Patriot Home Group

Patriot Home Group His marketing approach combines elite-level negotiation, data-driven insights, and cutting-edge media strategy to deliver exceptional results for every client.

Robert O’Connor is an Associate Broker and Team Leader of Patriot Home Group by SERHANT., specializing in Tampa Bay’s luxury, waterfront, and new-construction real estate.
📍 Serving: Tampa | Davis Islands | South Tampa | Wesley Chapel | Water Street Robert O’Connor is an Associate Broker and Team Leader of Patriot Home Group by SERHANT., specializing in Tampa Bay’s luxury, waterfront, and new-cons

truction homes. Formerly the Team Leader of Robb Luxury Home Group at Coldwell Banker, Robert brings over a decade of real estate experience and a proven track record of success in Tampa’s most desirable communities. In 2025, Robert was featured on HGTV’s House Hunters episode “A Cinderella Story in Tampa”, highlighting his expertise in helping clients find their dream home and lifestyle across the Bay area. Robert’s partnership with SERHANT. gives his listings global reach through world-class media production, social strategy, and innovative marketing systems. Whether you’re buying, selling, or relocating, Patriot Home Group by SERHANT. provides a concierge-level experience tailored to Tampa Bay’s luxury market.

📍 Serving: Tampa, Davis Islands, South Tampa, Wesley Chapel, and Water Street
🌐 Learn more: https://serhant.com/agents/robert-oconnor

📲 813-928-6745 | [email protected]

Waymo launched in Tampa this morning. Most people are reading this as a transportation story. The real story is which ne...
09/01/2026

Waymo launched in Tampa this morning. Most people are reading this as a transportation story. The real story is which neighborhoods made the grid.

Nearly 50 square miles across Hyde Park, Westshore, Northwest Park, Temple Crest, and South Tampa. Those are not random streets. They're the same corridors buyers have been competing over for three straight years.

Tampa now has two autonomous vehicle services running simultaneously. That's not something most American metros can say right now.

Infrastructure like this doesn't move prices tomorrow. It tends to move them over years, quietly, until buyers look back and realize when the window was open.

Which neighborhood do you think benefits most from this? Drop it below.

National media is calling Florida one of the biggest housing market losers in America right now.The data behind that nar...
09/01/2026

National media is calling Florida one of the biggest housing market losers in America right now.

The data behind that narrative is real. Florida has some of the highest inventory imbalances in the country, sellers outnumbering qualified buyers in several markets, prices adjusting in corridors that overbuilt during the pandemic years.

What the headline misses is that Tampa Bay isn't one market.

Barrier island condos and heavily spec-built neighborhoods north of Tampa are sitting longer, with sellers competing hard for fewer buyers. Real leverage for qualified buyers shopping there.

South Tampa, Davis Islands, Harbour Island -- single-family waterfront and near-waterfront homes in those zip codes aren't following the same script. Demand holds. Well-priced product moves. Inventory stays tight.

The buyers getting hurt right now are the ones applying the national Florida story to every neighborhood equally. Or sitting on the sidelines assuming the whole market is softening uniformly when it isn't.

If you want to know where you actually stand -- which neighborhoods in Greater Tampa Bay favor you and which still favor sellers -- that's the conversation worth having before you start searching.

Comment below or send me a message. Happy to walk through it by specific neighborhood.

Hillsborough County lost more domestic residents than it gained last year.That is not Tampa Bay falling out of favor. It...
08/31/2026

Hillsborough County lost more domestic residents than it gained last year.

That is not Tampa Bay falling out of favor. It is what happens when insurance, property taxes, and home prices make the coastal core unaffordable for most move-up buyers.

People did not leave Florida. They moved from South Tampa to Pasco. From the Gulf Coast metros to Polk and Marion counties, where land is cheaper, new homes are still being built, and the math still works.

That internal shift has created two genuinely different buying environments right now.

In South Tampa and Davis Islands, demand holds. The qualified buyer pool is stable, supply is constrained, and prices have not corrected meaningfully because there is not enough inventory to force it.

In Wesley Chapel, Land O' Lakes, and northern Pasco, you have a market absorbing that displaced demand. More builder competition, more spec inventory, more room to negotiate on price, rate buydowns, and closing costs.

Which environment fits your situation depends entirely on what you are trying to accomplish.

If you are comparing South Tampa to the suburbs and want to understand the real difference in monthly cost, send me a message. The answer is not the same for every household.

Tampa made Realtor.com's national buyer's market list this week.18,292 homes for sale across the metro. Median list pric...
08/31/2026

Tampa made Realtor.com's national buyer's market list this week.

18,292 homes for sale across the metro. Median list price at $397,450. Florida claimed 8 of the 19 buyer's markets on that list nationally.

That's a real shift. But the headline overstates what buyers will find on the ground.

A well-priced home in Beach Park or on a good block in Davis Islands still moves. Sometimes it still draws competing offers. Buyer's market conditions are not uniform across Tampa Bay.

Wesley Chapel tells a different story. Builder spec inventory is sitting. Incentives are stacking. If you're flexible on community and understand what a CDD disclosure actually costs you each month, you have real negotiating room right now.

The opportunity is there. What matters is knowing which specific zip code, which price band, and which seller situation you're working with.

Which neighborhood are you watching right now? Drop it in the comments or send me a message. I'll tell you where the leverage actually is in your price range.

Your 2026 TRIM notice just arrived. Most homeowners look at the number once and file it away.That window to push back cl...
08/30/2026

Your 2026 TRIM notice just arrived. Most homeowners look at the number once and file it away.

That window to push back closes in about 25 days.

Florida counties mailed out TRIM (Truth in Millage) notices this month. The document shows your county property appraiser's proposed assessed value, which determines your tax bill for the coming year.

What many homeowners never learn: you can formally challenge that number with your county's Value Adjustment Board. No attorney required. You need the right comparable sales data and a filed petition.

The appeal deadline for Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco County homeowners typically falls in mid-September.

Before that window closes, check three things:

Your assessed value vs. what similar homes near you actually sold for in the last 12 months. Whether your value jumped significantly this year without market data to support it. Whether all your exemptions are correctly applied, including homestead, senior, disability, and veteran exemptions.

If the numbers don't line up, you have a short window to do something about it.

Questions about comparable sales in South Tampa, Davis Islands, Wesley Chapel, or St. Pete? Send me a message and I'll pull the data.

If you've owned your South Tampa home since 2015 or earlier, your property tax bill today is probably a fraction of what...
08/30/2026

If you've owned your South Tampa home since 2015 or earlier, your property tax bill today is probably a fraction of what a buyer purchasing the same house would owe.

Florida's Save Our Homes cap limits annual assessment increases to 3%. After ten years, the gap between your assessed value and actual market value can be substantial.

Most long-time owners assume selling means losing that advantage. It's one of the main reasons people stay in homes they've outgrown.

Florida allows you to transfer up to $500,000 of your accumulated Save Our Homes benefit to your next Florida homestead. The program is called portability. It's written into state law, and a lot of sellers in South Tampa, Davis Islands, and St. Pete never know it exists before they decide not to move.

If you bought your Tampa Bay home before 2016, run the portability number before you assume you're priced out of your next move.

The math often looks a lot different than people expect.

The Rays stadium vote wasn't about baseball.Hillsborough County and Tampa City Council both approved the $2.3 billion ba...
08/29/2026

The Rays stadium vote wasn't about baseball.

Hillsborough County and Tampa City Council both approved the $2.3 billion ballpark deal this week. The ballpark is a small part of what just changed.

The number that matters for real estate: $8 to $10 billion in private development projected around the stadium site at Drew Park, near Hillsborough College and Raymond James Stadium.

Commissioners compared the scale to Water Street Tampa and Midtown Tampa combined.

That's not a casual comparison. Water Street transformed the blocks around Amalie Arena into one of the most active mixed-use corridors in the region. Midtown reshaped North Highland. The plan now is to concentrate that same density along the Westshore/I-275 corridor, near Tampa International Airport and connected east toward downtown, Midtown, and Ybor.

If that development follows the same trajectory, the neighborhoods adjacent to it will look very different in 10 years.

Buyers who understand how major development corridors work don't wait for a ribbon cutting. They pay attention when the votes happen.

Which Tampa neighborhood do you think benefits most from this? Drop it in the comments.

Every summer, some sellers hold out. They listed in spring, repriced in June, and spent August watching buyers walk past...
08/29/2026

Every summer, some sellers hold out. They listed in spring, repriced in June, and spent August watching buyers walk past.

Labor Day weekend is when that changes.

Sellers who have not gotten a serious offer in 90+ days face a real decision right now: price where buyers actually are, or carry the property through winter. A lot of them pick the first option in September.

That means homes in South Tampa, Davis Islands, and St. Pete that looked unmovable two months ago are about to get realistic. Not a market collapse. Just sellers finally meeting the market.

If you have been tracking a specific neighborhood and waiting for the right moment, September is historically when the leverage shifts.

Drop the neighborhood you're watching in the comments and I'll share what the active inventory and days on market actually look like right now.

Moving to Florida for the zero income tax makes sense on paper.Then the insurance renewal arrives.Florida carries the hi...
08/28/2026

Moving to Florida for the zero income tax makes sense on paper.

Then the insurance renewal arrives.

Florida carries the highest homeowners insurance premiums in the country. For buyers considering older coastal condos in St. Pete, Clearwater Beach, or along the barrier islands, post-Surfside structural reserve assessments routinely add tens of thousands of dollars on top of that.

Retirees relocating from New York, New Jersey, or California typically run the income tax math first. The full housing cost rarely gets modeled until after closing.

A few things worth doing before you sign:

Get your insurance quote before going under contract, not after. Request the Structural Integrity Reserve Study and the last 24 months of board minutes on any condo you're considering. Run the full monthly cost side by side: HOA dues, CDD fees, insurance, and estimated assessments, next to the income tax savings.

The income tax advantage is real. It just doesn't always survive the complete bill.

If you're evaluating a move to Tampa Bay and want to model the actual numbers before committing, reach out.

Most buyers are waiting for conditions to improve. They may be waiting past the window.Right now, new listings nationall...
08/28/2026

Most buyers are waiting for conditions to improve. They may be waiting past the window.

Right now, new listings nationally just hit a four-month high. Pending sales contracts dropped to a six-month low. Supply is climbing and buyer competition is pulling back at the same time.

For buyers watching South Tampa, Davis Islands, Wesley Chapel, or St. Petersburg, this is a real opening. More inventory to evaluate, fewer competing offers, and sellers who have been anchored to peak-era pricing are starting to adjust.

Labor Day historically brings a fresh wave of attention back to the market. Buyers who act before that tend to negotiate from a position of strength rather than scramble.

If you have been tracking a specific neighborhood and waiting for the right moment, the current numbers are worth paying attention to.

Reach out and I can pull actual inventory and days-on-market data for wherever you are focused.

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