Jan 8, 2009 7:52 am US/Eastern
Falling Home Prices May Have Hit Bottom
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
Home prices in some parts of South Florida have fallen off a proverbial cliff and that has some people wondering whether we've reached the bottom of the real estate market fallout.
"I think we're nearing the bottom," Fort Lauderdale Realtor Parks Morgan told
CBS 4 News Reporter Joan Murray.
Morgan said he usually takes off the last two weeks of the year because business is so slow. But that was not the case last year. Morgan said he was interrupted numerous times during the recent holidays.
"That's a great thing," said Morgan, "I think the affordability of prices has brought people out from the sidelines."
One of those people was Bob Lepine who bought a fixer-upper home in a hot neighborhood. The buyer had asked $339 thousand but Lepine was able to negotiate the price down to $267 thousand.
"I think it was a fair deal. There's work to be done but I was willing to do the work," Lepine said.
Lepine said he first started looking seriously for a home last summer. But even then prices were a little steep. Phillip Biber, President of Watermark Valuation Services which offers property appraisals, said in South Florida we're seeing prices back to the 2003 levels at times. Biber pointed to a nearly complete 6 thousand square foot mini-mansion on the water in Lighthouse Point as an example. The builder bought the lot for $800 thousand and the original asking price was nearly 3 million. Now it's being offered for $1.3 million and Biber said a buyer could probably negotiate that down to $800 - $900 thousand.
"That's what's going on. There's desperation. We're reaching a point where you can start thinking of buying something and covering your expenses with the expectation you will make money in the longrun."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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