The Brickell and Downtown area are poised to be the center of the Universe for Miami, almost everyday I see a new restaurant opening, the stores, movie theaters and shopping centers will soon follow. Miami has already a amazing night-life, fueled by locals and professionals that live work and play in the area defining the new Miami urbanism.

There is a national trend to leave the suburbs and return to the cities, which is becoming more relevant now, due to the fuel prices and the high cost of commuting, which seems to be irreversible. It's easy to see how the Brickell and Downtown areas of the Magic City will finally be the next best area that benefit from a great appreciation in the next Real Estate cycle.

[Miami skyline ranks third in the US. Behind New York and Chicago. The Cranes in the background are topping-off Everglades on The Bay]

The Downtown and Brickell area is gold, if this area were fully-developed; prices would be much higher. The same happened in Sunny Isles and in South Beach "South of Fifth", nobody wanted to live there when there wasn't enough infrastructure in the area and most people didn't see the opportunity coming.

And it's infrastructure which makes Real Estate prices to go up.

The Real Estate in Miami is experiencing a total "Buyers" market. This simply means if you are a buyer and you have cash you are able to get the best deals in town right now.

In the residential end, the current amazing deals lie in the "defaults". The most profitable type of "defaults" is when buyers are unable to follow-through with their previous commitments to close on a ready-to-occupy unit. This commonly happens in brand new buildings. The big advantage for the new buyer is that since there is an excess inventory of properties in the market, some developers are selling these "defaults" properties at the original 2004-2005 contract prices, sometimes even with an additional discount.

The next set of opportunities is in the "Owner Motivated" arena. These types of properties were priced right BEFORE the market correction, and they had continued to be available in the market mostly due to the resilience of their owners to lower their prices to today standards. It has come to a point that many of these property owners have experienced either financial difficulty, market panic or better yet, they also want to benefit from the "Buyer's Market" and trade up to a better, more expensive property at an exceptional price, this allows them leverage to discount their property for sale even at below their original purchase price! Whichever the case is, the new "Priced To Sell" inventories present themselves like a great opportunity to acquire prime Miami Real Estate in great locations at corrected prices. Motivated sellers are coming with great Buyer's incentives, such as "Free Mortgage" for the first two years, "owner financing", boats or cars included with the property and sometimes even with a positive rental income that pays for the expenses.  Today's market is all about opportunities.

So, is it better to buy now or to wait a little longer?

I hear people say all the time, "In six months the prices will be lower" But these same people are still going to be playing the same shpil two years from now, it's just an excuse for not taking risk. I don't blame them, but then after the fact I always hear them saying "I should've bought". Let's take the Blackberry for example: Should you buy a Blackberry now or wait until the prices go down a few years from now? The answer is: If you buy it now, you will start reaping the benefits of it today. It's a little different in Real Estate I agree, opportunities come and go but don't expect to find the same opportunity again.

Sometimes speculation leads to a better profit margin. But, speculation is also a risky business. We got in this trouble for speculating too much, the only people that are safe are the ones that bought early. Today a lot of investors are also speculating at the same time about how much lower the Real Estate will fall. But be careful, everybody speculating at the same time could create a lot of buyer competition for you. Remember that "people make the market" and when everybody starts buying at the same time, the market will automatically turn into an "upswing" cycle and the best opportunities and incentives could disappear. Most important, Real Estate is all about location and right now you can be the first to select the best property in the best locations.

Comments? Gustavo Farfan is a Miami Real Estate specialist with HRP Realty Services.

He can be reach via e-mail gustavofarfan@glfproperties.com or via cell at 786-200-8700

website www.glfproperties.com

You can find great local Sunny Isles Beach, Florida real estate information on Localism.com Gustavo Farfan is a proud member of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network, a free online community to help real estate professionals grow their business.

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