Real Estate & Investment Perspective by Karen Lee Bertiger

2026/10/292026/10/29

Random Thoughts at the End of October, 2026

You can usually sell “as is” but you may not want to market your property “as is.”

You can buy rural property under the USDA loan program without a down payment & only your inspection fee (unless you inspect it yourself.) This is a great program for someone who wants a little more land than house. Just place a clause in your purchase contract to get your earnest deposit refunded to you at closing. (“I want to do a USDA loan & I want to have my deposit refuded to me at closing.”)

Always get an updated survey from your seller & walk the boundaries yourself. Walk the entire property when it’s raining to be sure the rain is draining AWAY from the foundation of the property improvements.

Before you write a purchase offer, determine if there have been any insurance claims on the property when you call to determine if you can bind an insurance policy if you decide to buy.

Remember that taxes, insurance & HOA fees can change your monthly housing payments if you have a mortgage.

Florida median prices are down 1.5% year over year, but still UP by about 20% over the last five (5) years..

2026/10/23

By Now Florida Voters Have Heard of Amendment 3

For assistance in understanding the Amendment and its effect on your county, visit FloridaTaxWatch .org

2026/10/232026/10/29

Data Center Tax Benefits to Florida Counties

Did you know that data centers being controversial is all a matter of how they are handled at a local level? Zoning (in my opinion) should involve possibly only allowing data centers on bownfield land, having them use only closed loop cooling (saves on water & prevents pollution) as well as requiring upgrades to electric services and/or requiring their own electical generation.

Keep in mind that under Florda tax law, all the servers and other computer equipment is taxable as tangible property, which means the tax revenues may be huge! Not only property tax, but tangible property taxes would be payable.

2026/08/252026/08/25

Which Florida Cities Saw Increases/Declines in Single Family Home Sales?

Home sales in Flordia were generally up in July contrary to many national headlines. However, of course they are below COVID era sales, when many people were flooding into Florida to escape lockdowns in other states. In bound migration has dropped from roughly 1000+ new households during that time, to just over 500+ new households PER DAY now. That’s hardly a picture of decline. Florida Realtors report for the 11th month in a row they have sold more homes than a year ago. Many of them also sold at higher prices. As you know, all real estate is local.

Tallahassee saw year over year sales declined 24.6% compared to July, 2025. Lakeland-Winter Haven Saw a year over year sales decline of 6.1%.

Panama City sales jumped 23% year over year from July 2025. Sebastian-Vero Beach closed sales year over year increased 19.9%.

Sebastian-Vero Beach and Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent both had decreases in their median home prices year over year. One percent (1%) and two point one percent (2.1) respectively.

Th Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island median price was up eleven point one perccent (11.1%)

Sebring’s median price was up eight point three percent (8.3%) year over year.

2026/08/252026/08/25

Highlights from Last Week

In case you missed it, here’s the rapid-fire recap for August 17-21, 2026:

Monday, August 17th:

Homebuilder Sentiment (NAHB): Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes inched up one point to 35 in August. The Midwest continued to stand out with new home sales up more than 2% so far in 2026.

Tuesday, August 18th:

Pending Home Sales (NAR): Pending home sales decreased 2.3% month-over-month and 2.2% year-over-year in July, falling to their lowest level since January 2026.

Housing Starts (Census Bureau): July 2026 housing starts fell 12.4% from June and 13.5% year-over-year, while completions dropped 9.1% monthly and 16.8% annually. Building permits increased 5.0% from June and 3.1% YoY

Wednesday, August 19th:

Mortgage Applications (MBA): mortgage applications decreased 0.4% from one week earlier for the week ending August 14, 2026. Purchase applications declined 2% week over week and were down 3% year over year, while refinance applications increased 2% but remained 18% below the same week one year ago.

Thursday, August 13th:

Weekly Unemployment (DOL): Initial claims fell 6,000 to 206,000 in the week ending Aug. 15, while insured unemployment rose 18,000 to 1.799 million. The insured unemployment rate held at 1.2%.