The Sarasota Board of Realtors hosted a real estate conference yesterday - Insider Insights: The Sarasota Housing Market, 2008 and Beyond. A panel made up of four experts on the local real estate market answered questions from a moderator and local media. The four panel members were John Tucillo (former Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors), Jim Tadora (Sarasota County Property Appraiser), Pat Neal (president of Neal Communities), and Penny Hill (top 5 producer for Chase Mortgage nationally).

Kathy Roberts, CEO of the SAR, opened the conference with a presentation on the current real estate market including an overview of Sarasota MLS inventory levels and sales data. The numbers indicated that while the market is well off from the highs of the past several years, the perception of real estate market is much worse than the reality.

Tucillo made the point that the decline in the number of listings available for sale suggests that the market is beginning to settle down. The MLS numbers indicate a reduction in new listings and inventory.

Labels: downtown Sarasota, mls, real estate, realtors

The International Property Awards announced that our site, http://www.buysarasota.com , won their "Best Real Estate Agency Website - USA" for 2007. We are very honored to receive such a prestigious award. There are so many great websites out there. To view a complete list of winners visit http://www.propertyawards.net/int/2007website.html.

The International Property Awards aim to recognize the leaders in a variety of real estate related fields. There are five media partners including CNBC, New York Times and the Daily Mail. In addition, there are 9 supporting organizations including the National Association of REALTORS and the National Association of Home Builders.

Labels: cnbc, downtown Sarasota, International Property Awards, real estate, realtors