[Anders15]

Would you guys who actually live in FL say this is exaggerated at all or is this map pretty much true when it comes to homes for sale or foreclosed? More homes are for sale than foreclosed, is that strange? It seems the price range I'm looking into is wider than I ever thought!.

Link

[grapico]

probably legit, but I'm not a realtor... I know a lot of people got in over their heads and still want to get their money back... (i.e. they have a mortgage twice as much as what their house is really worth)

Plenty of stuff in the last five years has never even been occupied.

[bcfarmlady]

I don't know if more homes are for sale ... but I will tell you that I did some searches on another website that shows listing from the one you posted as well as others. I happen to have a 4bd 2bth house on the East coast that we have been trying to sell for 2 years. So my search was for those... and this particular website told me that there were 83 foreclosures for 4bd 2bth houses in my zip code. Considering the city has at least 4 zip codes... I think that is high.

In the places on the map where you don't see many red houses... that is the woodland / swamp and probably not very populated if at all.

[annerk]

Houses that are priced to move are selling. Some people have their heads in the clouds thinking they will still get 2005 prices, that's not going to happen.

[songgirl]

Originally Posted by annerk

Houses that are priced to move are selling. Some people have their heads in the clouds thinking they will still get 2005 prices, that's not going to happen.

People are just trying to sell there house for close to what they owe. If they can't, their only other option is to let the bank take it.

[FLBob]

The housing market is tough. As I look through the properties that have sold recently half of them are bank owned properties.

One thing that I've noticed is that in neighborhoods where you have features that are more desirable and have had a stable population for decades, the foreclosures/short sales/bank owned (distressed properties) are a much smaller percentage of homes on the market.

For example: On Venice Island 4% of the single family market are distressed. Compare that to 13% in the city of Venice which includes the island, 15% in Nokomis the area just to the north of Venice, 7.6% in South Venice, and a whopping 27% in North Port.

I think when you look over a broad area, and include everything you miss the bright spots. We had so much speculative building, along with building housing for the families that came to the area to support the construction, that's where we see the bulk of the distressed properties.

When I look at what's selling in the areas that are less distressed, prices are more stable. The median price has come down a bit and asking prices are mostly pre-boom. In the areas that are more desirable people are willing to pay for the location.
With the building boom, areas that had remained undeveloped for decades, suddenly became subdivisions. It's in these areas that I see most of the distress.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by songgirl

People are just trying to sell there house for close to what they owe. If they can't, their only other option is to let the bank take it.

That's not the only option. They can continue to live in the home, they can bring cash to the table, or if they must move, they can rent it out. Anyone who bought at the height of the market isn't going to get their money back. The sooner they realize that, the sooner they can cut their losses and move on.

[tilli]

Yes, the housing market is really that bad in many areas of Florida. The market was terribly, unrealistically inflated, and now those values are falling back to earth.

That's not the only option. They can continue to live in the home, they can bring cash to the table, or if they must move, they can rent it out. Anyone who bought at the height of the market isn't going to get their money back. The sooner they realize that, the sooner they can cut their losses and move on.

Well, that's easier said than done. If they have no cash to bring to the table that option is out. Considering how crazy people went with cash-out refinances and home equity loans I'd imagine that not many people can afford this option, and no, I don't have much sympathy for this type either. They can also try to get the bank to agree to a short sale, but that's an arduous process and the banks are monolithic and uncooperative. Renting their property sounds like a great solution except that the rental market is flooded with all the other people trying to do the same thing. In most cases they will be lucky to get half their mortgage payment out of a tenant and will have to deal with all the hassles associated with being a landlord including bad tenants and the unfavorable impact on taxes. Tenants are also worried about renting from a struggling homeowner since banks do not honor leases and tenants wind up evicted through no fault of their own. I honestly think that jingle mail is the best option for most homeowners in trouble.

[annerk]

I agree, I have ZERO sympathy for people who used their homes as credit cards or bought homes that they so obviously couldn't afford.

[ngrome]

Well, put it this way, I've lived here for over 10 years and saw house prices skyrocket through the roof (no pun intended) like some of you did, with some of these homes being way too overpriced, barely 1500 sq. ft. ranch house for all most $300K, if not that. Now, it's worth less than half that. Even at the height of the market, you could have bought a home with more square footage, full brick, with a basement, and 4 bedrooms, 2.5 ba, for around $300K up north. And now, it's also worth about half that, but it seems you still get more home for the money. Down here, prices are still dropping, while they seem to be now flattening out up north. I do hope it recovers in a year or two because that's when I plan to sell my home down here in Orlando.