Below is a quick snap shot of what the real estate market for single family homes looked like for the fourth quarter of 2009.  These numbers are derived from the Multiple Listing Service and though they do not include For Sale By Owners and anything not listed on the MLS, they are indicative of what […]

After rising for the past four weeks, long-term mortgage rates fell last week.  Freddie Mac reported 30- year fixed rate mortgages averaged around 5.09%, down from 5.14% last week.

Now that the residential real estate market appears to have stabilized, investors are starting to look at U.S properties as potential investments.  According to Kevin Brass of the Wall Street Journal, groups of investors from Mainland China are still touring properties in the U.S. With the decrease in real estate prices and the drop in […]

This is one of the many beautiful views from the 516-unit Marina Blue Condominium on Biscayne Boulevard.  This brand new building sits directly across the street from the Port of Miami, Miami Arena, and site of the future Miami Art Museum.  It is walking distance to Bayfront Park, Bayside Marketplace and the Adrienne Arsht Center […]

An interesting article by Robert Shiller, Yale Economics Professor and one of the creators of the Case-Shiller home price index, discusses the idea that perceptions as to land value is what has driven a lot of the housing market increases.  He argues that a growing global economy and increasingly transient population that values economic freedom […]

Icon Brickell, the three-tower 1800-unit complex with views of the Miami River and gorgeous grounds is being turned over to the developer’s lenders in a friendly foreclosure.  Only two of the three towers have been built.

The Fed’s Mortgage Backed Security (MBS) purchase program ends on March 31, 2010.  This purchase program is what has kept mortgage rates so low for the better part of 2009 and once the Fed stops purchasing MBSs  the demand will drop.  Since the supply of MBSs is still high, this will have a downward affect […]

Citigroup announced that it will suspend foreclosures for the next 30 days in order to work on long-term alternatives to foreclosure.  This will be happy news to an estimated 4,000 borrowers.

At the end of November, the United States Treasury Department released new rules attempting to encourage banks to speed up short sales.  The rules create a uniform process and documents that all banks must use as well as provide cash incentives to banks willing to participate.  The new rules are starting to work…I actually had […]

I just came from a closing that almost didn’t happen because of the strict lending requirements lenders have.  Mind you, the Buyer has been under contract on a regular sale for over a month and was putting 40% down.  Last night the bank decided it needed more information on the source of his original $5,000 […]