‘Flood Of New Homes’ To Produce ‘Discounts’: Polk Co., Fl.
The Online Ledger has this update on Florida. “Homes aren’t selling like they used to back in the good ol’ days of mid-2005. But make no mistake, Polk County’s housing bubble isn’t bursting, it’s just losing a little air. And that can mean more competitive pricing to attract buyers.”
“‘Most of last year, new home construction was lagging the population increases so sellers of homes could ask and receive some very high prices,’ said Ben Crosby, president of the East Polk County Realtors Association. ‘That has changed and is evidenced by numerous price-reduced signs on houses.’”
“Crosby advises that Realtors should counsel their clients to review their asking prices and adjust where needed.”
“‘There is a little bit of a surplus,’ said Beverly Page, a Realtor in Lakeland. ‘I have seen some listings for investors coming down in price. Some purchased these homes last year to put on the market to sell. But the trend is that they are going down in price and are not going to make a profit like they anticipated.’”
“It has also impacted the amount of time a home remains on the market before a sale is final. ‘It is a lot longer now,’ Page said.”
“‘The flood of new homes coming on the market should offer an opportunity for new home buyers to take advantage of some discounts coming their way,’ Crosby said. Realtors say that this is just a way of the market regulating and correcting itself.”
‘Most of last year, new home construction was lagging the population increases so sellers of homes could ask and receive some very high prices,’ said Ben Crosby, president of the East Polk County Realtors Association.’
IMO there never was a shortage of housing in Florida, just amazing over-speculation. And with the coming ‘flood’ of new homes, over-building too.
This phrase caught my attention as well. Glad to know the home builders were finally able to catch up with the population increases.
The spin they were using about the housing shortage caused by various factors (baby boomers, immigration, running out of land) really makes me angry. People have committed themselves to ridiculous mortgages based on these lies. The realtors and their organizations knew they were selling to a hugh amount of speculators, yet they knowingly lied to regular folks, who didn’t realize they were competing with short term speculators.
WArenter….That really makes me mad to . If people knew that they were competing against short term flippers there would not of been overbidding on homes . The regular folks
and locals really got screwed by this run up .Everybody should check out zillow.com and make sure they don’t buy from a flipper .Boycott greedy flippers . I know this sounds bad , but thats how mad I am .
Well said. The only way you get even with a flipper is when they are all getting the equivalent of margin calls. I am very patient.
I have never known a realtor I could trust. They all have a “spin” on the market in line with their future commission. It is too bad buyers cannot just step back from their emotion and evaluate this market and make a prudent decission. Sometimes as we would say in business 101, doing nothing is a good business decission.
You are right I used to drive through polk county once a month though not lately, it is purely agricultural, land available as far as the eye can see.
Why don’t journalists ask follow up questions anymore?
“Homes aren’t selling like they used to back in the good ol’ days of mid-2005. But make no mistake, Polk County’s housing bubble isn’t bursting, it’s just losing a little air.
The obvious followup question would be how long wll the housing bubble lose air and why?
Whatever happened to journalists with a spine?
looks like FLA is getting hit with another new economic era.
polk county is mostly vacant land. they grow strawberries there.
you mean, there is not land shortage?
Slightly OT, but the flood of homes seems to be getting deeper around SD — 19,481 ziprealty listings as of this morning, and only one shows a date of 4/29/06, which suggests the zipmeisters are suppressing new listing data to avoid discouraging the ten-or-so individuals who plan to visit open houses around town this weekend. Look for that inventory figure to surpass 19,600 by Monday evening, with the next milestone in uncharted territory above 20,000 homes on the market (halfway to Phoenix!).
Sounds like a pig in a Polk, to me.
All the realtors keep saying the bubble isn’t bursting , but the prices are going down and inventory is still going up . I call that a bubble starting to burst . A market correction implies that the market got overheated ,which is a bubble .I’m sick of the “Oh it’s just a buyers market now spin”.
just complete the thought in your mind. “and you ain’t seen a buyers market yet.”
We just got a free subscription to the LA times. This week- multiple ads for reductions in the Inland Empire and 100k off in Brea. My doubts are vanishing- the home builders will lead the price decline.
The builders are alread leading the stock market decline…..
I live close to Polk county and I’ve spent a lot of time there. There was never EVER any reason for the housing mania. Never mind the fact that it’s agricultural land and generally home to rednecks and trailers, but there is no reason for retirees to want to move there. Lakeland is a nice town but doesn’t have enough industry to support high housing prices.
Rural polk county is just that - rural. Imagine living in a subdivision that backs up to the current day version of “Hee-Haw”. Ahhh…living in paradise.