Venice Braces for Brisk Winter Selling Season


 

SARASOTA, FLORIDA, January 27th, 2014 – With inventory of resale homes estimated to be as low as two to three months, the residential real estate market in Venice, Florida, appears headed toward heightened activity this winter selling season, Sarasota Bay Real Estate reports. The full service realty firm further notes that the recent entry of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in Southwest Florida has pumped up industry players locally.

Prudential Florida Realty, which has one of its 39 Florida offices in Venice, officially joined the Berkshire Hathaway franchise in October as part of the latter’s expansion across the U.S. The franchise’s Florida entry has been interpreted as a “vote of confidence” in the prospects of the real estate market in the Sunshine State.

Steady price improvements

Notably, Berkshire Hathaway is owned by Warren Buffet, America’s second richest and noted for his knack for identifying potentially enriching investment opportunities. His real estate venture, one of his latest initiatives, is in addition to lucrative investments in manufactured housing, energy generation and distribution, utilities, freight rail transport, and insurance.

For Venice, what must have impressed Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway were the steady gains of home prices in the city. Since the start of the year, double-digit, year-over-year percentage gains were posted in monthly median home prices, which hovered from the mid- to the high $100s.

This regime of rising prices and declining inventory should be a strong incentive for prospective home sellers, Sarasota Bay Real Estate says. It adds that the increased presence of residential buyers in Southwest Florida during the winter months can add further excitement in the Venice home market.

Some local hot spots

Buying interest can be particularly keen on Venice properties which benefited from the recent completion of the Jacaranda Boulevard extension. This new north-to-south connector extending from Border Road to Laurel Road offers a second access point for North Venice.

Opened in early October, this extension has two paved lanes, bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly features. It has a 12-foot wide multi-use trail and a 5-foot wide sidewalk on its east side. Landscaping, lighting, and storm-water ponds were also constructed.

Options in a golf community

Venetian real estate

Among the residential properties that were benefited by the extension are those at the Venetian Golf and River Club, the southern periphery of which is just off Laurel Road East. The MLS of Sarasota homes for sale currently features about 40 listings in this golf community, several of which are pending sales already.

There are also a few new listings of available homes in this community. One of the prime options among these properties fresh in the market is a four-bedroom home with a floor plan close to 3,300 square feet and an asking price approaching the $700s level.

In the mid-priced range, a two-bedroom residence with a floor area of 1,500 square was also recently added to the MLS and priced a shade under the $230,000 mark. Buyers can also find older listings which approximate the high-$100s median price of Venice homes for sale. One such offering is for a 1,100-square foot home with two bedrooms priced slightly under $175,000.