Hermes wrote:

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Yes it depends on location but the problems in the housing market is likely to last until the second-quarter of next year.

I agree.

In Florida one of the games the realtors would play on unsuspecting new Florida buyers was to show them, the sellers last years tax bill.

Maybe $800 on a $150,000 house.

What they NEVER make clear to the buyer is there will be a significant property tax increase come the next two years when the Property Appraiser double dips to reset the new assessed value two years in a row before it’s capped.

The new tax bill may be $3,000 on the exact same house with your next door neighbor still paying $800. The people who over paid for a house during the past 12 to 18 months are just now getting their NEW tax bill shocker here in Florida.

I would love to know how many Florida foreclosures are due to the fact the buyers were strapped to the max when they first bought their house and just could not afford an extra $200 to $300 dollars per month to pay their taxes.

I look for many more homes going down in Florida the first half of 2008.

I believe that will be the time to buy some investment property here in the Sunshine state.

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Gary Spicuzza, *SAFE
Copyright 1956
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*Self Appointed Financial Expert

It the time to buy if you have the funds to hold the property for a couple of years when prices start going back up.

Sorry, grizzums - your first post got caught by the spam filters for some reason - apologies about that, now approved, and welcome to The Finance Forums.

I would wait until early next year and then if you have the cash and the time go shopping. There are plenty of opportunities in the real estate market right now...there is a huge sale going on.

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It is not smart to play it safe but it is safe to play it smart.

to be very honest with you i think its not the right time to invest in real estate .

I live in GA. In the past year my home's value has lost $15k. The home across the street from me took 14 months to sell. Around the corner, the owner gave up trying to sell his home. It was on the market for 10 months.

If you want to sell your home and find a better living situation elsewhere, be patient.

My wife and I are looking at a house now in a neighborhood of about 50 homes where the home prices range from $175k to $700k. Unbelievable. On two streets. $525k swing. The amounts are based today on what someone would not pay yesterday. It's hard to judge true prices.

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I think we are looking to atleast another 2 years of a downcycle. The financial sector is hurting. I just read an article in the New York Post on certain banks failing. Including Washington Mutual. I would be shopping for real estate looking for bottom prices. Its defineately not a sellers market.

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I would be shopping for real estate looking for bottom prices. It’s definitely not a seller’s market.

There are hundreds of homes (maybe thousands) available in Pinellas County/West Pasco County Florida for not much more than the dirt the house is sitting on.

Many people who were financially strapped to get into their home ended up being foreclosed on because the realtor would show them the last years tax bill of the previous owner of maybe $600. That will get adjusted to about $3,000 once the property appraiser re-accesses the value based on what you "borrowed" for the home, NOT the actual cash it would take to build a like structure from the ground up. The result is homeowners paying more than double in taxes than what the home is worth.

It's a pathetic government Property Tax System. If a private business was price gouching the public with what they are doing to homeowners in Florida with Property Taxes they would be prosecuted under RICO. By the way, you get the BIG adjustment after the first year because you get the previous owner's tax bill the first year and get a credit at closing for their partial years tax. It's the next two years they make the BIG adjustment BEFORE they credit the $25,000 Homestead Exemption and the 3% Save-our-Homes cap.

In Florida they have artificially held property taxes down so long term homeowners pay a relatively small amount but new home buyers get slapped maybe 3 or 4 times the amount in tax his next door neighbor is paying for the EXACT same home. So if you couple taxes going up from $50 bucks a month to maybe $250 then ARMs being adjusted up 1% or 2% the next thing the homeowners knows is their payment just went from $1,200 to perhaps $1,700 per month or more and they were strapped anyway at $1,200 and now they could rent an apartment or smaller home for $800 per month. AND they had none of their money in the deal so they actually make money by just walking away and giving the bloated financed pig back to the bank.

Get this.... You can't even downsize to save Property Taxes! You could have an elderly couple living in a 2000 sq. ft. home who just doesn't need or want the space anymore or the upkeep and maybe paying $1,000 in property taxes. But if they downsized to a smaller but comfortable 900 sq. ft. cottage their taxes would go to about $3,000 per year for a house that's half the size they would be moving from.

How's THAT for absurd taxation?

Vote for me and I'll straighten these bass towards out!

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Gary Spicuzza, *SAFE
Copyright 1956
No Rights Reserved
*Self Appointed Financial Expert

In Canada is definitely not the time to buy yet, as the prices in some parts of the country just started to fall. There will be a long way down, before I even consider looking into buying real estate here.

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Never spend your money before you have it. -- Thomas Jefferson

I think that we can expect to see a country-wide fall in house prices before the end of the year. I was considering selling a couple of months ago, but noticed this trend occurring and quickly reconsidered.

Wait a while before buying, mark my words.

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