"I Hear Housing is Cheaper in Cuba?"Hello friends,
Just a very quick update on Key West by the numbers as scooped from today's MLS Listings . . .
But before plunging into the quick data look, I want to explain the reason I and other bloggers are focusing on housing is primarily one of self-interest. We don't wish to engage in Schadenfreude . . . except in the instances where arrogant developers are about to have their come-uppance.
If I could wave a wand and take away the pain from all co-workers, friends and acquaintances who bought Real Estate at a time I was trying to tell them . . . politely . . . that they would be sorry soon enough for their rushed purchases . . . I would certainly do it.
My reasons for following Real Estate so closely is this is a once in a lifetime wipe out of wealth. This is bigger than the Stock Market meltdown in 2000. Housing has been trumpeted . . . incorrectly . . . to be the one safe "investment" bet, the American Dream.
The Housing Crash is leading to a Crash in Credit Markets. The Crash in Credit Markets is leading to a Crash in Hedge Funds. Hedge Fund Crashes will lead into Crashes on Wall Street. Wall Streets woes will lead to pain on Main Street.
This is big.
This is history in the making.
We should pay close attention to what is happening right now so that we never repeat these mistakes again in our lifetimes.
The lessons you younger readers are about to learn here should be indelibly stamped upon your frontal lobes. This hard earned knowledge should be called upon anytime you have someone offering you outsized gains with promises of a lifetime of EZ riches all built on Crack Cocaine Accounting.
Smarten yourself up. Learn from this wipeout of wealth. Teach your children what you learn.
Better yet, struggle to keep your wits and good credit standings intact. Live below your means. Cut back on expenditures and save money.
Think like an businessman or businesswoman. All this pain will lead to once in a lifetime investments for those of us who are saving to buy assets for pennies on the dollar.
This is why I follow the Housing Crash so closely.
Everything happening today will affect our economy, our Country, our planet and our local lives. To live through this, we must sharpen our thinking and learn from our mistakes.
That said, here is the data which tells you how it is down in Key West as far as Housing goes.
I am not going to make any other comments. The data will speak for itself. Have a great evening. Get out there and enjoy your life.
History of the Past 14 days in Key West Real Estate Dealings as Shown by the Key West MLS
(July 12, 2007 through July 26, 2007)
Sales of Home or Condos: 0
New Listings Added to Inventory: 44
Price Reductions: 39
Price Increases: 0
Removed from Inventory: Don't know, but I will follow this from now on
Number of Houses for Sale in "Old Town": 268
Number of Condos for Sale in "Old Town": 244
Number of Houses for Sale in "New Town": 142
Number of Condos for Sale in "New Town": 175
Number of multi-Family Homes For Sale: 30
Number of Key West Duplexes For Sale: 36
Total of Key West Housing For Sale: 895
Parcels of Vacant Land for Sale: 146
Key West Commercial Property For Sale: 112
Key West Business Opportunities For Sale: 25
Guesthouses/Hotels for Sale: 19
Restaurants/Bars for Sale 19*
* In an earlier blog this week, I mentioned Croissant de France as a Restaurant not showing in the MLS. It is there now in the Restaurant/Bars sections of the MLS. It has an asking price of $5,950,000.
Disclosure: These numbers are subject to change if the caretakers of the MLS have done sloppy work. I have found several entries under incorrect headings. For instance, in the case of Bars/Restaurants For Sale, I count only 13, not 19 as stated. The other six listings are guesthouse or empty building properties with no restaurants or bars or licensing for such attached to them.
Lastly, this inventory is not all there is for sale. Again keep in mind what I pointed out in earlier post this week "Key West Bargain" about "hidden" inventory. (I list 6 reasons why MLS invenotry is not all there is for sale down here. Look under the subheading "There Has Never Been a Better Time to Buy a Key West Home!")
18 comments:
Since I own homes in South FL and Toronto Canada, I follow both marketing and love your blog.
While it's a world away, not all real estate markets are in the same cycle.
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/240381
Surely this means the end is near for this market as well!
Why is it Rock that when I do a search of the MLS for sold between July 12-26, 2007 I get 3 residential, 4 commercial sales and 6 commercial leases that sold for the same period you claim nothing? Remember-not all agents put their 'solds' in immediately after the sale but usually within a few days. Perhaps you better leave the searching and the real estate market to those in the know here on the island. Or at least don't make up the statistics when it is so easy to prove you are wrong.
Why don't you share your MLS listings with those of us trying to get to the Truth? That's all you must do.
Why don't you start a blog which shows these updated sales, their days on market, the price reductions, the sales and more?
Better yet, why don't you start a correct daily updated MLS for everyone to view?
Why complain why when you could be a fount of light?
Is it you are lazy or making this stuff up? Who knows? We go by what we can find, and the Real Estate Cartel holds secrets they don't want to share openly with oustiders?
If you've got a better source of data than what we are using on these blogs, share.
You say "Perhaps you better leave the searching and the real estate market to those in the know here on the island." Okay, where can we see what "people in the know" are seeing? None of them are busy with sales these days. You think one or two of them might get off their lazy duffs and begin to post updated data for everyone to see and assess?
Let us see what you supposedly see. I don't mind correcting myself if new and better data can be found.
Come on, open up your data to all of us.
I've aced the stock market since I've taught myself how to access real time data.
Is it the Real Estate Cartel are protecting vested interests by not showing what they really know? Is it worse than what we outsiders are finding on our own?
I say you can enlighten by coming out of the dark. Prove us wrong. Share your data so we can see for ourselves its not worse than what we know at this time.
I just checked the keywestmls.com website. It is the source I've been using.
It sounds to me like Lands End Realty owns that name and website. I never paid attention to what I thought was their ad. If you google the words Key West MLS, this is what you are given. I know too that other bloggers are using this same info. (One of them led me to this website.)
Show us all a better place to get the updated data Key West MLS data. That's all. Share.
If you are afraid to share, suggest a way we can buy our own data feed.
Many thanks.
One more comment: If I were a Realtor who was really convinced things were improving in Key West . . . and I had the data to support this view . . .why in the world would I, along with dozens more of my brother and sister Realtors, not be setting up websites and blogs to enlighten, educate and to sell?
I think things are worse out there than you are hinting. And I think that is why the Real Estate Cartel is hiding behind vaporous mass market ads written by a discredited National Association of Realtors who aren't letting on how bad things are nationwide.
If you want to start moving real estate in this town, you need to get honest with yourself first. Then explain the truth to people with facts we can all see with our own eyes.
Keeping the data locked up for the "holy and initiated" is akin to the Catholic Church selling its people that Jesus's body is in those wafers locked up in the gold sacristy which only priests are allowed to touch with their hands.
You got to get real if you want people to come back into this market. People trust Realtors and Lenders as much as they trust a politician these days. We're not to blame for your newly sullied names. You have only yourself to blame.
If you want peoeple to trust you again, you have to meet us halfway. You have to share the data.
You don't have to tell us how much you made off your deals. You simply have to supply the data showing real sales, days on market, reductions, and so on.
Share the data all Realtors see. What's so hard with that request if you can sit anonymously and take potshots at our data? How can anyone believe you if you wish to hide anonymously and not blog or set up a web page with updated data?
You've got the power to set all bloggers straight and help us get the story straight.
If I don't hear anymore from you, I will simply publish future numbers form keywestmls.com with a disclaimer. Maybe it will embarrass the couple who may/may not run it to update the data or shut it down completely.
The internet is your digital calling card. I can't imagine anyone dealing in something so touchy as Real Estate not updating their website and data. Seems lazy and ass backwards to me.
Hence, I implore you to contatct your Realtors in town and get them to set up one website we can all use for timely MLS data.
Respectfully yours,
Rock Trueblood
In order to access the Key West MLS from the realtor's side (which is where you can see who owns the property and view agent comments and info) you neeed to be a licensed real estate agent and a dues paying member of KWAR. Since you are neither you won't have access to the information. You can access the MLS system through the KWAR website from the consumer side. Why you are accessing the MLS from Lands End Realty is beyond me...I guess you didn't seach the internet properly for the Key West MLS. That or you were to lazy to care about what false information you release. If you want to truly understand the real estate market, ask a Realtor and don't rely upon misleading information from a blogger or a former island agent living abroad. Come talk to those who know the market if you want to buy or sell real estate here in Key West.
A real estate agent can provide you with all the information you need to make an intelligent and sensible decision regarding the real estate market. They are professionals licensed and experienced to do so. You wouldn't see a doctor for legal advice would you? No, so why would you deprive yourself of valuable information that a realtor can provide? Remember Rock - a little knowledge is dangerous and to pretend to know how real estate will be in the future is not for guessing. Didn't you lose money in the stock market that way?
Pay no attention to the anonymous Realtor® behind the curtain. He'll tell you what you need to know, once he decides what you need to know. Of course, it might not be what you want to know but, hey, that's why he's a Realtor® and you're not.
Information is currency in this economy. Keep on keeping on.
The Realtor at least has ACCURATE information to pass along - not made up statistics just to suit a bloggers agenda
Thank god , me and my girlfriend did not buy a place last year when we first moved down to Key West. Thanks to blogs like this and thehousingbubbleblog.com, we are not in debt up to eyes.
So instead you are throwing away money on rent? That makes no sense since this is a buyers market and you could have been building equity and could have had security with a fixed loan at a lower rate than today. Or your home could have been bought AT LESS than appraised value due to so many foreclosures and short sales on the market. Oh yeah, real smart. You walked away from found money and you believe your doing fine paying someone elses mortgage for them? I just don't get where these people heads are at.
I have to agree. I own in Key West and wouldn't want to throw away my hard earned money on somebody elses rental unit. And what about all the affordable options in Key West? If you qualify with income restrictions and you have good creidt, you can get into a brand new home on Stock Island or a condo right here in Key West. Why rent when you can have a REAL home in paradise and not have to worry about the whims of a landlord who can raise you rent to anything they wnat, sell the property or kick you out when the lease is up? Why wouldn't you want the security of ownership and the tax benefits? There are so many programs here that will help the lower income person you would be a fool not to take advantage of them? Don't believe the hype from the bloggers - get out and do your research on the affordable Key West! It's there for the taking.
lol, yeah right
affordable places in key west? income restrictions?
The owner of the condo I rent , which looks out over garrison bight and has a boat slip offered to sell it to me for 700k
I rent it with utilities for 2k
2k wouldn't even cover the interest on the load I would have to take out to buy this place, let alone insurance, taxes, etc
I could buy some shit box santa clara condo? or a raised trailer on stock island, no thanks. I look out over the water and have my boat in my backyard
What security of ownership?, getting to be the guy who has to get his settlement after the hurricane hits, getting to worry about floods and hurricanes. No thanks.
Oh yeah, real smart. You walked away from found money and you believe your doing fine paying someone elses mortgage for them?
Found money! the places we were looking at for 400k last year are at like 300k now, I would have lost 100k if I had bought one and had to sell.
and the tax benefits
What tax benefits ?, getting to deduct the interest?, I plan on paying mostly cash. Honestly how much is that deduction worth? Its not going to be that much more then property taxes is it?
no offense to santa clara condos some are actually pretty nice, but some on the market need some serious interior work. Same with some of units in keywestbythesea and la salinas
So instead you are throwing away money on rent?...You walked away from found money and you believe your doing fine paying someone elses mortgage for them? I just don't get where these people heads are at.
HOLY COW! How ignorant does this anonymous commenter think we are. A financing homeowner in Key West throws away much more money than a renter in the form of: huge hurricane insurance, taxes, interest expense, and upkeep/repairs. This spent money does not build equity, has no return on investment, and is lost year after year after year.
If you rent a Key West residence rather than buy one, you can easily build more equity. If you pay $1500 in rent instead of paying $3000/month in ownership, simply save and invest your extra money.
For some reason, Realtors think (and would like everyone else to think) that the only way to build equity is in home ownership.
Then again, the Realtor is a one-trick pony. Just like the Developer, they either sell or die.
Actually I'd like to know just how many brain cells Cayo Dave and Benjamin have between them - 2?
I own in Seaside South Court. Yes, one block to the Atlantic Ocean. 2 bedrooms, 2 baths. Garage. Yard. Gated community. Brand new construction. Affordable unit I paid $196,000 two years ago. Didn't have to pay closing either - nice perks because I looked into the HAMI loans and because I couldn't prove my income (work in service industry) I lucked out and I saved the money. Plus, I am homesteaded and under income restricitions for my taxes - I pay only $1500 a year. Mortgage payment is sweet too - $1400.00. Insurance just $3500 a year for everything.
So while you are paying $2000 for a rental unit on the Wilma surge side of the island, I sit back and look around at the home I OWN and say you are the fools.
Oh, by the way, I am moving to Hawaii, the REAL paradise in October. Got my place rented for - get this - $2400 a month and the tenants will pay utilities. Got first and last months rent and security deposit. So I will not only pay my own mortgage and taxes and insurance, I will BE MAKING MONEY FROM MY HOME INVESTMENT!
You can't say that because you missed the boat on affordable homes in Key West. Why didn't you take that cash and put a downpayment before the boat sailed away leaving you high and dry in an overpriced market?
And who in their right mind PAYS CASH for a home like you want to Benjamin? Rule number one in economics - don't pay cash for a home!
How stupid are the posters on this board anyway? Just sour grapes from a lot of whinners who should of bought instead of complaining about real estate in Key West.
I'll think of you idiots in Hawaii - hope you enjoy Key West now that the tourists don't even want to come to place where the water is polluted and the talk stinks.
Oh, on the Seaside home, that's a fixed rate 30 year mortgage too. I was smart enough to know not to play games in this housing market.
Remember - you could have bought where I live too but you didn't.
Now who is laughing all the way to the bank - me!
Well said.
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