Predicting the Bottom of the Orlando Real Estate Market

When will the Orlando real estate market hit its lowest price? 

I find it so interesting how everyone has an opinion regarding Orlando Real Estate and when the market is going to hit the bottom. It appears the media is evenly divided between the doomers and the cheerleaders. And BOTH sides are packing some serious street cred, including well respected financial analysts, big name media analysts, The National Association of Realtors and Major US Banks etc. etc.

The point is that one side is saying that home prices in the Orlando Real Estate market are going to see a decline in price conitnuing through until 2009 and the other side is saying that the turn around may come in the first quarter to first half of 2008. The doomers are claiming as much as a 35% drop in price and the cheerleaders are expecting prices to hold steady and then start raising by the end of the year.

Well I don't have the type of street credentials these big time doomers and cheerleaders are packing. But what I can tell you (coming from someone working in the trenches) is that the investors are beginning to swoop in and pick up deals. And when I say deals I should be saying steals. I'm talking about properties selling so low that some investors are seeing immediate positive cash flow returns on their rentals. I don't care what the market predictions are, positive cash flow on an investment today is positive cash flow in any language.

So what are my predictions?

Sorry, but I'm going to sit on the fence for a while on this one. However, I will predict that the market will turn around once the smart investors have bought out the majority of foreclosure properties currently on the market. Yet again, the part time investor and first time homebuyers will wait until the good deals are gone and then begin buying when the prices start rising again. Well, time will tell I suppose. So who are you listening too? The Doomers or The Cheerleaders?