[Spree]

>> supposed "buyer's market". <<

Possibly buyer's market because there is so much to choose from and if a seller is motivated and the house has sat on the market for a few months, they just might take a low ball offer. Houses are selling at 95% of asking price, gone are the days of houses selling at 98% plus. Realtors are screaming at the sellers to be realistic and take what they can get to get the house sold, not coercing buyers. The realtors with my house sale pitched in a percentage point of their commission to get the deal done.

[bls5555]

Verobeach:

I highly doubt anyone one here wants the real estate market to stay crippled. I will say I would love for prices to keep coming down over the next year as I want my son to finish pre-school here next year in Illinois and then move to Florida. I would love it if there was another 10% difference in prices!

Second of all, real estate is a crooked business. There is no defending a lot of what goes on. You don't believe me? Go find out about crooked appraisals that were a part of the real estate boom problem. Go find out about crooked mortgage brokers who tack on charges and give you higher rates than you deserve so they can get paid more.

It is NO surprise that for sale by owners are becoming more and more popular. On a 300,000 house you lose $18,000 or so to realtors, who in all honesty, don't do that much work (obviously just my opinion so don't get upset). I would LOVE for someone to come on here and tell me about a realtor who has listed their house and actually done the work to deserve the 3% or 6% they take. They are also becoming less relevant with sites such as forsalebyowner.com and zillow.com popping up. It is no wonder that in the last year or 2 you are starting to hear a LOT more commercials about using "realtor" branded real estate agents. There job is becoming more and more expendable.

But back to the topic- Here's hoping Tampa prices drop!! Haha.

[DeLaSalle]

Originally Posted by verobeach

I'm no realtor either... retired from boring and ordinary office work and loving my life here in FL.

The people who are making the biggest noise on this board seem to want to get a message out. They want to make sure that the housing market stays crippled. Every time I come back to this site it's the same people, over and over, throwing bogus links at us to prove their point.

I give you a lot of credit Kelly for having your house on the market and putting up with this type of bottom feeder... Oops I meant to type buyer.

+1 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[SKB]

Originally Posted by verobeach

I'm no realtor either... retired from boring and ordinary office work and loving my life here in FL.

The people who are making the biggest noise on this board seem to want to get a message out. They want to make sure that the housing market stays crippled. Every time I come back to this site it's the same people, over and over, throwing bogus links at us to prove their point.

I give you a lot of credit Kelly for having your house on the market and putting up with this type of bottom feeder... Oops I meant to type buyer.

People can have their own opinions, but please tread very carefully when you start accusing us of providing "bogus links". The information we are providing is factual real information.
All you have to do is LOOK AROUND down your own street to see the housing market is collapsing like a house of cards. One doesn't need links and charts on web sites to know that.

This information has been on the internet for the entire run up. I have been a member of some of these boards for years now. We all saw this coming, no one believed us, they said we were wearing tin foil hats. People denied the bubble, said it didn't exist but, we knew it did and now the chickens are coming home to roost.


This is a very touchy subject for any homeowner and we realize this, just remember it WAS NOT by our actions that this housing bubble started in the first place. WE are in the end ALL real victims in this. Just because we are getting the news and updated information out there doesn't mean we are bottom feeders and it DOESN'T mean we are causing this crash to happen or helping it along.

If you wish to be angry, be angry at the FED, Banks, Investors and builders and speculators that caused this run up in the first place.

Some people are actually honest in their concerns regardless of their personal housing situation. My husbands work mate told my husband yesterday on the phone, NOT TO BUY A HOME. He openly admitted that his home has now lost 20K of value in the last few weeks and is regretting buying in like he did in February. He is not the type that would love us to join him in his sinking boat. He knows now that there is NOTHING that will stop this housing crash.
NOTHING. All he will do now is watch at the values of his home sink deeper and deeper into the dark abyss.

IF anyone is trying to sell their home right now, the best advice that anyone could give you is PRICE IT LOWER THAN YOUR COMPS. If you continue to make small price adjustments you will end up chasing the price down all the way to the bottom, that is what a lot of people are doing. The ones that are selling are making big reductions.

If you can not reduce there are other options, talk to your bank.

If you don't like this subject, don't read this thread as it is going to get a lot worse, the bubble has just started to deflate.

[Obrero]

Originally Posted by verobeach

I give you a lot of credit Kelly for having your house on the market and putting up with this type of bottom feeder... Oops I meant to type buyer.

I guess when one is out of factual information, one will resort to name calling. C'mon, that’s not necessary. We can all have different point of view and still remain civil.

[Mike Peterson]

Originally Posted by bls5555

Verobeach:

I highly doubt anyone one here wants the real estate market to stay crippled. I will say I would love for prices to keep coming down over the next year as I want my son to finish pre-school here next year in Illinois and then move to Florida. I would love it if there was another 10% difference in prices!

Second of all, real estate is a crooked business. There is no defending a lot of what goes on. You don't believe me? Go find out about crooked appraisals that were a part of the real estate boom problem. Go find out about crooked mortgage brokers who tack on charges and give you higher rates than you deserve so they can get paid more.

It is NO surprise that for sale by owners are becoming more and more popular. On a 300,000 house you lose $18,000 or so to realtors, who in all honesty, don't do that much work (obviously just my opinion so don't get upset). I would LOVE for someone to come on here and tell me about a realtor who has listed their house and actually done the work to deserve the 3% or 6% they take. They are also becoming less relevant with sites such as forsalebyowner.com and zillow.com popping up. It is no wonder that in the last year or 2 you are starting to hear a LOT more commercials about using "realtor" branded real estate agents. There job is becoming more and more expendable.

But back to the topic- Here's hoping Tampa prices drop!! Haha.

Just a few things. First off if you check the prices of houses that have sold so far this year in Florida you will find that the prices have not come down all that much if at all. The number of homes sold has come down considerably but not the prices. The people talking about their neighbor dropping the price $30,000 or $40,000 are talking about someone who was pricing their home way above where it should be. I know there are those that will say this is completely untrue. If you feel this is untrue you can look up the price trends here http://www.nahb.org/fileUpload_detai...contentID=2028

As far as calling real estate a crooked business, you can name me any business and I will show you many examples of crooked dealings in that business. You only read so much about crooked dealings in real estate and mortgages right now because housing is a hot item right now to the news media and they only focus on the bad never the good.

You can also check how much homes that are sold by owner sell for compared to homes sold by a realtor and will find that on average the homes sold by a realtor will sell for over 10% more, more than making up for the commission you pay. This does not even take into account the money spent by a homeowner to advertise their home. By owner homes generally will take quite a bit longer to sell also even though they are selling for less.

If you want to use zillow.com to try and price your home and help you sell it go right ahead. As a realtor I have checked zillow many times to see where a certain house should be priced and I have seen $50,000 homes valued at over $100,000 on there. I have also seen homes that should be $150,000 valued at $100,000. So use zillow at your own discretion but if you want an accurate value talk to a realtor or get an appraisal

[SKB]

We used to be called "bitter renters" while all of the owners sat around feeling rich, feeling gleeful and counting their paper money in their houses. They sat around at parties, on buses, in lines at the grocery store all GLOATING to each other, on how much their homes have gone up in value. They all laughed at us, thought of us to be of less class than they were as they were all so rich all of a sudden.

Now that the tables have turned it is not very pleasant is it?

The thing I have noticed for the most part is I don't see us renters gloating. I see us as being supportive, giving good solid information on what to do and what is happening. I personally have not made any statements on this site or any other site, to rub it in but, some have. I wish they wouldn't but not everyone is so sensitive to other people and their feelings perhaps.

Now some have continued the name calling, we went from "bitter renters" to "bottom feeders".

[kelly3120]

this is such a silly board ...but I'm very entertained!!!!!!

some of you do seem a little bitter or worried, but you are allowed to be.
Don't bad mouth us home owners ...we don't care if you are renters ...to each his own. My only problem w/ renters(if we had renters) is they don't always take care of a property BUT I don't rent out my property so I HAVE NO PROBLEM! Don't think you are so talked about by "the home owners" (only in the grocery store lines and at the bank ....geeez). We are more interested in paying our mortage payments and could care less if you rent or buy. BUY when you see fit ...."us home owners(evil home owners!!!)" don't care if you buy now ....just don't care ....BUT you do seem to follow the trend and public and I was always taught to go against the grain and I have been a very successful business woman.

I don't know how you trust stats like you do ...do you trust the news ....everyone has an agenda in public media. So I follow facts ...which homes have sold in my neighborhood and which haven't ....FACTS BABY!

Thanks for the 3 cheers for me and my house 4 sale. We will sell soon and we will come out on top as always. ...go against the grain!!!
Also I think if people sit back and wait economy is effected negative.
The best way to move this world along is to keep working,spending and contrubuting to it!

[kelly3120]

ohhh almost forgot ...I never thought I would be rich in buying a home ...we wanted a home to do what we want and have equity. It's not about being rich.
But if something aweful happened and we needed money we have a home to sell and get a certain amount of cash upfront.
Also in buying a home young(did I mention I'm 25!) we can then sell this home(like we are) get the cash outta it and buy a bigger home(like we are!).
I'm not a slave to my mortage payment and we planned carefully and live comfortable ....see some of us are smarty-pants.

[kort677]

People here are running around like chicken little saying that the sky is falling in the real estate market, and maybe they're right, but historically they couldn't be more wrong. Markets move in cycles and we are most definitely in a down cycle, but that is when the savvy buyers buy. I'll put it to you like this, when you go to the supermarket to buy meat and the price is too high to you skip that steak, next week you go back to that supermarket and meat is on sale, do you say I'll wait to buy that meat because next week it'll be even lower, or do you buy that steak and enjoy it more because you know that you got a bargain. If you are a savvy buyer you don't wait for the absolute bottom, you buy good value when it's on sale and right now real estate is on sale.

I suspect that the same people who are too afraid of the RE market cratering to make a home purchase now are the same people who didn't buy during the bubble ( a good thing), but also they didn't buy before the bubble and missed out on that bonanza, and quite frankly it appears to me that some of the more vociferous complainers will never be able to make the jump to ownership.
They are always waiting for something to change.

Buying a home isn't a sprint, it's a marathon, if you think in too short of a time frame, you won't ever buy and you'll never enjoy the benefits of ownership. You'll continue to rent, paying off someone else's mortgage, and you will miss the market again and again.

I keep saying this: I've bought into the worst markets in the past and I've sat through my homes not being worth what I paid, but in the end I've always come out ahead.

You need the confidence to take the plunge and not be concerned about where the housing market is headed, you are buying not for investment reasons, but for shelter, so it really doesn't matter what the real estate market does. Just buy what you like and can afford and more than likely you'll be ok with whatever you purchase.

One silver lining of values going down is you can appeal your assessments and get your taxes lowered.

My advice would be to leave the market timing to the speculators, go out find a good home in a good area, do your homework, learn the values and then buy a house that you can afford to carry financially and enjoy it, because even if the market goes down further, you'll still be in and enjoying a great house. and if the market turns around, you be in for the ride.

good luck all