Carol Zingone, Broker Associate, GRI, LMC,SRES

We recently got a terrific email from our broker: our brokerage's activity is up year to year, and that is fabulous news.

This includes buyer phone calls, buyer showing appointments, offers submitted, and accepted- if you are still waiting for the bottom, it is pretty much here in terms of market activity.

A recent John's Creek foreclosure, priced at $224,000 which is a great price, had an accepted offer by the bank within 24 hours of listing - this is what I'm seeing in pockets all over Jacksonville.

If you're ready, call or email me - I can help you find your deal, whether it's an investment project, a first time home purchase, or a move up.

Here are the numbers of active property listings, those under contract, and sold properties for Single Family Homes in Jacksonville Beach, FL for the month of March 2008:

• Active 322 active listings for Single Family Homes (no condos)
• Pending 9 pending (inspections & financing have been done)
• Sold 10 sold (prices ranged from $177,500 to $2,585,000)
• New Listings 53

The active listings are EXACTLY the same number from 2007 to 2008. Our pending listings are down 57%, sold listings are down 33%, and our new listings are down 25%. The new listings decrease is a good sign: people who do not NEED to sell are not putting their homes on the market, so we are looking primarily at truly motivated sellers, not lookers.

I have heard, and seen first hand, an increase in buyer activity - my listings are being shown more, and I'm working with more buyers, so market activity is up, which is another good sign.

Here are the March 2007 numbers for comparison:

• Active 322 active listings for Single Family Homes (no condos)
• Pending 21 pending (inspections/financing have been done)
• Sold 15 sold (prices ranged from $176,900 to $768,000)
• New Listings 71

It's a great time to buy, particularly if you have a good credit history and some money to bring to the table - depending on your income and credit, you may not need 20% down. Talk to your lender to see what options are available to you.

If you are selling, now more than ever, it's imperative to make the best possible impression from the first day. Look at your home with a critical eye, or, you have difficulty doing that, have your Realtor or a stager look at it and help you determine how to improve. I see homes in the Multiple Listing Service that are selling in less than 60 days.

Now is a great time to buy - if you have questions about buying now versus waiting a few more months, call me for more information.

I have heard from buyers many times: "I only want to look at foreclosures, I want a really good deal!".

I inform them about the pitfalls of foreclosures, which can include financing challenges, unseen issues with systems behind the walls, and unresponsive sellers (banks). There is an upsde to foreclosures as well, for the buyers who have the knowledge, and the resources to be able to repair just about anything.

I just pulled the MLS Foreclosure stats for a few areas of the Jacksonville market, to see at what index the foreclosed homes were selling and closing at, so I can help buyers understand where they most likely need to be to purchase a foreclosure today.

In 2008, Single Family Homes listed as foreclosures in the local MLS, 16 homes sold for the following sales price to asking price index:

120%+ 1

100%+ 2

100% 2

90%+ 6

80%+ 4

70%+ 1

This tells me is the majority of the single family home foreclosures in the Jacksonville area will sell between 80% of the asking price on the low end, and 97% on the higher end. Two of the 6 homes that sold between 90%-99% of asking price sold at 95%.

These homes were all listed and sold in the Arlington/Fort Caroline area, and Intracoastal areas of Jacksonville, and do not include any condos.

If you are interested in learning more about where the foreclosures are in Jacksonville, please call or email me.

Happy foreclosure hunting until next time!

My power in South Jax Beach, FL, went out at 6:45am this morning - not the usual time you would "expect" a power outage, although there really is no "usual" time, per se....there were no storms, no generators blowing, just zip! the power went out.

Not expecting my power to go out, I didn't have my flashlight handy (which has no batteries currently anyway), but I do have candles scattered throughout the house, and matches. Proved to be very useful this morning.

I could not continue cleaning up my email inbox, as the wireless router was down (requires electricity), and I could not look at changes in MLS for the same reason. I could not cook breakfast or make a cup of tea, as all my appliances are electric as well. It actually surprised me how quickly I went through all the things I could not do without electricity, probably because I take it for granted.

To best utilize my time, I decided to shower, even though it was kind of dark - I figured I could light candles and have enough light to lather up, and rinse (no repeat, because I had hot water in the tank, but no way to make more).

My point in a round-about way here is we can't always be prepared for what is coming next - all we can do is make the best of the situation, learn & adapt and move forward.

Here are the numbers of active property listings, those under contract, and sold properties for Single Family Homes in Jacksonville Beach, FL for the month of February 2008:

• Active 300 active listings for Single Family Homes (no condos)
• Pending 6 pending (there is a contract and inspections/financing have been done)
• Sold 4 sold (prices ranged from $221,000 to $700,000)
• New Listings 52

This month it appears Jacksonville Beach is taking a step backwards: our active listings have increased 4% from January 2008, our pending listings have decreased 25%, our sold listings have decreased 55%, and our new listings have decreased 16%. WHEW - that was a lot to type!

I have been hearing positive news from Realtors, and other associated industries I talk to on a daily basis, including mortgage lenders, home inspectors and insurance people, so these decreases are surprising to me.

One factor influencing us at this time is the tightening of the mortgage markets, and the disappearance of 100% financing. Many buyers may not have the 20% down payment lenders would like to see, and when you are talking about a $350,000 purchase, that 20% is $70,000, which is a big number. Also, many lenders I talk to know will only lend to 95% of appraised value - something else to take into account.

Here are the February 2007 numbers for comparison:

• Active 285 active listings for Single Family Homes (no condos included)
• Pending 11 pending (there is a contract and inspections/financing have been done)
• Sold 7 sold (prices ranged from $231,000 to $500,000)
• New Listings 62

It's a great time to buy, particularly if you have a good credit history and some money to bring to the table - depending on your income and credit, you may not need 20% down. Talk to your lender to see what options are available to you.

If you are selling, now more than ever, it's imperative to make the best possible impression from the first day. Look at your home with a critical eye, or, you have difficulty doing that, have your Realtor or a stager look at it and help you determine how to improve. It's not impossible to sell right now, you just need every possible advantage!

Make It A Great 2008!