Today's South Florida Business Journal published an article today showing the across the board declines in sales activity in the South Florida and near South Florida geographic area.

One bright spot - for what it is worth - is an increase in prices for condo sales in Miami.

Presently I can find no published data on the volume of short sales or pre-foreclosure sales and that information is, to my knowledge, not available since each lender keeps its own data and most of the information would not correlate to public record or courthouse filings.

Has the bottom of the market been reached?  Apparently not yet, according to these figures.  But there will come a point - very soon I believe - when the bottom will become evident -- sort of like an anchor dragging on the bottom of the seabed trying to get catch hold of something solid.  There will be ups and downs and then it will settle-in.

It is hard to remember, much less understand, that "normal" price escalations are in the realm of 4 to 5 percent annually.  That is how it has been over history and that is the way it will be - once we can take 20 steps back and look at this period of the present today as the period of history tomorrow.

That is not much consolation to the many people we speak to daily that are truly losing their homes not because of greed or bad business judgment - but because of the ripple (tidal wave) effect this is causing to the innocents.

Richard Zaretsky, Esq., RICHARD P. ZARETSKY P.A. ATTORNEYS AT LAW, 1655 PALM BEACH LAKES BLVD, SUITE 900, WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 33401, PHONE 561 689 6660  RPZ99@FLORIDA-COUNSEL.COM - FLORIDA BAR BOARD CERTIFIED IN REAL ESTATE LAW - We assist Brokers and Sellers with Short Sales