Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Home prices drop 17 percent [Florida]
Herald Tribune ^ | 11/29/2006 | Stephen Frater and Michael Pollick

Posted on 11/29/2006 6:44:22 PM PST by ex-Texan

Prices remain the story in home sales, with Sarasota-Bradenton prices falling 18 percent in October, the second biggest drop in the state.

The median sales price in the Sarasota-Bradenton market was $277,900 last month, compared with $340,700 during the same month in booming 2005.

The Charlotte County-North Port market was not far behind, with a drop of 17 percent, from $243,900 to $202,800.

Only Fort Myers-Cape Coral took a bigger fall, posting a 44 percent decline in median sales price, from $445,100 to $249,200, the Florida Association of Realtors reported on Tuesday.

The median is the point where half the homes sold for more and half for less.

Those numbers came against the backdrop of a national decline in sales price of 3.5 percent, to $221,000, the biggest year-over-year drop on record. It marked the third straight month that prices have fallen nationally, the longest stretch on record.

Home price have been declining in Sarasota-Bradenton since June.

Sellers are giving ground on prices, recognizing that in a local and national market flooded with listings, how much you ask for your home is one of the few ways to differentiate yourself from the competition.

"It's often a matter of educating the sellers that in order to move their property, they've got to give on the price," said Brandy Coffey of Sarasota's Good Life Realty.

Many buyers are well-acquainted with that fact.

After looking at about 40 homes in the $800,000 to $1 million range, Craig Aberle and his wife just landed a deal in a south Sarasota golf course community.

The house they are buying was on the market for about a year, and they were able to get it for 20 percent less than the sellers were asking a year ago.

"They wanted to move," said Aberle, who will close before the end of the year. "They were reluctant to take our offer, which was a strong offer, mostly cash. But we said, 'Look, this is all we are willing to spend, and there are several other houses.'

"You're in a position where, if you want to be aggressive, you can play the sellers off against each other."

Aberle took his own haircut earlier this year when he sold in New Jersey: "We sold for 10 percent less than it would have been in 2005."

Yetta Levitt knows exactly what she is doing as she attempts to market her own spacious waterfront home in the Nokomis subdivision of Sorrento Woods for $850,000.

It is on the Internet with pictures and arrows; Levitt is offering a bonus to the selling agent; she will provide a full mortgage with only 5 percent down.

The problem is there aren't many buyers floating around.

"All I can say is nothing in my neighborhood is moving," Levitt said, noting that one of the less expensive, nonwaterfront homes in her 210-home subdivision sold last month for $410,000. "Prior to that sale, I believe the last sale was November 2005."

The numbers released Tuesday back up Levitt's theme.

In the Sarasota-Bradenton market, 24 percent fewer homes sold this October than October 2005. Sales were virtually flat in Charlotte County-North Port: 226 compared with 225 in 2005.

The Florida Association of Realtors noted that Hurricane Wilma struck Southwest and South Florida during the last week of October 2005, and that the storm's disruption likely reduced the number of sales in many communities.

If activity had been normal, the drop in sales would have been even more pronounced.

Sales nationally edged up 0.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.24 million in October. It was the first monthly increase after seven consecutive months of declines.

Meanwhile, Florida's total sales dropped 22 percent, from 16,407 in October 2005 to 12,773 last month.

'About right'

Some Realtors said the price drop during October is what is to be expected in a market where listings have multiplied from the heady days of the real estate market of the last three years, a time when homes moved in a matter of days.

Pricing in 2005 represented historic highs for the region, said Tom Heatherman, a spokesman for Michael Saunders & Co.

"We have experienced some double digit declines, but we are backing off what were historic increases over the previous years," Heatherman said.

Chad Roffers, president of Sarasota-based Sky Sotheby's Realty, said the price decline goes hand in hand with slowing sales.

"An 18 percent decrease feels about right. We're seeing unit sales down by a third across the board and prices off by 20 percent from the peak in mid-2005," said Chad Roffers, president of Sarasota-based Sky Sotheby's.

"We are seeing a 'liquidity point' at values similar to those that existed in the fourth quarter of 2004. Those sellers who accept that level of value are seeing action. Those who hold out for 2005 prices are not."

Budge Huskey, president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, agreed.

"These results should not come as a surprise. Price is a function of inventory levels, which have risen across the board," Huskey said, adding that "in some areas we're starting to see inventory levels stabilize or flatten out, although we're not at a point where we've reached equilibrium."

Huskey said pricing is the key: "Aggressive pricing and positioning are important right now for sellers."

He is not convinced that prices are done declining. "Sell now; you may get less in three months than today."

Coldwell Banker has closed 15 of the Florida offices that Huskey oversees from Sarasota, bringing the total to about 160. Real estate agents working for the company, meanwhile, total about 6,800, down 5.5 percent from 7,200 last year.

Homes were not the only part of the housing sector taking a hit in October.

Sales of condominiums in the Sarasota-Bradenton market were off 51 percent from the same time a year ago. The median sales price dropped 27 percent, from $294,000 to $216,000.

"Condos always go belly up when economy gets sluggish," said Barbara Anson of Manatee County's Wagner Realty.

Charlotte County-North Port saw a 24 percent drop in sales, but pricing in the market, which has few condos to offer, was difficult to use as any accurate gauge.

Anson said the 18 percent drop in home prices during October "was caused by homes in the region being overpriced," and she said the same is true across other classes of property.

"We now have to come back to reality," she said. "I am explaining to my sellers in Myakka that the bubble has busted. They're not going to get $350,000-$400,000 for a 10-acre parcel like they used to. They'll get $200,000."

Anson is seeing a lot of "half-backs," people who have moved halfway back north to places like Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, where lower-priced housing is more readily available.

"We've priced ourselves out of the market and it'll take at least a year to get it corrected," she said. "I tell my clients, 'Don't think some Yankee will come down here and buy your property just because it's in Florida.'"

Chuck Edwards and his wife, a pair of those halfbacks, have been wheeling and dealing in Sarasota residential property for 13 years.

They decided last year to cash in their chips and move to coastal South Carolina.

Edwards still has eight Sarasota-Bradenton properties that he wants to sell.

He has been trying to sell 2408 Riverbluff Parkway for more than a year.

At first, he asked for $305,900 on this 55-and-older community home with boat docks available to owners. Now the price is $285,000 as a straight sale.

"We bought it right at the tail end of when the market was going crazy, where all you had to do was put a little two-by-five sign out there and somebody would buy it right away," Edwards said.

To make his Riverbluff Parkway house more palatable in today's tough market, Edwards is also making it available at a higher price of $289,500 for those who want to lease with an option to buy within a year.

"We are offering a lease option for it and any property we have, except for the personal house.

"I need to cash out of that."


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: abuseofketwords; abuseofkeywords; alasandalack; andagonyonme; anguish; blatantkeywordabuse; brokenrecord; bubbles; depression; despair; despondent; doom; dustbowl; florida; gloom; grapesofwrath; helpme; housing; housingbubble; ihaterealtors; iluvwilliegreen; imtomjoad; misery; prophetofdoom; realestate; runawayrunaway; skyisfalling; slitmywrist; votequimby; williegreenismyhero; woeisme
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 361-368 next last
To: M. Espinola

I think this year I gained 10% in equity.... so if there is a correction... how does this hurt me?

You are the type who sits around and does nothing.... you and exTex keep on doing nothing....

You can work for me later on and... your progenity will work for mine... forever.... because that's what I do; I make money.


61 posted on 11/29/2006 8:24:05 PM PST by Porterville (I'm afraid the forces that want war are more than the forces who don't)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Petronski

Even if it is one county, it is misleading. The properties that sold last year might be higher priced properties than sold this year. There are NO controls for comparability of sales. The smaller the area, the greater likelihood of bias. More importantly, there are numerous studies documenting that higher priced properties just don't sell in down markets biasing the "median" sales prices downward.


62 posted on 11/29/2006 8:25:45 PM PST by rebel_yell2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: rebel_yell2

That's the deeper lie.


It's like a gigantic sloika of lies and distortions.






Microsoft could learn a thing or two about FUD from this crowd.


63 posted on 11/29/2006 8:28:00 PM PST by Petronski (BRABANTIO: Thou art a villain. IAGO: You are--a senator. ---Othello I.i.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: ex-Texan
This is reality today. Prices are already down in some Florida areas by as much as 44%. The west coast is next. Just wait until next year. Yada, Yada, Yada For all the naysayers out there: "Nothing to see here. Not in my neck of the woods. Time to move on."

Nothing goes up at a steep rate of change forever. When the increase has been prolonged a flattening or a crash is inevitable.

My niece married 11 days ago. She and her new husband are renting a condo in Southern California as they figure out where they want to live. Robert is in the mortgage business. He and Kendahl should do well buying a place over the next year at a discount.

I'm delighted somebody close to me can benefit at the housing market dip, I sure never have.

64 posted on 11/29/2006 8:28:51 PM PST by jimfree (Freep and ye shall find.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: the invisib1e hand; All

Also whats goes up goes down... What goes down goes back up...


65 posted on 11/29/2006 8:31:25 PM PST by KevinDavis (Nancy you ignorant Slut!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: the invisib1e hand

That's a fact. My parents built near Seagrove Beach on the panhandle. $95,000 to built their house and pay for the lot 15 years ago. It was worth almost a million last year. NUTS!

My dad said he could sell it now for $650,00 without breaking a sweat. But he doesn't want to move.


66 posted on 11/29/2006 8:33:57 PM PST by packrat35 (guest worker/day worker=SlaveMart)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Porterville
It's hard to admit when one was so wrong. Let's see what you shall be saying toward the middle of 2nd quarter of 2007.
67 posted on 11/29/2006 8:57:35 PM PST by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: M. Espinola

I tell you what... I'll take out some of my equity in my houses so I can pay you to clean my toilet...

At least you'll have a job. And for dental you can pick your teeth with my garden weeds.

I'll even pay you under the table....


68 posted on 11/29/2006 9:01:45 PM PST by Porterville (I'm afraid the forces that want war are more than the forces who don't)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: M. Espinola
"It's hard to admit when one was so wrong. Let's see what you shall be saying toward the middle of 2nd quarter of 2007."

I'll be saying OHHHH-WEEEEE isn't it great that rents are so high that it covers my mortgages!!!! Yippeee frickin' skippeee--- dummy......

You see, there is a YING TO EVERY YANG.... Sit on your couch and eat Doritos... the real world is to big for some people... and profit margins are just too confusing.
69 posted on 11/29/2006 9:04:27 PM PST by Porterville (I'm afraid the forces that want war are more than the forces who don't)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner
More complete data kinda deflates ex-Tex's bubble. Hehe!
70 posted on 11/29/2006 9:08:54 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (If you agree with EPI, you're not a conservative!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Petronski
As I recall you were one of the ones telling everyone not that long ago the housing market was in no way demonstrating any signs of a slowdown - what-so-ever.
71 posted on 11/29/2006 9:11:39 PM PST by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: Porterville
Doritos? You eat them lol
72 posted on 11/29/2006 9:12:33 PM PST by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: M. Espinola
As I recall . . .

I'd love to see the post where you think I said that.

73 posted on 11/29/2006 9:14:18 PM PST by Petronski (BRABANTIO: Thou art a villain. IAGO: You are--a senator. ---Othello I.i.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: M. Espinola

Well at least you are pro Israel....


74 posted on 11/29/2006 9:16:02 PM PST by Porterville (I'm afraid the forces that want war are more than the forces who don't)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: Petronski

Oh, come on, when do these guys ever back up their assertions?


75 posted on 11/29/2006 9:17:41 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot (If you agree with EPI, you're not a conservative!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: the invisib1e hand
Let's be real. A 44% drop after a 400% increase still leaves with a pretty good run.

I would guess the answer to that depends on your timing.

Hello and how you doing? BTW.

76 posted on 11/29/2006 9:17:55 PM PST by lafroste (gravity is not a force. See my profile to read my novel absolutely free (I know, beyond shameless))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Porterville

If we do not support the housing issue may be the least of our concerns.


77 posted on 11/29/2006 9:25:45 PM PST by M. Espinola (Freedom is never free!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: vidbizz
In a tight market, people are looking to not pay commission. Real Estate is just beginning to feel the direct seller-to-buyer sales module.

I sold my last two houses and bought my last two houses without an agent. Boy did that piss them off. But I do consulting work myself and there is simply no way that the amount of work they do is worth 20 - 25 thousand dollars. Just no way.

I negotiated very good deals in all cases. Screw 'em.

78 posted on 11/29/2006 9:27:00 PM PST by lafroste (gravity is not a force. See my profile to read my novel absolutely free (I know, beyond shameless))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

ouch how bout property taxes?

in IL and other states that asses regularly you'd get a break...but states like CA that use sale price... a lovely kick in the groin

then again, I'm sure some states are set up so your taxes stay up as your home value goes down


79 posted on 11/29/2006 9:34:20 PM PST by KneelBeforeZod (I have five dollars for each of you)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: lafroste
I sold my last two houses and bought my last two houses without an agent. Boy did that piss them off. But I do consulting work myself and there is simply no way that the amount of work they do is worth 20 - 25 thousand dollars. Just no way. I negotiated very good deals in all cases. Screw 'em.

I make my living buying and selling houses and my agent is my greatest asset.
80 posted on 11/29/2006 9:38:07 PM PST by WackySam ("There's room for all God's creatures- right next to the taters")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 78 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 361-368 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson