Property taxes are vital for funding schools, libraries, police departments, fire departments, and public works like roads and parks. However, that doesn’t mean we enjoy paying them. If you are seeing them creep up in your area, here are five reasons that might be to blame and a few things you can do about it.
Tag: Sarasota County
Although the luxury single family home market ($1M+ homes) is much better balanced this year than last, it is still a strong buyer’s market in both Manatee and Sarasota counties. Markets are generally considered in “balance” when there is about six months of inventory for sale at the current pace of home sales. When the inventory gets greater than that, buyers tend to have more leverage than sellers in negotiations.
I have been through several new developments lately, and this one really caught my eye. As Lakewood Ranch is heading south into Sarasota County, it is presenting new communities for us to discover. Entering this community, I immediately saw why it is special. You get immediate views of the two main lakes, with over 144 acres of water. The views from your lanai will be simply amazing.
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How Underwater Are We?
Did you know that about 2/3’s of homes in the United States are mortgaged? It’s a big number. Even more surprising is that about 2.5 million homeowners in the U.S. still have negative equity. Negative equity, often referred to as being “underwater” or “upside down,” happens when borrowers owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.
Hurricane Irma is still disrupting local mortgage repayments. It has by no means reached a point where we should be concerned about another meltdown in our market, but the impact shouldn’t be ignored. Before the hurricane, our market was showing significant year on year downturns in mortgage delinquency rates and foreclosures. The mortgage market looked about as healthy as it could get. Thus, the real estate market looked the same.