Swire Properties, the company who is investing $1.05 billion over the next several years to turn 9 acres of land west of Brickell into an entertainment and restaurant destination, has already started construction on their first phase of the project.
Tag: Miami Real Estate
Swire Properties, the company who is investing $1.05 billion over the next several years to turn 9 acres of land west of Brickell into an entertainment and restaurant destination, has already started construction on their first phase of the project.
A new condo project, Grove at Grand Bay, is coming to the center Grove. Overlooking Sailboat Bay and the Coconut Grove Marina, the stunning architecture will be a nice addition to the Miami skyline. There have been very few new condos built in the Grove; there are currently only 49 listed for sale that were built after 2000.
These two towers will have 94 residences, each with spectacular terraces and outdoor kitchens. The pre-construction pricing starts in the high $800,000s.
EWM’s Coral Gables office had another spectacular week, with over $16 million dollars in sales. The fact that values are off 48 % from the peak is just one reason. Add to that improvements to urban areas that took place during the boom, the financial problems in Europe, proximity to Central and South America, gorgeous water, established cultural and art venues, our numerous universities and hospitals, and our international flavor.
With views like this, who wouldn’t want to live here!
Miami is a very international city with lots of foreign investors. If you are buying property here, you need to make sure to ask if the seller is a foreign investor or you could be on the hook for money owed to the IRS.
Under FIRPTA, Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act, there is a mandatory 10% withoholding of contract sales price at closing for all foreign sellers of real estate. It is the BUYER’S responsibility to make sure the 10% is withheld EVEN IF THEY ARE WORKING WITH AN ATTORNEY &/OR TITLE COMPANY. The withholdings must be remitted to the IRS within 20 days of sale along with a special tax return.
There are exceptions to the withholding that your Realtor, title company or attorney can walk you through, but you first must ask the question.
I attended a Citizens Property Insurance Round Table sponsored by State Representative Frank Artiles and Senator Oscar Braynon to discuss the proposed changes to Citizens’ current 10% rate increase cap. In an attempt to decrease the State of Florida’s financial exposure in the event of a major hurricane, Citizens has already removed some 17,000 policies from their coverage, eliminated or modified the amounts that will be deducted from a homeowners premium for mitigation upgrades, tightened their requirements on insurance based on useful life of the roof, and raised premiums. They no longer insure properties over $1 million.
Although I understand that the State of Florida does not, and probably should not, want to be in the insurance business, there are no other viable alternatives for windstorm protection in this state. If Citizens is allowed to remove the current cap on increases, premiums for coverage in South Florida could jump between 50 and 95%. Buyers who recently purchased their homes or investment properties could be in a situation where their insurance premiums go up to the point where their planned housing budgets get thrown completely out the window. I have several buyers who, after qualifying for Citizens for their purchase, were contacted a couple of months after they closed to be told that they need another inspection or were dropped when their policy came up for renewal.
For the 31.4% of homeowners in Florida with mortgages under water, and the 10.1% of those who are 90 days behind on their mortgages, the current and proposed changes, are just one more huge financial hurdle for them to overcome.
Several issues were raised during the round table that need addressing:
1) Currently, Citizens offers more than just windstorm insurance. Why the state should be insuring against a home’s plumbing leaks and other non-nature related claims, which happen more frequently than “the big one” is beyond me. Citizens should only be for windstorm and maybe sinkhole insurance.
2) Although there have been way more storms in northern Florida counties, and all 67 counties in the state are prone to a direct hit, the southern counties would be paying much higher premiums for same priced properties.
3) Citizens got rid of the appraisal value for another mechanism of figuring out replacement value, even though their mechanism results in significantly higher replacement costs and therefore higher premiums.
4) Citizens has spent a huge amount of money in legal fees fighting claims. If the claims are fraudulent, I am all for it, but it appears these are claims that they are supposed to be paying.
5) The need for national disaster insurance coverage that covers all natural disasters from flooding to tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes. If you look at the map from NOAA below, most states along the Gulf and east Coast have been hit by hurricanes. I wonder what their states’ insurance looks like?
If you are looking for reliable insurance agents who are well informed on the current and proposed changes to Citizens and who have other insurers available, contact Phil Lyons at Insource or Alvaro Murillo at Macpherson Insurance Agency. Please share your comments and concerns regarding Citizens insurance. The Miami and Florida Association of Realtors are following this issue very closely. You can also send your suggestions to Citizens at [email protected].
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How To Compete With Cash Buyers
Interest rates have dropped again. They are currently around 3.75% making properties even more affordable! Now your challenge will be finding a property. Inventory in Miami has dropped significantly and the competition with cash buyers is fierce. In the last two weeks I have seen several properties go on the market and have multiple offers within a couple of days and several have gone under contract above the list price. Most of them have been cash offers.
So, if you are financing your purchase how do you compete?
- The first step is to be pre-approved for a mortgage and have a pre-approval letter from the bank. A pre-approval is stronger than a pre-qualilfication.
- Next, take the time to get to know the market in the area where you are looking. If you are pre-approved for a $500,000 mortgage, do not look in neighborhoods where the properties sell for $600,000.
- Look at properties that have been on the market for more than 100 days. If they are not short sales or foreclosures, chances are they are overpriced. The average days on market for all properties in Miami-Dade County for January through April of 2012 is 99 days. Properties that are overpriced tend to sell for less than what they would have if they were priced correctly to begin with.
- Don’t underbid a property by a huge amount of money. Miami-Dade County is no longer a buyers market. Depending on what numbers you look at it is a stable market, at or below 6 months of inventory based on closed sales for the last three months, or a seller’s market, at 3 months of inventory based on pending sales for the last three months. From February through April of 2012, properties have been selling on average at 89.6% of their original list price.
These suggestions are guidelines, since the averages used were for Miami-Dade County as a whole. Average days on market, months of inventory, and sales to list price averages may be higher or lower in the neighborhoods you are looking in.
Further evidence of the improving Miami real estate market can be seen in EWM’s Coral Gables office sales for last week. The total of sales and leases was $20,484,380. Residential sales represented 90.5% of those transactions. The total for all of EWM’s Miami Dade County offices was over $36,000,000.
Today’s Miami Herald article, “South Florida’s real estate market looks hot again” summarizes the market gains.
Miami and Phoenix are seeing a rise in asking prices, based on a Trulia Price Monitor Report. There are still a lot of good buys out there, but many buyers are frustrated when a new property comes on the market and goes under contract almost immediately. Decreasing inventory and aggressive pricing by listing agents, mean you have to act fast if you are serious about making a purchase. If the property is priced right, don’t try to negotiate it down too much, if at all. I listed two properties last week that both had multiple offers within the first two days. The first property had all offers at asking price and we went to a multiple offer situation where we asked for highest and best. Total time on market was 6 days.
The second property had several offers on the second day. One agent had his buyer offer slightly over asking and put down 10% as an initial deposit, upon acceptance. The seller accepted his offer. Two days later, a higher offer came in from a buyer who was desperate because she had just lost out on a short sale and needs to move fast.
If you are a buyer, be ready to put your best offer forward early on. If you are a seller and get multiple offers, don’t second guess your pricing or hold out for something even better. The reality is that you get the most activity on a listing when it first goes on the market. The longer you wait, the less you are likely to get.
Come by for lunch and preview this updated home.
3/2, newer roof & septic, hurricane shutters, gas stove, room for pool and great price $449,000!