It's A Half Price Sale!

The good ol' St. Petersburg Times is a regional newspaper -- at least, it is as far as reporting real estate news and trends. That's a good thing since I usually only concentrate on Pinellas County in this blog and we all need to keep in mind that we are not an isolated community.

In Thursday's newspaper, the lead story was about how far real estate prices have fallen, especially the terrible drop in prices resulting from the sale of distressed properties throughout Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties.

In case you missed the story, written by James Thorner, the report is that home prices in these counties took a 16 percent drop from December to January mostly as a result of the sale of foreclosures, but we can probably ad the effect of short sales into that mix.

Sales are up, but only because prices are down. Way down, as it turns out.

Buyers and sellers need to keep these facts in mind:

• -16% drop in value from December 2008 to January 2009;
• -33% drop in value from January 2008 to January 2009;
• -49% drop in value from June 2006 to January 2009.

If you're a buyer who has been looking for a new home on-and-off since June of 2006, that 49 percent drop in value means you are practically looking at a half price sale today as compared to the prices when you started looking. The Florida Association of Realtors has reported a 17 percent increase in the number of homes sold in the year ending January 2009. Some smart home shoppers are out there taking advantage of these lower prices ... are you?

If you're a seller who has had his house on the market for a long, long time, here's a bit of advice: bring your price in line with today's real estate values if you want it to be sold. Simple as that. Overpricing is out. People won't come and make you an offer. They won't even stop by and look. The rules have changed, and you have to learn how to play by the new ones.

So, what does all this mean?

For buyers, it means this is probably a great time to buy. Maybe it's time to get off the fence and start making some offers. It's clearly a buyer's market and you might as well become a smart buyer and take advantage of this situation ... it likely will not last forever, you know.

For sellers, wise up. Your property is going to sell for its market value today. Not it's market value of two years ago. When you have your house on the market month after month after month, you are really saying "Hey, look here! Here's another overpriced house for sale. Want to buy it?" Buyers, of course, have already answered that question which is why you still have that big old for sale sign in your front yard.

When will it all end? Sorry, my crystal ball is still a little cloudy on that answer.

For more information on real estate in the Tampa Bay area, please visit my website at http://www.thestpeterealestatesite.com/.

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