There’s a pond a few steps from my back door, and it attracts all sorts of different birds. There’s a family of ducks that live there, and they are there every day, but other waterfowl pop in for vistits pretty regularly.

I was outside the other day when this big guy dropped in. I think it’s a heron of some sort, but I’m no expert and I couldn’t find a picture on the internet of a bird that exactly matched this fellow, so I’m not really sure what he is. If you recognize it, please post what you know.

What’s the point of bird pictures on a blog that specializes in Pinellas County real estate? Good question. But it’s my blog, and I like birds, so you can expect to see some photos of birds that I come across in Pinellas County. This particular guy is in Dunedin, a little south of Palm Harbor.

These two ducks live in a marshy pond that is on the edge of a golf course right next to our Dunedin condo. Taking this picture involved stepping out the back door and walking maybe 20 steps to the end of the water. These guys must see enough golfers every day that they hardly took any note of my presence at all.

Usually the Christmas holidays bring the real estate business in Pinellas County to pretty much of a halt. That hasn’t really been the case this year. My phone has been ringing steadily — people were calling to look at property on Christmas Eve, and then again on the day after Christmas. Also, the entire month of December has been pretty busy. I’m not sure if that means anything in terms of trends, but I’m always happy to see an active Pinellas County real estate market, whatever the reason.

I do think we can expect a pretty active real estate period starting right after the New Year. Are you thinking about buying or selling a home in Pinellas County in the next few weeks or months? Now is a good time to get the ball rolling. Give me a call anytime at 727-643-7100, or e-mail me at beth@bethfrederick.com.

The pictures tell the story, so click below and take a look at the photo gallery on the website I put together for this outstanding property.

http://1514woodstreamdr.epropertysites.com/

 Below is a list of hurricane preparation tips. Have a tip of your own to share? Tell us below and help keep others safe.

 If you are evacuating your home:

•  Turn the pilot light off on your water heater and furnace, then turn off the gas line valve near the appliance. Finally, turn off your gas at the meter. This will reduce the probability that a tree falling on the roof will break an active gas line and create the chance for a spark to cause a fire. Turning off valves working from the appliance to the meter will make it easier to reignite on your return by reversing the process.
• Turn off your master water supply
• 

  Hurricane supplies

   While some would recommend leaving your master breaker on for your alarm and refrigerator function, if you are leaving the property due to the severity of the weather, chances are the power may be lost anyway. It’s really safest to shut it off. The reason is that if the power surges, as it does when the power company is trying to restore the down service or with blowing transformers, it can damage electronics including HVAC systems. Homes equipped with a generator must turn off the main breaker to avoid shifting power back out to the street, as this can be dangerous for utility company workers or if a line has broken from the property with the generator. If you are not going to be leaving the property you can, and should, keep the main breaker on until the power goes out.

•  Unplug all fixtures or small appliances that can be accessed.
•  Bring into the garage, or otherwise secure, all movable exterior items such as small plants in pots, lawn furniture and pool equipment.
•  Fill all vehicle fuel tanks.
•  If you have time, trim all branches or heavy bushes that could damage windows.
•  Use wind shutters: either pull down your professionally installed hurricane shutters or install your own plywood panels.*

Take with you:

•  Food and snacks for two days
• Two gallons of water per individual
• Clothing for one week
• First aid kit
• Medications for 30 days
• Flashlights and spare batteries
• Cash
• Important documents (wills, insurance, licenses, medical and bank records as needed)
• Pet care items
• Tell a neighbor who is staying where you are going and how to contact you. Exchange numbers.

 If you are staying: (Highly discouraged if you are in a storm surge area or near the immediate path of the storm):

•  Increase food supplies to 3-7 days—preferably non-perishable food items.
•  Fill up your propane tank for your grill or buy two sacks of charcoal.
• Make sure you have a functional fire extinguisher. ABC type will work on any fire.
• Remember, with down trees and no reliable phone service, 911 may not be an option.
•  Increase water supplies to one gallon per person per day.
•  Adequate toiletries, diapers and special items to last at least one week
•  One flashlight per individual and one spare set of batteries per light
•  Increase cash on hand.
•  Battery operated radio
•  Toys books and games
•  Tools
•  Clean and fill the tub the night before land fall. This water will be used for pets and flushing toilets.
•  Do all of your laundry before land fall. You may not have a chance for a week or so.
•  Take digital pictures of your home and each room. This will support future insurance claims.
•  Store your valuable papers in a waterproof container or bank vault
•  Fill bags with ice from your ice machine
• Back up your computer data and store it in a safe place

 Additional steps for family safety:

• Discuss hazards that could affect your family (storm surge, rising water, down power lines).
• Determine a safe escape route and two meeting points if you have to evacuate your house unexpectedly. Have a contact person out of the area that each family member can contact if you are separated.
• Locate the safest room in your home. Pre-stock with pillows and blankets if room allows.
• Plan for taking care of your pets.

*According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC), “In past hurricanes, many homeowners upon returning have noticed their temporary plywood shutters blown off because they were not adequately fastened. If you have a wood-frame house, use adequate fasteners to attach the panels over the openings when a hurricane approaches. Have these temporary shutters stored and ready to use since building supply stores generally sell out of these materials quickly during a hurricane warning. If your home is made with concrete blocks, however, you will have to install anchoring devices well in advance.”

A map showing evacuation routes, county shelters, and emergency numbers can be see here.

(Thanks to USInspect.com for this article)

Pet ownership is a lot more complicated now. You can tell by all the people who walk, zombie-like, through your neighborhood at all hours of the day and night, leash in one hand and plastic poop bag in the other.

Pet ownership can be especially problematic if you own a pet and hope to move into a condo. Make sure you check the condo documents before you buy and read all the fine print if you hope to take your doggie along when you move.  Some condo developments restrict pets to a certain weight limit; others simply don’t allow pets at all.

Bo

If you want to buy a single-family home, restrictions like that don’t generally apply. However, you should make sure to check the homeowner association regulations just to double-check. Some may limit the number or type of pets you are allowed to have; others might impose restriction by weight. Almost all of them contain some language pertaining to animal waste and what you have to do to clean up after your pet.

Just for the fun of it, I thought I’d check on the laws in Pinellas County that apply to pets and other animals. Some of them are a little surprising. For example, I knew it was against the law to let your dog run free, but did you know it is equally unlawful to let your cat do the same thing?

Here are some other things you should know:

• It’s illegal to leave food or garbage out where it can attract “cats, dogs, raccoons, coyotes or other wildlife and thereby creates a public nuisance”
• While it is illegal to let dogs run free, the law doesn’t apply to police dogs or to “any dog which is actually engaged in or being trained for the sport of hunting during a legal hunting season…” So if your dog is caught running free, tell the officer you’re training him to hunt squirrels.
• If you have a dog or cat that is in heat, and you don’t keep her away from male dogs and cats, you’re breaking the law.
• It is unlawful to “molest, harm, frighten, kill, net, trap, snare, hunt, chase or shoot” any animal, unless they are fish. So apparently you can molest all the fish you want without fear of prosecution. It’s also against the law to “capture or collect for any purpose any animal, nest or egg or any animal, whether dead or alive.” So forget about those yummy road kill buffets.
• It’s illegal to “place, dump, abandon or leave” any animal on park property.
• You can’t use gasoline or chemicals to drive off wildlife.
• You can’t feed pelicans or sand hill cranes.
• And I like this one a lot: You can’t shoot wildlife with remote-controlled guns “when that person is not physically present at the location of that gun.”

Now, just so you won’t think that I am above all this, I’ve included a picture of Bo, our year-old Puggle (that’s a dog that is half pug and half beagle) – 28 pounds of muscle and attitude.

The Obama Administration’s first-time home buyer tax credit (remember that?) contributed to the opportunity, and quite a few people who had never owned a home before were able to buy. In the second quarter of 2010, 46 percent of homebuyers were first-timers.

So what’s happened?

First time home buyers are being squeezed again, this time primarily because home financing terms and regulations have gotten much tighter. Last quarter, the percentage of first-time homebuyers was down to 35 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

As the number of first-time homebuyers has slowed, so has the absorption rate of foreclosed and short-sale properties. If the real estate market and the economy in general are to recover, that property absorption rate needs to be getting better, not worse.

With home prices extremely low and mortgage interest rates at the lowest levels in more than 20 years, you’d think that home sales would be igniting. But they aren’t, and tight financing regulations are one of the major reasons why.

Now, stiff financing requirements are understandable and even desirable to a point when one considers the consequences of the very relaxed lending standards of the mid-2000s.

Still, going to the other extreme pours a lot of cold water on a much-needed recovery. Extreme lending policies at either end of the scale are bad for business and bad for the country.

Banks need to re-discover why they are in the business they are in – to provide financing for homes to people who are good, qualified borrowers. If we don’t have that, the real estate market will be dominated by cash buyers – read that investors. The National Association of Realtors says that cash buyers made up 30 percent of all home buyers in the second quarters of this year.

The real estate market should be dominated by people who want to invest in their own futures and in the well-being of their families, not by investors who are simply looking for profit.

Banks need to take a new look at their own mortgage underwriting standards, and make sure they can reasonably be met by qualified home buyers.

Here is what National Association of Realtors President Ron Phipps has to say about the issue:

“It’s frustrating for many creditworthy potential home buyers to realize that when they’re ready to make a move, banks remain risk averse. People with good jobs, long-term plans and who are willing to stay well within their means deserve an opportunity to realize their American dream of home ownership. When banks return to normal and safe but sensible lending standards, housing will be able to contribute its traditional share to economic growth.”

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Ready to talk about your own home ownership plans? Give me a call anytime: 727-643-7100. Or e-mail me at beth@bethfrederick.com

     Still, there’s nothing that replaces the sight, smell and feel of an actual visit to the property. And one of the best opportunities for checking out that Pinellas County house for sale is to attend an open house.

    Open houses give you a chance to actually tour a Pinellas County home, look in all the nooks and crannies, and see if you can really picture yourself living there. 

     If you are going to tour a home that is for sale during an open house, make sure you take full advantage of the opportunity. Here are a few suggestions of things to do when you tour a home: 

1. Before you even park your car and go inside, drive around the neighborhood a little and check things out. What do the neighbors’ homes look like? Are they kept up and painted? Are the lawns trimmed? Are there abandoned cars parked in the yards?
    
2. What’s nearby? Is there an interstate highway a block away that’s going to generate noise and keep you awake at night? Are there any manufacturing plants or other commercial properties that will generate lots of noise or truck traffic? Here in North Pinellas County, we don’t have an interstate, but we certainly DO have some busy roads that can generate a fair amount of noise.
    
3. Are there schools within walking distance? Grocery stores? Parks?
    
4. How about the nearby neighbors? What do their homes look like?
5. How the home’s exterior? Is it well-maintained outside? Does it look welcoming? Does the roof look old and worn? 
    
6. Once inside, you may want to go through the home twice – once to get a general feeling for the layout and to get a good or bad first impression, then a more careful inspection. Notice the condition of the floors; look for signs of water damage; have the systems and appliances been updated?
    
7. Look for things that seem out-of-place or strange. We looked at a home once and immediately noticed that the living room furniture was arranged strangely; it turned out that the living room floor had been damaged by a refinisher, and the furniture had been moved to hide the gouge marks.
    
8. Have a talk with the agent on duty. If it is the listing agent, he or she should be able to tell you why the sellers are selling, how long the property has been on the market and if there have been any price reductions. If the home has been on the market for a long time, that may be an indication that it is priced too high. But it could also mean that the sellers are ready to listen to a more reasonable offer.

 Since open houses give you a chance to really see, feel and smell a home up close, the experience may allow you to have a strong feeling for the property. If that feeling is positive, maybe it’s the house for you. If the feeling is negative, well, move on to the next open house.

 What have YOU learned by going to open houses? I’d like to know – click on “Please leave a comment” up near the top of this post and share.

 And call me or e-mail me anytime – 727-643-7100, or beth@bethfrederick.com

     You may know just by the feeling that it gives you when you walk through it. But it may be a little more complicated than that.  The perfect house needs to measure up in a number of ways if it is really going to make you happy and fulfill your needs.

      So, since the last post was “Five Ways to Make Sure You Get the House you Really Want,” here are “Five Ways to Know the Perfect House When You See It”:

1. IS IT PRICED RIGHT? There are lots of great houses out there that would probably make you happy, but not too may that can make you happy AND fit into your budget. If you set a price limit when started your home search, try to stay within that budget. You won’t be happy if your mortgage payments eat up too much of your income.
2.  IS IT IN THE RIGHT PLACE? There’s nothing more important than location when you are looking for a new home. Is the house near your work, near your kids’ favored schools, near the places where you like to shop or go out to eat? The greatest house in the world won’t make you happy if its far away from everything and everyone you care about.
3.  DOES IT HAVE WHAT YOU WANT? If you love to cook, you won’t be happy with a little galley kitchen. If you love to work on your classic car, you’ll need plenty of garage space. If you love to swim, you’ll need a pool. Don’t fall in love with a house that doesn’t have what you really want.
4.  IS IT BIG ENOUGH? Does it have enough bedrooms, or a big enough family room, or enough storage space? You won’t be happy if you are cramped. (By the same token, you may want to ask, “Is it small enough?” If you live alone or your kids have left the nest, you may rattle around in even the most beautiful 3,000 square foot house).
5.  IS IT IN GOOD SHAPE? The first house we owned was an architectural masterpiece that was on the National Register of Historic Places. But it was huge, and it needed virtually everything. We worked on it for 10 years and never got it finished. A more efficient home in excellent condition might have made a lot more sense for us.

When you’re looking for a house, follow your heart – but don’t let your heart overrule your head.

Every month, real estate people, financing professionals, homebuilders and many others wait with great anticipation for release of the monthly Case-Schiller home price index from Standard & Poor. 

 The index keeps track, on a month-by-month basis, of home prices across the country.

The most recent index report was released this week. And while everyone was hoping for a healthy uptick in home sales, what they got instead was more of the same.

Home prices in May (measured in 20 major cities) were down 4.5 percent from the same month a year ago. When compared to the previous month of this year, April, home prices were virtually unchanged.

 So what we have is a market that continues to sort of limp along at the same slow pace. No big drops to indicate additional troubles in the area of home prices; but no indications of additional market recovery, either.

Taken market-by-market, prices were up a bit in nine cities, and down a bit in 11 others. Unfortunately for those of us in this part of the country, homes prices were down 1.5 percent in Tampa Bay.

Why aren’t we seeing more recovery after such a long period of market weakness? Here’s a few possible reasons:

• The battle in Washington over raising the debt ceiling, and the inability of lawmakers to come up with some sort of strategy or plan – any plan – doesn’t do anything to inspire confidence.
• Because so many problems result from lax lending standards, the current lending standards are much tighter than before, and that keeps some buyers (even qualified buyers) out of the market.
• High unemployment rates (9.2 percent nationally) means thousands of people don’t have the incomes necessary for home purchases.
• The bad economy prevents the formation of new households. People forming new households are people in need of new housing.

 I posted a story a few days ago about the increase in cancelled real estate sales contracts. There are a number of reasons for cancelled contracts (tighter credit standards, tougher appraisals, general nervousness in the market), but whatever the reason, fewer executed contracts obviously means fewer sales.

Were you hoping for a little more optimism in this month’s Case-Schiller home price index? Okay, here are a couple of bright spots: 

• The inventory of homes for sale was 164,000 units, a little more than a six-month supply. That’s the lowest that home inventories have been in a long time. Once we fight through all this stagnant inventory of homes for sale, we’ll see a re-ignition of the new-home construction business, and that will mean new jobs and some good stimulation for the economy.
• The median home sales price for the month of June was up 7.2% for new single-family homes. That could be an indication that homes in the higher price ranges are starting to sell.

If you are a glass-half-full kind of person, the new monthly index figures are a little encouraging. If you are more of a glass-half-empty sort, then the index just means more of the same.

Anyway, today we headed up there and got there on the right weekend.  Everything was in full swing, and we made good use of it.

There was a cheese booth, operated by a business called the Cheese Lodge in Elfers, Fla., and we bought some absolutely great brie, which we sampled as soon as we got home. Too bad, they don’t have a website.

We also bought a couple of kielbasa sandwiches, which we ate while we watched the beginning of the Rays-Yankees game on TV once we got back home.

We also stumbled across a Palm Harbor bakery which we didn’t know about.  Sweet Caroline’s had a booth at the farmer’s market, and the food on display was really eye-catching.  We bought two apple turnovers and a thick, crumbly chocolate cookie with powered sugar on top, and we took them home and ate them after those keilbasa sandwiches.

Sweet Caroline’s is in a strip mall at 3347 Tampa Rd, Palm Harbor, a few doors down from the Surf & Turf Market. Definitely worth a try!