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Insurance costs
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Higher than-expected property taxes
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Condo assessments
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General cost of living
The above has led to a swift increase in inventory in the Sunshine State. Residents are realizing that personal savings from a lack of state income tax really only benefits top earners, as other cost of living factors are so high. Thus, most current Florida transplants are motivated by other intrinsic benefits (mainly political, lifestyle, and business-friendliness).
It's no secret that there has been a massive wealth migration into Florida, particularly to Miami and greater Palm Beach. We see dozens of luxury buildings going up, however, the workforce needed to support this new influx has slim-Pickens, as traffic has become more of a battle when commuting from neighboring towns.
Miami has suggested taking on debt to build workforce housing. This has happened in many high-end seasonal towns, like the ski resorts of Telluride and Vail. In fact, Telluride was the first vacation town to sell municipal bonds for affordable housing this year. Nantucket and the town of Wellfleet on the Cape each sold bonds to support workforce housing in the past.
Prices are negotiable as the product has been sitting for 180 days+, but sellers are hesitant to drop publicly listed prices as aggressive buyers are the few active participants in the market, and they are submitting offers 10% or so below ask.
So how do you win in the current market?
As a Seller; price fairly, be open to creative offers, and ensure your hired broker goes beyond simply listing on MLS. When listing condos undergoing massive concrete restoration projects, provide renderings of the finished product and be willing to negotiate on the distribution of assessments.
As a Buyer; use your broker to seek out the most opportunistic deals and capitalize on having the upper hand for the first time in years. Negotiate the price down, and parlay to a double win by taking a floating rate loan now, that you can lock in when rates hit approx. 5% or so. (I believe this is where we will settle for the long term and we will see rate cuts right before the Presidential election because, well - politics)
