Don't Believe The Hype: Real Estate Climate Not So Gloomy In Westchase

National media loves to slam the Florida housing market.  As one of the geographic areas that has been hit tremendously with record numbers of foreclosures, we are a prime target. Unfortunately they lump all neighborhoods, price ranges and geographic areas into one analysis.

One can’t compare the Westchase area to gentrifying Seminole Heights or historic Hyde Park. Nor can you track $100,000, $500,000 and $1,000,000 homes or condos and single family homes the same way. If you were purchasing a home, your real estate professional would look to similar homes, of similar value in a specific area. It only makes sense to the do the same when considering the health of our specific market.

 Let’s break it down.  Of all the sales closed in Hillsborough County, 47.66 percent of those sales were distressed sales.  A distressed sale is a foreclosure or short sale.  In Westchase, Countryway and Odessa, we had 35 percent, 81.79 percent and 42.45 percent respectively.  As you can clearly see – Westchase has weathered the storm better than Odessa and Countryway, with Countryway seeing the largest numbers of distressed sales last year.

Here's a break down of the numbers:

2010 Closed Sale Statistics:

Closed in 2010

Number

of

Foreclosures

% Foreclosures

Number of Short Sales

%

Short Sales

Hillsborough Co.

14,835

3,425

23.1%

3,644

24.56%

Westchase Area (33626)

493

54

10.95%

121

24.54%

Countryway (33635)

237

30

12.6%

164

69.19%

Odessa (33556)

335

43

12.8%

96

28.65%

According to Realtytrac.com, Florida doesn’t even rank in the top ten states where you can achieve the highest percent foreclosure savings as a buyer. As far as Florida localities go, Hillsborough ranks 4th out of the top 10 counties behind Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach. But on a national level, we are considered a top foreclosure state where 1 out of every 406 homes has received some sort of foreclosure notice based on January 2011 statistics. These types of statistics drive the National media reports.

For Buyers, it is confusing.

Many out-of-state buyers come to Florida thinking they are going to steal a home.  But, the savings really depend on what that buyer is purchasing and their chosen suburb.  Westchase proper is one of the most stable suburbs of Tampa, and based on statistics, Westchase runs a 93 - 96 percent list to sale price ratio once a home is priced realistically.  From original list price to sale price, our ratio is 87 percent - 96 percent due to originally overpriced listings.  So there isn’t a huge savings for buyers that have been consistently listening to national media reports about record foreclosures and potential steals on real estate.

For sellers, it is frustrating to have their non-distressed sale compared to a distressed and/or short sale transaction.  Justifying the value on a well-maintained home that isn’t in distress becomes more difficult when a large numbers of recent sales are distressed.

So what does all this mean about our current real estate climate?

For starters, smaller homes with lower price tags are seeing more distress but are also selling more quickly.  This is an indication of several things: (1) investors are back in the market, (2) first time home buyers are taking advantage of being able to purchase “in town” again instead of being pushed to distant suburbs and low interest rates, (3) the economy may be forcing  local homebuyers to live within their means and into more modest homes and (4) for out-of-state homebuyers, the Westchase area isn’t a part of Florida that’s as distressed as portrayed by national media.

Homes are selling and, yes, there’s a fair number of distressed homes more in certain areas.  Analyzing the data, knowing how long it may take to sell your home  and hiring a knowledgeable and experienced real estate professional will help you navigate this challenging real estate market that we face today.