Misguidance on Real Estate plunge

[robertsondavies]

It is because of Bobby J's honesty and ability to view the market objectively, that he will be my buyers agent at some point in the future.

He understands the market more than any other Realtor" I've seen posting on these boards -

I think Bobby J is at peace with a declining market, because he actually intends on being here in SoWal 10 yrs. from now, for the next cycle.

DT

BobbyJ,

Just wanted to say that I (and probably others) appreciate your honest comments especially from someone in the biz like yourself...

Also would like to recomend a really helpful online tool to follow what is going on in the Destin market... I know most on here would like to see something similar for the SoWal market

But anyway this website allows the common man info from the MLS that includes new listings, price changes, pendings, closings, etc... It is a great tool to see what is going on day to day and month to month in the Destin market... Check it out...

www.thewiredagent.com
Great info shared on the Destin Market Pulse link...

 

[Bobby J]

And how do you propose to get the "inventory that is not selling" off the market?

"Value" is a very subjective term. What is the "value" of a Florida beach property to someone who "values" the Arizona desert or the Tennessee mountains?

The perception of "value" that caused the RE boom was mainly the "value of "FA$T ka-ching," something that is understood by most everyone with a speculative streak.

Now that the speculative RE market has pretty much run its course, we're back to folks who "value" Florida beach property--which, because of the massive run-up in price and carrying costs, may not be near as many (or because of the over-building, seem near as many) as before...as we go through a reversion to the mean.


.

We help educate our clients about what will sell and what will not. If they can not come to terms with what you are telling them, they fire you, or you fire them. The property will not sell anyway. The longer it sits the value drops. If priced properly it sells. Does this make sense?

 

[Bobby J]

It is because of Bobby J's honesty and ability to view the market objectively, that he will be my buyers agent at some point in the future.

He understands the market more than any other Realtor" I've seen posting on these boards -

I think Bobby J is at peace with a declining market, because he actually intends on being here in SoWal 10 yrs. from now, for the next cycle.

DT

Thanks, very kind words. I am very clear on this market. It has been a struggle but believe we are all going to be ok.

 

[BrettMan]

The bottom line here is that South Walton - as beautiful as it is - is not immune from good 'ole supply and demand. There is more supply than there is demand so the price has to be compelling to gain interest. Compelling is all relative. I can tell you from my own experience. I had a lot at Rosemary Beach that was at "market price" and wasn't selling in late '05. At that time, I saw the writing on the wall and dropped the price by about 35% - to get that "Wow" factor mentioned earlier. It sold in a week. It also sold for more than comparable lots in RB are listed at today. I had the luxury of doing this because we got in early and our basis was low enough that we could drop our price that much and still make a tidy profit. For those that can't because they bought later - it's a very tough situation. Even if you can afford to "ride it out" - you'd probably be better off dropping your price to a "Wow" level now, getting it sold (even at a loss) and move on. If you make payments on something in hopes of it coming back to get that profit (or break even) you may be waiting a very long time. You'll have to do that math yourself. Just look at the current inventories and current sales rates and you'll see that many property types have years of inventory. Last time I looked, there was 10 years of residential land in inventory in SoWal. Of course, that number can drop quickly if we see even a slight upswing in the selling activity (20 lots a months with 2400 lots available vs. 40 lots a month with 2400 lots available is 10 years vs 5 years of inventory). It's gut check time and if you never intended to be in it for the long haul you've got to do the math and take the emotion out of it.

 

[SHELLY]

We help educate our clients about what will sell and what will not. If they can not come to terms with what you are telling them, they fire you, or you fire them. The property will not sell anyway. The longer it sits the value drops. If priced properly it sells. Does this make sense?

It makes perfect sense to me....but for the people who bought when they were told by Realtors that "real estate NEVER, EVER, EVER dropped in value, NEVER EVER...EVER!" it may take some convincing.

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[Sandcastle]

Doesn't make sense....were you planning on selling your house this summer?


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Nope. I?m not going to sell the house. If I even thought about that my wife would put out a contract on my carcass and I?d be residing in an urn under my palm tree.

I?ll just stay away from the computer while I?m trying to enjoy a martini and watch the sunset.

 

[2bfabian]

For what ever it's worth,my opinion is people don't buy stock when it's dropping(unless you plan on selling it short). I like to take Mr. buffet's approach to buy, and that is buy for the long haul. I believe many Realtors have shot themselves in the proverbial foot by coming back to the owners and convincing them to lower their prices. It's my belief this conversation should take place at the beginning and not latter. No one wants to buy a home and have it be worth $20,000 less the next month. It's Realtors who are taking on contracts knowing that there going to have to come back a few months latter and reduce that price that are hurting the market. People want a deal, but guess what even with the market corrections and the prices what they are the buyer in reality is getting a steal on even the prices which many Realtors are convinced are over priced. No one has a problem with someone trying to make their jobs easier but many Realtors are in fact just plain lazy. They were used to the frenzy and then when they had to rely on their own ability to sell a piece of property by knowing something about the area they are just lost. Trust me all those people being convinced to sell now will be sick in the near future. There are wheels being put into motion by people like Chris Corr who will make the Panhandle some of the most sought out property in the country. Like the man said this isn't Detroit, its the most beautiful place in the country to live.

 

[beachmouse]

One of the things that needs to change is the development of more of a middle class white collar job base. Right now, the bulk of that kind of thing in the area is either DoD-related (which comes with some barriers to entry) or real estate-related (which we're now seeing is highly cyclical)

Someone needs to light a fire under Florida's Great Northwest, and get them to actually go and do something instead of just sticking a massively outdated website up there and expecting the world to come flocking to their door.

There's actually already a pretty decent high tech infrastructure in the area with the DoD interests in Okaloosa and Bay Counties, and a number of pretty huge defense tech players have a presence in the area. It's a big economic strength that no one is really leveraging into anything else right now. We need someone with vision and drive to lure the commercial technology players into the area.

Start getting those kinds of companies in there with $40-$60K a year salaries, and you'll be seeing the $200K-$400K housing market picking right up (I'm assuming a good number of double income families buying homes)

 

[SHELLY]

Start getting those kinds of companies in there with $40-$60K a year salaries, and you'll be seeing the $200K-$400K housing market picking right up (I'm assuming a good number of double income families buying homes)

Major 'development' in the area lately (aside from condo canyons, vinyl villages and stucco/ss/gct boxes) are "Retail Commons," strip malls, big box stores and food joints....not exactly $40-60K jobs--where do they expect those folks to live?

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[beachmouse]

Major 'development' in the area lately (aside from condo canyons, vinyl villages and stucco/ss/gct boxes) are "Retail Commons," strip malls, big box stores and food joints....not exactly $40-60K jobs--where do they expect those folks to live?

.

Florala, Alabama? Ponce de Leon? They're tearing out the trailer parks that used to house service workers in Ft. Walton Beach and Niceville in favor of $200K townhomes now, and the commute from the north side of Crestview to the beach these days is horrible.

I remember Heron's Watch was originally supposed to be workforce housing. Two bedroom condos on 30-A that were under $100K and affordable for someone working tables at some of the nicer reastaurants in the area, and if you had roommates to defray costs, you still had money enough left over to spend a couple weeks in Colorado every winter.