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Congratulations to yet another team from Venice High School on bringing a state championship to our community.  

(photo courtesy of the Venice Herald Tribune)

The  Venice High baseball team is the Florida Class 5A State Champion!
The Indians dispatched a strong Port St. Lucie Jaguar team 12-1 in a game ending after 6 innings (10 run mercy rule) at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota.
The Indians baseball team last played for a state championship in 1999 at Tampa's Legends Field, where they lost to Merritt Island 6-4.

This brings up a very important point about our wonderful area, as Jan and I constantly point out to our customers,.. there is literally something for EVERYONE here!
Take a moment to consider that we won the…

Well, the most recent housing market statistics are in and all over the print and electronic media...and causing all manner of conversation.
The story this month is that in the Sarasota/Bradenton market, home sales increased by 16% over last April and the median price (the median is the number where half of the prices are more and half are less)  dropped by 2%.
Our regular readers and customers already knew what happened in Venice, and they knew it in the first week of May.  In fact, in Venice, the median price has risen 10% and sales are off 10%... just the opposite of what is being reported for the greater Sarasota area.

REVIEW TIME

For our new readers, a brief review is in order.  We are always working to assist and educate our customers when it…

Hey Andrea, since when is a woman on time, or even early for that matter??  

     Andrea, the first named storm of 2007, has already worked her way off the Georgia coast, so far ahead of the official June 1 start date of the Atlantic hurricane season.
     This is somewhat unusual for such an early appearance of a subtropical storm like Andrea. Storms of this type can even evolve into full-blown hurricanes; however, Andrea is expected to dissipate this weekend.
                 

  Which means that this is great time to bring attention to...

    Hurricane Preparedness Week May 20 – 26, 2007

     The Atlantic hurricane season, which officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, averages 9.6 named storms, with 5.9 of them becoming hurricanes and 2.3 major…

Freddie Mac has announced that it will not continue to purchase sub-prime adjustable rate mortgages (ARM's) when the borrower has qualified only on the introductory, or teaser interest rate after September 1, 2007.  Borrowers will need to qualify on the fully indexed rate. Additionally, Freddie will restrict limited or no documentation loans. This action essentially represents the corporation saying to lenders "...quit lending to people who cannot afford it, or we will no longer buy your loans..."

This proposed action begs a number of questions:

Just who is Freddie Mac? and, What impact will this have on the local market? 

Who is Freddie Mac?

Freddie Mac is a stockhoder-owned (NYSE: FRE) corporation, chartered by Congress with the goal of providing…

     There was a great article in last Friday's (1/26/07) Venice Tribune Review by Stephen Frater (article).  It was on the front page, above the fold, full headline stating "Home sales' pulse strengthens".  Mr. Frater's piece was well written, informative,  well sourced and contained a number of remarks from prominent local, statewide and national industry professionals.  While the information contained therein does not necessarily describe a return to the days of wine and roses, it was very realistic and quite frankly, refreshing in its lack of a doom and gloom overtone.  Kudos to you Mr. Frater. 

     It also reminded me of an article that I wrote for my first quarter 2006 Venice Real Estate Advisor Newsletter. That entire article follows:

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Did you know what the MEDIAN credit score in the US is?  it is:

• Where do you fall relative to that number? 
• Have you ever wondered what goes into these scores? 
• Who is responsible for calculating them?
• Is there anything can I do to improve them?
• How do I get mine?

Today, we are posting the next installment on our series or posts dealing with credit and will be discussing Credit scores.

These scores are calculated from the various data contained in your credit file, or credit report.  In the United States, the three main credit reporting agencies are Equifax, Trans Union and Experian and they all use a different formula to arrive at your score.  We generally advise our customers to purchase thier scores when the visit…

Today Jan and I will begin a series of posts in areas associated with home financing.  We will start with credit reports and cover topics such as credit repair and protection, a very important issue in todays world, and continue with material on various loan products available to borrowers in the current market.

Your credit report, or credit file disclosure, is a record of all of the information  that a credit reporting company has obtained about you from various sources, including companies that have extended credit to you as well as government entities such as the court system.  This file also includes information on who has requested or viewed your report.  

This report shows your payment history, account information such as the date the account was…

It occurred to me as I was traveling along Center Road on my way home from a listing appointment the other night that the road was almost completely paved in all lanes going both directions and that it was a very pleasant ride, and with that in mind, I took a right at Jacaranda and drove the newly finished Border Road project.  Which brings me to the subject for this post...an update on our local CONE ZONES.  We have some good news and some not-so-good news when it comes to our local road construction projects currently underway...

...first the good news:

• Center Road - As I indicated above, the Center Road project is entering the final phase, which includes intermittent lane shifts to complete curb work and some drain work, specifically at the…