David Barr's Sarasota and Venice Real Estate Blog

I just added a new feature to my Palmer Ranch page on davidbarrhomes.com. There's a new map identifying single family home neighborhoods within Palmer Ranch.  You can click the map markers and go directly to currently available property listings from the MLS. The map feature is in addition to all single family home listings in Palmer Ranch, a slideshow tour of homes, and my exclusive Palmer Ranch Beach Meter showing distance to the closest beach, and the shortest route. I look forward to helping you with all your Palmer Ranch real estate needs.

We're fast approaching our high season, when real estate activity in the Sarasota area traditionally increases from the summer months. The increasing buyer demand for property, combined with shrinking inventory, means many buyers will likely be faced with a multiple offer situation, especially on aggressively-priced short sales and foreclosures. When this occurs, the owner's agent (private owner or a bank) will advise me as your buyer representative to present your highest and best offer.  Some banks, such as Bank of America, will require that you sign an acknowledgement that multiple offers have been received, and give you a deadline date for making your best offer. But what's a good offer when competing with other interested buyers? A good offer (highest and best) in the eyes of a bank or a property owner consists of these items: Highest offer price :  Think of the list price as a guide and try to dismiss your initial reaction to paying at or above list price....

I was working with some buyers over the past weekend who illustrated that expert real estate representation means more than just showing properties. These buyers initially had very specific criteria which significantly narrowed their choices.  One of these criteria included finding a home in a community that had a lap pool. Rather than simply showing these buyers only the types of homes they thought they wanted to see, I asked them questions and got to know what other options might satisfy their goals.  Because of my local market knowledge, I pointed out the benefits of a local YMCA, as well as a fitness facility operated by Sarasota Memorial Hospital, both of which the buyers discovered more than met their needs.  This significantly increased the buyer's potential housing options, and maximized the use of their time during their visit. Home buyers: If you are looking for an agent who can present you with a range of opportunities that will fit your goals, please...

Palmer Ranch always ranks high on buyer's wish lists because of it's proximity to Siesta Key, manicured landscape, and attractive gated communities. Here's a quick snapshot of what is happening in the Palmer Ranch real estate market from January 1 to August 7th, 2011 versus the same period in 2012.  These figures are for single family homes only: Units sold:   134 in 2012         96 in 2011 Median sold price:   $337,500  2012        $339,500  2011 Median sold price per sq ft:   $149.53  2012        $148.47  2011 List price to sold price ratio:   95% in 2012 and 2011 Days to close:   111 in 2012        134 in 2011 It appears that the real estate market in Palmer Ranch has stabilized nicely and activity has picked up significantly in 2012. You can view Palmer Ranch single family home listings and condo listings on ww...

I recently had a conversation about marketing a listing with a potential home seller.  The pertinent questions:  How do I distinguish myself from the large brokerages and how do I match their exposure? There's a common misconception that large brokerages get more exposure for their listings.  This is highly debatable.  Every member of our local MLS has equal access to what is known as real estate syndication.  Syndication puts the information we enter in the MLS on over 60 real estate websites. How do I distinguish myself from the large brokers or other agents?  The first example I point to is my real estate website, www.davidbarrhomes.com .  Without boring you with a lot of statistics, my website gets as high if not higher percentage of audience searching for specific popular keywords for real estate in our area as the biggest brokerage websites. If you are selling real estate in Lakewood Ranch, does it matter that a large brokerage is getting ...