Interesting story in today's Orlando Sentinel.  It goes into depth of one man's saga to try and buy a decent home before the $8000 tax credit runs out.  After 4 months of looking, the would be buyer gave up because everything he liked either sold with multiple offers or else could not pass FHA financing standards. Now that we are in mid-October, anybody that doesn't put a house under contract immediately is going to struggle to meet the deadline if they are trying to obtain conventional or FHA financing. 

The story points out that nearly all of the decent affordable Orlando homes for sale are selling with multiple offers.  Even the bank owned REO houses are selling with multiple offers.  The ones that don't sell fast are typically condos with exorbitant fees, homes in marginal neighborhoods, or homes with substantial repairs that make them un-financeable in their current condition.  Even the short sales seem to sell fairly quickly. However because a short sale can often take 3-4 months to close, buyers that want to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit before it expires on December 1 are gun-shy of trying to make an offer.

It is an interesting saga.  And it will be even more interesting to see how the Central Florida home sales are affected when the tax credit does expire.