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5 Steps To Take If You Are Buying In Today’s Miami Real Estate Market
If you are trying to purchase your first home or investment property and take advantage of the low interest rates and prices, congratulations! A couple of things you may want to do to avoid frustration:
1)If you are financing, prequalify for a mortgage. It will make your offer that much stronger.
2)Do your homework-find out what properties are listing & selling for in the area you are looking in. If they are selling for more than you qualify for, you are looking in the wrong area.
3)Be realistic with your expectations-if you are only looking at foreclosures and short sales, realize that with the former you will be competing with cash buyers, be in a multiple bid situation where the property will probably go for more than asking, and you will most likely need to do some work. With a short sale you are looking at a long closing process.
4) If you are planning on working with a Realtor, work exclusively with one and have him/her set up all appointments, even if you are searching on-line on your own. If you go to open houses let the person holding it open know you are working with a Realtor.
5) If you submit offers and consistently lose them for any reason other than you were competing with a cash buyer, find out what the reason is and address it so you won’t make the same mistake next time. If it is consistently due to price, stop lowballing if you really want to get in the market or, go back to #2 above
Developers Are Betting On Miami Real Estate
With two new extremely large developments announced within the last couple of months, I would venture to bet that Miami-Dade County is on a rebound, though price appreciation may take a while.
Genting Malaysia Berhadresort and Swire Properties Brickell CitiCentre are sure to bring much needed amenities to the Biscayne Boulevard corridor and the area west of Brickell Avenue.
Office Building For Sale Coral Gables, FL
This free-standing building with 14 parking space at 3860 SW 8 Street, Coral Gables is a great buy. Located in the popular 
medical district of 8th Street and Ponce de Leon, it is a great buy: 6535 square feet for $1,300,000 is less than $200 per square foot. You can’t build a new building for that price! Hurricane shutters, elevator, open air spaces, offices, conference rooms
3860 SW 8 St., Coral Gables – Free Standing Office Building For Sale
Free Standing Office Building with Parking
This updaated and well maintained office building is in the bustling medical and office district of 8th street, between Galiano and Ponce De Leon in Coral Gables. Hurricane shutters, 14 parking spaces, an automatic gate and great location, make this an ideal building for an owner-user. 6,535 square feet at $229 per square foot.
San Jose Island, Pearl Islands, Panama
I first visited breathtakingly beautiful San Jose Island was two years ago. After arriving at the Tocumen airport in Panama City, less than a three hour flight from Miami, I jumped on an Air Panama flight for the short 20 minute flight to the island. As we were flying over the Gulf of Panama, I was amazed that I could see schools of fish from the air.
As we circled over the island and came down the 5,000 linear feet landing strip, I had the insane notion that Tatoo was standing on the island somewhere saying “De plane, de plane!”. We were picked up and driven through beautiful jungle canopy to the boutique resort, Hacienda del Mar
I spent four days there and can’t wait to go back! It is currently for sale and would make a spectacular world-class resort destination.
Commercial Real Estate: Vacancy Rates Expected to Decline
According to NAR an improvement in the economy, coupled with an increase of liquidity in Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities, is projected to decrease current vacancy rates across the commercial sectors.
Although these are positive indications that the commercial sector didn’t fall as far or for as long as the residential market, it is still a buyer’s market where cash is king.
Miami Real Estate: High Affordability + Low Prices = Buy
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal uses Miami as one example as to why 2011 may be the year to buy.
- Affordability, which looks at how many months of income an average family would take to pay for a home, is at the lowest level in 35 years
- Pricing is believed to be at or close to bottom
- Investors are getting back in the market
The article does a good job of differentiating between buying a home and investing in real estate. In terms of buying a home, Michael Larson, a real-estate analyst in Florida, is quoted, “Pricing is down so much in some markets that when you analyze renting versus owning it makes much more sense to own”.
If you are planning to buy for investment, the article returns to the old adage of “buy and hold”. They recommend at least a 10-year hold plan for investment real estate or suggest investing in funds that have real estate in the mix if you want to make real estate a part of your portfolio.
Remember to see what the numbers are in the area you are planning to purchase. While the affordability index was high in most areas, it is low in Washington D.C.
“Economists Bullish On Miami”
In case you missed my posts on the projected economic improvement of South Florida and Miami-Dade in particular, read today’s front page Miami Herald article, Forecast calls for robust rebound in Dade.
Previous posts I have written include a lot more detail if you want to read more:
Commercial Real Estate Starting To Pick Up
Still Doubt An Economic Recovery Is Taking Place In Miami?
Miami Real Estate – If You Are Looking To Invest, Miami Is Top Choice
Commercial Real Estate Starting to Pick Up
The recent up-tick in consumer spending has resulted in an increase in demand for retail space. Since the multi-family and office had been showing improvement, this is a good sign the economy is starting to pick up.
On a local level, Miami Today reported the following increases in November:
- Total taxable sales are up 7.5% from last year
- Autos and accessories taxable sales are up 14.8%
- Tourism and recreation taxable sales are up 14.2%
- Hotel occupancy up 8.6% with daily room rates up 3.5%
- Building investment taxable sales up 4.9%
At a commercial meeting yesterday, the main spaces people were looking for were restaurant space and shopping/retail centers. The majority of the investors looking were from Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil.
Although our unemployment rate is high in Miami, the fact that tourism is up and investors are coming back to commercial, seems to indicate we have turned a corner.
Still Doubt An Economic Recovery Is Taking Place In Miami?
There was so much good news about economic activity in the Miami Today, today that I had to share some of the ones that popped out at me. In addition to the one about all of the economic growth numbers from November (see tomorrow’s post), the following things jumped out at me as a good sign that Miami, despite the economic downturn, has continued pursuing projects that focus on long term growth
- Record number of passengers arrive at Port of Miami
- Downtown Miami condos are filling, resulting in new activity at Bayside Marketplace
- Seagis Property Group buying up more industrial space with long term plans to stay in Miami market
- Major film and entertainment projects are heading into town (The Magic City, Bones, Charlies Angels)
- Downtown population jumped 81% over the past 10 years
- Codina is getting ready to build a 230 unit luxury rental in Doral
- Twin 27-story residential towers close to getting okay
- 369 unit condominium project moving forward with plans to begin in second quarter
- Tech incubator at FIU lands million-$ military contract
I point all this out because it is easy to focus on the negatives of unemployment, short sales, and foreclosures, all of which are very real and very painful. The fact that companies are investing here, tourists are visiting, inventories are getting absorbed, and developers are getting ready to start building again, all tell me that we are bouncing along the bottom, but the end is in sight. Since unemployment is a lagging indicator, it will be one of the last economic indicators to pick up. All of the items listed above will help the unemployment rate, which in turn will further help stabilize our battered housing market.
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