The Daily Soak - December 12

For Sale: Orange Bowl Tickets + Boca Condo...Make Offer

Football fans of Florida, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech and Cincinnati have reason to celebrate and travel to South Florida in early January to watch their teams compete. But other than Gator fans for whom the journey is more of a "staycation," fans of the other three schools aren't likely to turn up in droves given the current recession. The lack of interest is reflected on ticket sites like StubHub and RazorGator where Orange Bowl seats can be picked up for as little as $19 and National Championship tickets are going for around $400. The International Herald Tribune observes, "For tourism-dependent Miami, that could be a troubling sign...South Florida is the epicenter of the downtrodden housing market." Maybe desperate sellers will get creative and begin packaging their unwanted condos with BCS tickets.


Florida's Best & Worst Performing Markets in 2008

BusinessWeek does a state-by-state survey of the best and worst performing real estate markets nationwide. Florida's Biggest Loser is Lehigh Acres in Southwest Florida where median home values dropped 27% to $126,000. BW notes Lehigh Acres was the first retirement community built in the Sunshine state. Currently, canal-backed houses share space with great restaurants and a golf resort." The Biggest Winner is Hallandale Beach in Broward County where median prices rose 8% this year to $181,000. BW describes Hallandale as being "part of the South Florida metropolitan area and is well known as the home of the Gulfstream Park horse racing track, which hosts the Florida Derby."


"We're So Far Underwater, It's Not Funny"

USA Today interviews several homeowners facing foreclosure including Rick Wallick who bought his Arizona home for $200,000 in 2006 with a 35% down payment. The house is now worth $80,000. The broader analysis is that 1 in 10 U.S. home loans is now delinquent or in foreclosure. The article takes a "How Did We Get Here?" approach and points to three factors: 1.) The extreme relaxation of lending standards, 2.) Optional payments on principal, 3.) No verification of income and 4.) Tiny down payments. Drawing a comparison between the current mess and the Great Depression, the article reminds us that "Florida real estate was the epicenter of speculation in the mid-1920s. Developers ran up prices by selling to borrowers who put as little as 10% down."