A happy spring hello to everyone,

When I wrote last month spring had just sprung 😉 Now we have a nice full thick coat of green pollen on everything! People who don’t normally have allergies this season still experience some issues with the pollen especially if you work outside all day (which I love to do). Be sure to keep some local honey in your diet to help reduce the effects. I take mine in my two cups of coffee every morning. 😉

The front page of last month’s Gainesville Business Report says it all. “Shortage of Qualified Construction Workers are Creating Challenge for Local Companies”. I didn’t need to read the report to know that for a fact. I get this information firsthand from my boyfriend who has a commercial construction company. His biggest challenge these days is finding reliable and qualified workers. It’s very cool to have this insight so I can see the “big picture” when it comes to the real estate market and changes that lie ahead. I don’t have to be that smart to figure out if he’s having to pay more for an experienced carpenter his prices are going to have to go up. That means the cost of building will go up. Gainesville’s current median price home inventory is low which means more people will have to turn to building new homes to get what they want.

I’ve spent a lot of time this past week talking to friends that are real estate brokers and owners about our local market trends from wages to business growth and challenges. I gotta give a shout out and say thank you for being a member of such a supportive Realtor community! It is one of the blessings of being a member of the Gainesville Alachua County Association of Realtors. I have been told that this openness is not the case in all markets and I have experienced that to be true.

Everyone I spoke to said they were experiencing properties leaving their property management inventory and being sold. At the same time though, investors are buying property and putting them in to their management inventory. It is so helpful to be so close to all of it: construction, property management and real estate sales. I started seeing the changes in the construction industry a couple of years ago when some of the construction, painting and handyman vendors I would normally turn to for back up, no longer had time for my work. That was the beginning….

All of these are neon signs for “The time to buy is now!!!” Especially with the interest rates on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage falling from 3.71 to 3.59 last week. If this is a good time for buyers to be in the market, then it’s certainly a good time to sell your home. While we do specialize in property management we are also a full-service real estate office and can provide you with a market analysis.  We want to help you determine the sales value of your home so you can decide whether it’s a good time to sell and we can represent you in selling your home.

You can see from my short video clip below that it was a packed house at the recent Builders Association Of North Central Florida annual horseshoe tournament. Another sign that business is good! Kudos and a big thank you to Jeff and Patti Moser for hosting this awesome event annually for both the Realtors’ and Builders’ Association.

With spring also comes spring break for the kids. This year I took my daughter and college spring breaker to Siesta Key for a few days. Then we took my mother and other daughter, granddaughter and family to the lower Sante Fe River close to both Ichetucknee and Suwannee River where we rented a house through Airbnb.

Then a quick car ride to make it back in time for our annual Easter Celebration at my sisters house. What a fun, family filled month it has been! Our Easter celebration is so much fun. The kids have quickly outnumbered the adults and the family pyramid is getting trickier! I put together a couple of quick little iMovie clips in the link below.

Because I love Siesta Key Beach Village area I did a little walking tour video of the place we rented. If you’re ever heading that way and need a recommendation, I highly recommend this place.  I can also recommend some other great places near the beach 🙂

Have a great month!