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Tag: Anna Maria Real Estate

New flood disclosure requirements in effect

Written by Louise Bolger on . Posted in Business, Castles in the Sand.

Just what everyone wants right now is a new flood disclosure requirement when selling property. It’s not as if we aren’t aware that Anna Maria Island and the coastal areas of Manatee County could flood after Helene and Milton, it’s just another nail in the coffin for potential sellers.

The new flood disclosure requirements went into effect on Oct. 1, but didn’t get much publicity since it came just before Milton and just after Helene, when coastal residents were busy digging out. Basically, the Florida Statute requires a seller to complete and provide flood disclosure to a buyer of residential real property. The disclosure must be done at or before the time a contract is executed.

There are two points to be disclosed: Whether the homeowner has filed a claim with their insurance provider relating to flood damage on the property and whether they have received federal assistance for flood damage to the property.

The state’s definition of flooding is a general or temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of the property caused by the overflow of inland or tidal waters, the unusual and rapid accumulation of runoff or surface waters from any established wa­ter source or sustained periods of standing water resulting from rainfall, particularly a river, a stream or a drainage ditch. The way I read this is that the statute is more of a protection for properties at risk of flooding from rivers than coastal flooding, which is clearly defined by FEMA’s flood zone map.

Nevertheless, even though sellers were always required to disclose anything about the property that would affect the value of the home, adding a specific disclosure for flooding is a good thing. The Seller Property Disclosure form will be updated, making this new law part of the form extending the existing flood sections so that sellers have to provide more information to consumers.

Anna Maria Island has been called a 7-mile-long tropical oasis. For those of us who have lived on, near or worked on the Island, we know this and mourn the damage done by the storms this year. Unfortunately, there are changes to the Island that have been going on for some time but will likely be accelerating in the wake of the damage experienced on the island.

The fulltime population of the Island has been declining steadily. There were double-digit declines in Holmes Beach and Anna Maria and somewhat less in Bradenton Beach according to the last U.S. Census Bureau report between 2020 and 2021. We can only assume that this trend will not only continue but increase when the after-effects of this storm season are added up.

We already know that investors are aggressively buying up properties on the Island that have suffered irreversible dam­age with an eye to leveling the structures and building even more large three-story homes geared for rentals. We can also expect to see the addition of high-end resort style construction, further elbowing out the private homeowners and retirees.

America’s population has been growing in the southern part of the country for decades. And it has risen especially fast since the pandemic. The South gained an additional 3.9 million people between April 2020 and July 2023 according to the Census Bureau. Deep-pocket investors are looking at this trend, eyeing our beautiful beaches and Gulf waters and aren’t running away.

So, flooding or no flooding, there are plenty of investor groups out there who feel the return on their investment is worth the risk. After all, Milton was a “once in a lifetime event” – you think?

Home sales in the time of storms

Written by Louise Bolger on . Posted in Business, Castles in the Sand.

There is nothing normal about Manatee County’s sales statistics for September and October. The sales reporting, of course, includes Anna Maria Island, the coastal communities and even homes and communities further east.

It’s almost impossible to provide ac­curate information, especially since most of the closings in September and some in October were already in contract before our devastating storms. As we move along through the end of the year, the sales will be more accurate and they won’t be pretty.

Let’s start with September sales statistics reported by the Realtor Associa­tion of Sarasota and Manatee:

Single-family home sales were down by 14.2%. The median sale price was down 6.7% and the average sale price was down 5.1%. The median time to contract was 47 days compared to 29 last year and the month’s supply of available properties was 3.9 months compared to 2.9 last year.

Condos closed 25.5% fewer properties. The median sale price was down 8.6% and the average sale price was down 12.7%. The median time to contract was 73 days compared to 46 days last year and the month’s supply of available properties was 6 months compared to 3.3 last year.

The key points for September are a decrease in sales volume, a price adjust­ment and a growth in inventory.

These are the October sales statistics:

Single-family homes closed 22.8% fewer homes. The median sale price was down 0.2% and the average sale price was down 7.3%. The median time to contract was 60 days compared to 29 days last year and the month’s supply of available properties was 3.9 months compared to 3.3 months.

Condos closed 24.7% fewer properties. The median sale price was down 11.4% and the average sale price was down 13.7%. The median time to contract was 75 days compared to 30 days last year and the month’s supply of available properties was 6 months compared to 3.8 months last year.

The key points for October are similar to September, with a decrease in closed sales, increase in inventory, longer time to sell and a decline in cash sales, which did not show up in September.

In spite of our local September and Oc­tober statistics, an index of new mortgage loan applications in the U.S. rose 2% a few weeks ago. The rates climbed back above 7% for the week ended Nov. 15, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This indicates that higher mortgage rates aren’t slowing down buyers who really want to get into a home.

In addition, Redfin reported that single-family home prices nationally rose 5.9% in October, which is the low­est annual increase since last December. Higher mortgage rates have slowed price increases that have been surging since the pandemic.

Unfortunately, younger buyers are competing with wealthier, all-cash buyers whose share of home purchases has increased from 20% to 26% in the past year. The average age of home buyers in the country has risen by six years since July 2023.

The Realtor Association made this statement at the end of October: “With the challenges of three hurricanes this summer, rising interest rates, higher insurance premiums and a dip in con­sumer confidence in our area, we are still in a strong position heading into 2025.”

Let’s hope they’re right and we do get back to a strong and more normal market now that the storms are gone and the holidays are upon us.