The Market seems to be stabilizing.........
Here is a snapshot of the Hernando County Real Estate MLS inventory
4050 Residential listings
3538 Vacant Land listings
100 Commercial listings
35 MultiFamily listings

Over the past few months the inventory has remained very stable. Many home sellers have begun to realize the true worth of their homes & have adjusted their selling prices downward accordingly. Buyers have begun to test the waters once again looking for good prices on good homes. The foreclosure market has started to pick up & the issue is that many sellers actually owe more than their home is worth. The banks will end up taking back most of these properties & with their inability to sell them at publish auction they will soon be back in the MLS as REO properties in the banks portfolios.

I am starting to recommend to all of my personal clients to start putting some of their money back into this market. With so many houses for sale, now is a great time to buy a personal residence - think of the selection!

People will always be moving down to the sunshine state so now may be the time to look at what the Hernando County real estate market has to offer.
Until next time...
Jeremy Barb
Tropic Shores Realty
352-238-6330

A strong BUYERS MARKET prevails

Look at these numbers! If they don't mean anything to you then let me offer a few words of advice.
3778 Residential Inventory
3160 Vacant Land Inventory
93 Commercial For Sale
31 MultiFamily For Sale

Don't be afraid to insult a few sellers! The fact is that prices are coming down so fast that if they don't take your offer they will probably end up waiting 2 months & reducing the price. To put the numbers in perspective there are about 5 times as many homes for sale on the market in Hernando County than there was just 1 year ago. Add that to the glut of Spring Hill new home builders & for sale buy owners & you can see that the balance of supply & demand is heavily in favor of excess supply - thus downward pressure on home prices. This is not to say that this trend will last forever - I do recommend buying today. I think the market is beginning to flatten & when some of the excess new home inventory gets bought up (it is happening now) the supply will shrink & thus the pressure on prices will ease. I would not recommend trying to time the market & pick a bottom - you will usually miss it. Just put in a good offer - don't worry - there are so many homes in Hernando County to choose from at this time you will find the right house for a reasonable price. The new subdividions such as Sterling Hill, Spring Ridge, Sand Ridge, Avalon, & Trillogy may be great places to start. The builders have been dropping inflating prices the fastest with price drops of $50,000 or more not unheard of. That's all for now. To check all homes for sale in hernando county florida you can visit www.hernandohomesearch.com

Decline in pending home sales eases

Decline in Pending Home Sales Eases(March 6, 2006) -- A slide in pending home sales is beginning to level out, an indication of a more sustainable level of home sales in the months ahead, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in January, slipped 1.1 percent to a level of 116.3 from an upwardly revised index of 117.6 in December, and is 4.8 percent below January 2005. After hitting a record of 128.2 last August, the index declined at a more rapid pace through December, averaging nearly 3 percentage points per month.The index is derived from pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed; pending home sales typically are finalized within one or two months of signing.An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the first year to be examined, and was the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales.David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, had foreseen a flattening in the index. “This looks like we’re touching down for the soft landing we’ve been expecting,” he said. “We are at a much more sustainable level of home sales now – a welcome cooling from the super-heated conditions that were driving exceptional price gains. This will give people the time to be more thoughtful about a process that is the biggest single investment most of us make in our lifetime.”“Home sales at this level are historically strong and provide a solid foundation for the overall economy,” he said. “Business spending will lead economic growth this year, and housing wealth will help to support consumer spending.”Regionally, the PHSI in the Midwest rose 6.0 percent in January to 114.3 but was 1.0 percent below January 2005. In the Northeast, the index increased 0.4 percent to 94.8 but was 12.0 percent below a year ago. The index in the West declined 1.9 percent to 115.8 in January and was 13.6 percent lower than January 2005. The index in the South dropped 5.1 percent to a level of 128.6 in January but was 2.0 higher than a year ago. — NAR

Holding Steady Just Under 3000 Homes for Sale

The Hernando County Real Estate market seems to be stabalizing with just under 3000 residential homes for sale. Sales (# of closings) are down about 40% from their highs this past summer and down about 8% year over year from the same period last year. New home builders are still building, new developments are still on track & filling up with new home owners but the investor flips in these developments are sitting. It is my opinion that these investors with vacant homes will have to drop prices due to the lack of demand & glut of new homes. The builders with inventory also need to sell to recoup building costs. Prices in general are drifting down & sellers need to realize that their home is only worth what a qualified buyer is willing to pay. With 2000 more homes for sale than there were last summer my advise is to shop around and dont be afraid to insult a seller or two. There are some bargains to be had both in the new home inventory market & in the resale market. As an example I have a 2 story 4 bedroom 3 bath plus office and a heated pool in great shape in a great neighborhood for $262,900. This home has over 2200 living square feet. If this is something that might be of interest call me 352 279 4408. The bargains will not last. The overpriced homes will just sit, sit, sit.

record home sales

2005 Existing-Home Sales Set Annual Record(January 25, 2006) -- Existing-home sales declined in December but easily set an annual record, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.There were 7.07 million existing-home sales in all of 2005, up 4.2 percent from 6.78 million in 2004. This is the fifth consecutive annual record; NAR began tracking the sales series in 1968.However, total existing-home sales for December — including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops — were down 5.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.60 million units from an upwardly revised pace of 7.00 million in November. Sales were 3.1 percent lower than a 6.81 million-unit level in December 2004.David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, expected the monthly sales decline. “This is part of the market adjustment we’ve been discussing, with a soft landing in sight for the housing sector,” he says. “The level of home sales activity is now at a sustainable level, and is likely to pick up a bit in the months ahead. Overall fundamentals remain solid, driven by population and employment growth as well as favorable affordability conditions in most of the country, so we expect the housing market to remain historically high but lower than last year’s record.”According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 6.27 percent in December, down from 6.33 percent in November; the rate was 5.75 percent in December 2004. Last week, Freddie Mac reported the 30-year fixed rate was down to 6.10 percent.“Mortgage interest rates have been trending down from a peak in November, and are lower than expected – if lower interest rates are sustained, the housing market could see some unexpected lift,” Lereah said.The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $211,000 in December, up 10.5 percent from December 2004 when the median was $191,000. The median is a typical market price where half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.For all of 2005, the median price was $208,700, up 12.7 percent from a median of $185,200 in 2004.NAR President Thomas M. Stevens from Vienna, Va., says it may take a while for home price growth to cool. “We’re coming off of five years of tight supply, and many sellers are accustomed to expecting very strong price gains and exceptional returns on their investment,” said Stevens, senior vice president of NRT Inc. “With the supply of homes improving and buyers having more choices, the rate of price growth should come down to more normal levels this year.”Total housing inventory levels declined 4.4 percent at the end of December to 2.80 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 5.1-month supply at the current sales pace.Condo Sales Activity Picks UpExisting condominium and cooperative housing sales increased in December by 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 877,000 units from a level of 863,000 in November. Last month’s sales activity was 4.5 percent higher than the 839,000-unit pace in December 2004. For all of 2005, condo sales jumped 9.3 percent to 896,000 units, the 10th consecutive annual record.The median existing condo price was $228,100 in December, which was 10.2 percent above a year ago. In 2005, the median condo price was $218,200, up 12.7 percent from 2004.Single-Family Sales Slip, Prices RiseSingle-family home sales declined 6.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.72 million in December from 6.14 million in November, and were 4.2 percent lower than the 5.97 million-unit pace in December 2004. In 2005, single-family sales rose 3.6 percent to 6.18 million, the fifth straight yearly record.The median existing single-family home price was $209,300 in December, which was 10.8 percent above a year ago. For 2005, the median single-family price was $207,300, up 12.6 percent from 2004.Sales Pace Differs by RegionRegionally, total existing-home sales in the Northeast held even at an annual sales rate of 1.09 million units in December, and were 3.5 percent lower than December 2004. The median price in the Northeast was $245,000, up 11.4 percent from a year ago.In the Midwest, existing-home sales eased by 2.6 percent to an annual pace of 1.52 million in December, and were 1.9 percent below a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $173,000, which was 10.9 percent higher than December 2004.Existing-home sales in the South declined 7.2 percent in December to a level of 2.58 million, but were 1.2 percent higher than December 2004. The median price in the South was $182,000, up 4.6 percent from a year earlier.In the West, existing-home sales fell 11.4 percent to a pace of 1.40 million in December, and were 11.4 percent below a year ago. The median existing-home price in the West was $318,000, up 14.0 percent from December 2004.—NAREditor's Note: For more housing market statistics and research reports,visit NAR's Research Department at REALTOR.org.

Homes get bigger as family size shrink

U.S. Homes Growing as Families Shrink(January 24, 2006) -- The average home in the United States increased in size to an all-time high of 2,412 square feet in 2005—63 square feet larger than in the previous year, according to the National Association of Home Builders.NAHB research director Gopal Ahluwalia attributes the increase to the fact that home buyers simply can afford larger abodes. A new report from the builders' group reveals a drop in the average family size to 2.5 residents from three residents over the past three decades, while the average residence expanded by 50 percent. Ahluwalia adds that homes are growing larger, even though the average lot size is expected to fall to about 7,000 square feet from the current average of 9,000 square feet. The NAHB report found that 40 percent of new dwellings have four-plus bedrooms, nearly one-quarter have three or more bathrooms, and more than half have two or more floors. Builders also are turning to open floor plans with standard nine-foot ceilings, according to the report. Source: Wilkes Barre Times Leader (PA), Steve Brown (01/23/06)

50 Year Mortgages?

Buying a Home on a Half-Century Plan(January 23, 2006) -- Home buyers have access to 40-year mortgages, which lower the monthly payment by stretching out the loan term beyond the traditional 30 years. Can a 50-year mortgage be far behind? Though there is talk about a 50-year mortgage being offered in the near future, Fitch Ratings senior director Mark Douglass says no such loan is presently available. However, 50-year mortgages would offer even lower monthly payments, as well as the security of a fixed-rate product. Douglass adds that most borrowers would move or refinance long before the 50-year term is up. Source: Los Angeles Times (01/22/06); Umberger, Mary