CAPE CORAL, Fla. — If you're in the market for a new home, buyer beware.
While it may be a good time to sell a home, it's a risky market for buyers.
“It’s hard for some younger couples to buy houses because they get beat out by people that are paying in cash," says Jay Richter, Managing Broker with John R. Wood Properties.
After a year that saw activity stand still, the housing market is bouncing back. And owners are selling.
"Compared to last year, the inventory is down 5%," said Richter. "It’s just not staying on the shelves.”
Richter says contrary to popular belief, we are not past the housing prime. Because of the high demand for homes right now, that might lead to the risk of being ripped off.
In order to avoid paying a higher price for a home, it comes down to common sense- and that’s having a good realtor.
"You really have to know what you’re getting into and you’re hoping, if you’re overpaying, that the market is going to continue- there’s no promises on that," said Richter. "I just sit there and look at the six things and I was the guy, six months ago, saying that this isn’t going to continue because we’d never seen this. Being here almost 30 years and I’ve never, ever seen this.”
Right now- the beach markets are in high-demand. Most notably, Sanibel Island. Cape Coral has been a hot spot destination as well, with new homes popping up every few blocks.
In fact, over the course of the last seven days, Richter says there have been 542 new listings, with more than 1,000 pending sales. That’s about a 53% hike. When the surge began in the real estate market during may of last year, it was around 44%.
“Southwest Florida is the darling of Florida right now. I mean, there’s still some decent markets like Sarasota, Tampa Bay, Orlando and things like that but people like Southwest Florida because it’s got that feel. They like it from the east coast, they want to get out of there. It’s just so popular right now.”
Richter says it’s still pretty expensive to buy a home right now. One thing he’s seeing a lot of at the moment are homeowners purchasing a resale and fixing it up.
"If you want a new home with inflationary costs- I mean lumber went up 200% at the beginning of the year. It’s kind of gone back down now a little bit because they couldn’t get the stuff out of Canada. But it’s expensive to build a new home so people just buy a resale and fix it up.”
Something that can add a lot of value to a home once the owners are ready to resell.
