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!
Congress should hurry up and enact the pending Colombia, Panama, and South Korea Free Trade Agreements. Columbia and Panama are two of South Florida’s largest trade partners. The Obama Administration estimates that the FTA with Colombia alone will increase U.S. exports by $1 billion and that the one with South Korea will add 70,000 jobs.
South Florida will benefit from this increase in trade. Increased trade equals increase in employment equals a more stable real estate market.
As the economy continues to trudge along, many South Florida homeowners are still struggling with unemployment and mortgage payments. If you are thinking of short selling your home, you should be aware that several banks have incentives for you to short sell versus going through the lengthy, in Florida it can take close to two years, and extremely credit-damaging foreclosure process.
Wells Fargo and Chase offer up to $20,000 in incentives to qualified homeowners and Bank of America just launched a similar pilot program in Florida.
One of the things I love about South Florida is how easy it is to fly to other places. A couple of weekends ago, some friends invited my husband and me to Bimini Bay for a long weekend. It took me longer to drive from the office to Tamiami airport than the 23 minute flight on LuxAir Charters from Tamiami to Bimini!
The crystal clear blue water, local hospitality, laid back atmosphere and Kalik beer made a three day weekend feel like a weeklong vacation.
Tomorrow is a Fee-Free Play Day at Deering Estate.
This wonderfully spacious home with a great floorplan and lots of natural light is available in north Pinecrest. In addition to being in one of the top locations in Miami-Dade County for both public and private schools, it has convenient access to shops, restaurants, the metro rail and U.S. 1.
There is still some confusion in the market in terms of what a house is worth. A seller puts a price on it, the buyer makes an offer based on what they have seen in the market, and then comes the appraisal. In the last couple of months I have had a home that should have appraised, but due to the lack of comparables of its size in the same area, the appraiser went over into a whole different area and it came in grossly under the purchase price. The comps were homes of the same size, year, and approximate lot size, but in a whole different city, school district etc.
In another case, I had a home with a purchase price that was questionable as to whether or not it would appraise due to a lack of comps and low comps in the area, come in at $30,000 over the contract price.
It has always been argued that appraisals are an art and not a science, but in both instances above I would argue there is a huge difference between a Monet and Kindergartener’s painting.
The last free days at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens are this month.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Tomorrow is a Fee-Free Play Day at Deering Estate.