Tampa Bay Florida Real Estate And Tampa Homes for Sale

The nearly 10-percent surge in title insurance premiums in Florida in the second quarter of this year is an encouraging sign for people in the Tampa real estate market and in other property markets in the state. In the midst of lower home prices, scarcer MLS inquiries and slower flow of closings, this good news about the strong performance of Florida’s title insurance industry is an encouragement to real estate professionals. More title insurance policies mean more closings.

Florida posted the third highest total of title insurance premiums collected during the second quarter, according to a report released by the American Land Title Association (ALTA). It ranked behind first-placer California and second-placer Texas but it outranked them in rate of market improvement. Florida’s total represented an increase of 9.5 percent year-over-year while California’s total was a drop of nearly 9 percent. Texas posted an increase of only 7.5 percent. These were the top ten states in total title insurance premiums collected in the second quarter of this year, including rates of premium collection increase or decrease:

Based on rates of year-over-year improvement in total title insurance premium collection in the second quarter, the following were the top ten states, including their total premium collections:

All in all, the total collection nationwide surpassed $2.3 billion, but this amount represented a drop of 1.4 percent. Although 21 states posted increases in premium collections, 29 states experienced decreases in premium collections. California, Arizona, Ohio, Nevada and Illinois were among the states which experienced drops in collections. Idaho and Utah posted the biggest drop rates, which were 27.4 percent and 26.4 percent, respectively.

The top-performing title insurance companies based on premiums sold were First American Title Insurance Co., Fidelity National Title Insurance Co., Chicago Title Insurance Co., Old Republic National Title Insurance Co. and Stewart Title Guaranty Co.

More than 25,000 short sale and bank owned homes in Florida were snapped up by bargain-hunting owner-buyers and investors in the first three months this year, according to a report released by RealtyTrac.

Although the sales total was a nearly 32-percent drop from a year ago, it still accounted for a big portion of the total sales, which was 32.5 percent of all Florida homes sold during the quarter. The volume sales drop can mean one or two things: that the number of homebuyers is falling, which is a discouraging thing, or that the foreclosure inventory in Florida is already being depleted, which is good for the overall housing market.

Compared with other states, Florida is fifth in percentage of foreclosure sales. The following are the states which posted the highest share of foreclosure sales:

The low prices of short sale and bank owned homes are oftentimes the major reasons why buyers are attracted to these types of homes and why foreclosure sales continue to impact the housing market. In Florida, short sale homes were sold at an average discount of 14.85 percent in the first quarter and REO homes were sold at a deep discount of 35.57 percent. When the two types are combined, the average discount was 27.28 percent.

Price discounts were even bigger in other states for foreclosure sales, such as in the following chart-toppers:

For investors looking for the lowest-priced foreclosure homes, which include bank owned homes and short sale homes, here are the states where bargain prices can be found:

Florida’s average foreclosure price in Florida was also lower by 30.74 percent than the national average foreclosure price, which was $168,321. Nationally, foreclosure homes were sold in the first quarter at an average discount of 26.66. REO homes were sold at a discount of 35.08 on the average and short sales homes were sold at an average discount of 9.49 percent. A total of 158,434 distressed and bank owned homes nationwide were sold in the first quarter.

Beautiful Tampa bank owned homes are offered at affordable prices. Contact Tampa4U.
 

Almost one-third of all pre-owned homes sold to foreigners in the first three months of this year were Florida homes, according to a 2011 global home sales report released by the National Association of Realtors.

Florida accounted for the highest share of pre-owned home sales to foreign buyers during the quarter. The NAR report also said that most of those looking for homes in Florida were Canadians and South Americans. Canadians like the Floridian weather while South Americans like the cultural diversity in Florida’s cities.

Over the one year period ended March this year, about $82 billion worth of U.S. homes were purchased by foreigners. Half of this amount represented purchases by new immigrants – those who have moved to the U.S. in the past two years.

The foreign buyers’ purchases show that there are 15 U.S. states they favor as locations of their investments or homes. The states which had the highest share of existing home sales to foreigners in the January-March 2011 quarter were the following:

For the past three years, Florida homes have been the most desired among foreigners, particularly Canadians, Argentinians, Brazilians and other South Americans. The state's shares in 2008, 2009 and 2010 were 24 percent, 18 percent and 23 percent, respectively.

The countries of the top home buyers and their share of the total home purchases in the first quarter were the following:

The NAR report also contains interesting findings about foreign home buying over the 12-month period ended March 2011, such as the following:

• More than 60 percent of foreigners who bought homes chose single-family homes.
• About 62 percent of total home purchases by foreigners were paid in cash.
• The average price of pre-owned homes bought by foreigners was $315,000, about 44 percent higher than the $218,000 average price of homes sold nationwide to local buyers.
• Almost 80 percent of NAR members say that changes in foreign exchange affect home sales to foreigners.

Here's a home buying guide for foreign buyers interested in Tampa real estate.

Families with children going to college within one or more years can consider moving to Tampa to take advantage of higher education opportunities in the area and at the same time enjoy the quality of living that only Florida cities can offer.

In the Tampa area, there are more than 25 colleges and universities, but three institutions stand out because of their population, the wide range of courses offered, and the diversity of programs provided.

University of South Florida (USF)

The USF System is a public university system offering 232 kinds of degree programs to more than 47,000 students with a yearly budget of $1.8 billion. During the 2009-2010 school year, it received $394.1 million in research grants and contracts. It’s one of only 25 public research universities in the country and it receives support from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

For the period from July 2009 to June 2010, the USF System awarded 6,597 bachelor’s degrees, 2,259 master’s degrees, 400 doctoral degrees and 157 associated degrees.

USF Tampa is the main campus of the USF system and includes USF Health. It serves more than 39,000 students with more than 1,700 acres of land that hosts school buildings, medical learning facilities, research facilities, residence halls and other educational facilities. The others are USF St. Petersburg, USF Sarasota-Manatee, and USF Polytechnic in Lakeland.

University of Tampa (UT)

UT, a private university, has been recognized as one of the Ten Greatest Colleges for Less Than $35K by GoLocalProv.Com. It’s also in the following lists: Best 300 Business Schools for 2011 by The Princeton Review, America’s Best Colleges for 2010 by Forbes, and 2011 College Access and Opportunity Guide by Center for Student Opportunity. Additionally, UT was honored as having the Best Nursing Program in 2010 by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing based on its NCLEX-RN performance of 100 percent.

UT, which confers about 1,500 degrees yearly, has 6,500 students enrolled as of September 2010, with about 50 percent coming from Florida and the rest from 49 other states and from about 100 countries. Although it's a private institution, charging an average of $32,806 for tuition fees, room and board for one academic year, 91 percent of all students are receiving aid.

The university is offering over 125 areas of undergraduate and graduate studies and eight master's programs.

Hillsborough Community College (HCC)

This community college, which is serving about 43,000 students, offers Associate in Arts degree programs, college preparatory programs, technical programs, distance learning, and continuing education programs. HCC houses the Honors Institute, which transfers graduates every year to top universities such as Columbia University, Yale University, Boston University, Cornell University and University of California in Los Angeles.

For relocation information, contact Tampa4U.com, a team of friendly professionals who specialize in buying and selling Tampa homes and other real estate properties.

The problems of unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies lessened in intensity nationwide in March, according to the Associated Press Economic Stress Index. This is a most welcome development as most everyone is looking for the time when the U.S. can really begin or sustain recovery.

More than 85 percent of the country’s 3,141 counties experienced better economic conditions in March compared to February. All states, except South Dakota and Louisiana, posted lower stress levels. Improvements in the manufacturing sector have pushed up business conditions, particularly Indiana and in the Great Lakes region.

The average AP Economic Stress Index for the 3,141 counties dropped in March to 10.5, the lowest point since December. In the previous month of February, the index was 11, and in March 2009, the index was 11.5.

A county is considered in stress when its AP index exceeds 11. With this benchmark, the number of stressed counties in March decreased significantly, as less than 33 percent scored more than 11 March, lower than the nearly 40 percent of counties that scored more than 11 in February. The AP index is based on three factors: unemployment, bankruptcies and foreclosures.

In almost 90 percent of the counties and in every state except South Dakota, the unemployment rate declined or remained unchanged in March compared to the previous month. Bankruptcies, meanwhile, fell in 70 percent of the counties and in 43 states, and foreclosures slowed down in more than 70 percent of the counties and declined in 44 states.

Nationally, the unemployment rate has dropped to 8.8 percent in March, and is expected to further fall to 8 percent by the end of the year despite possible increases in gasoline prices. Substantial job gains occurred in the manufacturing, professional and business services, hospitality, health care, leisure and mining sectors.

Growths in the production of cars, steel and heavy equipment pushed up economic conditions in the Midwest, with Indiana’s Elkhart County winning manufacturing contracts despite suffering badly from the recession. From an AP stress score of 22.28 in March 2009, Elkhart’s score has fallen sharply to 13.36 in March.

The counties with the lowest AP stress scores in March were the following:

• Ellis County, Kansas -- 4.06
• Buffalo County, Nebraska -- 4.43
• Arlington County, Virginia -- 4.53
• Ward County, North Dakota -- 4.54
• Burleigh County, North Dakota -- 4.65

With most of its counties performing well, North Dakota remained the healthiest state in March. The following were the least stressed states:

• North Dakota – 4.89
• Nebraska – 5.7
• South Dakota – 6.27
• Vermont – 6.51
• New Hampshire – 6.85
  

It's hoped that the economic strengths of these states and counties spread to all other places and spur a strong nationwide recovery.