Below is a recent article written by Channel 10 Connects Writer Melissa Liberman.

Tampa, Florida - It's a real estate market in shambles, but just five years ago, things were booming.

So what went wrong? We asked a USF history professor, a Tampa realtor and a foreclosure attorney: "How did the real estate market get so bad, so fast?"

Chris Boss, foreclosure attorney said Tampa had a perfect storm of a lot of moving parts all coming together that have kind of created this situation. Chris say, "I think the fault can be spread across all parties. You had very loose lending parameters, it was very credit score oriented and even with the subprime, the joke was if you could fog a mirror, you could get a loan."

DeDe Ross, a South Tampa realtor remembers with plenty of investors and demand, that led to a need for higher supply.

DeDe says, "We went through a phase in 2006... the latter part of '05 and '06 when it became very popular to be an investor. You had people from all over, if you didn't own a home or second home in Florida, you weren't in the 'in' crowd."

The problem was more condos and more houses were built until 2008, and lending started to dry up. Higher gas prices, a cut in spending and job losses and subprime mortgages becoming due led to an eventual disaster.

So the question remains, will Florida recover? USF history professor Dr. Gary Mormino says the state always has, but hopefully this time, we've learned our lesson.

Mormino says, "Florida still has irresistible Februaries, it still has sand dunes. Florida will come back, but it will be a different Florida."