Featured in USA Today: Housing Bargains in Daytona Beach

Housing bargains in Daytona Beach made the national news this last week, with a feature in USA Today's Money section. They state, "Daytona Beach, Fla., is a buyer's market, as home prices continue to tumble."

That makes it pretty clear doesn't it, that there are great buying opportunities for the asking here in Daytona. "Home values have never been so good," says Marge Allison, president of Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors. And that is enticing many buyers who could not afford a home when the market boomed.

The authors explain, "In August, home sales were up 20% compared with the same month last year. Home prices, though, went in the opposite direction, falling 19%.

"Properties are still selling at a deep discount because short sales and foreclosures saturate the market. In the first half of the year, Daytona Beach's foreclosure rate ranked among the top 20 metro foreclosure rates in the country, according to RealtyTrac.

"Because of continuing job losses, many homeowners have not been able to keep up with their mortgage payments, and they are giving up their homes. 'Those homes are now added to the heap of foreclosures,' says Sean Snaith, an economic forecaster at the University of Central Florida."

Inventory is very high and buyers have plenty of choices. But lenders are pretty wary, so it takes longer to get a mortgage and buyers need better credit and a larger down payment than in the recent past. "The loan requirements are very stringent," Allison said.

Most of the experts now agree the Daytona Beach market is at or near the bottom. It may not quite have leveled off, but it is close. "If they (buyers) wait for the bottom, the bottom will be here and gone before they realize it," Allison commented. Snaith adds that the market is in the midst of recovery.

Take a look at the most expensive home on the market and a medium-priced home at the USA Today article page, then Search Homes for Sale in Daytona Beach on my web site. Let me know when you see one or more to preview.

Sherry Armstrong, Realtor
386-679-3191
yourkeytothebeach@gmail.com
www.daytonabeachflhome.com