The housing market has been scorching hot over the last twelve months. Buyers and their high demand have far outnumbered sellers and a short supply of houses. According to the latest Existing Home Sales Report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), sales are up 23.7% from the same time last year while the inventory of homes available for sale is down 25.7%. There are 360,000 fewer single-family homes for sale today than there were at this time last year. This increase in demand coupled with such limited supply is leading to more bidding wars throughout the country.

Rose Quint, Assistant Vice President for Survey Research with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), recently reported:

“The number one reason long-time…

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Have you ever heard of the as-is contract for sale in the state of Florida?

Hi, I'm Andy with the Mandel Team at RE/MAX and in today's video, we're gonna be going over what the as-is contract really means. So in the state of Florida, or at least in South Florida, almost all of the sales are written on the form of the contract, it's called the as-is with right to inspect form of the contract.

What does that mean for you as a buyer or as a seller? So, as a buyer, the as-is form means that the seller is not going to be required to fix anything in the property. You will have an inspection period in the contract for you to make sure that the home, for you as the buyer, is in the kind of condition that you think it's in. Obviously, if you walk into…

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With mortgage interest rates hitting record lows so many times recently, some are wondering if we’ll see low rates continue throughout 2021, or if they’ll start to rise. Recently, Freddie Mac released their quarterly forecast, noting:

“The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit a record low over a dozen times in 2020 and the low interest rate environment is projected to continue through this year. We expect interest rates to average below 3% through the end of 2021. While this is a modest rise from 2020 averages, the recent vote by the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates anchored near zero should keep rates low.”

As shown in the graph below, Freddie Mac is projecting low rates going forward with a modest rise that’s expected to…

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There have been a lot of headlines reporting on how homeowner equity (the difference between the current market value of your home and the amount you owe on your mortgage) has dramatically increased over the past few years. CoreLogic indicated that equity increased for the average homeowner by $17,000 in the last year alone. ATTOM Data Solutions, in their latest U.S. Home Equity Report, revealed that 30.2% of the 59 million mortgaged homes in the United States have at least 50% equity. That doesn’t even include the 38% of homes that are owned free and clear, meaning they don’t have a mortgage at all.

How can equity help a household?

Having equity in your home can dramatically impact your life. Equity is like a savings account you can tap into…

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So 2020 was a rollercoaster year in the real estate market here in South Florida, and we learned a lot. In this video, we're going over our top five lessons that we learned from helping over 100 families buy or sell property in South Florida in 2020.

Lesson number one, so a recession doesn't necessarily mean a housing crash. In 2008, we had a whole different set of circumstances that led to that recession, but that recession was caused by the housing market, so that's why we had it blow up in house prices. And it was a crazy mess for the economy. But in 2020, that was not the same thing. This was a health crisis that caused a recession because we had to shut down a lot of businesses. And we did a lot of harm to our own economy because of the…

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There are so many great reasons to purchase a home, and over the past year, we’ve realized more of them than we ever thought possible. If you’re a first-time homebuyer, having a home of your own can give you a greater sense of security and accomplishment in a time that’s largely uncertain. If you’re a repeat buyer looking for your dream home, making a move might give you the space or features you need to find greater success and happiness in a new normal way of life. Whatever your motivations are, here are three reasons why becoming a homeowner now may help you win big in the long run.


1. Buying a Home Is a Great Investment

Several recent reports indicate that real estate is still a good investment, topping other options such as gold,…

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Home values appreciated by about ten percent in 2020, and they’re forecast to appreciate by about five percent this year. This has some voicing concern that we may be in another housing bubble like the one we experienced a little over a decade ago. Here are three reasons why this market is totally different.

1. This time, housing supply is extremely limited

The price of any market item is determined by supply and demand. If supply is high and demand is low, prices normally decrease. If supply is low and demand is high, prices naturally increase.

In real estate, supply and demand are measured in “months’ supply of inventory,” which is based on the number of current homes for sale compared to the number of buyers in the market. The normal…

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So the 2020 housing market was absolutely bananas! And the 2021 housing market is looking like it's going to be the same, if not even better. In this video, we're gonna go over our 2021 housing market predictions for South Florida.

Prediction number one, we're gonna continue to have low interest rates almost all year. So one of the main drivers in buyer demand last year, was extremely low interest rates. Almost everyone who had a house refinanced, if you didn't, please tell me, let me refer you to a good lender, you can save tons of money, but the low interest rates also helped spur a ton of buyer demand. If you can buy a house with an interest rate less than 3%, historically speaking, that's almost like free money and a lot of buyers are able…

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So in the beginning of 2021, we have extremely low income inventory in the housing market here in South Florida. And a lot of the reasons for that is that sellers don't wanna put their home on the market 'cause they don't know how they're gonna be able to get their next house. Well, in this video, I'm gonna go over my top eight tips on how to sell your home and buy a new one at the same time.

We get so many calls, texts and emails every single day from people who are moving to South Florida, and we absolutely love it. So if you're thinking about making a move here, we'd love to be your realtor of choice. Give us a call, shoot us a text, send us an email, we'd love to help you out.

So let's go over our top eight tips.

Number one seems…

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So, if you've heard anything about the real estate market in 2021, it's probably that there's very little supply of homes for sale, and that a lot of homes are getting multiple offers in a very short period of time. Well in this video, we're gonna go over our tips on how to get your offer accepted in a multiple offer bidding war situation without always necessarily being the highest price. And stay tuned to the very end where we go over one popular thing that realtors used to do that's getting to be illegal.

If you're looking to make a move into South Florida, feel free to give us a call, shoot us a text, or send us an email. We'd love to be your realtor of choice when you're making a move in South Florida.

So tip number one is to figure out…

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