“Price Is Everything Right Now” In Florida
The Herald Tribune reports from Florida. “More and more sellers in Southwest Florida are coming to the conclusion that the only way to attract buyers in a sagging real estate market is by slashing prices. Serial condo converter Matt Kihnke is now offering one-bedroom Bradenton apartments for $99,900.”
“And price is everything right now, said Ross Bryans, who is helping Kihnke sell the converted units. What a change from the frothy exuberance of early 2005.”
“Kihnke started selling the units in the late summer of 2005. Eighteen months later, about 30 percent of the units remain unsold. ‘Some of them are the best units, the ones with water views,’ Kihnke said. ‘We kept them because they were set at the highest prices, but we have had to come down in price.’”
“Units that were listed at $169,900 are now on the market for $129,900.”
“Bryans said the reason Garden Walk apartments sold so much faster than units at The Sanctuary is that most of Garden Walk’s buyers were investors looking to cash in on the rapid appreciation of Southwest Florida real estate.”
“By late summer 2005, those investors had vanished, and Bryans and Petitti had to begin the slow, arduous process of marketing dwellings to first-time home buyers. ‘We’re now selling four a month, compared to 40 a month at the peak,’ Bryans said.”
“Even with these incentives, however, Bryans and and his partner, John Petitti say it is difficult to get people to check out their product. That’s why they have been raffling off flat-screen televisions and laptop computers to get people to tour the property, and why Kihnke has upped broker commissions from 2 percent to 5 percent.”
“‘Everyone in the market is offering incentives. We have to do it too,’ Kihnke said.”
The St Petersburg Times. “Prospective new home buyers are learning they don’t have to settle for low-dough incentives like granite countertops. Now available in the Tampa Bay area: college tuition with a new home purchase and a condo/yacht deal.”
“‘I’ve never seen incentives like this,’ said Carlos A. Fuentes, president of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors.”
“Elsewhere, home builder Taylor Woodrow will contribute $11,000 to the Florida Prepaid College Plan on that buyer’s behalf for each new home buyer in the company’s six Tampa Bay area developments.”
“Lonnie Herman, VP for the company’s Central Florida division, said it used to be that having Taylor Woodrow as your builder was enough incentive to buy. But with inventories bulging, there were more than 17,000 condos, townhomes and single-family homes on the market in Hillsborough County in December, compared with 7,800 a year earlier, things have changed.”
The Palm Beach Post. “Remember when snagging a pre-construction deal was prize enough for hungry home buyers? Now developers are offering free plasma televisions and hosting elaborate soirées - just to get prospective buyers and agents in the door.”
“Verano, a 6,300-home development planned for western Port St. Lucie, is marketing its Sunday grand opening as a ‘Venetian-style street festival,’ with hopes of drawing traffic to its model homes.”
“‘This is the best way to do it: Have a little party,’ said Craig Perna, president of the West Palm Beach developer behind Verano. Is he worried about the more than 1,200 completed new homes already sitting vacant in the county?”
“Just after reporting a record loss on Monday, Coast Bank of Florida announced that it had hired a longtime Sarasota banker as a ’special adviser.’ Tramm Hudson will work with Coast’s board and senior management in dealing with the loan fiasco that has shaken Coast’s financial condition and threatened its future.”
“Coast funded $110 million in loans to nearly 500 borrowers, many of them speculators, who were building homes with CCI, a St. Petersburg company that has suspended operations.”
“‘The regulators are concerned about the situation, but they have, in my estimation, been very supportive of the bank’s effort to address the loan issue,’ he said. ‘They’ve recognized that this is symptomatic of the overall depression in the real estate market.’”
“A key question is, why did the bank’s management and directors allow 20 percent of Coast’s loans to go to borrowers doing business with CCI?”
“‘Sometimes bankers can get lulled to sleep with their residential portfolios,’ Hudson said. ‘Everyone feels a residential loan is the safest loan they can make because it is secured by someone’s home.’”
The Bradenton Herald. “Coast Bank officials must prepare a year-end financial statement by mid-March. The bank must meet a Securities and Exchange Commission filing deadline giving its earnings results for the 2006 fiscal year. Chances are, the report won’t be pretty.”
“Coast Bank will likely have to add to its reserves to cover potential loan defaults as a result of the CCI deals. Increasing the reserves could seriously erode the bank’s bottom line even further, said banking analyst James Schutz. ‘It will be a bigger loss than they would have normally had,’ Schutz said.”
“On Sept. 30, Coast Bank’s provision for loan losses was $3.7 million, according to SEC filings. Schutz said there is no rule of thumb governing how much of an increase in the reserve account would be needed to cover any potential losses from the $110 million worth of loans. Roughly $66 million has been disbursed so far.”
“‘In my career, I’ve seen a number of banks get into trouble and work their way out,’ Hudson said. ‘I’ve also seen banks that have been very orderly transferred with the FDIC’s assistance to other banks. I think it’s a reflection of the tough economic time we have right now in the residential real estate market.’”
The Orlando Sentinel. “The pace of new-home construction continued to slow in Central Florida during the fourth quarter, with housing starts falling 37 percent from the same period a year ago, a new survey found.”
“Metrostudy said work started on 5,281 single-family homes in the final three months of last year, down from 8,443 in the same period a year earlier and 6,853 in the third quarter of last year.”
“The region’s inventory of new homes declined nearly 10 percent at the end of last year, to 19,808 units, or a 7.7-month supply. The ‘finished, vacant’ category doubled, to 8,867 units, while the number of homes under construction dropped 40 percent to 10,129.”
“The industry has plenty of challenges, said Anthony Crocco, director of Metrostudy’s Central Florida and Northeast divisions. ‘Contract cancellations are still high,’ he said, and competition from the huge inventory of used homes for sale remains a barrier to any rebound for builders.”
The Sun Sentinel. “Las Olas Riverfront may be dying, but it ain’t dead yet. ‘People think the place is being torn down or is torn down,’ said Laura Richards, owner of shoe boutique Beach Soles.”
“Riverfront’s owner wants to add towers of hotel, condo and office space, even though the current condo market is down. According to the Florida Association of Realtors, local condo sales declined by 36 percent in 2006. The 28 retailers left in the half-occupied real estate wait. Meanwhile, they deal with shrinking clientele and short-term leases as they consider their options.”
“Planners blame markets and structural design. Visitors blame too little parking and too many shuttered stores. Business owners blame lack of advertising and negative publicity. They all agree there aren’t enough upscale clients. Bring back the high-end stores and the shoppers who ‘come here in boats with money,’ Merv Brody said.”
“But store owners won’t come if scared away by short-term leases, he said. Landlords offer only six-month leases because they want to have the freedom to quickly begin converting the property if the city approves the new plans, Brody said.”
“Jason Kamerer, the owner of Atmosphere Coffee Bar, said his last lease for an outlet in Philadelphia was signed for three years. ‘I was surprised by the six-months thing. I mean, it’s a lot of money to put into a place to get furniture and the equipment, you know?’ he said.”
“Kamerer’s coffee shop is probably the third or fourth incarnation in the same location, said customer Linda Pearson from Lauderhill. ‘The whole area has fizzled out,’ she said. Pearson said she wishes more people would show up so the owners wouldn’t have to close the hangout she and her husband visit monthly.”
‘Metrostudy said work started on 5,281 single-family homes in the final three months of last year, down from 8,443 in the same period a year earlier and 6,853 in the third quarter of last year. The region’s inventory of new homes declined nearly 10 percent at the end of last year, to 19,808 units, or a 7.7-month supply. The ‘finished, vacant’ category doubled, to 8,867 units, while the number of homes under construction dropped 40 percent to 10,129.’
This still seems like a lot of houses in the works, IMO.
“The region’s inventory of new homes declined nearly 10 percent at the end of last year, to 19,808 units, or a 7.7-month supply.”
I don’t know the boundaries of their measured region, but for the Orlando MSA, HousingTracker shows availabale housing at 26,000 and some change. And that number appears to be increasing.
33000 currently listed in orlando area. Check this nifty link I found: http://www.ziprealty.com/buy_a_home/search/form/city.jsp?zTracked=true&cKey=2sb47nbw&referred_by=quigo-orlsntbiz-freemls—orlando&metro=orlando
updates every few minutes - we need more of these in other cities!!
And there are alomst 4,000 houses in the 4 Corners, Clermont, Davenport area alone. For those not from Orlando, those areas are primarily vacation rentals for tourists in what used to be the middle of nowhere.
…”primarily vacation rentals…”
And that’s all that most of them will continue to be. Davenport in the early 1970s was one street, halfway between Aldersgate and Addison’s gun shop, on the back road to Haines City from Kissimmee. Reeemote.
Zip Realty is a great website for tracking houses. This is my neck of the woods broward county, ft. laudedale area.
Davie - 1356 listings
cooper city - 321 listings
Dania - 524 lisings
Hollywood - 3,492 listings
Just saw a mcmansion in a davie neighborhood I am watching take a $100k haircut.
33,016 as of 12:21 pm EST !!!
lets start a pool on where inventory will end up;-)
“And price is everything right now, said Ross Bryans, who is helping Kihnke sell the converted units. What a change from the frothy exuberance of early 2005.”
go figure the price slashing will be bring in buyers, who is the genius who thought of that?
$169K to $129K is still only a 20% haircut. It sounds nice but for a one bedroom condo? Let’s face it, a fair price for 1BR condo on that side of the state is $75 or $80K in my opinion.
$75 to $80 for a 1br is about right for a condo in any state, ‘cept maybe overlooking Central Park.
Southeast FL has been over that for quite some time except for 55 and over properties. Probably fair market (what people should pay) in West Palm, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton, … should be $100 to $125K in my opinion. Median income in PBC hovers around 40K which buys $120K in Condo in most normal circumstances.
Did you take into account taxes, HOA, and insurance costs?
I see that you can afford a PI on a $120k price based on $40k income, but what about the other expenses? I did not add maintenance on purpose here.
We put all the costs here, then the price of the condo will be at around $80k to cover PITI, HOA, and maintenance on a $40k income.
Such a misconception on HOA. Property taxes are already included in that formula 3 X Income = house prices. Average condo is running between $125 and $200 for HOA monthly. That includes your exterior property insurance. A contents policy is pretty inexpensive.
Unincorporated Palm Beach County Example $125K condo:
Mortgage: $558 based on 20% Down
HOA: $175
Taxes: $166
Condo Insurance: $42
Total output: $941 monthly
Comparable one bedroom rental:
Rent: $895
Renter’s Insurance: 40
Total output: $935 monthly
In 10 years you will have put out $720 more to own vs. rent assuming no change in either situation (changes in rent vs. raise in taxes/insurance). For that additional $720 in output you will have bought $20,000 in additional equity. So let’s assume no appreciation in 10 years at all. You sell at $125K. You get a check for $50,000. All you put in was $30K of your own cash when you put the money down. In a safe investment vehicle (CD or High Yeild Savings) that same $30K would only be worth 45K. Ownership paid you $4,300 in this scenario.
Let’s assume a 3% yearly increase in value and again (being silly here) no increase in rent. You now sell for $168K. You get a check for $93K at closing. Now you’ve got a real advantage to owning.
Now before you attack me, I know there are fees to your real estate agent. But I’ve also assumed low levels of appreciation and rent never going up. The point is that when the fundamentals are there, a disctinct value in ownership can be seen. When people go into get rich quick with no money down and can’t afford a simple house on a simple income we have a problem.
So you expect the median person to buy a one bedroom condo?
Comment by JJ
2007-02-06 08:47:41
So you expect the median person to buy a one bedroom condo?
Height 5′8″ weight 180lbs. Yes.
Good point
Median person meaning 1 person. YES!! One person 1 bedroom!!!!!!!
Bad Andy — whoa — wait a minute. After paying $25,000 down, which no longer earns interest during the time the property is held, a$100,000 loan for 30 years at $558 per month would be at a fixed rate of 5.35%. Who do you know that will lend at that rate today?
in the 1980s we owned an oceanfront condo that cost $127K; it rented, furnished for $750-800 per month in the first few years. Maybe it’s different in unincorporated Palm Beach County, but your numbers are very skewed relative to prices and values in east central Florida.
I said 25% down which is in the $30K neighborhood. That’s a loan amount of $95,000. I assumed 5.84% which is readily doable in the open market without paying points.
You’re right about the price though. I think you would be very hard pressed to find 1 bedroom in the county for $125K. That’s why I’m agreeing with prices being out of whack. I put reasonable value at $125K inland. You CAN find some in the $130 - 140K range. You’d need to find a very realistic seller to be at $125K
Ocean front if it’s not 55 and over is going to run $200K for a real dump to about $300K for something reasonable. Rents for these units year round furnished are $1250 furnished or $1100 unfurnished. Seasonals are much much higher. Rents inland are running $800 - $1000 for a one bedroom depending on if you’re renting from an “investor” or an apartment complex.
Thanks for your view on this bad Andy, I hear you on what you are saying. Now let’s see what the real world would be like:
- You are assuming that property taxes won’t go up at all; which is not the case here:
- You are assuming that insurance (in Florida) will remain affordable, which presently is not the case.
- You are assuming that people have that kind of money saved for a down payment.
- You are assuming that the personal income will keep on increasing for the borrower or that the borrower does not lose his/her job.
- You are assuming that interest rate will not go higher.
- You are assuming that credit will not tighten, which is already happening.
Thanks
Is that a 1% tax rate or higher? Do people in Florida get to exempt their condos based on the “save our homes” legislation?
He’s also assuming that the average person will live alone for the next ten years. No marriage, no kids…..
Average taxes seem to be around 1 1/2% in Florida with HOA’s……
Actually, I think a 1BR condo in Florida is really only worth about $50 to $65, if you take into account insurance and the ever escalating condo association fees. There needs to be a discount for unknowns.
I’ll take $150/month even $200 compared to some associations running in the $100 range in cold weather climates. What is the association squandering money on?
Oh Bad Andy you are so old fashioned. 1 bedroom hotel rooms sell for 800K now.
http://southjersey.craigslist.org/rfs/271194973.html
And you’d be so crazy to buy in. I am old fashioned. I put 20% down on my home and I have $0 in credit card debt. Bubble? Me worry? NAH!
Joke Bad Andy Joke.
I know…I know…I just get so angry when I see the greed in this world.
True — in 1999-2000 you could buy a one-bedroom condo directly on the ocean, in the Cape-Canaveral to Melbourne strip, for $80-90K.
Florida right now is like a murder mystery. Everyone around here is talking about “whodunnit?” Who killed the housing market? Was it the Snowbird? The Speculator? The Immigrant? The Governor? One of these individuals just has to be responsible somehow!
And the murder weapon of choice these days is the price-slashing sword. Slashing is the equivalent of fine art around here now. People admire the spectacle like a July fireworks show. I just saw an $80,000 slashing yesterday and marveled at it. Of course, I’ll never buy at that price.
About 10% of every flipperland tower is vacant on any given day. People are gutting, smashing and crashing their way through walls to put in every high-end luxury available. It’s an unhealthy addiction to the TLC channel come to life.
And snowflakes have been in short supply this year. Snowbirds have settled a bit northward in their migration this year. They don’t flock here in planeload after planeload anymore. (Wilma, Katrina and Rita put a stop to that.)
Overall, patience (something Floridians have absolutely none of) will be rewarded for those who exercise it best.
OT
Families that play together stay together. Read about a family that commits fraud together in Ladera Ranch, CA. Will they go to jail together?
Bubble Markets Inventory Tracking
Wow! Top notch work. Are the names you used real?
yes, just concealled the last names
Send this to Eric J at ITulip
Ocrenter
Great read. Fine work. I wish Ben could include a respected user list, you’d be on mine the first day!
And yet people tell me prices are sticky…
I’m looking for rumors about a possible large aerospace division shut down in the south bay. What? The moving numbers don’t work (buildings are leased) yet nor does their profit. All I know definitively is that their backorder is small, leased buildings, and that the consultants have been sent home. (Services no longer required.)
Got popcorn?
Neil
wow! Sounds like termites in the lumber at the OC. Cave-in on prices coming soon!
ocrenter ….Another example of lender rubber stamping or possible inside job. Underwriters are suppose to check the title report to make sure the purchase is a arms length transaction .Bet they find out it was the same lender/loan agent on all the transactions .Come to America and make you riches the good old fashion way ….NOT .
The “system” encourages and allows this to happen. Including Greenspan.
The 1.2B fraud is even more dramatic.
OCRenter — kudos to you and to Paladin for tracking this stuff down. With that well-detailed trail of events, hopefully the fraud folks will be working this case asap.
great work
danke/thanks
It still all boils down to: some of us are NOT luxury people, we still drive 10 year old paid off cars, and al we really need is a stable roof over our heads,(you never know when a landlord wont renew a lease), so $99K for a 1 bedroom, is very reasonable, or 2 bedrooms for $125K
But , this is exactly why rental prices are so HIGH in NYC, even under rent stabilzation. There is NO incentive for the landlord to do a cheap paint and steam clean the carpet to re-rent for $50 more…instead all the rules favor a luxury upgrade that can tack on 300-400+ a month forever!
Plus rent to the worst flaky tenants you can find, so you can qualify for a 20% vacancy increase everytime they skip out and break the lease, and you can get a cheap old $500 a month apartment to $1500+ a month legally in a few years.
“Kihnke started selling the units in the late summer of 2005. Eighteen months later, about 30 percent of the units remain unsold. ‘Some of them are the best units, the ones with water views,’ Kihnke said. ‘We kept them because they were set at the highest prices, but we have had to come down in price.’ Units that were listed at $169,900 are now on the market for $129,900.”
That would be a 23.5% price reduction. The amazing revelation that a lower price helps move homes out of the inventory queue and into “sold” status should help Realtors stay in business, but will not do much for the hapless investors who failed to get into a life raft before the Titanic started its final plunge into depths of the North Atlantic.
One correction - SOME realtors will stay in business. Typically, this will be the larger and more successful sellers. A very large percentage of those who got in in the last five years will shortly be without work. From an economics perspective, some portion of middlemen should be able to thrive in either an up or a down market as long as there aren’t fundamental supply and demand issues.
And just wait until the fallout from all of these “vacant second home” investors comes down. This will create significant negative macroeconomic effects that will take years to shake out.
(And no, I don’t think this is the end of the American Empire. There is a hard landing coming shortly, however.)
Looking at the price change the ‘other way around’, when it increased from $129K to $169K, it was considered a 31% increase.
So what I often hear from the cheerleaders is comparisons between these two figures, touting the bogus point that, for example, prices have only decreased 23% vs. 31% increases last year when in reality they amount to the same thing bottom line.
Anyway, beware this cheerleader spin because you can count on them not to explain this quirk.
they just don’t know math.
Knowledge of basic math and economics should be mandatory on realtor licensing exams.
Honesty and ethics first.
The first RE broker course I attended was way back in 1985 with RE/MAX RE college in Denver (off Colorado and Evans). During the surveying part of the course the pretty lady broker explained measurement methods….angles were measured in degrees…the minutes and seconds after the degree part…well…that’s the time you take to measure it.!!!!!!!!!! This old geophysicist just about croaked right then and there.
Pearson said she wishes more people would show up so the owners wouldn’t have to close the hangout she and her husband visit monthly.
Yeah, so she goes to this coffee shop once a MONTH and wishes more people would show up to keep it open? Jeez. If that’s the kind of loyal and free-spending customers he has, he’s in dire straits.
‘They’ve recognized that this is symptomatic of the overall depression in the real estate market.’”
First time I’ve read someone cut to the chase, go right to depression, and skip recession. I guess Goldilocks has abandoned Florida.
No, Goldilocks lives here. She smokes crack and has bruises all over her and wanders the streets with a dazed look.
LOL!
Bring back the high-end stores and the shoppers who ‘come here in boats with money,’ Merv Brody said.”
And while you’re at it, would you please bring back those people who were paying $700/share for JDSU? I have some $1.75 stock to sell them.
The NAR needs to forget advertising campaigns and spend all of their money on developing a time machine.
That’s very small portion of shoppers. I’ve spent much time in Naples and there are few shops on the water and even less boats with multimillionaires pulling up just so Lovey can blow $12,000 on a carved ivory bookend. Not that those people aren’t there, but they’re not shopping in that respect at the wazoo. Plenty of stores on the 5th ave or whatever it is in Naples that have nothing but aging prima donnas in BMWs for customers and they’re still empty. I guess 2 or 3 Cartier watches is enough to pay the rent because everytime I’ve ever walked into one of those places they’re like as quite a s frickin’ tomb.
“Price is everything right now”
Well, not exactly. Maybe that would work a couple of years ago, but there is too much inventory, fraud, stupidity, greed, and misanthropic behavior within the NAR to simple lower the price.
It’s too far gone.
“‘This is the best way to do it: Have a little party,’ said Craig Perna, president of the West Palm Beach developer behind Verano. Is he worried about the more than 1,200 completed new homes already sitting vacant in the county?”
Hell no. I’m drunk.
Yeah. When incentives are insufficiently persuasive, break out the alcohol.
And it’s supposed to be a “venetian-style street festival.” For those of us who haven’t been to Venice, Italy–and I suspect these clowns are in that group–what the hell is that supposed to look like? Does any part of Italy look anything like Florida suburbia?
The guy’s name is “Kihnke”? It won’t be too long before we start getting quotes from “Haywood Jablomey.”
Don’t worry, all the superbowl visitors are going to buy 2 or 3 condos, …
come to think of it..buy a single family home and get a condo free may the way to go..
free condo ~200-300 k worth of rebate/ you get rents to cover a fair portion of your mortgage/condo inventory is depleted/
older home owners are happy as the comps are not compromised that badly..
and realtors are happy w/ commissons.
of course, ~10% rental vacancy in many frothy areas could be a downer.
“Even with these incentives, however, Bryans and and his partner, John Petitti say it is difficult to get people to check out their product. That’s why they have been raffling off flat-screen televisions and laptop computers to get people to tour the property, and why Kihnke has upped broker commissions from 2 percent to 5 percent.”
$80,000/month down to $8,000/month. They’re still making decent coin. Eff them.
The St Petersburg Times. “Prospective new home buyers are learning they don’t have to settle for low-dough incentives like granite countertops. Now available in the Tampa Bay area: college tuition with a new home purchase and a condo/yacht deal.”
Really puts it in perspective how much they were overpaying for these things. A few years ago you had the choice of spending $250k on a house, another $100k on a college education for junior, and another $150k on a boat, or just buy a house for $250k. Then a few years later you could only buy a house for $500k. Now you can once again buy the house, college tuition and boat for $500k, but you have to buy all of them as a package. Insane.
Were stupid incentives like that offered at the start of the last downturn in the 1990s, or is this a new scheme? I’m wondering if we have a historical precedent for estimating when the builders will give up and simply start cutting prices in a serious way.
They already are cutting prices. I’ve seen developments in the far DC suburbs which were selling “villas” for $300k, and now they’re selling the same cookie-cutter units for $240k — or even less, if you are willing to bargain.
We need a site like Lending Tree, only for house builders now. Remember the Lending Tree commecials … when banks compete, you save. Well now it should be, when home builders save, you compete. Ben, if you make a BuildingTree.com site I want a cut of that cash.
Sorry. meant to say “When homebuilders compete, you save.”
When homebuilders compete - existing homeowners curse as the market tanks further!
Just watch hat’s happening to the cost of building new houses right now. Start with lumber prices down by 80%. IMO, smart builders who have vacant stock in the ground will cut those units loose for absolute cost, since their competitor can now build a duplicate, with profit, for less than that.
The Bradenton Herald. “Coast Bank officials must prepare a year-end financial statement by mid-March. The bank must meet a Securities and Exchange Commission filing deadline giving its earnings results for the 2006 fiscal year. Chances are, the report won’t be pretty.”
This probably applies to a lot of banks. Look for some serious pants shitting in mid-March. Right about the same time when everyone thinks the spring real estate buying season should begin. Should be interesting.
What spring real estate buying season? We’re already having spring-like weather here in Tucson, but I think the buyers are still hibernating.
“Riverfront’s owner wants to add towers of hotel, condo and office space, even though the current condo market is down. According to the Florida Association of Realtors, local condo sales declined by 36 percent in 2006. The 28 retailers left in the half-occupied real estate wait. Meanwhile, they deal with shrinking clientele and short-term leases as they consider their options.”
What do people do in all of this office space. Oh, that’s right, they sell each other homes and other baubles purchased with borrowed money against the houses that they bought and sold to each other. Nevermind, carry on.
No, they spend their day on weblogs.
Hey, its a sustainable market, isn’t it?
One of the mid-sized office buildings in PV 90274 is now vacant. Keller Williams isn’t occupying two floors. Does anyone know if they moved, or just “released” a lot of agents?
Got popcorn?
Neil
You too can sell Florida Real Estate and make your Fortune !
Contact
http://www.crazyirving.com/
For HELP…Cause Baby…You ARE GOING to NEED IT !
any feb 5th inventory reports yet?
spring season underway
TO but I notice lots of mutual funds reporting 50/50 on qualified divs- like it’s too much work to really figure it out
and this
KANSAS CITY, Mo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–NovaStar Financial, Inc. (NYSE:NFI - News), a residential lender and mortgage portfolio manager, today announced the tax treatment of its 2006 common dividend distributions. All common dividends, taxable for the year 2006, should be treated as “non-qualified” in nature. Common dividends taxable for the year 2006 follow:
the sarasota city council http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070206/NEWS/702060584/1060/SNN just approved the irish mens billion dollar development in downtown sarasota http://www.sarasotabayside.com/projectoverview.html
the project will tear down the quay a PERFECTLY good circa 1980’s structure for the new behemoth
what a mess sarasota has become to old timers like me
Don’t remember cash incentives in prior turndowns ,just paying closing costs ,maybe buying down rates or fix up concessions ,so the lowering of prices was the main incentive in prior turndowns .
During the RE market turn-down in the late 70’s it was so bad that interest rates would change every two weeks upward that nobody could hold a deal together . It was not uncommon for houses to fall out of escrow many times .Purchase contracts were written with interest caps written in which often times were exceeded . In those days if a builder could offer a stable lower interest rate by a buy-down ,that builder might get some action . Talk about a tight money market because of high interest rates .
the sarasota city council has just approved the latest downtown project
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070206/NEWS/702060584/1060/SNN
more here http://www.sarasotabayside.com/projectoverview.html
what a mess sarasota has become for old timers like me
Any news on St Joe Co? They making cardboard boxes again?
Roidy
WOW!
On Sept. 30, Coast Bank’s provision for loan losses was $3.7 million, according to SEC filings. Schutz said there is no rule of thumb governing how much of an increase in the reserve account would be needed to cover any potential losses from the $110 million worth of loans. Roughly $66 million has been disbursed so far
That 66/110 is 60%!
LOL
Centex housing ad reads like a furniture ad.
http://www.centexhomes.com/orlando/D1038Promo4.asp?divisionID=1038&source=move.com-bnrSeminoleCounty_SKY