St. Patrick's Day Information and Important Etiquette

Ok, so St. Patrick’s Day is only around the corner and we are getting excited in our household. We love St. Patrick’s Day; when my wife was growing up she spent every St. Patrick’s Day at an Irish Céilidh doing her Irish dancing routine with the rest of her dance troup. Then, as time went on we would always end up at an Irish Céilidh somewhere! 

Now we live in the U.S. we are still on the look out for fun things to do, and we have discovered a few things for this year such as:-

• March 15, 2014: The 3rd Annual Irish Celtic Festival takes place at Central Park in Lakewood Ranch. With entertainment stages, the Lucky Dog Parade, traditional food, a pot 'o gold scavenger hut and more, from 11:00 am - 4:00 pm. This year there will be a 5k run on the morning of the event. Sign up your dog for the parade. Central Park amenity center off Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.

• March 16, 2014: The 9th Annual Irish Rover St. Patrick’s Day Festival is from 11:00 am - 6:00 pm (rain or shine) featuring Irish entertainment all day long. There will be beer and drinks and Fish and Chips, Corned Beef and Cabbage and more. Family fun for all. Admission: $7 adults, kids 12 & under are free. Free parking. Twin Lakes Park, 6700 Clark Rd, Sarasota. (East of I-75 on Clark Rd).

• March 17, 2014: The Shamrock Pub hosts its 6th annual St. Patrick's Day Block Party. The pub opens at noon, music starts at 2:00 pm. Irish beer, music, bagpipers and food. Limerick Contest Finals, The Beer Geek, Face Painting, Irish Dance Academy of Sarasota and more. No cover charge. Under the tent. 2257 Ringling Blvd, Sarasota. Proceeds from the event benefit the Sarasota Family YMCA Youth Shelter.

Also, don’t forget Main Street in Lakewood Ranch.

Oh, and just a little thing to remember on this year’s St. Patrick’s Day, and every other one to come

• It's 'Paddy' NOT 'Patty'. EVER

• 'Saint Patrick's Day'? GRAND

• 'Paddy's Day'? SURE, DEAD-ON

• 'St. Pat's'? AYE, IF YE MUST

• 'St. Patty'? NO, NEVER!

Why is 'Patty' just so wrong?

• 'Paddy' is derived from the Irish, Pádraig, hence those mysterious, emerald double-Ds.

• 'Patty' is the diminutive of Patricia, or a burger, and just not something you call a fella.

• There is not a sinner in Ireland that would refer to a Patrick as 'Patty'. It’s as simple as that.

Now let’s all have some fun.

Average 30-Year Mortgage Rate Moves Up To 4.28%

The average U.S. rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage edged up this week to 4.28 percent from 4.23 percent but remains near historically low levels after declining during the five previous weeks.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average for the 15-year loan was unchanged at 3.33 percent.

Mortgage rates have risen about a full percentage point since hitting record lows roughly a year ago. The increase was driven by speculation that the Federal Reserve would reduce its $85 billion a month in bond purchases. Deeming the economy to be gaining strength, the Fed proceeded last month with planned reductions of its bond purchases, which have helped keep long-term interest rates low.

Recent economic data have pointed to a likely pause in the housing market’s recovery. Real estate data provider CoreLogic reported last week that U.S. home prices slipped from November to December. And the year-over-year increase slowed, likely a result of weaker sales at the end of last year.

The number of Americans who have signed contracts to buy homes has plummeted to its lowest level in more than two years.

Most economists expect home sales and prices to keep rising this year, but at a slower pace. They forecast that both will likely rise around 5 percent, down from double-digit gains in 2013.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for a 30-year mortgage was unchanged at 0.7 point. The fee for a 15-year loan also remained at 0.7 point.

The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose to 2.55 percent from 2.51 percent. The average fee declined to 0.4 point from 0.5 point.

The average rate on a five-year adjustable mortgage fell to 3.05 percent from 3.08 percent. The fee held at 0.5 point.

Copyright © 2014 The Associated Press

What Are The Must-Haves For Today's Young Homebuyers?

Millennials, those born between 1980 and 2000, are the second-biggest segment of home buyers, behind Generation X (those born between 1965 and 1979), according to a 2013 National Association of REALTORS® study about generational housing trends.

Real estate professionals told ABC News recently of some “must have” features that tend to be in high demand among young buyers. Some of those “must haves” include:

1. Updated kitchen and bath: “The primary reason young buyers seek updated kitchens and baths is because they have limited budgets,” says Jack Curtis, a real estate professional in Dublin, Ohio. “Most of their savings will go toward the down payment and furnishings. Kitchens and bathrooms are also the most expensive parts of a home to update, and young home owners cannot afford to sink a lot of money into those areas.”
2. Big kitchen with an open floor plan: “The kitchen has become the hangout room along with the family room,” says Lou Cardillo of The Lou Cardillo Team in Yorktwon Heights, N.Y. “An open space that can easily transition from kitchen to TV room is high on the list of the perfect home for young buyers. In essence, the kitchen is the new living room.”
3. Home office: "As technology continues to make us more mobile, young buyers have more options than ever to work from home, depending on their job," says Paige Elliot, a real estate professional with Dave Perry-Miller & Associates in Dallas. "Having a dedicated space is important because it will help keep them focused and concentrated on work while they are at home on a Skype call, planning a presentation, setting up their workday or simply paying bills."
4. Location: “My young buyers look for properties that are in proximity to public transportation and that have a good walking score,” says Allison Nichols, a real estate professional with Related Realty in Chicago.
5. Technology: A home’s appeal can be increased if it has a strong mobile carrier’s signal or its list of Internet service provider options, says Cardillo. “Internet and cell service matters a lot to this generation, and they’re going to ask, so yu need to have answers,” Cardillo says.

Source: “Top 10 Must-Haves to Sell to Young Homebuyers,” ABC News (Feb. 10, 2014)

Florida Housing Market Strengthened in 2013

Florida’s housing market wrapped up 2013 with more closed sales, higher pending sales, higher median prices and a reduced inventory of homes for sale compared to the year before, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®.

“Throughout 2013, the state’s housing market has demonstrated it’s in a solid recovery and gaining strength,” 2014 Florida Realtors® President Sherri Meadows, CEO and team leader, Keller Williams, with market centers in Gainesville, Ocala and the Villages. “The positive fundamentals of Florida’s housing sector continue into 2014. However, factors remain that could slow an even stronger economic recovery, such as limited inventories of for-sale homes in many areas, overly-restrictive mortgage credit, rising interest rates, and concerns about the cost and availability of property and flood insurance.”

Read more at Florida Realtors®

How To Buy Again After a Short Sale

Potential homebuyers with a previous short sale in their history should pay careful attention to their credit report. If they plan to apply for a mortgage soon, they should make sure the earlier short sale information was reported accurately.

In some cases, a short sale erroneously appears on their credit report as a foreclosure – a blemish that could haunt them much longer and prevent them from obtaining a new mortgage because it’s a red flag to a lender.

Typically, when lenders report on a short sale in a credit report, they’ll say, “settled for less than full balance.” That’s a key indicator for a buyer’s new mortgage lender looks for because it shows that the previous property was a short sale, not a foreclosure, according to Credit.com. Lenders have the responsibility to report accurately to the credit bureaus.

Credit.com says some other credit report codes will also hamper a borrowers’ ability to qualify for a mortgage any time soon: Chapter 5, 8, or 9 – which are often synonymous with a foreclosure.

A short sale borrower is eligible for conventional loan financing 24 months after a short sale at 80 percent loan-to-value or lower. If it’s a foreclosure, however, they may have to wait up to seven years to qualify for a conventional loan, or four years if they can prove it was a one-time economic hardship situation that caused the foreclosure.

Borrowers who have the short sale inaccurately noted in their credit report will need to contact the creditor and likely supply a final settlement statement showing the previous property was a short sale, and a copy of the grant deed transferring the property from them to the buyer.

Source: “Credit Report Error Sinks Short-Sellers Bids for a Mortgage,” Credit.com (Feb. 6, 2014)

Canadians Urged 'Now Is The Time to Buy' in Florida

The epic beach party might not be over yet, but the economic tides are starting to inch a little closer for aspiring Canadian snowbirds.

A pair of concurrent trends over the last year have chipped away at the historic buying power Canadians enjoyed in the American Sunbelt since the financial crisis: a 10 percent decline in the loonie coupled with a roughly 10 percent rise in U.S. housing prices.

Each percentage point washes away a piece of the bargain.

There are still deals to be had, as sunbelt housing prices haven’t fully recovered from the 2008 crash – but Canadians should be aware that they’re entering a much more competitive market.

To illustrate that point, one longtime real-estate agent points at a Boca Raton highrise.

“If you ask me about that apartment (and say), ‘I’d like a two-bedroom,’ what you’re asking for might be sold,” says Sandy Yacker, motioning toward a random building as she drives up Florida’s coastal highway.

“I’d have to show you another building. We don’t have any inventory. The inventory was plentiful two years ago – now there might not be any in that building.”

Yacker’s seen a lot in her 74 years, nearly all of it spent in Florida and much of it spent working as a real estate agent.

She remembers seeing the elegant clothes along Miami’s South Beach, in a distant era when women wore gowns and men wore suits instead of today’s dental-floss fashions along Ocean Drive. She believes that was Harry Truman’s presidential motorcade she saw as a girl once, rolling by on Flagler Street.

But she’s never seen anything like 2008.

In her own condo complex, one-bedroom villas that had gone for US$280,000 were suddenly being panic-sold at $110,000 by frail seniors who had to sell in a hurry, because they needed to move into specialized homes.

She says those units are now going for about $170,000, after a bounce last year. The latest trend might mean lesser deals for bargain-hunting foreigners, but what a relief for homeowners pounded by the crisis.

“It was a shock to your pocketbook,” she says of 2008.

“It’s no question… It was disturbing if you were trying to sell if, God forbid, an emergency came up – if a person got sick and couldn’t stay in their home,” Yacker said.

“But it’s started to rise in price.”

The shift is confirmed in numbers from the U.S. National Association of Realtors for 2013. They say U.S. sales activity increased by 9.1 percent, for their best year since 2006. The median home price shot up 11.5 percent, the biggest increase since 2005.

Meanwhile, though, U.S. home purchases by foreigners edged backward in 2012-13.

International-purchase numbers for the last calendar year aren’t out yet, but through March 2013 the total was $68.2 billion – still high, historically, but much lower than the $82.5 billion from 2011-12.

Canadians are the biggest international buyers of those U.S. homes, comprising one-quarter of foreign purchases. And Florida is their No. 1 choice – with 39 percent of Canadian purchases occurring there. That’s followed by 24 percent in Arizona, and single digits in California, Hawaii, Texas and other states.

One economist predicted an impact from the currency fluctuation, albeit a limited one.

Statistics crunched by the TD Bank for The Canadian Press suggest a 10 percent decline in the loonie likely means 250,000 less visitors per year to Florida, and a decrease in spending of about 0.7 percent of the state’s GDP (or somewhere between $250 million and $400 million).

But there’s a notable asterisk: Canadian visits to Florida have been growing so rapidly in recent years that even a dip would likely just mean that the growth continues, only slower.

This is after years in which Canadian visits to Florida increased 12 percent in 2010, followed by 6 percent, 6 percent and 3 percent in 2013. For this year, TD projects an increase in Canadian visits to the Sunshine State of two percent.

“I think the longer-term period of rapid growth – at least for the next few years – is probably behind us. I think we will see a pause in that trend,” said Derek Burleton, the vice-president and deputy chief economist of the TD Bank Financial Group.

“I’d say growth (is) pausing, but I don’t think we’re going to see the level of Canadian spending and involvement in the real-estate market go back to where it was five or 10 years ago (before the crash).”

He said the currency fluctuation will be felt far more in the northern U.S., in areas that have come to benefit from Canadian cross-border shoppers.

As for the Sunbelt, he said, the economics become a secondary factor. People are drawn there for reasons other than cost-savings and, with baby boomers retiring, he predicted Canadians will keep visiting and snapping up property to be close to the beach and the sunshine.

Bob Slack, a retired school principal from Ontario who has a home near Lakeland, Fla., concurred with that assessment.

Slack bought a home in Florida 16 years ago and has witnessed economic shifts before. He said people might spend a little less on a house, a little less on meals in restaurants, and a little less time on the golf course.

But they’ll mostly keep coming.

“There are many ways snowbirds cope with a fluctuating dollar,” Slack said. “People just adapt.”

Copyright © 2014 The Canadian Press, Alexander Panetta

Home Sales and Prices Are Up, But Caution Remains

Existing-home sales and prices are up, but government officials caution the economy is still fragile in the Obama Administration’s January 2014 Housing Scorecard, an overall look at the nation’s housing market.

The report showed progress among several key indicators. “In 2013, home sales had their strongest performance in several years; foreclosure starts were at their lowest annual level since 2005; and home owners’ equity is up $3.4 trillion since the beginning of 2012,” according to the report.

“With foreclosures down, home sales up, and equity continuing to grow, the housing market continues to make slow, but steadily-improving progress,” says Kurt Usowski, HUD deputy assistant secretary for economic affairs.

The report also highlights the status of the administration’s Making Home Affordable program each month, a program aimed at helping home owners avoid foreclosure. To date, more than 1.9 million home owner assistance actions have taken place through the Making Home Affordable program, including more than 1.3 million permanent loan modifications through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Also, the report shows the Federal Housing Administration offered 2.1 million loss mitigation and early delinquency interventions through December.

Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development