The real estate outlook is all about perception.
Some Anna Maria Island real estate agents say they are hopeful for an end to Anna Maria’s construction moratorium and the city’s effort to enact legislation governing vacation homes.
Jesse Brisson of Gulf-Bay Realty, 5309 Gulf Drive, Holmes Beach, said he’s got plenty of interested buyers, it’s just that some are staying away from purchases in the city of Anna Maria.
“Most of my clients are unaware of the moratorium and the attack on vacation rentals” in Anna Maria,” said Brisson, who reports property sales for The Islander.
“When I tell them what’s happening there, they usually don’t believe city officials could be so short-sighted. Once the client realizes it’s for real, they avoid the north end of the island.”
However, Brisson said sales in Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach have been good.
That’s a view shared by Cindy Quinn of AMI Beaches Real Estate, 5702 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach.
“I’ve had a lot of activity on Longboat Key. My last four sales were there because the buyers said they didn’t want to deal with the craziness” in Anna Maria.
“Thankfully, most of my clients are not investors but have been looking for a residence. And they found some good homes on Longboat Key,” Quinn said.
Dolly Young of T. Dolly Young Real Estate has worked in real estate since 1974. She says she saw some of the island’s vacation rental issues coming about 10-12 years ago.
She now works from home and manages vacation rentals, but she still keeps her hand in sales. And sales have been good to start 2015.
“Prices have leveled off, people are coming earlier than ever to the island and I’m looking at a great season for real estate. I know that my rentals are 99 percent booked for the next few months,” Young said.
Brisson agreed that prices have stabilized after climbing annually the past several years.
For 2013, 322 single-family homes were sold on the island at an average price of $613,000. For 2014, the number of sales dropped slightly to 300, but the average price increased to $625,000.
“I expect 2015 to be another strong year in the market. Inventory has tightened, so we may see less total sales, but I expect the average sales price to creep up.”
Brisson said multi-family properties are some of the “best bargains on the island and many are under-valued, in my opinion.”
As always, waterfront and canalfront properties are in high demand, Quinn said, but those also are the highest-priced properties on the island.
If buyers do their homework and research, they’ll find better bargains away from the water, she said.
And it’s beginning to look like serious buyers are already on Anna Maria Island.
Quinn said she’s had quite a few sales to Canadians and Midwesterners recently. Usually, buying activity slows a bit in early January, but not this year.
“It’s all pointing toward a good winter sales season. It’s a seller’s market and should stay that way throughout 2015,” she said.
Brisson agreed, adding that if Anna Maria solves its vacation rental issue and removes the moratorium, sales this winter season will be even better.
Until the moratorium is lifted, buyers will likely continue to focus on Holmes Beach, Bradenton Beach and on Longboat Key, he said.
The building moratorium is set to end Sept. 22, after rental regulations are put into effect.
The city of Anna Maria’s restrictions have brought to a halt our plans to build our retirement home in the city of Anna Maria. It was never going to be a rental, but our retirement home. We looked forward to becoming involved in the community. The restrictions were not in place when we bought our lot and we investigated all of the city’s requirements before buying. It’s not the LAR that is problematic, but the city’s requirement that we build a “wedding cake” style house. It’s very discouraging.
You should be glad the town is requiring a “wedding cake house” as you call it. Haven’t you seen the mini hotel tower types that have gone up? The stepped design prevents you from having a neighbor building a big tower 20 feet from your bedroom window. It is quite possible to design an attractive house, with interesting rooflines within the parameters set by the town. I hope you will be successful.
I completely agree with Kris – we are trying to build a family home to live in on property we purchased 2 years ago. The day after we purchased the property the 1st moratorium struck. We had to pay taxes on a property we could do nothing with. As soon as it was over we applied for a demo permit so we could divide the property between my family and my parents. After thousands spent on architectural renderings pre-moratorium we had to do it all over again with the new LAR in mind. This all took so long that by the time we had to move to the island we ended up having to rent a 2 bedroom condo because we didn’t have a home. This condo houses a 4 person family and both my husband and I work from home. Needless to say – this is not a fun position to be in and we assumed it would be very temporary. But, of course, just as our final drawings were in engineering the 2nd moratorium hits. With $500000 in an empty lot, thousands a month in rent, thousands more in taxes I’m beginning to think that Anna Maria is far from a dream and much more like a nightmare. I had no idea that the Commission was allowed to “Play God” with peoples’ livelihoods and am disgusted that they can’t see the harm they are inflicting on ANNA MARIA RESIDENCE. What they are doing is completely self serving and I have to question the legality of it all.