Happy New Year!

Well, we made it through another Christmas! It has been pretty quiet with regard to real estate activity in Manatee County this last week (as can be expected, I suppose!). I'm very optimistic about good activity beginning after the New Year. I know of so many people who have told me that they are going to be buying early in 2008. I hope this materializes, as the prices are great out there for buyers and interest rates continue to be at historic lows and there is a lot of inventory to choose from.
There are certainly many out of town license plates to be seen on local highways in this area. One can always tell when the weather up north gets cold and bad as everyone starts arriving here.
Anyway, Happy New Year and I'll keep you posted as to how the market progresses.
Alice Ohme, Realtor, Wagner Realty
www.aliceohme.com

Activity on Local Manatee County Condos

Well, finally, we're starting to see some showing activity on condos in the Manatee County, Florida, marketplace. I've had calls this week on condos that haven't received any activity for months!! I'm getting more and more optimistic about our market everyday. I think things are getting better, slowly but surely. Any improvement is greatly welcomed.
I'll keep you posted.
Alice Ohme

Improved Manatee County Real Estate Market

In spite of all the negative press, we are seeing more people calling, and looking and buying. Mainly so far it is with single-family homes. We are starting to see a little more activity on condos, but it is not yet translating into sales. Prices still continue to edge down slightly. The number of foreclosures is definitely impacting prices. Some subdivisions have only foreclosure sales as comparables in the last few months.
All in all, it seems to be looking up.
Alice

Manatee County Real Estate Market

Well, I was hoping by now that we would have some really good news about our local real estate market, but it still seems to be slow. However, there is some good news. In my personal business, every week that goes by seems to be getting a little better. I've been getting more calls and more showings on my listings. There certainly seems to be a lot of cars with out of state license plates showing up on our streets. That's always a good sign that the snow birds are starting to arrive and hence our real estate market should start picking up. I certainly hope that holds true for this year!!!
From what I'm seeing from within "the trenches" it seems like the lower priced single family homes are the ones getting the most activity now. The condo market hasn't started to improve yet, but that market is usually seasonal and hopefully we'll see improvement in the next few weeks.
The negative press about the subprime market hasn't helped our situation here as well as daily news articles about the increasing number of foreclosures in our marketplace. It will take a while for this to all work its way out of the system.
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll write again in a couple of days and let you all know what good news I have to report in our local Manatee County real estate market.

Welcome to Alice's Real Estate Blog

I'm going to try to keep all my customers up to date on what is happening in the local real estate market through this forum. I hope you will take the time to read this periodically and make comments of your own. I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with you.