Home sale prices are up 31% in Marion County from this time last year

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OCALA, Fla. (WCJB) - Between March 2021 and March 2022 prices for homes increased about 31% in Marion County. One trend is that homebuyers are skipping the home inspection process.

“Investors and people that have purchased property maybe a year ago, six months ago for a flip. They don’t do the correct repairs and they hide stuff because they want their bottom line to be bigger when they sell,” said realtor Elisha Lopez.

Some reasons buyers are doing that is because it will speed up their move-in date and speeds up their closing process. While others said if the home is new, or recently built, they’re willing to take the risk because it likely passed inspection recently.

But Frankie Perez and his family got an inspection to make sure his home is good to live in as they’re making the move from Miami to Ocala.

“There’s a lot of places you can’t even go because it’s so overpopulated and the taxes are high and money-wise for houses they are really expensive right now,” said Perez.

Another trend Lopez said in the last year and a half is that most buyers paid in cash.

“Buyers that come from big cities and areas where the price point are higher that’s easy for them, but we’re also seeing investors that are buying properties with cash and not to flip them but to rent them out.”

Lopez said a growing number of financed buyers are returning to the market and buying homes before interest rates spike even more.

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