The January 2009 edition of Sarasota Realtor contains excerpts from the featured interview with me as President of SAR entitled "Where Do We Go From Here?". The complete article and entire on-line magazine can be viewed from the Home Page of www.SarasotaAndKeys.com. Select "News" button and click on "Sarasota Real Estate Magazine" . The magazine also contains important statistics on real estate activity in the Sarasota area along with other very useful information. The on-line magazine will be available on this web site monthly as a new service.
A marathon is a road race encompassing 26 miles, 385 yards - the approximate distance between Marathon and Athens in ancient Greece, where the legendary run supposedly originated in the first century A.D. The first competitive marathon foot race was held at the 1896 Olympics, and today more than 800 of the difficult races are held around the world each year.
Bill Geller, 2009 SAR President, has braved the marathon many times during his running career, which he began shortly after he quit smoking almost 30 years ago.
“I was told at the time that you should reward yourself when you’re able to beat the smoking habit, and running became my reward,” Bill noted. “It’s certainly a different kind of reward, but I really liked to run. I built up my distances and started running half marathons (13.1 miles), and people told me if I could run a half marathon, I could run a full marathon. So that’s what got me into the events.”
Bill has been a resident of Sarasota since 1980 and a Realtor® for more than 20 years. He is a Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS), holds a Transnational Referral Certification, (TRC) and is currently a Broker Associate with Suncoast International Realty.
Real estate is Bill’s other passion – the one that pays the bills. But he sees some similarities between the recreation of long distance running and the business of real estate. For one, a real estate transaction can often be a lengthy, strenuous, pain-staking process, much like navigating a hilly, winding marathon course. But at the end of the race or the deal is the reward – for both the buyer and seller, if Bill has done his job well.
The current economic crisis has Bill concerned, but hasn’t dimmed his enthusiasm for the future of local real estate.
“As we begin the new year, we are all anxious to see the results of the recent government financial programs, and of course the proposed lowering of mortgage rates to 4.5 percent (supported by the NAR),” Bill said. “We obviously are living in tough economic times, but during times like this there are always challenges coupled with opportunities. With short sales and foreclosure, activity has increased, and once these distressed properties are sold, we’ll move into the next phase of the recovery. At SAR, we’re trying to educate our members on how to navigate these difficult times, and help their clients make educated, intelligent decisions.”
Bill noted SAR has done a great job providing members with seminars and programs designed to address the issues impacting real estate today. From the many short sale seminars to the recent FHA home buying program, which even included a night session for the public, SAR has been “ahead of the curve,” and committed to helping brokers and agents succeed in the current climate.
“I’ve learned a lot myself, and the main thing I’ve discovered is that this remains a very attractive market, particularly with the lower prices on some high quality properties,” said Bill. “First-time home buyers in particular have never seen a better time to buy than right now in Sarasota. There are some wonderful programs available to help with down payments and mortgage rates.”
While the national and state economies have seen increased unemployment, stagnant credit markets and slower real estate sales, Bill noted that the local Sarasota market is once again weathering the storm well.
“We are still somewhat isolated here from the overall economy, because we are not as dependent on the local workforce for real estate sales as many other communities,” Bill explained. “Many of our buyers are investors, or retirees looking for a place to settle, or international buyers. Cash buyers are still looking for a safe investment, and real estate in the United States has always been that safe haven.”
Another 2009 priority for Bill will be to help forge greater cooperation between SAR and the other neighboring real estate associations, in order to bring more shared services through the economy of scale and staff cooperation.
“In these tough times, we can all benefit from exploring how we can share our resources for the benefit of our members,” said Bill. “I have been speaking to our neighbors to the north and south, and I hope to continue that dialogue. With tighter budgets, we need to make sure we continue to provide services that our members want and need, and maximize our efficiency.”
In addition to his extensive involvement with SAR, Bill currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Florida Association of Realtors®, and is a member of the International Operations Committee, International Forum Committee and Business Trends & Technology Forum for FAR. Bill was the 2002 International Steering Committee Chair for SAR. He is past-president and board member of the Brazil-Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, served as a three-term president of the Siesta Key Association and is past-president of the Rotary Club of Sarasota, Sunset.
And he’s planning to continue running marathons. After all, running is the reward!
Ray Porter, Director of Communications
Sarasota Association of Realtors
The real estate community has been put on notice that 2009 is probably going to be one of the most challenging years in the real estate industry history. These challenges will touch every industry participant and practitioner. While the National Association of Realtors is supporting efforts to address the current crisis in the financial and secondary markets, local real estate associations need to be formulating programs and services for their members in order to support them through the challenges of 2009.
Much more is needed than” hunkering down" by local real estate associations during this crisis. Local real estate associations need to initiate programs and services in order to support their members in these changing times. The real estate institution in America controls impressive levels of financial, intellectual and human resources. It needs to play a critical and constructive role in the business and professional lives of its members during 2009.
That is just what the Sarasota Association of Realtors (SAR) leadership is doing. Last week, the 2009 leadership team of SAR met in Naples for two full days of strategic planning sessions. Discussions included programs, services, communication, members’ benefits and area marketing as an international destination as well as other member benefits. When the market returns to sustainable levels, projected to be later in 2009, association members are going to be asking what their association did to help them through the crisis. The agenda at the conference was designed to discover, develop and design programs and services that will meet the challenges of the day.
Local real estate though continues to show signs of optimism. Overall sales in Sarasota stood at 440 in August, only slightly lower than in July. Sales in August were actually higher than in August 2007, when only 430 overall homes and condos were sold. The Sarasota market is actually holding its value better than statewide and national downward trends. Condominium prices in Sarasota saw resurgence in price to $295,000 from July’s $252,500. “The national financial crisis has obviously dominated the news this month, but fortunately our market appears to be weathering yet another storm very well,” said Helen Sosso, 2008 SAR President. The current local market, despite the negativity in the national news, continues to demonstrate statistically that we have a great selection of more affordably priced housing for buyers to visit and purchase.
Cheers,
Bill Geller, CIPS
Recently, as President-elect of the Sarasota Association of Realtors, I attended the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Leadership Summit in Chicago, IL. The Leadership Summit is designed to assist Presidents-elect and chief staff executives of state and local associations to formulate programs in order to build stronger communities and influence both our businesses and our industry.
Many issues and challenges were discussed during the two day conference including international real estate issues affecting the US market, housing market and mortgage challenges, sustainable living and state of the art technology for consumers.
Foreclosure response initiatives were discussed as to how foreclosures now not only affect individual consumers but also impact entire communities. Many state and local Realtor associations are partnering with local governments and other community groups to enhance counseling services for troubled borrowers and develop strategies to help communities deal with the effects of foreclosures. NAR is working for prompt and reasonable implementation of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. It reforms the FHA program, facilitates refinancing of problematic mortgages into fixed rate, FHA-insured mortgages and stabilizes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
NAR is helping shape the industry, both domestically and internationally, by leveraging NAR’s efforts along with those of allied groups, such as the International housing Coalition, the International Real Property Foundation and others. The goal is to minimize client, customer and agent/broker risk while building a global real estate community and strengthening the property market worldwide. NAR is helping expand and unite the global real estate market by supporting alliances that work toward the common industry good. NAR maintains 76 bilateral agreements with national and regional real estate associations in 57 countries, each with a code of ethics similar to NAR’s. Through the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations (ICREA), NAR is working to set and raise global real estate standards and provide opportunities for worldwide Realtor brand marketing and adoption of U.S. best business practices including MLS, broker cooperation and transnational referrals, and – most importantly to NAR members – exposure for U.S. listings.
Through Realtor.com with over 6 million visitors per month looking at more than 4 million listings, Realtor.com is the largest Web site for homes on the Internet. In July 2008, Realtor.com began making home searches even easier. An improved user-friendly search function means consumers can find new properties more easily and quickly. The site also has a new map feature which combines listing data with Microsoft’s Virtual Earth technology. Consumers can view more listing pictures, learn more about communities, and see home value comparisons.
The 2008 leadership summit was designed to help both new and veteran leaders launch a new era for private property ownership in America and to unite the 2009 leadership and guide them toward a successful future.
Cheers, Bill
Have you ever wondered where to find the world’s best quality of living? And what criteria would you use to choose a country? It is very difficult to attach a figure or a ranking to the experience of spending time in a place. However, International Living has been collecting data and crunching numbers for nearly 30 years, looking and ranking 192 countries. They took into account cost of living (15% of final ranking), culture and leisure (10%), economy (15%), environment (10%), freedom (10%), health (10%), infrastructure (10%), safety and risk (10%) and climate (10%).
So the country that won this year’s index was France, for the third year in a row with a final score of 85. According to IL’s 2008 Quality of Life Index, France is the best place in the world to live. Medical care, fast trains with Eurostar service across the Channel, museums, cafés, galleries, antique shops, restaurants, boutiques, jazz clubs, theaters, bakeries, parks and gardens along with three capital city airports providing easy and cheap air access to the rest of Europe made France their choice.
But very interestingly Switzerland was number 2, with a score of 84 followed closely by the United States at 83. Other countries in the top ten were Luxembourg, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and the Netherlands. To see the complete scores for every country in every category, go to: www.qualityoflife2008.com
Backing up these findings, are the results recently released by the property portal www.RightmoveOverseas.co.uk revealing that in the first half of 2008, it recorded some 10,200,000 searches for overseas property from potential buyers in the UK – up 26% from 2007. Among the 10 most popular destinations on the portal, the largest increase in searches was seen in the USA, where inquiries were up 50 percent and averaged 190,000 per month. Spain and France accounted for one third of all searches. However, buyers who want to purchase abroad but are reliant on selling their UK property have to hold out, because they are not finding buyers as quickly as they might have done a year ago. Other buyers are waiting for the Pound to get back to 1.3 or 1.4 against the Euro before committing, but the exchange rate between the Pound and the US dollar remains a clear value at 1.94, which makes investments in the US extremely attractive.
Here is my weekly real estate value in the Sarasota/Bradenton area. A four unit, turn-key furnished apartment building on Bradenton Beach, just an easy short walk to beautiful beaches and sunsets of Anna Maria Island. A very good money maker and now attractively offered at only $599,000. See more information at www.SarasotaAndKeys.com/BayDrNorth.
Bill Geller
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) periodically surveys its members to get information that is not readily available from MLSs or other "hard" data sources. NAR just released a recent market assessment survey of data from over 2,000 Realtors and there are surprising findings that may contradict some of what we see from the media.
A most interesting finding came from a question posed in the survey asking “In thinking of your most recent potential buyer in 2008, did the client postpone their home buying decision?”
The striking finding is the second bullet point. There are many potential buyers (23 percent) who have the financial capacity and mortgage qualifications, yet are effusing to jump into the market because of further price decline fears. These hesitant buyers far outnumber the people who are unable to secure a mortgage.
The implication here is that once there are signs of market stabilization, we may see a rush of buyers returning to the market and the recovery could be robust rather than slow. I always like to look at the potential for increased sales and this indeed is encouraging. It also implies that the homebuyer tax-credit being discussed in Congress right now as part of the housing stimulus bill could make a big impact in drawing buyers to act.
Please check our new listings on the web site for some great values.
Bill Geller & Judy Schomaker
There is little doubt that current economic trends are pointing to a weaker U.S economy with gas prices now over 4 dollars a gallon, escalating energy costs and the adjusting real estate market nationally. Entire industries are reeling – airlines and automakers most prominent among them – and gas prices have emerged as an important issue in the presidential campaign. But there now opportunities in the Greater Sarasota area to re- think the future of how we live as we recover locally from the housing slump.
Despite more negative data about the housing market nationally, prospects for a recovery seem stronger in Southwest Florida. Sales in the Sarasota area climbed 24 percent in May continuing a trend for the past several months. This type of local trend was pointed out recently at the annual meeting of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) in Amsterdam, Holland. The association brought together 100 top executives from the US and Europe to discuss, among other topics, challenges of the US residential market. The consensus was that there is no single residential market, with every area having its own unique characteristics. “The housing market is a market of markets.” When we analyze real estate trends we need to pay close attention to our local market.
But as the real estate market improves locally, certain lifestyle and planning adjustments will have to be considered. One such adjustment will be improving public transportation in our area. In Sarasota the car is king, used almost exclusively for transportation, from commuting to the office to a trip to the grocery store for milk. Lifestyle habits will change as we continue to watch gas prices increase. Where we live in relation to everything that we do and everywhere we go will become increasingly more important.
For a taste of our necessary future, we can also take a look at the streets of Amsterdam Holland. Of course cars function there, minimally, but bikes account for 37 percent of transport and public transportation comes in second at 22 percent of trips, according to a recent Washington Post article. What I found interesting is that Amsterdam’s long range goals are quite similar to Sarasota’s. For decades it’s been to nurture the “compact city”, slowing a middle-class exodus and preserving the open landscape by dense development, recycling old industrial areas and intermingling uses. It’s genius, so rarely discussed in America, is smart land use and curbing the auto use that so easily overwhelms modern world cities. Amsterdam encouraged recent housing developers on its northern flank to finance a five mile stretch of new “tramline” to open ahead of the new housing so that residents wouldn’t become accustomed to car commuting.
We here in Sarasota should look at Amsterdam’s combination of bicycle lanes on most streets, effective combination of bus, rail and tram service as possible public transportation systems here. According to the Washington Post, a project was begun by resourceful young professionals in Amsterdam who are trying to adapt new GPS navigation systems to data feeds that give commuters transit options in real time – bus, tram and rail runs, routes and preferred connections by the minute, customized to the user’s location on mobile phone display.
We have a long way do go from our dependency on the automobile, but the time is right now to start looking at different opportunities before us as our housing needs will change.
By the way, if you haven’t looked at my home page in awhile, please do so, as I’ve added some useful links to Sarasota area information centers and will continue to add more, so let me know what information you would like to see on the site.
Judy Schomaker
Last week, Judy Schomaker, president of Suncoast International Realty and I returned from attending the SIMA08 Madrid International Real Estate Exhibition in Madrid with much excitement and optimism from the experience for international real estate investment in our area. SIMA Madrid is the largest real estate exhibition in the world with over 800 exhibitors of which over 200 are international exhibitors, 160,000+ visitors covering 6 pavilions represented by over 60 countries. The exhibition is comprised of an international tourism real estate fair pavilion; an international pavilion for worldwide investment markets; promotion, management and planning of cities pavilion and technology design and equipment for sustainable construction pavilion.
The international worldwide investment pavilion is not only made up of elaborate exhibitions but an International Business Center (IBC) is provided as a compliment of the international program for the exchange of information and business opportunity between professional visitors at SIMA. The IBC meeting space is designed to enable the exhibitors and accredited real estate professionals in attendance to make contact with one another, business to business encounters and presentations focusing on the exchange of international business opportunities. It was within the IBC area that the Sarasota Association of Realtors was provided presentation booth space for the entire event. This enabled us to not only showcase the wonderful lifestyle of Sarasota but to present very desirable investment opportunities available to the international investor. Among the countries that we received encouraging interest from were investors from Spain, Germany, Finland, Chile, France, Brazil and Eastern Europe to name just a few.
In addition to the IBC, SIMA also provided a rather intense International Professional Program (IPP) in an adjacent convention center where, each day, various countries, including USA presented current real estate market conditions in their countries. Of particular mention was the program entitled "Trends in the Global 2nd Homes Market" with presentations by John Tuccillo, former chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR) along with presentations from Latin America and demand for second homes in European capitals. Judy Schomaker, NAR's President's Liaison to Spain also was the chairperson for a day long program entitled "America From North To South" enabling officials from Canada to Chile to present and discuss real estate conditions in their countries.
There were many other opportunities at the exhibition to promote Sarasota including several social networking events throughout the week and evening events, and the Sarasota/Manatee area was very well represented. It was a very worthwhile experience.
Bill Geller, Broker Associate
Click here for More informationJudy Schomaker, CIPS, CRS. LTG, ABRBroker - OwnerSuncoast International Realty6623 Midnight Pass Road Sarasota, FL 34242Office: (941)312-9200_______________________________
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