Maria Island owners.

If you feel your property values are too high speak with your Anna Maria Island property specialist or email me to determine the value of your Anna Maria Island Real Estate. Do NOT wait to start this process as you only have 25 days to submit your appeal. This correlates into around a September 12th date so DO NOT procrastinate! Often times you

need a professional to help with the appeal process and if you need recommendations for help don’t hesitate to contact me.

I hope the mail provides for as pleasant surprise as I received…

Anna Maria Island Real Estate has a strong head of steam versus 2007 and 2006. Reviewing the chart below you can see in more detail each segment of Anna Maria, FL Real Estate.

For single family residential Real Estate on Anna Maria Island our transaction levels are up over 40% versus 2007. Continuing to be just as impressive are 2008 single family transaction levels. They are up 40%+ versus 2007. Condos and multi-family transactions are substantially up versus 2007 and continues the positive real estate news on Anna Maria Island.

Anna Maria Transaction Graph

Single family residential average square foot values continue to hold steady while multi-family, and condos continue to slip in value.

Anna Maria Real Estate prices

If you are interested in single family property on Anna Maria Island we expect 2009 to begin a modest appreciation period. Condos, vacant land, and multi-family will see a leveling period in 2009. Of course this data is for information only and should not be the only decision making information used to purchase your Anna Maria, Florida Real Estate. Please visit our website for more information on Anna Maria Island as well as Real Estate property for sale.