“Drawer-full of buyers” are Patiently Waiting

Buyers persist in Miami, despite rising rates and prices, and tough lending standards. Yet, industry professionals point toward a large number of qualified buyers who aren’t able to get homes, and not because they don’t qualify financially; rather, they battle a deadly combination: low inventory and sellers’ natural affinity for all-cash offers.

We recently reported that foreign interest in Miami is second in America to only Los Angeles. According to CoreLogic, all-cash transactions accounted for 62 percent of Miami’s sales in Sept. 2013, the most of all metropolitan areas in the county. Foreign nationals make many of those purchases, and the prevalence of all-cash purchases hurt the odds of prospective buyers looking to finance. However, some lending professionals expect rising prices to ward off foreign interest in 2014, and if that happens, Miami’s recovering market won’t skip a beat.

“We have a drawer-full of qualified people ready, willing, and able to get a mortgage, and they just haven’t been able to find properties,” Patricia says. “We hear their stories; they give up after a couple of months, get frustrated, and pull out of the market. So if foreign buyers pull out, it’s ok, because here in Miami, there’s so many other people ready and able to buy.”