Housing Market

March housing inventory was up for the first time since 2010, but this is taking a back seat to the continuing rise in home prices. Looking at 38 unique markets, Real Estate’s monthly report found that the median list price per square foot index was up 7.1% over where it was in March of 2013 to $186. Compared to March 2012, it is drastically up 23.2%. Out of all the markets studied, 34 witnessed a year-over-year increase in list price per square foot, with only two remaining the same and two recording slight decreases.

The holiday begins Saturday May 31st till Sunday June 8th. During this holiday period, qualifying items related to hurricane preparedness are exempt from sales tax.

Dowload the list of qualifying items here:

http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/taxes/pdf/hurricanelist.pdf

Hurricane forecast predictions 2014 season

Upon viewing the latest TSR predictions, We have found that tropical storm risk has lowered the amount of storm activity for the Atlantic region to reflect the following:
2 intense hurricanes, 5 hurricanes, and 12 tropical storms.

For the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, the predictions are noted below:
2 intense hurricanes, 3 hurricanes, and 7 tropical storms.

For U.S. landfall predictions:
1 hurricane, and 3 tropical storms.

What to know before selling, buying or renovating a home

To sort out what you can expect in real estate this year, MONEY zeroed in on four markets: upscale neighborhoods, new investor favorites, booming growth cities, and once-busy areas that have quieted down. Whether your local real estate market is heating up or cooling off, here's what you need to know about buying, selling or renovating your home.

Selling: Price carefully. With sales of higher-end properties picking up, homes are increasingly "stigmatized if they stay on the market too long,"

Buying: Time it right. Want a more expensive home? Buy now before prices climb. However, if you live in a pricey house but are looking to downsize to something less expensive, it may be worth waiting for your current home to appreciate.

Renovate sooner, not later. Don't let dated features drag down the value of your home. Owners thinking about remodeling have good reason to act now. Then there's the issue of rising rates, which would push up the cost of new home-equity loans and most lines of credit.

In the year 1968, the Uniform -Holidays-Bill was passed as part of an act to use federal public holidays to create 3 day weekends. This meant that, from the year 1971, Memorial Day has been legally observed on the last Monday in May of every year.

Funny things found by our estimators while doing roof inspections...