Is this what future Florida homes will look like?

I read an article this morning from the Sarasota Herald Tribune's website about a couple building a dome home in Parrish, Florida. Tropical Storm Gabrielle left their Parrish home knee-deep in water in 2001. For fear of hurricanes they are building a dome home on an 8 acre plot in Parrish.

Dome homes are supposed to withstand winds of 200 miles an hour. The dome is made up of concrete and is up to 4 inches thick. This strength has led to domes being touted as the answer to Florida's hurricane and insurance woes.

The dome home they are building has 5,600 square feet of interior space, including 4,200 square feet of air-conditioned space. The unusual shape allows for neat features like a drive-through garage, so there is never a need to back out. The structure's 3-inch foam insulation and seamless shell also make it only use about half the energy of a traditional home.

For more information on Dome home you can visit the Monolithic Dome Institute.

Some of the designs of these homes are not too bad. Many of them have nice outdoor living spaces with balconies. The ongoing maintenance costs would probably be less as well. I can't imagine you need to change the roof every 15-20 years and it does not look like it would blow off in a storm.

Here is a photo of one in a neighborhood of traditional homes. It looks like it is from the Jetson's.

June 2007 Sarasota home sales figures good

Good news - June 2007 home sales were up in Sarasota/Bradenton when compared to June 2006. Sales were 5% higher last month than from a year before. The rest of Florida did not make out so well. Only two real estate markets in Florida showed sales increases year over year from June 2006 to June 2007.

Are we bottoming out or is just an anomaly? I would be interested to hear your comments.

Notice the Sarasota-Bradenton home price for each month - $292,700 in June, $294,700 in May, $294,800 in April, $291,500 in March and $294,500 in February. Median home prices are no longer plummeting.

The next few months should report good sales figures as well since we have over 500 pending home sales. That would mean back to back months of positive sales figures.

Inventory levels seemed to have peaked as well. In fact, there has even been a small decline.

1. Inventories most likely peaked and possibly dropping
2. Mortgage rates still historically low
3. Home prices in Sarasota are off 25%-30% from 2005 market highs
4. Sales numbers increasing

Falling supplies + good demand = more balanced real estate market

More affordable housing news in Sarasota

The Sarasota Herald Tribune reported an article this morning titled, "Affordable housing plan ignites passions". A town size affordable housing project east of I-75 is coming up for approval next month. The 1,488 home project named Palmer Place appears the be the biggest in the state of Florida.

People against the plan says it puts too many homes on too little land and are also complaining about the developer deciding to put a gate up to seperate the neighborhood containing the affordable housing with the more expensive neighborhood.

Let me preface everything I say with all I know is what I have read in the newspaper.

Give me a break. I can understand the argument about too many homes on too little land because of infrastructure problems but the gate argument is rediculous. They are using the word "segregation" to describe the seperation between the communities. I doubt too many of the affordable home purchasers are going to care too much about the seperation. Especially since the the homes will have to sell for less than $153,864.

The more expensive homes which will be seperated from the affordable neighborhood by a 4 lane road, wall and gates will priced from $400,000 - $800,000. Again, I don't know the details but I would that bet the developer would not be able to make this project work without the sale of the more expensive homes. It is probably the difference between a profitable project and unprofitable one.

In order for the "ritzier" homes to sell for significantly more money there has to be value created over and above the affordable housing. A home's value is mostly determined by the location and neighborhood it sits in. Since the locations of the two communties are basically the same there has to be value created in order to achieve the higher sales price. Otherwise, the buyers won't perceive value and won't purchase the homes. The developer can create this value with larger lots, larger homes, gates, more amenities, etc. It is basic economics. The project won't work without the sale of the homes with higher profit margins.

Even if a developer came up with a plan to put affordable housing on Siesta Key beach these opponents would probably complain about how the affordable condos don't have the same water and beach view as the "ritzier" condos.

I am all for affordable housing and am certainly not an expert on the subject. Unless you use public funds to build affordable housing a developer will only do it if there is a profit to be made.

Luxury consumers more interested in 2nd homes

Nearly half of the nations wealthiest residents may purchase a 2nd home in the coming year according to a survey recently completed which polled 301 of the nation's homeowners whose primary home is valued at more than $1 million ($2 million for California residents), and who have investable assets of more than $1 million.

Some of the other interesting findings include:

The number of people who stated that they may buy a 2nd home in the next year increased from 30% to 40%

Women were more positive about their home values than men.

58% believe their residence will increase somewhat over the next 5 years while 36% believe their values will increase significantly.

Of the buyers looking for a 2nd home, 40% said they wanted one for family use, with 38% buying for investment purposes and 22% purchasing for retirement reasons.

43% of the respondents want to move their primary residence to a beach, bay or lakefront location, and 41% want to move to be closer to recreational activities like golf, swimming and tennis. This news bodes well for Sarasota, FL real estate.

Sarasota-Bradenton airport soars to top of state rankings

The Florida Department of Transportation chose Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport as the top commercial airport in Florida. Sarasota beat nineteen other commercial airports, including those in Miami, Tampa and Jacksonville.

The Florida Department of Transportation cited numerous reasons for the #1 spot, including the perfect FAA inspection in November, the millions of dollars spent on security improvements, a $5 million main runway rehabilitation and the addition of JetBlue and AirTran airlines to the airport.

An increase in passenger traffic was also one of the reasons we won the top spot. The airport served 1.5 million passengers for the twelve months ending June 2007. That represents a 12% increase when compared to the previous year or a 43% increase since 2003.

Recently, the airport's concessions provider announced plans for several improvements including a Dewar's Clubhouse Bar and Grill and a Starbucks.

Sarasota rated 2nd best in the country for growing a small business

Bizjournals, the Web site of American City Business Journals Inc., rated Sarasota-Bradenton as the 2nd best place in the country to grow a small business. Bizjournals used a 12-part formula to rate the vitality of small-businesses in the nation's 75 largest metropolitan areas.

Sarasota-Bradenton was the second-smallest metro in the study, but it ranks as the second-biggest success story. Only four markets have at least 3,000 small businesses per 100,000 residents, and Sarasota-Bradenton is one of them. The number of small businesses has grown 25 percent in just five years.

The top 10 are:
1. Orlando
2. Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.
3. Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
4. Las Vegas
5. Jacksonville, Fla.
6. Raleigh, N.C.
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Salt Lake City, Utah
9. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, Calif.
10. Minneapolis-St. Paul

High end homes defy market downturn

Using data from the real estate research firm DataQuick Information Systems, The New York Times shows that the story of today’s real estate market is really two different stories. While the low end and middle of the road home prices have been hit hard recently the high end homes have fared better.

In the Boston area, for instance, the number of homes selling for at least $1 million plummeted to 619 in the first five months of 2006, from 773 in the period in 2005, according to DataQuick. But the number jumped to 711 in the first five months of this year.

Affluent families continue to do better than others, thanks to healthy income gains and a rising stock market. The upper end of the market has also been helped by an influx of well-off foreign investors whose buying power has grown with the recent decline of the dollar. Hard as this may be for an American to imagine, New York, San Francisco or Miami can now seem like a bargain, compared with London, Moscow or Sydney.

As Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, summed up the market: “The low end is getting creamed. The middle is struggling. The high end is running on its own dynamic.”

High end properties in Sarasota have taken a hit. However, they have held up better than the rest of the market. For example, back in 2005 you would be hard pressed to find a canal front lot on a Bird Key canal for less than $1.3 million. This year there have been two canal front tear down homes sell for $910,000 and $1,150,000.

Just Sold - West of Trail Home

SKY Sotheby's International Realty just sold a home west of the trail in Sarasota. This 3,000 square foot, 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom Tuscan designed home was built in 2007. Some of the features the new owners may enjoy are sitting in the courtyard listening to the water fountain, splashing in their pool, snuggling next to the 2-sided fireplace or lounging on your balconies. Sold for $795,000.

Just sold on Longboat Key

A client of mine just purchased this fantastic 3 level home on Longboat Key. This 3,582 square foot home was built in 2004, has 3 bedrooms a den, 4 bathrooms, an elevator and 4 car attached garage. Fantastic Gulf and Bay views, private boat dock and lift, beautiful hardwood and slate floors from Floors by Design. The cooks dream kitchen boasts Lube Fine Italian cabinetry, granite counters, under counter lighting, and top of the line stainless steel appliances. The eye- catching interior by Raymond Boorstein of Kanes will make you feel right at home. Sold for $1,500,000.