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St. Paddy’s Day in Palm Harbor

One thing you have to say about Downtown Palm Harbor — for a small downtown area, it seems as though there’s always something going on there.

I went there early in the morning on Saturday to just get a few photos to go with the previous post. When I got there, Florida Avenue was roped off. Hmmmm, I thought — what could this be?

Turns out it was sort of a mini-celebration. Peggy O’Neill’s, the Irish pub, was about to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

St. Patrick's Day vendor

The interesting thing about Downtown Palm Harbor is they are always doing something fun that draws people to the area. This weekend its St. Patrick’s Day. Next weekend there is an arts and crafts display. After Thanksgiving there is a really big art program, and on another weekend there is a big motorcycle event.

There aren’t a lot of merchants in Downtown Palm Harbor, but they go the extra mile to make their neighborhood fun.

Tags: Add new tag, Palm Harbor, St. Patrick's Day

Real estate values down big-time during 2008

Just how much can we expect national real estate values to deflate during 2008, once the year comes to an end in the next couple of weeks? One national real estate organization that tracks such things believes the loss will amount to more than $2 trillion — that’s “trillion,” with a “T.”
Zillow is an organization that follows and keeps track of real estate values in the different regions of the country. It says that real estate values in the U.S. declined $1.9 trillion in the first three quarters of the year.
What does that mean? Zillow says it means that 11.7 million households now owe more on their home mortgages than their homes are actually worth. One in seven of all homeowners were upside-down on their mortgages at the end of the third quarter.
That means negative equity, falling values and increasing numbers of forclosures.
Is there any good news in all this? Well, some. First time homeowners are looking at property and buying, and rates continue to be good. Locally, home sales seem to have leveled off. But with so much bad news in so many sectors of the economy, it’s still a time for caution.

Tags: Add new tag, home values, mortgages

Bank sues developer over home sites

Interested in building your dream home in Florida? Here’s an opportunity to buy a lot — cheap.
Wachovia Bank is suing Tampa developer Metro Development Group for $175-million, money the developer borrowed to buy distressed home lots that builders no longer wanted.
Metro Development was apparently betting that land prices would rebound, and that new home construction would be much improved by 2010. So, they borrowed millions and used the money to buy up about 9,000 Florida home lots. Home construction companies like Lennar and M/I Homes were only too glad to unload much of their home lot inventories to raise needed cash.
In all, Metro Development has accumulated around 30,000 home lots in a number of Florida communities.
Of course, as we all know now, the depth of the housing downturn is much deeper than what we may have previously thought. For Metro Development Group, that means the home lots they thought would be producing revenue by now are still languishing — and still dropping in value.
It’s not the first suit to be filed against Metro Development. Contractors, other banks and other businesses have sued Metro Development as well.
So keep your eyes on Wachovia — it may soon be the proud owner of lots and lots of lots.

Tags: Add new tag, developer, home sites, Market Trends

Tax rates likely to come down in Citrus County, too

Remember that post a few days ago that said increasing property values in Pasco County would probably result in a lowered tax rate? Well, now the same thing is happening a couple of counties north of Pasco, in Citrus County.

According to Citrus County Property Appraiser Melanie Hensley, this year’s total county property value, $10.46 billion, is 22 percent higher than last year’s value. So county commissioners will be looking at a lower tax rate, probably sometime in July.

No word yet from Pinellas County, but we will probably see a downward tax rate adjustment here, too, if the experiences in other nearby counties are any indication.

Tags: Add new tag, Florida, taxes