The Daily Soak - June 2

Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? [ aka Realtor ;) ]

The answer to that question was "practically everyone" during the 2001-06 housing boom. And who could resist the lure of easy money flipping condos in sunny Florida? The number of licensed Florida salespeople more than doubled from 2001-2006. But now that the pre-construction sellouts, flipping frenzy and easy money are distant memories, the ranks of licensed agents are falling like unit prices in a Biscayne Boulevard high-rise. In fact, 40,000 formerly licensed individuals have given up the real estate gig in the past two years alone. To compensate, real estate schools are getting creative with their course offerings...Short Sale 101, Anyone?



Foreclosures Going Up, Median Prices Going Down

Interest rates go up, bond prices go down...corporate earnings go up, P/E ratios go down...reality TV ratings go up, national IQ scores go down...you can always count on certain inverse relationships. We should add to that list median home prices and mortgage default rates. According to research firm Global Insight, 45 of the Top 50 Worst Performing Markets in terms of median home price declines are located in Florida, Nevada and California. Miami home prices fell 21% from a year earlier, while Tampa median prices dropped 19%. Meanwhile, foreclosures rose 65% and bank seizures more than doubled in April compared to April 2007. Florida, Nevada and California also topped the list of states with the most foreclosure filings.



Foreclosure Moving Day for HousingBath.com

HousingBath.com has stayed true to the mantra of writing about what you know by launching this blog while renting a pre-foreclosure townhouse in Coconut Grove. When all is said in done, the original purchaser of this townhouse will have defaulted on this and 5 other new construction duplexes which sold for $800,000 in 2006, were pre-foreclosure priced at $665,000 and, given the Miami-Dade oversupply and withering demand, are now listed for $450,000. Even at that price, there are no buyers and few interested lookers. "For Sale," "Foreclosure" and "Reduced" signs abound in the Grove, and one wonders how many years before consumer confidence rebounds and absorption rates even begin to approach some semblance of normalcy in Miami-Dade.