You've got Zillow which pulls statistics out of the tax records and says your house is worth X regardless of whatever might be different between your house and the comparables.

You've got Fishkind who uses tax records, throws them into an algorithm and spits out this is what will happen in your market in 2009 he thinks prices in Hernando County will increase by 2% in 2009...seriously?

I have to say, I'm disappointed by how much stock people put in these things...whatever happened to being an expert? No offense to Fishkind, but if you can throw numbers into a program and have it spit out an answer...you might as well be a monkey. Same goes for Zillow particularly when it comes to waterfront property .

People buy Waterfront Real Estate in Florida because of a view, or proximity to the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico - but Zillow doesn't take into account whether you've got the killer view or whether you're looking out your window at the 3-story behemoth in between you and the Gulf.

How do you value a view?

Fishkind says our property values in Hernando County are going to go up by 2% in 2009. I have to say, as an expert in the trenches, I disagree. I think property values are going to continue to decline for several years to come (that's not to say it's not a fantastic time to buy Hernando County Real Estate, because there are some truly fantastic deals out there right now...just please don't buy a house planning on selling it for a profit in the next few months.

Has our inventory gone down over the past year? According to the MLS, absolutely - we've gone from just over 4,000 homes to just over 3,000. My question is this...do you REALLY think that's because we're selling more than we're listing? Or do you think it's because up to 25% of our overpriced sellers got frustrated, took their homes off the market (thank you!) and are just waiting for things to pick up before re-listing them again? Does that mean they're really not for sale? or are they just sleepers waiting for the market to wake them up so that they can flood the market again? Hernando County is one of the top counties in the NATION with regards to foreclosure filings...yet we only have about 175 listed in the MLS right now...how many do you think are waiting in the wings to hit the market?

There is an art to pricing a house (and a view) that a computer program just can't duplicate. There is also an art to predicting a marketplace that is as volatile as Hernando County. Find yourself a Florida Real Estate Expert.

Ask them to paint you a true picture of the marketplace.