Watch for some big numbers from the Sarasota Association of Realtors when Herald-Tribune real estate reporter Josh Salman reports on March's home-sales statistics in Tuesday's newspaper.
SAR's Ray Porter reports:
-Sarasota Realtors notched the highest number of sales in a single month in almost eight years.
-The median sale price for single-family homes sold by SAR members was the highest in almost five years.
-The number of Realtor-reported pending sales was the highest in seven years.
-The absorption rate, also known as the available months' supply of inventory, was the lowest in a decade.
Feature story, or real estate advertisement?
So if you are selling your house, will I do a feature story about it in the newspaper?
That is was what one reader asked, in a Letter to the Editor, after she read my April 10 story about Villa Solstice, a mansion owned by Charles Githler and Kim Githler. They are selling the notable house, scene of many charity fundraising events, in Sapphire Shores.
Here is the short answer: Yes, reader, I might write about your house ... if it piques my curiosity.
But if you are selling, don't get your hopes up that my feature story will help you find a buyer. It happens, but not that often.
Maybe, just maybe, someone will read my story and give your house a second look. Maybe that someone will even buy it. But my intent is that our audience will read the story — the Githler story was the most-read story on heraldtribune.com the week it ran — and react to it. Some will like it, some won't. My goal is that you read and react.
So what might make your house interesting? It might be historic; maybe it was built by pioneering developer Owen Burns or oldtime Mayor E.A. Smith. Or architecturally significant; a Paul Rudolph, perhaps. It might have great decor, an unusual landscape or have been notably remodeled. It might be green or sustainable in a cutting-edge way or to a significant degree. Or you might be a celebrity in town, a major business person or philanthropist, and you have held a lot of fundraising parties there.
As a feature story, the Githler house had a lot going for it: well-known, successful owners who are starting new stages of their lives; notable, large house; and the most-expensive listing in Sarasota, to boot.
If your house is simply average, while it might be something that the majority of readers could afford, I doubt they would be interested in it for a feature story. Such homes are found in our Market Snapshot feature in the Saturday Real Estate section. That feature paints a picture of a particular neighborhood, showing the average home as an example of what buyers would find there as a matter of course.
Still, I expect that some commenters will continue to call feature stories in this section "real estate advertisements disguised as news stories."
