The Next Hot Thing!

No, I am not going to tell you what the next hot thing in Sarasota real estate is...fact is, once people deem an area as such, I generally begin to veer away from it.

Hype can be a scary thing. It can cloud judgement and make us do ill-advised things. I read an article in the Herald Tribune yesterday about how the city of North Port is being deserted. Once touted as "the" place for the working class, many are finding the lack of jobs and services to be too hard to bear. And they are moving on.

Often when people are searching listings, they see vast differences in prices. Two seemingly identical homes, but one is listed at $300K, and one at $179K? Obviously people tend toward the lower price...but remember, nothing is free. You get what you pay for.

Some areas are untested, untried and quite frankly have grown too fast. There is an extremely popular part of Sarasota that for the last several years has grown like wildfire. I always had my doubts though - and although no one has come out and said it, the listings tell a story of real problems. There are too many listings, too many foreclosures and the owners can't even sell for rock bottom prices. What happened? HYPE. It was the "place to be", and investors swarmed. But the reality cannot keep up with the hype.

In life in general, I have found that once everyone runs one way, its too late to get a deal. The ship has sailed, so to speak. So I rarely follow the crowds with the checkbooks. I'm quietly looking for the next big thing that no one knows about yet.

As exclusive buyer agents, we know every nook and cranny of this town. We know the secluded spots, the fabulous views, the true deals. But we've also learned a very important lesson - hype comes and goes, but in Sarasota, a few things will always have value - water, beach, golf and sanity.

Want a great deal that you STILL think is a great deal 10 years from now? Don't believe the hype.