By Shannon Behnken of The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Data released on Jan. 24, 2008 showed that sale prices of existing single-family homes in the Bay area dropped every month during 2007 when compared with the same month in 2006, and ended the year down 7 percent at $209,100. The Florida Association of Realtors, which tallied the decline, reported that December was even more grim: the median price was $194,200, a 14 percent drop from $226,800 for the same month a year ago.

State’s Decline In Home Prices Longest Since Great Depression

Florida’s Foreclosure Activity Jumped 77% in August

Do you think the prices will go even lower?  Join this ongoing discussion on the housing market’s downturn.

Great time to buy and hold, if one is willing to make an eight to ten year (or more) commitment.

The city should cut property taxes on wed. far more then the state mandated and roll back all of this years fee increases.  At least give homeowners a fighting chance.  People may have made mistakes but the city does not have to pile on with their tax and spend, and spend and spend lifestyle.

dsjk100 - 18 September 2007 11:45 PM

People may have made mistakes but the city does not have to pile on with their tax and spend, and spend and spend lifestyle.

People may have made mistakes, thats an understatement.
spend and spend and spend lifestyles, those belong to the same people who may have made mistakes. You know the ones with two car payments, husband and wife working 40 hours a week plus
to pay for way more house than they could afford, not to mention a dozen credit cards maxed out.  And a lot ofthe foreclosures belong to people who got caught up in the “flip this house get rich quick” craze.  I have even less pity for them.

There is another side to the story, the saga of those who unwittingly rent from those nearing foreclosure. I rented a house in New Tampa that was owned by someone who cannot afford to make repairs. From broken air conditioning (an unpleasant situation in July) to a pool leaking like a sieve (guess who had to pay the water bill) to people knocking on the door to warn me they were filing liens against the house. The homeowner couldn’t sell the house, owes more for it that he paid and tried to rent without enough money to support the property.

Hopefully there are plenty of available rental units around to move to. It’s always a good idea to qualify a landlord before deciding to do business with them.  The drawback is that moving can be expensive.

Jim Collins - 18 September 2007 09:00 PM

By Shannon Behnken of The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Florida’s foreclosure activity jumped 77 percent in August, compared with July, boosting its foreclosure rate to the third highest among all states. It was even worse in Tampa Bay, where foreclosure filings more than doubled. Both are further signs that homeowners are having trouble paying their mortgages and selling their homes amid a national housing slump.

Full Story

I am not a big fan of bail-out type of situations, but something needs to be done to ensure our economy does not go into the red for any longer period of time then necessary. My idea is this, set up a financial criteria and if you meet this criteria you can refinance your house/bills with a very low-rate loan (2%-4%) fix rate (7) years loan that cannot be used to refinanced or borrowed against at all. This will help a large portion of the country to hold onto their house and try to get into a more stable financial situation. They need to go to financial planning and do certain things to be able to keep this loan.....if this happen the market will correct itself, stabilize within a few years and those that want out...can sell their house and move on. Instead of all the houses on the market at the same time, it wil allow for a more natural buy and sell situation.

Having anything other then this is bad for everyone, mistakes were made, but at some point you have to say ok...what do we need to do now? Once this is done, go into the mortgage business and have strict guild-lines to borrowing, so the industry does not make the same mistakes. I blame the people that signed for the loans...period. However, there are loan sharks out there that lied to people about how the loaned worked and what their payment are going to be. Again, I hate bail-outs but this will be good for everyone...the banks, the feds (Economy) and those that can afford their house, so the price of their house does not do a nose-dive due to people lack of financial intelligence.

Hopefully, lenders see the need to change terms/cut
interest rates on problem loans.
Otherwise the lenders will become realtors in a
down market (by taking possession of all the
foreclosed houses).
Reduced profits, even a net loss for a couple years, must be
preferable to a taking ownership of a large number of
foreclosed properties.
It is in the lenders’ best interest to help homeowners avoid
as many foreclosures as possible.  NO bailout necessary.

chipshot - 19 September 2007 09:24 AM

Hopefully, lenders see the need to change terms/cut
interest rates on problem loans.
Otherwise the lenders will become realtors in a
down market (by taking possession of all the
foreclosed houses).
Reduced profits, even a net loss for a couple years, must be
preferable to a taking ownership of a large number of
foreclosed properties.
It is in the lenders’ best interest to help homeowners avoid
as many foreclosures as possible. NO bailout necessary.

Hello......that is what I said Chipshot?  Major rate cutes is a bail-out...cause it hurts the banks. I believe the rates are going to come way way down....watch and see. I predict the 30 fix will be at 4.8-5.3 in the next year or less. But it won’t last long....and will climb back up slowly but steady....

bavarialand - 19 September 2007 09:36 AM

this is a good market for renters.

you can practically name your rental payment.

rent from the foreclosing bank, not the owner.

as soon as all the speculators go bankrupt it will be buyers market again.

Dave

Rents are going to go up...Mr Dave.  And this is a buyers market, not sure what you are taking about?

What to do about it??? NOTHING! If you are stupid enough to buy a house you cannot afford then you deserve whatever pain you got. If you were an investor hoping to make a quick buck then welcome to the real world, enjoy your pain. I don’t feel sorry for anybody that doesn’t take due diligence in purchasing a huge ticket item like a house.

CalGrubbs - 19 September 2007 09:46 AM

What to do about it??? NOTHING! If you are stupid enough to buy a house you cannot afford then you deserve whatever pain you got. If you were an investor hoping to make a quick buck then welcome to the real world, enjoy your pain. I don’t feel sorry for anybody that doesn’t take due diligence in purchasing a huge ticket item like a house.

Agreed.  However if something is not done....then you will feel the pain too.  We are not talking about criminals here....yet we want to allow criminals a fair trial....many rights.....yet you want to throw the book at people that made a financial mistake???  If we don’t fix this....we all lose.  That is the bottom line.

freedomisnotfree - 19 September 2007 09:54 AM

CalGrubbs - 19 September 2007 09:46 AM

What to do about it??? NOTHING! If you are stupid enough to buy a house you cannot afford then you deserve whatever pain you got. If you were an investor hoping to make a quick buck then welcome to the real world, enjoy your pain. I don’t feel sorry for anybody that doesn’t take due diligence in purchasing a huge ticket item like a house.

Agreed.  However if something is not done....then you will feel the pain too.  We are not talking about criminals here....yet we want to allow criminals a fair trial....many rights.....yet you want to throw the book at people that made a financial mistake???  If we don’t fix this....we all lose.  That is the bottom line.

Absolutely!  The damage done is widespread, and if the government doesn’t act quickly we will all feel it.  And I don’t agree that everyone is simply guilty of overextending!  In this perfect storm, it doesn’t take much to push an otherwise financially stable family over the edge.  Imagine what a job transfer could do to a family at this time!  I doubt there are too many couples out there who can afford two mortgages!

concerned_newbie - 19 September 2007 10:19 AM

freedomisnotfree - 19 September 2007 09:54 AM

CalGrubbs - 19 September 2007 09:46 AM

What to do about it??? NOTHING! If you are stupid enough to buy a house you cannot afford then you deserve whatever pain you got. If you were an investor hoping to make a quick buck then welcome to the real world, enjoy your pain. I don’t feel sorry for anybody that doesn’t take due diligence in purchasing a huge ticket item like a house.

Agreed. However if something is not done....then you will feel the pain too. We are not talking about criminals here....yet we want to allow criminals a fair trial....many rights.....yet you want to throw the book at people that made a financial mistake??? If we don’t fix this....we all lose. That is the bottom line.

Absolutely! The damage done is widespread, and if the government doesn’t act quickly we will all feel it. And I don’t agree that everyone is simply guilty of overextending! In this perfect storm, it doesn’t take much to push an otherwise financially stable family over the edge. Imagine what a job transfer could do to a family at this time! I doubt there are too many couples out there who can afford two mortgages!

Well said. If we can have food stamps and welfare for those that have more children then they can afford...then we should do something for those that made this mistake...whether is was overextending, bad loan or a financial burden...lost love one, job, etc. This is the right thing to do here...the feds get this and you WILL see rate drop way down.....so take advantage cause this may be the last time for a long time for rate this low.

The problem with the housing market SNAFU is always related to the same reason. Like the stock market, there have been too many amateurs involved in this entire real estate scenario.
However, many of my fellow neighbors and their banks and credit unions have made unwise choices not only in who they allowed to buy homes but also the credit structures they offered to support their mortgages with. Now the bubble has burst and that chicken has come home to roost.

I bought my current home in 1991 for $40k and have upgraded the house to the tune of $50k. My total overhead in my house is about $90k but I now own the house outright. I live my life with no mortgage payments, no car payments, (all 3 of my cars are over 15 years old) and my “2” credit- cards have a combined total of only $500 dollars charged on them. My house which is in Seminole Heights was appraised last year at over $360k dollars. I refused to sell and will not re-mortgage my house. See where I’m going with this??

Live within your means. It’s frightening when you think that nearly 80% of our gross domestic product is financed in this country. We’re headed for another depression and unfortunately for those of us who have made better choices with our finances we will inevitably end up being affected by everyone elses bad decisions.

Like exorbitant ATM fees and other bank fines, the big banks and their cronies need to step-up and take responsibility for their behavior. They have preyed on the consumers and now they’re asking big brother to bail them out. Shame, shame, shame.

So everybody gets bailed out of trouble and nobody gets to act like a responsible consumer? I guess it goes like this: “Hey I’ll just overextent myself and be stupid with my money and when it all goes to hell and I’ve imperiled my family the good lord (goverment) will just bail me out!” Can’t someone else besides me take responsibility for themselves? I’m no genius but I saw the warning signs two years ago and didn’t buy anything I could not afford. I’m safe, my money is safe, and my family is safe and I don’t need anyone to bail me out. I have taken what is called “personal responsibility” I would love it if others would do the same please!!!