Friday, May 31, 2013

Miami Heat Stars are Miami Real Estate Hard Players



Miami Heat stars like Lebron James have  been busy buying and selling real estate in addition to chasing the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
Pat Riley, on the other hand, successfully sold his single-family home after relocating full-time to Miami Beach.
Here is a list of some of the real estate transactions of the most popular Miami Heat players.
Lebron James paid $9 million for a 12,000-square-foot home on the bay in Coconut Grove with six bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms.
Chris Bosh paid $12.5 million for his 12,000-square-foot home on North Bay Road in Miami Beach.
Dwyane Wade paid $10.65 million for a 13,000-square-foot waterfront home on North Bay Road in Miami Beach.
Mike Miller's six-bedroom, 9,000-square-foot home in Pompano was sold at auction for $3.355 million, which allowed him to pay off the mortgage. Miller originally paid $5.4 million for the home. 
Heat President Pat Riley sold his Gables Estates mansion for $16.75 million
Shaquille O'Neal sold his 19,440-square-foot mansion on Star Island for $16 million
* Some notes taken from South Florida Business Journal. 


To Buy, Sell or Rent Properties in Miami go to http://www.JuanSolerRealtor.com  

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Developer's Contribution to Make Miami Real Estate Market more Stable


There are about 100 condo projects in the pipeline in the greater Miami area and right this moment 21 are under construction.
Different developers have been reinventing themselves and been changing their strategies to be more versatile and flexible. They don’t want to put all their eggs in the same type of building.

Related group is one of the leaders of this shift that many developers are implementing in their new business strategy.  The changes come at various leves, for example, Related group is not focusing exclusively on Brickell and downtown Miami but instead the company's projects are sprinkled around the Miami area, targeting different buying groups. Related's roster of on-going projects includes towers in Aventura, Hallendale Beach and Hollywood Beach. And they are launching a new project every four months according to President Rosso.

With bank financing for condo developments scarce, Related is largely funding developments with pre-sales to buyers. Like many developers, Related has changed its payment structure, requiring buyers to pay up to 50 percent of the total cost in the early stages. In the past buyers typically paid 20 percent upfront and the balance on handover.  "It is a very, very safe way of developing," Rosso said. "Get a bigger deposit down and they [buyers] don't walk away." The low deposits famously encouraged flippers and speculators, who looked to quickly resell the project, in many cases before it was built. When the market turned, many buyers walked away from their deposits rather than purchase a unit that had already lost a large chunk of its value.  Today Related typically won't start construction on a project until 80 percent of the project has been sold, Mr. Rosso said. 
This is not definitely the same Related that made international headlines when the condominium market in Miami collapsed. Related struggled to repay lenders on several ambitious projects, including the $1 billion Icon Brickell, which completed in 2008. They are showing they have learned some lessons, done their homework and acting smarter to make our local real estate market much more secure and firm.

Off plan sales have dried up in many parts of the world, where buyers are reluctant to commit money to a project until there is proof it will be built. But South Florida continues to be bolstered by a steady stream of customers from Latin America, who typically account for 50 percent or more of a condominium project's sales. Related has collected more than $300 million in deposits, Mr. Rosso said. "It's a big sign of confidence in Miami," he said. 
* Some notes taken from Miami Association of Realtors.


To Buy, Sell or Rent Properties in Miami go to http://www.JuanSolerRealtor.com  






Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Double Digit Returns in Miami Real Estate


A double-digit return in real estate is always sought after and certainly welcome by any savvy investor.   The median resale price for a single-family home in Miami-Dade jumped 23.7 percent to $225,000 in April from a year earlier, the Miami Association of Realtors said. That would qualify all Miami buyers as shrew and savvy investors in this impressive rebound of our local market.
If we take a quick look at all the median prices for existing properties in Miami we realized that all of them climbed in double digits.  The median price for an existing Miami-Dade condo climbed 17.1 percent year over year to $175,000.  April sales of single-family homes leaped 15.2 percent to 1,094 units in Miami-Dade year over year. The increase came despite the 6.9 percent drop in the number of single-family homes listed for sale in April which makes the behavior of the market way more imposing.
Sales of existing condos in Miami-Dade rose 18.7 percent from a year earlier. The number of condo listings inched up 1.1 percent in April from a year earlier, the Miami Realtors said. Still, with greater demand and more sales flowing through the pipeline, the months of supply of existing condos on the market in Miami-Dade dropped to 5.7 months in April from 6.1 months a year earlier.
Real estate agents are surprised that the volume of sales has continued to increase year over year despite the lack of inventory available to sell. “After two record sales years coupled with very tight supply, it seemed sales would not exceed last year’s activity. Yet Miami real estate sales appear to be surging again,” Natascha Tello, chairman of Miami Realtors said in a statement.
And with this shortage of inventory there are bidding wars. People are paying above what the appraisal is coming back at. Many listing are sold over asking price even when the property is not in its best condition. Listing agents are receiving multiple offers over the listing price especially when the property is in prime location.
The good news is that this time a large share of all transactions are cash and when the transaction is financed the mortgage leaders are requiring solid substantial equity in the deal.  * Some notes taken from the Miami Herald.

To Buy, Sell or Rent Properties in Miami go to http://www.JuanSolerRealtor.com