The Daily Soak - October 1

Housing Woes Nationwide: "Xanax Has Become My Best Friend"

An Indianapolis news channel asked viewers to submit their own personal housing stories, and the coast-to-coast responses came fast and furious. Two of the submissions were from fellow Floridians Chris and Cheryl feeling the pain in Graceville and Jacksonville, respectively. Chris just learned that his home equity line has been frozen, because his home is worth at least $30,000 less than he paid for it last year. And over in Jax, Cheryl says that existing home owners are having a hard time unloading with so much builder inventory also for sale. She and her husband are cautiously optimistic: "I can be thankful neither of us have been laid off, but the pressure is on and funds are extremely tight. I can see one emergency wiping us out -- including years of retirement prep."


Florida Home to 4 of Nation's Riskiest Housing Markets

According to the PMI Fall 2008 U.S. Market Risk Index, an annual index measuring the riskiness of the nation's largest housing markets, four major Florida metropolitan areas rank among the Top 5 Riskiest markets. While California's Riverside-San Beradino-Ontario market was ranked #1, the remaining Top 5 slots were all filled by Florida markets including Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach (99.5 percent), Orlando-Kissimmee (99.4 percent), Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall (99.3 percent), Tampa-St. Petersberg-Clearwater (99 percent). The percentages represent the likelihood that a given housing market will experience further price declines.


Web 2.0 Apporach to Boost the Vacation Home Market

A new social networking site seeks to pair vacation home owners with interested renters and buyers, and you can't argue with the price. According to the company, "Viscape provides an ideal platform for realtors and property owners to market all of their vacation home listings for free. Property owners and real estate brokers are invited to list their vacation properties on Viscape for free." Did we mention that it's free? Like most successful social networking sites, Viscape is hoping that visitors will supply user-generated content in the form of home and vacation destination reviews. The beta site is attractive and easy to navigate with some pretty lively discussion boards for a Web 2.0 newbie. For more information, visit Viscape.com.