Mike Cathell

For the 13th month in a row sales figures in Florida have increased when compared to the same period last year. Some localized markets have even seen increase for 15 months.

Existing home sales rose 34% last month with a total of 14,419 homes sold statewide compared to 10,778 homes sold in September 2008.

Even more promising was the number of condo sales in Florida during September, 2009.

Florida Realtors also reported a 77% increase in statewide sales of existing condos in September compared to the previous year’s sales figure.

Other reported figures show an increase of 4.1% in existing home sales and an 8.9% increase in existing condo sales. Due to the increase in the number of sold bank-owned and short sale properties, the median house price dropped from $174,900 to $142,000 over the past year, a drop of 19%. The median condo price for the same period dropped from $153,500 to $102,500, a drop of 33%. Buyers need to remember these prices are distorted by all the discounted properties in the count.

We are still in a fragile market. Continued increase in sales are dependent on several factors. Mortgage interest rates must be kept affordable. The biggest factor could be whether or not the Federal government extends the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit. The handling of this single item could have a huge impact.

Realtors, parents, high school and college graduates getting ready for the work force, neighbors and friends of anyone possibly thinking of buying should be contacting their Federal Congressmen. It seems many people have voices to complain but we need voices for good right now also. Get those emails and phone calls going!

Mike Cathell, Florida Future Realty, Inc Email: MikeCathell@FloridaFutureAgents.com

Cell: (239) 770-6250

Recently, John Burns Real Estate Consulting took a survey of several home builders in different regions of the US. The highlights were posted on RISMedia.com on October 21, 2009. Later, I will post a link allowing you to see the entire article but obviously, I am interested in my area, SW Florida.

I have been emailing, calling and leaving Social Media messages for my prospects about the importance of being aggressive in this current market. Now, I have a "bigger" authority to send to back up what I have been saying - "Don't wait! Buy Now!"

The following parts of this survey really struck a chord with all of us working with Buyers and Sellers in the Fort Myers and Cape Coral markets:

• 59% of this year’s sales have been dependent on FHA, VA or USDA financing programs with 96.5% to 100% LTV.
  
• SW Florida Builders reported the highest % of cash sales in the nation
• Significant declines in available inventory
• Pricing is increasing
• South Florida reported the highest number of new home starts in the nation

Many investors both locally, nationally and internationally are again turning to SW Florida for value pricing and inventory. Hopefully tougher loan qualification and the larger number of cash sales will keep the market from ever experiencing the mess that got us here. There will always be greed and speculation in any market. It is up to the professionals in the Real Estate and Mortgage Specialties to help our clients ethically and intelligently.

If you would like to read the entire summary and see how your region is doing, click here.

Mike Cathell, Realtor with Florida Future Realty, Inc

Cell: (239) 770-6250 Email: MikeCathell@FloridaFutureAgents.com

I was showing several houses last week to two different customers. In both cases, the houses were short sales. As with many short sales they shared several characteristics - abandoned, no electricity, missing some appliances and a distinctive odor hit you when you walked through the front door. Both clients had the same reaction, "That must be Chinese drywall".

First client did smell something. It was not defective drywall, it was mildew. Second house, same reaction from customer. Again, also not defective drywall. A barbeque grill was left in the laundry room. Smell was burnt charcoal. Two things happened on both of these houses that worry me. The first was that buyers think everything that looks or smells "different" is Chinese drywall.

On other showings, customers are pulling screwdrivers out to check under wall outlets for black ground wires. Others look at the disintegrating metal shower and bath fixtures, also a sign of possible defective drywall. The problem, these people are pulling information from the internet or "hearsay" from friends. The things they are looking at are possible signs of defective drywall, but they are also the sign of other things. I live in a county where many homes are on wells because the city water lines are not in their neighborhoods. I am not talking one or two but thousands of homes are on well water. In Florida, sulfur content is very high in the well water in many areas. My home for example is on well water but I am not in any danger of defective drywall. But, I have disintegrating water fixtures, some tarnished ground wires and a distinctive "bad egg" smell if I fall behind on tending to my well and softening equipment.

If you check back on my other blogs, you will see I have spent a lot of time researching defective drywall. It has almost become an obsession. Did you know there are over 100 wrong ways to remediate defective drywall? Did you know that solutions run the entire gamut of just seal the walls to knock the house down, replace all the drywall to replace anything with a porous nature, like wood, furniture and clothes. There are some developers trying to help but that will stop when their insurance stops. Other builders and developers say it is past warranty and it is now the homeowners problems. Homeowner's insurance, forget about it.

Over 26 states are affected and we need to work together on this. I will be posting some of my research later. Inspectors and Realtors, comment on what is happening in your area to standardize or remove this detriment.

Mike Cathell, Florida Future Realty, Inc. Cell: (239) 770-6250

Email: MikeCathell@FloridaFutureAgents.com

Look in the sky…It’s a bird, it’s a plane …it’s...wait, that’s a different fantasy super-hero. In an earlier post, I discussed how my research on Chinese dry wall led me to emails and phone calls to another hero of the housing industry, forensic investigator Spiderman Scott Mulholland. The announcements he will be making at a public forum on October 24 will shake the world on Chinese dry wall. So as they say in the movies, “Who is this mystery man?”

Info from his website:

Spiderman S. Mulholland, CMA, EDIC, CIEC

(Certified Indoor Environmentalist Consultant)

Chief Executive Officer

• Over 4000 building envelope investigations for construction failures, latent defects, water intrusion, toxic molds, and associated building cladding and roofing failures
• 22 years of experience in the construction industry primarily in commercial buildings
• 15 years of experience as construction litigation expert witness
• Construction consultant in approximately 200 litigations and expert testimony in over 10 cases
• National certification in Exterior Design Institute, Indoor Air Quality Council, Certified Moisture Intrusion and Analysis along with a multiplicity of certifications from the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering
• Involved with over three billion in construction projects as the building envelope consultant for developers and contractors
• Proudly served in the USMC as a sniper and reached the rank of Sergeant

Ok, so that’s what the website tells us but my phone conversations told me much more about the real person behind the above bio. Spiderman is a deeply religious family man with a deep passion to help people. His personal motto has become his company’s mission statement – to develop solutions for people’s problems.

Spiderman Mulholland and his teams have spent thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars in research about Chinese dry wall. This intense study was based on his tremendous desire to help his family, his neighbors, his industry and countless others he does not even know. Most importantly, his countless hours has led up to a forum with the largest collection of experts on Chinese dry wall ever assembled in Orlando on October 24. News breaking announcements on remediation and investigative certifications will be released. Anyone in the construction, real estate or inspection business or anyone who owns a home built between 2001 and 2006 should have their sights set on this forum. Later I will be posting specifics about this amazing forum. Don’t miss it!

Click here for forum info

Mike Cathell, Florida Future Realty, Inc Email: Mailto:MikeCathell@FloridaFutureAgents.com

Cell: (239) 770-6250 Web site: FLCoastRealtor.homestead.com

Sorry, this is not a series about a Super hero defeating his arch nemesis who happens to be a flat Asian villain. But this story will be a news worthy story of Super hero importance to anyone affected by Chinese or defective dry wall.

Working in the Fort Myers/Cape Coral, an area that leads the country in foreclosures, we have hundreds of empty spec homes that were built during the height of the boom. The boom also brought something else to the forefront – Chinese dry wall. It seems everyone in Lee County has either been directly affected by the defective dry wall or knows someone else who has been touched by this problem.

Watching large developments being abandoned and driving past dozens of empty spec homes led me on a search for more information about what seemed to be the “villain” of the 21^st century housing market. I ran across hundreds of articles online about remediation, everything about knock the house down to just seal up the walls and it will be okay. Many of these “solutions” were based on speculation and “educated guesses”. The only consistency I found in actual scientific research kept leading me to a forensic investigator in Florida, Spiderman Scott Mulholland.

I contacted a member of his company, U.S. Building Consultants Inc., asking permission to quote one of his blogs. Not only did she respond quickly with a thumbs up, but Spiderman Mulholland also emailed an okay. Over the next few weeks, we exchanged several emails and had several hour long phonecalls discussing the scientific research about this “villainous menace”.

Here’s the exciting part of this epic battle, Spiderman is going to make several announcements about a HUGE break-thru in remediation based on scientific research at a public forum being held in Orlando, FL on October 24. But just like the heroic adventures in the old nickelodeon theaters, you need to come back again for the next part of this exciting, news-breaking announcement.

I will be posting a series of blogs on this important announcement. Subscribe to my blog for up to the minute updates or email me for info.

Mike Cathell, Florida Future Realty, Inc Email me: Mailto:MikeCathell@FloridaFutureAgents.com Cell: 239- 770-6250 Forum info: http://www.besinstitute.com/