Buying a Home in Tampa: Prices Rise as Inventory Decreases

PRLog (Press Release) - Jan. 3, 2013 - Low interest rates coupled with low home prices and a vast amount of bank owned homes, has left many Tampa Bay buyers scrambling to find a home. When searching for a new home, be sure to have a qualified Real Estate Agent on the lookout for you, so that when new listings come about, you are the first to know about it. One of the most important factors is having your financing in order to be able to move to closing quickly. The importance of having your credit evaluated and income verified by an underwriter is essential to avoid any form of delays in underwriting as 80% of credit reports contain errors.  In today’s mortgage underwriting climate, income calculations are very specific based on the loan program you’re qualifying for.

Currently, the housing inventory is at a record low in the Tampa Bay area. In fact, this is the lowest it has been in 10 years because of new homes being built at alarming rates.  Current inventory levels are at 3.2 month’s worth of supply and just in the past 2 months, the GTAR MLS region has sold over 4,000 units.

As a result of the limited amount of housing inventory and increased demand to buy property, current home listing prices are on the rise and people are being outbid by one another. According to the Department of Numbers, as of December 17 2012 there were approximately 19,365 single family and condo homes listed for sale in Tampa Florida. The median asking price of these homes was approximately $158,000. Since this time last year, the inventory of homes available for sale has decreased by 17.4% and the median price has increased by 9.0%. Many buyers are being forced to make offers above the original asking price in order to get the sellers attention.

In addition, the ability to get offers accepted is difficult attributable to the increased appeal from real estate investors and investment firms to buy property and flip it or rent it out. Blackstone Group, one of the nation’s largest private equity firms, stated in September of this year that they plan to buy $1 billion worth of Tampa Bay home’s over the next three years. Their goal: not to resell them, but to keep them and rent the properties out to those tenants who have previously undergone a foreclosure in the past. To Blackstone and any investor for that matter, it is the ideal situation; rent your property to someone who has previously owned a house and knows how to take care of a home.

DJ Rondeau is a Mortgage Loan Originator at Bay to Bay Lending in Tampa, FL. He can be reached via phone at (813) 480-6077 or via email at djrondeau@baytobaylending.com. For more information, visit http://tampafloridamortgagebroker.com.

Whether you are seeking to purchase a new home or refinancing your current Tampa Mortgage (http://www.baytobaylending.com/forms/refinanceAdvisor.html), let us show you the way. Bay to Bay Lending is associated with the nation's unsurpassed pricing leaders. The Bay to Bay Lending team of Tampa Mortgage Brokers (http://www.baytobaylending.com/staff/) will make the mortgage process as simple as possible. We pride ourselves on offering a premier level of customer support and we look forward to getting you the best financing available.

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