Sarasota/St. Petersburg Real Estate Blog by Corcoran Dwellings

Statistics Show April is the Best Month of the Year to Sell a Home

In today’s market, it seems as if it’s always a good time to sell a home because they’re selling fast, often sight unseen. However, this month, depending on the city, may be the best time of the best times to sell a home, according to realtor.com’s 2021 Best Time to List analysis.

From April 18-24, debuting home sellers should see more buyer interest, less competition from other sellers, a faster sale and a higher listing price, the study suggests.

To determine the optimum time to list, the study considered competition from other sellers, median listing prices, time it takes to sell, likelihood of price reductions and interest from buyers measured by views per property on realtor.com’s website. Because of COVID’s disruption in 2020, the analysis included 2018-2019 listing data.

“Unlike 2020 when COVID upended the spring home-buying season and pushed buyer interest to later in the year, this year’s housing market is following more typical seasonal trends,” says realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale. “With half as many homes available for sale this year than last, sellers are well positioned for a quick sale at top dollar. However, for most sellers, listing sooner rather than later could really pay off with less competition from other sellers and potentially a higher sale price. They’ll also avoid some big unknowns lurking later in the year, namely another possible surge in COVID cases, rising interest rates and the potential for more sellers to enter the market.”

However, while that April sweet spot for listing a home may be true for most Florida metro areas, it’s not so consistent in South Florida. According to realtor.com’s analysis, the best day of the year for a seller to list a home in a major...

Historic Belle Haven in Downtown Sarasota Listed For Sale

Perched between the 10-floor Hyatt Regency and the gleaming new 18-story Ritz-Carlton condo tower on 15 bayfront acres being developed under the umbrella of the Quay Sarasota, the Mediterranean Revival apartment building opened in 1926 and just hit the market for $12.5 million.

The three-story Belle Haven has kept its good looks. Designed by architect Dwight James Baum, Belle Haven was originally known as Broadway Apartments and was one of the buildings in the Broadway Development that also included the Baum-designed John Ringling Towers and the headquarters of the Sarasota Times newspaper–now the upscale restaurant and bar Sage. After Belle Haven was completed, developer Owen Burns bought the building for $250,000 and named it El Vernona Apartments. When real estate crashed in the late ’20s, Sarasota resident Elmer Whittle took it over and renamed it Belle Haven.

“It is the last of the historic buildings that were once on that site,” says Tony Souza of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation. “By 1935, no further development had occurred in the area and all the other historic buildings on the Quay site were demolished.”

When it opened, Belle Haven had 20 furnished apartments. Residents had maid and janitorial services, a roof garden, kitchenettes with electric ranges, linens, silverware and dumbwaiters in each apartment. Boasting “modern day living,” its restrictions forbid cattle, horses and poultry. “Furnished by Gimbels in New York, it was considered a very swanky...