If you have a job and have built some credit this may be a great time to buy that home or condo! There a LOT of properties on the market and fewer buyers. Due to all the talk about the poor economy many are waiting to see what will happen next. BUT, if you need a dwelling and want to buy one at a really low price, now is the time.

Check with a good mortgage lender and find out how much home you can afford to buy now.

The real estate slump is ending.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says that the worst of the housing adjustment is over and “sales figures have stabilized.” He predicted that inventory levels will come down at a "reasonably rapid pace.”

A home inspection will tell you just how far from perfect that one day old home is and how much aging went on in that 100 year home.
View a virtual home ispection the way it is done by an inspector who is a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI). A home inspection is highly recommended for older homes and brand new ones. Click on this link
http://www.ashi.org/customers/vhi_tour.asp to view the inspection.
Read more about the necessity of getting a professional home inspection in an artlcle by Broderick Perkins at
http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20061031_ashiinspection.htm

Even with undervalued prices, the multi-million dollar cost of the replacement properties comes in a game with a higher stake. Players start with $2 million instead of the paltry $1,500 stake in the original game.


Visit the Monopoly site at: www.Hasbro.com

You Might Be A Floridian IF --
"Down South" means Key West
"Panhandling" means going to Pensacola.
Flip-flops are everyday wear.
Shoes are for business meetings.
Sweet tea can be served at any meal.
An alligator once walked through your neighborhood.
You smirk when a game show's "Grand Prize" is a trip or cruise to Florida.
You measure distance in minutes.
You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt.
You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls.
All the local festivals are named after a fruit.
A hill is any point 50 feet above sea level.
You think everyone from a bigger city has a northern accent.
You know the four seasons really are: almost summer, summer, not summer but really hot, and Christmas.
Anything under 90 is just warm.
You've hosted or attended a hurricane party.
You go to a theme park for an afternoon, and know when to get on the best rides.
You understand the futility of 'exterminating' cockroaches.
You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee and Withlacoochee.
You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat, than have a boat yourself.
You were 8 before you realized they made houses without pools.
You were 12 when you first met someone who couldn't swim.
You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas.

Author Unknown

"...A new species of real estate owner has begun to emerge: the marathon seller. Maybe you have them in your community, owners who believe in real estate exceptionalism, the idea that their homes are growing in value while real estate prices all around are stalled or falling.

These owners truly believe that somehow their property is unique and different, a home so wonderful that general sales trends are irrelevant

Compared with last August, in my area we have evolved from a strong seller's market to something which has more balance. Prices are up a touch, but not up insanely. Days on the market have doubled, unit sales are down 20 percent and instead of paying premiums, some buyers are getting "seller contributions" at closing...."

Read the article by Peter G. Miller at: RealtyTimes.

"...Renting out your house by the night or by the week while it's on the market can help cover your expenses until the house/condo sells. It's easy, inexpensive and effective way to market your home," says Christine Karpinski, real estate investor, author and director of Owner Advocacy for HomeAway.com, a network of vacation rental listing websites.

Given the high cost of housing in many regions some potential buyers are turning to rentals and generating a greater demand in the apartment and home rental market, but that's not true of all markets faced with a supply glut.

"New condo owners who are counting on renting their properties to vacationers should be prepared to work harder than might have been necessary even a year ago," said Emily Glossbrenner a partner with Yardley, PA-based FullyBookedRentals.com, a website for resort and vacation rental owners...."

Read the full article by Broderick Perkins at RealtyTimes.com

How do I choose a good management company?

...you want a property manager or management firm that has successfully managed income-producing properties before....
Read the full answer at:
http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20060725_askgeorge.htm

... While the city's real estate market is slowing down now, it will pick up steam again as babyboomers retire and land prices continue to fall, Feichthaler said.

Growth in Lee County — up nearly 52 percent from 335,113 people in 1990 to 508,634 — also is increasing pressure to develop Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres, according to van Buskirk's report. People will turn to the platted lands of Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres as developable land in the county disappears under new homes and businesses....

Read the full story at news-press.com

Downtown Dania Beach is finally looking up -- a new U.S. 1 condo would rise 13 stories.

By Ashley Wilson
awilson@MiamiHerald.com

Condominium project would be on the downtown Dania Beach site of the Pirate's Inn property. Downtown Dania Beach, known for its antique stores and seedy hotels, may soon get its first big condominium tower.


To read the full story: Click Here

It's not construction costs that have driven the bay area's soaring home prices. Turns out, it's the ground the homes sit on that's really valuable.

Read the rest of the story at http://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/08/Business/Dirt_rich.shtm

....“We’re going to break all records,’’ Carr said this morning.

Part of the rush is in home-building as the city annexes more and more land. City officials say about 9,000 new houses have been proposed in the city of about 33,000 residents.

Building permit activity is considered a key indicator of economic health.

Excerpt from an article at www.tbo.com by Dave Nicholson

Neighbors pitted against neighbors trying to sell their homes.

"...Competition is stiff. Inventory is at an all-time high — 50,000 homes for sale in Lee County, according to McWilliams.


"Between 2001 and 2005 any Realtor will tell you that there were substantially more buyers than property," McWilliams said. "Now people are taking their time to buy."


Note: Fort Myers is in Lee County.


Read the rest of the story at http://www.lehighnewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20060521/NEWS01/605210428/1075

To look at homes for sale in Fort Myers click on this link http://www.amstarrealty.com/fort_myers_florida_real_estate.htm

"What's the worst sort of real estate experience you can imagine? How about a mortgage that eventually eats your entire house -- your entire equity stake -- and leaves you penniless despite years of double-digit appreciation?..."


Read the story at http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20060515_toxicreversewidow.htm

Several recent reports indicate that real estate sales are slowing in Florida. Existing houses and condos which are listed in the MLS are taking longer to sell. The number of properties on the market has increased dramatically.

In Pinellas County, for example, according to the Pinellas Realtor Organization, ..."In March, single family inventory grew by over 11% since February and by 33% since last December. The amount of inventory sold (absprption rate)  in March was 14.7% of the total inventory, compared to March 2005, when 43.4% of the single family inventory was sold. The absorption rate for condos was 11% compared to 43% the previous March...".

Many  new home and new condo builders are offering incentives (if not price reductions).

Some Realtors have gone so far as to say that we have now entered a "Buyer's Market". Buyers have a greater opportunity of negotiating lower prices or concessions when there are more homes on the market than there are buyers to buy them.

So, if you are thinking about buying in Florida you can now take advantage of a slowing market.

 

   

 

David Lereah, NAR chief economist, reports, "Home sales will move up and down somewhat over the remainder of the year, but stay at a high plateau, meaning this will be the third strongest year on record." The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is expected to rise to 6.9 percent by the end of the year.

NAR continues, "Existing-home sales are projected to drop 6.0 percent to 6.65 million this year from a record 7.08 million in 2005. New-home sales are likely fall 10.9 percent to 1.14 million from the record 1.28 million last year -- both sectors would see the third best year following 2005 and 2004."

Buyers and sellers should expect the national average for homes to be $221,700. New homes cost only slightly more on average -- at the price of $242,700.


Read the whole story at http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20060413_mrktconditions.htm

Too many home owners using ARMs to finance their home, can't put their finger on what makes their mortgage payment rise, how high it can go or even what the starting interest rate was. Full Story: http://realtytimes.com/rtcpages/20060331_armprotects.htm"%20