David Barr's Sarasota and Venice Real Estate Blog

Lots of people are familiar with Longboat Key and Siesta Key, but when I ask potential buyers about Manasota Key, I usually get a "Huh?". Properties on Manasota Key have an Englewood address, with the northern 2/3 of the island in Sarasota County and the southern 1/3 in Charlotte County.  Manasota Key has wide beaches and lots of real estate opportunities for beachfront homes, unlike Siesta Key or Longboat Key that are dominated by condos. Manasota Key Beach just north of Stump Pass Manasota Key literally supports real estate in almost every price range, with efficiency condos starting around $100K to gulf to bay homes over $3 million. Visit my real estate website to see Manasota Key real estate for sale: http://www.davidbarrhomes.com/#!manasota-key/c1ibs

Well, Christmas is over and today it's back to work. I have a long distance closing happening now as I write this blog post. It's a Fannie Mae property listed by an agent in Tampa who never set foot in the property, with the closing being handled by a title company in the Miami area. There is nothing more basic to excellent customer service than prompt and clear communication and response.  The title company told me "they get over 400 emails a day, and they don't have time to send a receipt confirmation email", despite the fact their website says customer service is their top priority. This is not excellent customer service. I don't want to hear a service provider tell me are too busy to respond to my repeated requests for a confirmation.  I don't want to hear how many emails they get.  I don't want to hear "this is how we do it". You as a consumer reading this know what I'm talking about.  That's why I don't do busines...

Searching the public MLS sites for beach front property can be frustrating.  Property that is not direct beach front often shows up in search results. I have created pages on my website that filter out most if not all of the non-beachfront property and provides just the true beach front listing information from the MLS. Sarasota beach lots:   http://www.davidbarrhomes.com/#!beach-lots/c1mrq Sarasota beach homes:  http://www.davidbarrhomes.com/#!sarasota-beach-homes/c1stv Gulf to bay homes:  http://www.davidbarrhomes.com/#!gulf-to-bay-sarasota/c13ku Beach condos:   http://www.davidbarrhomes.com/#!beach-condos-sarasota/caue I hope discerning beachfront home buyers take advantage of these unique home search tools.

A new article in the Tampa Bay Business Journal today covered the topic of more residential and commercial growth in Lakewood Ranch. Lakewood Ranch is perfectly lovely as it exists right now, and attracts a lot of attention from home buyers because of the neatly manicured neighborhoods and new infrastructure such as schools and hospitals.  In fact, Lakewood Ranch is becoming more of a bedroom community for St. Petersburg commuters because of the benefits compared to living in Pinellas County. But I just can't help thinking you can have too much of a good thing.  I encounter buyers who don't want to pay extra property taxes in the form of CDD fees ( read about them here ).  Developers are more than likely going to have to charge CDD fees to build new communities even further east in Manatee County. If you Google map Lakewood Ranch and St. Pete, and Lakewood Ranch and Siesta Key beaches, the driving time is almost identical.  Proximity to the beach, at least f...

I just added a new page on my Sarasota real estate website www.davidbarrhomes.com that lists gulf to bay properties for sale.  Please bookmark this page:  http://www.davidbarrhomes.com/#!gulf-to-bay-sarasota/c13ku Gulf to bay properties are rare and only exist in a few places in Florida.  Gulf to bay or ocean to bay properties are typically found on narrow barrier islands, where the parcel has both deeded beach and bay access, usually with a private boat dock.  In the areas I serve, this means Casey Key and Manasota Key . I added this page to my site because many agents market their listings as gulf to bay, when the view, but not the actual property, is gulf to bay.  I have created this special search results page based on geography that contains only true gulf to bay homes for sale. The unique luxury of having a home with full Gulf of Mexico views and a sparkling private beach with your boat at your own private dock is a dream you can achieve.   ...

Inman News is the real estate version of the Wall St. Journal for real estate agents and brokers.  I gain a lot of valuable information from this source, as well as engage in interesting debates on articles posted by contributors to Inman. I recently got involved in a debate with an Inman contributor who says that forcing people to register to view homes for sale on their website, resulted in more leads. The contributor used terms I consider old school.  Do you want to be "captured", "forced", or "taught" while you are looking for homes online?  I find those terms outdated, and a bit rude.  I believe that you as a prospective home buyer or seller who is looking for homes online should not be treated like internet prey. My philosophy in gaining your trust as a new customer is to provide answers to the most common issues affecting your real estate purchase or sale in the Sarasota area.  I have created unique content on my real estate website, www.davi...