Tampa area home prices supposed to drop another 36%

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by saltzman143

I absolutely love Pasco, LOVE IT (and great great tap water!!!), but the traffic in and out of Pasco is a dealbreaker. Not far from downtown Tampa? It's like 30 miles!!!!

You are correct on both counts - Pasco has GREAT water, absolutely great. The traffic is definitely a deal breaker - it's the worst direction from which to make a commute to Tampa. We used to live in Dade City, about 35 mi. NW of downtown. Took hubby ONE HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES to make this commute daily. Now we live in Sarasota, 58 miles from his work - he makes it in ONE HOUR! Almost twice the distance in less the time. The commute from the north is horrible, and getting worse by the year. Pasco is great, but not if you need to commute into Tampa daily.

[tjax1000]

Originally Posted by saltzman143

Do you actually think that people in the Tampa area make enough money to afford a 300,000 dollar house or even a 200k house?

Something that I just can't comprehend... how many homes are on the market for a price I would consider to be "expensive." There are a TON of houses all over for over 400K and in many neighborhoods that is the table minimum.

When I start seeing what I consider to be middle class homes for 500K and up, I really go nuts. And this is today, people! Not 3 years ago.

But then again, look at places like DC, San Diego, and two dozen other places. You're looking at starter houses for 600K.

Regardless, my suspicion is that a heck of a lot of people are comfortable living a lot closer to the edge than I am. IMHO a lot of the people living paycheck to paycheck have no excuse to do so. I've seen people living in 500K and up homes living like this. Just plain stupid. And guess who bails them out when a little something goes wrong in their life and almost immediately they can't pay the mortgage on their McMansion???? I'll give you a hint- those of us who are responsible and don't take handouts.

[saltzman143]

right on, tjax! I still cannot believe all the houses selling for over 300k in this area. But I reason that it must be rich retirees from the North or Europeans.

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Nav

Everyone seems to celebrate the drop on housing prices, especially the ones who do not own a house. Falling prices is not something to celebrate. Its especially hard on those trying to sell. I guess modern society takes great joy in kicking someone who is down, thus the low ball offers people are making on houses right now. Most people know they are selling at a loss and are not happy. But for someone to come in with a low ball offer and expect the seller to pick up closing costs and a whole slew of other things is just plain wrong. Those who take great joy in this are not very ethical people....just the kind you want as neighbors.

I don't think people are taking joy in the fact that people are losing money. They're taking joy in the fact that house prices are dropping to a level that the average blue collar family can afford.

This housing bubble was created almost entirely on greed. People wanted to buy cheap houses and flip them, so the people with those cheap houses started asking more for them, the people who flipped them wanted more money and the cycle just continued. This started happening back in the 90's with the Carlton Sheets thing and so many other copies. This priced homes at the market of the blue collar people.

Then, you had apartments and rental homes increasing in price because they were seeing an influx of people who couldn't afford to buy homes, and now the blue collar families are having trouble even affording those. It was a perfect storm and the bill was going to come due sooner or later.

Imagine a group of 8 year olds left to babysit themselves for a day. They'd be eating fruit-loops for dinner, playing floor-hockey in the kitchen and painting the cat blue.

Great fun until the adults get back.

That analogy pretty much sums up what happened the last 6-8 years in this country. We left human greed unchecked.

Well, mommy and daddy are home now... the place is trashed and we're all grounded...big-time.

[BucFan]

For someone who has been saving all his adult/professional life, and living in apartment/rentals for the last 20+ years in order to buy a house later in life, I'm happy the over-inflated home prices are being corrected. Everyone knew those crackerbox, cookie-cutter homes being sold for over $200k were inflated.

[porkypig]

Like just about everywhere, Tampa real estate is still dropping. Some neighborhoods seem to have held up far better. But if the downtrend continues for another year or more, it is hard to imagine that all ends and the middle of the market will be hit very hard. Even the high end the the South Tampa has been hit very hard.