“I've been in beastly hot Pensacola, Florida, preparing stories on mortgage mediation, and, of course, oil. President Obama dropped by the beach of Pensacola, Florida yesterday to talk to some local folks, while I spent the day in empty beach front mansions and empty ocean-view condos. The oil isn't really here yet, just a few tar balls, but the apprehension is everywhere. This is a housing market that saw prices drop 50 percent in the housing crash. I'm talking beautiful, grand, beachfront properties, where the sand is positively Caribbean white, and values just plummeted. Last year, as investors started to dip their toes back into the warm water here, it all started to pick up, and condos and homes alike were selling again, albeit at bargain prices. Now just the perception, the fear that oil is coming, changed all that in an instant. It's not just buyers putting the breaks on, but renters as well, and that will not bode well for condo owners who rely on renters to offset their mortgages. Rothfeder, a self-proclaimed optimist, says he's hoping BP will start writing checks to all sorts of people in Pensacola Beach, including condo owners. But how much and for how long? What strikes me, though, in driving around here for the last few days is not the growing fear among the locals, but the sheer number of "For Sale" signs down the beach. They're literally almost every third house. That kind of inventory isn't healthy for any market, forget a beach-front community staring down the face of an oil slick." www.FDIREP.com/banksolid2
Best regards
Martin Crawford
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