Buildings surround the marina in this architect's rendering of the Mainsail development in Holmes Beach.

By Pat Copeland – Sun Staff Writer
June 30, 2010

HOLMES BEACH – Joe Collier, president of Mainsail Development of Tampa, unveiled drawings by the architectural firm of Cooper, Johnson, Smith for the Mainsail Lodge and condos at 5325 Marina Drive.

“We should have construction drawings by early fall,” Collier said. “Our goal is to have the building permit before the end of the year.

“We have a nice amount of reservations – about eight. We’ll work on pricing over the next 30 to 45 days.”

He said the Mainsail marina complex would have 37 units. In addition, there is a 62-slip marina with boats and fishing guides and a lodge is planned.

“We have been sprucing up the trailer there and added boats and lifts,” he said.

Collier said the company has sold four units and is about to sell a fifth at the Beach Inn, its other Island condo complex at 101 66th Street. Units are being sold as a modified condo/hotel, and when the owner is not using a unit, it is a hotel rental.

The Mainsail Lodge and Marina, formerly the Tidemark Lodge and Marina, was begun by Nick Easterling in 2001. Easterling filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and in 2005, Reliance Realty Partners joined the project and the bankruptcy was resolved.

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WASHINGTON – July 2, 2010 – Mortgage rates have sunk to the lowest level in more than five decades, but consumers aren’t rushing to refinance their loans or buy homes.

Mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate for 30-year fixed loans sank to 4.58 percent this week.

That’s down from the previous record of 4.69  percent set last week and the lowest since the  mortgage company began keeping records in 1971.  The last time they were cheaper was the 1950s, when  most long-term home loans lasted just 20 or 25  years.

Rates have fallen over the past two months. Investors wary of the European debt crisis and the stock market have shifted money into the safety of Treasury bonds, driving down yields. Mortgage rates tend to track the yields on long-term Treasury’s.

On Wednesday, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped to 2.95 percent. That was the first time it has fallen below 3 percent since April 2009, when the markets were beginning to recover from the financial crisis.

But tighter lending standards and declining home equity have made it difficult for many borrowers to refinance. Many who do qualify have already done so over the past 18 months.

Applications for mortgages rose nearly 9 percent last week from a week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. But they remain at only about half the level of early 2009 and a far cry from the refinancing boom of 2003 through 2005, when home prices were soaring and borrowers were able to pull equity out of their homes to pay for home renovations, boats and vacation homes.

Many Americans owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth and can’t refinance through the usual channels. The Obama administration has launched programs to help borrowers refinance if they owe up to 25 percent more than their home’s value and have their loans guaranteed by mortgage giants Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.

About 291,000 homeowners have participated as of March – a small fraction of the estimated 15 million homeowners who are “underwater” on their mortgages.

“I expect to see pockets of re-fi activity versus an overall wave,” said Scott Buchta, chief mortgage strategist with Braver Stern Securities. “The problem is, for many borrowers, they don’t have the equity in their homes.”

If rates drop below 4.5 percent, Buchta said, that might spark a burst of refinancing activity. But it would be limited to people who refinanced or bought homes over the past year and have rates of 5 percent or higher.

To calculate the national average, Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day.

Rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to an average of 4.04 percent, the lowest on records dating to September 1991 and down from 4.13 percent a week earlier.

Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.79 percent, down from 3.84 percent a week earlier. That was also the lowest on Freddie Mac’s records, which date back only to January 2005.

Average rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 3.8 percent from 3.77 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount. The nationwide fee for all types of loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.7 a point.

Refinancing is generally considered worthwhile for homeowners who can shave at least three-quarters of a percentage point off the rates they pay now and plan to stay in their homes for a long time.

Besides the fees for the mortgage broker or lender, there are fees for title insurance, a new appraisal, document processing and other charges. In “no fee” mortgages, costs are often added to the loan amount, or the interest rate is higher.

Existing-home sales¹, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 7.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.77 million units in April from an upwardly revised 5.36 million in March, and are 22.8 percent higher than the 4.70 million-unit pace in April 2009. Monthly sales rose 7.0 percent in March.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the gain was widely anticipated. “The upswing in April existing-home sales was expected because of the tax credit inducement, and no doubt there will be some temporary fallback in the months immediately after it expires, but other factors also are supporting the market,” he said. “For people who were on the sidelines, there’s been a return of buyer confidence with stabilizing home prices, an improving economy and mortgage interest rates that remain historically low.”

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A total of 38,846 existing homes sold statewide in 1Q 2010; during the same period the year before, a total of 31,410 existing homes sold. It marks the seventh consecutive quarter that Florida has seen higher existing year-to-year home sales, according to the state association.

Statewide sales of existing condominiums in the first quarter rose 67 percent compared to the same time the previous year.

Single-Family Homes; Condo Sales Continue Upward Trend

This marks the sixth consecutive quarter for increased statewide sales in both the existing home and condo markets compared to year-ago levels.

“The first quarter data release from the Florida Realtors paints a picture of a housing market continuing down the long road to recovery,” said Dr. Sean Snaith, director for the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness.

“Transactions in the single family market have extended quarterly year-over-year gains for nearly two years, and condo sales have also risen sharply.

Median prices in most areas of the state continue to fall; however, the rate at which they are falling has diminished significantly and this is indicative of a bottom approaching.

“How long prices stay at the bottom and when price appreciation will reappear will depend in a large part on the improving fundamentals in the economy and credit markets.”

The University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies’ latest quarterly survey of real estate trends also notes positive signs of recovery in the state’s real estate industry.

The survey polls market research economists, industry executives, real estate scholars and other experts.

“Results indicate that the real estate market in Florida has hit bottom and is in the process of stabilizing across most property types,” said Timothy Becker, the center’s director.

Private capital – both foreign and domestic – continues to enter the state in search of quality investment deals, he added.

Seventeen of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased sales of existing homes in 1Q 2010 compared to the same three-month-period a year earlier, while all of the MSAs showed gains in condo sales.

The statewide existing-home median sales price was $133,800 in 1Q 2010; a year earlier, it was $140,900 for a decrease of 5 percent. According to industry analysts with the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes. The median is a typical market price where half the homes sold for more, half for less.

Inthe year-to-year quarterly comparison for condo sales, 16,897 units sold statewide for the quarter compared to 10,131 in 1Q 2009 for a 67 percent increase. The statewide existing-condo median sales price was $95,800 for the three-month period; in 1Q 2009, it was $110,000 for a decrease of 13 percent.

Low mortgage rates remain another favorable influence on the housing sector. According to Freddie Mac, the national commitment rate for a 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5 percent in 1Q 2010; one year earlier, it averaged 5.06 percent.

The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was 5 percent this week, down from last week when it averaged 5.06 percent. A year ago, 30-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 4.84 percent, Freddie Mac said.

The average rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages was 5 percent this week

Rates dropped to a record low of 4.71 percent in December, pushed down by a campaign by the Federal Reserve to reduce borrowing costs for consumers.

The program ended at the end of March, but the Fed left the door open to reviving the program if the economy weakens.

The last time rates for 30-year fixed mortgages averaged less than 5 percent was the week of March 25, when they were 4.99 percent.

More Americans signed contracts in March to buy previously owned homes before the expiration of a tax credit that has helped support the housing market.

The housing market, which triggered the worst recession since the 1930s, has received a boost from a tax incentive of as much as $8,000 for buyers who signed the contracts by the end of April. Job gains are needed to help sustain demand and limit foreclosures in the absence of government aid, broadening the economic recovery.

“More people came in to beat the rush,” Stephen Gallagher, chief U.S. economist at Societe Generale SA in New York, said before the report. “Sales are rising at a pretty healthy clip. There’s growing confidence that the job market has bottomed out and is crawling up again.”

Sales were projected to rise in March after an originally reported gain of 8.2 percent in February, according to the median of 39 forecasts in the Bloomberg survey. Estimates ranged from gains of 0.9 percent to 9 percent.

Orders placed with U.S. factories unexpectedly rose in March, propelled by demand for business equipment and petroleum, signaling the economic expansion gained speed at the end of the first quarter.

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Tourist numbers are on a par with last year, said Kathy O'Bryan, manager of Peach's Restaurant on Holmes Beach.

By RICHARD DYMOND – rdymond@bradenton.com

ANNA MARIA ISLAND — Every year for the past 25, Mark Short and his family leave the suburbs of Detroit for a week and come to Anna Maria Island for a vacation.

Sometimes it’s for Easter week like this year, sometimes it’s in the summer.

Still, some things have changed.

For one, the Shorts now plan out everything they will spend for the week instead of just letting spontaneity rule.

And instead of spending the whole week at a rented condo or house at the beach, they now save money by spending half their vacation with either Short’s sister-in-law, Nancy Haller, or his father-in-law, Jim Tyrrell, both of Bradenton.

Occupancy levels for hotels and motels in Manatee County showed small incremental increases over last season, starting in December, said Jessica Grace, marketing and public relations director for the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

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WASHINGTON (AP) – April 9, 2010 – Rates for 30-year home loans surged last week, rising to the highest level in eight months due to the improving economy and the end of a government push to keep rates low.

Interest Rates Hit 8-month High

The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage was 5.21 percent this week, up from 5.08 percent a week earlier, Freddie Mac said Thursday. That’s the highest since mid-August, when the average rate was 5.29 percent.

Rates had dropped to a record low of 4.71 percent in December, pushed down by a campaign by the Federal Reserve to reduce borrowing costs for consumers. The program ended last week, but the Fed left the door open to reviving the program if the economy weakens.

Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day, often tracking the interest rate paid on long-term Treasury bonds.

Treasury yields have climbed steadily in recent weeks because of weak demand. The government has had to offer a better interest rate to sell its bonds as investors shift toward stocks and riskier corporate debt.

The 10-year yield rose above 4 percent on Monday for the first time since June, but fell back to 3.85 percent on Thursday.

This week, the average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.52 percent, up from 4.39 percent last week.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.25 percent, up from 4.1 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 4.14 percent from 4.05 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount.

The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.6 of a point for 30-year, 15-year and 5-year loans and 0.5 of a point for 1-year-loans.