The real estate market in northern Palm Beach County is hot right now.
After two years renting, Mike Misenar and his girlfriend were ready to buy a home in the Jupiter-Palm Beach Gardens area where they work.
Their real estate agent found a home that matched their needs. It would go on the market the next day.
"My girlfriend and I went to go see it at like 10:30 a.m., we put an offer in that afternoon," Misenar says.
Their price range was $300,000 to $350,000. The median home price in Palm Beach County is in the mid $320,000's.
"They ended up getting an offer for like $20,000 over asking price and accepted that one over ours," Misenar says.
"It's brutal. It breaks my heart when we represent the seller and we get 20 offers, that means that 19 people who fell in love with the home are getting the your outbid letter," Holly Meyer Lucas, Mike's realtor, says. She is the president of the Meyer Lucas Real Estate Group, eXp Realty.
Meyer Lucas says single family homes, worth $350,000 or less in the Jupiter-Palm Beach Gardens area (a population of around 110,000), have 65 listings Thursday.
In Martin County, 20 minutes up the highway in the Stuart, Tequesta, Hobe Sound, Palm City area there are 195 listings. Population in that area is under 60,000.
"You as a buyer need to prepare yourself for when your dream home does become available," Meyer Lucas says.
That means pre-approval from a reputable lender and working with an agent that knows when a home is about to hit the market.
Mike and his girlfriend moved into their Jupiter home at the beginning of May.
A potential buyers finances fell through a week before closing.
"You don't want to ride the highs too high and take the lows too low. You want to stay more even keeled throughout the process," Misenar says.
Another tip: write a letter to the seller, to tell the buyer's story to appeal emotionally.
