Some reports on the Florida housing market. "Boca Raton — Frustrated by the snail's pace of Eden Condominium construction, city officials will not rule out requiring that the community be demolished if the apartment-to-condo conversion continues to drag on. The city 'is evaluating the merits' of the firm's explanation as to why gutting and rehabbing the 204-unit complex has lagged since spring 2003, when the sales office opened for business."

"Some Eden sales originally expected to be closed last summer have been pushed back to this September, or even January, according to buyers."

"Still reeling from 2005 hurricane losses, Atlantic Preferred Insurance Co. said the company won't renew more than 140,000 homeowner policies in Florida. With few insurers willing to take on new homeowner policies, many of Atlantic Preferred's former customers could end up in state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. That will put even more stress on the already-burdened company, said Steve Burgess, Florida's insurance consumer advocate."

"Two years of catastrophic hurricane seasons have drained the state's insurance industry, and now the reserve fund that backs up the insurers is $1.55 billion in the hole. That means virtually all Floridians could pay for as long as 10 years to cover the fund's shortfall."

"These storm-related charges come on top of surcharges all state homeowners are paying to bail out Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-backed home insurer, and the higher prices individual property insurers are charging Florida residents."

From Realty Times. "Large gluts of inventory spell great news for buyers, and not so great news for sellers. Take Cape Coral, Florida, for example. Our experts have reported that there is nearly 2 years worth of inventory to sell."

"Our experts report that there is a wide spread between asking prices and actual sales prices in this area? A possible cause? With a larger inventory on hand, while a home may be figured in at a market value of $150,000, with so much competition sellers may have to lower their price if they are needing to sell in a hurry."

"Prices for houses and land are on the down trend. Inventory is increasing dramatically: about new 400 listings and about 600 + price reductions every DAY!!! Sellers have to adjust their asking prices down, while buyers make low offers."

"Overnight, it has turned into a BUYER'S MARKET. Lately, I have been selling MANY REAL investors who are 'thinking outside the box.' WHAT DO I MEAN? Now that these 'investors' have their new houses nearing completion, they reallize they cannot afford double mortgage payments. They are panicing & figure.. 'well, I'll settle for $40,000 profit instead of $60,000-- just to get out!'"

"Many of you have e-mailed me asking, When will the buyers market end in Cape Coral? At this time we are finding investors would rather reduce their price for a quick sale rather than carry a mortgage payment. Some investors have taken their homes off the market and put renters in place hoping to cover some of their expenses. The problem is so many of these homes are hitting the market at the same time (approximately 25 to 30 a day) and there are not enough buyers to keep up with the inventory."