[WOWAddict]

Just got back from TN/GA and noticed the real estate market is really bad everywhere. Sure we all see the news and they say the market is bad and certain markets are worse than others.

But talking to Realtors in both areas you get a true feel for it. Houses in both state are sitting on the market just like FL. I am not saying FL is not worse it probably it is, when times were good FL was a lot better than those states so just by the balance of things FL would be worse in bad times.

Another thing there are people who want to live in FL. I spoke to some people who said asked why would I want to move to TN or GA. I guess if you live anywhere long enough your bound to get sick of it and need a change (not everyone but a lot of people)

Sure this is not even the least bit scientific and I will hear "yea people want to move here but wont because the can not afford it."

I only bring this up because I am sick of the doom sayers who say FL is dead and it will be 15 years before it will recover and we are worse off than every other part of the country for now and see how it goes before we dig the FL real estate grave. Everyone in this market just has to ride it out like the rest of the country. But unlike the rest of the country FL is still considered a tropical paradise.

[Jammie]

In answer to your question~no, the real estate market is doing well in my part of the upper Midwest AND west of here. Wyo. and Mont. don't have enough housing for newcomers and they're building like mad just trying to get homes up before winter. They're begging for employees since they have a very low unemployment rate.

Parts of No. Dak. don't have enough housing for transplants either.

We also keep track of the market in OK and there are times when condos or houses are listed and have been sold by the next time we check, which is about two weeks later.

So the market is entirely different then in Fla. or the states you visited.

[ivcceo]

It's not bad everywhere. The Florida market is at an imbalance as we have the lion's share of bad mortgages. There are qualified buyers here; however, it is going to take until 2009 before the inventory and foreclosures come down.

[tallrick]

History says that Florida will crash. Look at 1926, that's what we are facing here. Once the word gets around that taxes in Florida are so high, and investors cannot expect 20% gains in real estate per year the foreign and bubble money will evaporate. Florida has a meager economy outside of real estate speculation, no resources other than sunshine, and a lot of immigrants from all over, hardly a cohesive population.

It's everyone for themself, feeding on the table scraps of the world. Not a good future!

[Retiredcoach]

Probably the people hurt most by the Florida real estate "recession" are those who purchased within the past few years at an "appreciated" value. The pendulum is now swinging back and will settle into some level of moderation eventually. The persons who saw their property appreciate 100% or more in 3-4 years will witness the most drastic of all "wake up calls". The market will force the value of their homes to decline to the point of nearly reaching the pre-boom cycle. The end result will be an actual value that will mirror the values of housing appreciation averages throughout the country. All bets will be off, however, if another serious hurricane hits or the Florida economy does not improve.

[Superbecky79]

I agree, not all the US is having bad problems. It is a buyers market in Alaska, with about 4 times the normal amount of homes for sale. But most homes sell within a couple months anyways.

As for FL, I am not too unhappy about it nearing rock bottom as we are moving there in December and as a buyer...I'm happy to be able to buy a rather large home for cheap.