By: Denise & Melissa Stewart

It is a Buyer's Market in South Florida.

If you are in the market and searching for a condo in Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Hollywood, Miami Beach or Boca Raton, and you are going to spend more than $500,000, you will find that you will have a lot to choose from, and the Sellers are very motivated to receive an offer from you. This is an excellent time to be in the market, especially if you are a cash buyer, and are willing to close quickly.

The general signs of a Buyer's market is when inventory rises, which means that homes and condos are taking longer to sell. This may not be in every price range, and may not be for every location. For example, investors have different buying criteria, and well do families looking to purchase a home near a school. The Biuyer's market we are discussing are for condos that are close to the water, meaning the oceanfront condos and Intracoastal condos in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

If you ask your Realtor to do a search for oceanfront condos in Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach, and then tell your Realtor you want to only see condos that have been on the market for longer than 6 months, you will be looking at a group of condos with motivated sellers, that are going to be very motivated to listen to any reasonable offer from an interested buyer. 

There is a bout a 25% increase in the number of condos available in various price ranges, and in some cases, these condos have already had price reductions. In the City of Aventura, the sellers of condos in excess of $750,000 may have to wait in excess if 2 years unless they start being realistic enough to drop their prices to a level where 2nd home buyers believe that they are getting a good (or great) deal. 

One of the reasons that we are in a Buyer's market is that in South Florida, the condo market is very dependent upon foreign investors buying condos at every level. It is no secret that ther are pockets of Canadian buyers, Russian Buyers, Brazilian Buyers and other Countries. When the Canadian dollar buys about 66% of what it once did, it is obvious that most Canadians are sitting on the sidelines wating for their exchange rate to become more favorable. The same is true for South American and Russian Buyers. 

The bottom line is that if you are in a position to purchase, ther may not be a better time to buy. Nobody can predict the bottom, but depending on the area, and the buildiing, if you can purchase at a number that you can feel comfortable with, why not take advantage of the buyer's market we are in. 

If you have any questions about any specific condos, please call Denise at: 954 881 9148 or email: denise@condo.net