The Daily Soak - April 28

Can Florida Spend Its Way Out of the Housing Bath?

The Tallahassee-based research and citizens' watchdog group, Florida Tax Watch, has released an analysis of Florida's economic status quo and proposals for jump-starting the state's sagging economy. Regarding housing, the report notes that Housing prices have toppled by approximately 20 percent and 15 percent, respectively, in the Miami and Tampa regions during the last year and that foreclosures statewide are running at a pace of roughly 30,000 per month in early 2008. Florida Tax Watch proposes a $615 million economic stimulus plan including $225 million in affordable housing incentives to stimulate residential construction. Click here to download the 8-page report.


Worse and Worser: Conference Speakers Highlight Florida's Woes

Noted economists speaking at this month's Spring Construction Forecast Conference sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders offered some hope for a nationwide bottom suggesting that prices would continue to fall throughout this year before stabilizing in 2009. Unfortunately, the outlook for Florida was less optimistic according to one economist who sees Florida housing prices continuing to fall in 2009. The combination of excess inventory, falling prices and tight lending standards are leaving many homeowners owing more on their mortgages than their homes are actually worth. The article refers to this concept as underwater, but readers of this blog know it by another name, bathing, and 8.8 million bathers can't be wrong.


Foreclosurepedia? Real Estate Wiki Adds Distressed Properties Info

California-based Real Estate Wiki has announced the addition of several new features on their website including "foreclosures, pre-foreclosures, short sales, auction and bank owned properties." The site features a foreclosure-oriented FAQ, a glossary of warm and fuzzy foreclosure terms and links to agencies that may be able to provide assistance to homeowners and potential buyers of foreclosed properties. According to the site, in March one in every 538 households in the U.S. received a foreclosure notice, with Nevada (1 in 139 homes) leading the pack, followed by California (1 in 204 homes), Florida (1 in 282 homes) and Arizona (1 in 283 homes).