9/24/2009
By Jim Wyss
Housing sales saw another boost in August versus a year ago as low interest rates and rock-bottom prices lured in bargain hunters. But deep-pocketed investors and all-cash buyers are making the feeding frenzy around the cheapest of homes extremely competitive.
Anyely Martir, 39, says she has bid on 16 to 20 foreclosures in Broward County over the past three months. Each time, she has offered $10,000 to $12,000 above the asking price, and each time she has been outbid.
``Write in the paper that everyone should quit buying houses for a month and give me a chance,'''' she said.
The stiff competition for lower-end property helped boost sales last month amid continued signs that prices are bottoming out, analysts said.
Sales of single-family homes in Miami-Dade were up 22 percent in August versus a year ago as the median price slid 29 percent to $194,800, the Florida Association of Realtors reported Thursday. Condo sales also rose by 17 percent as median condo prices dropped 31 percent to $144,700.
A similar pattern emerged in Broward, where single-family home sales were up 35 percent, while the median price dropped 20 percent from a year ago to $217,000. Condo sales rose 61 percent, with the median price falling 36 percent to $85,100.
Despite the year-over-year gains, home sales dipped 11 percent in Miami and 10 percent in Broward versus July in a seasonal back-to-school slump. Nationally, sales also dropped 2.7 percent month-to-month, surprising analysts and spooking Wall Street.
Even so, there are clear signs the properties at the ``bottom of the real-estate ladder'''' are about as cheap as they are going to get, said Mike Pappas, the president and chief executive of Keyes Co., a real-estate firm.
A year ago, property auctions had a tough time attracting buyers, he said.
``Now you are seeing 10 to 15 offers on every one of these distressed sales,'''' he said. ``There is a feeding frenzy at the low end, and that''s what gives us confidence that we have bottomed out.''''
RealtyTrac reported there were 8,898 homes in Miami-Dade in August that were either in foreclosure or considered ``distressed.'''' That''s one out of every 109 homes. In Broward, the numbers were even higher at 10,165 distressed properties, or one out of every 79.
Jeanette Sanchez, a real-estate agent with Castle Realty in Cooper City, said every one of the eight properties she has sold this year has either been a foreclosure or a short sale, a step immediately before foreclosure when banks agree to a sale for less than the balance a buyer owes on the mortgage.
When she recently put in a bid for a client on a foreclosed home in Hollywood, Sanchez found two dozen other contenders. The bank was asking $77,000 for the three-bedroom, two-bath home, and it sold for more than $100,000.
``There are a lot of buyers out there now, but the markets are crazy and there are not tons of deals,'''' she said.
Investors and the all-cash buyers are squeezing out those who come to the table with bank financing, she said.
Still, such activity is helping dry up the glut of unsold homes and condos hanging over the market. Broward and Miami-Dade saw across-the-board declines in homes and condos on the market, according to data provided by EWM Realtors.
The most dramatic drop came in Broward, where the number of unsold homes fell 46 percent versus a year ago to 7,774 units. In Miami, the inventory of unsold homes was down 42 percent to 9,768 homes.
While much of that decline comes from buyers wooed by low interest rates and government perks for first-time buyers, it also represents would-be sellers bowing out of the market, said William Hardin, director of the real-estate program at Florida International University.
``If you price it right, you can sell your property in two weeks,'''' he said. But with many owners underwater, ``there are fewer people who can afford to do that.''''
In a normal market, about 80 percent of all real-estate listings end in a sale, he said. In Miami-Dade and Broward, those numbers hover between 35 percent and 40 percent. That''s an improvement over a year ago but still troubling, he said.
Still, there are some who are seeing their home ownership dreams come true.
Jennifer Reixach, 25, lost two bids on foreclosed homes after competitors stepped in with all-cash offers. But she finally won the bidding on a three-bedroom, 2 ½-bath home in Miramar about two months ago. With an asking price of $128,000, she underbid but still won.
``It all worked out,'''' she said. ``I was ready for a home and, fortunately, the market was ready for me.''''
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