The hardest places to sell homes are naturally those with falling prices as well as a large inventory of unsold homes. Forbes magazine, which examined markets all over the country, concluded that Florida has the most markets that are really in the doldrums. There are several FL cities that are overbuilt, saddled with lousy loans and flat sales.

Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a Manhattan-based real estate appraisal company that assisted with the analysis, says it is hard for a city to climb out of a slowdown because in the best of circumstances there’s generally a three- to six-month lag between the time buyers start putting a serious dent into the inventory and the time when prices start to improve. Here are the 10 markets Forbes says are the most challenging:

Miami
Orlando
Phoenix
Tampa
Los Angeles
Washington, D.C.
Chicago
Baltimore
San Diego
Denver

Sources: Forbes, Matt Woolsey (04/15/08)

If Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, or Sevierville were major markets we might too end up on the list based on April sales. According to the Great Smoky Mountains Association of Realtors MLS database during the first half of the month, local Realtors only posted 34 sales compared to 79 last year and 108 during the period April 1st – April 15th of 2006.

The board’s current pace is under 1/3 of the 2006 sales pace and makes it all but certain that April 2008 will be the slowest month for residential real estate closings going back many years. In spite of this region wide lack luster pace I have been blessed with closings in April and have several pending sales in May. For the sake of my fellow real estate agents in Sevier County I hope that they do too…