SlowMovin is correct. Shelly et. al, have been right in my view. They called for this; realtors, and others here mostly with vested interests will not want to admit this though... Sure, those with "long term" views, will eventually be correct, but I would like to point out that in the long term, we're all dead. The next move in real estate pricing in South Walton, is down, the question is how severe? Will it simply just correct/erase the last 2 years of gains, of a 10 year rise (i.e. down 35%) or will it be more severe. Sellers are stubborn, at first.
If people are interested in the "long term" and don't want to trade short term (1,2,3,5 or 10 year ) views of the real estate market, perhaps they'd better move to a different forum not concerned with real estate valuations. Have a cocktail, and a cigar.
Condos are going to be the first to see the price corrections. Greed hit a wall 12 months ago today (that's when pricing stopped going up for everything down here). The AJC article this morning, on the front page tells the story of what is occuring with Condo pricing.. it is down a good chunk, and all that has happenned is that it has forced demand to cool FURTHER, and supply to mushroom. Why? Because a new DIRECTION, is being set in the minds of the buyers.
Prior to a couple months ago, the MANTRA being repeated, in SouthWalton, in Naples, in Connecticut, in Manhattan, in L.A., in San Diego, in San Fran, in Boston, in New Jersey, was this : "real estate goes up" and " the Johnsons up the street have been making a killing buying up housing in Las Vegas'" . . . . same thing the LAST buyer buying into the 1920's Florida land boom heard, and believed before buying.
So what comes next? I dunno... down 20%, down 40%, down 50%.. who knows, depends on the 10 yr. bond (which is back to its highest levels in 4 years as of last Friday), and depends on hurricane cycle... down 50% only really takes us back to 2003 valuations, so really not that drastic, unless you purchased in the last 3 years, and don't have a "long term" luxurious view.
In my experience, a good time to buy, will be when it seems as though you SHOULD NOT. I.e. we have 2-3 years of bad hurricane experience, insurers pull out completely, 10 year bond rate is back to a historical norm above 6.5 percent (30 yr. mortages ave over 8%), and everyone is worried that we're 1) in a 20 yr. cycle of hurricanes, 2) the 10 yr. bond (and therefore mortgage rates) could or will skyrocket when the Asians pull out of U.S. treasuries... and 3) all your neighbors/peers/co-workers are again making money on stock market bets, and only can REMEMBER stories of people losing money in real estate.... That is when you should consider buying, but it is a lonely island to be on, and takes some guts.
I'll be there to buy you out at the bottom if it doesn't work out 
