Tomorrow’s an exciting day! I’m going to be featured on SoWalScene’s website! Yippee!!! Check it out and let me know what you think.
Real estate is local. What I mean by this is that there are some areas of our Country that have not been as effected by the down turn of the real estate market. Others have been hit extremely hard. South Florida being one of the areas hardest hit.
The Emerald Coast has taken a down turn, there’s not doubt. Prices have declined over the past couple of years. I thought prices in this area, were great last year. Prices this year are unbelievable. There is currently a gulf front condo listed for $240.88 per sq. ft!! Yes, this is gulf front! I sold a similar unit (different floor, same floor plan and square footage), last year for $465.11 per sq. ft! Check out this GULF FRONT, 2 bedroom / 2 bath, 1453 SF, listed for $350,000… Breakers East Condominium, Unit 806 This view can be yours!
Of course the question I am asked every day, is still “have we hit bottom”? That is truly the $64 million dollar question. I am hopeful we are close, if not just about there. There have been some sales and yet not as many as last year. The few buyers that are making offers are looking for a steal of a deal. They are savy investors and know what they will pay for a home or condo and not a penny more. We need these investors to help absorb some of this inventory.
Any seller that really doesn’t have to sell, we encourage to take the property off the market. They just aren’t realistic about what their property will sell for (to emotional). Sellers want to sell for at least what they owe on their mortgage, and in a lot of cases this just isn’t going to happen. Just recently, I had a seller tell me this. She owns a 2 bedroom townhome and owes more than what a 3 bedroom unit, in her community, just sold for. I’m sorry, but her 2 bedroom is just not going to sell for what she wants it to. It won’t appraise. And if it won’t appraise a buyer, who is getting financing, won’t be able to get financing for more than appraised value.
Besides being a Realtor, I am an investor, too. I can look at the situation from both a buyer and seller’s perspective. I have been there. In real estate, it’s about the facts. it’s about what the prices are for property currently for sale and what the prices are for the properties that have been sold. A buyer is not going to pay $100,000 more for the same size condo in the same building!
We are in a cycle and as history shows, the market will come back. The $128 million dollar question is, when?
For more information about real estate along the Emerald Coast visit my website.
Debbie James
850.450.2000