#1 Tampa Community for 3 years, Pasco Sales Down 22% & The Best Time to Buy is Coming...

What the wealthy know about investing in top-tier assets...

And we can too. Let me explain.

Even though Grant Cardone hates single families, he purchased a $40M Malibu Mansion on Billionaire Beach & $28M Oceanfront Property in Miami’s top neighborhood, Golden Beach.

And it’s no secret that Blackstone is investing heavily in real estate, and here’s why...

Our past client's purchased their home in Oakstead's Ballastone Village back in 2017 in the 500's and then nearly 2-2.5 years later sold it for $100k higher.

And now it's valued at nearly $200k higher.

This is not only the case for them but for many clients who are buying in great communities, waterfront properties, or other great homes.

While some may think buying now may be buying high... the wealthy understand that top-tier assets over a long enough time horizon reward significantly higher than other options.

So the real secret to investing like the wealthy lies in the time-tested, old saying... “location, location, location.”

- Sean

🏆 Is the #1 New Home Community in Tampa for 3 years, overrated?

Named the top-selling community for 3 years, Starkey Ranch has made quite a name for itself.

With over 2,400 acres in the community, 30% dedicated to wilderness, 20 miles of trails, 500+ community events, and 150 acres of parks- there's a lot of great things that could be said about living here.

But this also leads to the question because it's so popular, is it overrated?

First, what does Starkey have to offer?

• 8 different neighborhoods from 4 top builders: Taylor Morrison, MI Homes, Pulte Homes, and Homes by Westbay

• With homes from 1,600 SF to +5,000 SF, townhomes & singe families from $400k to $1M

• Numerous community amenities: multiple pools, tons of parks, dog parks & playgrounds, multiple clubhouses, the Town Square, a Publix, a K-8 school, a Business Park, Stark Ranch District Park (softball, baseball, football, soccer, lacrosse & more), Library, Theater & much more

• Over 500+ community events

• Good Schools

• Tons of restaurants, shopping, stores for daily needs in the Business Park and around the community

Starkey Ranch has a lot at its doorsteps.

And being centrally located makes it easy to travel west to the Beaches, with easy access to Veterans or other ways to head south to Downtown, Tampa, St. Pete, the Airport, and being in between Trinity, Carrollwood & Land O Lake's- there's a lot to offer and even more coming to the area.

So this begs the question, is the community worth it?

While I can't answer it for everyone because it depends on your needs and goals, it is a strong choice for a place to call home.

But I plan to go in more complete detail in my new videos.

Let me know what you think of Starkey Ranch! I would love to hear your feedback or other communities you're interested in that I should talk about.

📉 Pasco County HOME SALES Are DOWN 22%... So What Does This Mean For Buyers & Sellers?

The truth about declining home prices...

In the news we're beginning to hear, "home values decline for the 2nd month in a row."

But when you look beyond the headlines, you see the drop is small and relatively insignificant, -0.3%, or as the news may say, "the LARGEST decline since 2011"...

The truth is that "appreciation has receded since peaking in April, but typical home values are still up 14.1% from a year ago and 43.8% since August 2019, before the pandemic." according to Zillow.

We were moving at 100 miles per hour. Homes were selling in 3 days with 30 offers over list price. This was eventually going to end.

So when Fed raised rates it did... as a result, demand dropped, but homeowners kept pricing upward.

Buyers and sellers were out of sync.

The Fed is continuing to raise rates, and buyers will continue slowing down.

This is what's creating the current divide... but homeowners are beginning to understand & adapt.

This saying is true in many aspects of life, as Wayne Gretzky famously said, "I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been."

So what's important to remember is that over a long enough time horizon, even a slight dip in prices, which is expected in any market, is slight compared to long-term growth.

But 100 years have proven, "don't focus on timing the market" and focus on "time in the market."

⏰ The Best Time to Buy in 2022 is Around the Corner...

Based on their fourth annual Best Time to Buy Report, Realtor.com® has declared the week of September 25 to October 1 the best week of 2022 to buy a home.

What does this week have that makes it the best of the year for homebuyers?

1. Lower prices

2. Less competition

3. More homes to choose from

4. More time to decide

Here’s the breakdown:

WHY IS IT THE BEST WEEK OF THE YEAR TO BUY A HOME?

Higher mortgage rates started the normalization process of the U.S. housing market earlier in the year after a period of unsustainable growth during the pandemic. While mortgage rates increased, buyer demand has cooled, giving inventory a chance to build up.

The market has plenty to offer for motivated home shoppers. Here’s a look at the housing market forecast for Realtor.com’s best week, which lands in early fall:

• More than 6% of listed homes with reduced prices.

• Savings of over $20,000 on average, relative to this summer’s peak price of $450,000.

• About 46% more homes to choose from, compared to the average week.

• Days on market is expected to be 15 days longer compared to the summer’s peak.

• Demand is 26.9% lower than this year’s peak week and 8.5% lower than average.

After several years of an overheated housing market, higher mortgage rates are helping usher in more regular seasonal trends, which have pros and cons for home shoppers. If you’re flexible on your timing and can budget for higher rates, early fall can be a great time to secure a home, with a number of factors aligning to make it the best time of the year both in terms of price and competition. This is especially true for first-time buyers and others who are not trying to sell a home at the same time as their purchase.

Danielle Hale

Chief Economist for Realtor.com®

KEY BENEFITS TO BUYING A HOME THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 25

Let’s take a closer look at each of the benefits of buying a home this week.

1. Reduced prices — Compared to the historical average of 5.2%, more than 6% of listed homes may have reduced prices during the week of September 25. This would translate into approximately 48,000 homes available at a reduced cost.

2. More listings — While active listings haven’t bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, they have increased year-over-year and year-to-date. The best week could see 780,000 listings, which is 46% more than the year’s average to date.

3. Less competition — Frenzied buyer demand has cooled with the rise in mortgage rates. Historically, views per property listing on Realtor.com during the best week to buy has been 26.9% lower than its peak in July and 8.5% lower than average.

4. More time to decide — Days on market for homes will be longer, giving buyers more time to make purchasing decisions. Historically, during the best time to buy, a typical home will stay on the market for two weeks longer than the peak market pace and one week more than the average to date.

BUT For Tampa, St. Pete & CLW

The report says Jan 2 – Jan 8 is historically the best. This could hold true or could be different with everything going on.

📊 The Latest Local Numbers

👀 In Other News:

• Inside the World's Most Expensive property in New York City for $250M

• Another iBuyer, Opendoor lost 42% in August, further proving experts matter

• International buyers are most active in these cities from these countries (hint we're #1😉)

• In July, 31% of deals were cash deals, but we're winning with financing so don't be discouraged!

• Is your front door black? Your home could sell for $6,000 more

• 81% of people said these home features are the most important

Surprisingly, National Association of Realtors (NAR) analyzed the highest impact renovations and found that these interior updates; hardwood floor refinishing, new wood flooring, insulation upgrades, and closet renovations not only brought the highest cost recovery on projects BUT also the highest joy!

But then, in contrast, Realtors recommended upgrading the kitchen & bathroom, and re-painting the interior has their most impactful interior updates before selling.

Exterior the top two by cost recovery and recommended by the highest share of Realtors were the garage door and roofing.

Hope you're having a great start to the Fall!

- Sean and the Bello Home Team

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