DESTIN HOTSHEET-todays brand new listings | DESTIN SOLD-in last month | DESTIN PENDING-under contract MLS Search | The Wired Buyer | The Wired Seller | About Destin | Local Market Pulse | Destin Links Destin Market Pulse Destin, FL April 8, 2008- At the requests of my ever inquisitive clients I have been assigned the arduous task of discovering "the bottom". They don't want a bell ringer, they want facts. So after searching far and wide with more fervor than Vasco da Gama, I believe I have found the key to the bottom! The Key lies in short sale statistics. I'm going to just use the greater Destin area here and only single family homes. As of today, 4/8/08 there are 1048 active listings. Of these listings 74 are disclosed as short sales or roughly 7%: Short sale listings. Then if we go through the current Destin pending or under-contract-with-contingencies reports we'll find that 22 out of 59 of these properties are short sales. Why? Because supposedly short sales are priced at or below market value so that they will attract offers. In most cases the banks will counter these offers in an effort to reduce their losses. If you search any subdivision for active listings you will find 9 out of 10 times the lowest priced properties are short sales. Only three things can happen with short sales: They sell before foreclosure. They sell at public auction at the county courthouse steps. They are foreclosed upon and put back on the active market as a bank owned property. Eventually we will come across a month where that short sale ratio of active listings will decline. Which means that there are less new short sales coming on the market and more short sales selling or foreclosing. The banks are finally wising up. They know that the faster they execute a short sale the less money they will lose. There are reports coming out now of short sales closing in less than 30 days- and that is very good news. As long as the short sale ratio is on the rise then the market will continue to fall. Hmmmm, rising short sales = declining market! When we see a drop in the number of short sales in our active listings then (brace yourself) we will have found the ever elusive bottom! I'll continue to post the short sale ratio each month in my Destin Market Pulse. Not sure what a short sale is? Please refer to my January 19 Destin Market Pulse. *All statistics are from the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors. Kerry McNulty, The Wired Agent cell: 850.642.1081 toll free office: 800.225.7652 Receive a week's worth of the HOTSHEET - Destin's brand new listings and PRICE CHANGES emailed to you every Monday: Name: Email: Previous Market Pulse articles: February 13, 2008 January 14, 2008 December 19, 2007 October 3, 2007 August 1, 2007 July 6, 2007 June 2, 2007 May 1, 2007 April 2, 2007 March 1, 2007 January 16, 2007 November 1, 2006 October 12, 2006 August 16, 2006 June 27, 2006 April 8, 2006 March 31, 2006 Feb 21, 2006 Jan 3, 2006 Oct. 10, 2005 Sept. 16, 2005 Copyright © 2008 TheWiredAgent.com -- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.