“There are some incredible buys out there for first-time home buyers.”

When you start seeing quotes like the one in the headline, you know we are getting near the bottom. In the middle of a gloom and doom report coming out of Florida, and it is very rough there right now, a nugget pops out that starts to say the conventional wisdom may be starting to lag the market.

And like any market, when prices drop far enough, consumers re-enter and start buying. When enough buyers drop in we get a firm bottom. At that stage word starts to filter out to those who have been waiting on the sidelines and the market starts  to turn upwards.

And then 6 months later the conventional media will have a string of articles asking if we have hit bottom.

Sandra Israelson, an agent with Michael Saunders & Co., had bank-owned listings that included a two-bedroom one-bath home on Baldwin Avenue in Sarasota listed for $114,000 and a luxury Siesta Key penthouse in The Pointe that was going for $437,000.
In both cases, the bank asked that the homes be priced at a point that allowed them to sell within 30 days.
Apparently, Israelson struck the right prices. She received four full-price offers for the Siesta Key penthouse within one week, and the pending sale is set to close next month.
The starter home on Baldwin also found an interested buyer, who has made an offer and is waiting to hear back from the bank.
“There are some incredible buys out there for first-time home buyers,” she said. “These homes we’re seeing are the type of houses that would be perfect for them.” via  HeraldTribune.com

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