Was it more of the same in the South Florida housing market? Lowered prices, plummeting sales, frustrated sellers?

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City officials in Pembroke Pines are preparing to move forward with a new affordable housing study despite claims by the area builders association that working people have no problem finding places to live.

Area home builders are using old and flawed data, city officials believe, adding that a new study would show whether the need exists. It also would show, they say, how the city can best help working people.

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The gloves are coming off between the official home appraisers of Palm Beach and Broward counties. And it’s getting ugly.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Palm Beach County appraiser Gary Nikolits started the latest rift with his counterpart to the south by pointing out the much higher number of taxpayer protests filed in Broward County.

In a speech to members of the Economic Forum in West Palm Beach, Nikolits called his audience’s attention to a one-page handout showing that 5,482 Palm Beach County property owners protested their assessment last year.

In Broward County, 19,894 owners protested.

“I’ve been characterized by the Broward property appraiser as not being particularly taxpayer friendly,” Nikolits said. “In my opinion, taxpayer-friendly means you treat all property tax payers the same, that you don’t treat your friends, or political contributors differently.”

The Broward County Property Appraiser, Lori Parrish, countered that Nikolits’ numbers exaggerated the complaints filed by taxpayers.

Many of the protests were filed by homeowners who had missed the deadline for filing for a homestead exemption to which they were entitled.

Parrish said her workers encourage taxpayers to file protests so they can still reap the benefit of the homestead exemption.

“He’s just trying to save his political butt,” Parrish said of Nikolits. “Our office prides itself on being customer-friendly.”

In a world of shockingly expensive Florida mortgages and insurance, taxes are yet another escalating problem in the Sunshine State. And this is not the first time Nikolits and Parrish have clashed.

Parrish lowered assessments on commercial real estate by looking not just at fair market value but also at the income a property produces, an approach she considers to be friendlier to taxpayers.

Nikolits counters that the Florida Constitution requires county property appraisers to base their assessments on what a property would fetch in the open market. He said more complaints filed in Broward reflects on how Parrish is doing her job.

“I think a measure of being taxpayer-friendly is how many people actually complain about the job that you’re doing,” Nikolits said. “If four times as many people are complaining in Broward County as here, then I think I can reverse that and say I’m probably a little bit more taxpayer-friendly.”

In the meantime, Nikolits said homeowners shouldn’t expect tax assessments to fall this year. Despite low Florida mortgage rates, a slumping housing market has caused prices to plateau, not plummet - with exceptions such as downtown West Palm Beach’s condo market.

“There are pockets in this county that have seen significant decreases in market values, particularly in those areas that have been overdeveloped with condominiums and townhouse projects,” Nikolits said.

Continue reading in the Palm Beach Post …

A rising tide of Florida mortgage costs, property taxes and insurance rates is causing many Broward County residents to bail out.

“It’s been a big disappointment,” said Bella Zaritsky, an office manager who moved to Plantation four years ago from the Northeast.

“The [South Florida housing market] is becoming ridiculous. Property taxes are out of control. Insurance is out of control. It’s not a fair system.”

Zaritsky and her husband are selling their townhouse and moving to Georgia, where a dollar goes further and the job market is friendlier.

A new battery of Census figures shows Zaritsky is not alone. For the first time in decades, there are more people leaving Broward County for other parts of Florida or the nation than people moving into Broward from the rest of the country. A similar trend emerged in Palm Beach County.

From 2005-2006, Broward lost 18,459 people to other Florida counties and states, the data showed. But because 15,227 people came to Broward County from outside the U.S., and because of new births, the county still grew by 5,620.

Experts say various factors contributed to the change. Stunning increases in home insurance and property taxes are near the top of the list.

They also cite high Florida mortgage costs, a crush of new buildings and roads, and the annual stress and havoc of hurricane season.

Movers and real estate agents say those moving tend to relocate to Tennessee, the Carolinas and Georgia.

When Diane Prete bought her Lake Worth years ago, it was surrounded by only vacant lots. Now it sits amid a tangle of development. A tipping point was homeowner’s insurance. Her payments tripled over the past five years.

Sociology professor Arthur Evans at Florida Atlantic University said that the new data reflects a gradual exodus of elderly residents - people 75 or older who might be returning to an earlier stomping ground after a spouse dies, or moving in with their children.

Linda Mortensen, a real estate agent in Miramar and Pembroke Pines, said six out of eight recent homes she sold were to investors who plan to sell the homes to buyers in Venezuela and other countries.

People planning to move here from within the United States are thinking twice after they review the exorbitant costs of Florida mortgage loans - not to mention the taxes that come with them.

“It’s quite apparent that South Florida has become a place where the average person cannot afford to live anymore,” she said.

“People who live here have to have a lot of money.”

Continue reading in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel …

After a momentary December dose of optimism, the Broward County housing market backtracked a bit to start 2007, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.

The county had 458 sales of existing homes last month, down 17 percent from 552 in January 2006, the Florida Association of Realtors said Tuesday.

The median price was $364,500, off 2 percent, or $6,000, from $370,500 a year ago. The data shows that the future outlook for South Florida home prices remains very much unsettled, and that it could be years before it comes close to the windfall that was 2000-2005.

“The market is trying to find a bottom, and it could take awhile,” said David Dabby, a real estate analyst in Coral Gables. “I don’t see any significant appreciation in prices for at least a few years to come.”

Condominium prices had a year-over-year decline, according to the Orlando-based Realtors’ group, which started tracking the sector early last year.

The median price in the local condo market in January dropped 6 percent, or $12,300, to $199,200 from $211,500 a year ago. Condo sales fell 26 percent, to 556 from 753.

Some analysts predict improvement in South Florida’s housing market in the spring as some take advantage of the buyer incentives available now. But others expect it to founder until the second half of the year and perhaps into 2008.

One major reason: the growing inventory of unsold homes.

Broward County has nearly 36,000 homes and condominiums for sale, up by 24 percent from last year, according to the Keyes Co. of Miami. At the current sales pace, it would take several years to sell that inventory.

“The inventory problem we have is still definitely with us. That’s going to put the cap on any rebound,” said Mike Larson, an analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter.

What’s more, frustrated owners who pulled homes off the market in 2006 are now expected to re-list them as the spring selling season heats up. This will give prospective Florida mortgage loan applicants more choices, but could keep the problem of inventory absorption front and center for some time.

Not to mention the fact that Florida mortgage lenders have started to tighten standards, and that could reduce people’s buying power.

Bob Sharak, 50, who’s moving to Parkland from New Jersey, was surprised by the number of homes he had to choose from and by the wide range of prices for similar-size properties. He and his wife quickly dismissed overpriced homes.

“Some people price their homes correctly, and they’re the ones who are going to see most of the action,” Sharak said.

Marian Goodbread, 66, who recently sold her Fort Lauderdale home after 42 years and retired to Winter Haven, found a buyer in 11 days. She and her husband took their real estate agent’s advice and did a little home staging, painting with neutral colors and clearing clutter out of the house.

“The No. 1 thing, I think, is to have your house clean,” she said. “You want buyers to see where their things could go, not admire what you have.”

Across South Florida, real estate agents say they’ve seen more potential buyers in recent weeks.

“My marketing efforts were pretty fruitless” last year, said Missy Biagiotti, of Ross Realty & Appraisal in Boca Raton. “But in the last few weeks, my showings have increased dramatically.”

In January, state legislators took steps that they say will lower property insurance costs. They also seem certain to address the property-tax crunch during the legislative session beginning Tuesday.

“People’s confidence is coming back around,” said Christine Hansen, president of the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale.

Hansen figures legislators will find a solution to soaring real estate tax bills, although she doesn’t think Florida voters will ultimately endorse a Republican proposal to eliminate property taxes on homesteaded properties.

The Broward County housing market showed slight improvement at the end of 2006, giving some hope that the worst of the yearlong slump might be over.

The median price of an existing home last month was $367,600, only a slight drop from the $369,000 in December 2005, the Florida Association of Realtors said Thursday. There were 618 sales, a 7 percent drop from 666 in December 2005.

While certainly not stellar, those figures are better than what many people had expected after demand for Florida home loans remained slow throughout the year and prices started dropping in the summer and continued through the fall.

West Palm Beach housing analyst Brad Hunter said he sees a glimmer of hope for frustrated sellers.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” he said. “But we’re starting to see some signs of a return to equilibrium very slowly.”

Mike Larson, an analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter, isn’t as optimistic.

Florida mortgage rates are creeping up, and he expects the inventory of homes to rise as frustrated sellers who took their properties off the market late last year try again this spring.

“Sellers shouldn’t expect sunshine and roses in 2007,” Larson said. “If you’re a buyer, I expect you’ll be in the driver’s seat, and you should negotiate like it.”

Analysts agree that it will take months to sell all the properties on the market. Broward now has 35,362 homes and condominiums for sale, more than double the number from this time last year, according to Keyes Co. Realtors.

For 2006, the median price for an existing home in Broward was $367,800, up 2 percent or $6,700 from 2005’s $361,100. The median means half the homes sold for more, half for less.

Sales fell 26 percent last year, putting the county in the middle of the pack with other metropolitan areas statewide. The condo market remained uncertain as sales for the year declined sharply but prices rose.

After a five-year boom, Broward’s housing market faded last year, as short-term investors left the market. Sellers who were accustomed to multiple full-price offers and fast deals waited weeks or months just for someone to look at their homes.

Sellers resorted to offering cars, cruises, bonuses and other perks to buyers and their agents, often to no avail. Some desperate sellers held auctions, while others inquired about swapping homes.

Sherrie Nemetz of Plantation has been trying to sell her four-bedroom home for nearly a year. She finally fielded her first offer, and it was for more than $100,000 less than the $449,900 listing price.

She has reduced the price and switched agents. Her next goal: trying to improve how the house shows on the Internet.

“There are just so many houses on the market,” Nemetz said. “If your house isn’t marketed correctly, there’s no incentive for people to look at it.”

But Mike Pappas, president of Keyes, said he expects sales to pick up as buyers try to beat looming interest-rate hikes.

Randy Aube of Boca Raton would like to move to the Broward County housing market, but he’s afraid he can’t afford the taxes.

He pays $4,300 a year in property taxes on the home he has lived in for six years. If he moves and buys a place of similar value, he thinks the taxes will skyrocket to $14,000.

“My next-door neighbor, who bought his house a few years after I did, is paying about twice as much [as I am],” Aube wrote in a recent letter to state Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Delray Beach. “That just doesn’t make any sense. I know [property taxes are] a huge complicated problem, but if it doesn’t get fixed, it’s only going to get worse.”

South Florida homeowners angry about high tax bills — and the threat of paying even more if they move — can sound off to legislators, Democrat and Republican alike, at meetings on the topic early next month. Eight town-hall-style hearings will be held across the state, including hearings in Lake Worth, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

Legislators have set the stage for a big debate at the legislative session scheduled to start in March.

Gov. Charlie Crist and many legislators want to trim the taxes people pay on their homes. They are talking about a constitutional amendment that legislators would write and voters could approve as early as this summer. The proposal would double the current $25,000 homestead exemption, which lowers the assessed value of a home. Under the existing exemption, the owner of a $200,000 house pays property tax on $175,000 of that value.

The Republican governor also wants to let homeowners take some or all of their so-called “Save Our Homes” tax savings if they move. That 24-year-old constitutional provision caps tax increases at 3 percent a year no matter how much the value of a home increases. But those savings are lost when a homeowner moves, and the cap doesn’t apply to businesses, rental properties and vacation homes.

This month, Crist and legislators enacted changes to drastically cut property insurance rates. But property tax cuts might be a bigger fight.

Local government officials say tax cuts of any significance will siphon money from everything from local parks to the salaries of police officers, firefighters and teachers.

Lauderdale Lakes Finance Director Larry Tibbs is among those who are worried. He says if homeowners’ homestead exemptions are doubled, his city would lose $1 million a year.

“To make up that difference,” Tibbs said, his city “would have to raise the [tax] rate.”

Crist wants local governments, which have expanded their budgets until the last year or two with a booming real estate market, to spend less. How else will anyone wish to apply for a Florida home loan in the area?

“They are going to have to have a little more discipline at the local level to help the people,” he said.

Many Republican legislators are joining the call for spending cuts by cities and counties. They say total taxes levied at the local level climbed from $16.6 billion in 2001 to $30.4 billion last year, an 83 percent increase that outpaced the 12 percent population growth in the same period.

“Florida doesn’t have a revenue problem,” said Sen. Mike Haridopolous, an Indialantic Republican who leads the Senate’s Finance and Tax Committee. “We have a spending problem.”

Palm Beach housing market resident Larry Zalkin agrees it’s time for the state to slash property taxes, even if it means tightening city and county budgets.

“This is the ideal time to fix the situation,” said Zalkin, who serves on a county advisory board. “The surpluses are there. This might be the time to start sharing [budget surpluses] with the public.”

The property tax debate is only getting started. State leaders say everything is on the table, even though House Speaker Marco Rubio insists any tax cuts be across the board and be melded with stiff spending caps for cities, counties and school districts.

“[Property tax cuts] have to help the owner of the apartment building, so that hopefully they’ll pass it through to their tenant,” said Rubio, a West Miami Republican. “It also has to help the owner of the laundromat or the dry-cleaning store at the corner.”

Property tax changes like those Crist is backing appeal to Eileen Rennick, a widow who moved to Century Village in Deerfield Beach in 1999. She became accustomed to paying $104 a year in taxes on a one-bedroom condominium. But two years ago, when she moved across the street into a two-bedroom condo, Florida mortgage loan payments weren’t the only problem - her taxes increased to $1,040 a year.

“It’s outrageous,” Rennick said. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have [moved].”

Sellers, take note. The beleaguered Broward County housing market showed slight improvement at the end of 2006, giving some hope that the worst of the area’s yearlong real estate slump might be over.

The median price of an existing home last month was $367,600, only a slight drop from the $369,000 in December 2005, the Florida Association of Realtors reports.

There were 618 sales, a 7 percent drop from 666 in December 2005.

While certainly not stellar, those figures are better than what many people had expected after sales remained slow throughout 2006 and South Florida housing prices started dropping in the summer and kept at it through the fall.

West Palm Beach housing analyst Brad Hunter sees a glimmer of hope for frustrated sellers.

“We’re not out of the woods yet. But we’re starting to see some signs of a return to equilibrium very slowly,” he said.

Mike Larson, an analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter, isn’t as optimistic.

“Sellers shouldn’t expect sunshine and roses in 2007,” Larson said. “If you’re a buyer, I expect you’ll be in the driver’s seat, and you should negotiate like it.”

Florida mortgage loan rates are creeping up, and he expects the inventory of homes to rise as frustrated sellers who took their properties off the market late last year try again this spring.

Analysts agree that it will take months to sell all the properties on the market. Broward now has 35,362 homes and condominiums for sale, more than double the number from this time last year.

For 2006, the median price for an existing home in Broward was $367,800, up 2 percent or $6,700 from 2005’s $361,100. The median means half the homes sold for more, half for less.

Sales fell 26 percent last year, putting the county in the middle of the pack with other metro areas statewide. The Florida condo market remained uncertain as sales for the year declined sharply but prices rose.

After a five-year boom, Broward’s housing market faded last year, as short-term investors left the market. Sellers accustomed to fast deals learned they had to wait weeks or months just for someone to look at their homes and make an offer.

Sellers resorted to providing incentives such as cars, cruises, bonuses and more to buyers and their real estate agents, often to no avail. Some desperate sellers held auctions, while others inquired about swapping homes.

Sherrie Nemetz has been trying to sell her four-bedroom home for nearly a year. She finally fielded her first offer, and it was for more than $100,000 less than the $449,900 listing price.

She has reduced the asking price and switched agents.

Her next goal: trying to improve how the house shows on the Internet.

“There are just so many houses on the market. If your house isn’t marketed correctly, there’s no incentive for people to look at it,” Nemetz said.

Mike Pappas, president of Keyes, said he expects sales to pick up as buyers try to beat looming Florida home loan rate hikes.

What’s more, Florida legislators decided to pass a measure that’s expected to lower Floridians’ property insurance costs - Gov. Charlie Crist signed the bill Thursday.

“That definitely brings some stability and a calmness to the market,” Pappas said.

As the market sagged in 2006, foreclosures became a major concern.

Local residents stretched to buy homes and struggled to keep up with rising property taxes and insurance premiums, leading to a dramatic rise in home mortgage defaults.

Broward had one foreclosure for every 35 households in 2006, which ranks ninth out of the nation’s top 100 metropolitan areas, RealtyTrac reports. The county had more than 21,000 foreclosures last year, up more than 55 percent from 2005.

These figures include properties in pre-foreclosure, at which point most Florida mortgage lenders file their notice of intention to take back the property. Many homeowners resolve their debts before losing their homes.

Good news for owners in Broward County:

The year-over-year median sales prices fell for single-family homes, but rose for condo-townhomes last month December.

The Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale said the median sales price for single-family homes was $350,000, down from $379,900 in December 2005 and from $352,500 in November. As a result, Florida mortgage loan activity picked up a bit to end the year.

For a condos, the median price increased to $199,750 in December from $194,950 in December 2005. In November, the median was $200,000.

“Overall, the [Florida housing market] appears to be returning to reality,” RAGFL President Christine Hansen said. “Home prices are stabilizing and resemble figures from what we would consider ‘typical’ markets, which is a positive sign.”

The number of single-family homes sold in the county during December came in at 599, up from 593 sold during the same month in 2005, but down from 668 in November.

The number of condo-townhome sales, hit 594 in December, down from 756 in the same month the year before, but up from 585 in November.

“The data tells me that homes are reasonably priced, being marketed effectively and are selling well,” Hansen said, referring to recent, improved Florida mortgage demand..

Available inventory for single-family homes rose significantly over the year - to 10,679 from 5,465 - but declined from 10,794 in November. Total available inventory for condo-townhomes rose for both periods - to 14,704 from 6,968 the year before and from 14,408 in November.

The number of new listings for single-family homes dropped 19 percent, while new listings for condo-townhomes fell 15 percent.

“When fewer homes are being put up for sale and prices become relatively stable, the market can prove beneficial for both buyers and sellers,” Hansen said.

The Tampa Bay housing market wasn’t the only region to suffer last month.

Sales of existing homes and median prices in Palm Beach and Broward counties continued to fall in November, compared with November 2005 , the peak of the five-year South Florida housing boom.

In Palm Beach County, there were 525 sales of existing single-family homes last month, down 45 percent from the 952 homes sold in November a year ago. Broward County had 605 sales last month, a 23 percent decrease from the 788 sales in November 2005, according to figures released Thursday by the Florida Association of Realtors.

On an annual basis, median prices declined sharply last month in Palm Beach and Broward counties from record highs in November 2005. This should at least pave the way for more Florida home mortgage activity in the near future.

In Palm Beach County, the median home price was $370,400, down 12 percent from $421,500 a year ago. Broward County’s November median of $362,000 was down 7 percent, or $29,100, from the same month last year.

Condominium sales and prices remained soft, too. In Palm Beach County, there were 420 condo sales last month , down 23 percent compared with November 2005, but the median price rose $16,600, or 8 percent, to $219,800.

Broward’s condo sales fell to 560 in November , down 38 percent compared with the same month last year; the median price was flat at $199,700 compared with $198,900 a year ago.

Statewide, a total of 11,912 existing single-family homes were sold last month, a decrease of 30 percent from the 17,088 homes sold during the previous November. This time of year is traditionally slow for Florida home loan demand, however.