County housing market still bleak as prices and sales keep drop...

South Florida's housing market looks worse now than it did at the end of a brutal 2007.

[X-floridian]

Great Govenor. Stand pat as prices continue to go lower than 2001 level. Where is insurace,tax,Hoa reform. Cost of living prices have continued to rise. Wages have decreased. Charlie are you joking you want to run for VP that is one sure way that the Republicans will lose Florida. Florida is the Status Quo state....

[Captain Jack]

Median home price...$344K
Down from $374K
answers.com said Palm Beach median income was $45K
How does $45K let someone buy a house costing $344K????
Prices still have to come down. Taxes should come down as the prices come down.

[Ivan21]

Captain Jack wrote:

Median home price...$344K
Down from $374K
answers.com said Palm Beach median income was $45K
How does $45K let someone buy a house costing $344K????
Prices still have to come down. Taxes should come down as the prices come down.

Income at 45K would not be looking at a home for 344k in todays market. If prices continue to drop past 2001 price levels the housing market will take 10 to 12 years to recoup losses in equity. The tax assessments will still be at current levels and hurt the current homeowners even further.

[Captain Jack]

Ivan21 wrote:

<quoted text>
Income at 45K would not be looking at a home for 344k in todays market. If prices continue to drop past 2001 price levels the housing market will take 10 to 12 years to recoup losses in equity. The tax assessments will still be at current levels and hurt the current homeowners even further.

You really think that if someone bought a house for $225K that was previously sold for $344K, property taxes would still be on $344K? I don't think so.

[Silver]

This is a travesty imposed on us by criminals. However, prices will probably dip extremely low before they rebound, some say below prices of 1999. That's the time to pick up cheap property, as has happened before, and wait for property to pick up again, just has happened in the past. History repeats itself --- where did we hear this old adage before?

[evildoc]

---"Buyers are all convinced that the market's a disaster, but they can't separate the houses that are overpriced from the ones that are well-priced," Melzer said. "It's very frustrating."----

Melzer will worry more when frustration is replaced by terror. You see, if the house is not selling... the price is too high. The price will drop. The Foreclosures are just the new comps. This is 2nd inning of the ballgame. 7 yet to go. Houses down each year through 2012 at least.

I find it entertaining. I have money in the bank. Can afford 25-40% downpayment. Can qualify for payments. And... i rent, happily, for 1/3 the total payment if i were a "homemoaner" like Melzer's clients.

[Silver]

It's called a fire-sale. People paid extreme prices thinking home prices would continue to rise, a typical mania. They'll probably decline and go below the prices where the mania first began.

One would think that in the age of super computers and instant communication that humans could prevent this insanity, but obviously not.

evildoc wrote:

---"Buyers are all convinced that the market's a disaster, but they can't separate the houses that are overpriced from the ones that are well-priced," Melzer said. "It's very frustrating."----
Melzer will worry more when frustration is replaced by terror. You see, if the house is not selling... the price is too high. The price will drop. The Foreclosures are just the new comps. This is 2nd inning of the ballgame. 7 yet to go. Houses down each year through 2012 at least.
I find it entertaining. I have money in the bank. Can afford 25-40% downpayment. Can qualify for payments. And... i rent, happily, for 1/3 the total payment if i were a "homemoaner" like Melzer's clients.

[Mike in Miami]

Due to a job relocation I had to move to Miami from Raleigh, NC in 1/2007 . What's particularly frustrating besides the high home prices are insurance and taxes. The tax system is specifically designed to keep people like myself out of the real estate market. It's like a whole other mortgage payment. Too bad, I rent for now and in a couple of years move to somewhere where the tax system is less hostile to newcomers. If Florida wants to fix the real estate market they have to fix taxes and insurance first. No person of normal means can afford to buy a house here.

[Nicolas Naranja]

Well, I thought taxes here in the sunshine state were high but during a recent trip to Alabama I found that they have like an 8% sales tax, state income tax and property tax. All that and they still don't have anywhere near the services that we do. I'd much rather pay property tax than I would income tax because my Wife and I can't even afford (3x gross income) a median palm beach county home and we make 90k/yr which would be taxed for income at a high rate.

[Red Rag]

Nicolas Naranja wrote:

Well, I thought taxes here in the sunshine state were high but during a recent trip to Alabama I found that they have like an 8% sales tax, state income tax and property tax. All that and they still don't have anywhere near the services that we do. I'd much rather pay property tax than I would income tax because my Wife and I can't even afford (3x gross income) a median palm beach county home and we make 90k/yr which would be taxed for income at a high rate.

Hey Nick , you just stay were your at , with your head buried deep in the sand !! you must be a Realtor :) if you get through Melbourne , stop at Daily Bread for a FREE LUNCH , with the rest of the Realtors , Builders and Mortgage people !!!

[Debra]

Sure.. the goverment (which includes frugal people like myself) bailing out flippers and get-rich-quick-artists who are in the dumps for being stupid and greedy. Smells like classic socialism. Let them all rot with their worthless real estate, or at least agressively sue the lying, scheeming brokers who got them into the mess to begin with, It can be done, the basis being fraud and misrepresentation, as well as money laudering. I am moving ahead with my suit, even though it's a long shot. I was sold a $500,000 home three years ago that the broker (in front of witnesses) said would go up 20% a year. Right now I can't sell it for $250,000, and am being forced into forclosure. BOTTOM LINE,,, NEVER BELIEVE A LYING REAL ESTATE BROKER SAYS OR ANYTHING THE THIEVING NAR TELLS US.

[Jim]

Silver wrote:

This is a travesty imposed on us by criminals. However, prices will probably dip extremely low before they rebound, some say below prices of 1999. That's the time to pick up cheap property, as has happened before, and wait for property to pick up again, just has happened in the past. History repeats itself --- where did we hear this old adage before?

What people seem to be missing, is that the "housing market"...isn't any different than the stock market. The trouble is PEOPLE got greedy, bought into the hype and like any market invester will tell you committed the CARDINAL sin...BOUGHT HIGH......those who sold...."took profits"...exactly like the stock market....Now those who are upside down in their homes are crying for bail out and do-overs. Imaging an investor who took LOSSES in their investments on the stock market wanting do-overs every time their gamble didn't pay off.

BTW another way people become ENSLAVED (by their own possive and envious natures) is that they are convinced that HOME OWNERSHIP is the paramount right of being American.

What actually happens is that ALL the middle men, the real estate agents, the bankers, the title companies, the lawyers, the surveyers, and anyone else who PROFITS from these transactions are the ones who have driven the prices up. Second...ONCE the mortgage is signed, it is like a sharecroppers promise and the so-called buyer who then becomes the OWNER is actually owned and ENSLAVED by the need to meet all these obligations.

For all this, they give up their ability to be flexible, move where opportunity might arise....and then if the need does arise to relocate...MUST then buy into this nonesense again...and once agian "the middle men" profit.

[Nat]

After paying a deposit of 15% for a new house costing just over $400K I decided not to complete the purchase as the value of the house has gone down by more than 20%. Now I can purchase a similar size house for $300K. If I had proceeded with the house, my property tax assessment would have reflected my purchase price, not the real value of the house at present. This is one of the reasons why I decided not to proceed. The total yearly costs, including property tax, HOA fees, insurance and utilities would have exceeded £15,000, excluding mortgage repayment and interest. I am firmly of the view that the property tax system in Florida is highly inequitable, and major reform should be carried out to the system. I was an ex patriate in another country where I wrote a book on the property tax system and a refereed paper on equity and fairness in the tax system. My views were reflected in a reform of the tax laws in that country. I hope the tax authorities will see the wisdom in reforming the property tax system to reflect equity and fairness to all taxpayers.

[SOH is awesome]

Mike in Miami wrote:

Due to a job relocation I had to move to Miami from Raleigh, NC in 1/2007 . What's particularly frustrating besides the high home prices are insurance and taxes. The tax system is specifically designed to keep people like myself out of the real estate market. It's like a whole other mortgage payment. Too bad, I rent for now and in a couple of years move to somewhere where the tax system is less hostile to newcomers. If Florida wants to fix the real estate market they have to fix taxes and insurance first. No person of normal means can afford to buy a house here.

Can't really speak about insurance, but, unfortunately, you are encountering the lingering smell of stupidity where suckers were duped into thinking that paying 3x the value of a home was a great investment.