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Community Corner

The Time to Buy Is Now

In 2007, it was sellers who stubbornly held onto their asking price. Now it could be that buyers who wait for the great shadow inventory fall out will find themselves empty handed in Sarasota.

Real estate is local. So local in fact that a near beach property in Englewood will fetch about half the dollars of its counterpart in Sarasota.

Property bargain hunters who pitch low offers at sellers and continue to hold onto the national statistics will probably be priced out of the market by this time next year.  

The inventory of distressed sales in Sarasota has only risen 3 percent in the past 12 months, nowhere near the numbers predicted by the general national reports.

Find out what's happening in Sarasotawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sarasota is a naturally affluent town and has multiple extraordinary beaches and an international population, all factors that are likely to be contributing to the low number of distressed property sales.

In fact, since the start of October, only 273 new listings have come on the market while 255 listings have gone under contract. Numbers like this show that there is not only equilibrium between sellers and buyers, but also stability in prices across the board. Stabilization has been noted in the under $300,000 properties, and the numbers continue to creep upwards.

Find out what's happening in Sarasotawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It is still the under $200,000 that are the fastest bulk movers, but properties in Sarasota at all price points continue to sell.

The bottom line is this: if you see it, like it, want it and can afford it, buy it now. 

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