Am I missing something??? (Tampa: sales, 2009, foreclosures)

[Kat_Woman36]

Florida housing price are decreasing by the day it seems and people are still out looking to buy when it is forecasted to bottom out early 2009. Am I missing something?? Why are people buying homes that will be worth less than what they pay for it today?

[ts_ohio]

Originally Posted by Kat_Woman36

Florida housing price are decreasing by the day it seems and people are still out looking to buy when it is forecasted to bottom out early 2009. Am I missing something?? Why are people buying homes that will be worth less than what they pay for it today?

Well, KW, I am struggling with figuring out what is a 'bottom'... I read that some areas may see falling prices till '09, but some areas might see a flat line...

I am seeing houses in STampa and they are predicting only a 10% drop (max) in '09.

But 10% of what??? I am not sure if this 10% is from today's average listing prices in the area???

If I pay 10% lower than today's mean prices, will that mean that I hit the 'bottom'??

I am confused as well..

[GENO-777]

Originally Posted by ts_ohio

Well, KW, I am struggling with figuring out what is a 'bottom'... I read that some areas may see falling prices till '09, but some areas might see a flat line...

I am seeing houses in STampa and they are predicting only a 10% drop (max) in '09.

But 10% of what??? I am not sure if this 10% is from today's average listing prices in the area???

If I pay 10% lower than today's mean prices, will that mean that I hit the 'bottom'??

I am confused as well..

The markit is only good if your going to buy a house, it dosn't matter if it goes up or down if you don't want to sell your house.

[Spree]

>>The market is only good if your going to buy a house, it dosn't matter if it goes up or down if you don't want to sell your house.<<

Exactly. Perhaps the people buying aren't looking to flip their houses, but live in them for awhile. What I didn't understand is that people were selling their houses and then buying new ones back in 2005 when the market was so high. I know several people that did that in the Tampa area - they left nice neighborhoods for a bigger and more expensive house at the height of the boom. A few took out home equity loans, even then.

[bentlebee]

How many people are making an offer that is similar to the asking price? Not one person in their right mind, so If you buy right now you are getting already a lower price. What I don't get is why people went through with the contract on homes in 2006 when it was very hard to sell a house and the news was clear that the market was bad and going down. Look at foreclosures. Some people closed on resale homes for crazy prices and losing their homes right now. Who advised these people....? Who were the lenders....? Shouldn't some one be hold accountable for innocent people who got advise from bad realtors and bad lenders. Hope the people who gave these innocent people advise can still look in the mirror and see how much pain they have coursed. Of cause there are the "smart realtors, smart investors" who wanted to get rich fast and getting foreclosures themself. Well I'm not feeling sorry for them, they were suppose to be the proffesionals.

[tonynorie]

"I am seeing houses in STampa and they are predicting only a 10% drop (max) in '09.

But 10% of what??? I am not sure if this 10% is from today's average listing prices in the area???

I'm confused too! I regularly check the home prices here in south Tampa and from all indications the sales prices have been dropping like dresses on prom night. But what I don't know is how long, and how far, the slide will continue.

[C5Aprea]

Im moving to Tampa this week. I plan to rent for a couple months, and them buy. Selling my house in Virginia will suck

[mquintana]

It's the market. The insurance, property taxes and HOA's are high. Most people are selling due to that as well as a few years ago when the market was good...people signing mortgages with a variable interest rate. So now the interest has sky rocketed and people are selling their homes for what they can. It is expected for a lot of forclosures during these next few years. So much we even changed our rental criteria...

[jessiesma]

in what way did you change your criteria? We are renters and like where we are but need to know if things are getting tighter or how they are changing. We don't plan to move but you never know. We could get a horrible property mgr. or the place could be sold and the raise rets too much or any of the above.

Originally Posted by mquintana

It's the market. The insurance, property taxes and HOA's are high. Most people are selling due to that as well as a few years ago when the market was good...people signing mortgages with a variable interest rate. So now the interest has sky rocketed and people are selling their homes for what they can. It is expected for a lot of forclosures during these next few years. So much we even changed our rental criteria...

[daniellefort]

Not to mention the interest rates are still quite low and we all know that can change in a matter of time. If you wait to buy, you could be stuck paying more on interest vs. the drop in sale price which probably won't go much lower than it is now and over the years equal the same amount.