Florida Real Estate Done? The Truth About Great Deals In 2025

Think it's not the right time to buy a home in Florida or that there's not a lot of good deals right now? Think again. The challenge is that they might not be where a lot of people think they are. I'm Jeff O'Leary, the Village Guru, and in today's video, we're gonna break down what's going on with home prices, what's going on in the real estate market, and where the smart buyers are finding deals today. We'll also talk about some tips on what you can do to negotiate a better deal, and I think it's gonna be a great video for you. I hope you get a lot of information about it. Now, before we get on with the video, if you haven't already done so, be sure to subscribe to this channel so you don't miss any other updates. Now, having said that, let's get on with the video. Well, here we are, it's August 2025, and right now, the real estate market on the Gulf Coast of Florida is not as busy as it was a few years ago. However, if you're doing your research and you're looking at the news or you're watching YouTube videos, it might look a lot worse than it really is, and that's because the news, YouTubers, they all rely on clickbait in order to get you to click on their story in order to generate ad revenue. I mean, let's face it, a story doesn't look as interesting when it's like house prices are down 7% versus the crash is coming and there's flames in the background, and of course, it's gonna get you to click and watch it. However, the bad part about that is most people, they just let all the headlines seep into the back of their mind. The challenge is if you want to move here or you're looking to make an informed decision, that can mislead you, cause doubt, and possibly miss out on one of the best times to get a deal here on the Gulf Coast of Florida. So before we continue further in this video, let's just go over what's really happening here. First off, the truth is that the number one reason for the slowdown in the housing market this year has to do with super high interest rates, and that's a problem that's affecting every area in the country. Now, I personally believe as we continue on throughout the year, we will start to see interest rates come down, which will loosen up the market and get people to start moving en masse again. Now, locally, we are also dealing with the aftermath of the hurricanes we had last year, which predominantly have been affecting homes on the coastline and condos, and the fact that a lot of people who own those condos come from out of state, and maybe they're a little gun-shy in moving to Florida with everything that's gone on. However, as time goes on and things normalize, I think people will forget, start moving down here, cause they realize that we have the best weather of anybody else, and it's warm all year round, and you can live the life that you always wanted to. And finally, we are still dealing with the rebalancing of our real estate market, because you have to remember, back in 2020 to 2023, there was an unprecedented number of people who moved down here for a number of reasons during COVID, and that caused a supply shortage, the prices to skyrocket super high, that was never gonna continue forever. Now, we're faced with the fact that the builders are starting to catch up. We have more inventory on market. However, as time goes on, the market is starting to balance itself out. We're seeing a slight reduction in new listings and active listings, which is telling me we're coming back to somewhat more of an equalization in the market. So to sum it all up, has the real estate market in Florida cooled? Yes. Has the market crashed? Not at all. Are there good opportunities out there for buyers? Absolutely. Is Florida a great place to invest in real estate? 100%. So now that we got that out of the way, there are some things you need to keep in mind if you wanna get a deal here on the Gulf Coast of Florida. First, not all areas in Florida have been affected the same. For instance, the real estate market in Lakewood Ranch cannot be compared to the real estate market in say Fort Myers. Second, it depends on the property type. So for example, condos in Sarasota have taken a much harder hit than single family homes in the area. And third, the type of community will also determine the amount of deals available. So for example, in Lakewood Ranch, we're still seeing strong sales in the new construction segment and also in the active adult lifestyle segment. My point is the first step in getting a deal is to understand the market that you're shopping in and come up with a plan based on that. Simply watching a few YouTube videos or scrolling the news media constantly to get an inside scoop, it's not gonna work and you're not gonna get the information you need to know. All right, so now that we covered that, let's talk about where we're actually finding deals on homes in the Sarasota and Lakewood Ranch area. So first off, we have new construction homes. Now, when we're talking about new construction homes, you have to keep in mind that when you're looking at deals, it might not necessarily be off the asking price. A lot of times, deals in new construction come down to where the builder is in their build-out process, how much inventory they have, and also it can even come down to what time of the year it is and have they made their sales quotas. So while there are deals out there, keep in mind that most builders are not eager to really slash prices. Instead, they're more likely to work with you in other ways, such as providing closing costs, rate buy-downs, design credits, which can really add up. The problem is if you don't know what's available out there or you don't know what they're willing to do, you probably won't ask and you'll probably get shut down if you go ahead and just ask for some ridiculous price off the house. Now, the next segment where we're finding a lot of deals in are resale homes that have gone stale. So when you have a home that's been listed for a long time and it's not selling, there's a good chance you have a motivated seller. Now, most of the time when a home has been sitting on the market, it's not that there's anything wrong with it, it's because the seller is overpriced. You have to remember that a lot of sellers are looking at the prices that their neighbors got back in 2022 and they're listing the homes for that price, not realizing or not willing to accept that the prices have come down somewhat. So when you're looking at those homes, there might be a good chance at negotiating a great deal. The key to tapping into these deals is knowing what the competition is selling for and knowing what's going on in the local market. All right, so now that we've gone over where to find a good deal, now I'm gonna go over mistakes that buyers make that can kill a really good deal. So pay attention to this. So the first mistake I see buyers make is waiting too long to act. So in a market that's slown down, there's a natural tendency of people to wait and see what happens. For instance, a buyer might find a home that looks really good, they'll track it, they'll keep an eye on it, and they'll think to themselves, well, I'll just wait another week and see what happens. The problem is, like anything else, the majority of the time that a house is sitting on the market only has to do with price. So if that seller turns around and makes a price reduction that is in line with the market, that house might sell really fast. You won't believe the amount of times that I've had a listing in the past where it's been sitting on the market. And then as soon as we reduce the price, we don't just get one offer, we get like four different people at the same time calling us saying, well, I wanted to make an offer. And unfortunately, only one person can buy that property. If you see a property you like, make an offer, start negotiating. But if you simply just wait and wait and wait to see what happens, you might be disappointed if that house gets bought by someone else. All right, the next mistake that a lot of home buyers make is that they get emotional. So when buyers are going out there to try and negotiate a deal on a house, there's this thinking out there that they should go in hardball, they should offer really, really low, and that they should give the seller no time to really think about it. So you might've heard people say like, well, just go in like 20% below asking price and say you have one hour to make a decision and that's it or I'm walking away. Now, here's the problem. Sellers, they don't generally work that way when you're dealing with real estate. In fact, you gotta remember this is an emotional game. And regardless of what you think a property's worth or your agent thinks it's worth or even the listing agent thinks it's worth, at the end of the day, if the seller doesn't agree with your offer, there's not gonna be a deal to get done. In my experience, when getting a really good deal, so a lot of money off the price of the home, it generally takes longer than a few hours. In fact, it could take a few days, even up to a week. So the biggest thing to keep in mind is that don't be in a rush. You have to take the approach of, I like this house, these are the numbers that we're looking at, but I'm okay if you sell it to someone else. That actually portrays confidence that you're not afraid that the house is gonna sell. And in fact, you're giving them the opportunity to think about it, work it through in their mind. And a lot of times they do come to the conclusion that perhaps your offer is better than what they originally thought. Just don't be surprised if they don't have a nice reaction to your offer right away. I just don't want you to get upset if they say no right away. Just keep at it. If you like the property, keep at it, keep working on it. You might be surprised where you get. Okay, so the third mistake that a lot of buyers make is not getting pre-approved. Now, I know this sounds generic. Realtors always say it, but it is true. See, sometimes you might find the deal of a century. Nobody's gonna take you seriously and you might miss out on that great deal. So get approved or know that you have the funds available in order to act. And the fourth mistake I see a lot of buyers make is not being armed with the facts. If you're gonna go into an area to try and get a really good deal on a home, you need to know what's going on in that area. That means you need to know the comparables. You need to know the market in the area. You can't just come out with these arbitrary numbers like, okay, I'm gonna go offer on a $600,000 house and I'm gonna offer 450,000. With no logic whatsoever. As an agent, we know when someone's BSing and they really don't know the market. In truth, it's better to come in with a strong offer, even if that's low, but be able to justify that offer. And when you look like you know what you're talking about, you get taken more seriously. And finally, the last mistake I see buyers make when it comes to trying to get a deal is only thinking in terms of price. Listen, I get it. It sounds great to say that you bought a house for tens and tens of thousands below asking price. However, there are situations where perhaps the seller can't go down in price. Buying new construction, a lot of times builders will not move off that price because they've already sold a lot of properties and that's not gonna look good for their brand and it'll probably hurt them in the long run. Instead, keep in mind that there's other areas where you can work your deal in. So for example, rate buy downs, closing costs, credits towards upgrades. There's a lot of ways to work this deal. See, when you look at buying a home, it's not just the purchase price. You have to account all the costs together because really at the end of the day, that's the money that's coming out of your pocket. You might actually end up better if you're flexible and willing to negotiate on other parts of the deal. All right, so now that we've gone over the main reasons how a buyer can kill a deal in real estate, now I'm gonna give you my number one tip to get the best deal when buying a house and that's to understand the spread. So simply put, the spread is the high and low ends of the range of what you can buy particular property for in today's market. So for example, if we're looking at a single family home around here, if we're to do the research, we're gonna determine, okay, on average, maybe a house like this will sell for 500,000 on the low end and 625 on the high end. Now this is based off of previous sales and also adjusting those sales to come in line with what they'd sell for today. So for example, if your comparables are six months old and the market's gone down in price 3%, you need to adjust those sale prices accordingly. So after you've done that, you should have a range and now that'll give you a good basis on how to negotiate where the value is in buying that home. Now, the advantage of doing it this way is if you buy a home and you're on a good level on the spread where you feel confident, then that means you can add value to it by upgrading it or if the home happens to already be upgraded, you know there's room in there for when the market grows that you're gonna see your equity grow and you're gonna be able to sell for a higher price down the road. The biggest thing to keep in mind is in order to do this, you need to think opposite of the majority of buyers. So the majority of buyers, when they go house hunting, they buy with their emotions, they fall in love with the house and then they justify the price to themselves after they've already decided to buy it. On the flip side, with investors, they do the numbers ahead of time, make sure the home fits into their desired acceptable range, they buy the home and then they're happy with their decision after the fact. You need to buy logically and then when you go to sell that home, yes, you're gonna sell the emotion, that's where the marketing comes in, that's where the staging comes in. Just unfortunately, most buyers, they fall in love with the home, they probably overpay for the home and then when they go to sell the home, they're not selling the emotion, they're actually trying to sell logic to buyers and that's why you see these homes sitting on the market and perhaps they're having a hard time selling. So don't do that, buy logically, use your spread and then when you go to sell, that's where the emotion comes in. Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this video on getting a deal here on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Looking for a home in Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, Manatee County or the surrounding area? Well, you know what to do, give us a call, send us a message and we'll have you set up right away. I'm Jeff O'Leary, The Village Guru. Let's get you moving.