A good article about Sarasota's real estate market. (foreclosures, homeowners association)

[dishing the 9411]

Housing bottom? Analysts wary | HeraldTribune.com | Sarasota Florida | Southwest Florida's Information Leader

[leaving texAss]

this is what i thought. everyone kept saying that we've bottomed but i don't think so either. currently, home prices are kept higher than the market value because of FED interference, keeping interest rates artificially low. the gov can't keep that up much longer.

[dishing the 9411]

Good points! Here are a few other honest articles about the real estate market.

Housing Prices May Fall Further - Forbes.com

Housing prices forecast to fall in 2010 -- and could keep falling for years -- DailyFinance

[Dreamy46]

Originally Posted by leaving texAss

this is what i thought. everyone kept saying that we've bottomed but i don't think so either. currently, home prices are kept higher than the market value because of FED interference, keeping interest rates artificially low. the gov can't keep that up much longer.

The bottom callers are always the people that are trying to sell or the people making a commission by getting you to buy.

As long as that tax credit is alive, then housing is still artificially inflated. You won't find a bottom until the government involvement has ended and inventory levels return to normal.

You're years away from that in Florida.

"On a regional basis, Moody's said hard-hit states such as Florida and California will be among the last to recover and "will only regain their pre-bust peak in the early 2030s, well after the nation does."

Home prices won't regain peak this decade: Moody's - MarketWatch

[Peter the Brit]

Whilst there is a demand by snowbirds to live here IMHO Florida will be the first to recover as the lack of new houses caused by the recession will make demand exceed supply in the resale market

[Dreamy46]

Originally Posted by Peter the Brit

Whilst there is a demand by snowbirds to live here IMHO Florida will be the first to recover as the lack of new houses caused by the recession will make demand exceed supply in the resale market

I'm sure all those empty condo towers are filling up as we speak...

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Dreamy46

I'm sure all those empty condo towers are filling up as we speak...

Well, some older friends of ours from France saw an opportunity here and just bought themselves a nice condo at a great price. I expect others will do the same. There are more and more Europeans here these days. I'm certainly not saying the condos are "filling up", but I agree with Peter that it won't take as long as all these "doom and gloom" articles are projecting. It's just my personal opinion, based on the desirability of this area.

[Dreamy46]

Originally Posted by gypsychic

Well, some older friends of ours from France saw an opportunity here and just bought themselves a nice condo at a great price. I expect others will do the same. There are more and more Europeans here these days. I'm certainly not saying the condos are "filling up", but I agree with Peter that it won't take as long as all these "doom and gloom" articles are projecting. It's just my personal opinion, based on the desirability of this area.

That's great. I'm sure the Condo homeowners associations are quite glad to have someone they can bill for all the people not paying their dues.

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Dreamy46

That's great. I'm sure the Condo homeowners associations are quite glad to have someone they can bill for all the people not paying their dues.

Not sure what your problem is, you don't even live here do you? Anyway, our friends bought into a beautiful place where there are no foreclosures, they won't be paying anyone's dues.

[Big House]

The bottom, may be here, maybe not. There are thousands and thousands of home that, without a doubt, have been held back from the market due to the policies and manipulation of the government.

I expect that the tax credit will be retained, and actually may be extended (to a lesser degree) to people that are second or more time buyers. They (the government and banks) need to stimulate things and get these non-performing assests off the books of these banks. There will continue to be great deals to be had in Florida for years and years to come! As long as, and conditioned upon, the government being able to maintain these manipulations; if they can continue to do it until the recovery actually takes hold, then we can say we have hit the bottom.

The good news is that the new home market has been dead for a long time. There will be no new home market here for a while either. So the back log of homes that are sold, are in fact continually deminishing the supply. Once the back-log is sold off, then the market will show signs of real recovery, and then new jobs will be created. Until further notice - the status quo will continue.