With the holidays behind us, it is time to get serious about skiing. The United States has been blessed with a snow season that in some places started as early as October!
All skiers dream of powder so consider the top ten powder destinations in North America and Europe when planning your ski vacation. Luckily there are direct flights from Miami to just about every top ski destination, so getting there should be easy.
The 2014 color choices for interior design, as well as for fashion, appear to be “muted and Deco-inspired: rose quartz, amethyst, topaz, olive, whiskey and raisin,” according to designer Michael Berman.
Two exceptions to the muted colors are acid yellow and Pantone’s color of the year, Radiant Orchid
Happy 2014! Add attending one of these cultural events to your 2014 Resolution List. They take place in spectacular venues that many of us take for granted and help promote the arts throughout Miami-Dade County.
Miami’s cultural season did not end with Art Miami and Art Basel, it merely took a small break for the holidays and is now back in full swing. Whether you like art, music, or theater, you are sure to enjoy.
Young Arts Week January 6 -12
Fairchild’s Garden Music Festival January 9-19
PAMM second free Saturdays January 11, 10:00 a.m-6:00 p.m.
Pinecrest Garden’s Jazz In The Gardens January 11, 8:00 p.m.
Pinecrest Garden’s Fine Arts Festival January 11 & 12 10:00 a.m-5:00 p.m.
Miami International Art Fair January 17-20
Beaux Arts Festival January 18 & 19
“The Complete Works of William Shakespeare” (comedy) at Pinecrest Gardens, January 24-26
Happy 2014! Add attending one of these cultural events to your 2014 Resolution List. They take place in spectacular venues that many of us take for granted and help promote the arts throughout Miami-Dade County.
Miami’s cultural season did not end with Art Miami and Art Basel, it merely took a small break for the holidays and is now back in full swing. Whether you like art, music, or theater, you are sure to enjoy.
Young Arts Week January 6 -12
Fairchild’s Garden Music Festival January 9-19
PAMM second free Saturdays January 11, 10:00 a.m-6:00 p.m.
Pinecrest Garden’s Jazz In The Gardens January 11, 8:00 p.m.
Pinecrest Garden’s Fine Arts Festival January 11 & 12 10:00 a.m-5:00 p.m.
Miami International Art Fair January 17-20
Beaux Arts Festival January 18 & 19
“The Complete Works of William Shakespeare” (comedy) at Pinecrest Gardens, January 24-26
On December 20 I wrote a post about some changes to federal laws that may affect Miami’s real estate market in 2014. I neglected to include two more (well one is a Florida State Law, but I will include it here anyway). The first one I thought would be extended by now, but since we are coming up on New Year’s eve I thought I should mention it in case Congress lets it lapse. It may not be that big of an issue since, due to the rising real estate prices, many real estate owners are no longer under water but the tax deduction on forgiven mortgage debt will end on January 1, 2014. Although there are many benefits to short sell, even without the tax benefit, instead of foreclose the sun-setting of this deduction could decrease the number of short sales sellers participate in. Should seller’s stop participating in short sales, this will put pressure on already short inventory since the foreclosure process usually takes longer. Which leads me to the second change.
HB 87, the Fair Foreclosure Act, went into effect on June 7, 2013, but we will really start to see its affects in 2014. Known as the “Speedy Foreclosure Law”, this law will help speed up the foreclosure process. Prior to passage of this bill, foreclosing on a mortgage took approximately 853 days, which was more than twice the average. This should help ease some of the shortages in inventory by getting at least a portion of the 350,000 plus foreclosure cases currently tied up in Florida courts through the process much faster.
Someone forgot to tell us that it is winter! To all my friends, relatives, and customers who have been dealing with cold or downright miserable weather since October, come on down for a visit and thaw out.
The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that starting January it will begin scaling back its bond purchase program from $85 billion per month to $75 billion per month.
2012’s Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, if not modified, will continue to affect owners of older homes who have subsidized flood insurance. A 25% increase in insurance is a large amount to assimilate all at once and makes it more difficult to sell those properties if a mortgage is involved.
New FHA loan limits take place January 1, 2014. For high cost areas, the new national loan ceiling limit will decrease from $729,750 to $625,500.
The economic outlook for the Sunshine State is extremely positive. TD Economics, an affiliate of TD Bank, estimates that Florida’s economic growth will grow from 2.4% this year to 3.5% in 2014 & 4.0% in 2015. This growth is largely due to the increase in domestic in-migration, which has led us to knock New York out of the spot for third most populous state. The growth in population is fueling demand for construction and construction workers for residential, commercial, and infrastructure projects, such as the one at PortMiami.
Total sales (24) still outnumbered total new listings (11), which is to be expected in the middle of the holiday season. Buyers are still out in full force and are purchasing in all price ranges. The highest sale in our office was the home pictured below. It sold for $7,030,000 and was listed by EWM.
Total sales (24) still outnumbered total new listings (11), which is to be expected in the middle of the holiday season. Buyers are still out in full force and are purchasing in all price ranges. The highest sale in our office was the home pictured below. It sold for $7,030,000 and was listed by EWM.