For the past few months I’ve been working with buyers eager to grab not the best deal in The Roads but simply a good property with a decent lot on a decent street that they can purchase for current ‘realistic’ market prices. The problem? Unrealistic sellers (or banks).
The Roads is a neighborhood within the City of Miami. It is a triangular area located south of SW 11th Street, between 12th Ave and Broadway, just west of Brickell. The Roads has been able to sustain its charm and quaintness through the years and as a result prices have been sustainable as well. Yet, just like most other neighborhoods in Miami, buyers and sellers are not seeing eye-to-eye in recent months and thus very few sales are happening.
A closer look at the The Roads activity illustrates within the past 6 months only 12 single family homes have actually closed, despite the fact that there are close to 50 available properties. The big disparity comes in the current listed price per square foot as compared to its selling price. While the average current listed price/Sqft for a 3 bedroom home in The Roads is $216/Sqft the actual closed sale per Sqft is roughly $150/Sqft. Facts and Trends shows that leading up to the month of October the average home for sale in The Roads was listed at $693,000 while the average home sold in the area was closing just shy of $400,000.
Part of the reason properties are not selling might be the large amount of short sales in the area. Roughly 50% of all available homes in The Roads are short sales. Short sales tend to take a longer period of time to get approved and close—several months on average—which is the reason most buyers and realtors elect to shy away from them.
Nevertheless, those looking to buy in The Roads should remain optimistic. Activity is expected to rise substantially in the next few months mainly (crossing my fingers) due to the rise in inventory. We have experienced a recent increase in inventory of almost 90% within the last year. From September to October 2009 we added 13 new available homes and within the last 25 days we’ve added another 8 to the inventory list. Although most of the new listings come in the form of short sales they are still increasing the amount of opportunities for those looking to live in The Roads.
If you would like more information on buying, selling or renting in The Roads, Brickell or Downtown Miami area feel free to call me or email me at [email protected] or 305.960.5340.