Signs point to cooling of South Florida's red-hot real estate market

FORT LAUDERDALE - There are signs South Florida's red hot real estate market is cooling. 

Not as many houses have sold in the last few months and inventory is up, and since interest rates started rising, prospective buyers are not as plentiful. 

Gisela Leguizamon just put her Northwest Fort Lauderdale home up for sale.

"I do love this neighborhood but my husband passed away a year ago and it's hard for me to stay here," she said. 

She's asking $600,000 for the nearly 1,300-square-foot home that sits on a canal.

But will it sell? In her neighborhood, there are several other houses for sale.

We saw one selling for less at $550,000 and it was bigger-more than 1,600 square feet.

Leguizamon's realtor Adriana Muniz who sells real estate mainly in Miami agrees there is less demand than nine months ago in South Florida. 

She says more houses are available, negotiation is possible and not as many out-of-state' work from home' clients are bidding on houses, since interest rates started rising. 

"It's not that no one is buying, but it's a good time for the buyer and the seller right now, depending on the person," said Muniz. 

We also spoke with realtor Didi Saez, who was showing a Fort Lauderdale beach home Monday. 

The asking price for the 3-bedroom completely renovated home that sits on 1/4 acre is 1.8 million dollars.

Location always sells but Saez says her greatest challenge remains finding affordable homes in the $300 to $400,000 range for working people and families.  

She says she's been looking for one client since February. 

"We are still getting outbid," she says. 

Despite the cooling real estate trend,  Gisela Leguizamon is hoping she gets somewhere near her $600,000 asking price, so she can move closer to family.

"It's hard for me, the maintenance costs. I would have stayed here til the day I died," she lamented. 

Real estate experts don't expect a crash in prices in South Florida anytime soon, but it's believed there will be a further leveling of the market with an equal number of buyers and sellers at one time. 

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