Keys Real Estate Prime for Purchase

The phrase buyer’s market seems like the understatement of the decade when it comes to real estate in the Florida Keys. Thirty-year mortgage rates took a down turn after a steady incline for months. Following suit were fifteen-year fixed rate, five-year adjustable rate, and one-year ARMs. The slump in real estate sales suggest one of the most favorable climates for real estate buyers in years. The Keys are no exception as beautiful homes are opening up at incredibly low prices. In the ocean of housing prices, we have reached low tide. Consumers beware, as unnaturally low prices emerge, the window for action is a small one. An upward trend in purchasing now could spell the end of this buyer’s market quicker than it came.

With an area like the Keys, benefits from this market downturn play out in myriad arenas. Land in the Keys, as it is a limited supply, holds it value especially well even as building permits see record lows. With mortgage rates low and property value stable, the savings is directly passed to those making recent purchases in the area.

Aside from the good news from the market, consumers and Florida home-owners alike can rejoice in the actions of their state legislators. The average Florida homeowner is projected to see a savings upwards of $1,300 annually in property taxes. It is the hope of legislators to “revive Florida's sluggish real estate market and boost the state's faltering economy by easing the fiscal burden on home and business owners and making it easier for first-time homebuyers to enter the state's high-priced housing market.” With this legislation benefiting all Floridians alike, and the problems causing its creation belonging mostly to mainlander’s, this bill is answering a question that was never asked by the Keys.

"What does it mean? When you talk about $1,200 to $1,300 in savings, it means that if you have a child in first grade and you want to buy a pre-paid scholarship so he can go off to college, you can now pay for it with this tax relief," commented Mike Haridopolos, Senate Finance and Tax Chairman. "This is real. That's what $100 a month means to a family.”

With the actions of state legislators and the market on one side of the pendulum at once, Florida Keys real estate has never looked as promising before.