Home values keep sinking

That might not be the bottom but it's close. Buy now if you can.

Pooh-Bah wrote:

That might not be the bottom but it's close. Buy now if you can.

What do you base this on? I have seen no indication of this.

I'm waiting for my property tax assessment rollback. Growth only means we become the poor people in our own town.

we are no where near the bottom yet, historically speaking. things can get much worse still. it is a good time to buy, though. good lucking finding a nice home for cheap - you're most likely to find a house you can afford that needs some work. if you can qualify for a good loan, get your house. just don't get an ARM and end up where a lot of people have this past couple of years

$201,000 still seems high for the plain block stucco houses that are sold here in central Florida. I say $175,000 is were they should be. Don't be a sucker for the "Buy now" statements.

Mark my words: we are one category 4 or 5 "wood chipper" away blowing through populated S. FL to bring all real estate activity to an absolute standstill in this state. How many (devalued) home owners are going to cough up the money ($$$$$) to fix their roofs (remember "windstorm deductible?)?
I rest my case.

florida is finished , you people still living there suckers, you are hoping for a dream

I dont see why unhappy homeowners dont just erect a white picket fence purchase a big dog to roam in the yard and just be happy, prices of your homes will correct themselves in twenty five years then you can sell and break even and all will be well. The children will be educated and gone and you can move into an assisted living home.

When everyone says there is no bottom in sight - that's usually the bottom. "Buy when there is blood in the streets, even if its yours" Warren Buffet. 3 houses and 1 vacant lot have sold in my Clermont neighborhood in the last two months; I say we are turning around. But, yes I too would like to know when my taxes are dropping - they are ridiculous.

lol wrote:

of course home values in orlando keep sinking. who wants to live here with all the crime caused by a corrupt sheriff kevin beary and his fellow pedophile and con artist lou pearlman?

Rrright... and -26% at Celebration, that's because of the crime?

This was all planned.
Sell properties to the poor with interest-only payments. Keep bumping prices until the poor are priced out of the market. Foreclose on the poor and than put them back in the rental market where they belong. Resell the properties and repeat the process

Mike wrote:

$201,000 still seems high for the plain block stucco houses that are sold here in central Florida. I say $175,000 is were they should be. Don't be a sucker for the "Buy now" statements.

I agree with you. But it isn't about people not wanting to buy, it's about people not being able to buy. I'm certainly looking, but I have to wait until something I want falls into my price range.

As a Realtor, I can tell you that Zillow is just another tool in the toolbox for estimating values. The feds have an index that they use that actually tracks same house sales and refinances. The last time I saw that index reported, 4th quarter maybe, it showed a very modest price reduction. If my memory serves me correctly, it was less than one half of one percent. The true drop in prices is probably somewhere in the middle. Check out my blog RealEstateOptimist.com to read about some of the numbers I am seeing in our market.

Mike wrote:

$201,000 still seems high for the plain block stucco houses that are sold here in central Florida. I say $175,000 is were they should be. Don't be a sucker for the "Buy now" statements.

U B RIGHT!
The market is still about 10% over valued.
Vacant land is still about 20-25% over its value.
Any intelligent person buying in this market is doing so in desperation.
I'd wait until 2011 before making any purchases in Florida.

This is the middle class dying off as it eventually does in a heavy-tourism area. Florida will be low-income service workers, the well-heeled touristas, and the enclaves of rich property and business owners and wealthy retirees - again behind high walls and armed security. Look at Hawaii and other places as examples of the middle class die-off effect.

How do prices compare with five years ago?

ZELL wrote:

<quoted text>
What do you base this on? I have seen no indication of this.

I did not write this, but I can tell you that closed sales, new contracts and total pending contracts have increased every month since January. Prices may still float down a bit more, but sales are already turning around. Foreclosures are getting sold almost as quickly as they are coming on the market, and the builders inventory is going down. Everybody has their opinion of where the bottom is, but nobody knows for sure until you are well into recovery.

Real Estate Optimist: You are a nut case. There are 27,000 listings in the Orlando MLS and approxmately 900 deals are closing per month. This is a 2.5 year supply.

Go ahead and dispute my numbers.

Condos on the east coast have a 5 year supply. What flavor koolaid are you drinking.

20% of the homes for sale in this country are either in some stage of foreclosure process or have negative equity.

The ONLY sales taking place are bank foreclosures and short sales.

The realtors are the same group that got us into this mess and you expect people to take your propaganda seriously? Get a life.

"mikie wrote:

florida is finished , you people still living there suckers, you are hoping for a dream."

mikie, glad you're not here.

I'm not concerned with the problems of the middle class when I can barely afford rent and buy food.