Obama signs bill: Buyer tax credit extended
It's now law: Buyers get 5 more months to sign a contract, 7 more months to close; Fla. downpayment aid program extended; some move-up buyers get $6,500. Read more.

Realtors roll up sleeves to move property???
It takes a lot more work - home repairs, forms, time and money - to go from a listing to a closing these days. Read more.

From JAX business - Jacksonville Port Expansion

This is great news for the Lake City, FL area... As you may know, the port in Jacksonville has experience growth & could be experiencing even more... The Panama Canal is expanding as well allowing larger ships to come thru from Asia & other area...

Click for news story link.. all credit ito JaxBizJrn

Lake City, Florida is primed area for distrubution & light manufacturing growth for many reasons... 1st the obvisous connection to the article above... When frieght comes into Jax to get to most of Florida, will load onto trucks & then onto the Interstates..

Well Lake City, FL sits at the intersection of 2 major interstates, I-10 running East West from Jacksonville, to Tallahassee, to Pensacola, and I-75 running down from Atlanta, GA thru Ocala and all the way thru Tampa to Naples...

2nd Lake City is a quality of life destination. The landscape, the people, the springs with fresh water & more make Columbia County a inviting place to live.

The size of our community is just the right size that we are aggressively looking for development opportunity to grow our town effectively.

Contact me, Chad Stewart at Westfield Realty for industrial, commercial, large land tracts & information on this area... http://www.chadstewart.com

Foreclosures slow as courts get bogged down
The process extends the pain for homeowners, banks and courts; Miami-Dade alone has 135,000 in the pipeline. Read more.

NOW YOU KNOW
Fewer short sales come up short
While obstacles remain, real estate agents say banks are more willing to negotiate prices upfront. Read more.

Buyers.. Make your move.. Home Prices Up Again in June as Housing Crisis Eases

Home Prices Up Again in June as Housing Crisis Eases
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32550485

Updated IDX search for Lake City FL Real Estate MLS.....
http://realestate.chadstewart.com/

Didn't really loose in housing free fall

From Florida Association of Realtors...

"You didn’t really lose in housing free fall..... ORLANDO – Aug. 11, 2009 – Stan Smith has some news for longtime homeowners having a pity party over falling house prices in Central Florida: New research shows that current home values are just about where they would have been if the real-estate bubble had never inflated and burst.

A long-term view of the market reveals that, even though prices rose and fell dramatically in recent years, they appear to have settled back into historic patterns, according to an analysis by Smith, a University of Central Florida finance professor."
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=221351

Blogged by Chad Stewart - Westfield Realty Group in Lake City, FL

Foreclosures Short Sales - from Lake City FL

Foreclosure bargains are disappearing...Some houses go under contract less than 90 minutes after they're put on the market, says the founder of Foreclosure.com
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=221235

Here in Lake City, FL similar case as well....

41 home listings in Columbia county, Lake City FL are Bank, Foreclosure, or Short Sales,
That is out of 433 total home listings... Only 10% of the listings...

164 homes sold this year in the county...
58 of those were Bank owned, Foreclosures, or Short Sales...
Again roughly 30% of the market is this...

Chad.

$8,000 tax credit for downpayment

They came out with the $8,000 tax credit that you can use for a downpayment, however the program is limited to SHIP qualifications only.

Contact me for more info, otherwise contact the local SHIP office.However, the $8,000 as a tax credit, not tax deduction, but a real tax credit has a much broader qualification range, first time home buyer, not owned a home in the last 3 years, and some income limitations, otherwise yea, get $8,000 credit. Now thats nice..

My website with all my contact info is http://www.chadstewart.com/ Check it out or contact me with any questions.

The Basics: 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit
From Realtor.org
Bringing the Dream of Homeownership Within Reach:

As part of its plan to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing our nation, Congress has passed legislation that grants a tax credit of up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers.
Here is more information about how the 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit can help prospective home buyers become part of the American dream.
http://www.realtor.org/home_buyers_and_sellers/2009_first_time_home_buyer_tax_credit

8,000 reasons to get off the fence.

8,000 Reasons for you to get off the fence.
Check out $8,000 dollar bill & then click this to check out & print the flyer.
There's never been a better time to buy a home. Really.

Real Estate is awesome.

TODAY'S TOP STORIES
All credit goes to Early Bird News for these...
Citizens insurance approves rate changes
Florida's largest property insurer approved a 10% rate hike for many customers, but a 10% rate decrease for some. Read more.
Appeals court upholds 'Save Our Homes'
Alabama residents had filed a suit alleging that it discriminates against property owners who aren't full-time residents. Read more.
Lawsuit filed against growth management bill
Local governments asked a circuit court to reject the law, saying it's an unfunded mandate that Florida law bans. Read more.
Your home's worth: Who can tell these days?
Should home value calculations consider nearby distressed property? Appraisers, real-estate agents and owners disagree. Read more.
Poll: Would-be homebuyers still cautious. More than half say they're not prepared to jump into the market, with a fear of job loss their No. 1 reason. Read more.

From Florida Assoc of Realtors... Tips & Info sites for home loans...

• Bankrate.com: www.bankrate.com/brm/green/mtg/mort1a.asp Good primer on different types of mortgage borrowing.

• Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.: www.mortgageinfocenter.com/tips/default.asp Offers dozens of mortgage borrowing tips over five pages.

Study: Housing Market in Lake City, FL

This is an article that was published in the Lake City Reporter yesterday. Written by Jeff M. Hardison.. & all credit goes to him & the Lake City Reporter...

This explains how the trend of more sale & activity but lower prices is still moving up north in Florida, still reaching into the Lake City, FL area. Here is the article.

__________________

Statewide numbers for Realtor sales of single-family existing homes looked good in May of 2009, according to the North Florida Forecaster newsletter. The newsletter is a publication of the Lake City Board of Realtors. People who are in the house-buying mode as end users will find Lake City to be a good market now, said Lake City Board of Realtors Executive Vice President Dan Gherna.

A trend of property prices being drastically reduced is moving northward, Gherna said, as reflected by Ocala showing a 1 percent increase in the number of Realtor sales of single-family existing homes in May 2009 over May 2008.

In Ocala, there was a 22 percent decrease in median prices of homes sold in May of 2008 compared with May of 2009 — dropping from $143,100 to $111,600.

“It’s encouraging to see Ocala’s results,” he said.Gherna said the Lake City-Live Oak market reflects low sales from May in comparison with the same month in 2008.“The bad markets are Gainesville, Lake City and Tallahassee,” he said.Gherna said a 13 percent reduced median sales price from $150,000 in May of 2008 to $130,000 in May of 2009 for the Lake City-Live Oak market is not significant enough to expect a dramatic increase in sales.

The Lake City-Live Oak market showed a 22 percent decrease in the number of sales, dropping from 41 houses sold in May of 2008 to 32 homes sold in May of 2009, Gherna said.

“Our distress property sales were only 30 percent,” he said. This compares to South Florida, where they are upwards of 80 percent.”

The Fort Myers-Cape Coral market showed the most significant positive sales increase by going up 72 percent when comparing figures from May 2008 and May 2009. There were 823 houses sold in that market in May of 2008 and that jumped to 1,417 houses sold in May of 2009.The median price of houses in Fort Myers-Cape Coral dropped by 58 percent, from $212,400 in May of 2008 to $88,500 in May of 2009.“In Fort Myers and Cape Coral,” Gherna said, “it looks like a war zone. There are new subdivisions where people are not mowing and windows are broken. Banks see these homes as a liability.”

Gainesville, Tallahassee, Lake City-Live Oak and Sarasota-Bradenton markets are the only double-digit negative Realtor sales figures for May of 2009 compared with May of 2008.Of the 21 markets reviewed by a survey of Multiple Listing Services sales levels from Florida’s Realtors, only Panama City showed a single digit 7 percent drop in median prices from $190,000 in May of 2008 to $167,500 in May of 2008. All other areas dropped prices from 58 percent to 10 percent.

Youtube, Old campsites, & Real Estate

Chad Stewart is now on Youtube as well... Check out videos & home tours & keep checking back.... If you are a Realtor & are not yet using Youtube or many of these online marketing & networking sites, you might as well get started. You need to keep your listing exposed to absolutly as many people as you possibly can.

Here is my Youtube channel if you want to check it out. http://www.youtube.com/user/chadrealestate101

You can even post the videos right in your blog like this... Check out some of these "homes" ... You definetly want to make sure you have an agent on the ground to check out sites, so you don't end up buying a place like this not knowing what you are getting into... wow, quite the place to drive thru....

Chad Stewart - Westfield Realty is on Twitter

Follow me on Twitter

http://twitter.com/ChadRealEstate

South Florida market looking better Threats still exist, however, says NAR Economist Lawrence Yun, who spoke at Miami's International Real Estate Congress. Read more

Short Sale & Foreclosure Report for Lake City, FL

Lake City, FL is definitely experiencing more short sales, foreclosures, & over REO or Bank owned properties & home sales than even just 1 year ago. Although we still do not seem to be even close to south Florida in terms of a REO dominated market to the levels of a 80-90% range. Locally we are at about 30% of our home sale business is Foreclosures & Short Sales.

152 residential properties sold YTD Jan thru June 13th 2009 in my north FL county (Columbia Count) "rural FL" 49 of those were REO, Foreclosure, Shortsales or approximatly 30% of the Market. Median sales price for all 152 sales YTD was $114,450 or about 80% of original list price for 2009 YTD.

Last Year, 2008 YTD thru 6-13-2008, by comparison there were 186 sales YTD with only maybe 15 or so REO,Foreclosure, or Short Sales being only about 8% of the market. Median sales price for these were $145,000. Selling at 89% of original list price.

Information pulled by Chad Stewart with Westfield Realty Group out of the Lake City North FL MLS. Lake City FL Board of Realtors.

Chad Stewart - Real Estate Blogger author.

http://www.chadstewart.com

Pending Home Sales Up 6.7%, Biggest Gain in Over 7 Years http://www.cnbc.com/id/31063170