Category: Selling

Strategies to maximize your sales price and market trends

Categories
Buying Foreclosures Luxury Real Estate Market Summary Selling

Miami Real Estate – Third Quarter Market Update – Single Family Homes

Below is a quick snap shot of what the real estate market looked like after the third quarter.  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 is going on in our local markets.  The closed sales may be slightly underestimated due to the lag time in posting the sale in the MLS.

Coconut Grove

  • Closed Sales: 36.  3 short sales, 7 REOs. Highest Sales Price: $1.55 million. Lowest Sales Price: $50,000.
  • Pending Sales: 28
  • Active Listings: 215.   Highest List Price: $18 million. Lowest List Price: $79,900.
  • Summary: The number of closed sales and inventory are up from the second quarter.

Coral Gables

  • Closed Sales: 93.   11 short sales, 11 REOs.   Highest Sales Price: $5.5 million.  Lowest Sales Price: $124,000.
  • Pending Sales: 88
  • Active Listings: 450.  Highest List Price: $49.5 million.  Lowest List Price: $189,000
  • Summary: Both the number of sales (93 up from 82) and the inventory (450 up from 278) are up in the third quarter as compared to the second quarter of 2009.  In both quarters, over half of the sales were listed under $600,000.

Key Biscayne

  • Closed Sales: 9.  No short sales, 1 REO.   Highest Sales Price: $3.75 million.   Lowest Sales Price: $780,000.
  • Pending Sales: None.
  • Active Listings: 129.   Highest List Price: $24.950 million.   Lowest List Price: $945,000.
  • Summary: Sales are down, inventory is up and there are currently no pending sales.

Miami Beach

  • Closed Sales: 51.  6 short sales, 11 REOs.  Highest Sales Price: $9.5 million.  Lowest Sales Price: $141,750
  • Pending Sales: 57
  • Active Listings: 391.  Highest List Price: $29.9 million.  Lowest List Price: $200,000.
  • Summary: Inventory has increased from 264 at the end of the second quarter, while sales have remained at about the same from the second quarter’s 53.

Palmetto Bay

  • Closed Sales: 64. 4 short sales, 10 REOs.   Highest Sales Price: $1.4 million. Lowest Sales Price: $125,000.
  • Pending Sales: 46
  • Active Listings: 159.  Highest List Price: $2.85 million. Lowest List Price: $155,000.
  • Summary: The number of sales between the second and third quarter have remained relatively the same.  The inventory has increased from 92 in the second quarter up to 159 in the third.

Pinecrest

  • Closed Sales: 53.  2 short sales and 2 REOs.  Highest Sales Price: $3.3 million.  Lowest Sales Price: $283,000.
  • Pending Sales: 32
  • Active Listings: 227.  Highest List Price: $5.9 million. Lowest List Price: $369,000.
  • Summary: Both the number of sales (53 up from 50) and the inventory (227 up from 143) are up in the third quarter as compared to the second quarter of 2009.

South Miami

  • Closed Sales: 22. 8 short sales, 8 REOs.   Highest Sales Price: $1.3million. Lowest Sales Price: $20,000.
  • Pending Sales: 22
  • Active Listings: 66.  Highest List Price: $1.880 million. Lowest List Price: $72,300.
  • Summary: The number of closed sales is down slightly from the second quarter, which had 28 closed sales.  Inventory is up from 28 at the end of June.


Categories
Buying Coral Gables Key Biscayne Luxury Real Estate Market Summary Miami Beach Selling

South Florida Luxury Home Buyers Have Plenty of Buying Opportunities

According to Forbes’ America’s Most Expensive ZIP Codes, South Florida luxury real estate is not faring too badly, compared with states like California.  Granted, California has more expensive ZIPS according to the statistics used by Forbes and almost all of those ZIP codes show a decrease in price, but still, only four South Florida ZIPs made the top 500 list and only one, Fisher Island’s 33109 made the top 100 list.

Others on the list included Key Biscayne 33149 at number 199, Coral Gables 33146 at number 363 and Miami Beach 33154, which includes Indian Creek Village, Bay Harbor Islands, Bal Harbour, and Surfside, at number 494.

These South Florida cities have a high inventory, which will put a downward pressure on prices.  The only city that did not see a decrease in it’s median home price was Coral Gables.

Categories
Buying Foreclosures Investment Real Estate Selling

South Florida Real Estate Market: What is Going On?

question_mark2The following were all topics in the news last week and all of them have an effect on our real estate market:

South Florida home sales surge, prices plunge, mortgage rates fall to lowest levels since May, Florida’s unemployment rate is up, Florida foreclosures are up and may be increasing, another condo developer files for bankruptcy, developers selling in downtown Miami for $200 per square foot, the first-time buyer credit is expiring, school starts Monday,  Miami-Ft. Lauderdale real estate market is ready for a rebound, pending sales in Miami-Dade County up over 96% in July over same time last year, Florida loses population for the first time since World War II.

So just what is going on?  In short, there have been a lot of positive signs that our real estate market is at or near its pricing bottom, but that doesn’t mean we are going to see appreciation any time soon.  Closed sales are up and pending sales are up even further.  The fact that housing prices in Miami-Dade are at their most affordable levels in years, coupled with the government’s first-time homebuyer tax credit, has helped move a lot of the lower priced inventory.  The high unemployment rate will result in more foreclosures and our tourism and real estate dependent economy will take longer to recover from the recession than states with more diverse economies.  All this means is that the real estate market will go through up and down spurts from month to month, similar to what the stock market is doing, and that prices will stagnate for a while instead of appreciating.  Some months are going to see more sales than others.  Certain areas are going to continue to see decreasing inventories.  I suspect that with the start of school and the end of the first-time homebuyer credit at the end of November, the rate of sales is going to taper off a bit.  If you are buying, there are going to continue to be deals and you will still be in the driver’s seat.  If you are selling, pricing will be the most important factor.

Categories
Buying Home Improvement Investment Real Estate Selling

Don’t Underestimate the Value of Curb Appeal

In the current real estate market, a lot of attention has been given to staging a home to help it sell.   I am a big fan of staging, but think curb appeal is even more important.  After all, it doesn’t matter how nice your home looks on the inside if buyers drive up, take a look at the outside and drive on.  Here are some simple ideas to create curb appeal for your home:

  • Make sure the outside looks clean and fresh.  Remove cob webs and brush off dirt and bugs from outside walls.
  • Pressure clean walk-ways, pool patios, fences.
  • Paint any exterior that looks drab or dirty.
  • Remove weeds and dead leaves from plant beds.  Fill in bare spots with new plants and lay down a fresh layer of mulch.
  • Re-asphalt driveway
  • Paint or stain front door.
  • Thoroughly clean all outdoor light fixtures and make sure the bulbs are working.

Even if you are not selling your home, these small fixes can make your home inviting to your friends and make you fall in love with it all over again!  If you are a buyer or investor, look at homes that don’t have curb appeal.  Most likely they have been on the market longer than homes in the neighborhood that do and you can get them for less than you would a house that has a pleasing exterior.  Once the house is yours, you can add curb appeal and reap the benefits.  Your cost to create appeal should be minimal compared to the savings you got on the purchase.

Befor
Before
After
After

Categories
Buying Home Improvement Investment Real Estate Selling

Don't Underestimate the Value of Curb Appeal

In the current real estate market, a lot of attention has been given to staging a home to help it sell.   I am a big fan of staging, but think curb appeal is even more important.  After all, it doesn’t matter how nice your home looks on the inside if buyers drive up, take a look at the outside and drive on.  Here are some simple ideas to create curb appeal for your home:

  • Make sure the outside looks clean and fresh.  Remove cob webs and brush off dirt and bugs from outside walls.
  • Pressure clean walk-ways, pool patios, fences.
  • Paint any exterior that looks drab or dirty.
  • Remove weeds and dead leaves from plant beds.  Fill in bare spots with new plants and lay down a fresh layer of mulch.
  • Re-asphalt driveway
  • Paint or stain front door.
  • Thoroughly clean all outdoor light fixtures and make sure the bulbs are working.

Even if you are not selling your home, these small fixes can make your home inviting to your friends and make you fall in love with it all over again!  If you are a buyer or investor, look at homes that don’t have curb appeal.  Most likely they have been on the market longer than homes in the neighborhood that do and you can get them for less than you would a house that has a pleasing exterior.  Once the house is yours, you can add curb appeal and reap the benefits.  Your cost to create appeal should be minimal compared to the savings you got on the purchase.

Befor
Before
After
After

Categories
Buying Selling

$8000 Homebuyer Tax Credit Set to Expire Soon

taxcreditendsThe government’s first-time homebuyer tax credit is set to expire on December 1, 2009.  That gives buyers a little over 3 months to:

  • qualify for a mortgage
  • find their home
  • negotiate a contract
  • have inspections done
  • get an appraisal
  • get a financing commitment
  • and close on the house by November 30.

Any one of the bullet points above can derail your closing and put you back at the starting gate.   So, how do you maximize the time that is left?  If you are a buyer, make sure you are qualified for a mortgage before you start looking at houses.  If you are a seller, make sure you take advantage of this time by pricing your home appropriately for sale.  In this market, pricing is everything.  Buyers know that prices have come down significantly and aren’t going to over-pay for a house.  They may be willing to pay a little more than market if your home is in superb condition compared to comparable closed sales in your neighborhood, but you will still need your home to appraise.

Categories
Buying Foreclosures Investment Real Estate Selling

Buying Real Estate Needs to Make Sense

Two sentences in today’s Wall Street Journal article by Brett Arends sums up all of the often conflicting real estate news these days.  “A real-estate purchase needs to make sense on its own terms.  And measure it on cash flow today, not the hope for capital gains tomorrow.” This advice makes sense in any real estate market and, if followed, should make real estate a great long-term investment, whether it is your primary residence, or an investment property.

Categories
Buying Foreclosures Investment Real Estate Selling

Miami Home Prices Continue to Decline, Presenting Buying Opportunities

Although today’s  S&P/Case Schiller Price Home Index  showed a slight 0.5%  increase in home prices between April and May, Miami had a 0.8% decrease.  Nationally, this was the first month to month increase in three years and has many people claiming that the real estate market appears to be stabilizing as price decreases level off.

Overall, this is great news as any stabilization in the housing market will help ease a lot of the economic problems that resulted in the market’s severe free fall.  This does not mean that prices will be going up any time soon, especially in hard hit areas like Miami, but rather that the decreases should not be as significant as they have been.  Home prices in Miami are down 25.2% over last year’s prices and the market in Florida still has a long way to go before we can say we have recovered.  Some facts that will keep our market trudging along slowly:

  • Florida’s real estate market still has a lot of inventory to work through;
  • Spring and early Summer normally have higher sales as families purchase and settle in before a new school year;
  • $8000 first time buyer credit expires at the end of November.  If you are a buyer that qualifies for this credit, hurry;
  • Interest rates, while still low, have started to move up slightly;
  • There are probably many sellers sitting on the sidelines waiting for the inventory to decrease a bit before listing their property
  • The majority of sales and listings are still short sales and foreclosures.

This is not doom and gloom news.  Just a reality check.  There are great deals out there if you are a buyer or investor.  If you are a seller, be realistic with your sales price and your property will sell.

Categories
Buying Luxury Real Estate Selling

Which Florida Cities Will Rank As Most Expensive in 2009?

Last year, Forbes’ 500 most expensive zip codes list included 11 in Florida, including the number 1 most expensive zip, 33109 in Miami Beach, with a median sales price of $3,850,000!  Miami Beach also ranked #369 with zip code 33154 which had a median home price of $745,900.  The list was based on sales between July of 2007 and June 2008, so it will be interesting to see what changes this year’s list holds for Florida cities.  Stay tuned, the list should be out in the next couple of months and I will post the results with a more detailed analysis.

Categories
Buying Coral Gables Luxury Real Estate Selling

Luxury Real Estate – Coral Gables in the Top 5 of Fastest Moving Luxury Neighborhoods

A recent Forbes article rated Coral Gables, FL as one of the fastest moving luxury neighborhoods in terms of days on gables-white-house2market.  Forbes’ rating system, which is based on the 500 most expensive zip codes,  is better than other housing indexes which cover too broad of an area to give an accurate picture of what is happening in a specific neighborhood,  but their assessment also has some flaws.  For example,  for Coral Gables, which was rated number 5 by Forbes, the zip code they used was 33146.  Don’t get me wrong, 33146 is an expensive zip code, but Coral Gables, which extends significantly further South from the better known business and restaurant district which is their formal downtown, has 7 zip codes!  Based on an MLS search today, there were 69 Active listings ranging in price from $13.5 million down to $395,000 in the 33146 zip code.  14 of those listings were waterfront.  However, there were a total of 261 Active MLS listings in the Gables, South of US 1.  The most expensive listing was $49.5 million and was in the 33143 zip code, which also had higher closed sales prices.  Having Forbes rate Coral Gables the 5th fastest moving luxury market, with an average of 66 days for the top 10 zips vs 115 days average for the whole 500 index,  is great news for Coral Gables, but it doesn’t tell the story for luxury real estate in the Gables.  There were several zips and luxury price ranges which had significantly longer days on market.  When pricing your luxury home for sale or making an offer on your purchase of one, make sure you check with a local luxury expert.