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St. Petersburg Times, February 2010: Tampa Bay home prices backslide 10.3 percent in January
St. Petersburg Times, October 2009: Banks' delays threaten $8,000 tax credit for many home buyers Florida Realtor, May 2009: 22 Ways That Work Today!
 Click on the link above to learn what is working in Sue Paskert's Real Estate Business today!
Help the Buyer Improve a Poor Credit Rating.
In the past year, DeGennaro has helped several renters boost their credit ratings to enable them to buy a home in the future. “I encourage them to prepare a financial plan that will focus on the ultimate goal of ownership,” she says.
Workman points out that it takes time to raise a low credit score—from 90 days to six months, even for a buyer who can pay off all current debts. “Look at a consumer you’re helping along the path to credit recovery as a future closing,” he says. “It’s like a CD in the bank that eventually will pay you back with interest.”
Reflecting on the tight credit situation, Sue Paskert, a sales associate with Courter Realty Inc. in Tampa, has perhaps the best advice. “Hang in there with your buyers. Be patient, look at the options and keeping working with the lender until you have a solution.”
Courtesy of Florida Association of Realtors; January 2009 issue
HGTV'S House Hunters & Sue Paskert:
By WALT BELCHER, The Tampa Tribune, Published: December 4, 2007 - A new episode of HGTV's "House Hunters" takes us back to the good old days of February 2006, when the Tampa real estate market was unreal.
The episode, "And Baby Makes Three," features a Tampa couple, Jim and Lisa Thomas, who are on the hunt for a South Tampa home.
They are expecting a baby and have to act fast because homes are selling so fast.
The half-hour episode debuts at 10 p.m. Thursday and will repeat often in the coming months.
"It will be interesting to see how this one is edited because the market has changed a lot since it was taped," real estate agent Sue Paskert says.
"Back then, the buyers were renting a condo on Harbour Island and had already lost one or two houses that were sold faster than they could make an offer."
In early 2006, buyers would sometimes engage in bidding wars over homes. Nearly two years ago, Paskert, a sales associate with Keller Williams Gulf Coast Realty, was tipped off by a friend that "House Hunters" was looking for a real estate agent in Tampa. She sent the producers a videotaped audition and was selected for the episode.
"It turned out to be a lot of work because I had to get releases from everyone involved, including the buyers and the sellers," she recalls.
She says the production crew spent three days in Tampa.
"We worked from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and they did one house each day," she says. "We ended up at the park at Ballast Point signing the contract on a picnic table."
The crew came back during the summer of 2006 after Lisa Thomas had given birth and the couple had settled into the new home.
The popular "House Hunters" program features buyers who have narrowed their choices to three homes. Paskert says the Thomases actually looked at more than a dozen.
The final choice came down to location and the traditional look of the house, Paskert says.
"I enjoyed the experience," says Paskert, who has lived in Tampa since 1945.
Paskert specializes in homes in South Tampa and on Little Gasparilla Island, one of the barrier islands between Sarasota and Fort Myers.
The Plant High School graduate earned a degree in education from The University of Tampa and taught grades two through 10 at public and private schools.
She says she started selling real estate in 1987 and stopped in 1996, when she was diagnosed with leukemia.
"I fought it for 7 1/2 years, and I beat it," she says. "I went back to real estate because I like to help people. I work at my own pace."
She says she plans to do another "House Hunters" episode involving homes on Little Gasparilla Island.
"I just need to find the right buyers," she says. "And the market is a little slow right now." | 