This is supposed to be the perfect time to buy a home. Interest rates are low, prices have fallen and there's a glut of available houses for sale.

So when Glenn Suarez decided five months ago to buy a new home for his growing family, he figured he'd have an easy time of it. It hasn't quite worked out that way.

``I was very naive when I started this process of looking for properties,'' says the married father of two, whose family is being crowded out by a fast-growing 3-year-old.

Instead of an ideal situation, he and many other buyers are finding unrealistic sellers, mysterious middlemen, uncooperative lenders and property tax rates that don't reflect reality.

The result is a huge disconnect in home values that is stalling an already complicated market. And the longer it takes to clear the high levels of inventory, the longer it will take us to get out of the current real estate mess.

SEARCH FOR ANSWERS

Just consider Suarez, who found a home he and his wife liked in South Miami-Dade and called the person who was marketing the property. From the get-go, he couldn't get that person to give him straight answers to his many questions.

Tired of the runaround, he hired a real-estate lawyer to look into the property, which is in foreclosure. That's when he learned the person whom he thought was a listing agent was really some kind of loss-mitigation specialist. He still doesn't know who that person represents.

Determined to purchase the house, he continued to use the lawyer to pursue a possible sale. The house had sold for about $600,000 a couple of years ago and was now on the market for about half that price. Suarez mistakenly thought his property taxes would be based on the new, lower value.

But the Miami-Dade County property appraiser isn't recognizing the sales of foreclosed properties.

As a result, values for tax purposes don't reflect the lower prices of many homes now on the market.

That pretty much killed Suarez's interest in the home. He wasn't prepared to pay more property taxes than the house merits.

``This is happening to a lot of people,'' he says, referring to a friend who also backed out of a recent purchase after learning the property taxes would be based on a higher value. ``It just took him right out of the market.''

HOME VALUES

The appraisal process is killing deals in other ways. While the county appraiser isn't using foreclosures, many private appraisers are considering them. Before a purchase can close, these private appraisers provide lenders with a report stating the estimated value of the home.

Because they're using foreclosures, their estimates are often lower than the agreed-upon purchase price.

However, lenders usually won't lend more money than the property is worth. So if a house is selling for $300,000 and the appraisal comes in at $250,000, then the buyer usually has to come up with the $50,000 difference to be able to close the sale.

Another option is for the seller to drop the price to the lower figure. But with the county appraisal's office showing higher values, many sellers are reluctant to do so. The result is a glut of dead deals to accompany the glut of empty homes.

``Everybody is being penny wise and pound foolish,'' says Suarez. ``They're driving away more customers than they could be attracting.''

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@