Tips to make your real estate buying experience a smooth one
Just in time for Art Miami and Art Basel, this unique New York City style apartment comes on the market. The light and bright unit features an open floor plan with plenty of wall space for art. The kitchen features a Viking gas stove and a great layout for entertaining.
Located in the heart of Miami Beach on tree-lined Meridian Avenue, you are walking distance to everything: beach, grocery stores, shops, parks, and restaurants.
Wow, the Spring Selling Season is definitely here in Miami! Our office alone has had three consecutive weeks with over $30 million in real estate transactions and two of those weeks we were over $35 million. Sales continue to outpace listings and 30% of our sales were at or over asking.
Some newspaper headlines and news stations have been asking if Miami is getting ready to experience another housing downturn, due largely to the rapid increase in prices and the return of building cranes to the Miami skyline. While there has been an increase in inventory in the Brickell corridor, there are still many areas in Miami where inventory is tight. This leads to headlines such as RIS Media’s, “Existing Home Sales Increase but Overall Market Continues to Underperform“.
If you were a buyer just cruising through headlines, it could give you pause thinking that after years of headlines talking about how sales are increasing, in the double digits in many areas, that it is now slowing. The truth is that if you continue reading, the reason the sales are increasing at a slow rate is because in many areas there is still a lack of inventory. Some of the reasons given by economists in the article:
Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist “Insufficient supply seems to be hampering prospective buyers…”
Mark Fleming, First American Chief Economist “Existing-home sales are currently below expectations because existing homeowners lack sufficient equity or remain under water”
Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan, “We continue to expect the economy to drag housing upward”
Another economist, Ted C. Jones, Chief Economist Stewart Title Guaranty Company said that one of the reasons the overall South Florida housing inventory is tight is that “The Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Palm Beach MSA added 91,000 net new jobs and only 17,000 new housing units”.
If you are currently in the market to purchase a home, know what the inventory is in your area and your price range so that you will be prepared to make an offer when the right house comes on the market. Chances are if you are looking in an area with tight supply, you won’t have much time to decide whether or not to make an offer. In many areas in Miami-Dade county, we are back to multi-offer situation.
Remember all of the outcry in late 2013 & early 2014 about flood rates increasing due to changes approved in the federal 2012 Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act? Well, once it was amended with the “Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act,” people in coastal zones and flood prone areas seem to have forgotten about how flood insurance can affect their homes and businesses.
Miami-Dade county has more subsidized flood policies than any other county in Florida, other than Pinellas County. If you own property in Miami-Dade county that isn’t in zone X, B, or C, and have a mortgage, contact your insurance provider to see what you can do to reduce your flood premium. Notices will start going out the first week in April.
The idea of real estate being local is so important to keep in mind, especially when reading news headlines. Headlines reporting on the national real estate market read “Home prices post broad-based slowdown in September” or something similar. While there is nothing untrue about the statement, if you are a buyer interested in Miami and don’t read further, you could wrongly assume that Miami’s real estate appreciation has also slowed. However, that same article states Miami “continues to impress with another double-digit annual gain of 10.3%. It is the only city that currently has a year-over-year double-digit gain.”
Although there is more inventory on the market and the appreciation has slowed somewhat, appreciation is still strong in Miami due to continued interest from investors and second home buyers.
Spurred by downsizing baby boomers and other age groups wanting to be close to dynamic urban cores, the market share of condo sales has increased nationwide from 8% to 11-12%, according to Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors . In Miami, that number is closer to 45% of home sales in September. Although the level of inventory increased from September to October, so did the number of units that went pending and we are getting into our busy winter selling season. Based on our current level of condos listed on the MLS, we are still in a stable market with 6-8 months of inventory. What would help move the market would be an easing of financing restrictions so that Millennials and first time buyers could get into the market.
As we start to get into the busy winter buying season, EWM Realty International has gotten off to a strong start. The company had a $70 million week between our offices in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. The breakdown for our Miami-Dade offices are:
The highest sale in our Coral Gables office was for a unit at the Faena House, pictured above, for $5.5 million .
As if the real estate market in South Florida doesn’t have enough going on with all of the new construction and tight inventory in high demand locations, there is now a new scam to watch out for. Hackers are using the hot real estate markets throughout the country and are targeting Realtors® and their client’s. They hack into a Realtor’s e-mail account, learn about transactions they are working on and then e-mail the client requesting a deposit be wired to an account. It all looks legitimate to the client, who wires the money to a fraudulent account.
To protect yourself:
• Always verify any request to transfer funds with your REALTOR® and closing agent, either a title company or attorney.
• Call using a number you have used before, NOT the number on the e-mail directing you to wire the deposit.
• Be on the lookout for responses to e-mails that you have not sent. This may be a sign that your e-mail account has been hacked.
• Be especially careful of e-mails from gmail and Hotmail accounts.
• Please share this information with any one you know who is currently buying or selling real estate
Although today’s Miami Herald article “Housing market shows signs of cooling” may send some buyers back to the sidelines, it should be emphasized that they are referring to the condo market. Here is a snapshot of what EWM’s Coral Gables office saw in activity this week:
To break what is going on with our sales into percentages, we saw 44% more sales than new listings. Of the 7 condos that sold, one was sold above asking price and another was sold at asking price. The numbers were even more impressive for the single family homes with over 38% of them selling at or above list price (26.47% selling at and almost 12% over).
So what does this mean if you are a seller? If your house or condo is priced right and is in a location with tight inventory, such as the house pictured above listed by EWM’s Carole Smith, it will sell. Now is a great time to list, before inventory in your neighborhood rises.
What does it mean if you are a buyer? If you are looking for a home in a neighborhood with a tight inventory, make sure you are aware of the most recent sales so you know what to offer. If you are interested in a home with a lot of inventory, or with a significant increase in inventory projected, do the numbers to get a good price.
Although it may seem like Miami is only building condos for the wealthy, not all of Miami’s new construction is aimed at millionaires. Here are a few of the latest projects announced.
INTOWN, located in the Little Havana neighborhood, is in the reservation stage with prices starting at $200,000. This 14-story, 320-unit condominium will feature 1, 2 & 3-bedroom condos and townhomes with six different floor plans to chose from. These units will be move-in ready with an option of fully furnished units from Interiors by Steven G.
Head a little further North and East to the Arts & Entertainment District, to visit the location of CANVAS, a proposed 27 story with 513-units comprised of studios, 1 and 2 bedrooms. Prices start at $230,000.
Also located in the Arts & Entertainment District and directly across from Margaret Pace Park, is Aria on the Bay, with 647 units on 50 floors. Prices start in low $300,000’s and there are 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom units.