Hello and thank you for reading my blog! Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend! I'll be spending the weekend in Savannah, Georgia, so you'll hear from me when I return.
Looking for a new home in Sarasota? There are currently 10 new single family homes on the market on Siesta Key in Sarasota, Florida. I’ll be at 5332 Shadowlawn Drive when it is finished in a few weeks doing open houses (see Linda’s List below). Here's some good information for you! How do you check out a real estate developer? If you are looking at new homes in a subdivision, the developers I know in Sarasota are well established and have a pretty good reputation (Taylor Morrison, D.R. Horton, Neal). What if a Buyer finds a home under construction built by a custom builder ?
If you have followed my blog posts, you know that before I became a Realtor, I purchased two new ski condos in 2004 during the preconstruction phase. Because the quality of construction was so poor, homeowners battled contractors in court for years over defects and code violations. The Homeowners Association was awarded $450,000 for defects and it was not enough. Today, I know more about pouring concrete, stucco, plumbing lines and water pipes than I ever imagined – because no one knew what they were doing when these ski condos went up.
Buyers should have done their homework about the developer and landowner, but we did not know how! We assumed that our Realtors (who worked for a national real estate brokerage firm) had done their research and that they would keep us informed. The project was over a late being completed, and our Realtors told us about price increases and weather and equipment delays, which were acceptable by the terms of the contract.
So today, in just 10 minutes, I learned about the owner and developer of 5332 Shadowlawn Drive: Dockside Homes, LLC, an entity formed in 2010, purchased this property last year for $665,000. The developer is Allegra Homes – we know that from the MLS listing. Today, I called the Manatee Sarasota Building Industry Association, and the Administrative Officer told me that the developer has been an active member for many years, has never been behind in his dues, and was on the Association’s Board of Directors. He comes highly recommended.
I could have also gone to the website for the Association, www.ms-bia.org, and located Allegra Homes under the Member Directory tab, which includes the Allegra website. I found an abundance of information about him and his background. The developer, Rob Allegra, is a civil engineer (that’s a VERY good thing), and has been involved in developing four major subdivisions in Sarasota and Venice. These are the things that potential Buyers for 5332 Shadowlawn Drive--or the buyer for any new home--needs to know.
If I had known this in 2004 when I signed the Purchase Agreements for two ski condos, here’s what I would have found out: The owner formed an LLC in that state several months before, and his main office was out of state. He was not a member of the Building Industry Association in his home state or the state where he was building the ski condos. Red flags! I would have contacted him for references, and would have learned that his background was in banking and not property development. Searching the archives of his local newspaper, I would have read that some residents in his town had ongoing disputes about his projects. His project manager for the ski condos, who was represented in the sales brochure as having 20 years as a commercial real estate developer in a high alpine environment, was a convicted felon and had never built anything at 10,500 feet in elevation. His family owned 1,000 acres of land in the Ski Valley, and they sold a few acres to this developer; somehow in that deal, their son became the construction manager. He had built a metal storage facility in the farming community where the family lived 3 hours away, but that was the extent of his construction experience. My book, Motion to Intervene, will be out later this fall, and it shares more about this project. It has a checklist for homebuyers of things to find out before signing an agreement to purchase a home. The cool thing about this for me, was that the construction manager was from the same hometown where my father grew up, so getting all of the scoop on him was easy! I have a big, wonderful family who filled me in on the real story.
Linda’s List.
Team Dunn: Siesta Key - Excelsior Bay, 6266 Midnight Pass Road, Unit 404, new carpet and new furniture, $749,000. Gulf front with ocean-side pool and grills, 2BR 2BA 1,263 sq ft, High Season rent: $1,990 per week. Photos below and listing can be accessed through LindaHrealtor.com and enter A4189950 in the Home Search bar: Team Dunn: Siesta Key - Siesta Towers, 4822 Ocean Blvd, 2BR 2BA, Unit 11D, 1440 sq ft, eleventh floor, $879,900. Complete remodel, 2 master suites, 11th floor views of Gulf and Big Pass view of Sarasota Bay. Short walk to the beach, Siesta Key Village shops and restaurants. Photos below and at LindaHrealtor.com, and enter A4194781 in the Home Search bar.
Team Dunn: Coming soon! Palmer Ranch, Turtle Rock, Savannah, 3 BR with den, 2.5 bath, no pool, $359,900.
Listed by Michael Saunders & Company in Siesta Isles: 5332 Shadowlawn Drive, 4,085 sq ft, on the bend of Grand Canal, $2,197,500; deep water to Sarasota Bay and Gulf of Mexico, 3-car garage, upstairs game room; Go to LindaHrealtor.com and enter A4157847 in the home search field. Thank you for reading my blog, please don't text and drive, and call me at 941-914-4914 if I can assist you with your Sarasota, Siesta Key, and Venice real estate needs. Over 13,000 people read my blog last week, THANK YOU!
Most sincerely yours,
Linda Holley. Realtor, GRI, Michael Saunders & Company
Team Dunn is very busy on Siesta Key in Sarasota, Florida! We are closing on our single-family home at 5302 Cape Leyte in Siesta Isles on Thursday, and this transaction has been literally seamless with a cash Buyer. Both parties were wonderful to work with, and I met the Buyers at one of my Open Houses at the property! The Sellers are Canadians, so IRS requires a 15% withhold of potential income tax from their proceeds under the FIRPTA laws. The Buyers are also Canadians and this is their second investment property on Siesta Key.
Our beachfront listing in Excelsior Bay, (6266 Midnight Pass Road, Unit 404) will have new carpet, new furniture and new pics next week of the updates; see below for the photo of the magnificent gulf view from the lanai. This is the perfect place to watch our fabulous gulf sunsets either from the beach--which is only a few steps away--or from your own private lanai! 2BR 2BA 1,263 sq ft, split bedroom plan, washer/dryer, garage with extra storage, listed for $749,000. Excelsior Bay is a “gulf-to-bay,” community boasting of two heated pools with sundecks, fishing pier on the bay, clubhouse, fitness center, on-site rental office, and tennis courts. It’s also pet-friendly for small pets. Two-week minimum rentals and the weekly rental rates are: Low season: $1,090, Mid-Season: $1,450, High Season: $1,990 which means that during Jan-Mar alone, it has the potential of bringing in $24,000. To see the “before” pictures, go to my website, LindaHrealtor.com and enter this MLS number in the Home Search bar: A4189950
Perhaps you prefer the north end of Siesta Key and walking to the Village shops and boutique restaurants? Coming soon in Siesta Towers, 4822 Ocean Blvd, 2BR 2BA, 1440 sq ft, eleventh floor, price to be determined. Gulf and Big Pass view of Sarasota Bay, extensive remodel equivalent to new construction. 24-hour exercise room, two heated pools, two new fishing piers, bicycle storage room. Rental policy: 3-month minimum, two times a year.
MSC Mortgage now has jumbo loans competitively priced at 30-Year Fixed or 7/1 Jumbo ARM; they also have in-house condo approval. A jumbo loan is above the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac limits of $625,500, and MSC Mortgage can lend up to $3 million with this program. Two weeks ago, my blog was about the Zillow’s “Zestimate” which is an online estimate of a home’s market value. It’s important to understand that the most accurate methods to determine home values are a Realtor’s Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) and an appraisal. Well, now there’s something new in the home valuation business. This month, a national lender is offering a home valuation tool to calculate the equity in homes and suggest when and how the homeowners can tap into it. They compare their home value estimate, from public records, to the amount of equity and they let Sellers know when it’s a good time to use their Home Lines of Equity (HELOC). This company advertises that they are the nation’s leading online loan marketplace connecting consumers with multiple lenders who compete for their business.
I also refer my customers to mortgage professionals—but only those who have a proven track record of delivering results to my customers—professionals I know from my past real estate Transactions. Not all lenders bring us the money at closing in a timely manner, so please remember that, and call me or your Realtor for a referral to a mortgage professional they know and have worked with previously.
Thanks for reading my blog, please don’t text and drive, and call me at 941-914-4914 if I can assist you with your Sarasota, Siesta Key, and Venice real estate needs.
Linda Holley. Realtor, GRI, Michael Saunders & CompanyExcelsior Bay, 6266 Midnight Pass Road, Unit 404, on Siesta Key
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