Do You Know About the Old Forest Lakes Neighborhood

Old Forest Lakes is an intimate community where people know each other. Tucked between Webber Street and Bee Ridge Road and just north of Beneva Road, Old Forest Lakes is a unique enclave unknown to most people, but those who do know about it consider it a much-sought-after neighborhood.

Besides convenient access to all of Sarasota including a Publix supermarket within walking distance and only a 15 minute ride to South Gate mall and Siesta Public Beach are within a 15-minute drive.

With only 72 homes, Old Forest lakes has its share of the largest properties west of I-75, ranging from one-half acre to just over 2 acres. Most of the homes are not visible from the street. The neighborhood is quiet, picturesque with a lush canopy of stately oak trees festooned with Spanish moss.

Judie Berger, a Sarasota real estate professional reported that she “loves the Old Forest lakes neighborhood where most of the homes were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s. More recently, some people have bought older homes as teardowns and put up new homes while some other homes have been extensively remodeled.” Old Forest Lakes,” she says, “definitely has that appealing “Old Florida” feel.”

Architectural styles in the neighborhood range from single-story homes and 2-story cottages to Spanish Mediterranean villas. The area has attracted a number of younger families in addition to professionals and retirees as its location, stability and character continue to make Old Forest Lakes an attractive neighborhood.

According to Bob Henley, a local REMAX Sarasota Florida real estate agent, while at the peak of the Sarasota real estate boom, homes were selling above $800,000 in Old Forest Lakes, today prices are in the $250,000 to the low $400,000’s

Tight Mortgage Market An Advantage for All-Cash Buyers

The sub-prime mortgage crisis that has impacted the Florida housing market has had a major effect on all sectors of the real estate market, including Sarasota luxury homes and condominiums.

"Mortgage providers that normally write "jumbo" loans (mortgages above the limits set by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae) are now having to keep those loans on their own books but they are reluctant to add to their current in-house mortgage portfolios," according to Connie Belmont, a well-regarded Sarasota waterfront homes specialist Realtor. To compensate themselves for accepting this extra risk, banks are charging higher interest rates on the types of "jumbo" loans normally written for luxury home and condominium sales. This reluctance is having a depressing effect on the sale of luxury homes and condos throughout the United States and particularly here in the Sarasota Bradenton area.

According to Brian Ward, a Sarasota luxury homes Accredited Buyers Representative, there is still a substantial number of luxury waterfront and golf course homes and condominiums in the $1 million and up price range for sale.

Sarasota luxury home and condominium owners who need or want to sell their elegant homes and condos, after having held off selling, hoping for a quick housing market recovery, have begun to understand the situation. As a result, they have reduced their asking prices to more realistic levels and become particularly interested in cash buyers.

Luxury home sellers are becoming willing now to accept a lower price offer from a buyer with no financing contingency. They also appreciate that an all-cash deal can close within 2-3 weeks, far more quickly than a deal requiring the normal appraisal and mortgage approval.

As a result, Sarasota luxury home buyers with cash on hand are in the enviable position of being able right now to purchase a Sarasota area luxury home or condominium at a really attractive price.

USA Today reported this week that all-cash buyers are beginning to scoop up those Sarasota and Bradenton Florida luxury homes at bargain prices.

Florida Home Sales Leap in March, 2011

Home sales in Florida surged ahead in March, jumping by 36% over February, Across the state 28,220 housing units were sold in March compared to 20,680 in February and 24370 in March, 2010.

Sales of Florida homes and condominiums were even up by 16.8% over March of 2010 when the home buyer tax credit program was in effect. According to the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) the Florida home sales statistics surpassed the national increase which was only 3.7% above February levels.

March was the fourth month in a row where home sales exceeded the same month of the previous year. The median sale price of a single family home in Florida was $126,300, still below the previous year's median due,in large part to the number of foreclosure and short sale transactions.

In the Sarasota real estate market, for example, single family home sales, at 580, were up 23% from the previous month, and 5% higher than March, 2010 when the tax credit spurred sales to 555. "Condo sales also climbed to 220 in March 2011, up 10% from February, and 11% higher than last year at this time," says Jan Dugan, a Siesta Key real estate agent.

With March being the start of the 2011 spring home buying season, Florida realtors including those in the Sarasota and Bradenton real estate market have reason for hoping that 2011 will be a much better year than they've seen in the past several years.

"What Realtors need more than anything else at this point," says Brian Ward, a Sarasota Florida real estate agent with Keller Williams Realty, is for lenders to loosen up their lending standards just a bit giving more families a chance to buy a home during 2011 at prices not seen in years."

Housing Start Reports are Inaccurate At Best

More specifically, the data reported by major news organizations is not technically "inaccurate", it's just misleading.

A "Housing Start," says Andree Huffine, a popular Sarasota real estate broker, "is defined as a home (or housing unit) on which construction started during the month.+

If you recently saw the news reports on January, 2011 Housing Starts, you would think they went up by over 14% and were at the highest level in 4 years. But actually, annualized nationwide single-family home housing starts, the number most of us are interested in, actually fell by 1% in January to 413,000 units, the lowest level in almost 2 years.

Ths confusing situation is caused by the fact that, while the Census Bureau reports Housing Starts by "property type," newspaper headlines typically lump all three Census Bureau categories into a single value.

Here's how the categories actually were reported for January, 2011 by the Census Bureau:

Single-Family Homes were down 4,000 units, or -1%
2-4 Unit Homes saw a negligible change
5 or more Unit Apartment Building Starts were up by 46,000 units, or +80%

Combined together, thses dat apoints do, infact, represent the reported 14% increase. But, the "surge" in nationwide housing starts reported by most news organizations occurred only in one category, the 5-unit-and-up apartment building category. Single-family housing starts were actually down by 1%, not up at all.

Like many things in the real estate business here in Georgia or elsewere, you need to work with a professional. "Introduce yourself to a reputable mortgage broker and a licensed Realtor and trust the information they provide. Don't just read the headlines and react," says Brian Ward, a prominent Sarasota FL real estate agent and Accredited Buyer Representative.

Some Bits of Information We Bet You DIDN'T Know

☺ "Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right. (Bet you tried this out mentally, didn't you?)

☺ Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable. (I'll bet you're going to check this out.)

☺ No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
☺ Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

☺ The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet. (Now, you KNOW you're going to try this out for accuracy, right?)
☺ The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes). (Yep, I knew you were going to "do" this one.)

☺ There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious." (Yes, admit it, you are going to say ...... a e i o u)

☺ TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard. (All you typists are going to test this out)
☺ All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

☺ A snail can sleep for three years. (I know some people that could do this too.)

☺ Almonds are a member of the peach family.

☺ An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

☺ February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

☺ In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

☺ Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

☺ On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.

☺ Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!

Tortoise Estates on Siesta Key

When people think of Siesta Key, they think of the famous white sand beach, and the eclectic and always busy village. But on the more southern end of the key, beyond the Stickney Point Causeway, Siesta Key becomes a much more lush and tropical area where single family homes face Sarasota Bay or the Gulf of Mexico or the long stretch of Heron Lagoon. Some of the homes are truly palatial while others are more modest. Home designs in the Tortoise Estate community have the flavor of Key West, Grand Cayman Island and, of course, classic Old-Florida style beach bungalows

"For those who wish to avoid the more touristy areas, south Siesta Key will be a pleasant surprise," says Rich Stover, a prominent Sarasota real estate agent. Along with all the other differences from the more northern sections of Siesta Key, local Turtle Beach is a far different place from the renowned Siesta Beach. It is smaller with more ordinary sand, and a steeper sloping beach with more shells and pebbles, but the sunset views over the Gulf of Mexico are every bit as dramatic, perhaps even more enjoyable, in this quieter setting.

If you would like to know more about Tortoise Estates, Bob Henley, a well-known Sarasota Florida real estate agent who specializes in Siesta Key properties would, I know, be pleasure to assist you.

Sarasota - Bradenton Beaches are Still Pristine

Sarasota and Manatee County Florida beaches, including those from Anna Maria Island and Bradenton, through Sarasota, with its Island Keys including Longboat, Siesta, Lido, and Casey Key, and south to Venice and Nokomis remain untouched, clean and as pristine as ever. Sarasota - Bradenton area waterfront properties and beachfront communities are untouched and remain as attractive to owners and investors as ever.

On August 4, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast that what few patches of oil in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig 130 miles southeast of New Orleans, remain well to the south and west of Florida.

No oil has been observed on the Florida coast for several weeks and it was reported today at a White House briefing that the "static kill" process to seal is working as expected with no oil escaping into the Gulf. British Petroleum, under the direction of Thad Allen, a retired Coast Guard admiral and director of the federal goverment's response began the static kill yesterday. After pumping heavy drilling mud aqll day yesterday, BP and U.S. officals reported that the well remains sealed. Federal officials including spill response commander Allen, continue to insist that crews shove more mud and cement down through the 18,000-foot relief well, which should be completed shortly, as the final step to permanently seal the well.

Governor Charlie Crist, the State Emergency Response Team and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are actively coordinating and responding to the Deepwater Horizon incident. They reported that no recoverable oil has been seen through over-flights of the spill area since July 31. Satellite data analysis showed a few small scattered anomalies offshore but no new Florida shorelines are expected to be impacted at any time in the foreseeable future.

All Florida beaches are now open. NOAA announced this week that its latest analysis shows Southern Florida, the Florida Keys, and the East Coast are unlikely to experience any effects at all from the little oil remaining on the surface of the Gulf.

Only in the most northwestern-most Panhandle areas of the state have a few tar balls and light sheen been reported. Nonetheless, as a precaution, five state-leased skimmers remain on standby in that area to protect sensitive inland water bodies and all supplemental Tier 3 booms are being removed and stored in the area in the unlikely case they are needed at some point in the future.

For those with questions, the Florida Oil Spill Information Line (FOSIL) is available from 8am-6pm EDT daily.

•English – (888) 337-3569
•TDD – (800) 955-8771 / Voice – (800) 955-8770
•Spanish – (877) 955-8773

If you have been concerned about how the Gulf oil spill might affect your vacation plans or your interest in investing in a Sarasota area home or condominium on the waterfront, or close to our gorgeous beaches, rest assured. Our pristine beach communities and waterfront properties from Anna Maria Island and Bradenton to the north, through Sarasota, with its Island Keys including Longboat, Siesta, Lido, and Casey Key, and south to Venice and Nokomis have been untouched and remain as attractive to visitors and investors as ever.

Been wondering when would be the best time to buy that greater Sarasota Florida area home or condominium you've been dreaming of owning ? Well, right now is the time, so "Come On Down."

Are You Familiar with this Sarasota Neighborhood?

Oyster Bay is a lush "West of the Trail" neighborhood directly on Sarasota Bay featuring classic 'Old-Florida' bungalows and ranches intermixed with executive waterfront mansions on over-sized lots," says Brian Ward, a long-time Sarasota real estate buyers agent. "This older neighborhood has wonderful, mature oak trees and lush landscaping that only continuous care over time can provide," he says.

Next door is the prestigious Field Club, a private club providing its members with docking facilities, tennis courts and a very active social calendar. Oyster Bay residents have convenient access from their homes to all the arts and cultural amenities of downtown Sarasota as well as the casual lifestyle of Siesta Key just across the bridge.

Some homes are directly on the Gulf while others are on deep water canals with no bridges to limit sailboat access to the Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

While many buyers in this community are seeking already remodelled and updated homes, others choose to buy an existing modest home, tear it down and build their own new dream home in this prestigious Sarasota neighborhood. Modest homes are priced in the $400,000 range while elegant estates on the waterfront sell for as much as $5.0 million.

Whether you're a sailing or boating enthusiast or just seeking an upscale in-town location, Oyster Bay will meet your every wish and desire.

To learn about all of the waterfront properties available from Bradenton and Anna Maria Island to the North, through downtown Sarasota and out on our island keys and South through Osprey and Venice, you may wish to visit the Sarasota Florida real estate website of Rich Stover or Connie Belmont, a well-known downtown-oriented Sarasota FL real estate expert.