Is anyone else trying to sell their home and getting depressed? (Tampa: real estate, property taxes)

[wacahootaman]

And dont ferget bout that statue of Elvis they found on Mars and is keepin secrect!

Or that carborator that runs on dirt that the oil companies wont let get out!

Or that Bible frum the aliens from outer space wer they worship Oprah!

The truth is out there.

[Retiredcoach]

Florida is a lot like the most popular bar in town for the past 20? years. All of a sudden, patrons find other bars that are more appealing, and that popular tavern has difficulty staying in business. Florida has long relied upon building/construction and tourism as the lifeblood of the state economy. Right now, the state is relying primarily upon the tourism dollar to sustain itself. Clearly, that is not enough. The government is going to need to find some courage to do the right thing for its populace. I guess I have a tough time accepting the fact that nearly 18% of the population of Naples is a millionaire. Yet, they do not pay any tax on their incomes to enhance your state. The schools and are grossly underfunded, but isn't this where the Florida rebuilding should start?

Your state has so much beauty, but has little beyond the sun and beaches to sustain the average family. This excludes the tax haven status of many of your millionaires. Florida will not be "closing shop" any day soon, but it will need to find a means to "entice its regulars".

[carolac]

Retiredcoach - thanks for your messages. I see you are in Pittsburgh. How have you come to know about Florida? Do you have family here? Are you considering moving here?

Originally Posted by Retiredcoach

Florida is a lot like the most popular bar in town for the past 20? years. All of a sudden, patrons find other bars that are more appealing, and that popular tavern has difficulty staying in business. Florida has long relied upon building/construction and tourism as the lifeblood of the state economy. Right now, the state is relying primarily upon the tourism dollar to sustain itself. Clearly, that is not enough. The government is going to need to find some courage to do the right thing for its populace. I guess I have a tough time accepting the fact that nearly 18% of the population of Naples is a millionaire. Yet, they do not pay any tax on their incomes to enhance your state. The schools and are grossly underfunded, but isn't this where the Florida rebuilding should start?

Your state has so much beauty, but has little beyond the sun and beaches to sustain the average family. This excludes the tax haven status of many of your millionaires. Florida will not be "closing shop" any day soon, but it will need to find a means to "entice its regulars".

[prioris]

>The schools and are grossly underfunded, but isn't this where the Florida rebuilding should start?

people get brainwashed into thinking that since they went to a expensive public/private school then their children must also. parents also see the school as a babysitting function since many don't want their children around.

the state schools should mostly be phased out and replaced by home schooling

homeschooling is dirt cheap, far superior and easier

this will knock property taxes down big time

for parents who want to send their kids to public school - YOU PAY FOR IT

[Retiredcoach]

Originally Posted by carolac

Retiredcoach - thanks for your messages. I see you are in Pittsburgh. How have you come to know about Florida? Do you have family here? Are you considering moving here?

I have visited Florida countless times through my adult years. My family has progressed from going to see Mickey Mouse to savoring Florida's many beautiful beaches. I have family that reside in both Fort Lauderdale and West Palm, but are now very old senior citizens. My hope was to eventually relocate to Florida when I retire (now about 2 years away) while I was still young enough to enjoy the natural beauty (I'm not much into Disney or the amusement park scene).

I have done a ton of research on the Florida economy, and the current prognosis is not good. Greed, mismanagement, and bad luck have taken a pronounced toll. I am hoping that the citizenry and government wake up soon to deal with the genuinely dire straits facing your state. I am afraid that only the select few have the state's future at heart... just trying to survive will soon be the mantra for many. I am looking for that glimmer of hope that will allow me to realize the final part of my dream...

[prioris]

>Greed, mismanagement, and bad luck have taken a pronounced toll. I am hoping that the citizenry and government wake up soon to deal with the genuinely dire straits facing your state.


The government is wide wake and things are going according to plan.

All 50 states have the greed problem but that is just business as usual. i am not aware of any mismanagement within the government. they are running things with the desired results.

[Cain]

Wow,

just read all the posts. Interested in the issues since I have a sister and her family that live down there on Merritt Island now.

For those of you trying to get out, I hope you are able to.

For those of you going there, good luck!

I think part of the thing I am not understand is this from a lot of people:

"Dropping Property taxes will help the real estate market"

My thing about this is that if you drop the cost of property taxes, you have other issues:

1. Buyers will figure in the cost drop into the price of the home, so you may see a small bump from that whatever it comes out to (but not thousands of dollars!)

BUT

if its like any other government, you will need to make up revenue some other way. Here in North Dakota you pay A LOT in property taxes. Where I live in Fargo, right over the river you have MN and they are much cheaper, BUT, you have higher income taxes, so its a wash pretty much.

So based on something like that, and having seen it much worse in CT when I lived there (property and income too), I don't see how a drop in property taxes (say it goes 50% on a 3000 a year charge), how that will cause homes to surge thousands and thousands of dollars over what they are now, or really stop the bleeding that we are seeing.

If you home is dropping 10's of thousands of dollars, saving thousands seems like a drop in the bucket.

I don't mean to be a downer on this, just trying to understand the logic people are coming up with, just doesn't seem to wash.

Finally, for anyone looking to buy a home, please don't look at the home as an investment, look at it as a place to live. My father in law gave me that advice, and it has really helped me out. Even if I do have to loose some on a sale here (market here is unaffected, homes are still appreciating from what I can tell), I figure the cost it would have been to rent that I would have not gotten back anyway washes out, for the prices here, that holds true.

Good luck everyone. Finally, is it illegal on the forums here to post in your sig your listing address or MLS number? Just posting a number shouldn't be a problem.

[ctkid]

Originally Posted by Turtle

We have had our house on the market for a while now with no luck...no we're not trying to make a killing on it, in fact for what it's listed at, we are actually taking a loss. We already have land bought and plans for the house that we are going to build, and I am so excited about the move, I am actually getting a bit depressed....and a little irritated that we are just stuck here until the market takes a bit of a turn.

Anyone else in the same boat with some positive thoughts? I am trying to make the best of it here, but I am getting very discouraged since nobody really knows when the market will change (though I know there are plenty of people making claims of fact of how long it will take, unless they can show me their crystal ball, I ain't buyin')

Anywho...just looking for anyone else in the same situation...misery loves company you know

What makes it harder for the average seller is the builders who are trying to sell there own inventory. They are afford to go much lower on their prices, where many sellers don't have that option. They also throw in upgrades, the mortgage payed up for a year, closing costs covered-anything that will entice a buyer over a regular seller's house. And to make it worse, they're offering real estate agents large commissions to sell their homes. How can we compete against all that? The media reports that building permits are down. That's great news! That will help to reduce some of the inventory. I live in Spring Hill and that are lots of great homes at great prices that have just been sitting there. As another post mentioned, it comes down to supply and demand. If the media reported tomorrow that there was a housing shortage, people would start buying in a heartbeat. If I sell, great! But I'm not going to try to be the lowest priced house in the neighborhood and lose money just to sell. My home is an investment and I'll wait, if I have to, for things to improve. I can't change the market-it is what it is-but I'm going to do what's in my best interest.

[ctkid]

Originally Posted by Turtle

We have had our house on the market for a while now with no luck...no we're not trying to make a killing on it, in fact for what it's listed at, we are actually taking a loss. We already have land bought and plans for the house that we are going to build, and I am so excited about the move, I am actually getting a bit depressed....and a little irritated that we are just stuck here until the market takes a bit of a turn.

Anyone else in the same boat with some positive thoughts? I am trying to make the best of it here, but I am getting very discouraged since nobody really knows when the market will change (though I know there are plenty of people making claims of fact of how long it will take, unless they can show me their crystal ball, I ain't buyin')

Anywho...just looking for anyone else in the same situation...misery loves company you know

What makes it harder for the average seller is the builders who are trying to sell there own inventory. They are afford to go much lower on their prices, where many sellers don't have that option. They also throw in upgrades, the mortgage payed up for a year, closing costs covered-anything that will entice a buyer over a regular seller's house. And to make it worse, they're offering real estate agents large commissions to sell their homes. How can we compete against all that? The media reports that building permits are down. That's great news! That will help to reduce some of the inventory. I live in Spring Hill and that are lots of great homes at great prices that have just been sitting there. As another post mentioned, it comes down to supply and demand. If the media reported tomorrow that there was a housing shortage, people would start buying in a heartbeat. If I sell, great! But I'm not going to try to be the lowest priced house in the neighborhood and lose money just to sell. My home is an investment and I'll wait, if I have to, for things to improve. I can't change the market-it is what it is-but I'm going to do what's in my best interest.

[firemed]

Originally Posted by ctkid

What makes it harder for the average seller is the builders who are trying to sell there own inventory. They are afford to go much lower on their prices, where many sellers don't have that option. They also throw in upgrades, the mortgage payed up for a year, closing costs covered-anything that will entice a buyer over a regular seller's house. And to make it worse, they're offering real estate agents large commissions to sell their homes. How can we compete against all that? The media reports that building permits are down. That's great news! That will help to reduce some of the inventory. I live in Spring Hill and that are lots of great homes at great prices that have just been sitting there. As another post mentioned, it comes down to supply and demand. If the media reported tomorrow that there was a housing shortage, people would start buying in a heartbeat. If I sell, great! But I'm not going to try to be the lowest priced house in the neighborhood and lose money just to sell. My home is an investment and I'll wait, if I have to, for things to improve. I can't change the market-it is what it is-but I'm going to do what's in my best interest.

The News-Press, news-press.com, Real Estate, Lee foreclosures on rise