North Port home sales

[TamRE]

Originally Posted by ArmyChief

Tammy,

That averages about 20 a month. Would you consider that a good average considering how many RE agents, inventory, active listings and serious buyers looking?

Thx

That is not the entire solds in North Port. That is just with the posters required search criteria. There were many more homes sold during that time period.

[Sunshine Rules]

Originally Posted by Carver567

We've been looking for homes from the Sarasota/Bradenton area down to North Port. I've been using Zip Realty's web site to find listings that suit our needs. I've saved almost 20 listings, many in North Port. I just looked at all the 'inactive' listings that I've saved. Most of the N.P. listings sold for less than the original list price or were just taken off the market. One Sarasota and one Palmetto (3.7 acres) listing sold for more than list.

Is this a common trend for the North Port area? Probably good if you are looking in that are, which we are.

Our home in MN goes on the market 8/1 and we are anticipating a quick sale.

North Port is different from Sarasota, much more of a small town feel. According to statistics about 10% of the land within the 103 square miles within the city limits is populated. North Port, in general, is more affordable than Sarasota. I have some friends that live there that love it, wouldn't live anywhere else. I know 2 other couples that moved there because they could get newer construction homes cheaper than Sarasota - and they hated it, ended up selling and moving back to Sarasota because they got tired of driving back and forth to Sarasota.

North Port was originally developed in the 1950's by a company called General Dynamics. They laid out grids of roads within the huge land area of their city of North Port, then started selling lots to winter visitors. Things didn't go as planned and the company eventually abandoned North Port. So outside of the more established subdivisions you will find miles and miles of crumbling roads and a lot of vacant lots.

Some of the reasons why North Port is more affordable has to do with the fact that North Port was badly hit by the real estate market bust in the mid 2000's, which lead to a large number of foreclosures. North Port was "ground zero" for foreclosures in Sarasota county. There are still a number of abandoned homes in some stage of foreclosure, and the city government is trying to cope with both the disrepair of these homes and lower revenues due to the lower appraised values of homes as a result of the high number of distress sales and foreclosures. The backlog of distress properties has been shrinking substantially over the past few years as investors bought up a number of those homes and turned them into rentals.

Lower tax revenues have also contributed to North Port government's struggles with budgets vs needs of the community for services such as fire, police, trash service and road repairs. For the record, North Port is not alone in dealing with budget struggles, many FL communities have been dealing with problems associated with 5 years of declining home values. The city of North Port is facing major infrastructure needs, most of the city's homes are on well and septic, many of the vast grid of roads are in need of repair, they face pension funding issues and service needs.

I usually get a lot of flack from certain people on this forum when I post any negative information about North Port, but buyers need to know the good, the bad and the ugly about any town or city they are looking to relocate to. People are more familiar with the negatives of Sarasota and Bradenton in part due to the local newspapers, the Sarasota Herald Tribune and the Bradenton Herald. (Both have on line versions of their newspapers by the way.)

I suggest that buyers do as much research as you can on any community you are thinking of purchasing a home in. If the positives outway the negatives for your individual needs, then that community may be a good option for you. The more information you gather up front, the better choices you can make regarding your next home purchase.