5 Lessons From Selling 100 Houses During The 2020 Housing Market

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 pandemic. But a recession does not equal a housing crisis. In 2008 and 2009, we saw home prices tumble by 20, 30%. In 2020, we saw home prices in South Florida increase by over 11%. So just because we're in a recession doesn't mean the housing market is gonna collapse and pressures are gonna drop.

Lesson number two, home is more important than ever to a lot of people. Your home is your sanctuary, it's your private place, it's where you can keep your family safe. So having a good, safe roof over your head in a good neighborhood with space for your kids to roam around or enough space for you to work from home or do whatever you want, it's never been more important with a lot of the things that we took for granted in the outside world being shut down. So people put a lot of value into homes and they're willing to spend a little more money to buy that right house because they don't know when life is gonna get back to normal, when they're gonna be able to do the other things. So for a lot of people this last year, what we found is they're willing to spend a little more money on the house and sacrifice some of the other things that they used to like to do because the world is changing and their values are changing.

Lesson number three, the suburban shift is real. We saw a mass exodus out of big cities and congested city centers like New York City, and even just some of the downtown areas. A lot of buyers after the pandemic were looking for a little more space. It was something that they were already starting to do but I think that really transformed it and made it happen a lot faster. So buyers are moving from the city centers and the condos and the apartments, and they're looking to get into a single family house, most of them into a little more space with a backyard or a pool or a home office, all those things that downtown living in a congested, maybe in a smaller apartment, doesn't provide. That's what they're looking for right now. So the suburban shift is continuing to happen, and people want to be a little farther away and get a little more space.

Lesson number four, is that people don't necessarily need to live very close to their office. We talked to so many buyers last year and they said, listen, I work over here. I work in downtown Miami, downtown Fort Lauderdale or in West Palm Beach but I don't have to go into the office every day. I only have to go in maybe once, twice, three times a week. I don't mind having a slightly longer drive because I can work from home for more days. So I can live in an area that's a little more affordable, a little farther out from where I actually work, but I can get a better value on my house. So people don't necessarily have to live within a 10-15 minute drive of where they go into the office.

Lesson number five, working with the right agent has never been more important. This is an extremely tricky real estate market to navigate, and you really have to work with someone who knows the ins and outs of the market, knows how to make your offer stand out without necessarily making you the highest bidder. So offering very strong terms, making sure you're approved, and ready to write very strong offers. That's never been more important than it is right now. I'd love to be your realtor of choice if you're looking to make a move in South Florida. Give me a call, shoot me a text, send me an email and make sure you subscribe and like all of our social channels. Thanks for tuning in.