I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but everywhere I turn lately I seem to find more good news about better things to come in the real estate market. The evidence is both anecdotal and statistical. Anecdotally, I can tell you that for the first month of 2012, it is as if someone has opened a floodgate. After being in a wait-and-see mode for several years, sellers are racing to list their homes. Meanwhile, buyers who have been straddling the fence about making firm offers are leaping to take advantage of reasonably priced homes and low mortgage interest rates. Our TEAM, in our new space at our main office (13127 Spring Hill Drive, Spring Hill, FL 34609), is working overtime to meet the demand. My observations about this upsurge are supported statistically in a few reports about the national and regional housing markets. Chew on these newsy nuggets … Continue reading
You’ve Come to the Right Place to BUY or SELL
- Spring Hill
- Brooksville
- Weeki Wachee
- Hernando Beach
Housing sales activity and trends show brighter future
Tampa Bay housing market has a sunny disposition
Maintaining a positive attitude is a way of life for me. Admittedly, I sometimes must strain my neck and eyes to find the silver lining hiding behind some of the darker clouds, but I usually succeed. But I didn’t have to look very far last week to find the bright side of some news about the sometimes gloomy Florida housing market. Two reports gave us a double dose of encouragement. For the first time in 5 years, more people moved into Florida than moved out, according to the 2011 Atlas Van Lines Migration Patterns study. The increase was slight — 5,636 inbound moves vs 5,269 outbound — but it is significant nevertheless. For decades leading up to the housing crisis in 2006, there were always more people coming to Florida than leaving. The Great Recession that ensued sustained that migratory downturn not only in Florida, but in most states. The … Continue reading
New Year’s resolutions for home sellers and buyers
The beginning of a new calendar year is the time many of us designate to make changes in our lives. Whether you want to lose weight, quit smoking or read a few more books, this is an opportunity to reflect and rethink how we will conduct ourselves in the coming year. Even though most new year’s resolutions tend to be of a personal nature, it’s also an opportunity to assess improvements we can make to our professional lives and finances. As a REALTOR®, my professional resolution, year in and year out, is to list and sell more homes. Fortunately, The TEAM and I do quite well in that regard. But another resolution is to continue to provide the public, and especially our customers, with the consumer-driven information they need to make good real estate choices in Hernando County, Florida. That is fulfilling on both a professional and personal level. To … Continue reading
Congratulations to our photo contest winner!
Melissa Rodgers was already a fan of THE Gail Spada TEAM on Facebook. The 37-year-old Palm Harbor resident says she has two reasons for regularly reading The TEAM Works blog. First, Melissa and her husband own a home inspection and pest control business, and she finds the consumer-driven real estate information published here useful. Second, Melissa is an animal lover and “anytime I see someone who is donating their time and money to help the local humane society,” I try to support them, said Melissa, a native Floridian who is the human companion of Snowflake, a 5-year-old, 6-pound Maltese. Now, Melissa’s decision to be a TEAM fan has paid off in a new way. Melissa is the winner of our 2011 TEAM Christmas Photo Contest. Her winning entry earns her a 4GB Flip MinoHD Video Camera. The photo is of Melissa and her 7-month-old grand niece, Abby. The photo was … Continue reading
5 ideas for year-round housewarming gifts
Most of us know someone whose birthday is on Christmas Day, or just before or after. And most of us also know that can be both a blessing a curse, depending on how your family and friends balance these special days. The seasonal hustle and bustle can make it easy for others to shortchange — or even forget – a Christmas birthday. But birthdays are not the only special occasions that occur during the Christmas season; care must be taken not to overlook weddings and anniversaries, either. Another special day that sometimes gets lost on the holiday schedule — and it only occurs a few times in our lives — is closing on a house. REALTORs® have a front-row seat to observe all the hard work and planning that goes into selecting and purchasing a home. When the closing papers are finally signed, it usually is the culmination of months … Continue reading
Support Occupy Hernando! Buy a house!
I’ve occupied a seat in a theater, a booth in a restaurant, a berth on cruise ship and occasionally a lavatory on an airplane. I have occupied my time while waiting to do something else. In novels and newspapers I have read about occupied territories. And, I will admit, my mind sometimes has been preoccupied by other thoughts as I go about my daily routine. But until recently, the word “occupy” just hasn’t cropped up much. That’s all changed now because of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which this weekend will mark the 3-month anniversary of its encampment in Manhattan. Since then the movement has spread across nation and around the globe. I won’t pretend that I fully understand what all the fuss is about. Like most of you, I glean what I can from media reports. But I do recognize that this protest is fueled, at least in part, … Continue reading
TEAM Christmas Photo Contest & Grand Prize
In my day, it was called a “Kodak moment.” These days, it’s more like a “digital nanosecond.” The technology of how we capture the images that tell the stories of our lives has changed dramatically. Darkrooms and film are artifacts, replaced by laptops and pixels. And just about everyone is walking around with a gadget in their pocket that not only is a camera, but a phone and a mobile computer. This is good news in many ways. Besides convenience, it gives us almost infinite opportunities to create art, visually record history and tangibly catalog our memories. The latter pursuit leads us to today’s topic. Did you know that more photographs are taken at Christmas than any other time of the year? That is not surprising when you consider that for most Americans, Christmas is the holiday brings loved ones — and magic — into our homes. Whether it is … Continue reading
Are your plants ready for the big chill?
This is the time of year when we Floridians just LOVE to tune in The Weather Channel. While most of us savor a little sweater weather, one of our guilty pleasures is to see our neighbors Way Up There dealing with a thing we don’t have Way Down Here — snow! But even though we won’t be shoveling snow or sloshing through slush, Hernando County residents know that winter still brings relatively cold weather, and a few days of freezing temperatures are almost a certainty. In recent years we have endured multiple days of “hard-freezes,” where the temperature drops into the 20s for several consecutive nights. Although citrus growers don’t like to see the harsh weather arrive, they are prepared for it, and they know what steps to take to protect their crop. Less prepared are the homeowners who want to protect the plants in their gardens. A little preparation … Continue reading
A Thanksgiving Day wish for your home
Sometime around the turn of 20th century, American poet and humorist Wilbur D. Nesbit wrote: Forever on Thanksgiving Day The heart will find the pathway home. As a person whose two main loves in life are family and real estate, I was struck by Nesbit’s words, both in their simplicity and their accuracy. Indeed, this uniquely American holiday, like no other, conjures up images and memories of home and family. It is an opportunity to reflect on our many blessings as we embrace our loved ones — and our love of food! — and to do it all in the physical and spiritual warmth of our homes. Because I value family time as much as you, I won’t be around to talk turkey about real estate on Thanksgiving Day. That is why I am posting my weekly blog a day early this week. You also will see that, in keeping … Continue reading
Florida pool homes: Asset or aggravation?
To pool, or not to pool? That is today’s question Whether ‘tis nobler in Florida to suffer the summer sun and outrageous heat, or to take haven in your AC or cool pool seat … My apologies to William Shakespeare for amending the third act of Hamlet to set the stage for this week’s TEAM Works post. But it is a question I get all the time. From sellers it is “Will my pool make my home easier to sell?” From buyers it is “Will buying a pool home increase its long-term value?” Or, also from buyers, especially from those coming from Up North, “Can I maintain the pool?” I don’t mean to cop-out on answering this question, but here’s the answer: It depends. Florida has as many, if not more, pools per property than any state. But because the Sunshine State is such a retirement haven for people from … Continue reading
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