Selling a home in South Florida this year has proved to be the most profitable it has been in recent years. This is because residential real estate prices have been increasing in this part of the state, thus enabling homeowners to finally escape burdensome mortgages. This may be good news for South Floridians who are interested in selling their homes in the near future.
In the fall of 2014, more than 43,000 homeowners had mortgages that were "underwater," meaning that the amount owed on a home was higher than the property's value. This was a decrease of a whopping 36 percent compared with the previous year. It is also a 60 percent decrease from the corresponding figure back in 2011.
Today's higher values of homes are making up for negative equity. This is allowing borrowers to finally make an attempt to sell their homes, knowing that they will not necessarily take a loss on a sale. The median home price in October in Palm Beach County happened to be $275,000; this is a 24 percent hike from a couple of years prior.
The residential real estate market is expected to continue to get better in South Florida, which can keep benefiting sellers. In addition, because house price hikes are starting to level off, buyers may benefit from jumping into the real estate market now as well. A real estate transaction, however, may not go smoothly if the proper steps aren't taken from a legal standpoint. An applied knowledge of related laws may help people to successfully complete their transactions and achieve their home ownership or real estate sale goals in Florida.
Source: sun-sentinel.com, "Underwater mortgages falling as home prices rise", Paul Owers, Dec. 16, 2014