Handwriting on the Wall

"There was so much handwriting on the wall that even the wall fell down." Christopher Morley

A Total of 46 residential properties (condos and single family homes) sold in Key West between January 1st thru February 28th in 2007. And there were an additional 4 commercial sales. Sales are down miserably from 2005 when there were 105 residential sales during the same time period.

Almost every day the number of new listings is exceeded by the number of listings with a price reduction.

It is a good time to buy, but it is a horrible time to sell. I think there is some panic setting in. Certain areas are seeing huge price reductions such as the golf course. Units that sold for $525,000 in 2005 are now re-selling for $355,000. That is scary. The seller took a $165,000 hit plus had to pay the commission and closing costs for about $25,000, so the total loss was $190,000 for two years of ownership. That is depressing. And the sad fact is that there are several units at the golf course on the market right now in exactly the same position. And the same holds true for single family homes Key West. These "short sellers" are having a negative impact on the rest of the market and are dragging down the market as a whole, because those sales impact the entire sales dynamic.

The picture to the right is used by Permission of the artist, Kimberlee Clark.