Miami Real Estate Roller Coaster
Looking for a new home in today’s market is fun, but can be stressful at the same time. With the amount of options currently on the market and all the media reporting deals galore, you’d think it would be easier than it often is. To help make things as easy and as fun as possible, we have compiled a few Q&As for the Miami home buyer:
1. Why be Pre-Approved? That’s easy! For two reasons. First, with the crazy lending market there is out there right now, you need to really need to know what loan you will be approved for in both principal amount and down-payment needed. The banks are very strict right now, so knowing this before we start to search helps us look in the right areas and price ranges. This will also flush out any dings or errors on your credit report so that you can take care of them now, not after you have lost your dream home. The second reason to be pre-approved is to have the ability to jump on a good deal as soon as you see one. Many of the best deals require a pre-approval WITH the initial offer so having that on hand ready to go will assure you the best chance of winning that steal as soon as it hits the market.
2. How do I know what my property taxes are going to be? Miami-Dade County has a nifty Property Tax Estimator where you can just plug in the info on your potential purchase and it will pop out an estimate of your new taxes, great right?!
3. How do I search for homes? You can DIY and set up an account on our property search including for specific bank owned (foreclosure) searches, etc AND/OR you can contact us, we’ll discuss your haves and wants and we will set the search up for you. Either way, you will be alerted daily for new and/or reduced listings so you always have the newest info on homes that meet your criteria.
4. How negotiable are sellers in today’s market? Well, that all depends. If it is a foreclosure, they are often priced SOOO well that they often go quickly and above list price. Be prepared to jump on a good foreclosure deal, they go very very quickly (see point #1 above). Short sales will often sell for 80-90% of today’s market value (Not necessarily list price, but current market value). Short sales take 3-6 months on average to be approved by the lender, so with patience, you could get a good deal, but you do need to be in a position (mentally and with your current housing) to be able to wait it out. Finally, traditional sellers (ie not short sales or bank owned foreclosures) may or may not be distressed. It all depends. When you find a home you love, we will work through the current comps to help you come up with the best offer for the particular circumstances to assure you of winning the house at the best price available.
5. How easy is it to get into the houses? Can you just give us the lockbox combination? With 24 hours notice, we can normally set up any showing you’d like. The other Realtors need to be contacted and possibly scheduled with the owner or tenant, but 24-48 usually is fine. It’s illegal to give out lockbox combinations, we we don’t do that kind of thing, we like to keep our licenses, we like selling homes 
6. Why don’t some homes have pictures? Huh, we are sure about that either, but let’s just say the listing agent is doing less than a stellar job. We can’t fix that but we would suggest that you don’t eliminate homes with no pictures, some of the best homes and best deals have been without pictures as the competition from other buyers is greatly reduced. Take a quick driveby and if you think you’d like to see the inside, add that to your short list, you never know, we might find a gem.
Finding the right home at the right price is a team effort between you and us. No question is a silly question and we are here to work with you to find your new home.
If you haven’t already, make sure to either sign up for property alerts or let us know what you are looking for and we’ll take care of the rest. Getting notifications of new listings is the key to finding the best deals first. We look forward to hearing from you so you can create your own Miami Story.
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Article by Janie
Janie is past president of CREW Miami – Commercial Real Estate Women and has been in construction, real estate and development for 20 years. She has put to good use her degree in Marketing and Business from the University of Richmond in her love of marketing real estate. Having lived in such multi-cultural cities as Washington DC and Miami as well as in Europe, there was no better home in real estate than Sotheby's International Realty for Janie to reach an international audience interested in Miami real estate.
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