How to find the perfect home in South Florida

You have heard and read about prices coming down and real “steals” available in houses and condos in Miami. You probably also have heard about Miami’s foreclosures, short sales in Miami, REO, bank owned properties and other terms that intuitively you understand but might not know the implications.

Well, it's a thriving buyer's market right now, but it still isn't that easy to find the perfect home in Miami. Finding it takes some work -- eyeballing options and keeping a close watch on prices. Now with South Florida saturated with foreclosures, homes have become much more affordable.

However, you need to be patient, since the house that you want is out there. Narrow your focus to an area where you would like to live and start doing your homework. Most of it can be done online by using property search tools that allow you to search specifically for short sales in Miami, Miami REO’s, Miami Florida foreclosures or simply properties that meet your criteria.

Here are some tips to help you get started.

• Get an agent: Since many of the properties you'll be looking at will be Miami short-sales or bank-owned homes in Miami, getting the help of a real estate agent is probably more important than ever. If you want to exclude Miami, Florida foreclosures and short-sales from your search, which would seem unlikely since that's where bargains abound, a real estate agent will be able to eliminate those using the MLS data base. Also, if your agent is being a little clingy, don't be shy about suggesting you limit your discussions to once a week or every two weeks.

• Narrow your choices: At the end of January, there were about 64,000 homes on the market across South Florida. Doing some research on your own to winnow your choices will save you and your real estate agent a lot of time. It's worth holding out until you find exactly what you are looking for. With property values on the decline, you don't stand to lose much by holding out for the perfect home.

• Get prequalified: Getting a loan is tricky business these days because banks have significantly tightened their underwriting standards, making it a time consuming and cumbersome process. By getting prequalified, you'll not only find out how much home you can buy but you also might gain a negotiating edge because sellers know you can close a sale. Many agents handling foreclosures are swamped managing properties and want to know they're dealing with a serious buyer before extending the time and effort needed to close a sale.

• Make a reasonable offer: Clients can lose out on smoking deals because they make unreasonable offers on homes already priced to sell fast. If it's a fantastic deal, don't try to make it a super fantastic deal. Premium foreclosures will sell in seven days with multiple offers, so don't assume that the bank will give the home away for peanuts.

• Beware of short-sale listings: Don't get over-excited when you see a staggeringly low price for a short-sale listing. In a short sale, a lender must agree to allow a buyer to sell a home for less than the amount owed on it. But usually a lender doesn't approve until there is an acceptable offer, so any listed short-sale price is usually an agent's guesstimation of what a bank is likely to accept. Some agents list short sales at excessively low prices just to get the bids coming in and increase the odds of finding a buyer acceptable to the bank.

• Know what you're getting into: Buying a foreclosure is usually an as is purchase with no warranties. So what you see is what you get. Before buying, make sure you do your research. You don't want to get stuck in a home that you can't afford because you have to spend thousands bringing it up to livable standards. Also, beware of liens and other encumbrances that you may be responsible for when you take title.

Constec Realty is real estate brokerage firm that works exclusively with prospective buyers looking to purchase a condominium or house in Miami. Bank owned properties and short sales in Miami provide the best opportunities in the current market place. We have access to practically the entire inventory of short sale and bank owned Miami condos and houses available for sale in Miami. Again, we represent the buyer and have their best interest in mind. Commissions are pre-negotiated with sellers (i.e. banks) so there is no cost to you. A condition to purchase is that you will need to be financially pre-qualified or willing to purchase the property cash.