Don Pickett

Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin, Inc. has already successfully provided two well attended, free to the public, real estate educational seminars in 2009.

Their third Seminar, titled "Housing Stimulus: Short Sales, Foreclosures, $8000 Tax Credit?" will be held Tuesday, April 28, 2009, at the Tallahassee Board of Realtors, 1029 Thomasville Rd. This Seminar features respected Tallahassee real estate attorney, Susan Thompson, of Smith, Thompson, Shaw, & Manausa, as key speaker. Also appearing on the program will be well-known CPA, Rick Carroll, with Carroll and Company, addressing tax issues. Q&A session will follow, so prepare your questions!

You don't want to miss this one! We invite you to put this event on your calendar and plan to attend. Seating is limited, so please register early by calling 850-386-6160 or go to the Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin web site. We look forward to seeing you there.

Don Pickett, Realtor, Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin, Inc. Tallahassee Real Estate N Data Services, 850-591-4725, donpick@aol.com Search the entire Tallahassee Area Real Estate Market.

We are all aware there were a lot of real estate investors that made a lot of money buying and reselling, and frequently before construction was completed. Those were the ones that were really knowledgeable of the market; or maybe, just plain lucky. Then there were those that just got caught-up in the frenzy, didn't know when to get out, when the getting was good and got stuck with a lot of liability. There are a lot of them particularly in the State of Florida. When it gets to a point where they cannot, or elect not to continue to pour more money into a seemingly investment gone badly they look for a way out. If they already have a loan on the property and cannot sell it, they consider just letting the bank/lender foreclose. Then the lender gets property they do not want. If the Investor contracted on a property to be built with a deposit, they may consider just walking away from the deal and breaking their contract likely forfeiting their deposit. And the developer gets the property back that they do not want.

Compared to the Stock Investor, the Real Estate Investor seems to have it pretty good. In both cases of purchasing and getting a loan or contracting with a deposit, the Real Estate Investor has paid out a small fraction of the total cost of the property and can get out with only the loss of a fraction of the total property purchase/contracted price. In purchasing stock you pay the total cost up front and it is yours no matter whether it goes up or down in value. And like the Real Estate Investor you buy it with either the knowledge or belief that it will go up in value and make you a good profit. But you cannot just give it back to your stock broker or get him to pay you back all or part of your loss should the value go down. On the other hand if the value went up you would not share your profit with your stock broker or the Real Estate Investor with his Realtor.

The Real Estate Investor that puts down a deposit on a contract for a property to be completed in the future is much like the Stock Investor that invests in the Futures Market. Here the investor has a margin account with the brokerage firm. He buys a number of shares of stock paying only a fraction of the cost of the total value, again like real estate with the knowledge or belief that the value will go up. Unlike a real estate investment......there is no walking away if the value goes down only losing the fractional value. Your margin account is insured by ALL YOUR ASSETS.

Whether it be a real estate or stock investment there is no assurance that the investment will be profitable. In both.....IT IS A GAMBLE.

Don Pickett, Realtor, Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin, Inc., 850-591-4725, donpick@aol.com www.tallahassee-area-homes.com

The news you read and see on television about the housing market and getting a mortgage to purchase a home is NATIONAL NEWS. Yes we have large supply of homes available to purchase in the Tallahassee area and we also have lenders that HAVE PLENTY OF MONEY to loan for a home purchase to those that qualify. The days of the "easy money" from a lender are yesterday's poor business practice.

The general economic turmoil of our country has created a lot of misinformation and resulting confusion regarding the real estate market and our very healthy lenders in the Tallahassee area. Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin will be giving educational seminars in 2009 to alleviate some of that confusion and share factual information applicable to our local real estate market. The first in the series will be about home mortgages and all about obtaining financing for a home purchase or refinancing your current home. Thursday January 22 is the date for the first seminar entitled "Mortgage Money and Lots of It". You can easily register by call 850-386-6160 or online at the Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin web site. You need to register since seating is limited and refreshments will be provided.

The seminar will be held at the Tallahassee Board of Realtors at 1029 Thomasville Road from 6 to 7:30. There will be panel of loan experts from BB&T, Ingle Mortgage, Capital City Bank, Peoples First and Premier Bank.

The seminars are planned as educational for you and ARE NOT SELLING oriented. Neither your registration nor your attendance will be used as a prospect to contact.

There will be opportunity for Q&A during the session, so come prepared with all your questions!

Don Pickett, Realtor, Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin, Inc. Tallahassee Real Estate N Data Services, 850-591-4725, donpick@aol.com Search the entire Tallahassee Area Real Estate Market.

The following is a five year review of the Tallahassee Metro Area single family detached homes, both new and resale, beginning with the third quarter of 2003. Up to this quarter our real estate market in the Tallahassee area was very stable. The average median appreciation was between 2% to 7%, the supply of homes and number of sales holding a parallel amount and a usual time on the market of about sixty days. Everything stayed in good balance through the end of the third quarter of 2005 except for the median appreciation which ended 2003 with 10% and rose to 18% in 2005. Greed had entered the real estate market place in the 2003 through 2005 period with investors aplenty. Stocks had lost their luster beginning in about 2000 with the fall of the dot coms and real estate had always been a very good investment. So everyone joined in the buying frenzy to move up to a bigger home, buying a vacation home, rental properties and just speculating by buying and putting property back on the market at a higher price or just contracting and "flipping" for a quick profit. The wise investor got out of the real estate market in 2005. The ones that did not, you know the rest of that story. Since the end of the third quarter of 2005 the number of homes for sale has doubled while the number of sells has dropped more than half. The median appreciation dropped to 8% in 2006, 2% in 2007 and so far in 2008 it has dropped about - 7%. The supply of available homes has increased about five fold which is over a years supply. While the number of homes on the market has leveled out since the end of the second quarter of 2007, the number of homes sold has continued to drop during this period. Additionally, there are more homes coming on the market every day and fewer buyers. It is a great buyers market with plenty to select from, great interest rates and plenty of home mortgage money.

Don Pickett, Realtor, Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin, Inc. Tallahassee Real Estate N Data Services, 850-591-4725, donpick@aol.com Search the entire Tallahassee Area Real Estate Market.

I just received the Florida Sales Report for existing single family homes for the month of September. This is the first month in over a year that our number of sales of resale homes have exceeded the previous year's report. While it was only a 3% increase, it certainly is a good sign; however, we have a long way to go. Another encouraging sign was the Orlando Metro Area with a 51% increase over September 2007. This was expressed in the article in Realytimes that expressed the Orlando area real estate market was really hot. Hopefully this trend will move this way. The National and State-wide number of sales has been in a relatively steady decline for over a year and September was no exception. The Tallahassee Metro Area has a seasonal fluctuation and declined as well. I liken our real estate market to an ocean wave that starts building in January, peaks in the June-July period and then drops to an ebb for the remainder of the year. From what I see so far in the October period, sales will likely remain about the same as September. It really is a ripe time for the buyers. The asking prices are down considerably, the interest rates are low with lenders with plenty of money for home mortgages and there is a huge selection of inventory from which to choose. Sellers need to make sure they have their homes priced right to sell and in move-in condition. For Example, in the NE Leon County area, when priced right homes sold for 96% of the most recent listed price in the past two months. In the NE, as of 29 October for the month, there are 898 homes available, 41 with Contingent contracts, 30 Pending to be closed and 41 Closed. This gives us about a 18 month supply for the NE.

Don Pickett, Realtor, Coldwell Banker Hartung and Noblin, Inc. Tallahassee Real Estate N Data Services, 850-591-4725, donpick@aol.com Search the entire Tallahassee Area Real Estate Market.