Bouncing on bottom

The snowbirds are coming, the snowbirds are coming!

So, you figure that will be the solution to the housing glut in Florida? Not likely.

Look at the thousands of homes, condominiums and townhouses for sale in the Bradenton/Sarasota market alone. There is several years of inventory based on recent sales figures.

The best sellers can hope for at this point is that prices will bottom out sometime in the next couple of month and then start bouncing across the bottom.

There are a number of economists out there predicting this and that about the market.

Best guess based on everything I've read is that we may not see prices start to rise again in this area until around the end of 2008 and that is probably being very optimistic.

If you are selling a house right now it is simple economics. We have a large supply and a low demand so prices fall.

It doesn't matter what you paid for your home, what you need to get out of your home or what you think it is worth if you are trying to sell it.

The only thing that matters right now is what the buyers think it is worth.

We've hit the opposite end of the cycle. Sellers were listing their properties high and had a lineup of buyers during the sellers market.

Now there is a lineup of sellers and buyers want the properties to be sold low.

All the wishful thinking in the world about snowbirds is not going to change that economic fact for a long time.

All the best
Greg Owens PA
Keller Williams Realty of Greater Manatee
941.779.5149