Bill Eckler-Florida, GRI's Blog

by Tom Bayles

SALES AGENTS FROM MICHAEL Saunders & Co. have been involved in 34 sales in the $2-million-and-up market, setting residential sales records unbeaten as of last Thursday on many of Sarasota County’s keys.

The biggie was the largest waterfront sale in Sarasota County so far this year, a Lido Shores home that sold for $8.4 million in March. Linda Roe Dickinson, of the firm’s St. Armands office, represented the buyers.

On Longboat Key, Kathy Simonds, of the Longboat Key South office, brought the buyers to the largest residential sale this year at a Gulf-front property on Gulf of Mexico Drive that closed in late April for $6.65 million.

On Siesta Key, Saunders’ agents — Dickinson again along with Kim Ogilvie of the firm’s Main Street office — brought both sides to the biggest sale this year on Sanderling Road for $6.425 million.

On Casey Key, Saunders agents also represented both the buyer and the seller to a Casey Key Road home that sold in March for $4.5 million. Deborah Beacham, of the Longboat Key South office, represented the sellers and Annette and Albert Ayers, of the Palmer Ranch office, brought the buyers to the sale.

On Bird Key, a home on Meadow Lark Drive was sold for $4.2 million in February. Audrey and Jill Singer, of the Longboat Key South office, listed the property.

Another noteworthy sale where agents of Saunders brought both sides to the closing table was the biggest year-to-date sale in the Tower Residence of the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota. A penthouse listed by Joan Dickinson and Beth Afflebach was sold to a buyer represented by Afflebach for $3.35 million in early January.

“Sellers of luxury properties this year have been successful whenever they’ve gotten truly realistic, even aggressive, about their selling price,” said Michael Saunders, founder of the firm that bears her name. “Make no mistake about it: Buyers have regained their confidence in the market for luxury properties.”

Single women buy homes more often

More single buyers are entering the housing market — and women are leading the charge.

According to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors, single women comprised 21 percent of the home buyers in 2009, while single men accounted for 10 percent.

After noticing this trend, Coldwell Banker Real Estate surveyed nearly 1,000 single homeowners to find out what motivates singles to buy a home and uncover what sets them apart from their married counterparts.

Coldwell Banker’s survey found more than half of the singles opted for homes in suburban settings rather than bachelor or bachelorette pads in urban or rural areas.

They are also being thrifty, with 68 percent buying a home that was below what they could actually afford. Most than half of the singles surveyed said they made the decision to buy last year because it was cheaper then renting a house.

More from the survey:

More single women — 27 percent — said the number of bedrooms was the most desirable feature in a home than did men, at 18 percent.

Singles do not completely shy away from foreclosures or short sales, with 38 percent of the men and 29 percent of women willing to buy a distressed property.

Of the 13 percent of single homeowners who own their home jointly with another person, 49 percent made the purchase with their parents.

Fifty-five percent of singles have less than a 30-minute commute to their office, or work from home.

Forty percent live less than 30 minutes from their parents or extended family, often even living in the same subdivision.

Celebs having a tougher time

Former women’s tennis star Steffi Graf has double faulted in her attempts to sell her Miami Beach home, bought in February 2001 for nearly $1.32 million.

Graf listed it in July 2008 for about $3 million, then lowered the price a year later to $2.9 million, then again a few months later to $2.75 million, Zillow.com reports.

Graf married tennis star Andre Agassi in 2001 and together they purchased a Tiburon, Calif., home for $23 million and also lost money on it when it sold in 2007 for $20 million.

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh lowered the price for his New York City penthouse recently from almost $14 million to just under $13 million.

And Scott Baio — known as Chachi, the sidekick to Fonzie in the iconic television series “Happy Days” — has had trouble selling his Encino, Calif., home. Zillow reports Baio recently lowered the price of the 4,403-square-foot mansion from nearly $2.9 million to just under $2.7 million.

Contact Tom Bayles at 361-4885 or tom.bayles@heraldtribune.com

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100607/COLUMNIST/6071016/2305/BUSINESS?p=1&tc=pg


Bill Eckler
Michael Saunders & Company
billeckler@michaelsaunders.com
941-408-5363

courtesy of mignatti.com

• Ron Struthers
  April 30th, 2010

  Re “Do not shoot the messenger”
  Unfortunately, numerous uninformed buyers purchased commercial real estate, anticipating price inflation similar to the housing market with out realizing that the NOI and the investors required opportunity rate (CAP) is what dictates the price of the commercial property. Maybe this time around the real estate practitioner will explain the dynamics of a good commercial real estate strategy and if they do not understand it then refer it to some one that does.

Bill Eckler
Michael Saunders & Company
billeckler@michaelsaunders.com
941-408-5363

Are you thinking about selling your home?
Here are some ideas that will help you sell your home fast and for top dollar.
This is a list of budget-minded enhancements you can make to your home that will help it stand out from the competition.

1. Tidy up kitchen cabinets.

“Potential buyers do open kitchen cabinets and look inside,” says Morrissey. “Home owners can add rollout organizing trays so when buyers peek in, they feel like there’s lots of room for their stuff.”
 

2. Add or replace tile.

“By retiling very inexpensively, you make a room look way cleaner that it was,” says Javier Zuluaga, owner of Home Repairs and Remodeling LLC in Tempe, Ariz. “Every city has stores that offer $1 to $2 tile, so home owners have to pay only for the low-cost tile and labor to replace a dated backsplash or add a new one. We also use inexpensive tile to upgrade bathrooms.”

3. Add a breakfast bar.

When a wall separates a kitchen from a family room, suggest cutting out an opening to create a breakfast bar. “In one home, there was a cutout in the wall between the kitchen and living room,” explains Matthew Quinn, a sales associate at Quinn’s Realty & Estate Services in Falls Church, Va., who handles estate and real estate sales for family members whose loved ones have passed away. “We left the structure of the cutout, added an oversized granite breakfast bar, and put chairs in front of it. That cost about $600.”

4. Install granite tile instead of a slab.

“Everybody is hot for granite kitchen countertops, but that can be a $5,000 upgrade,” says John Wilder, a general contractor and owner of Fence and Deck Doctor in New Castle, Ind. “Instead, home owners can put in 12-inch granite tiles for about $300 in materials and get very high impact for little money.” 

5. Freshen up a bathroom without retiling.

“With a dated bathroom, I recommend putting in a new medicine cabinet for $100 to $150, light fixtures for about $100, a faucet for $50 to $75, and a vanity for $200 to $300,” says Wilder. “And instead of replacing the tile, the existing grout can be lightly scraped and regrouted, which leaves a haze that can be buffed out and will make the tile look brand new. Also install glass shower doors. A French door adds a lot of panache and elegance for $250, and people will notice the door, not the tile. With all that, you’ve done a bathroom remodel for $1,000 to $2,000.” 

6. Freshen up the basement.

“If home owners have cement block or poured concrete walls in the basement, suggest they have a contractor fill in cracks with hydraulic cement and then paint with waterproofing paint,” recommends Wilder. “They can then add a top coat to add color. They can also paint the basement floor with a good floor paint, which spiffs it up. The basement may not be finished, but it’s no longer a damp dungeon.”

7. Add a room.

Look for large spaces that can be enclosed to create a new bedroom for just the price of creating a wall. “One time, we closed off a half-wall to an office and added a door to the other side of the room, thus creating another bedroom,” says Quinn. “That $400 procedure, which took a contractor one day, netted about $40,000 in the sales price.” Zuluaga has also added bedrooms inexpensively. “In a two-bedroom house, there was an archway that led to a third room that was used as a den,” he explains. “It had a dry bar where there would have been a closet, so we took out the dry bar and created a closet so the owners had a third bedroom.” 

8. Spruce up cabinet fronts.

Suggest home owners update tired-looking kitchen cabinets. Reconditioning is the least expensive move for under $1,000. “If the wood is starting to look shabby from use or contaminants in the air, we take out the nicks and scratches, recondition it with oil, and put new hardware on,” explains Heidi Morrissey, vice president of marketing and sales at Kitchen Tune-Up in Aberdeen, S.D. For $1,500 to $4,000, owners can replace the cabinet doors and drawer fronts, and for $4,000 to $12,000, they can have all the cabinets refaced. “With refacing, owners can change the color of the cabinets by replacing the door and having a new skin put on the boxes,” says Morrissey. “If they have oak cabinets today, they can have cherry the next day.” 

9. Replace light fixtures.

“In a foyer and in bathrooms and kitchens,” says Wilder, “replacing overhead light fixtures provides a lot of pop for a little money.” If the kitchen has track lighting, Zuluaga suggests the home owner spend $450 to $600 to have an electrician replace it with recessed canned lights on a dimmer switch to add ambience. For about $700, Zuluaga also suggests installing pendant lights over a kitchen island or peninsula. 

10. Tech-up the garage.

“Sometimes we replace the garage door opener with a remote touchpad entry system,” says Zuluaga. “That costs about $425 and makes it look like a high-end system.”

Article courtesy of Realtor.org
Data courtesy of Remodeling Magazine