Pam Wilhelm

January 2011
Volume 3 Issue 13

Market Watch
Pam Wilhelm, Realtor;
Short Sale Specialist

New Home Specialist

Transinternational Referral Certification

Tampa Bay International Council

(727)237-4288
Email: pamspremierproperties@gmail.com
A Year of Contrasts in Real Estate
Web: http://www.pwilhelm.prudentialtropical.com

Daily Real Estate News– De- “We believe that anyone who is
cember 2010 - This has been a is one of the best ways to able and willing to assume the
year of real estate contrasts. build long-term wealth, in responsibilities of owning a
Inside this issue: While many consumers have addition to providing numer-
taken advantage of the historic ous social benefits that in-
A Year of Contrasts 1 buying opportunities and the clude reduced crime rates,
market has seen a gradual sta- improved childhood educa-
Lenders Foreclose Homes 1 bilization of sales and prices, tion, land increased stability.
other challenges facing the After all, a fixed rate mort-
Good Time to Buy Vacaion nation have led some to ques- gage might last 15 to 30
2
tion the value of home owner- years; renting is forever.
ship for families, communities, Despite current economic
Pending home sales Continue 3
and the country. challenges, most Americans
“Home ownership didn’t cre- still aspire to the dream of
Florida Sees Increase 3 home should have the opportu-
ate the foreclosure crisis– Wall home ownership. According
to a survey conducted earlier nity to pursue that dream, and
Street greed and irresponsible
Just for Laughs 2 this year by Bankrate.com, REALTORS will continue to
lending practices did,” says
90 percent of respondents engage policymakers in pursuit
Ron Phipps NAR president.
Property of the Month 4 said they had no regrets buy- of that goal, Phipps says.
The decision to own a home is
a very personal one, but over ing their current home.
the long term, owning a home

Lenders Foreclose’ Homes They Don’t Own

New York Times Dec2010– In
dozens of incidents nation-
wide, confused banks have
ransacked properties that were
either not mortgaged at all or
were mortgaged by a different
lender or were a customer of
the bank in question but were
current on their payments.
Bank of America broke into
Alan Schroit’s second home in
Galveston , Texas and turned
off the power, allowing 75
pounds of salmon and halibut
Schroit had caught on an Alas-
kan fishing vacation. Schroit
had previously paid off the
property. Schroit and bank
settled law suit for an undis-
closed amount.
Critics of the mortgage process
say these kinds of incidents are
evidence that the mortgage
foreclosure business is flawed
and needs reformed.
Page 2 V olum e 3 I ssue 13

Florida sees increase in international buyers

Florida REALTORS Nov– A
number of actors contributed
to the decline in home sales
nationally and in Florida spe-
cifically, but the growing im-
portance of foreign homebuy-
ers has offset some of the
damage. Roughly two out of
every 3 REALTORS in the
state had at least one interna-
tional transaction within the
past year.
While U.S. buyers continue
to struggle, foreign buyers gen-
erally see U.S. real estate as a
desireable, profitable and se-
cure investment. In addition, a
weak U.S. dollar has made
Florida real estate even more
attractive recently.
The National Association of
REALTORS, conducted a
survey of Florida members,
asking them about their experi-
ence working with interna-
tional clients. A total of 936
responses were received.
 11 per cent foreign buyers
bought a new home, while
the remaining 89 percent
purchased a previously
owned home.
 51 percent purchased a
single family home, 37%
purchased condo, 11%
townhouse,
 15% of buyers plan to use
their home less than one
month per year; 21% plan
to use one to two months;
34% three to six months.

Just for Laughs

A young man who was also an avid golfer found himself with a few hours to spare one after-
noon. He figured if he hurried and played very fast, he could get in nine holes before he had to
head home. But as he was about to tee off an old gentleman shuffled onto the tee and asked if
he could accompany the young man as he was golfing alone. Not being able to say no, he al-
lowed the old gent to join him.
To his surprise the old man played faired quickly. He didn’t hit the ball far, but plodded along
consistently and didn’t waste much time. Finally, they reached the 9th fairway and the young
man found himself with a tough shot. There was a large pine tree right in front of his ball –and
directly between his ball and the green.
After several minutes of debating how to hit the shot the old man kindly said, “You know, when
I was your age I’d hit the ball right over that tree.
With that challenge placed before him, the youngster swung hard, hit the ball up, right smack
into the top of the tree trunk back on the ground not a foot from where it had originally lay.
The old man offered one more comment, “Of course, when I was your age that pine tree was
only three feet tall.”

Thought for the Day

The difference between stupidity and genius
is that genius has its limits
Albert Einstein
 V olum e 3 I ssue 13
Good Time to Buy A Vacation Home
In Seaside Ocean City , MD,
where 91 percent of the
homes are vaction homes,
owners were buoyed by the
prospect of reduced property
taxes after assessed values
dropped 36 to 45 percent
over last 3 years.
California’s resort area
home prices are down by 50
percent or more in many
locations.
That’s only the beginning.
Lower prices and less com-
Pending Home Sales Continue Recovery
Real Estate News Dec 30,2010
– Pending home sales rose
again in November, with a
broad trend over the past five
months indicating a gradual
recovery into 2011, according
to the NATIONAL ASSO-
CIATION OF REALTORS.
The Pending Home Sales In-
dex, a forward –looking indica-
Prudential And NAR Kick off New Website
Prudential and NAR have
joined forces to create a new
website for new construction.
To be announced later this
month, Prudential will be the
only company that will have
access to this new website.
Agents will now be able to
search for size, location ameni-
petition are the tip of the
iceberg-sized list of factors
that make it a good time to
consider a vacation home
buy.
On Dec 24 Freddie Mac’s
Primary Mortgage Market
Survey revealed a 30 year
fixed rate mortgage of 5.14%
That rate hasn’t been lower
since Freddie Mac started
survey in 1971.
The pressure of the bidding
wars is off. Because houses
tor, rose 3.5% to 92.2 based on
contracts signed in November
from a downwardly revised
89.1 October..
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief
economist, said historically
high housing affordability is
boosting sales activity. “In
addition to exceptional af-
fordability conditions, steady
ties and availability of new
homes in the Tampa Bay area.
Prudential was chosen by NAR
to be the company of choice
due to their increased effort to
join with builders to create the
Preferred Builders list.
These builders are chosen on
quality of homes, customer
Page 3
aren’t flying off the shelf,
there’s less pressure on you
to make a quick decision.
A vacation home can pay for
itself. When your monthly
mortgage payment is less
than or equal to one peak
week rental, twelve weeks of
rental will cover your mort-
gage payments for an entire
year.
Vacation rental demand is
up due to economic pres-
sures.– Broderick Perkins
improvements in the economy
are helping bring buyers into
the market.” he said. “But fur-
ther gains are needed to reach
normal levels of sales activity.”
He stated that the national
median home price, however is
expected to remain stable, even
Need to Move Up? Now is the
with the continuing flow of
time to buy! Call today for list
distressed properties coming to
of available homes (727)237-
market.
4288
service, and loyalty to custom-
ers. Prudential now has over
23 builders who have joined
with Prudential to work to-
gether in this market place.
“Prudential’s Preferred
Builders Program”
 Pam Wilhelm

Are you tired of waiting for your house to sell?

Are you tired of agents not keeping their promises?
What if I could tell you that “
9108 US Hwy 19 I can sell your house for more
Port Richey, FL 34667 money
Cell: (727) 237-4288 And in less time
Fax: (727) 378-5244
E-mail: pamspremierproperties@yahoo.com With no hassles

Check out : Call today for your personal home evaluation. Let me
www.pwilhelm.prudentialtropical.com show you how we can get the most, for your biggest in-
vestment.

Delivering A World Class Experience Call Pam today at (727) 237-4288

….One Client At A Time

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