A resounding thud........

I'd like to share with you some of the responses I received from my last posting, but I got ZERO!

So, back to the old format.

Last night's national news reported that existing home sales in Florida were down 12%, and yet again didn't go one step further to explain that existing home sales were UP 33% the preceding two years which was an anomaly. As you know, this type of slanted reporting infuriates me.

The media should focus on the reason people aren't buying in full force and that is a lack of confidence in the economy. It has nothing to do with real estate or the mortgage fraud issues coming into light. It has to do with our current government slashing budgets for needed programs and our own president denying health care coverage to 10 million children!

I was talking to a man yesterday who said he bought a home two years ago a few miles north of Tarpon Springs for $134,000 in a neighborhood where the average home price now is $110,000. He said he really had wanted to live in Tarpon Springs, but couldn't afford the prices at the time. He lamented as I told him of the incredible homes available under $200,000 and even some very nice homes available in the $150,000-$180,000 range. NOW, he will never be able to sell his home for what he paid, or close to it and satisfy his mortgage to move into the area where he truly wanted to live in the first place!

I know this scenario is happening time and time again in this area, but we must realize the true enemies here are the investors who swooped in, drained all the cash they could from the properties they purchased, and now have flooded the market with those properties at inflated prices. I know I keep saying this over and over, but I will keep saying it until everyone realizes it's true.

On another blog I read frequently, one man posted that this problem won't go away until "we stop listening to the LYING Realtors about list prices". You KNOW I had to respond to that. I agree there are some Realtors who will tell the seller what they want to hear, but the realtor working the hardest in this market who is honestly trying to make a living isn't going to price a home so it won't sell. And Realtors don't price homes in the long run, anyway - the market does.

Oh my soapbox is getting worn. I'll have to build a new one.

I see positive things happening and I believe in real estate. All of the houses currently on the market are already sold - the buyers just don't know it yet.

Smile!