Carol Clawson

If you bought a single family home in Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach or throughout Palm Beach County in October 2004, the market value of your home has run up and back down again. There is virtually no appreciation in your home today. In fact, if you are trying to sell now it will probably cost you money considering your closing costs.

The median sales prices of a single family home in Palm Beach County for the first quarter of 2008 is $334,500. That is slightly below the $335,100 median sales price of a Palm Beach County single family home in October 2004, according to statistics released by the Florida Association of Realtors. And the number of home sales in Palm Beach County is also down, about 11 percent in first quarter 2008 compared with 2007.

If you bought a home in Palm Beach County in June, 2006 and are trying to sell today, median home prices are down a whopping 17.5 percent -- $405,500 in June 2006 compared with $334,500 today. It is difficult, if not impossible, to get full purchase price value from that home today.

There are several factors contributing to our housing blues. First and foremost there are more homes coming on the market every day than are going off the market. This produces tremendous competition among home sellers and will continue to drive prices down. Why would a buyer pay $400,000 for a home whose market value is really $350,000 when the buyer finds an identical home down the street at a list price of $335,000? Yet the owner of the home for sale at $400,000 continues to keep his home on the market and somehow believes a buyer will pay $400,000 for the property. We need to get these homes off the market.

Mortgage money is tighter now than we have seen for many years. There is virtually no mortgage money at 100 percent loan to value and interest only loans hardly exist. Banks are insisting upon 20 percent down payment and outstanding credit scores from borrowers. They are truly feeling the pinch of the subprime mortgage fiasco. Contracts are falling apart over financing issues.

Finally, buyers are becoming highly selective in their purchases. They want a "deal" and are unlikely to move forward with an offer unless they truly believe they are getting good value for their money. Many are waiting for the market to bottom, yet we do not believe that bottom will come off-season in Palm Beach County.

The Weiss-Clawson Team studies the local housing market and researches prices in many communities throughout Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach and all of Palm Beach County. If you are looking to sell your home, we utilize up-to-date and creative marketing techniques for our sellers. We will help you price your home to attract buyers and we will work with you to stage your home so it is attractive to those viewing the property.

If you are looking to buy a home in Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach or throughout Palm Beach County, The Weiss-Clawson Team includes an Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) who will show you all properties meeting your criteria throughout the areas you select. You can search for all homes for sale by community or area on our website. And we will do an analysis of sales in the community you chose to ensure a value based offering price.

Please contact The Weiss-Clawson Team for all your real estate needs.

Prices of homes on the market in Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach and throughout Palm Beach County continue to decline. With the season over and fewer people here to look at or buy homes, we are seeing further erosion in pricing.

In Ironhorse Country Club, for example, there are 32 homes on the market in mid-May. On more than half of those the sales price has been reduced. On many of the homes, sales prices have been reduced several times. And several homes on priced below market value -- even considering the market value has been driven down by a short sale and a foreclosure in Ironhorse this year.

Ironhorse is a small, friendly country club community located in Palm Beach Gardens/West Palm Beach along Jog Road just south of the Beeline Highway. It is convenient to shopping in both Palm Beach Gardens and West Palm Beach and is in close proximity to major roadways. There are 324 homes in Ironhorse, many located along the championship Arthur Hills golf course. Others border the peaceful Loxahatchee Nature Preserve.

Five homes have sold in Ironhorse from the beginning of the year until mid-May Of those, one was a short sale and one was a foreclosure. On a short sale, the sales price of the home is less than the owner owes to the bank. Average price per square foot for the Ironhorse homes sold is about $171, down 11 percent per square foot from homes sold last year.

There are still homes for sale that are well below the market price. These homes are in wonderful condition, just waiting for new owners.

The Weiss-Clawson Team includes a resident expert in Ironhorse. Please contact us for further information and an appointment to see property in Ironhorse Country Club.

If you are sitting on the fence, wondering whether it is finally time to buy a country club home in Palm Beach Gardens, let me tell you that there are some very good deals out there today.

Looking at Ibis Country Club as an example, there are 176 homes on the market in this wonderful community. Some units are priced below $200,000, there are many in the low $200,000's and prices float upward from there to nearly $1.4 million for 4828 square feet encompassing three bedrooms, three baths plus a four car garage with gorgeous golf and lake views.

There are both short sales -- that is when the house is being sold for less money that the owner owes the bank -- and foreclosures in Ibis that are bringing price points down. And there is a large inventory of homes available for sale. You can search the Ibis home inventory on our website or you can search for any home in the area through out website's search feature.

The Weiss-Clawson Team has unique expertise in many of Palm Beach Gardens and Palm Beach County's country club communities. It is easy to contact us. We look forward to working with you to find the perfect home.

There are a large number of wonderful homes for sale in Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Juno Beach, Jupiter and North Palm Beach at prices we saw three or four years ago, much below prices one could have expected today.

A large number of homes on the market is keeping prices down and the expectation is that home prices will continue to decline through the year. With the Florida season just about over, many more people are putting their homes on the market, hoping for a quick sale. They may have already identified new homes to purchase, so prices can be very advantageous to the buyer. There are buyers around, willing to step forward to purchase the best properties at the lowest prices. We have sold many homes this year at bargain basement prices!

Country club communities in Palm Beach Gardens are especially hard hit by slow sales and a large number of homes on the market. There are some very good deals out there that we can identify for you.

The Weiss-Clawson Team has expertise in the many country club and golf communities in Palm Beach Gardens and throughout Palm Beach County. Please browse through the listings of all homes on the market in Ironhorse Country Club, PGA National, Ibis Country Club, Mirasol, Frenchmans Reserve and many other communities where you can search for homes.

Contact us directly through out website and we will discuss with you the many communities throughout the Palm Beach Gardens area. We serve the entire county and are pleased to work with you at your convenience.

We look foward to hearing from you and to working with you.

It might be the right time to get off the fence and move forward with the home purchase you are thinking about in Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Juno Beach or throughout Palm Beach County.

Prices continue to decline throughout the county as the number of homes sold increases. This is telling us that buyers are ready and are moving forward on homes that are value priced.

Figures released by the Florida Association of Realtors on homes sales and prices show that about 30 percent more homes were sold in March 2008 than in February 2008. In February 401 single family homes were sold throughout the county while in March that number increased to 572 single family homes sold.

Prices however, continue to decline. In Palm Beach County the average single family home sold for $320,200 in March compared with $344,600 in February, a decline of about 7 percent.

This is the same trend that we are seeing in many of the communities that we closely follow.

In Ironhorse Country Club we saw four homes sold in the first quarter, a pace slightly higher than sales during 2007. At the same time, prices declined about 9 percent -- to an average of $174 per square foot. And there are nearly 40 homes for sale today in Ironhorse.

In Steeplechase, four homes sold during the first quarter, also setting a pace slightly higher than sales during 2007. Prices in Steeplechase declined about 7 percent and are now at an average of $273 per square foot. There are fewer than 20 homes for sale in Steeplechase.

The Weiss-Clawson Team includes resident experts in both Steeplechase and Ironhorse and welcomes your inquiries about homes in these communities or in any community throughout Palm Beach County.