For most people, purchasing a home, will be the biggest investment they ever make. It can be fun and exciting… but it can also be scary and stressful. When it comes to the financing, buyers can get overwhelmed by choices and details. Talking these over with a Lender is, of course, a great way to get informed and feeling confident about choosing a loan that’s best for you. We understand, here at Savvy + Company, that sometimes buyers feel like they don’t know what to ask, especially if you’re buying a home for the first time. Don’t worry. We took the liberty of sitting down with one of our favorite Loan Originators, Kaity Ostrowsky, from FBC Mortgage and asking the questions for you!
Let’s talk about amenities and what they mean when house hunting. Amenities usually start out with a neighborhood pool and maybe a clubhouse. Tennis courts, basketball hoops, sometimes a dog park, a playground, even a golf course. The great thing about these amenities is.....
If you're a Gainesville resident, you've heard, or maybe even experienced some of the controversy around Gainesville Regional Utilities and their reputation for sky-high rates over the last couple of years.
Whether you live in the area or are considering making Gainesville your new home, we have great news!
2017 is almost in the books and the stats are looking pretty good for Gainesville / Alachua County.
Up & down the east coast, the Gators tasted victory this weekend, with big wins in both volleyball & basketball.
With 2017 almost in the books, we are seeing about a 7% increase in both average price & activity, compared to 2016. If that sounds familiar, it should, because 2016 saw about the same rate of appreciation over 2015.
A new community of single-family homes just broke ground in East Gainesville on a 15.1-acre property at 1717 Southeast 8th Avenue. The community of Heartwood has spent 10 years in the planning stages and is now finally on its way to becoming a reality.
Music lovers in Gainesville can rejoice. The city is currently in the early planning stages of building a new, 2,500-seat amphitheater next to Depot Park. The amphitheater would be comparable in size to that of the Saint Augustine Amphitheater and would provide a fantastic new "destination for some of the nation's most notable music acts."
The sprawling in Alachua continues with more and more developments in both the commercial and residential markets cropping up.Capri is a relatively new community located in Northwest Gainesville where homes were built in the mid-1990s. It is conveniently located off of NW 34th Street and NW 44th Place and it's only 6 miles from the University of Florida and Shands medical center.
The neighborhood offers some of the best amenities that Gainesville has to offer, with a full-time social coordinator, a 10,000 square-foot clubhouse with a media room, two kitchens, a library, a recreation lounge, a state-of-the-art fitness center, a resort-style pool, and so much more. Plus, this family friendly neighborhood features a children's playground, to gazebos, nature preserves, tennis and basketball courts, and walking and jogging trails.
A new and quite popular restaurant delivery app, UberEATS, recently launched in Gainesville, and now, another food delivery app is hitting the scene, only this one delivers groceries. You may never need to leave your house again--for food, anyway.
There is good news for hungry Gainesville residents who want restaurant food, but don't want to leave their home to get it. UberEATS recently launched its app in Gainesville, which will allow users to order food from restaurants and have it delivered anywhere in the city. This is the first college town in Florida that is getting the UberEATS app.
Gainesville and the University of Florida have yet another accolade that they can be proud of. According to the recent ranking from US News & World Report, UF Health Shands Children's Hospital was ranked among the country's top 50 children's hospitals, with a national ranking in six out of ten pediatric specialties, including neonatology, cancer care, diabetes and endocrinology, cardiology and heart surgery, and neurology and neurosurgery.
Willow Oak Plantation is a desirable community in which to live, featuring newer construction homes primarily built in 2010. The neighborhood has its own private club house, cabana and pool, and it is conveniently located on Archer road across from SW. 91st Street and Haile Plantation. Residents can take advantage of easy access to the fantastic shopping and dining along Archer Road, as well as the amenities in and around Haile Plantation, including Haile Village.
The completion of the highly anticipated Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention is finally in sight, with the grand opening slated for the Spring of 2018. Construction of the museum began in May 2016, and fundraising for the $10 million project began nine years before that. The massively stunning 26,000 square-foot museum standing two stories tall is located at the corner of Depot Avenue and South Main Street in the heart of Gainesville, will honor "nephrologist and former UF professor Dr. Robert Cade, the man who lead a team of researchers to create Gatorade more than 50 years ago."
This real estate market across Alachua County is looking quite strong, as there has been a 7.5% increase in the total taxable value of property since 2016, which is the biggest increase the county has seen in the last 10 years. The property value numbers are only estimates so far, and final numbers will be released by the end of the month, and will help to determine budgets for county organizations and commissions across Alachua.
Celebration Pointe has been one of the most anticipated mixed-use developments in Gainesville. Portions of the development are completed, such as the Bass Pro Shop, which went up in November of 2016. And now, many new restaurants and businesses recently announced their plan to be open in time for the grand opening of the first phase of Celebration Pointe's Main Street, known as City Walk, this Fall.
The Suwanee Roots Revival Music Festival, a four-day event featuring music, art, camping and more, just announced its initial lineup. This is the second year for the concert that will take place Thursday, October 12 through Sunday, October 15 at the Spirit of the Suwanee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, located only a 45-minute drive from Gainesville.
Food halls seem to be a trend happening in big cities all over the country. They are essentially a modern, hip version of a food court featuring variety a fantastic, high quality food vendors all under one roof. Gainesville is jumping on the food hall scene with plans to open one at Butler Town Center which will host approximately 11 to 15 restaurant vendors and will be named Stengel Field Food Hall.
The big story both nationally & locally is low inventory. This means that there isn't much on the market and buyers are finding they often have to compete with other buyers to get the house they want. This in turn drives up prices and makes sellers very happy.
