David Barr's Sarasota and Venice Real Estate Blog

Today I received my daily email from Florida Realtors Association which highlights news headlines for our industry. I was a bit surprised to find a link to an article that says obesity is higher in "bad" neighborhoods: http://bit.ly/n8TT9o I'm not surprised at the data.  What I am surprised about is FAR sending it to members.  I always see agents violating Fair Housing Law by giving opinions about "good" and "bad" neighborhoods, especially on Trulia forums.  By law, Realtors cannot give out any kind of opinion on neighborhoods, to prevent steering based on perceived racial or cultural issues. So, for FAR to promulgate this article on the effect of "bad" neighborhoods seems contradictory at best, since we are supposed to be racially and culturally neutral in providing services.  What do you think?

Today I received a lead from my website www.davidbarrhomes.com asking for foreclosure listings. I was pretty shocked to see only 35 single family, 3 BR homes between $50-90K in Sarasota and Manatee Counties, the pricing sweet spot for potential investors.  You can see those properties in this link:  http://bit.ly/oWTzcT This is a very low number considering North Port was the epicenter of our local market's real estate downturn.  I had clients looking at properties in this area last year, and there were a lot of newer homes with pools under $100K.  Now, the same kinds of newer homes in this price range come without pools. Get ready for multiple offers on value-priced properties this season.  I've just been through two this week alone.  The market does seem to be recovering.