IT'S BUYING SEASON IN FLORIDA!
What You Need to Know...
With the start of the New Year, the home-buying frenzy begins in Florida. With competition between new Florida residents fleeing the cold, and families looking for a new or bigger home, the market is prime for both buyers and sellers.
Financing Comes FIRST… Buying a home is NOT like buying a car. You don’t go shopping for a new home and then worry about how to finance it. It’s the opposite for home shopping. Before you start shopping you need to know how much you can borrow. Get your pre-approval, FIRST! Once you find a home, you want to be ready to quickly submit your offer, which must include your pre-approval.
Your Lender IS Important…A good, local lender can make or break your deal. Many sellers won’t even consider pre-approvals from the large, national banks (Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, etc.). Not only do their local loan officers (ahem…paper pushers) not understand the loan process and lending guidelines, they won’t be there on the weekend to pick up the phone should something go wrong.
LOVE My Apps…We all love those real estate marketing websites and phone apps. By using them you think you’re beating the rest of the pack to that perfect house, but that's not always the case. As many of you know, I work closely with those websites, and unfortunately, many of them take up to 48 hours to post a new listing.
The only way to get a “live” search list and receive notifications the instant a new listing
hits the market, is through your real estate agent (me!), and our Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Keep in mind, the MLS is what provides those real estate websites with their listings.
Furthermore, those websites leave listings that are “pending” or “under contract” as “active” sales, wasting even more of your time.
Inventory is Tight…Right now, South Florida is in a record low inventory market. Multiple buyers are competing for the same homes. It’s been like this for a few years and expected to continue for several more.
What Are You Waiting For?...If you see something you think is a perfect fit for you, don’t wait! Be ready to jump on that perfect property. If the price is reasonable and close to target price, then get your offer in right away.
Pricing Yourself Out of the Market…That $250,000 home a year ago is now $275,000 and continuing to go higher. But, you’re still waiting! The market increases are not unreasonable, and interest rates are still unbelievably low. There are many reasons why we won’t see a housing crash. Tighter lending rules, loan pricing limits, and low interest rates have and will continue to keep prices leveled.
Foreclosed Homes at 12-Year Low…In 2017, the number of foreclosures hit a 12-year low. Yes, the lowest since 2005, just before the housing crash. Don’t plan to find that distressed property deal, as these listing are harder to find in most Florida markets. Most of these sales were cash deals, anyway, due to the condition of the properties.
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