ILoveSoFla.com » Investment Real Estate

Another Amazing Week At EWM’s Coral Gables/South Miami Office

jenniferwollmann — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:19:35 +0000

Last week we did over $21,000,000 in sales. This week was over $17,500,000 with 32 sales and only 14 new listings. Inventory in Miami-Dade is decreasing steadily, as illustrated in the graph below. Inventory is even tighter once you start looking in a specific price range and community.

Thinking of Buying Real Estate For Your Children?

jenniferwollmann — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:36:54 +0000

I started receiving graduation announcements from friends’ children and my own son will be graduating in May. With all that is going on in the economy, I started thinking that maybe my husband and I should buy real estate that one of our three children could eventually live in. If you consider how much properties, salaries, job opportunities and the stock market has dropped and how much rents have risen, it kind of makes sense doesn’t it? Would you purchase property that your children could live in once they graduate? Or have you already?

Is Renting a Temporary, Short Term Trend or Part of the New Normal?

jenniferwollmann — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 12:49:35 +0000

Rents are tight in most markets and, due to the numbers of foreclosures, short sales, and number of people who have lost their jobs or have had their work hours decreased, the trend is expected to continue at least for the short term. However, Jim Woodard predicts this is a temporary trend.

If you are a renter, you may want to consider the affordability index in the city you live and work in and calculate the cost of renting vs. buying. If you are a landlord, you may want to look at Money Magazine’s Best Cities to Be a Landlord list

How Important Is the Mortgage Interest Deduction to You?

jenniferwollmann — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:07:48 +0000

Tom Kelly addressed the issue of the mortgage interest deduction going away. Many argue that it is one way of raising taxes and decreasing the bulging federal deficit. What do you think?

jenniferwollmann — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 22:04:51 +0000

Well disappointingly, but not suprisingly, the Congressional “Super Committee” failed to come up with a plan to reduce the Federal deficit.

The fact that the deficit needs to be reduced and there were no new proposals on the table of how to go about doing so, got me to thinking about some of the original recommendations from the Simpson-Bowles plan. One of their recommendations was to eliminate certain mortgage interest rate deductions, namely on second homes, equity lines of credit, and mortgages over $500,000.

Costco addressed the phasing out the mortgage interest deduction completely in their November edition of The Costco Connection.

If it were phased out completely would that change your plans to buy? Would it speed up your plans to sell? What if only the Simpson-Bowles recommendation were implemented? Would that change your plans to buy or sell?

Thinking About Investing in Miami Real Estate?

jenniferwollmann — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:38:39 +0000

I attended the Realtors Commercial Alliance’s Super Conference today and wanted to share some of the things I heard that may help you decide whether or not now is the time to invest in real estate.

Dr. Randy Anderson, the Howard Phillips Eminent Scholar Chair at the University of Central Florida:

pointed out that no other asset class did better on growth of a $10,000 investment between 1996-2010 than direct real estate;
retail sales are higher than before we entered the recession despite low consumer confidence, mostly due to pent up demand. He believes retail sales will start to level off and stabilize.
Most buyers underestimate the cost of owning an office space because they base their projections on a 5-10% vacancy when nationally it is closer to 12-14%
Big institutional investors have been purchasing Miami real estate for the last year.
Each 1% decline in homeownership is equal to 1.2 million rental households

Dr. Pascal Goldschmidt, Senior V.P. Medical Affairs and Dean of UM Miller School of Medicine:

stated that every great city has a great educational hospital
projects that when UM’s Life Sciences Center is built out over the next 7 years, there will be 10,000-15,000 new jobs with an average salary of $65,000-$75,000.
Miami Dade College is working to train people who live in the area, which is next to Jackson Hospital, to work in various aspects of the medical/health field.
Envisions a live work area around Life Science Park.

Jeffrey Bercow, attorney with Bercow Radell & Fernandez, P.A.

believes that Miami-Dade County is under-retailed when compared with Broward and West Palm Beach

If owning the physical real estate does not interest you, consider investing in a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) such as Duke Realty or Healthcare Realty.

Investors Are Taking A Bite Out Of Inventory

jenniferwollmann — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 11:45:35 +0000

I had a buyer call me today wanting to buy a 2 bedroom 2 bath in Kings Creek for under $90,000. I told her there weren’t any on the market in that price range at the moment. She responded, “What happened to all of the inventory”? I explained that investors were snapping up the lower priced units, usually foreclosures and short sales, and turning around an renting them.

At every single one of EWM’s weekly office meetings over the last several months, we have been selling and renting more than we have been listing. Inventory has been decreasing steadily and the pickings right now for buyers are slim. That may turn around if the back log of foreclosures come on the market, but the banks are also getting smarter and are finally starting to agree to short sales. If you are a buyer, you might want to get off the fence. If you are an owner with equity, you may want to consider selling. There are buyers out there without a lot to choose from.

San Jose Island, Panama: How Big is 11,000 Acres?

jenniferwollmann — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 18:58:08 +0000

San Jose Island, Panama For Sale

Okay, I have already posted that it is twice the size of Key West, but maybe that is still hard to put into perspective. So, I will compare it in size to other famous islands. Using AskNumbers.com conversion table, I came up with the following:

Cayman Brac: 14 square miles =8,960 acres

Little Cayman: 10 square miles = 6,400 acres

St. Barts: 10 square miles = 6,400 acres

Virgin Gorda: 8 square miles = 5,120 acres

Basically, 11,000 acres is big enough for you to build your own town, or two!

Miami Real Estate: The Market is Changing

jenniferwollmann — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:29:09 +0000

If this week’s sales vs listings in just one of EWM’s offices is any indication, the market is changing. Our Coral Gables office had 37 residential sales versus 10 new listings and 27 leases vs 8 new rentals. Our total for this week, which include the sale of a commercial property was almost $35,000,000. This market change doesn’t mean that prices are going up yet, but it does mean we are clearing our inventory. We are seeing an increase in rental rates, however, as more people decide to rent and the inventory decreases.

If you need to sell, now is the time to do it since inventory is decreasing and there is demand. Remember to price it right, however, since pricing is everything in this market. If you don’t need to sell, but want to take advantage of the current market, use it to move up, downsize, while you rent out your current home. Alternatively, stay in your home and buy a rental property.

If you are planning to buy, now is definitely the time to buy due to a combination of low interest rates and low prices. If you don’t buy soon, you may find yourself priced out of the market or with even more limited choices.

Ever Dream of Owning Your Own Private Island?

jenniferwollmann — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 10:52:49 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.