[sunrico90]

Will good negotiating skills get you a a better deal?

While national sales of single-family homes fell 13 percent and statewide sales dropped by an even larger 28 percent, Sarasota-Bradenton saw a 16 percent increase last month compared with March 2006. Panama City was the only other Florida market to increase.

Sales of existing homes plunged in March, with the median price for a home in the Volusia-Flagler market dipping below $200,000, the Florida Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.

Nationwide, sales of existing homes plummeted in March by the largest amount in nearly two decades, reflecting bad weather and increasing problems in the subprime mortgage market, the National Association of Realtors reported. Sales of existing homes fell by 8.4 percent in March, compared to February. It was the biggest one-month decline since a 12.6 percent drop in January 1989, another period of recession conditions in housing.

Statewide, sales were down 28 percent in March from last year and the median sales price dropped 4 percent from $244,600 to $236,000, according to the state association.

The Treasure Coast suffered the biggest drop in single-family home sales in the state last month, while U.S. home sales posted their steepest decline in 18 years

Martin and St. Lucie counties, which combined for one of the hottest real estate markets during the boom, posted a whopping 41 percent decline in existing single-family home sales in March compared with March 2006

[mintotruck]

thats great any good news now?

[Jammie]

I think it's good news and the only one's who'll suffer are the people who bought at the high end of the market. Hopefully taxes and insurance will eventually drop if home prices keep falling. Maybe Florida will again be affordable for more then just the wealthy??

[FL_TN_Nana]

From the Orlando Sentinel, April 25th:
In the Orlando area, median home prices tumbled sharply in March, according to the Orlando Regional Realtor Association, just at the start of the critical spring buying-and-selling season.

The median sales price for existing homes and condos sold by local Realtors fell by $15,000 from February to March, to $240,000, as sellers increasingly cut prices.

Still, the year-over-year median price has yet to go negative in Orlando: The $240,000 median in March matched the March 2006 figure. And for the first quarter as a whole, the local median was up by 4.13 percent compared with the same period last year.

The entire article can be seen at:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-econ2507apr25,0,7999913.story (broken link)

[info please]

The way I feel is prices could not go up forever. Now what's gonna happen when the rates do go up in time. They can't stay low forever .Who can afford that kind of money.

[tallrick]

It makes me wonder. Rates were so absurdly low, no wonder no one wanted to save money!

[MrTudo]

Sure it went up


Hahaha

[TriMT7]

Originally Posted by info please

The way I feel is prices could not go up forever. Now what's gonna happen when the rates do go up in time. They can't stay low forever .Who can afford that kind of money.

When interest rates go up, sure home prices will go DOWN, but people will be paying the same out of pocket each month for a less expensive house when they get a mortgage!

[Floridian to relocate]

jammie when you move to fl and buy your home will it be so good if the market crashed and you lost money. whising people bad luck is wrong . what goes around comes around

[Iroh]

Originally Posted by Floridian to relocate

jammie when you move to fl and buy your home will it be so good if the market crashed and you lost money. whising people bad luck is wrong . what goes around comes around

He didn't say "I hope people lose their homes", he only said it was "good" except for people that bought at the high end.

Anybody that bought at the high end, and were responsible about their purchase, still have their house and have only "lost" on paper. Unless they need to sell short term or were counting on a refi because of a poorly planned ARM mortage, they're fine.

Everyone has seen RE market dips, and eventually those dips correct and the owner ends up making money regardless of purchasing during a high or low. (5-10 years after purchase).

And a "buyers market" is always good for a buyer and a "sellers market" is always good for a seller. I'm sorry for the people that have to be the seller or buyer in the opposite market, but when you look at the overall flow of things...it turns out to be very balanced and cyclical.

If you're talking about investors that got hurt...that's part of the risk they took and they should have been on the lookout for a correction. Investors artificially drove the market up, so there's something to be said for that group getting hit the hardest. With that said, I personally hate to see families make investment mistakes and wish them the best.

I think RE Taxes and Insurance are the real problems for most people.