It's real estate bottomed out and rebounding in this area of Florida? (car registration, insurance)

[gypsychic]

Well-priced homes anywhere in the region here are getting snapped up. Even high-end ones are selling well again. There may be other areas of Florida still experiencing slumps, but this is not one of them. The whole region had a banner year in tourism, and almost a banner year for restaurants and retail. New stores and restaurants and even new homes are being built again. this translates to a WHOLE LOT of people coming to the area, many of whom fall in love and move here. The good inventory is dwindling all the time and this drives prices up.

No, if you bought a nice home you love and will keep for awhile, I don't see any worries about losing value. Not a realtor or investor, just a "gypsy" with good instincts!

Congratulations, Loves2Read! Did you move away and are moving back or am I just confused?

[staywarm2]

I've read that there are many more snowbirds this year all over FL this year than ever before! (Maybe retiring baby boomers?)

[loves2read]

We are native Texans--
our daughter married someone who owned condo in Venice
they are staying in FL so...we will have longer visits in home where we can bring our dog and cat...

[bbronston]

News that really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone...sales, pending sales, and prices all up in March.

Click HERE for the complete press release in PDF format, plus several pages of statistical charts.

[downthrust]

I found a pretty interesting article from last summer... does it seem to hold true their projections? (not-withstanding the Sarasota area, as Sarasota seems to be doing much better than a lot of other places in FL it seems). I was shocked about Naples though on this list being the worst!!! is Naples really going to get hit that bad with more housing price decreases??

I thought Naples was beautiful when I visited!

http://247wallst.com/2011/08/09/the-...e-this-year/3/

[Obrero]

Originally Posted by bbronston

News that really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone...sales, pending sales, and prices all up in March.

Click HERE for the complete press release in PDF format, plus several pages of statistical charts.

Not to rain on anyone's parade (especially you my friend Bob) but what about the new foreclosures being filed in March? Seems to be up 50% over Feb.

Foreclosure filings in Sarasota County up by 56% | HeraldTribune.com

Perhaps this is because of the new rules re: foreclosures. But how many more are coming?

[bbronston]

The increase discussed in the article is a consecutive month comparison so it's difficult to read into it, just as sales increases from one month to the next aren't necessarily an indication of a trend. Also, these are lis pendens which, at one time, meant something but it can literally be years before a court orders the sale of the property...what most people think of as a "foreclosure". During that time, a short sale can (and usually does) take place so these may not have the impact that some expect to see. I recently read an article where the author said that there will never be a significant enough "flood" of the so-called shadow inventory to dramatically affect the market because the banks have neither the staff nor the inclination to push them thru in large numbers. I guess we'll see...

[downthrust]

Wow its happening even faster than I thought.. The later part of this year should be REALLY interesting..

[macyny]

People live in Michigan, Oregon, Washington because there are jobs. Most people, who move to Florida are retirees or vacationers. The Europeans and Canadians buy property as investments or vacation property. They do not live here full time unless they are retired.

That 300k condo, from 5 years ago was not worth 300k. Real estate was artifically inflated. The prices of properties is beginning to return to what they are worth...what someone is willing to pay for them.

Florida's #1 industry is tourism. Until it creates good paying jobs, it will not attract working families who live here full time.

I don't believe the housing market will stabilize anywhere, until the employment picture changes. People can't buy houses if they don't have jobs. They can't pay mortgages without jobs. Houses will continue to wind up on the auction block unless we get people back to work.

Problem is how to create jobs without growth? Where will it come from? Growth depends on consumer spending. If people start buying more, companies need to produce more. To keep up with demand, they need workers.

The President wanted to create policies which would create more jobs through infrastructure spending and aid to states to boost hiring of teachers and other public employees, but our divided Congress blocked him at every turn. Fixing our roads, bridges, rails and airports would put many people back to work. It would be an investment in our Country, our future. I would rather have my tax dollars go toward repairing the roads I drive and the bridges I cross, than the war in Afghanistan.

If aid to the poor and unemployed is ended before jobs are created, we will have a disaster on our hands. It appears politicians care more about saving the taxes for the rich than figuring out how to get the poor and middle class back to work. Ending unemployment and other types of help, will put people on the street. The infomation is twisted to make it sound like 'big government' is causing our problems. If government doesn't invest our tax dollars into creating jobs, things will get worse, much worse. We can't pull the rug out from under our unemployed and expect they will somehow improve.

I don't see the type of disaster 'farfromnuggin' talks about, but I do see people getting sick and tired of the political game-playing going on in the Congress. Most people don't want to hear about it anymore.

Housing is just a symptom of a much bigger problem.

[downthrust]

Macyny... Good post... But what you didn't mention is that the private sector is the largest employer by far..small business is needed for this country to survive..we were built on it.

As unfair as it may sound/be.. The rich have the money to run the businesses.. If you tax them more then they take their money elsewhere..overseas. Once that money goes it stays out of the usa. Lots of jobs go out of the country with it. Government revenue is lost. Government can't afford to pay the public salaries and benefits. It's a spiral.. Unfortunately if you are a public worker, you have to realize something... you hurt the rich...you eventually hurt yourself. Btw I'm not rich or even remotely close to it. But I'm in business and I see everyday how it works. Just ask yourself the question... did a poor person ever give you a job?

Regarding the infrastructure spending..you are right on the money! Problem is.. The wars won't end..way to many military corporations lobbying in Congress. You try to tell lockhead that you are cutting their budget in half..watch how fast a war is created for the excuse not to cut military spending now. You really think these military budget cuts will happen... Sure.... Keep holding your breathe. I'm in manufacturing..every machine shop I know with military contracts is booming.. And only getting busier..yet they tell you in the news they are cutting military budgets..yeah okay..keep dreaming.

Why are we in the middle east? It's called the dollar maintaining itself as the world reserve currency for trading worldwide oil and other commodities. That's it!
7 months before we invaded Iraq, saddam stopped trading his oil in dollars.
Now Iran is doing the same thing..it's only a matter of "when"not "if" we go into Iran.

The terrorists are an excuse.. That's why they hate us.. We kill their people over banking dollar world dominance. Once people learn about how the world financial markets truly work..they will then understand that the vast majority of what tv tells them is hogwash. But most Americans are too dumbed down in reality tv, football and the kardashians.

It's my honest opinion that the way out of this mess will be another world war which will employ a huge amount of our nations youth. Can you say.."come fight for us..we will forgive your college loans". It's coming folks..

Getting back to housing..the same question remains.. Who is going to buy the baby boomers homes? The college grads with 150k of student loan debt who are under employed? Only way this happens is if banks flood the market with another round of loans to anybody with a pulse... "oh you flip burgers at McDonalds?.. Here is a 200k loan..go buy a house!".

Reinflate the bubble or war.. Take your pick.