How desperate are sellers in Sarasota? (Cape Coral, Port St. Lucie: for sale, real estate market, rental)

[Carbondated]

This is the headline from todays Sarasota Herald Tribune.
Anyone else find this the least bit disturbing?

Huge home deal carries huge 'if'

"Vultures have been circling over the slumping Southwest Florida real estate market for a while, but few have descended to snatch properties from increasingly desperate builders and developers -- until now.

Documents obtained by the Herald-Tribune show that Joseph L. Long, a little-known, New Jersey-based real estate investor, is negotiating with about 60 area developers and builders to buy 1,500 homes and condos at a 30 percent discount to their current list prices.

If Long, who has never done anything of this magnitude before, is successful in lining up the $700 million needed to pull off the deal -- a very big if -- it could have market-shaking consequences.

For struggling developers and builders, Long's proposal would relieve them of the financial burden of holding properties in a difficult market.

For banks, Long's deal would help them avoid repossessing properties and filling their balance sheets with unwanted, non-performing assets.

In turn, about 5 percent of the unsold inventory in Sarasota and Manatee counties would be temporarily lifted from the market.

The deal might also encourage other vulture investors, which could speed a real estate market recovery."


It is really sickening when a community newspaper looks to an opportunist as a saviour, who will willfully feed into keeping housing prices out of the local populations reach.

[121804]

Just as desperate as some other places just down 41 or 75.

I see areas like Punta Gorda & North Port hitting bottom before Sarasota. Next signs you'll be seeing everywhere in SW FL [if not already]..."Commercial Lot For Sale/Lease/Rent".

"The biggest decline was in the Merced, Calif., area. Homes there lost 8.65% of their value over this time last year and 3.76% from the past quarter.

Runners-up for the biggest decline included the California metro areas in and around Santa Barbara, Stockton, Salinas, Modesto, Yuba City, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Oxnard and Vallejo, and Reno, Nev., in the California orbit. Prices dived in Florida communities in and around Punta Gorda, Sarasota, Cape Coral, Palm Bay, Port St. Lucie and West Palm Beach.

These newest data show price declines in many areas that were once at the center of the housing boom," said OFHEO chief economist Patrick Lawler. The worst declines were in California, Florida and Nevada, all centers of huge housing booms until recently, and in Michigan, which is reeling from epic job losses."

[sandyrose749]

I have been trying to sell my home in Sarasota for 6 months...if he wanted to buy it...I would sell it to him!

[MrTudo]

Makes no sense whatsoever

[seeriously]

Whatever it takes to get the inventory off the books!

[Carbondated]

Originally Posted by sandyrose749

I have been trying to sell my home in Sarasota for 6 months...if he wanted to buy it...I would sell it to him!

You would sell it to him for 30% less than your asking price? That is what he is proposing to offer these desperate sellers.

If a local couple came to you and offered a firm 30% less for your home, would you consider it?

I have a feeling a lot of sellers wouldn't even consider 30% less than their asking price and would walk away feeling "insulted".

[Don2007]

Why do people pay too much for a house and then complain when the price adjusts to reality? I sold my house there in 2001 and prices had not yet spiked sky high. Sarasota doesn't have what it takes to have a robust economy. People making $10.00 an hour can't pay $300K for a house, so who is going to buy it? Working people have service oriented jobs. There are no high paying jobs in this town for the average person.

[Racelady88]

Originally Posted by Don2007

Why do people pay too much for a house and then complain when the price adjusts to reality? I sold my house there in 2001 and prices had not yet spiked sky high. Sarasota doesn't have what it takes to have a robust economy. People making $10.00 an hour can't pay $300K for a house, so who is going to buy it? Working people have service oriented jobs. There are no high paying jobs in this town for the average person.

No kidding! I looked at a rent to own (as a rental only). It is a 1950's house bought by an investor for $125K & he is asking $230K. Amazing! He can't understand why he can't sell.

[JimKing]

Originally Posted by Don2007

Why do people pay too much for a house and then complain when the price adjusts to reality? I sold my house there in 2001 and prices had not yet spiked sky high. Sarasota doesn't have what it takes to have a robust economy. People making $10.00 an hour can't pay $300K for a house, so who is going to buy it? Working people have service oriented jobs. There are no high paying jobs in this town for the average person.

Ahhh, you simplified the situation beautifully.

People need to throw away appraisals and what their neighbors got for their houses. Eventually housing prices will return to 2.5-3 times depending on the borrowers other debts. And lenders they will require 20% down.

Housing prices are so far off the mark in most places it is ridiculous. That investor that wants to buy for 70% is most likely paying too much.

[121804]

Originally Posted by JimKing

And lenders they will require 20% down.

Housing prices are so far off the mark in most places it is ridiculous. That investor that wants to buy for 70% is most likely paying too much.

Wondering when/what time period that lenders started to sway away from this "requirement" [20% down]. I remember years ago knowing lenders would only do business if one had 20%. Do you think in today's credit & instant gratification way of living that this could actually be the standard again? One is looking at having at least $40,000 saved [not including closing costs] to afford a $200k home. Most who buy $200k homes are not making an income to be able to afford such a savings.

Also, my husband & I were debating just how overpriced homes are in FL [in our case, SW FL]. I swear I heard up to 50%. He thought more in the area of 10%. Just wondering if anyone knew a benchmark.