houses: Sellers still reducing their asking price for homes - 04/15/11 03:45 AM
With the homebuying market still struggling, real estate agencies are trying to lure potential homeowners into moving to their area by slashing home prices.In a soon to be released report from the real estate website Trulia.com, home sellers have cut more than $24 billion in potential home equity over the past year and trimmed the cost of properties approximately 79 days after posting the initial asking price. What's more, according to the website, 35 percent of sellers will cut their prices again.Trulia.com reports that the average home seller dropped their asking price by an average of 8 percent, but that rate … (2 comments)

houses: Miami New-Condo Sales Revive As Biggest Markets Fall - 03/08/11 05:01 AM
The new-condo boom struck louder in Miami than it did in other markets and fell hardest there when the thunder stopped.Now the area stands out again. Its new-condo market is coming back stronger in sales and pricing, though it's a fraction of its old self.Thank all-cash buyers from Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Europe and other locales. They see Miami's luxury condos at discounted prices as safe havens for investment money.Positive sales trends continue."These people are parking their cash," said Peter Zalewski, principal of real estate consultancy Condo Vultures. "In Venezuela, they're fearful they're going to lose it (under President Hugo Chavez's … (0 comments)

houses: Cash is King as New Wave of Home Buyers Shuns Loans and Pays Small Bucks for Bargains - 02/22/11 02:58 AM
It's a new beginning in America's home-buying market. More and more buyers are saying no to expensive and convoluted bank loans and paying cash instead for bargain properties.The Wall Street Journal reports scores of bargain-basement deals being closed by cash-bidding buyers who feel the bottom has been reached in the market.Where are they getting the cash from? They are selling other investments like paintings, cars and jewelry.For example, In Atlanta, 62-year-old piano teacher Virginia Hall-Busch paid cash for a 93-year-old three-bedroom, one-bath bungalow in scenic Stone Mountain, GA. The property initially listed for $159,000, then dropped to $129,000 and then to … (0 comments)

houses: Brazilians making an economic mark - 02/15/11 03:09 AM
President Barack Obama will visit Brazil during his first South American trip in March and Brazil is Florida's top trading partner. But Brazilians are also snapping up beachfront luxury properties and downtown Miami condos, investing in everything from real estate to Burger King, and shopping voraciously.It's as if a "swarm of grasshoppers" has descended on South Florida, chomping through bargains from Dadeland to Sawgrass Mills, one tour operator says. "The trend now is everybody comes to shop, shop, shop,'' said Claudia Menezes, of Pegasus Transportation, which operates a fleet of buses for conventional tours as well as the shopping excursions that … (1 comments)

houses: Cash Buyers Lift Housing - 02/08/11 02:39 AM
Buyers in markets around the U.S. are snapping up homes in all-cash deals, betting that prices are at or near bottom and breathing life into some of the nation's most battered housing markets. Cash buyers represented more than half of all transactions in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area last year, according to an analysis from real-estate portal Zillow.com. In the fourth quarter of 2006, they represented just 13% of deals. Meanwhile, downtown Miami prices rose 15% in 2010 from a year earlier, according to the Miami Downtown Development Authority. The percentage of buyers in Phoenix paying cash hit 42% in 2010-more than … (0 comments)

houses: Metro-Miami's Pending Home Sales Rise 28% Year-over-year - 02/01/11 02:41 AM
(MIAMI, FL ) -- According to the Miami Association of Realtors and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (SEFMLS), total cumulative pending home sales - including single-family homes and condominiums - in Miami-Dade County increased 28 percent in January compared to a year earlier, from 8,388 to 10,698, and 2.5 percent, from 10,437, compared to the previous month."Over the last few months, we have seen pending and closed sales gain momentum while inventory levels continue to drop, said Jack H. Levine, 2010 chairman of the board of the Miami Association of Realtors. "This trend in rising sales, particularly for condominiums, coupled … (1 comments)

houses: It’s cheaper to buy than rent in Miami - 01/25/11 03:00 AM
Miami tops the list of places in the country where it's cheaper to own than rent a home, according to Trulia.com's latest Rent vs. Buy Index.The San Francisco-based real estate website noted that the foreclosure crisis has pushed many homeowners to become renters, thus jacking up the cost of rentals."Following the principles of supply and demand, renting has become relatively more expensive than buying in most markets," Trulia CEO and co-founder Pete Flint said in a news release.In fact, Trulia found that it is more affordable to buy than rent a two-bedroom home in 72 percent of America's 50 largest cities.Trulia … (0 comments)

houses: Foreigners flock to Florida for real estate bargains - 12/16/10 02:30 AM
MIAMI -- Foreign tourists who for years have crowded Florida's shopping malls to buy clothes and electronics, are now flocking to real estate offices to snatch up apartments and homes at bargain-basement prices. The investors, mainly from Europe and Latin America, are jostling over apartments in Miami's trendy South Beach neighborhood selling for $70,000-$100,000, and in less exclusive areas to the north where they start at around $50,000."The buying opportunities are maybe the best ever. Who knows if we'll see prices again like today's in Miami Beach," Keys Real Estate agent Michelle Iglesias told AFP.Property prices in Miami have fallen by … (1 comments)

houses: 3 hotels sold in South Beach - 12/15/10 02:27 AM
A trio of historic buildings in Miami Beach has been purchased by South American real estate and hotel group Lennox Miami Corp.The $14.7 million sale included the 62-room Peter Miller Hotel at 1900 Collins Ave.; the 12-unit Miller Apartments at 229 19th St. and the 12-unit Peter Miller Apartments at 1915 Liberty Ave. All of the buildings were designed in the 1930s by architect Russell Pancoast. The seller was Kabo Realty Corp., based in Miami. M1 Hospitality Group, a division of real estate brokerage and investment firm Metro 1 Properties in Miami, represented both parties.Plans for the properties have not been … (2 comments)

houses: Documentations For Purchasing Miami Real Estate Buildings - 12/10/10 03:16 AM
After the long period of waiting, when you finally get to accumulate the funds to afford a Property, you start looking for prospective homes. After some days of consideration, you produce up your mind to purchase a specific Home. Regardless of the fact that that you are experienced or not, the mile long list of essentials for Buying a Property will surely bewilder you. Property sellers, bucks lenders and Miami Real Estate agents have every Correct to stipulate for relevant documents so that they might rightly evaluate your ability to pay them back. When you fail to submit even one of … (0 comments)

houses: Miami Pending Home Sales Up 26% in November - 12/03/10 04:49 AM
Miami, FL - Total cumulative pending home sales - including single-family homes and condominiums - in Miami-Dade County increased 26 percent in November compared to a year earlier, from 8,288 to 10,495, and increased 2.3 percent, up from 10,264, compared to the previous month according to the MIAMI Association of REALTORS and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (SEFMLS). November marks the fourth consecutive month of increased pending home sales in Miami-Dade County. A sale is listed as pending when a contract is signed but the transaction has not closed, though the sale usually is finalized within one or two months … (0 comments)

houses: Art of the deal - 12/02/10 02:53 AM
New Yorkers who regularly visit Miami often talk about how hard it is to get any work done there - how the city's lazy, beautiful people just bounce around to beaches, restaurants, hotel lounges, nightclubs, house parties and boat parties.But the reality is more complicated. There's no other American city that works this hard at partying and is full of so many people hustling for business while they're partying. And this is especially true when it comes to selling real estate during the Miami social season, which kicks off with a big splash this week as Art Basel and dozens of … (0 comments)

houses: Visa deal funding realty, investors get homeland - 12/01/10 03:54 AM
At a time international investors are drawn to Miami's real estate bargains, the government's EB-5 visa program is an attractive vehicle for them to invest here in exchange for US residency.Exclusive Visas, an EB-5 consulting firm based in Weston, is advising developers of several projects that would boost the local economy and create jobs while offering participating investors permanent residency for them and their families.These projects include the University of Miami's Life Science and Technology Park, rising in Miami's health district, and the planned construction of 50 Sonic fast-food restaurants throughout Miami-Dade and Broward counties.Fred Burgess, president of Exclusive Visas, has … (0 comments)

houses: Homebuyers get creative to close the deal - 11/24/10 06:41 AM
MIAMI - - When Efrain Hernandez couldn't seal a deal before the first-time home buyer tax credit expired this year, he lost faith that he would ever own a house in this real estate climate.But the enforced wait got him more than the $8,000 federal tax credit.Hernandez negotiated a contract on a five-bedroom, three-bath home in a development near Homestead, Fla., talking homebuilder Lennar into $40,000 off the list price, getting it to pay $18,000 in closing costs and scoring a $7,500 no-interest loan from Miami-Dade County to lighten his down payment."I was finally able to buy the house of my … (1 comments)

houses: Miami Home Sales Jumped - 11/23/10 06:23 AM
Miami, FL -- The median sales price of single-family homes in October in the Miami Metropolitan Statistical Area increased 12 percent to $199,100 from a year earlier, according to the MIAMI Association of REALTORS and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (SEFMLS). Miami was one of only three home markets and the only major metropolitan area in Florida posting an increase for median sales price of single-family homes. Compared to the previous month, the median sales price rose six percent. "Rising median sales prices reflect strengthening and stability of the Miami real estate market," said Jack H. Levine, 2010 Chairman of … (0 comments)

houses: Add 2.1 million houses to the glut - 11/22/10 07:13 AM
There's a large number of homes, either already repossessed by lenders or very seriously delinquent, that are poised to be added to the already glutted regular supply of homes on the market. This "shadow inventory" jumped 10% during the past year, to an eight-month supply at the current rate of home sales, according to a report issued Monday.According to CoreLogic, a financial information provider, there were 2.1 million homes in this uncounted inventory as of the end of August, up from 1.9 million units 12 months earlier.Adding the shadow inventory to the visible supply of homes on the market boosted the … (1 comments)

houses: Tough times for REO buyers - 11/19/10 03:39 AM
Q: My family wants to buy a house in Miami. They are looking for a foreclosed property around $60,000, and will pay all cash. Do you think the time is right to buy now? If not, when would be the best time to buy? --Mehmet, FloridaA: First, I'd like to ask you and your family to rethink a core element of your approach to this process. I'm often approached with questions by buyers-to-be who say they "are looking for a foreclosure."I submit that what you're actually looking for is a good deal -- even a really good deal -- on a … (2 comments)

houses: For the quarter, home prices fall - 11/15/10 05:01 AM
South Florida home prices continued to drop in the third quarter, spurring an increase in condominium sales, even as single-family sales slumped, a report released Thursday by the Florida Association of Realtors found. In Miami-Dade County, condo sales jumped to 2,527 in the third quarter, up 43 percent compared to the third quarter of last year. Single-family home sales dipped slightly to 1,812, down 1 percent from last year.In Broward County, both condo sales and single-family home sales were down in the third quarter. Condo sales totaled 2,459 for an 8 percent drop, and single-family home sales totaled 2,076, an 18 … (0 comments)

houses: Real estate market improves as bargain hunters begin buying - 11/05/10 04:23 AM
Amid South Florida's recession-battered real estate market, there's some pretty good news: We haven't lost our allure and bargain hunters have moved in.That's the feedback from a panel of real estate experts gathered for the 10th Business Journal Critical Conversation for 2010. Previous installments of the news series have covered topics ranging from health care and manufacturing to cloud computing and the cruise industry.Residential real estate shows considerable movement, with bargains spurring sales and some builders starting new single-family homes with little competition left, our experts said. Industrial space is tight in some areas, but office space is expected to lag … (1 comments)

houses: Florida Real Estate Prices On the Rise in Miami and Orlando? - 11/03/10 03:25 AM
As we all know, Florida has seen some of the most dramatic falls in real estate prices and the total number of homes sold since the housing market collapsed. Although things are bad in much of the state, it seems that the real estate market in Florida may be on the mend. Some of the most hard hit areas such as the Orlando, Miami, and Fort Myers areas have seen nice rebounds in the number of homes sold over the last several months, raising hope that prices will soon follow. Fort Myers, located in Southwest Florida, has seen the number of … (0 comments)