Anthony Sambrato Jr.

I begin this blog with a with referrance to a quote from Albert Einstein: "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." Right now many people in Florida have the difficult time of dealing with mortgages that they can't afford or just don't think they are worth it. At the end of Septemeber Bank of America announced a short-sale incentive program to help people get out of thier mortgages. The propgram is not only designed for deliquent homeowners but for homeowners who are in good standing with the bank. I blog this to remind homeowners and professionals in real estate that this program won't last for long. As of this blog we are beginning the final month of the programs scheduled time. If you have not taken advantage of this opportunity to turn a bad into a good one you have 30 days left.......

Is this a trend that will continue in the greater Tampa Bay market? Only time will tell. What does this mean? You can cut statistics up in any way you want to manipulate the results you are looking for. I have gathered by this information that property values may have started to stabilize and year-to-date sales averages are being supported by lower valued homes being sold. The increase of short sales and foreclosures sales would be more than an enough to keep sales averages down from this year to last. Sales frequency has dipped slightly so the lack of homes sold can't be much of a contributing factor to the decrease in average price. Don't over look the ability to turn the these foreclosures into some money earning potential. Your first home buyer today might be your luxury home buyer tomorrow. Building relationships within the community can only strengthen your imagine in that community, even if the payout is toward the lower end.

Zillow had a impressive start this morning as it went public and began trading on the NASDAQ this morning. The starting price of $20 a share quickly rose to as high as $60 a share early in trading this morning. It quickly cooled off and was being traded around $38.44 at the time of this blog. There has been news that existing homes sales has dropped again for the month of June but I couldn't find any evidence to back this up. With the impact that Zillow has on Real Estate market I am curious to see if the publicity will help the housing market in terms of attention. I can imagine that the ability of real estate marketing websites would only go as far as their ability to provide qualified customers into the more than available surplus of existing homes.

Prices in some specific properties continue to drop. Do we need to hit rock bottom before this trend stops? Hopefully we can be smart and look at the positives that might help us. With the weaken market we can expect to have interest rates stay low and consistant for a while. Sales seem to favor the smaller homes as of late, so maybe a more cautious consumer is out there. And for large homes you are listing maybe tweaking direct markets more. I'm hoping it not be the bottom that stops us but a smart and conscience effort from everyone.