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From Florida Realtor’s webpage –

With low home prices and ultra-low interest rates, the housing market now offers “perhaps the best deals of a generation,” notes a recent article by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Since the housing boom of 2006, home prices have fallen about 31 percent. Also, mortgage rates have been hovering at record lows for the past few weeks  – in the 4 percent range or even lower on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, according to Freddie Mac’s mortgage market survey.

From Florida Realtors Webpage –

Rental demand and prices continue to soar, and investors are cashing in. Rents are rising at a 5.17 percent annual rate – up from last year’s 4.72 percent rate.

The rental market has added about 1.4 million new renters this year, some of whom were former homeowners who faced foreclosure or a short sale. Renters are increasingly showing an appetite for single-family homes owned by investors.

“This is a long-term investment,” says Greg Rand, CEO of OwnAmerica. “Rents are a steady return on your investment through the years, leaving you with an attractive asset when prices improve. And they will. The best profits in real estate accrue to long-term investors who take a long-term view.”

From Florida Realtor Webpage –

Economists have significantly raised their estimates of third-quarter economic growth ahead of the government’s official report Thursday, easing near-term fears of another recession.

A consensus of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News estimates the economy grew at a still-modest 2.5 percent annual pace last quarter, up from their 1.8 percent projection less than two weeks ago. The brighter picture follows better-than-expected data on retail sales, manufacturing, jobs and business investment.

“We should take some comfort that the economy isn’t hurtling into recession,” says Capital Economics’ Paul Ashworth. Ashworth estimates third-quarter growth was 3.2 percent.

From Florida Realtor Webpage – Oct. 18, 2011 –

Freddie Mac released its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for October. It shows rental demand rising and calls the multifamily sector “a strong positive signal for the U.S. housing industry.” 

Over the year ending mid-2011, the Census Bureau reported a net increase of 1.4 million households that moved into rental housing – a 4 percent rise in the number of tenant households in just one year.  Low Treasury yields suggest that mortgage rates fell to new lows for multifamily lending in recent weeks.

From Florida Realtors Webpage – Oct. 14, 2011 – National Association of Realtors® (NAR) President-Elect and 2002 President of Florida Realtors Moe Veissi testified yesterday that owning a home has had long-standing government support in the U.S. and is integral to the nation’s economy.

“The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is the bedrock of the U.S. housing finance system,” Veissi testified. “Without government support, there’s no evidence that this type of mortgage would continue to exist. Private firms’ business strategies would focus on creating mortgage products that are more aligned with the goals of their business than in the best interests of consumers.”

From Sarasota Association of Realtors –

September 2011 property sales in the Sarasota real estate market were ahead of last September, with 570 this year compared to only 547 at the same time last year. 

A recent article in Realtor® Magazine Daily News noted that of the top 15 U.S. cities showing signs of year-over-year increases in list prices, ten are in Florida, and the Sarasota-Bradenton area came in 6th, with list prices up 15.9 percent. Listing price increases generally reflect optimism among sellers that a market is ready to head upwards.

$285,200 is the maximum FHA loan amount now for Sarsasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. This means that maximum purchase price that will be allowed is roughly $295,500. 

Conventional financing available up to $417,000 and 95% loan to value for primary residences, 90% for second homes. This is an alternative option to FHA for the higher dollar, high loan to value loan requests.

WASHINGTON – Oct. 5, 2011 – Congress finally agreed on – and President Obama signed earlier today – a bill to extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) until Nov. 18, 2011. The move allows closings to go through if a mortgage lender requires flood insurance as a condition. However, it’s only a short-term solution.

“The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is pleased that a continuing resolution passed by Congress … included a short-term extension of the National Flood Insurance Program,” says NAR President Ron Phipps. “But NAR still believes a longer-term extension is needed to ensure access to affordable flood insurance for millions of homeowners.” Phipps asks Congress to pass a five-year NFIP extension.

From Florida Realtors Webpage –

The steady slowdown in the mobility rate, at 12.5 percent in 2010, has been exacerbated by a poor economy and the collapse of the housing market. “We haven’t stopped moving, but the rate has gone way down,” says Abigail Wozniak, economics professor at the University of Notre Dame.

What’s behind the decline?  A more generic America. When interstate highways were built, mobility surged and Americans spread out to every corner of America. Now every region of the country has big cities; every region has big metros. The country has much more uniformity in development than it did even a generation ago.