Suncoast Real Estate in 2024: Tips and Trends with Jim and Alex

In this inaugural episode of Jim Sells the Suncoast, host Jim Ahearn sits down with Alex Krumm, the broker-owner of Next Home Excellence, to discuss the dynamic real estate market and the appealing lifestyle of Florida's Suncoast. With a wealth of experience and numerous accolades, including being named Realtor of the Year in 2022, Alex shares valuable insights on the region's most desirable neighborhoods, the factors driving demand for various types of housing, and the future of real estate development in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Listeners will gain practical advice on navigating the local market, including tips for first-time homebuyers and investors. The conversation also touches on important considerations such as local government policies, insurance, and the potential for property appreciation. Whether you're looking for a beachfront villa or a suburban home, this episode offers a comprehensive overview of what makes the Suncoast a prime destination for new residents.

Key Takeaways:

• The appeal of Sarasota and Manatee counties for new residents
• Insights into historical and cultural factors impacting real estate
• Future development plans and the demand for different housing types
• Practical advice for first-time homebuyers and investors
• Importance of understanding insurance considerations
• Potential for property appreciation in the Suncoast region

What's Next:
Follow Jim Sells the Suncoast to stay informed about the latest trends and expert advice on the Florida Suncoast real estate market.

Looking to buy or sell a home on the Suncoast? Reach out to Jim at jim.ahearn@gmail.com or visit his website, Jim Sells the Suncoast

In need of a broker? Reach out to Alex and mention Jim sent you to get the VIP treatment! Connect via email at alexk@nexthomeexcellence.com or visit his website, NextHome Excellence

A Personal Note from Jim:

Hey there, I’m Jim Ahearn, your go-to real estate guide and host of Jim Sells The Suncoast podcast! 🎙️✨ Dreaming of Florida life? I’ve got you covered! As your dedicated buyer's agent, I’ll handle everything from walk-throughs to closing, making your home-buying journey as smooth as a Florida breeze.

Whether you're local or tuning in from afar, I’ll bring the Suncoast to you with virtual tours and expert advice. Let’s chat about your dream home and I'll connect you with all the right people to make it happen.

Ready to move to paradise? Drop me a line – I can’t wait to help! 🌴🏡

Transcript

Jim: 0:00

Welcome to Jim Sells to Suncoast, where we explore everything from beachfront bliss to suburban serenity and the vibrant communities along Florida's Suncoast. I'm your host, Jim Ahern, and today we have a special guest joining us, Alex Crum, broker owner of Next Home Excellence. From navigating the intricacies of local markets to uncovering hidden gems in Sarasota and Manatee counties, alex is not only a seasoned real estate professional, but also a true advocate for the Suncoast lifestyle with nearly two decades of experience and a deep connection to the area spanning over 30 years. Alex brings a wealth of knowledge as a past president of the Realtor Association of Sarasota and Manatee. Named Realtor of the Year in 2022 and armed with multiple industry designations, he's here to guide us through the nuances of finding your dream home and living your best life on the Suncoast. Join us as we dive into insightful conversations about real estate trends, community insights, and how to blend the essence of this coastal paradise into your own home search. All right, folks. Today I have the pleasure of having Alex Crum with me. He is a broker of Next Home Excellence, of which I am an agent working with him and for him. He was the 2021 president of the RACM, which is the Realtor Association of Sarasota Manatee. He's been a director of Florida Realtors. He was the Raysome Realtor of the Year for 2022. He has sold over a thousand homes. He's been in the area since 1990, so welcome Alex. And thanks for being here.

Alex: 1:30

It's my pleasure, Jim. I love this. What can I do for you?

Jim: 1:33

Great. I wanted to pick your brain and talk about the Suncoast as a destination. You've been here for a little while. You've been through the real estate. We've gone through several different cycles. But when you look at 2008, when you look at what we went through with COVID, what we're changing around now with mortgage rates, there's been a lot of different changes going on. So getting that perspective of, Hey, if you're coming to look at this area, what is there in this area? What do you look for in a home? What do you look for in location? And touch base on all of that.

Alex: 2:02

Yeah, absolutely. One of the things that I have found Jim in the time that I have been working here professionally with people who are often relocating to Sarasota is that they really come here for the lifestyle. Sarasota is great climate. You cannot beat the beaches on the Gulf coast. They are, yes, we have a lot of beaches in Florida and yes, they are absolutely better on the West coast. But when people come here, it's because they're looking for a certain vibe. And I think people are more attracted to the lifestyle than they are the particular location. But what's really great about Sarasota is that we are great on a bunch of those different lifestyles. The reason Sarasota is on the map at all is. Because a hundred years ago, we were the winter home for the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus,

Jim: 2:43

and

Alex: 2:43

we still see that influence all over the place. A lot of the homes that I have sold here have been to people who have a lot of those circus routes, and if you go a little bit farther east here to the more rural areas, not the Sarasota that you and I think of, but the more rural areas just east of us, you can still go out there and find lions roaring. There's an elephant preserve. There are people who do death defying acts who are here. It's phenomenal for that reason. But then on top of that, Sarasota is well manicured. It's beautiful from start to finish. And my favorite thing having been here since 1990, when we were actually a small town, bigger now, but it has never lost that small town appeal for me. It still feels like a small town, even though obviously now we're a bustling city.

Jim: 3:27

Absolutely. It's got that small town feel with big town amenities. So let's dig a little deeper. And what makes Sarasota such a sought after destination? And today's real estate market.

Alex: 3:36

And today's real estate market, two things. Number one, beaches, number two, appreciation. So people want to live in really good homes. They want to live in beautiful places. Sarasota is both of those has lots of beautiful homes and is a really beautiful place. Just really a shockingly beautiful place. And people come here because they want it. They're attracted to the beaches and that's what brings them specifically to siesta key beach, which is consistently named. Number one, not like we can always talk about, argue about who's going to get second, but he has to keep always going to be number one. And I expect that to happen for a long time. The other reason why is because Sarasota has a genesis, a certain quality about it that creates that buzz that leads to great home appreciation. So it's the affluence that comes into our area. There's a lot of wealth that has come into Sarasota over the course of the last 25, 30 years. So that's a part of it. People are attracted when they come here. Because of the culture, the favorable, Floridian climate. We have Sarasota County is known for having really good local government, really exceptional schools. We have all the ingredients for why people want to come here. And that's why we see better appreciation in Sarasota than a lot of other places on the Suncoast.

Jim: 4:37

So how do you think the seasons, shape the lifestyle and property preference?

Alex: 4:41

Of course, because we have just beautiful winters. So when we're looking here, there's definitely a difference And I'm going to say the difference is not between seasons. The difference is between locals and transplants. So what I have seen is that as people continue to come here, they tend to want to be closer to the water and I don't blame them at all where locals tend to want to stay a little bit farther East. And the reason why is because as you get a little bit closer to the water, you do get into some more of those touristy areas. And there are some beautiful areas. If you start looking West of trail, if you start looking at our downtown areas there's a lot of appeal for people to come there, but really Our snowbird guests are people who are only here part time. That's where they really want to be for that lifestyle. But a lot of our locals are choosing to spread out a little bit more and they're spreading out a little bit farther east. So what we see then is when we're in the summer, when we're in the fall, when seasons are pretty good everywhere in the United States, where summers are beautiful, when you get to Michigan, Ohio Massachusetts, a lot of our people come from there. What you see there is that the market is so different that time of year, because you're talking about a lot of cash buyers. You're talking a lot about a second homes in the summertime. In the fall, you start to see the locals move around a little bit more. They don't want to compete in the real estate market, right? Double the residents for those three or four months of the year. And they're frankly too busy to do those moves anyway. But this time of year, you and I are here recording this in August. This is when we see people who live here for a long time, school is just in. So families move around right now. They're catching their breath here before we actually see our season start, which happens coming right up. As soon as it starts to snow up north, it's below freezing. That's where we start to see our action pick up. It's really climate driven. The colder it is up there, the busier we are down here.

Jim: 6:23

Oh, absolutely. What types of homes are most coveted? Do you think those embracing the Suncoast lifestyle?

Alex: 6:31

What's, what we've seen a huge amount of people move into recently are villas, especially detached villas. And that's the best of both worlds. You have the freedom and the privacy of a single family home, but you have the benefit of low maintenance because you do sometimes share a roof and there are forms of villas that don't, but either way it's maintenance free and it just makes it easier for you To be there when you're not there to make sure that everything is well taken care of. So those are just explosive for us. And as we've gotten a little bit busier and prices in our area have gone up because just like everywhere else in the country, our prices have gone up significantly over the course of the past few years, we're starting to see a lot more appeal for shared housing, like townhouses and condos. Because they are affordable for people, but still really nice. And what's great about those is that tend to be really rich. That's where you start to really have the really nice community pools. A lot of times you're going to have game rooms, a lot of the community, single family home communities included. Just in the course of the past five or eight years, we've seen huge amenities centers that are being built and everything in the community is really geared towards the clubhouse. It's really geared towards they'll have spas. They'll have lifestyle coordinators. And so again, it's that lifestyle that brings people

Jim: 7:41

right?

Alex: 7:42

What

Jim: 7:43

unique characteristics or lifestyle benefits do you think the properties offer potential buyers? I think you started digging into that Right there. When you talk about the amenity center with everything in there, when you look out star farms has this huge practice set up where you can do football, rugby, lacrosse, or everything is set up inside there. So all the students that are going to school can go there and train.

Alex: 8:06

Yeah. So let's do a little quick little history lesson. So 25 years ago, 30 years ago. We had a huge section of Manatee County, really, which is a neighbor to Sarasota where we are, but it's all in the same market. It's definitely within our market area called the Schroeder Manatee Ranch. The Schroeder Manatee Ranch was the ranch that eventually became Lakewood Ranch, which Lakewood Ranch is one of the most award winning master plant communities in the history of the United States. And it's really large. There are dozens and dozens of communities that are within there. Thousands and thousands of people live, and it's really a little town center. And what that started to do was it started to shift the thinking because it was so popular right out of the gate. And because there was such demand for housing like that was lifestyle oriented. And keep in mind, that's not even close to the beach. What started to happen was, is that other developers started to take notice. And so we went from a place where most communities had amenities that were Sidewalks. If you were lucky, they were gated. And suddenly we started looking at communities that had parks. We started looking at them that had recreational areas where families could come out to if you start looking at Lakewood Ranch, like they have frisbee golf, they have polo grounds. They have walking trails miles and miles like hundreds of miles of walking trail lots of wide open space They're famous for having a third of their spaces And the developer started to look at those amenities and started wrapping those in saying that there's a real demand here So we started another community not as big as lakewood ran here in sarasota called village walk and village walk were solidly built homes, but if you wanted You could live in Village Walk, and they had a gas station, they had a barbershop, they had a post office they had a little convenience store on top of the technical amenities, like community friendly equipment. What happened was, is that exploded. And when that happened, the developers looked at this, and we started coming out, now we started to see the master plan, and we knew we couldn't miss. Extremely because people were willing. They didn't want to just pay for them. They wanted those in the communities and they wanted that to be a part of their lifestyle. And that has never slowed down. It's just never slowed down. And it doesn't matter how old you are. It does not matter the demographic.

Jim: 10:21

People wanted it. There was no more room. Let's build another one with all those same things. And we just keep them going. What about up and coming neighborhoods? What are you seeing as the hidden gems on the Suncoast that are gaining popularity?

Alex: 10:32

Oh, so if you would start looking at the Suncoast, there is a community south of us. If we were to look back, if you were to purchase into liquid ranch 30 years ago, you would be sitting in a completely different tax bracket today. That has been up and coming and the people who have lived there for the whole time. It's just wonderful. People like to live there. We have another 1 of those that is getting built right now, just south of us called well in park and well in park is like liquid ranch, but they're exploding 1 of the biggest, fastest growing communities in the history Of our area, because of those, the lifestyle that they're putting through, they're modeling that on Lakewood Ranch. And so Welland Park, similar to Lakewood Ranch, has a bunch of different communities, there are a bunch of different builders, there are a bunch of different price points, and a bunch of different amenity levels that are built within the community. But it is also on its road, on its way to becoming its own little town center, and I expect that is an area that is going to continue to explode over time. The other thing that's happening right now, if we start to look at other areas,

Jim: 11:28

Where are

Alex: 11:29

really good opportunities for people to get in now, if we're looking five years ahead, 10 years ahead, which if you're a smart buyer, you should be looking five years or 10 years ahead because you shouldn't buy a home that you only want to be in for a year. The goal is to be there for a little while, because that's where you make the most money. But if we start looking at some of our suburbs. If we start looking at Parrish, if we start looking at Palmetto, if we start looking at Northport, which historically, for those of us who have lived here, are just little satellite towns that have just been between the bigger towns. Those are right now, they are becoming the suburbs for Sarasota for Bradenton, for St. Petersburg, for Tampa, just a little bit north of us. And that's where we're starting to see some really fantastic deals take hold. There are more building permits pulled, I think right now in parish and Palmetto, which are smaller towns

Jim: 12:14

than in

Alex: 12:14

all of Sarasota and Bradenton, which are bigger towns. And it just shows you the level of growth they're going through. And that is an opportunity for a buyer to get in when the prices are here. The more that they build, the more that people move to our area. And that is not going to slow down anytime soon. The higher those prices are going to go. And I expect that over time, those are going to perform well for the people who buy them.

Jim: 12:33

And with the lifestyle that we have down here, I would expect us. We're going to see a lot of the same amenities are going in and they still have the same proximity to the beats. They still have the same proximity to the cultural things that we have going on. There's a lot of upside to looking at these, I don't want to call them satellite communities, but the ones that are around maybe the bigger areas.

Alex: 12:52

Yeah. And in fact, some of'em, they even have better locations. So if you start to look at Parish and Palmetto, you have easy access to Sarasota in our downtown area and our beaches. It's really easy access. You have the same thing out in Manatee County, so you're down there, but you're closer to St. Petersburg and Clearwater, which are phenomenal and completely different from Sarasota and Bradenton. You're very close to Tampa. Which is great. If you want to go see sporting events. We have the Rowdy's up in St. Pete. We have the Buccaneers, we have the Lightning we have the Tampa Bay Rays. All of those are just a short driving distance. And so you have all of that, your entire recreation built into an area that's really, frankly, it's really pretty area.

Jim: 13:30

Yeah, you're talking within 45 minutes, maybe? Oh, yeah. Really, any direction.

Alex: 13:35

Yeah, maximum in any direction. 45 minutes is going to get you what you're looking for. You have the lifestyle that you're looking for, and that's a shorter commute than a lot of people are currently doing, even to work from some of the northern neighbors.

Jim: 13:44

So let's take a look sideways. How do insurance considerations and costs compare for the Suncoast properties? Maybe are the regions, and even within our own, when we look islands, coast, and then moving inland,

Alex: 13:55

Yeah.

Jim: 13:55

What are you seeing through that?

Alex: 13:57

So insurance hazard insurance, which is the way that most of us think of homeowners insurance for your single family. It's not going to matter too much where you're located. That is going to make a difference for flood insurance, which I'll break off into that in just a second. But when you're talking about insurance for the single family homes, one of the things to keep in mind is that the newer the home is, usually the lower the rate is going to be. And that's true twofold. That's number one is because the homes themselves are newer and they're less likely to run into some just the things that happened to homes over time. They're just less likely to deteriorate. They're just not as early in the process, or they're just earlier in the process. But the other reason is because the building materials themselves are better and because the codes are stricter. That the counties are imposing. And because of those things, the insurance companies look at it and say that these homes are less of a risk. And if it's less of a risk, that's going to lead to a lower policy. It is entirely conceivable. And it happens all the time that a newer, but more quote air quote expensive home actually has a lower monthly payment because of the insurance than some of the older homes. And that can be a pretty big swing. So that's just one of the things to keep in mind as you're looking at that on pricing is to figure out what that. That should be a part of a due diligence period to figure out what that's going to look like, figure out the sellers paying. Now, flood insurance is going to make a big difference. Everything should have flood insurance. Just to be really clear, every property in the state of Florida is in a flood zone and it is advisable to get flood insurance. If you're not, In a flood zone that requires insurance, like flood zone X, the policy is really low, just a few hundred dollars per year, and you have a lot of protection that's built into that. So I always recommend that you should always get that. If you start looking at, though, for our lifestyle, the closer you get to the Gulf, in particular on our Keys, and our Keys are just barrier islands. If you start looking there, that is, in really great times, one of the best places to see the sunset. It's a great place to go to the beach. If we have a storm brewing out in the Gulf, that is our first line of defense is what is on the island. And so what you run into there, especially as you get along the Gulf you start to run into velocity zones where they start looking at storm surge and your insurance rates are going to go much higher in those areas. And one of the things that if cost is a consideration, which of course it is for a lot of people, you can have all the benefit of living close to the beach without actually being right on the beach. That's the beauty of where we live. There's no travel time to get to these places. Even from our mainland, there's really not. And there's lots of good opportunities there.

Jim: 16:19

Yeah, there's virtually no bad location. What are you hearing about local regulations or zoning policies that are contributing to our lifestyle? What kind of changes or what's being done along the Suncoast?

Alex: 16:31

What we're seeing is we're seeing a lot of and the reason why we're seeing so much building and the policies that are very developer friendly is not just because the counties want to sell more homes and collect more impact. These that is part of it. Part of it is that what we're seeing is that there is an enormous and unprecedented demand. This started in COVID. We started to see people migrating. They're already coming, but we had a perfect storm in 2020 where the whole world shut down, where technology reached a level where people can work from anywhere, and employers started to acknowledge that people can work from anywhere. If you can work from anywhere, Jim, why not work from the beach? And because Florida had just gained reputation as a place where people could come and work. And have a little bit less regulation that was happening in some of the other parts of the country and particularly the COVID regulation. Keep in mind that our building regulations are pretty strict. We are building better quality homes than almost anywhere else in the country. I would put Florida's building codes up against any state in the country. We're building better homes and we're building them well. But what we're seeing is we have to keep up with the housing demand because people are coming and there's not enough housing for them here. So what we're seeing from a policy perspective, from a government perspective, is that they are paving the way for a huge swaths of Florida. Which have historically been pasture land where grazing for cows that we're starting to see those convert at a really high level into new housing for people. And that's why you're seeing a lot of apartment buildings that are going up, which is of course, temporary housing or long term renters. But I don't think it's ever designed to be where people actually live not for long periods of time. It does get used that way, but all of that development is because people are coming to Florida and they're going to keep coming. And as long as people keep coming to Florida and we have a shortfall in the housing, which we have an enormous shortfall. In the housing on almost unovercomeable shortly, it's going to take us years, even from today to catch up with however many people are coming to Florida. Expect those prices to continue to rise. And that's the government policies. They're just trying to give people a place to live here and we're stretching.

Jim: 18:26

What essential advice would you give to a first time homebuyer looking to settle down here on the Suncoast?

Alex: 18:32

Get in the door. You can never go wrong. Find an area. What's important. If you're a first time homebuyer, Jim, is that you find Not necessarily your perfect home, but you have to find the perfect for now home, which is a home that is going to appreciate well, be comfortable. And within your monthly comfort rate, not the maximum that you're approved for. It has to be the maximum that you're comfortable with paying. You don't want to be house poor, and find a home that needs not a whole lot of maintenance. There's a lot of those that are available, but do things like look at the ages of roofs. Do look at what updating needs to be done in the property. Think about the things you can change. Think about the things that you can't. My number one thing with first time home buyers is to look at location. Buy well, don't buy on a busy road,

Jim: 19:15

right?

Alex: 19:16

Don't buy homes that have funky floor plans that work for you, but they're not going to work for everybody. Make sure that you understand that your neighbors are going to be okay with other people or that people are going to come in and be okay with your neighbors. For instance, you might not want to be right next to a tomato farm where they're spraying chemicals all the time. Just be conscious of where you're purchasing and use that home, leverage that home up in three years or five years into the home that really works for you. But you should be happy with your home and there's a good, don't settle, just don't settle.

Jim: 19:46

Yeah.

Alex: 19:46

Be prepared to make concessions,

Jim: 19:48

right? What are some common missteps that a buyer should avoid when purchasing a home? You just mentioned that right there that one be within your budget, you don't have to go out and max it out. But what are some of the other missteps that buyers might make, especially if you're coming from the north or somewhere else to this environment and this, Climate this sun coast.

Alex: 20:09

One of the mistakes that I watch buyers make all the time is that they try to navigate what it looks like to purchase property in florida and to do that on their own. And in order to save a few dollars, most people do work with a buyer's agent to find their home. But the ones who make mistakes go directly to listing agents and what happens when you do that. Is that you lose leverage. You actually lose leverage in the transaction because you are making an offer on what you found. You're not leveraging somebody who actually knows the area and can turn you on to some of those hidden gems. And you might not be looking then at some of the downsides of the properties. Where a professional who's actively looking for you, doesn't care if you buy any particular home. They want you to find the best home for you and to work with you to do that. And the cost on it is basically the same. So why not have somebody in your corner who is a real estate genius for hire? So that's a big mistake that people look at. The number two mistake that a lot of buyers make is that they don't consider insurance early in the process. So what happens is that when you go under contract on a property, you'll run into a due diligence period, and there may be some repairs. Normally it's associated with inspections and you do any of the inspections that you want to do in the transaction, if you have a right of rescission that a lot of contracts do have rights of rescission built into them, cancellation clauses, what you'll find is that they don't consider what the insurance is going to look like and how that is going to affect their monthly budget. For instance, if they find a policy that is 2, 000 more expensive annually than they were expecting, that's a difference of almost 200 per month. That's something that they should be aware of walking into it. And that's something that a professional can help you identify what's going to have lower insurance rates and can work with first time home buyers before they even write the offer to figure out what they might be looking at financially. That's a solid move for any buyer to look at, but figure out what that insurance is early. Insurance is a big deal right now in Florida.

Jim: 22:01

What role does waterfront living play in shaping the Suncoast real estate landscape and how is it valued?

Alex: 22:08

Oh, waterfront. Waterfront is a subjective value. That one really does come down to what a buyer is willing to pay and what a seller is willing to take, and it depends on the caliber of the water. If you're talking about a lake behind your place that also serves as a retention pond, That's obviously a lot different than if your backyard is actually Sarasota Bay. And so what you'll find is that water will affect your value more than any other factor because it's location. And just a direct view compared to a peek a view is going to be a difference of at least tens of thousands of dollars. And if you start to get into the luxury market, it can easily be hundreds of thousands of dollars. And so that's one of those places, especially to have a professional helping you walk through what that looks like, who can help you do that subjective valuation. Someone's got to make an argument to the seller that it might not be worth what they think it's worth.

Jim: 23:01

Why is it crucial for buyers to factor in future development plans when considering property investments on the Suncoast,

Alex: 23:08

I haven't mentioned Starbucks at all, but There's a real estate investment rule that if you see a starbucks go in you want to start purchasing around there That is a good area where because starbucks tries to put their buildings Where they think there's going to be significant growth and significant property valuation over time, and they've gotten very famous for their ability to do that. They lead the pack. And and so what they're looking for, and the reason why they're looking for that is because they want to make sure that if they open that store, Okay. That store will maintain profitability perpetually. That's what they want. It sounds like a great business practice. Starbucks has figured out that for them, that means being around where the people are. So that's something that I think a lot of buyers can look at doing as well. It's not necessarily noticing where the Starbucks are, but understand. What communities are going around you? Are they going to build a big school nearby you? Are they talking about expansions for major corporations? Is Amazon coming to your area? Amazon is building all over Florida right now. And are these going to be things that are going to drive it over time? A savvy real estate investor looks at those and a first time home buyer at any level, if you purchase a home, you are an investor of some kind. You might not be a professional real estate investor, but you're investing and it's wise to watch for your investment to understand both the lifestyle, but also is that going to drive population in your area? The faster a population grows, the harder it is for the supply to keep up with the demand. If you have demand that exceeds your supply, that's how prices grow. And that's how investors who are savvy and looking at what's going on around them spend their money.

Jim: 24:39

Speaking of investors, what emerging trends are you observing in vacation and rental properties across the Suncoast?

Alex: 24:44

Those, okay, so we saw a huge growth in that during COVID. Just enormous growth. In fact, that's an area where we probably overgrew because what we're seeing right now, and we're seeing this nationally is we're seeing what we're seeing is that those things are starting to suck air, that the value, the prices that people aren't willing to pay for vacation rentals is down. And part of that is the current economic climate in the United States. Just dollars are tight and things are expensive. And then on top of that. What we're seeing is that there are so many of them that everybody's in competition with everybody else. So we're seeing fewer people travel. We're seeing fewer of those actually coming off the market with people who are renting into them. And a lot of those are coming onto the sales market because they're just not getting the cashflow that they're looking for. So what we have noticed, because we do run a pretty big property management company. Is that if you run seasonally or annually, there's not an enormous difference in the amount of money that you're going to net, but it's easier to do an annual than it is to do a seasonal. And seasonals in Florida don't do as well in the summertime as they do in the winter time. A lot of people come down, they want to get a seasonal property. Because it's cold up north and they want somebody to rent it all summer, then they have difficulty renting it in the summer because it's our off season

Jim: 25:55

and that

Alex: 25:55

causes them to suck air a little bit. And of course nobody really wants that. On top of that with some regulations that have made it harder and harder to do short term rentals. We're seeing that to be a less attractive option than it has been historically. It's still very profitable for people, but it's a lot of work. A lot of work and it is not as profitable as it used to be. I honestly think that seasonals where you're doing it for 30 to 60 days or an annual, or you're renting it for the most part of the year, six months a day is the definition of an annual or longer. That's where I think that you're running into a position where you're really doing, that's your better option as an investor right now as a landlord.

Jim: 26:32

So how do you as a broker owner, real estate agent assist your clients in navigating this coast? Particularly if they're coming from up north or far away, they stop in, what are some of the things that you do to help that person find that right house?

Alex: 26:48

So one of the things that I do, the first thing that we do is that we go on a tour and if you've not been to Sarasota before, if you've not been to our area, I want you to know our area. So I'll take you through some of the nice, cool little local areas and I'll drive you through the bigger ones as well. Yeah, we're going to go hit St. Armands. Yes, I'm going to drive you past Siesta Key Beach. I might show you some of the smaller beaches along the way. In the case of Siesta, I might even show you a couple of the cool beach accesses that you can get to when it's really busy on the beach so you can sneak in the back door. To some of those beaches, the little things that locals know,

Jim: 27:20

right?

Alex: 27:20

And I talk a lot about our lifestyle and what that looks like in the history of Sarasota. I think that stuff is pretty important to hear that from somebody who has actually walked the walk. What else I do though, is understanding that lifestyle is important. And what we have in Sarasota might not gel for everybody I coordinate with other agents up and down the sun coast who are in the same philosophy that we just want you to buy the best home. That's for you. Maybe it's with us, maybe it's not, but we really do want you to be in the best one. And so we'll help you coordinate your tour so that you're getting a similar experience. Whether you're looking at Clearwater ST Pete, if you're looking here in Sarasota Bradenton area, if you go a little bit farther south, starting to get into, Naples, Fort Myers, Cape Coral. We're able to help you out along the way as you do your tour. You're going to do your tour anyway. Might as well have people are helping you coordinate all of it.

Jim: 28:08

Alex, as we wrap up, what final advice would you give for people looking at the Suncoast? Whether they're buying, whether they're selling a couple of points and then we'll wrap up.

Alex: 28:16

Just pull the trigger. This is so nice and it is so nice to live here. I came from Alaska, Jim. I emigrated here from Alaska 35 years ago and I have never looked

Jim: 28:27

back.

Alex: 28:28

Alaska was beautiful. Florida is really beautiful. The weather is great. The climate is great. The taxes are low. The people are friendly. You can't go wrong. Just pull the trigger.

Jim: 28:39

You know what? Good advice.

Alex: 28:41

Thanks, Jim.

Jim: 28:42

Alex, thank you so much for coming on and spending this time with me, talking about the Suncoast, what we have going on, the opportunities that are here, the lifestyle that is here the amenities, everything you can want. Even if you want to climb a mountain, we have climbing walls here. I think we've got it all. Swimming year round.

Alex: 28:58

There's no celery, but there's plenty of mountain.

Jim: 29:00

That's true. You want to wrestle an alligator, we can set you up. So we've pretty much got it all. So thank you. I appreciate your time. We'll have your information in the show notes for anybody that wants to reach out and contact us. But thanks for coming on.

Alex: 29:13

Absolutely, Jim.