For Jared Dalto, West Palm Beach's true deals are in the short sales, where investors and owner-occupants are snapping up properties faster than ever.

Dalto sees the current market as a once-in-a-lifetime period to buy and says that people will look back at this time and wonder what they didn't purchase more.

He spoke with BlockShopper.com about how short sales are easier to purchase now and how West Palm Beach prices are the best bargain around.

BS: What's the market like in West Palm Beach these days?

JD: A lot of investors are buying, and a lot of people who couldn't afford to purchase when prices were so high are buying. The average median sales price in April was only $230,000. I'm getting a strong sense from clients that now is the time to buy, and the waiting is over. When people see a property they like, they aren't staying on the sidelines anymore. They're coming in with strong offers because there's a lot of buyers on the market and a lot of competition.

BS: What sort of properties are moving on the market?

JD: At the $230,000 range, you can find a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home from, depending on location, 1,300 to 2,000 square feet. There's even some newer homes that will fall within that range. Some of these homes may even have pools. The new construction prices are coming down in price as developers realize they have to meet market value, like short sales and bank-owned properties that undercut the builders' prices. The price has to come down to move inventory.

BS: Is that price point a low end for finding property?

JD: Not really. A client of mine picked up a property in Cityside for $84,000. It's a townhome with two bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, a one car garage and 1,488 square feet. It was a bank-owned property. Another client bought in the Emerald Isles for $51,000. That was a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in a three-story building. At the peak of the market, that sort of place was going for $200,000.

BS: Are bank-owned and short sales properties what's moving most?

JD: Well, the short sales are still where most of the deep discounts are in pricing, along with bank-owned properties. I currently hold 50-plus short sale listings. People are flooding to those properties because those are priced right in the market. Investors and owner-occupants are looking at those because the prices have come down so much. Where the numbers didn't make sense for buyers before, they're coming together now.

BS: What do people need to know when purchasing these short sales?

JD: The good news is that short sales seem to be taking less time now, although they do take typically from two to three months — but they're not taking six months or more any longer, which is something we ran into in the past. Lenders are starting to get their acts together and process them quicker, though there's still going to be a wait and buyers need to be patient.