State government passes property tax legislation

The Florida legislature passed a bill that will be voted on in January.

Lawmakers have already approved an immediate 7% rollback in property taxes, and tied future local revenue growth to increases in personal income. That is expected to cut tax collections by $15 billion over the next five years. Translation: homeowners will save an average of $200 on their property tax bills.

The second law calls for a Jan. 29 special election on a super homestead exemption to begin in 2008. The proposed state Constitutional amendment at minimum would double the standard $25,000 homestead exemption and replace the existing 3 percent Save Our Homes tax cap with 75 percent of the first $200,000 of the home's value, and 15 percent of the home value's next $300,000.

Other exemptions that voters will decide:

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  A minimum $100,000 homestead exemption for low-income seniors.
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  Taxing of affordable housing based on the landlord's income from the property.
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  Taxing of working waterfronts based on the income from the property.
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  The first $25,000 of tangible personal property will be exempt.

I'd vote for a third option: wipe out the property tax system completely, and go to a flat-rate sales tax.

Idiotic direct mail

Yesterday I was going through the piles of wasted paper that created a huge carbon footprint, sent to me by other real estate agents.

Two of them came from the same company.

One mailing wanted to "educate me" on going green. I don't really see the need to waste paper and the gas it took to deliver it to me, to read about going green. There are so many green links on the web, I can read all about it there. Seems this event to "educate me" on going green will have wine flowing and great hors d'oeuvres. Fabulous! I can't wait to be "educated".

The other mailing was advertising the fact that "Property X" in the fabulously luxurious neighborhood "Y" had been listed at too high a price, and was now reduced. Of course, the sellers will entertain all offers until November 15. How thoughtful to let me know. Translation: The agent needed to look like he was "doing something" to sell the house, before his listing agreement expires.

Real Estate Advertising

A new commercial is running locally on cable in our area by Weichert. The premise is somewhat lacking.

The spot shows a couple looking at an online ad that says "water view", then a ship blowing a fog horn goes by, blocking a view of a nice sailboat and the water.

"Not what you're looking for?", the narrator asks. The spot implies that this sort of thing couldn't happen on their website.

Really? That's a silly premise. Realtors as a group are taught to write eye-catching descriptions for their properties to gain customer inquiries about their listings.

An agent without local knowledge WILL show property that says "water view", but may not be what the buyer had in mind. An experienced realtor, from any company, will ask what the buyer is actually looking for, before showing any property.

Feedback foolishness

This is one of my pet peeves in the real estate business.

"Hello, this is (insert name) from (insert company). I'm calling to get feedback on your showing of my listing yesterday."

"Hmm, feedback. What kind of feedback? The buyer didn't like the house, so they will not be making an offer."

"Yes, but what about the house didn't the buyer like? What about the price?"

"Aren't we supposed to know the home's value and the potential negatives of our client's listings when we market the home for sale? I thought this was why real estate agents were hired in the first place."

"Well, I never! How rude!"

Yes, I've actually had this conversation with an agent. What's funnier is that everyone here seems to call asking for feedback. Can you imagine reporting to your client: "I'm sorry, we had 20 showings this week, but since I don't know why we haven't had any offers, I can't offer you any expertise"?

New stuff

Check out my website for new stuff.

My Live Chat is a first for Sarasota. While technically not new to me, it's still new to the market, with few if any of the major real estate firms adopting this excellent resource to connect to customers. Check it out at www.davidbarrhomes.com.

I also added a new Green Living page for Sarasota. Think about it: a great mass transit system, a very pedestrian friendly downtown, bike trails, sun and wind energy, a huge county-wide recycling program, and you have the makings of a great place to live a green lifestyle. Forget dreary Seattle, think Sarasota! Learn more at www.davidbarrhomes.com/green.html.

Welcome to my blog!

I've debated for months about starting a real estate blog, and finally decided to go forward. I won't spew statistics or numbers, but, I WILL dispute the garbage put forth by our local media (since our real estate association won't do it themselves).

You'll get lots of opinion, commentary on things I see happening in the market, and what I do differently. I don't follow any group-think. I take a critical and fair look at what's happening out there and debunk a lot of the marketing pablum that buyers and sellers are fed.

Let's just say, I won't be on a HGTV real estate show saying "here's the bedroom"..... . Gee, that's a bedroom? I really needed a real estate agent to tell me that!