I'm visiting my daughter and her family in St. Louis and I noticed that this is a vibrant city. Lots of industry and diversity keep the economy moving forward. Cape Coral and Fort Myers are tied to the building industry and tourism. The City and County can't get out of it's own way to intice industry into our area. This is how St. Louis sees what is happening.
A recent commentary by Dennis Kneale of CNBC dramatically ittustrates what we are experiencing is a simple market correction and a return to rationality. After all that is what "free markets do" While congress debates the merits and particulars of a $300 billion bailout of the housing market, the market is at work making its own corrections, as it has for centuries. This is why the housing crisis isn't a crisis after all.
There are 120 million homes in this country, one third of which are owned free and clear. So there is no crisis for those homeowners. Of the 80 million homes with mortgages, 50 percent of those were bougnt before 2000. Even with the recent fluctuations in home values, on average those homes are worth at least 30 percent more that they were when they were purchased. Yes, they may get a little less than if they had sold their home a year ago; but if they don't sell, they have lost nothing. So, no crisis for those homeowners either. 95 percent of all Americans with mortgages pay those mortgages on time, About 2 percent of American households are in foreclosure. For those 2 percent of families, there is a housig crisis. The crisis, however, is localized with states like California and Florida. There are more forclosures in California than in 40 other states combined.
The same horrible numbers of forclosures ring true for Florida. Our values declined in some instances more that 50%. Now the savy buyer should be buying everything in sight. You can't build a home for this kind of money. I think within the next 9 months the inventory of foreclosures will have been mostly depleted and the market will start on its rise. After all, Florida is still the Sunshine State with dolphins, pelicans and palm trees. It doesn't get any better than that. We live in Paradise.
With interest rates so VERY LOW not to buy now will be a costly mistake if you wanted your piece of Paradise.