I’m glad to see that Florida property taxes and the negative effects of the “Save Our Homes” amendment are finally being addressed in this year’s legislative sessions. What concerns me the most however is that the new house proposals are leaning toward letting the voters decide on the new property tax structure. I have 5 top reasons why we shouldn’t let voters decide.

1. One needs to remember that it was the Florida voters that got us into this unfair property tax mess to begin with when they passed the “Save Our Homes” amendment back in 1992.

2. Amendments tend to get approved by “headlines” or misleading proposal names like “Save Our Homes” and can get us into a bigger mess than we started with.

3. A voter approved amendment will take to long. If we let individual counties approve whatever they want it will take to 2010 and beyond. We need relief yesterday.

4. What happens if the voter amendment does fix what was broken when it is passed? Look how long its taken to discover that the “Save Our Homes” amendment was a mistake.

5. What happens if the amendment doesn’t pass? Then we are back to square one and have lost the momentum for real tax relief.

Why don’t we set out to fix the problem that was started back in 1992. I’m proposing that we go back to that year’s property base and then add back 3% per year for inflation and whatever percentage the growth rate has been for those years to arrive at the amount are taxes would be today had the “Save Our Homes” never got passed in the first place. Then going forward we cap government spending every year to 3% plus growth rate instead of capping homesteaded property. This would bring much needed relief to second home owners, vacation properties and business owners. We could still keep the $25,000 homestead principle in place but the yearly cap of 3% would no longer be needed because of the cap on government growth. This would eliminate the problems and tax inequality that “Save Our Homes” has brought. Sometimes its the things that are the simplest that makes the most sense in solving complex problems. If you would like to contact your legislator about the recent tax proposals a county by county list is at http://politics.tampabay.com or visit www.tomburkett.com

I’m surprised everyday waiting for the other shoe to drop and an article to come out telling us what most Tampa Bay area Realtor’s already know. Absorption rates (Inventory Turnover) has been dropping since it hit a peak of 59% back in June 2005. The absorption rate is determined by dividing the total number of units sold in a month by the total number of listings in MLS. It looks like it may have bottomed out in January 2007 at 4.2%!! because last month it improved slightly to 5.4%. That means we how have about an 18 month supply of homes on the market with thousands being added every month. Up until now the sellers have been standing firm and the buyers have be waiting for prices to drop, hence the above mentioned “Mexican Standoff”. Who will break first is everybody’s guess but it would seem that the buyers have the statistics on their side. The condo market in Pinellas is even worst with a 3.5% asorption rate in February 2007, which rebounded a tad from a low of 2.8% in January 2007. On the bright side for sellers is that interest rates have dropped a little and are now around 6 1/4% which helps and will most likely go even lower by the end of the year with the economy continuing to slow. However, we haven’t seen the worst of the foreclosures yet which will put more strain of home prices. Having said all that, sometime later this year and into 2008 will be a good time to buy. Lower rates and lower home prices will be too tempting for buyers who have been sitting on the sidelines for over 2 1/2 years. The pent up demand for homes is growing everyday and will finally burst sometime in the next 2 years. Until then buyers and sellers will continue to just sit and stare at each other. To see more statistics go to Tampabayrealtor.com/stats

Last night I finally got the chance to try out Zen Bistro in Westchase. What a pleasant surprise. A quaint little bistro tucked in the corner of the new Avenue of Westchase just east of West Park Village. My daugthers and I are always on the look out for great local restaurants in the Westchase area and we have found one at Zen. First off, if you love sushi as much has we do then you must try Zen Bistro. We ordered the “Sixth Sense” roll which is Spicy tuna, avocado, tempura onion, wrapped in rice paper and toppped with more spicy tuna, tobiko, and wasabi tobiko. What a delight! We also enjoyed the “Dragon” roll which is spicy tuna, tempura flakes, cucumber, topped with tuna, masago scallion and spicy mayo. We can’t wait to go back and try their “Art Meditation” roll which is chunks of tuna marinated in chili sesame oil and lime sauce with fresh asian herbs and slaw atop a california roll. The atmosphere was surprising upscale and done with serene zen garden boxes set into the floor with a neon light display that gave the bistro a very modern but relaxing feeling. Our waiter Rick was very attentive and made some nice recommendations. We will definitely be coming back.

There’s been a lot of interesting news out the past two days so I’m combining them into one article.

2007 FLORIDA LEGISLATURE

One hand may not know what the other hand is doing: The Florida House wants to get rid of property taxes; at the same time, however, it has told local school boards to increase property taxes if they need more money to operate. Read complete story.

In Tallahassee yesterday, the Senate began their debate on property tax reform, focusing on a priority of commercial Realtors to change the tax basis of “highest and best use” to one that considers how a property is actually used. In the House, debate continued as Democrats offered their own reform plan.

Read the full story

SUBPRIME MORTGAGES

Subprime mortgage market troubles already make it more difficult for some homebuyers to secure a mortgage, but fear of a broad collapse has caused Congress to consider tougher standards for the industry.

Read the full storyMORTGAGES

HUD is preparing to punish some subprime mortgage lenders under investigation for discriminatory practices it announced yesterday. HUD also suggested that the largest mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, should consider giving strapped homeowners more time to make their payments.

Read the full story

CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE

Florida officials approved a new business plan for Citizens Property Insurance, allowing the state-run insurer to be more competitive and offer some savings to policyholders. Under the plan, Citizens will offer a complete policy that covers windstorm damage, as well as fire, theft and liability.

Read the full storyREAL ESTATE FORECAST

The real estate market faces unique conditions right now, such as the subprime mortgage market problem and unusual weather. Consequently, NAR predicts that things will likely get better this year but hesitates to say exactly when that turnaround will occur.

Read Full story

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This is the lastest update regarding the development status of Trump Tower Tampa which is timely due to today’s St. Pete Times article.
Simdag now has a signed Letter of Intent with The Related Group of Florida, who will serve as a co-developer of the project. The Related Group has a long history of developing luxury high-rise buildings in South Florida, and are currently developing several Trump projects in the Miami area. PCL will remain as the General Contractor for the Trump Tower Tampa project.
With The Related Group involved with this project, they are confident that they will be able to negotiate significantly better construction costs and much more favorable lending terms. Related has already begun re-bidding subcontractor contracts, and those bids are all due this week. They will be reviewing all new subcontractor bids, and will be awarding contracts shortly. Once this process is complete, they will be able to go back to their lenders with a new construction cost figure to secure the required financing.
Simdag also states that soil and geotechnical studies are complete, and they now have the remedy for the soil abnormalities which have contributed to the construction delays. The additional costs for these remedies are not uncommon in large scale developments and are being factored into the new construction financing.
According to Simdag, the purchase price as stated in the original purchase contracts will not be affected.
According to Simdag the new completion date has been moved to late 2009 with construction scheduled to restart in june 2007.

How long will a home improvement actually remain an improvement? How long do new wood floors last? New stoves? A new countertop? NAHB conducted a study that tries to determine the lifespan of home components. Read the entire story or visit www.tomburkett.com

I wanted to introduce everyone to one of Tampa’s Premier Mortgage Broker’s in the Tampa Bay Area. His name is Mike Carrier and he specializes in contruction loans and purchase money mortgages in Tampa and is based out of the Carrollwood office. I’ve known Mike for years and feel very comfortable referring my Real Estate clients to him. I know they will receive the best service and I can feel secure knowing that the loan will be approved. He is definitely a valued Partner of “The Burkett Collection. He can be reached at 813.391.5356 or email him at michael_carrier@countrywide.com

A flock of Canadian snowbirds are banning together to call for property tax reform in Florida. Snowbird Phyllis Turek says she doesn’t expect the same concessions as full-time residents, but believes snowbirds should get some credit for paying taxes year-round and using services for only a few months. Read full story 

An alternative House Republican plan to swap property taxes for sales taxes began to gather steam Friday. The idea is to eliminate the portion of property tax bills that go to school districts and pay for education through a higher sales tax. To read the entire story click here.

The newest hotel build on a Pinellas county beach in over 25 years is set to open this Summer. The Sandpearl resort is a 253 room 4 diamond rated resort hotel that will host conventions, weddings, socials and the like. It will be one of Tampa Bay’s landmark properties. I have a 1 bedroom penthouse suite at the Sandpearl that will be available for rent starting this summer. Check it out at www.SandpearlSuite.com or visit www.tomburkett.com for local Real Estate information.