Premium Properties Sarasota and Her Islands

Facing capital gains on investment property? Here’s one way to defer taxes

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:09:00 GMT

Facing capital gains on investment property? Here’s one way to defer taxes. WASHINGTON – Feb. 13, 2012 – “Taxation with representation ain’t so hot either.” – Gerald Barzan, humorist If you own investment property, and you sell it this year, you will have to pay 15 percent capital gains tax to the Internal Revenue Service. This does not include the up-to-25 percent recapture tax on any depreciation that you took over the years. Next year, unless the Supreme...(read more)

Florida’s existing home, condo sales up in 4Q 2011

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:41:00 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. – Feb. 9, 2012 – Florida’s existing home and existing condo sales continued their positive trend in fourth quarter 2011, posting gains compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the latest housing statistics from Florida Realtors®. Existing home sales rose 7 percent in 4Q 2011 with a total of 42,038 homes changing hands statewide; during the same period the year before, a total of 39,355 homes sold, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide sales of...(read more)

Nearly 100 house markets improving

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:53:00 GMT

WASHINGTON – Feb. 6, 2012 – The list of housing markets showing measurable improvement expanded by 29 metros in February for a total of 98 entries on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI). With the latest addition of Miami, the list now includes seven Florida cities: Cape Coral, Deltona, Jacksonville, Miami, North Port, Punta Gorda and Tampa. Thirty-six states have at least one metro area that’s improving. The index lists metropolitan...(read more)

2011’s foreclosures lowest in four years

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:34:00 GMT

RealtyTrac released its Year-End 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report today. It shows a total of 2,698,967 foreclosure filing actions – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – reported on 1,887,777 U.S. properties in 2011, a decrease of 34 percent in total properties from 2010. Foreclosure activity in 2011 was 33 percent below the 2009 total and 19 percent below the 2008 total. In 2011, 1.45 percent of U.S. housing units (one in 69) had at least one foreclosure filing...(read more)

Florida’s housing sales activity higher as 2011 ends

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:54:00 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 20, 2012 – At the close of 2011, Florida’s existing home and condominium markets reported higher sales compared to the previous year, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®. It was the third consecutive year for statewide home and condo sales activity to end the year on a positive upswing – higher year-over-year sales also were reported at the close of 2010 and 2009, records show. Looking back on 2011, Florida’s existing...(read more)

Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Deciding to Buy

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:40:00 GMT

Perhaps you’ve found a house, or maybe you’ve just started the house hunt, but regardless of where you are in the home-buying process, you need to consider some key questions before you even think about making an offer. Buying a home is a big commitment — financial and otherwise — so take the time to weigh pros and cons. Here are five questions every home buyer should ask themselves: Will I own it for at least five years? The first and most important item you should ask yourself...(read more)

U.S. foreclosure rate lowest since pre-recession

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:09:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) – Jan. 12, 2012 – About 1.9 million homes entered the foreclosure process in 2011, the lowest level since 2007 when the recession began, according to a report Thursday by the foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. The firm cautioned that the decline does not necessarily indicate that the housing market is getting better, as many foreclosures have been delayed due to confusion over documentation and legal issues involved in the process. There have also been problems with...(read more)

Xena Vallone Realty’s Chaim Gleitmann Earns CPC Designation

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:05:00 GMT

Chaim Gleitmann of Xena Vallone Realty Earns CPC Designation. Xena Vallone Realty’s Chaim Gleitmann earns the Certified Professional Commercial (CPC) designation. Gleitmann completed comprehensive training on assisting sellers and buyers with listing, selling and leasing commercial real estate. “The CPC designation is one more indication of Chaim’s knowledge and professionalism in helping commercial clients achieve their commercial real estate goals,” said Broker-Owner Xena...(read more)

SAR Monthly Statistics Released for December 2011

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:31:00 GMT

Property sales up 8.2 percent for full year 2011; prices stable For the full year 2011, property sales of members of the Sarasota Association of Realtors® jumped by 8.2 percent to 8,224, achieving the highest level since 2005. The surge in sales was accompanied by stabilization in the median sale prices, which now stand at $155,925 for single family homes and $156,800 for condos over the full year, and have not fluctuated much for the past 12 months. Once again, the market has demonstrated that...(read more)

You may owe federal income taxes in 2013 if you have a short sale, foreclosure

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:57:00 GMT

WASHINGTON – Jan. 9, 2012 – You may owe federal income taxes in 2013 if you have a short sale, foreclosure after this year. Now is the time to make the hard decision: Are you going to walk away from your underwater home? Uncle Sam is still giving homeowners until Dec. 31, 2012, to go through a short sale or foreclosure without tax consequences – as long as the lender officially releases the debt. But on Jan. 1, 2013, the rules change: The amount a lender forgives, ether in a short...(read more)

Housing Affordability Index

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:26:00 GMT

Share | How affordable is housing for potential buyers? Today’s Housing Affordability Index produced by the National Association of Realtors® yields some insight—the best in decades. The headlines have recently screamed about record low mortgage rates and still soft house prices. How does this translate into affordability for potential buyers? NAR combines this information along with data on median family income into a Housing Affordability Index—an index designed to track how...(read more)

IRS Kicks Off 2012 Tax Season with Deadline Extended to April 17

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:32:00 GMT

IRS YouTube Video: April 17th Tax Deadline WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today opened the 2012 tax filing season by announcing that taxpayers have until April 17 to file their tax returns. The IRS encourages taxpayers to e-file as it is the best way to ensure accurate tax returns and get faster refunds. The IRS also announced a number of improvements to help make this tax season easy for taxpayers. This includes new navigation features and helpful information on IRS.gov and a new...(read more)

On December 22, 2011, in Residential Real Estate, by Press Release

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:56:00 GMT

SARASOTA, FL – Chaim Gleitmann of Xena Vallone Realty has earned the Resort and Second Home Specialist (RSPS) Certification. Awarded by the National Association of REALTORS®, this nationally recognized designation indicates expertise in the resort and second home specialty. REALTORS® who receive the RSPS certification have successfully completed the Resort & Second Home Markets Course along with another designation or additional advanced courses in the field of resort and second...(read more)

Foreclosure Deficiency Judgments

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:05:00 GMT

As the foreclosure crisis continues to affect the real estate market, many troubled homeowners, and even some realtors, may not fully understand the severity of a foreclosure. In a foreclosure situation, the mortgage lender is a secured creditor which has a piece of collateral securing its debt. In this case the collateral is the real property. Should the borrower/homeowner not pay their mortgage lender, then obviously that secured creditor would reclaim possession of that property. In the vast majority...(read more)

Existing-Home Sales Continue to Climb in November

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:13:00 GMT

Washington, DC, December 21, 2011 Existing-home sales rose again in November and remain above a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Also released today were periodic benchmark revisions with downward adjustments to sales and inventory data since 2007, led by a decline in for-sale-by-owners. Although rebenchmarking resulted in lower adjustments to several years of home sales data, the month-to-month characterization of market conditions did not change. There are no changes...(read more)

U.S. housing starts surge, though level remains low

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:37:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) – Dec. 20, 2011 – A surge in apartment construction gave U.S. builders more work in November. But 2011 is still shaping up to be one of the worst years in history for homebuilders. The Commerce Department says builders broke ground on a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000 homes last month, a 9.3 percent jump from October. That’s the highest level since April 2010. Still, that’s far below the 1.2 million homes that economists say would be built each year...(read more)

SAR Monthly Statistics Released for November 2011

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:21:00 GMT

November 2011 sales up 12.7 percent over last year November 2011 property transactions in the Sarasota real estate market totaled 602, up 12.7 percent over last November. The total also exceeded the October 2011 sales figure of 577. The market has remained strong and stable as the winter season gets into full swing, reflecting continued confidence in Sarasota as a destination location. In fact, the Today Show's real estate report from Barbara Corcoran in late November noted that Sarasota was...(read more)

CoreLogic: Fewer U.S. homes have negative equity

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:35:00 GMT

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Dec. 1, 2011 – CoreLogic released data yesterday that showed 10.7 million residential properties with a mortgage, or 22.1 percent, had negative equity at the end of third quarter 2011. That’s down slightly from 10.9 million properties, or 22.5 percent, in the second quarter. Florida ranks third in percentage of homeowners with negative equity behind Nevada and Arizona. An additional 2.4 million borrowers nationwide had less than 5 percent equity, referred to...(read more)

Pending home sales rise again in March

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:59:00 GMT

WASHINGTON – April 28, 2011 – March saw another increase in pending home sales, with contract activity rising unevenly in six of the past nine months, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 5.1 percent to 94.1 in March from a downwardly revised 89.5 in February. The index is 11.4 percent below 106.2 in March 2010; however, activity was at elevated levels in March and...(read more)

SAR Monthly Statistics Released for March 2011

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:18:00 GMT

Sales in the Sarasota real estate market reach highest level in six years Total property sales in the Sarasota real estate market hit 800 for the month of March 2011 - the highest level since September 2005 when sales started to decline. The other great news in March - prices rose in double digits for both single family homes and condos from the previous month, pending sales were the highest since the real estate boom ended in 2005, and the inventory dropped to 5,501 - less than a third of the available...(read more)

Florida’s existing home, condo sales up in January

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:17:00 GMT

Image via Wikipedia Florida’s existing home, condo sales up in January ORLANDO, Fla. – Feb. 23, 2011 – Florida’s existing home and existing condo sales rose in January, according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®. Existing home sales increased 14 percent last month with a total of 12,151 homes sold statewide compared to 10,702 homes sold in January 2010, according to Florida Realtors. January’s statewide sales of existing condos rose 36 percent...(read more)

Pending sales surge in January 2011

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 21:47:00 GMT

Pending sales surge in January 2011 Pending sales in the Sarasota real estate market experienced a major climb in January 2011, from 789 in December 2010 to 1,013 last month for a 28 percent increase. This statistic is a strong indicator for the next two or three months of sales, as pending sales reflect current buyer activity. It was the first time pendings have exceeded the 1,000 mark since April of 2010, when the looming homebuyer tax credit expiration date was fueling sales activity. Overall,...(read more)

Florida’s real estate outlook perks up in several areas

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 16:23:00 GMT

Optimism has increased slowly but steadily in Florida real estate markets through the fourth quarter of 2010, a new University of Florida survey finds. The fourth quarter Survey of Emerging Market Conditions found improvement in several key categories, including the outlook for sales in new single-family homes and condominiums, office occupancy, retail occupancy, land investment and capital availability. Much of the optimism derives from politics with the defeat last fall of Amendment 4, a proposed...(read more)

SAR Monthly Statistics Released for December 2010

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:55:00 GMT

Sales surge in December 2010 and prices remain stable The Sarasota real estate market saw a big surge in December sales, from 534 in November to 681 last month for a 27.8 percent increase. In addition, the median sales price for both single family homes and condos was up in December 2010, indicating a recovering local real estate market. The property sales breakdown in December 2010 was 500 single family home sales and 181 condos. The statistics for December 2010 were even better than December 2009....(read more)

Florida Realtors Report: 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers

Chaim Gleitmann CIPS — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:57:00 GMT

ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 5, 2011 – The 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers in Florida looks at the traits of the state’s current real estate clients, and it identifies the characteristics of today’s homebuyers. It describes the motivations of recent homebuyers and sellers in Florida so real estate professionals can track the changing demands of consumers. Characteristics of homebuyers • Forty-four percent of recent homebuyers were first-time owners compared to 50 percent...(read more)