Tag: Miami Real Estate

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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.

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Buying Investment Real Estate Selling

3 Reasons Miami-Dade’s Housing Market Will Take Longer to Recover Than Broward’s

The Miami Herald posted an article that Broward’s housing market is close to bottoming out, even though prices in both Broward and Miami-Dade counties continue to slide.  The article was correct in predicting that Broward will rebound faster mainly because:

1) Miami’s inventory was higher than Broward’s to begin with.  Last year at this time, Broward’s single family home inventory was 28 months and is currently 13.  Miami-Dade had a 42 month supply last year and a 17 month supply now.  Condos in Broward were at 31 months and are now at 17 month.  Dade condos were at a 53 month supply and there is currently a 27 month supply.  These supplies are only based on MLS numbers.  There are many more units being held by developers that aren’t listed on the MLS

2) Miami still has a lot of projects that are just now coming on line, especially in the condo market, which is already saturated.

3) Miami built more in outlying areas, especially in the southern part of the county and along the Biscayne corridor.

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Buying Investment Real Estate Selling

3 Reasons Miami-Dade's Housing Market Will Take Longer to Recover Than Broward's

The Miami Herald posted an article that Broward’s housing market is close to bottoming out, even though prices in both Broward and Miami-Dade counties continue to slide.  The article was correct in predicting that Broward will rebound faster mainly because:

1) Miami’s inventory was higher than Broward’s to begin with.  Last year at this time, Broward’s single family home inventory was 28 months and is currently 13.  Miami-Dade had a 42 month supply last year and a 17 month supply now.  Condos in Broward were at 31 months and are now at 17 month.  Dade condos were at a 53 month supply and there is currently a 27 month supply.  These supplies are only based on MLS numbers.  There are many more units being held by developers that aren’t listed on the MLS

2) Miami still has a lot of projects that are just now coming on line, especially in the condo market, which is already saturated.

3) Miami built more in outlying areas, especially in the southern part of the county and along the Biscayne corridor.

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Buying Investment Real Estate

Miami FL – Commercial Real Estate is the Next Buyers Market

An Associated Press article last week highlights opportunities in commerical real estate.  Whereas many economists arebrickell-2-resize predicting that the housing market is at or close to bottom, the commercial sector is just starting to see massive defaults.  A skyscraper in New York that was purchased for approximately $50o million in 2006 just sold for $100,000!  The commercial real estate market is the worst in decades and there are billions worth of distressed properties in every market.  This creates an amazing opportunity for long term real estate investors.

Although Miami does not have the commercial density of New York or Chicago, it did go through a commercial building boom,  and there will be many opportunities in all commercial sectors over the next year.

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Renting in Miami

Miami Rentals – Renters Will Benefit From New Law

for-rent-saleBefore President Obama signed the housing law last week, renters were often found being thrown out of a home when their landlord was foreclosed on.   Since Miami is almost ground zero for foreclosures, renters need to be cautious when renting in Miami and inform themselves of the protections that are buried in the new housing law.

  • Many homes and condos in Miami are currently listed on the MLS for both rent and sale.
  • Some of these are short sales which means the seller owes more money on the mortgage than the property is worth.
  • These properties often have owners who are experiencing financial difficulties.
  • If you rent one of these properties, the landlord does not have to use your rent to pay the mortgage and, in many cases doesn’t.
  • Have your Realtor check the tax rolls to see if there are currently any liens or lis pendens on the property.  Although no guarantee that your landlord will not be foreclosed on for the duration of your lease, at least you will know if they are already in the process.

Before the protections in the housing law were put into place, many tenants would find themselves out of a home with little savings to cover moving costs, which are usually first and last month’s rent plus one month’s rent for security deposit.  When the landlord is foreclosed on, there is little recourse for the renter to try to collect their deposit and last month’s rent since foreclosure terminates the lease.  New protections include:

  • Tenants with lease can stay in property for the remainder of the lease and 90 days thereafter.
  • Tenants without a lease (month-to-monthers) will have 90 days.

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Buying Investment Real Estate Market Summary Selling

Miami Real Estate – Quarterly Update For Miami-Dade County

Wow, EWM’s Coral Gables office alone had over $24,000,000 worth of transactions this week!  Does this mean the market has finally reached bottom?  Not necessarily, but if we are not there yet in terms of prices,  I think we are in terms of the decrease in sales.  Put in perspective, the lowest level of inventory for all single homes in Miami-Dade County listed on the MLS was in April of 2005:  2,973.  Based on the number of sales for the first quarter of 2009, our inventory peaked in July of 2008 with 17,070 single family homes.  The  inventory at the end of April stands at 11,936.  As you can see the from the graph below, inventory is starting to move.  Summer is the peak of purchasing season, especially for single family homes, so we should see significantly more movement over the nMiami Real Estate Market Trends ext several months.

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Buying

Buying a Home? Know What You are Looking For

I know it sounds obvious, but knowing what you are looking for isn’t always as simple as it sounds.  Once you are pre-approved for a mortgage, decide what your ideal neighborhood and home would be.  Are schools important or is it more important that you be close to work?  Determine what the “must haves” are.  These are the specifics of the property or neighborhood that you are not willing to give up but would be willing to sacrifice a “nice, but not necessary” for.  This could be an extra bedroom, pool, specific school district, waterfront criteria etc.  Knowing what you are looking for both in a neighborhood and home  is extremely important as it will help keep you focused.  Once you narrow down your wants, you will realize you don’t have to look at everything on the market, only those specific properties that meet your criteria.