Need to know how to buy a $250K home around Palm Harbor? Let’s look at what $250,000 buys in the Tampa area market in 2022. I’ll show you some examples, do a quick look on MLS and give you a view of some of the data in the video.

Homes that have sold for around $250,000

Let’s jump straight onto MLS and start to understand  what a 250k home near Palm Harbor looks like. So we’ve got several houses there, but what I’m looking at right now is what has sold. So let’s have a quick look at that first. 

Under $250,000 in Citrus Park

In Citrus Park on Foxhall drive, let’s pull up the listing. 

Pinehurst Village, is a three bedroom, two bath house. It just closed on March 1st, 2022. It was listed at $248,900 and sold at $248,900. So a hundred percent of list price. Looking at the photos, it looks like it’s been painted on the outside and inside. 

There’s nothing too dramatic, some original floors, possibly some newer carpets, but some original floors. There’s an interior laundry room. And then here we have a backyard, looks like an older air conditioning unit.  The listing says. “Every detail has been restored and ready for buyers with high expectations”. Let’s go back to the map and pull up another one.

Clearwater Listing at $229,000

How about this one in Clearwater next. So Madison avenue in Clearwater listed at $229,000 sold price $250,000. That’s one strategy for how to buy a $250K home- and it’s a good strategy. Anticipate needing to offer over list price by looking at more affordable listings.

“See beautifully updated three bedroom, two back home in the heart of Clearwater, just minutes to downtown Clearwater”. This home will not last long AC 2000, so not completely new roof, 2014, close to scores parks. 

Let’s take a look at some of the photos. This has definitely been updated. And I can tell you now from everything that we see when we are out on the market, we see a lot of homes that still need a good amount of work doing. So it is not surprising when you see a home where a lot of the work has been done that it sells above list

List Price to Sales Price and More- Using the Data

Now, we’ll jump in and have a quick look at the data. I’ve pulled all the active, pending and homes that have sold in the last 30 days in that 15 mile radius. Let’s have a look at what the data says. Now, bear in mind, these are homes priced listed between $245,000 and $250,000. 

Active and Pending listings

Unsurprisingly, the average list price is $248,675. And unsurprisingly, that’s the price that those houses have been listed at when they have gone pending, which it tells me that on here, the pending listings, we’ve got 70 of them. On average, they were listed at $248,583 when they went pending, but let’s have a look what that looks like for the sold listings. 

Sold Listings 

We have 43 sold listings in that timeframe, just in the last 30 days. And down the side here, we can see the list price to sales price ratio. Now his historically it might be that houses would be selling at an average of 94, 95%. That’s not really the case anymore. 

Look at this- houses listed at $224,000 selling at $245,000, 108.9% of list price. Another, listed at $229,000 sold at $245,000, 106%, 102%, 98%, 108%, 107% and on and on and on through these listings. But look at this, the majority of these listings, right onto page two, selling at and above list price, let’s have a look how that continues. 

Why You Need Strategies

What that means means for buyers coming in is we have to have a strategy that means that we can get your offer taken seriously by a seller. And sometimes that means that we have to look very creatively at what is it listed at and what do the comps suggest that the house should sell for? 

Not only that we’ve got, what’s it like? What’s it listed at? And what do the comps suggest it’ll sell for? We have, what is the likely appraised value? And we also have, what’s the likely sales price. 

Financing- Get Preapproved and Underwritten Early

Your Lender is like a best friend- you’ll be talking a lot throughout the process, so it’s important to work with a great lender who knows the market and is responsive. Not helpful if they are never taking your calls. if you need suggestions for great lenders we can suggest several to consider. You need a preapproval before looking at homes- and before making any offers.

Appraisal gaps

A lot of these sales are cash sales, meaning there isn’t even an appraisal completed, or we have a situation where even if someone’s financing the, is agreeing in writing upfront with a very clear plan, how they intend to bridge the gap between any deficit on what the house appraises for and what they’re under contract for. 

Proof of Funds- be prepared

If the house is listed at $225,000 and you’re closing at $250,000, you’ve offered $250,000… you’ve got to be able to demonstrate how you’re gonna pay that difference. We need proof of funds for that difference. And we definitely need a planning conversation for that, because that’s a situation that we are seeing all the time in this market. We, we are here to help with that. 

Seller Post Closing Occupancy

Allowing the seller time to move out can be a great strategy in this hot market using a Seller Post Closing Occupancy. It isn’t always possible, but when it is, it can be very helpful in getting you the house you want.

Up Next

Now you know more about what $250,000 buys in Tampa and surrounding areas and how to be the winning offer! If you enjoyed this video, you might like some of our other videos about how you can be successful in this market, whether you’re buying or selling, such as getting mortgage preapproval FIRST!

You can WIN when you know how to buy a $250K home in Palm Harbor in this market-  with the right strategies and a great agent to guide you.