David Barr's Sarasota and Venice Real Estate Blog

It seems you can't watch HGTV or cable news without being bombarded with commericials for different ways to buy and sell your home.  Real estate is a huge part of our economy, and "disruptors" are desperately trying to enter the market.  Zillow has been trying it for years, and is now offering these "instant offers" to buy your home in some markets. The prospect of having a sign in the yard, dealing with showings, negotiating a price, and making repairs, can be stressful for some home owners.  The reality is that you'll be giving up a good chunk of any equity you've earned in your home if you decide to go the "instant offer" route.   If you see a commercial offering to buy your house with an instant offer, and even help you move, it's too good to be true, based on a recent study from MarketWatch. For those of you who are retiring, downsizing, or moving into assisted living, you'll need as much equity from your current home...

Many times, the buyers and sellers for Sarasota and Venice properties are out of town or out of state. While many folks may have used electronic signature software in the past. some have not.  To make your real estate experience as stress free as possible, I created a video to show you the step by step process of using our e-sign p rogram:  Please contact me for all your Sarasota, Venice, and Lakewood Ranch real estate needs.

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...