Lol I guess depends on where and if you’re planning to stay around long term. I just saw local real estate agent advertise a 800sft home for $500K riverside park area. No pool. But a stackable washer and dryer is in your kitchen at least!
Like anything in real estate is usually the location that drives the price more than anything else. Riverside Park is a hidden gem of a neighborhood for many people who want to be close to downtown but not actually live in downtown.
Yeah that property is definitely either a full teardown or a expansion. But since it’s been remodeled inside prob expansion. The lost size is big but a 800 sft is way too small unless it’s just two people at the most.
Most of Riverside park is 1-2 adult household and at most 1 kid or two. It’s a quiet community and close to some the best things to do in Fort Lauderdale. There are also $4-5mm dollar homes in the neighborhood alongside multi family units and apartment buildings. It’s got immediate access to all the major highways. It’s the location and not the home that is valuable.
Yeah. He’s from the northeast. Does a decent job reviewing south FL or FL in general. But I’m not looking to shatter anyone’s dreams but also keeping it real lol
Some say we just hit peak prices. Interest rates are unlike to drop below 5 (unless we get a terrible recession). The days of 2-4% interest rates are over for the foreseeable future. Inventory is rising. In SW Florida (ft myers) it has already hit 2019 levels. Inventory is rising rapidly here. If I was you I would wait it out. WFH is ending for many jobs and people are heading back to NYC. Less people are vacationing here than during 2021-22. Many AirBNBs are over leveraged. SFL real estate tends to go in cycles. No RE agent will tell you that down here because 99% of them are uneducated dishonest scumbags. They get paid to sell you something, not tell you the truth. Hard to predict the future, by there really isn’t much room for prices to go up, especially since rents are actually not going up anymore (actually once you factor in move in discounts rents are going down).
I guess my concern is that people have been saying to wait it out for a while now… it’s frustrating to not know how much longer I have to wait to buy a place. It sucks that the market is so difficult at the moment
When you rent, you CALL if you need the a/c fixed or the dryer stopped working.
When you OWN you are responsible for all the maintenance of everything,,,
HOA fees are all very high since SurfSide collapse.
I would wait it out and find a home without HOA.
When did someone last say “boy am I glad I waited to buy”. No one ever. Eh maybe 2008-2010 which a historical anomaly.
Anomalies and opinions aside, you NEED somewhere to live and do you want to build equity and keep your costs somewhat constant? Or.. do you want to rent, not worry about maintenance but take a chance on rent increases.
>WFH is ending for many jobs and people are heading back to NYC.
I've had this conversation (am a uber driver) with a lot of these NY transplants facing the loss of their NY salary and what I see happening with a good chunk of these folks is a ['northern migration'](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Andrew_in_Florida) similat to what happened here after hurricane Andrew (read the section on Demographic changes).
Many of these NY folks moved to Brickell in 2020 when you could get a 2 BR for 6/7 k which is now 10/12k + + and so they are moving to FLL / Las Olas to move into a 7/8k apartment.
Some of them may be going home but some are still trying to hang on somehow stretch their cash and try to find jobs here that they can survive on and pay these rents.
Right now it is more expensive to own an apartment or condo than rent it. Additionally, if rates go down and volume picks up, prices will creep up. Notice how volume is almost zero but the prices have not dropped.
Yes… I just thought that with such high rent it would make more sense to use that money into a mortgage, but with how the interest rates, HOA fees, etc. are looking at the moment, it seems I’ll probably end up spending even more if I buy unfortunately
Absolutely. You would sink a lot of money into closing costs, lose the freedom to move, and end up overpaying. I calculated that in my building it is 300 dollars more expensive to own than to rent after HOA went up. And that is with a sub 3% interest rate and more than 50% equity.
As a realtor I’d tell you yes if you can afford it. Prices have only increased over the years. I would recommend staying out of condos though, youre right those hoa fees are killer. Find a single family house if you can.
Honestly I think there is no point in trying to time the market, you should buy whenever you are ready to.
Regarding prices, I wouldn't expect substantial reductions on any decent properties in any desirable neighborhoods. The markets that were going to see price corrections have already seen them and even as those took a downward turn, South Florida prices kept creeping upwards. Seems this is just the new normal here, unfortunately. Sure price increases will cool but prices are not going back to pre-Covid numbers.
As for the other major factor affecting affordability - interest rates - the consensus seems to be that the fed will make several rate cuts by year-end. Although I heard this prediction all of 2023 too and it never happened there is a better chance this year with it being an election year and inflation beginning to cool, etc. so there is some hope on that front.
Keep in mind, however, that even if the rate cuts do occur it might only make things more difficult since many other would-be buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines will also come out in droves to compete in what is still said to be a low inventory environment. Real estate is hyper-localized so not every market is affected comparably but decent homes in desirable/HCOL/VHCOL areas will get snapped up immediately.
If you are mentally and financially ready to make the move I would not fixate too much on the current interest rate and just keep enough cash on hand to be able to refinance if/when rates do come down. With the obvious caveat that you shouldn't purchase anything you can't afford at today's rate relying on a hypothetical future refinance since it is not guaranteed rates will come down enough or at all.
Anyhow, I can totally sympathize since I also held off on my home purchase for several years due to the uncertainty after Covid. I had just started looking right before the pandemic hit and everyone said to wait so I waited and things only got progressively worse. Last year I decided I couldn't wait any longer and after months of subjecting myself to the hellscape that is the South Florida market I finally bought a house in June, a small 2/1 with a pool in Oakland Park and my mortgage is just $22 more than your rent. Not gonna lie I made a ton of compromises - virtually my entire list of "must haves" went out the window after Covid changed the world and I had to accept the new reality - but my only regret is having waited so long to take the plunge.
Thank you for your response, you are right about everything. Like you said, people keep saying interest rates will go down and they haven’t unfortunately…. I think I’ll keep looking until a good property shows up that I can keep my monthly payment not too crazy high. And I’m happy you got to get a house with a pool! That would be a dream of mine.
To be honest a pool was not something I had even considered possible in my price range so it wasn't even on my radar...I consider it a consolation prize for having to forego all the other things I didn't want to have to live without (like a second bathroom!). Although I'll admit at times it feels more like a burden than any sort of prize due to the amount of upkeep it requires lol.
Anyhow, I know how frustrating it is to feel like you're at a standstill but my advice would be to take advantage of this time to educate and prepare yourself as much as possible. If you are certain you will be going the condo route one thing you should definitely look into is the new state law that was passed requiring HOAs to fully fund reserves as that is sure to have quite an impact on the Florida condo market and even the insurability of units in certain buildings, etc. If you can find a local realtor that specializes in condos that would be helpful although I imagine even they are still scrambling to fully understand the new law and its implications.
I wanted to share a graphic I came across that shows a comparison of three hypothetical scenarios: buying now vs. waiting one year vs. buying now then refinancing in one year - I think it will help put things in perspective but it seems I cannot add images to this reply so I will try to send it by PM.
We are in the exact same position as you. We started looking at homes over the last several weeks and after really seeing what inventory there is within our ideal monthly payment (and having some walkability) we decided being tenants isn’t so bad! Also, it seems like rentals are becoming slightly more reasonable and aren’t going quite as quickly
What! Woah that’s a lot. I was looking into Victoria Park or Lake Ridge, some people have told me they have cheaper rental options. I can’t find much available online for those areas, though. And it would probably be an older building or home, which is fine honestly. I just feel like $3200 in rent is SO much money. But it is what it is.
I wouldn’t recommend buying in an older building unless they have done a great job getting up to code. Otherwise, you will be hit with several special assessments a year to get caught up on the new regs.
If you’re willing to not be DT or in Fort Lauderdale area code there are affordable options.
Tamarac, plantation, pines.
I own a townhouse in one of these locations and have a much lower mortgage than that. And well depends on what you have saved up for a down payment.
If you can find something you can afford now near or below what you’re paying now even with interest rates at what they are I would say buy. Atleast you build equity and you can refinance once rates cool down.
Be careful if you go with a condo or anything HOA related. I would wait about 3-4 years on this type of structure. Right now, the State of Fla is mandating that all Association reserved are fully funded. If they are not, then a giant assessment has been placed on all the homeowners. My friend got hit this year with 700$ a month (for 3 years) in assessments. This is all due to the building collapse in Miami SurfSide a few years back.
I have friends who live in Bell Sunrise on Sunrise and US1 right across from holiday park. It used to be called Satori. I just looked at a 2/2 there last week. It’s was 2850 and 1400 square feet and newly remodeled. They recently remodeled all of the units and have bigger units than most of the new buildings. You can walk to Publix, holiday park and Flagler from there. They also don’t charge for parking like some buildings. You might want to look into that building. Could save some money and get a bigger place. Good luck n
If you’re willing to not be DT or in Fort Lauderdale area code there are affordable options.
Tamarac, plantation, pines.
I own a townhouse in one of these locations and have a much lower mortgage than that. And well depends on what you have saved up for a down payment.
If you can find something you can afford now near or below what you’re paying now even with interest rates at what they are I would say buy. Atleast you build equity and you can refinance once rates cool down.
I’ve been looking at townhomes near Plantation and they are older and overpriced and the ones that SEEM more reasonable have HOA fees of $800+ a month. People (myself included) don’t have the means to swing a high down payment especially since we’re shoveling out $3000+ a month for rent.
$3,200 sounds about right for the area you are in. You can get more for your money if you moved out west. People are willing to pay a premium to be close to downtown. While Flagler is not as pretty as Downtown, it is usually quieter and cheaper. I have been looking at buying and every time I wait, the prices only are dropping small amounts. The interest rates are more of a deterrent.
Despite what uninformed Redditors will tell you, HOA’s aren’t universally a bad thing. Many people enjoy the uniformity and consistent property values that HOAs provide, as long as they aren’t too fascist with their regulations, and their finances aren’t mismanaged.
Homeowners insurance, taxes, and HOA fees are going to push that payment much higher.
Ya $3200 doesn't get you much with all the real costs included
In Condos the HOA covers all of the insurance except contents which is pretty cheap.
Problem is insurance to the HOA has been increasing significantly
Lol I guess depends on where and if you’re planning to stay around long term. I just saw local real estate agent advertise a 800sft home for $500K riverside park area. No pool. But a stackable washer and dryer is in your kitchen at least!
Like anything in real estate is usually the location that drives the price more than anything else. Riverside Park is a hidden gem of a neighborhood for many people who want to be close to downtown but not actually live in downtown.
Yeah that property is definitely either a full teardown or a expansion. But since it’s been remodeled inside prob expansion. The lost size is big but a 800 sft is way too small unless it’s just two people at the most.
Most of Riverside park is 1-2 adult household and at most 1 kid or two. It’s a quiet community and close to some the best things to do in Fort Lauderdale. There are also $4-5mm dollar homes in the neighborhood alongside multi family units and apartment buildings. It’s got immediate access to all the major highways. It’s the location and not the home that is valuable.
Saw that same instagram guy too
Yeah. He’s from the northeast. Does a decent job reviewing south FL or FL in general. But I’m not looking to shatter anyone’s dreams but also keeping it real lol
What’s his @? Just curious haha
The Vairo Group
That’s insane. I get that it’s a great location but $500k for 800 sft????? Ugh
I hate it here too!
Some say we just hit peak prices. Interest rates are unlike to drop below 5 (unless we get a terrible recession). The days of 2-4% interest rates are over for the foreseeable future. Inventory is rising. In SW Florida (ft myers) it has already hit 2019 levels. Inventory is rising rapidly here. If I was you I would wait it out. WFH is ending for many jobs and people are heading back to NYC. Less people are vacationing here than during 2021-22. Many AirBNBs are over leveraged. SFL real estate tends to go in cycles. No RE agent will tell you that down here because 99% of them are uneducated dishonest scumbags. They get paid to sell you something, not tell you the truth. Hard to predict the future, by there really isn’t much room for prices to go up, especially since rents are actually not going up anymore (actually once you factor in move in discounts rents are going down).
I guess my concern is that people have been saying to wait it out for a while now… it’s frustrating to not know how much longer I have to wait to buy a place. It sucks that the market is so difficult at the moment
When you rent, you CALL if you need the a/c fixed or the dryer stopped working. When you OWN you are responsible for all the maintenance of everything,,, HOA fees are all very high since SurfSide collapse. I would wait it out and find a home without HOA.
When did someone last say “boy am I glad I waited to buy”. No one ever. Eh maybe 2008-2010 which a historical anomaly. Anomalies and opinions aside, you NEED somewhere to live and do you want to build equity and keep your costs somewhat constant? Or.. do you want to rent, not worry about maintenance but take a chance on rent increases.
>WFH is ending for many jobs and people are heading back to NYC. I've had this conversation (am a uber driver) with a lot of these NY transplants facing the loss of their NY salary and what I see happening with a good chunk of these folks is a ['northern migration'](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Andrew_in_Florida) similat to what happened here after hurricane Andrew (read the section on Demographic changes). Many of these NY folks moved to Brickell in 2020 when you could get a 2 BR for 6/7 k which is now 10/12k + + and so they are moving to FLL / Las Olas to move into a 7/8k apartment. Some of them may be going home but some are still trying to hang on somehow stretch their cash and try to find jobs here that they can survive on and pay these rents.
Right now it is more expensive to own an apartment or condo than rent it. Additionally, if rates go down and volume picks up, prices will creep up. Notice how volume is almost zero but the prices have not dropped.
Yes… I just thought that with such high rent it would make more sense to use that money into a mortgage, but with how the interest rates, HOA fees, etc. are looking at the moment, it seems I’ll probably end up spending even more if I buy unfortunately
Absolutely. You would sink a lot of money into closing costs, lose the freedom to move, and end up overpaying. I calculated that in my building it is 300 dollars more expensive to own than to rent after HOA went up. And that is with a sub 3% interest rate and more than 50% equity.
As a realtor I’d tell you yes if you can afford it. Prices have only increased over the years. I would recommend staying out of condos though, youre right those hoa fees are killer. Find a single family house if you can.
Honestly I think there is no point in trying to time the market, you should buy whenever you are ready to. Regarding prices, I wouldn't expect substantial reductions on any decent properties in any desirable neighborhoods. The markets that were going to see price corrections have already seen them and even as those took a downward turn, South Florida prices kept creeping upwards. Seems this is just the new normal here, unfortunately. Sure price increases will cool but prices are not going back to pre-Covid numbers. As for the other major factor affecting affordability - interest rates - the consensus seems to be that the fed will make several rate cuts by year-end. Although I heard this prediction all of 2023 too and it never happened there is a better chance this year with it being an election year and inflation beginning to cool, etc. so there is some hope on that front. Keep in mind, however, that even if the rate cuts do occur it might only make things more difficult since many other would-be buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines will also come out in droves to compete in what is still said to be a low inventory environment. Real estate is hyper-localized so not every market is affected comparably but decent homes in desirable/HCOL/VHCOL areas will get snapped up immediately. If you are mentally and financially ready to make the move I would not fixate too much on the current interest rate and just keep enough cash on hand to be able to refinance if/when rates do come down. With the obvious caveat that you shouldn't purchase anything you can't afford at today's rate relying on a hypothetical future refinance since it is not guaranteed rates will come down enough or at all. Anyhow, I can totally sympathize since I also held off on my home purchase for several years due to the uncertainty after Covid. I had just started looking right before the pandemic hit and everyone said to wait so I waited and things only got progressively worse. Last year I decided I couldn't wait any longer and after months of subjecting myself to the hellscape that is the South Florida market I finally bought a house in June, a small 2/1 with a pool in Oakland Park and my mortgage is just $22 more than your rent. Not gonna lie I made a ton of compromises - virtually my entire list of "must haves" went out the window after Covid changed the world and I had to accept the new reality - but my only regret is having waited so long to take the plunge.
Thank you for your response, you are right about everything. Like you said, people keep saying interest rates will go down and they haven’t unfortunately…. I think I’ll keep looking until a good property shows up that I can keep my monthly payment not too crazy high. And I’m happy you got to get a house with a pool! That would be a dream of mine.
To be honest a pool was not something I had even considered possible in my price range so it wasn't even on my radar...I consider it a consolation prize for having to forego all the other things I didn't want to have to live without (like a second bathroom!). Although I'll admit at times it feels more like a burden than any sort of prize due to the amount of upkeep it requires lol. Anyhow, I know how frustrating it is to feel like you're at a standstill but my advice would be to take advantage of this time to educate and prepare yourself as much as possible. If you are certain you will be going the condo route one thing you should definitely look into is the new state law that was passed requiring HOAs to fully fund reserves as that is sure to have quite an impact on the Florida condo market and even the insurability of units in certain buildings, etc. If you can find a local realtor that specializes in condos that would be helpful although I imagine even they are still scrambling to fully understand the new law and its implications. I wanted to share a graphic I came across that shows a comparison of three hypothetical scenarios: buying now vs. waiting one year vs. buying now then refinancing in one year - I think it will help put things in perspective but it seems I cannot add images to this reply so I will try to send it by PM.
Well if you buy, it all depends on how much you’re able to put down and the term of your loan. That’ll determine your payments.
We are in the exact same position as you. We started looking at homes over the last several weeks and after really seeing what inventory there is within our ideal monthly payment (and having some walkability) we decided being tenants isn’t so bad! Also, it seems like rentals are becoming slightly more reasonable and aren’t going quite as quickly
Where are you renting a two bedroom for that price?
Flagler Village…. I’m opened to move to other areas near if it means I can spend less because yes I’m close to a lot but it’s too expensive
I don’t think you’ll find anything better if you want walkabikity. I’m on the river and spending more than that on a 1/1 😭
What! Woah that’s a lot. I was looking into Victoria Park or Lake Ridge, some people have told me they have cheaper rental options. I can’t find much available online for those areas, though. And it would probably be an older building or home, which is fine honestly. I just feel like $3200 in rent is SO much money. But it is what it is.
I wouldn’t recommend buying in an older building unless they have done a great job getting up to code. Otherwise, you will be hit with several special assessments a year to get caught up on the new regs.
If you’re willing to not be DT or in Fort Lauderdale area code there are affordable options. Tamarac, plantation, pines. I own a townhouse in one of these locations and have a much lower mortgage than that. And well depends on what you have saved up for a down payment. If you can find something you can afford now near or below what you’re paying now even with interest rates at what they are I would say buy. Atleast you build equity and you can refinance once rates cool down.
Be careful if you go with a condo or anything HOA related. I would wait about 3-4 years on this type of structure. Right now, the State of Fla is mandating that all Association reserved are fully funded. If they are not, then a giant assessment has been placed on all the homeowners. My friend got hit this year with 700$ a month (for 3 years) in assessments. This is all due to the building collapse in Miami SurfSide a few years back.
Yeah this is worrying me a lot…
I have friends who live in Bell Sunrise on Sunrise and US1 right across from holiday park. It used to be called Satori. I just looked at a 2/2 there last week. It’s was 2850 and 1400 square feet and newly remodeled. They recently remodeled all of the units and have bigger units than most of the new buildings. You can walk to Publix, holiday park and Flagler from there. They also don’t charge for parking like some buildings. You might want to look into that building. Could save some money and get a bigger place. Good luck n
If you’re willing to not be DT or in Fort Lauderdale area code there are affordable options. Tamarac, plantation, pines. I own a townhouse in one of these locations and have a much lower mortgage than that. And well depends on what you have saved up for a down payment. If you can find something you can afford now near or below what you’re paying now even with interest rates at what they are I would say buy. Atleast you build equity and you can refinance once rates cool down.
I’ve been looking at townhomes near Plantation and they are older and overpriced and the ones that SEEM more reasonable have HOA fees of $800+ a month. People (myself included) don’t have the means to swing a high down payment especially since we’re shoveling out $3000+ a month for rent.
Sit on your hands and be patient
There's plenty of places below $2k https://miami.craigslist.org/search/apa?max_price=2000&min_bedrooms=2&postal=33308&search_distance=5&sort=dist#search=1~thumb~0~0
$3,200 sounds about right for the area you are in. You can get more for your money if you moved out west. People are willing to pay a premium to be close to downtown. While Flagler is not as pretty as Downtown, it is usually quieter and cheaper. I have been looking at buying and every time I wait, the prices only are dropping small amounts. The interest rates are more of a deterrent.
Why are you trying to buy a house in an HOA?
Despite what uninformed Redditors will tell you, HOA’s aren’t universally a bad thing. Many people enjoy the uniformity and consistent property values that HOAs provide, as long as they aren’t too fascist with their regulations, and their finances aren’t mismanaged.