Although South Florida continues to see increasing sales figures in residential real estate month after month, there are two aspects of this phenomenon that are striking. The first is that more than 80% of the sales we see are in ranges of $350,000 and under. The second, is that well over 50% of those lower priced homes are in short sale or foreclosure, with short sales predominating.

When it comes to selling vacant homes, one Arizona company is really in the snow.Vacant Home Rescue is providing owners of houses in short sale with a cool, free service, aimed at removing winter obstacles from the task of getting the property sold. Removing snow from the driveways of vacant homes makes it easier for agents to show the property to potential buyers.

If you owned your home in during the boom years of the market, you might have decided to tap into its equity to fund a vacation, credit card repayment, or even the purchase of a second home for vacation or investment purposes. There was plenty of money around; homewoners, as well as banks, seemed to believe that the spiral would never end. Everyone figured it was a good idea to cash out while the money spigot was flowing.

It’s hard to believe it, but Florida homes sales have been on the rise now for the last 12 months. August marked a 28% increase in sales over July. So, despite any reports to the contrary, these sales figures show that Florida is still a place where people flock to live.

Stability in markets usually implies a good balance between supply and demand, and the residential real estate market is moving in that direction. However, while stable housing markets typically carry 7 months of inventory, we’re still carrying an average of about 9 months worth of homes. So while we’re closing in on stasis, we’re not quite there.

While the sales figures of low and middle tier homes in South Florida continue their rapid upward climb, and their prices creep up, sales and prices for high end, luxury homes continue to decline.

People purchase homes for two main reasons. The first is the most obvious: for shelter, comfort and a place to raise a family. The second has to do with the American dream: we’ve been taught that a home is our largest investment. Buy a house, live happily ever after in it, and when you’re ready to retire, sell it for a nice profit above median price value.

Katya Simmons has several difficulties that may make a home purchase difficult in South Florida. Her income limits her to a price of not more than $120,000, her savings are hot excessive, and she’s in a hurry in a tight market. Like so many other first time buyers, she’s desperately hunting for a property that she can close on before the first time home buyer tax credit expires on November 30.

It’s time to buy Florida multi-family property for one simple reason: these properties are about to become less expensive. Of course, there’s a reason that this price drop will come about: temporary loss of some renters.

IBF world boxing champion in the Middle weight category, Arthur Abraham, during his interview to Russian sports news site Championat.ru, talked about his rival Jermain Taylor in the coming match, mentioning his strengths and weaknesses. He also told about his interest to get into real estate in Germany.

If sales figures in South Florida are a trend indicator, it appears that more and more people are buying less and less in a house. Even those who might be able to afford a more luxurious property are looking at homes simply as places to live, rather than showy indicators of lifestyle.

Because real estate has been leading the economic news for several years, it is not surprising that everybody feels like an expert on the subject. With that in mind, I’ll claim no expertise at all; instead, I’ll offer some advice to the people I work with every day: new homebuyers in South Florida.