The northeast Florida real estate market--and most of the entire state of Florida for that matter—has seen some encouraging activity as both pending and existing home sales have increased during the month of September.  This represents a continuing trend that further solidifies a pending stabilization in the housing market.

Several factors have contributed to this, most of which are probably familiar to anyone following the Jacksonville real estate market activity: the government tax credit, numerous buying incentives and generally low prices.  Also playing a major role is the increased presence of short sales.  In fact, nearly half of all sales in the city of Jacksonville were short sale property, not entirely surprising given the number of them.

If you’ve done any research on short sales, you know that there are lots of worthwhile opportunities.  One thing that you will definitely need is patience if you’re considering the purchase of Jacksonville homes that fall under the category of short sale.  Banks are still a bit slow in processing the large number of sales that have taken place.

Time is probably a critical factor if you’re looking to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit that will be ending next month.  You should know that while short sales offer huge discounts on amazing Jacksonville Florida real estate, there are arguably just as many new and existing properties for sale that still come at great bargains without the legalities and waiting time attached to short sale property.