MIRAMAR, Fla. – South Florida real estate agents agree that they’ve never seen a market this crazy. Buyers are feeling the insanity, too.
Sinan Ozer and his wife, Ferhan, have been looking for a perfect home.The family of four live in Miami Lakes. They don’t want to move far, so there they were at an open house in Miramar.
Sinan said he made three offers last month and not one was accepted.
The couple have been looking for eight months now.
Anyone looking to buy right now in the current real estate market knows the feeling.
A five bedroom, four bathroom home, priced at $589,000, had three offers as soon as it went on the market. And, one agent tells us that buyers are willing to dish out $10- to $20,000 over asking price.
Melissa Miller, CEO of Melissa Miller Group said she has buyers paying cash.
“In the $700,000 to million-dollar range buying homes without even walking through it.”
She’s been in the business for more than 20 years and an agent since 2002.
“This is the craziest market I have ever seen.”
She calls it the perfect storm: low inventory and a pandemic that created demand mainly from folks living out of state. Plus, rock bottom interest rates. All of it is coming together to create a craze.
For those thinking of selling, Miller advises to do it now, but do it right.
“If it’s priced right, people are going to come in and want to see it.”
For buyers out there, it won’t be easy, but real estate agent Carlos Gutierrez knows the market well and says there are a couple things that might get your ahead of the game.
“Offer to pay for some of the shortfall between the appraisal and contract price,” Gutierrez with Coldwell Banker Real Estate, said.
He said sometimes buyers will even write a love letter to the seller, which helps make an emotional connection.
“And if all else fails, I have seen people offer to send a food truck to the seller’s move out party. You just have to walk a fine line between being more competitive and putting your buyer in a bad position.”
Experts believe once the majority of the population is vaccinated you may see more sellers putting their properties on the market, which may help balance supply and demand.