Welcome to the best monthly newsletter in St. Pete and possibly the known universe. My goal for this monthly newsletter is to highlight the best events happening within the Pinellas County Young “Professionals” Meetup group as well as other awesome things going on in the St. Pete area. I may add some sprinkles on top like a member highlight and/or local real estate update.
We will keep this short and sweet. Here’s what you can expect in this 2 minute newsletter
- Event schedule for Pinellas County Young “Professionals”
- Links to other sweet events in the St. Pete area
- Member highlight of the month
- Local real estate update
Upcoming Events For Pinellas County Young “Professionals”
Click on this calendar for a link to it
Events be looking pretty sparse this month. Don’t be afraid to let me know if you have a good idea for an event that you’d like to host. There’s so much to do around here just need some more people to step up and host events!
I had to reschedule Classy As Sh*t Thursday to November 17th because of the tropical storm coming through. Weather should be awesome next week though. Here’s the link.
Saturday the 12th Alexa is hosting a paddle board meetup at Ft Desoto. This is a great place to either kayak or do stand up paddle boarding. You can bring your own or rent one there. Link be right here.
THANKSGIVING
I’m sure some of you don’t have family in town so let’s do a Frandsgiving at my place. Keeping it simple – potluck style bring drinks and food to share and I’ll get a bonfire going. I just spoke to my friend today and he volunteered to have our Frandsgiving at his beautiful historic house so I think we might go that route. HERE’S THE LINK TO FRANDSGIVING.
Other sweet lookin events around the area
Psychedelic Art Show This Friday Night @ The Factory
From their FB Page
“Join us as we kick-off into a month of mind-altering art at The Factory where psychedelic sights and sounds abound!”
Nov 19th – Downtown Dunedin Art & Craft Festival
From their website “One of the oldest towns on the West Coast of Florida, Dunedin has a wooded and subtropical setting with almost four miles of picturesque waterfront, a relaxed lifestyle, and activities for all likes and ages. Just a short drive from Tampa, along Dunedin’s Main Street, you will meet some of the country’s finest artists and crafters with products all handmade in America. Ceramic planters, functional pottery, hair accessories, handmade one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces and an expansive Green Market offers something for every taste & budget. If Tampa Bay is on your travel agenda this November, you can not miss out on this terrific weekend craft event! “
Dunedin is an awesome little city to walk around even without anything going on. A little Arts & Crafts festival sounds like a good time. I’d recommend bringing a bicycle to cruise around Dunedin but it’s small enough to walk as well.
Member Highlight
Frank Capsas – Man Of Action
Our member highlight for this month is DRUMROLL PLEASE…….. The Most Interesting Man In The World also known as Frank Capsas!
A few months ago I jokingly renamed the group members “Overachievers” but Frank truly is an overachiever. This man plays viola in the Tampa Bay Symphony and dresses extremely well for a straight man. I was thinking about finding a gay friend to help me dress myself better but I think I’m gonna just buy Frank drinks and get a consult from him instead.
He’s a great guy to invite to a house party because he will bring bottles of hand crafted liquor drinks. Also we didn’t have fireworks for our 3rd of July party but thankfully Frank had a flare gun for some reason so we improvised.
Let’s channel our inner British and give 3 cheers to Frank. Hip Hip Hooray! x3. I think that’s what they say over there.
Real Estate Update
The disparity between list price and sold price is getting bigger and bigger. Don’t be afraid to put in a low offer!
Why would it be a good time to buy right now?
This really depends on your circumstances. If you’re paying attention to the market the first thing you know is how quickly interest rates are rising and unfortunately prices aren’t dropping in equilibrium quite yet but we’re getting there. If you’re considering buying as a hedge against rising rent rates then it could be a good idea, but it’s still not quite as balanced as I’d feel comfortable buying.
I think the one exception is if I happened to find a house perfect for me and was willing to put up with the high interest rates for the foreseeable future. My lender seems to think that rates will settle around 6% as the new normal but even if that’s true I think prices need to come down a bit. We went slightly parabolic compared to the rest of the US. Check out this graph, apparently we were setting records at #3 for cities in the US with rising property values during le pandemic.
Maybe right now isn’t the best time to buy compared to previous years but it’s also not a bad time to keep an eye out if you find something and it makes sense. Sellers are much more willing to negotiate on price, repairs and concessions. Did you know that you can ask a seller to give you a credit which will buy down your rate?
Keep this all in perspective. Is it better to be in a red hot market where every house you like has 15 offers and there’s a good chance you’ll get outbid? Or maybe you get the contract but have to waive inspections and/or cover a large appraisal gap out of your savings.
Or is it OK to buy in a market with more inventory and less competition? If the numbers make sense and you’re not stretching yourself too thin it has potential to work out great in the long run. I can help you calculate a payment – you need to consider tax reassessments, insurance premiums, your mortgage rate and possibly HOA fees.
I had to pay $20,000 over appraised value when I bought my house because it was the height of the market and there were 14 other offers. I didn’t exactly “get a good deal” but I knew the house was perfect for me so I went for it and I’m still happy with it.
Hypothetically let’s say everything goes right, you find an awesome house and since you are the only one offering on it, you’re able to get a lower price as well as repairs/seller paid concessions that make you feel like you’ve made a solid investment.
Of course no one knows what’s going to happen but if you believe rates will be below 7-8% in the future then you could eventually refinance and get a lower monthly payment. I had a mortgage lender reach out to me and let me know that they are doing adjustable rate mortgages under 5% currently. This means you get 5 years at a certain rate and then you either sell or refinance in the future. The thing is you have to have enough equity in your house when you refinance so if prices were to go down dramatically you would have to bring cash to the table to get that new rate. 5 years is a long time for appreciation though – I’d stay optimistic but ARMs can be a big risk to take.
I’m sure you’ve read the doomer articles headlined something like “Buckle in for housing market freefall, the bubble is huge!” and then you read the article and they’re predicting a 10-20% drop. Yeah well after a 30-40% increase in prices in the past few years that’s kind of what everyone is hoping for. They say it’s not a good idea to try to time the housing market – your best bet is to only get into a situation when you have all the information and can afford the monthly payment.
Here’s an article I wrote on the Top 8 Beach Neighborhoods in our area!
OK that’s about it. Hope you enjoyed the best newsletter in the known universe. Have a good one!!!