Two houses listed at identical prices have different levels of demand. Can you figure out the reason behind one receiving numerous offers while the other does not attract any?

Two homes in different parts of the country were listed for sale for close to $1 million at around the same time earlier this year.

The simple ranch-style house in Wyckoff, New Jersey, received an impressive 25 offers and has already been sold for $200,000 more than the original price it was listed for.

Meanwhile, a six-bedroom behemoth in Miami with a three-car garage and a pool still has no bites, leading the sellers to cut the price.

Various factors affect the demand for real estate, but the significant differences between the Northeast and Southern Florida markets can be attributed to the unique characteristics of each region.

In the Northeast, new construction is hamstrung by lower land availability and stricter zoning restrictions imposed by state and local governments. 

This situation is particularly evident in the New York City metropolitan area, where Wyckoff is situated. The high population density and limited availability of listed properties have created a market where there are significantly more buyers than sellers.

In Southern Florida, homeowners are rushing to sell their properties to escape from the hassles brought on by potential storm damage, rising insurance rates and skyrocketing HOA fees. 

This has produced an environment where builders are dangling incentives to sell newly-built units, while existing homeowners are doing everything to unload their properties, even if it means slashing prices.

Pictured: The one-story home in Wyckoff, New Jersey, that recently sold for $200,000 above the original asking price of $1,095,000

Pictured: The two-story home in Miami complete with a pool and three-car garage that has struggled to sell at a $999,000 price tag. The owners had to slash it down to $990,000

The four-bedroom home in Wyckoff was listed on February 6 for $1,095,000, but the winning bidders placed an offer roughly $200,000 higher than that just to secure their prize.

Kate Fishbein and her husband Jordan Fishbein bought the home for $630,000 about 13 years ago. Based on the sale price, their home more than doubled in value in that time.

Liz Ruckdeschel, an agent at Coldwell Banker Realty, told The Wall Street Journal that she knew the Fishbeins’ home would be popular.

She said bidding wars are still common in the northern New Jersey suburb of New York, which is known for its good schools.

Selling points for the home itself is its large kitchen island with a marble countertop and a custom garden.

The Fishbeins are now under contract for a larger home in the same neighborhood where their bid was chosen over numerous others.

The situation couldn’t be more different for the home in Miami, which went on the market on January 29 for $999,999.

On paper, it appears to be the better home. It’s far closer to downtown Miami than the New Jersey home is to New York City. It’s also bigger, with two more bedrooms, a pool and spa area and a luxurious patio with an outdoor kitchen.

Kate Fishbein and her husband Jordan Fishbein are profiting handsomely from the sale of their New Jersey home, much of which is being funneled into the purchase of a bigger property in the same neighborhood

But none of that changes the fact that it still has yet to solicit a single offer. Owners Chastity Zaldivar and her husband Rogelio Zaldivar had to cut the price down to $990,000 on February 23.

Monica Cardoso, the listing agent with eXp Realty, said a home like the Zaldivars’ would have had dozens of offers during the pandemic.

Nearly all housing markets in the US were hot during that time, with mortgage rates sinking to multi-year lows and the advent of remote work giving many the opportunity to relocate wherever they wanted.

Miami and other cities in the Sun Belt were a huge beneficiary of this, with virtual workers from all over the country looking to move somewhere with nicer weather.

However, these out-of-state pandemic-era buyers, along with people who have lived in Florida over a longer period, have had to face a number of significant drawbacks.

Florida has been lashed with six major hurricanes, two of them Category fours, since September 2020. To compensate, certain home insurers based in the state have more than doubled their rates over the last five years.

Another factor that has would-be buyers spooked is a new Florida law that mandates condo owners submit to inspections by qualified engineers.

If substantial structural deterioration is found, the owners will be on the hook for repairs costing well into the millions of dollars in some cases. 

The frequency of hurricanes and the rising insurance costs they bring have spooked buyers at the same time owners are trying to get rid of their properties (Pictured: The flooding caused by Hurricane Milton in the city of Tampa on October 10, 2024)

The Surfside condo collapse in 2021 (pictured) is also having an effect on the real estate market

The law that passed in May 2022 and took effect at the beginning of this year was a response to the Surfside condo collapse in 2021 that killed 98 people.

Though it was meant to force upgrades to Florida’s aging condo high-rises, the law has had the unintended consequence of trapping owners in a no-win situation.

In January, residents of Springbrook Gardens in Fort Lauderdale were hit with a $4.5 million repair bill to shore up the building’s foundation, CBS News reported.

To cover the bill, the homeowners association would have had to hike HOA fees to an unreasonable level, forever scaring away potential buyers. So, the residents all voted to simply sell their units. 

This mass exodus is happening all over Florida. It is arguably the most stark in Tampa, a city whose housing inventory jumped by more than 90 percent last year.

And much of that listing activity happened before the greater Tampa Bay area was battered by Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton over a period of just over two months in 2024.

The Zaldivars are in a precarious market where multiple negative factors are coming together to discourage sales. Still, they hope to sell their Miami home soon so they can move to a bigger five-bedroom home an hour away with their two adult sons.

They told the Journal that they hope to take some of the proceeds to boost their retirement accounts and pay off their sons’ student loans.