The Daily Soak - October 22

Despite Slowdown, Those On The Sidelines Are Upbeat

That according to the latest survey released by the University of Florida's Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. Executive Director Wayne Archer uses a Gator football analogy to summarize the general sentiment by those waiting on the sidelines. “People who have responded to our surveys have not lost their faith in Florida as a place to be and a place to invest,” Archer said. “We have 40 pages of comments from our respondents, and although the dominant theme is the disruption of financing, perhaps the second theme, as one person put it, is people being on the sidelines with full pads and helmets just waiting to jump back in.” While still not calling a bottom, Archer says the experts polled are largely bullish, “It suggests to me that they believe we may have already reached the bottom in that category.”


Vultures Poised to Pounce In Palm Beach County

Jeff Ostrowski of the Palm Beach Post says the dramatic drop in median condo prices in Palm Beach County has many vultures circling and others already swooping in. West Palm Beach is home to 3 of the Top 10 condos with the highest foreclosure rates according to CondoVulutres.com: St. Andrews Palm Beach, CitySide on Congress Avenue and Spa at Sunset Isles on Fox Trail Road. According to CondoVultures, "17,065 homes in Palm Beach County went into foreclosure during the first nine months of 2008," and Ostrowski adds the sobering long-term reality, "Those defaults threaten to drag down home prices for the next five years."


Many Short Sales In Limbo Thanks to Volatility, Bailout

The short sale market in Florida was in high gear for several months this year, but the recent wave of bailouts and Wall Street volatility seems to have thrown many banks into a "wait-and-see" mode. Watson Realty is the largest real estate company in Northeast Florida, and according to a Watson representative, "Realtors have seen more banks choose to wait on foreclosure rather than short sale, because until a home is foreclosed, banks are still receiving payment." While short sales can be advantageous for desperate sellers and bargain-hunting buyers, Jennifer Lindgren says there isn't always a happy ending. "Of the 16,000 properties in Northeast Florida realtors' inventory, about eight percent are offered at short sale (up from two percent last year); many of which eventually end up foreclosed anyway."