Residential properties are selling in Highlands County and the overwhelming reason is the reduction of interest rates. Currently interest rates will tend to fluctuate almost on a daily basis, so before when you "lock in your interest rate." Additionally, existing home sellers are now competing with the foreclosure market. The decrease of home sale values varies depending on what community you are interested in purchasing. I would highly recommend requesting from your Realtor to do a full market evaluation on the property to assist you in determining what the values are in the specific community.

Home prices are still declining but not at the same rate as last year. I publish current market updates once a month on my blog. I also send the same updates in newsletter format to clients. If you would like to stay on top of the game, I'd be more than happy to email you frequent updates.

Hello!
We are finally starting to see some stabilization in sale prices. Sellers are starting to realize that the 'boom' is over and it's time to get back to reality. This is definitley necessary for the market to recover and it is definitley a 'buyers' market. Now is a great time to buy!

In order to keep our clients informed we track Real Estate Trends every week in Highlands County and keep regular updates in a "Trends" section of our web site http://(www.TeamFruit.com/trends). The county's "inventory" of residential property crept up to an average of 26 months toward the end of last year. (Sebring, Lake Placid, & Avon Park). It has now fallen to an average of 18.5 months as of 3/24/08. Prices on average have retreated about 10% to 15% since the peak in 2005/2006 depending upon area. Of course, some homes experienced much greater than average declines, depending on location, condition and original list price before sale. If you need detailed information regarding months of inventory by price range, average days on market, homes sold by month over 5 years, median sales price etc., please visit our web site and request the info.

Well as an active Real Estate Agent in the Sebring market, I am seeing several things, 1 - fair priced homes selling with in 4 month period at 8% less asking price. There are over 2150 homes available in the Highlands County market right now, 2 - there is an abundant amount of over priced homes that have been on the market for a long time and the sellers head in stuck in the sand or they just don't listen to the News??? Maybe they are upside down and can not sell now. And then there is the lake front property. Somewhat holding it's prices, sometime negoiatable up to $100k, just really depends on location and condition. Being realistic is the key in this market. The average home sells 8% of list price. and the average time on market is 196 days. There is light at the end of the tunnel. We are Florida, and the sun is shinning!

I agree with Mrs. Feldman, land prices in the Retail Market have fallen about 30% in the last 12 months. Our firm is a land wholesaler and we have seen our pricing drop by as much as 15% - 20% during this same period. 2008 offers some of the best prices for the area in over a decade and there are abundant investment opportunities right now.

Land prices have declined on a per sq.ft. or per acre basis, depending on the location from 10% to 35% over the last year.

As far as housing is concerned, I'll let a residential expert from that area help you. I don't broker homes in the Sebring area, just land.