The trouble with pricing properties - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Charles Loewe after a seminar on investing opportunities that might exist in this depressed commercial Real Estate market. The higher levels of activity reported by commercial Realtors over the last year are usually credited to property owners accepting that their office buildings or warehouses are simply not worth what they used to be. But that realization appears to have taken place more on the leasing side than the sales side, said Kevin Robbins, a commercial Realtor in Sarasota. But when it comes to selling a properties, owners are overestimating their worth. Earlier this month, as he published a map of the large number of vacant properties downtown -- 252 to be exact -- downtown commercial Realtor John Harshman had noted the huge disparity that had grown between the city's bay, core and edge zones. His conclusion also was that the market was still trying to find itself. Most transactions, though, are occurring below that price, he said. Resolution to the government spending issues in the short and mid-term would help provide more certainty to the marketplace, and is a needed component for meaningful improvement in the real estate markets. The rate at which the inventory of single-family Homes for Sale are being sold has declined because of the struggling economy. But the outlook for condominium absorption improved for the third straight quarter to a new high in the survey. After shrugging off the "paper cuts" of Japan's troubles and the double-dip in housing prices, the fumbling of the debt debate and subsequent downgrade in U. This story appeared in print on page D10 All rights reserved. Realtors