State of the Orlando Housing Market - Real Opportunity Central FL is SICKENING

This is friggin sickening. Seriously. This is like some Nazi Germany style proganda. Let me explain: The Orlando Homebuilders Association (HBA) has developed new marketing campaign (TV and Internet) to sell more homes in a down market.

This Site RealOpportunityCfl.com is aimed at getting central florida homebuyers off the fence. It is a million dollar marketing campaign to, and I quote "serve only one interest - that of the homebuyer,". WHAT A LOAD OF BS. I mean seriously....don't you think if that was the interest it would be a consortium of Orlando or Central Florida homebuyers and not the Homebuilders Assosiation of Central Florida. Consider this blatant scare tactic by the Orlando HBA - "As a first-time buyer, should I wait until prices go lower to buy a home? No. If you continue to wait, you may never be able to afford to get into the housing market."

I am still involved with the homebuilding industry in Centrla Florida....as a marketer...and this is enough to make me want to puke. Yes, it is a down market and builders need to sell homes to survive. Layoffs are plenty. The Orlando HBA is trying to sell homes, but that statement is one of the biggest, whitest, blatant lies I have seen in my marketing career. The orlando real estate and homebuilding market is one of the 5 worst markets in the nation right now. Too much inventory, overpriced homes, etc. Same old story. This site is aimed to take advantage of PEOPLE and put money in the pockets of Orlando Homebuilders. Now, hey...if you need a home and the price is right, it very well MAY be a good time to buy. The builders are dopping their prices (and pants) to make sales, yet the safe bet is the market drops for at LEAST anoter year...and the builders know and are planning on this.

Maybe the Orlando Homebuilding Association think that they can help nudge the market in the right direction. Seems a bit lofty to me, but I respect the concept. The execution however resluts in just doing the same thing they have done for the past 5 years in a hot market....screwing nervous, undereducated homebuyers. More greed and self preservation.
I have no agenda other than to report on the current state of the homebuilding market. The Orlando market is very clearly in shambles....When I cool down I will edit this post to include the stats...
Anyways, more to come on this.

Stats on the Orlando Housing and Real Estate Market for August 2007:

The latest real estate market numbers released today by the Orlando Regional Realtor Association reveal a rising inventory and mortgage rates alongside declining values and number of sales in Central Florida. The inventory as of the end of August stands at 26,313 homes on the market and average mortgage rates have jumped 40 basis points in the past 12 months to 6.6% vs. 6.2% 12 months ago. The median price has dropped from $250,000 12 months ago to $245,000 at the end of August. The more alarming number is that the number of sales sales have dropped more than 40% than a year ago. August 2006 recorded 2,249 sales while August 2007 sales were a mere 1,343. The inventory based on sales in the Orlando market is 19 months of supply.