I was listening to a colleague on the radio yesterday talk about the local real estate market and what he is seeing “out there” – from trends in what clients are saying to frustrations everyone in our business is experiencing with short sales. And I have to admit, everything he said I thought was dead on. We’re all seeing the bottom of the market – meaning homes priced under $300,000 – really seems to have hit its bottom (at least in the Southwest Orlando neighborhoods.) The bank-owned deals are being snapped up quickly and the quality distressed properties really are selling at a quick pace. Sure there are some out there that still haven’t sold but the homes that are priced correctly are indeed selling. The problem for first-time buyers – and yes, the $8,000 tax credit is doing its job and getting those ‘fence sitters’ to make their move – is that it pits first-time buyers with seasoned “cash” investors. It’s like putting the minnows in the same pool as the sharks! The investors are out for blood and know a good deal when they see it. Many times though that “good deal” is a first-timers’ dream home! It puts them at an unfair advantage when it comes to an investor who often puts in cash offers OVER the asking price – against a first-time buyer who is trying to come in below asking. While it is true that money is made in real estate when you buy – not sell – a good house will sell quickly and an investor knows an extra $10,000 in the real estate world is money well spent if the house is the right on the money. The National Association of Home Builders estimates that the tax credit will stimulate 160,000 home sales nationwide — 101,000 of which will be by first-time buyers. Fifty-nine thousand homeowners will then be able to buy another house because a first-time buyer purchased theirs. As for what’s next – we’re hearing another 700,000 homes will hit the national market in the next ‘wave’ of foreclosures … and those homes will likely be the more expensive homes. That of course will erode the higher price points and bring home values in the higher end of the markets down even more – but we think the bottom is very well established at this point. One of the big concerns most of us on the street have is with interest rates. They’ve already been creeping up and with a Democratic-controlled Congress most expect the rates to keep heading north. Which means these historic conditions really will be gone sooner than you may think.