Dave Tipton, Broker, GRI, e-PRO, SRES Tampa Bay Area Real Estate

USF History

The University of South Florida was founded in 1956 as the first public university established specifically to address the needs of Florida's rapidly emerging urban regions. State Rep. Sam Gibbons championed USF's creation, and John S. Allen, USF's first president, helped Gov. Leroy Collins break ground in September 1957.

On September 26, 1960, nearly 2,000 students began classes in five buildings. USF was on its way. The university chose two words to guide its path: "Truth" and "Wisdom."

USF developed rapidly. In 1965, the St. Petersburg campus opened, and USF was accredited, gaining additional academic respect. In 1967, enrollment passed 10,000. In 1968, USF was admitted to the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

In the 1970s, the College of Medicine was established, a strong academic program in Sarasota/Manatee was developed, and enrollment passed the 20,000 mark.

During the 1980s, the graduate school was established, the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute opened, the Lakeland campus opened, and enrollment passed 30,000.

The 1990s brought widespread recognition of USF as a major research university when research funding passed $100 million. USF was recruiting superb scientists, creative artists, and cutting-edge scholars in everything from social sciences to literature.

2007 Enrollment Statistics

• 45,244 USF's Total Enrollment
• 34,477 USF's Undergraduate Enrollment
• 8,817 USF's Graduate Enrollment
• 3,797 USF's Fall 2007 Freshman Class
• 5,026 USF's Fall 2007 Transfer Students
• 1,470 USF's International Students, Representing 127 Countries
• 9,202 USF Degrees Awarded in 2006-2007 Academic Year

Points of Pride

• USF is one of only three Florida public universities classified by the Carnegie Foundation in the top tier of research universities.
• USF is the ninth largest public university in the nation.
• USF is one of 39 U.S. public colleges and universities (the only one in Florida) classified by the Carnegie Foundation as "Community Engaged."
• USF's proposal to create the Florida Center of Excellence for Biomolecular Identification and Target Therapeutics was ranked highest among all grant proposals reviewed by the Florida Technology, Research and Scholarship Board in 2006 and was funded for a total of $8 million.
• USF's College of Education sponsors the "USF on iTunes U" website. With the click of a button, students and teachers can access a wide array of educational digital content.
• The 2007 USF Stampede of Service drew over 1,300 volunteers to work on a variety of projects involving children, the elderly, homelessness issues and environmental clean-ups.
• USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference. USF scored a victory over the East Carolina Pirates in its second-ever bowl game appearance at the 2006 PapaJohn's.com Bowl.
• USF has over 200,000 alumni representing all 50 states.
• USF is one of the nation's top centers for researching new treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.
• USF was selected by Princeton Reviewas one of the "366 Best Colleges" in the United States, and was ranked 17th among all schools for diversity.
• USF's faculty and staff contributed nearly $3.1 million to the University's annual giving campaign in 2007. (Confirmed by Shannon McGorry August 29, 2007.)

The University of South Florida is one of the nation's top 63 public research universities and one of 39 community engaged public universities as designated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

USF was awarded more than $300 million in research contracts and grants last year. The University offers 219 degree programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral levels, including the doctor of medicine.

The University has a $1.6 billion annual budget, an annual economic impact of $3.2 billion, and serves more than 45,000 students on campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland.

http://www.usf.edu/index.asp

Athletics

USF belongs to the Big East Athletic Conference and fields teams in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, track & field and tennis for the men's teams and the ladies field teams for basketball, golf, cross country, sailing, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball.

Check out the USF Sports teams at http://www.gousfbulls.com/

Alumni & Friends

Looking for ways to keep a connection with USF and your former classmates? They are many ways to stay connected to your alma mater:

• Join the Alumni Association and stay connected through member benefits, including USF Magazine and Alumni Voice, event invitations, online networking and participating in alumni groups.
• Show your pride on your ride with a USF Bulls License Plate.
• Show your spirit by attending a USF athletic event.
• Support alumni events and student leadership programs by getting and using the USF credit card.
• You can support the university's many worthy initiatives by giving to USF.
• You can even continue your education here at USF by taking continuing education courses, or by pursuing an advanced degree.

The Mid Florida Regional MLS has released the Tampa real estate sales & inventory comparison of December 2006 and December 2007 as well as the comparison of January 2007 and January 2008.

Everybody seems to know that the real estate market is depressed. It seems clear from the graph that the number of sales each month is down, the Days On Market is up and the number of houses for sale (Current Inventory) and months it will take to sell that inventory at the current pace is up as well. The only positive numbers of note are the average list price and the average sale price for December 2007, which spiked upward for some reason.

The numbers that concern me the most are the current inventory, which has remained high over the past 12 months, trending upward. These are the current existing single-family homes listed in the MLS. When the current inventory begins trending downward, this will be the signal that a recovery has begun.

We will keep our eyes on all of these numbers and keep you up to date.

This data represents single-family home sales. Statistics derived from MFRMLS^® Statistical Overview February 2008 and reflects only sales reported to MFRMLS^®

Dave Tipton, Broker- Preferred Professionals Real Estate Associates

813-653-1241

Bush Signs Economic Stimulus Package

President Bush signed an Economic Stimulus package into law yesterday which will send $300 to $1,200 tax rebate checks to millions of Americans. This package was passed by Congress last week and is hoped to boost the economy. The bill was supported by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and their members around the country. Additionally, the bill will grant tax incentives for businesses investing in new plants and equipment.

The legislation includes the requested GSE and FHA limit increases strongly backed and lobbied by NAR. The increased GSE loan limits means borrowers will see immediate relief with new liquidity in the mortgage market and the nation will see an additional 300,000 home sales. The increased FHA loan limits means an additional 138,000 Americans will purchase homes, and with the needed FHA reforms means 200,000 families can refinance their homes safely and affordably.

Rebates are scheduled to hit the mail beginning in May to taxpayers and low-income people, including seniors living off of Social Security and veterans who depend on disability checks. Businesses would get tax breaks for investing in new plants and equipment.

Economists believe the $168 billion package the President signed will help prevent the current economic slow down from developing into a crisis. Congress is already considering more economic rescue measures to address the housing crunch that's at the root of the current economic doldrums.

In theory, this sounds like an excellent idea, time will tell. In the mean time, get out there and spend those checks people.

Dave Tipton, Broker

As outlined on Wikipedia, the free internet encyclopedia

Its history began on January 20, 1857, when John Brandon arrived at Fort Brooke (now Tampa) from Mississippi with his wife Martha and six sons. At first he moved his family to what is now the Seffner area. Then in August 1858, John Brandon purchased 40 acres of land in the New Hope area (now Brandon) south of Hopewell Road (now SR 60), between Parsons Avenue and Lithia Road. Nine years later, after his wife died, John left everything he owned to his son James Henry Brandon and moved to Bartow. In 1876 James built a home for his wife Joanna. It is still standing today and is now Stowers Funeral Home, a well-known landmark on Brandon Boulevard (SR60).

Meanwhile, John Brandon remarried a widow named Victoria and moved back to New Hope in 1874. John bought 160 acres and named his land Brandon. John and Victoria's house was located on what would become the corner of Knights and Victoria Street. Four years later, the New Hope Church was built on land donated by John. Besides being the first church in the community, it also served as Brandon's first school.

After John's death in 1886, Victoria took a leading role in the community. The community's first post office was opened in Victoria's home, when she became the postmistress. In 1890, the Florida Central and Peninsula Railroad came through the area, encouraging the people of New Hope to build a depot on Moon Avenue. Victoria convinced a civil engineer for the railroad to survey the area and lay out a town site. He surveyed 40 acres and prepared a map, and Victoria named the town Brandon, after John Brandon.

Since then, Brandon has grown in spurts, beginning with the first general store opened by Dan Galvin on the corner of Moon Avenue and Victoria Street. In 1905, a school was built on Parsons Avenue and Victoria allowed new teachers to board with her so that the new school would have a teacher.

At the time, Valrico began to develop as Victoria's son Lovic, moved there and opened a general store. Lovic and Victoria's other son, Mark, organized the Valrico Baptist Church in 1915, which later moved to Brandon and became the First Baptist Church in 1930.

By 1916, the community needed a large central school to house all of the area's students, so the Brandon Grade School (now McLane Jr. High) was built on Knights Avenue to house grades 1 through 12.

The first Brandon census was taken in 1922 when the population was 100. In 1925, Hopewell Road became a 9-foot wide, paved road and residents such as Clarence Hampton began building business along it in 1927. Clarence opened the first gas and service station.

During the 1920s, the eastern border of Brandon was Pinewood Avenue. Beyond that, was the Kingsway Poultry Colony, where chickens were raised during the winter to be sold in Ybor City. During the Great Depression, the poultry farms closed, and Brandon stabilized with a population of about 250 people.

Most local residents worked in the two orange packing houses in Valrico. The center of town remained at Moon Avenue and Victoria Street, where the train depot, post office, school, and grocery store were all located. For entertainment and everything else, the train to Tampa was the way to go, as only a few paved roads existed with most being dirt or shell topped, making the drive to Tampa very difficult.

World War II was an interesting time in Brandon, with little growth, but a definite edge as they had the food they raised on their farms. After the war, new businesses began to open again. A drug store and soda fountain at the corner of Parsons Avenue and Hopewell Road quickly became a popular teenage hangout. In 1950, Scogin's opened their famous variety store on Hopewell Road, and in 1953, Brandon got its first doctor, Dr. V. R. Hunter.

The 1950's were the beginning of the real growth period for Brandon. Yates Elementary was built in 1954, followed by Mann Junior High School in 1957. Brandon Grade School, on Knights Avenue, became the first Brandon High School. At the time, there were fewer than 100 graduates a year. In 1956, Hopewell Road was connected to Adamo Drive, which made access to Tampa easier, thus turning Brandon into a bedroom community. With commuters, came subdivisions, the first of which was Hill-Dale Heights on Kingsway Avenue. The Brandon News was established in 1958 as a one-page newsletter and advertisement for Scogin's clothing store, written by Al & Chris Scogin. Brandon's first honorary Mayor's race was held in 1959 and was won by Nat Storms.

In 1959, the Brandon Chamber of Commerce was formed to help promote business and growth. By the early 1960s, Brandon's population was 8,000, and it was estimated that one new family moved into town every day. Brandon began spreading out into the bordering communities of Limona, Seffner, and Valrico; Hopewell Road became four lanes wide and was designated State Road 60. Soon, the town's first shopping center, Brandon Center, was built, and Brooker Elementary School and the Brandon Swim and Tennis Club both opened in 1965. In the next few years, Kingswood Elementary School, the Brandon Public Library, and many housing developments, shopping centers, and golf courses further fueled or reflected the influx of new residences and businesses.

By the 1970s, growth was causing traffic congestion, as approximately 430 commercial and service businesses, 3 malls and a population of 40,000 were all contained with-in a six-mile radius.

In the mid 1970s, Hillsborough Community College moved to Brandon by holding classes at public schools. More indications of the increasing population were the building of Brandon Community Hospital and the Brandon Cultural Center (now the Center Place Fine Arts and Civic Association). Brandon took off rapidly during the 1980s. Development of the southern area of Brandon brought thousands of new residents. On September 27, 1986, I-75 began to bring traffic through the Brandon area, dramatically changing the community and helping its population reach approximately 100,000 with over 2,500 business by 1988.

Diamond Dwellings Realty- Brandon Florida 813-653-1241