Archive for the 'Real Estate Market Reports' Category

What Can You Tell Me About Tampa Foreclosures?

January 7th, 2009 categories: Real Estate Market Reports, Short Sale Information, Tampa MLS

I recently posted the fact that a majority of the current Tampa homes under contract were either pre-foreclosure or bank-owned (foreclosed) properties. A client of mine asked me a few questions about what, where, when, how much, etc., and I figured I’d share some of those answers here.

As of today, 59% of the properties in the City of Tampa that are under contract are either tagged as pre or post-foreclosure. Here are some facts about those properties:

1. The MLS area with the highest number of these (57) is  area 237, New Tampa, east of Bruce B Downs
2. Median List price is $118,000
3. Average List is $145,311
4. Average size is 1570 sq ft
5. Average Year Built is 1969
6. Average beds/baths is 3/2
7. Average Days to Contract is 140

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | No Comments »

Customized Home Searches and Market Reports

January 6th, 2009 categories: Real Estate Market Reports, Tampa Homes

Here’s a quick reminder that you can search virtually all Tampa MLS listings right here at this site. No matter the brokerage firm, no matter the agent! We make it simple for you to search for your ideal Tampa home or Tampa condo. You can also save your search criteria so that new listings that meet your criteria are sent to you via e-mail, and you can get notified of price reductions as well. Just visit our Tampa home search site.

FYI: For a more detailed home search and/or more detailed property reports, contact us.

Looking to keep track of the market in your neighborhood? The Market Snapshot tool can do just that. You can get regularly updated reports of recent sales and current listings in any Tampa neighborhood. Get your Market Snapshot.

FYI: For a more detailed and accurate assessment of your home or neighborhood, contact us.

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | No Comments »

Less Homes For Sale and More Buyers

January 6th, 2009 categories: Real Estate Market Reports, Tampa MLS, Uncategorized

As compared to January of 2008, there are about 8% less homes for sale, while the number of homes under contract has risen by about 64% from a year ago. That’s a big difference, especially on the demand side. There were only about 600 properties under contract in early January of 2008, while as of today, there are closer to 1000 pending contracts.

That’s good news in the fact that the gap between buyers and sellers has decreased somewhat. That gap is still quite large, but let’s see if it continues to decline in the coming months.

FYI: Of the 984 properties currently under contract in the City of Tampa, 593 of them are tagged as foreclosure or pre-foreclosure listings.

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | 1 Comment »

Tampa Home Prices-4 Years of Appreciation Washed Away?

December 31st, 2008 categories: Real Estate Market Reports, Tampa Home Buyer Tips, Tampa Real Estate

Not only is it the the end of the year, but it’s the end of the month as well. And that’s always time for the monthly Case-Shiller Index numbers.

These two sentences, direct from the CS press release, sum it up for Tampa, generally speaking.

“…six of the MSAs had their largest monthly decline on record – Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, Minneapolis, Tampa and Washington. Most of the positive monthly data recorded in the spring and summer months, merely reflects seasonal patterns in home prices, as opposed to a turnaround in the downward spiral in national home prices.”

The summer months did offer a tease as the chart below shows. The rate at which prices were falling had begun to flatten out somewhat, offering an indication that maybe, just maybe, the worst was behind us. But let’s face it, the still high inventory of homes for sale, paired with the low demand for the same, and the abundance of pre-foreclosure and bank-owned properties really doesn’t point to ongoing price stability. So a tease of a bottom it was.

The Case Shiller index for Tampa stands at 165.44 for October of 2008, down about 10 points from where it stabilized temporarily over the summer. The last time the Tampa CS numbers stood at 165 was back in September of 2004. So we’ve lost 4 years of appreciation, generally speaking. But we’re still 65 percentage points over where the index stood in January of 2000. Still, not good news for anyone who purchased post 2004.

But we know real estate is local, and the Case-Shiller numbers speak for all of Tampa. Real estate is much more local than that. No neighborhood has been spared a downward slide in home values. But to say all home’s and neighborhood’s values have slipped by an equal amount is not accurate.

One good tool that we offer to help homeowner’s or prospective home buyers gauge value, is the Market Snapshot that shows current homes for sale as well as homes recently sold in any neighborhood. The Market Snapshot also offers additional information that is useful to sellers and buyers alike. Get your Market Snapshot at TampaMarketReports.com. For a more accurate and detailed assessment of your neighborhood and your home, contact us.

Let’s hope the New Year brings a real bottom. Have a safe and happy New Year!

Case Shiller

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | No Comments »

Tampa Condo Credit Gets Crunched

December 18th, 2008 categories: First Time Homebuyers, New Projects (Condos), Real Estate Market Reports, Tampa Condos

We work with a number of outstanding Tampa condo mortgage professionals. If you are curious to see whether loans are being approved for a particular condominium, give us a call.

The number of delinquent mortgages and/or mortgages in default secured by Florida condos is at an all time high currently according to Fannie Mae. So what does that mean for would be Tampa condo buyers? Well, in response to that fact, Fannie Mae has tightened up the standards for loan approvals for condos in Tampa (or anywhere else in Florida). This mainly applies to new condos or newly converted condos.

This is also bad news for sellers of these condos as well, as the pool of buyers who can qualify for these properties has dwindled. Many of the prospective buyers who may otherwise qualify for a loan, will be shut out because the property fails to qualify.

Basically, the downpayment requirements are now higher and the number of units that must be owner-occupied has risen as well. Standards on established condos are somewhat looser, but the fact is, buying or selling a condo in Florida just got a little harder.

Per Fannie Mae:

Requirements for Attached Condominium Projects in Florida:

“There are currently excessive unsold inventories of condominium project units in Florida
resulting from the increase in building new condominium projects and the conversion of
apartments to condominium ownership that occurred during the last several years. The
increase in the number of units available is one of the factors that caused home prices to
reach historical lows, particularly in the condominium market. As part of an ongoing
review of business activities, Fannie Mae assessed the performance of mortgage loans
secured by condominiums located in Florida and found that the number of loans currently
delinquent or in default is at an all time high. As a result, Fannie Mae is modifying some
of the terms under mortgage loans secured by attached units in condominium projects
located in Florida will be accepted.”

Fannie Mae memo

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | No Comments »

« Previous Entries

Also Noteworthy

How's The Market In Your Neighborhood?