Sarasota Best Place in the News

If you live in Sarasota FL, you already know it's Paradise. Although, it's taken a drubbing in the real estate market the past couple of years. Now, from at least two national media sources, it's being recognized as the jewel it is.

On the Today Show a few days ago, Sarasota was named one of the top undervalued places in the U.S. to buy real estate. According to expert Barbara Corcoran, Sarasota tops the list because its home prices, which dramatically declined in recent years, have seen a sharp rise in the last 3 months. She said the median home price is now $175,800, up 13% this quarter. As a friend of mine likes to say, "Woo-hoo!" for anyone who owns an upside-down property or anyone who wants to buy a house in SRQ.

This is the same message that appeared in a July issue of U.S. News & World Report, which included Sarasota in its own list of 10 most undervalued places to buy. From that report:


"Sarasota, Fla. Another alluring option for those looking to buy into the depressed Florida housing market is Sarasota, McCabe says. Like Naples, Sarasota is a relatively upscale community along the state's west coast. "Sarasota has got a lot of culture to it—a lot of art, a lot of art festivals," McCabe says. "It's a nice boating community, and they have got a lot of beautiful homes there." And after home prices plunged 44 percent from the first quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2009, the market presents would-be buyers with some attractive opportunities. IHS Global Insight considers the median home price in Sarasota — $141,000 — to be 28 percent undervalued.

America's 10 Best Undervalued Places to Live: (Percent of undervaluation, according to IHS Global Insight.)

1. Las Vegas: 41 percent
2. Houston: 37 percent
3. Naples, Fla.: 33 percent
4. Oklahoma City: 29 percent
5. Sarasota, Fla. 28 percent
6. San Francisco: 25 percent
7. Atlanta: 24 percent
8. Omaha: 23 percent
9. College Station-Bryant Texas: 21 percent
10. San Diego: 21 percent"

Like the real estate folks always say, "Location, Location, Location." The economy may have its ups and downs, but the beauty of Sarasota's natural features and its convivial lifestyle continue to draw people to visit and relocate.