Miami Residential Real Estate Sales Rise While Prices Fall
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www.BuyMiami.netMiami residential real estate transactions maintained their three year high in December 2009, even as median sales prices for new and resale homes and condos declined from December 2008. While new home sales continued to remain a low percentage of overall sales, December 2009 sales of existing condos increased significantly from November 2009 and from December 2008.
Miami metro area home sales remained at a three-year high in December as sales of existing condos, whose prices have fallen most sharply from peak levels in 2006, continued to claim a higher-than-average share of transactions. The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos combined didn't budge from November and declined from a year earlier by the lowest amount - 22.5 percent - since late 2008, a real estate information service reported.
In December, 8,259 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the metro area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. That was up 19.1 percent from November and up 41.3 percent from 5,846 in December 2008, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego, Calif. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.
Total escrow closings were the highest for a December since 2006, but they were still the third-lowest for that month since 1997, when DataQuick's complete Miami-area stats begin.
December's increase in total sales from November was normal for the season, though the 19.1 gain was below the average November-to-December increase of 29.6 percent since 1997.
December marked the tenth consecutive month in which the region's overall sales rose on a year-over-year basis. Existing (not new) single-family detached house and condo sales have risen year-over-year for 13 consecutive months, while new-home sales in December fell below the year-ago level for the 42nd time in the last 43 months.
The December 2009 new-home tally rose nearly 31 percent above the November level but was still the lowest for the month of December since at least 1997. New-home sales, which have suffered as builders struggle to compete with low-cost foreclosures, made up 8.6 percent of total December sales. That compares with the new-home market's monthly average of 20.3 percent of total sales over the past decade.
The 3,611 sales of existing condos in December marked a gain of 18 percent from November and 61.5 percent from a year earlier, to the highest level for a December since 2004, when condo resales totaled 4,407. Condo resales made up 43.7 percent of total Miami-area home sales in December, compared with 38.2 percent a year earlier and a monthly average of 31.5 percent over the past decade.
Propelled by strong condo sales, December sales of all homes priced $50,000 to $150,000 shot up 98.5 percent from December 2008. The $50,000 - $150,000 sales represented 47.5 percent of total home sales in December, up from 33.9 percent in December 2008 and 15.2 percent in December 2007.
Sales also picked up in December at the opposite end of the price spectrum: The number of homes sold for $1 million or more rose to 243 in December, up 51 percent from 161 in November and up 28.6 percent from 189 in December 2008. The figures are based on an analysis of public property records, where there was a purchase price or purchase loan amount of $1 million or more. During all of 2009, sales of $1 million-plus homes totaled 2,061, down 32.3 percent from a 2008 total of 3,044. The peak month for $1 million-plus home sales was in June 2005, when 583 sold, and the peak year was 2005, when 5,452 homes sold for $1 million or more.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in December was $155,000, the same as in November but down 22.5 percent from $200,000 in December 2008. It was the smallest year-over-year decline for the overall median sale price since the median fell 22.2 percent, to $210,000, in November 2008.
December's median was 46.6 percent below the peak $290,000 median in June 2007. The Miami area's median price has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 27 consecutive months.
The median price paid for resale condos in December held steady at $105,000 - the same as in November but down 23.7 percent from a year ago and down 54.8 percent from the peak $219,000 resale condo median in July 2006. The resale condo median hit a cycle low of $99,000 in September 2009.
The median paid for resale single-family detached houses rose slightly in December to $188,000, up 1.7 percent from 184,800 in November but down 14.5 percent from a year ago and down 44.1 percent from a June 2007 peak of $340,000.
Another price gauge analysts watch, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, held steady in December at $109, the same as in November but down 11.4 percent from $123 in December 2008. It was the lowest year-over-year decline for any month since November 2007. The December 2009 median paid per square foot stood 48.3 percent below the region's $211 peak in summer 2006. The measure has fallen year-over-year for 39 straight months.
A popular form of financing used by first-time home buyers - government-insured FHA loans - accounted for 42.5 percent of all home purchase loans in December, down from 48.5 percent in November but up from 35 percent a year ago and 5.4 percent two years ago.
Absentee buyers purchased 29.3 percent of all homes sold in the Miami area in December, up from 28.8 percent in November and 26.6 percent a year ago, according to public property records. Absentee buyers are often investors, but could include second-home buyers and others who indicated at the time of sale that their property tax bill would be sent to a different address.
About 2.8 percent of the homes sold in December had been "flipped" within a three-week to six-month period, meaning they had been bought on the open market and then re-sold within that window. That's down slightly from a flipping rate of 3.1 percent of all sales in November but up from 1.7 percent in December 2008, based on public records. Flipping rates were higher before the housing market correction: In December 2005 the Miami-area flipping rate was 4.5 percent, while it was 5.0 percent in December 2004.
Buyers who appear to have used cash to purchase their homes accounted for 54.0 percent of all December sales, and those buyers paid a median $120,000 for their homes. Specifically, these were transactions where there was no indication of a purchase loan recorded in the public record at the time of sale. Some of these "cash" buyers could have used alternative financing arrangements outside of a typical purchase mortgage, and in some cases these buyers might be taking out mortgages after their purchases. All-cash deals are popular in markets where prices have dropped sharply and sellers favor the relative speed and certainty of cash transactions.
The use of adjustable-rate mortgages ("ARMs") to buy homes was steady in December at 5.7 percent of all purchase loans, the same as in November but up from a decade low of 4.4 percent in May 2009. However, December's purchase ARM level was down from 6.9 percent a year earlier. Miami's monthly average for ARM use over the past decade is 49.7 percent of purchase loans. In December, the median ARM purchase loan amount was $280,000.
Source:http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/miami-residential-real-estate-sales-rise-while-prices-fall-54588.aspx
This article has been republished from DQNews. You can also view this article at DQNews, a real estate research and news site.
Friday, 2/12 from 9-midnight: Valentine's Prom Night Benefitting South Pointe Elementary at SET
Buy Tickets online at at www.fospe.org also join Friends of South Pointe Elementary on Face Book!
Please forward this flyer to your friends! It should be a super fun night and a chance for us parents to get out and shake our bones on the cheap as vips!
Set: 320 Lincoln Rd, Miami Beach RSVPVALENTINEPROMNIGHT@GMAIL.COM
*all purchases benefit FOSPE, the non-profit that put 4 paraprofessional to assist teachers in the SPE classrooms this year. All donations are tx deductable.
The 10 Must-Have Features in Today's New Homes
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www.BuyMiami.net Americans want smaller houses and they are willing to strip some of yesterday's most popular rooms -- such as home theaters -- from them in order to accommodate changing lifestyles, consumer experts told audiences at the International Builders Show here this week.
"This is a traumatic time in this country and the future isn't something we're 100% sure about now either. What's left? The answer for most home buyers is authenticity," said Heather McCune, director of marketing for Bassenian Lagoni Architects in Park Ridge, Ill.
Buyers today want cost-effective architecture, plans that focus on spaces and not rooms and homes that are designed 'green' from the outset," she said. The key for home builders is "finding the balance between what buyers want and the price point."
For many buyers, their next house will be smaller than their current one, said Carol Lavender, president of the Lavender Design Group in San Antonio, Texas. Large kitchens that are open to the main family living area, old-fashioned bathrooms with clawfoot tubs and small spaces such as wine grottos are design features that will resonate today, she said.
"What we're hearing is 'harvest' as a home theme -- the feeling of Thanksgiving. It's all about family togetherness -- casual living, entertaining and flexible spaces," Lavender said.
Paul Cardis, CEO of AVID Ratings Co., which conducts an annual survey of home-buyer preferences, said there are 10 "must" features in new homes.
1. Large Kitchens, With an Island"If you're going to spend design dollars, spend them where people want them -- spend them in the kitchen," McCune said. Granite countertops are a must for move-up buyers and buyers of custom homes, but for others "they are on the bubble," Cardis said.
2. Energy-Efficient Appliances, High-Efficiency Insulation and High Window EfficiencyAmong the "green" features touted in homes, these are the ones buyers value most, he said. While large windows had been a major draw, energy concerns are giving customers pause on those, he said. The use of recycled or synthetic materials is only borderline desirable.
3. Home Office/StudyPeople would much rather have this space rather than, say, a formal dining room. "People are feeling like they can dine out again and so the dining room has become tradable," Cardis said. And the home theater may also be headed for the scrap heap, a casualty of the "shift from boom to correction," Cardis said.
4. Main-Floor Master SuiteThis is a must feature for empty-nesters and certain other buyers, and appears to be getting more popular in general, he said. That could help explain why demand for upstairs laundries is declining after several years of popularity gains.
5. Outdoor Living RoomThe popularity of outdoor spaces continues to grow, even in Canada, Cardis said. And the idea of an outdoor room is even more popular than an outdoor cooking area, meaning people are willing to spend more time outside.
6. Ceiling Fans
7. Master Suite Soaker TubsWhirlpools are still desirable for many home buyers, Cardis said, but "they clearly went down a notch," in the latest survey. Oversize showers with seating areas are also moving up in popularity.
8. Stone and Brick ExteriorsStucco and vinyl don't make the cut.
9. Community Landscaping, With Walking Paths and PlaygroundsForget about golf courses, swimming pools and clubhouses. Buyers in large planned developments prefer hiking among lush greenery.
10. Two-Car GaragesA given at all levels; three-car garages, in which the third bay is more often then not used for additional storage and not automobiles, is desirable in the move-up and custom categories, Cardis said.
Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108701/the-10-must-have-features-in-todays-new-homes.html?mod=family-love_money
Labels: condos for sale in miami beach, condos for sale miami florida, condos in miami beach
Now may be the time to buy a house
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www.BuyMiami.net If you have a good job and good credit, the next few months might be a sweet time to go house hunting. Then again, maybe not.
Fence-sitters take the risk that Congress may let a rich tax credit expire, and that interest rates may rise. So, let's walk through some factors for buyers and sellers to consider as they consider jumping in.
-Mortgage rates are blissfully low, and that may not last. The rate on a 30-year mortgage averaged 5 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac. Rates are low in part because the Federal Reserve has been buying up about $3 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and mortgage agency debt. The aim is to hold down interest rates and keep mortgages available. But the Fed is slowly removing that financial crutch as the economy improves. It has no plans to buy any more past March 30. The likely result is an uptick in rates.
Meanwhile, the recovering economy by itself should raise rates as the year goes on. Economists at the Mortgage Bankers Association expect to see a 6.1 percent rate by year end. Such a rise would add about $104 to the monthly payment on a $150,000 mortgage
-The home-buyer tax credit expires on April 30, and no one knows if Congress will renew it a second time. Expect a clash between the real estate lobby and fiscal conservatives worried about the $1.35 trillion federal deficit.
To qualify for the credit, you must sign a purchase contract by April 30 and close by July 1. First-time buyers get up to $8,000. "First-time" is defined as someone who hasn't owned a home in three years. Move-up buyers get up to $6,500 when they purchase a new primary residence. To get the credit, you have to have lived in the old home for at least five out of the last eight years. The credits start phasing out at $125,000 in adjusted gross income for singles and $225,000 for joint filers.
-There are indications that home prices are near a bottom in St. Louis and may actually be rising a bit. That statement is dicey, because conditions vary by neighborhood and the data can be tricky.
First American CoreLogic tracks real estate prices across the nation. In November, its housing price index for St. Louis was down 0.46 percent from a year before. That's an improvement from October, when it was down 2.8 percent.
Stats from the St. Louis Association of Realtors tell a happier story. For the last four months, median sale prices in St. Louis city and county have been above the level of a year before. That breaks a long pattern of falling prices.
Things might look different if you're a seller. Do you want to put your house on the market near the bottom of a price cycle? Homeowners who have a choice in the matter - those who can still pay their mortgages - are largely saying no.
Inventories of homes for sale are down about 10 percent from this time last year, and 30 percent from the mid-decade peak of the housing boom, says Kevin Cottrell, chief economist at Kelsey Cottrell Realty Group.
On the other hand, if you're planning to move up to something grander, you might find a bigger bargain when you buy. And that $6,500 tax credit could swing a close decision.
Home sales in St. Louis peaked in October and November, as buyers raced the expiration date of the original first-time homebuyer's credit. Congress later extended and expanded it.
That rush satisfied some pent-up demand, but real estate agents are hoping for another rush around April. "People will wait to the very last second," said Mike Travaglini, a vice president of Coldwell Banker Gundaker's office in south St. Louis County.
It's still a buyer's market. Letty DeMay, president of the St. Louis Association of Realtors, tells sellers to expect to wait 90 to 100 days for an offer. Meanwhile, sellers are dropping prices to entice buyers, she said.
The quickest sales come in the $150,000 and below range - prime territory for first-time buyers. But job losses, fear of job losses and tight credit may keep buyers scarce, despite the government giveaway.
Mortgage lenders have been tightening credit standards, which means fewer eligible buyers, says John Frank, president of Paramount Mortgage in Creve Coeur. Mo. "It's getting tighter and tighter," he said.
Lenders are insisting on credit scores of 640 to 660 for loans sold to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and 620 for FHA guaranteed loans. Those standards are higher than the federal agencies themselves insist on. FHA - which guarantees loans for people with low down-payments - has been raising its own insurance charges to borrowers and demanding higher premiums from people with poor credit scores.
Pending home sales rise in South Florida
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www.BuyMiami.net Pending home sales rose in Miami-Dade and Broward counties during January compared to December, according to data released Tuesday by the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service.
In Miami-Dade, pending sales of single-family homes increased 0.81 percent to 3,741. Sales of condominiums rose 3.5 percent to 4,647.
In Broward, pending sales of condominiums rose 9.4 percent to 4,137. Pending sales of single-family homes rose 6.2 percent to 3,310.
A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not yet closed. Increased pending sales are an indication of increased future sales.
``Approximately six months after the South Florida real estate market touched bottom according to most economists, we continue to observe the recovery of the local market,'' Terri Bersach, chairman of the RAMB board said in a news release.
Nationwide, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that its seasonally adjusted index of sales agreements rose 1 percent from November to December to a reading of 96.6. That was a little lower than the 97.1 level analysts expected, according to Thomson Reuters.
The index has risen for nine out of the past 10 months as buyers scrambled to take advantage of an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit before its scheduled expiration Nov. 30.
Congress extended the tax credit to April 30 and added a $6,500 credit for current homeowners
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/business/breaking-news/story/1458740.html
Invest in an Inspection Before Buying Miami Real Estate
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www.BuyMiami.net When buying homes in Miami, a great investment, it’s standard practice to check out equivalent sales in the area to get an idea of value. But what do you do next?
You can do a walk-through and see that the back door sticks, but why? Maybe it because a hinge is loose but it could be much worse. It’s possible with some homes in Miami that something is wrong with the foundation.
It’s unlikely you’ll be able to pinpoint the problem unless you’re a building inspector.
Claude McGavick, a board member with the Florida Association of Building Inspectors, says, “A good home inspector will look at 800 to 1,000 things in a home.” He says inspectors follow standard guidelines that tell them what to look at and how to look at it.
Here are some tips for finding an inspector:
» Word of mouth is one of the best ways to choose an inspector for homes in Miami. Home inspectors in Florida are not licensed but that will change as of July 1st.
» Search professional organizations databases. They train their members and giving them inspection guidelines. Here are three places to start:
• Florida Association of Building Inspectors 800-544-3224
• American Society of Home Inspectors 800-743-2744
• National Association of Home Inspectors 800-448-3942
According to the Florida Association of Building Inspectors, standard inspections involve a visual examination of the Miami real estate property from top to bottom. The inspector will check the heating system, the central air-conditioning system, the interior plumbing and electrical systems, the roof and visible insulation, walls, ceilings, floors, windows and doors, the foundation, basement and visible structure. The inspector should tell you about any system that may be near the end of its serviceable life or not up to par, and why. It’s very important to pay special attention to the roof and to termite damage of Miami real estate properties.
In general, expect to pay about $300 to $500 for an inspection, says McGavick, who also is an inspector with Home Check Home Inspection Services of Bradenton. The size of the Miami real estate property, the age, special structures and so on can affect the price.
It’s not up to the inspector to tell you whether or not to buy a house in Miami. No house is perfect; you must decide which imperfections and eventual repairs are acceptable.
Source: http://miami-info.com/news/category/miami-real-estate/
Ask a real estate professional: Will a short sale keep me from getting another mortgage?
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www.BuyMiami.net Q: I am in the process of selling my home through a short sale and have been told that no bank will give me a new loan because of this. I need to purchase a less-expensive home and don’t want to rent and keep bouncing my family around. Is there any bank that will lend to me? -- Roberta
A: Roberta, the Federal Housing Administration has announced that as long as you are current on your existing mortgage at the time of your short sale, the agency will provide mortgage financing if you decide to purchase a new home for your family. You will, however, still need to qualify and meet all existing FHA guidelines, but the government is offering an option for people in your situation.
Q: I am unemployed and in need of cash until I find a job. I do not have life insurance, and no 401(k) plan to tap into, but I own my home. Is there any way I could tap into my home’s equity while I am still unemployed and looking for work? I know that having no job or income is something that would ordinarily disqualify me for a loan. What is your opinion, other than looking for a job, which I am constantly doing? -- Steve
A: Steve, you are not alone in this situation. Unemployment is at record highs and looks to be on pace to get worse before it gets better. The only viable option I see for you is private or “hard money” financing. Generally, the main criteria for this comes down to the amount of equity in your home. If you have substantial equity, this may help you bridge your situation until you get a job and then can refinance out of this loan into a traditional mortgage. Also, I would suggest seeking out even part-time work, which can lead to a full- time position down the road. Lastly, if you have a family member who would be willing to co-sign on the loan, you may be able to use a Federal Housing Administration non-occupant co-borrower option that allows the government to lend to your family member on your home even if your relative doesn’t live there. More due diligence would be necessary to see if this would be feasible, but it could be an option.
Q: I am looking to buy my first home but don’t want to commit until I know for sure that housing prices won’t keep going down. I only have a small amount of money for a down payment and don’t want to be underwater right after I purchase. Where do you see the market trending? -- Janice
A: Janice, U.S. home prices rose 0.5 percent in November from a year earlier, the first annual gain since 2007, as home buyers who expected a federal tax credit to expire stepped into the market. The 12-month gain, the first since December 2007, was led by a 2.9 percent increase in the region that includes California, as reported by the Federal Housing Finance Agency in Washington, where prices also rose 0.7 percent from October. Clearly, no one has a crystal ball, but it does look like we are seeing some initial signs that it may be turning around.
Q: I am married with two young children and need to purchase a home for my family but have been told that the down payment assistance programs of the past no longer exist and I need to put down 3.5 percent, plus closing costs for an FHA loan. Is there any assistance in the marketplace that can help me since I don’t have that amount of money available? - Leticia
A: Leticia, a bill introduced by U.S. Representative Al Green, a Texas Democrat, and supported by the U.S. Conference of Mayors would restart a program that allows nonprofit groups to donate the 3.5 percent down payment that low-income buyers need to get FHA-insured mortgages. The plan, which funded the purchase of more than 1 million homes over 10 years, was halted by lawmakers concerned about rising defaults and evidence that some buyers were charged more than others. Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, is against the idea and is creating resistance against this bill passing. I would suggest you write to your local congressman expressing that you are in favor of this bill and believe it should be supported and passed. Without this, there are very few options, if any, for down payment assistance.
Source: http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2010/01/ask_a_real_estate_professional_12.html
Bidders Show Up to Vie for Bankrupt South Beach Condo Conversion
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www.BuyMiami.net (MIAMI BEACH, FL) -- Nineteen bidders, each clutching $75,000 deposit checks, vied for Fairway Village, a bankrupt 118-unit South Beach condo conversion that was sold for $6.2 million or $53,000 per unit - nearly half of its original purchase price.
A new report from CondoVultures.com states one-year-old Alton Michigan LLC of Palm Beach County, FL, with RAM Realty II REIT as managing partner, bought the property at a Chapter 7 liquidation auction, outbidding 18 other individuals and groups.
The property is at 1920 Michigan Ave., which is at the intersection of Alton Road and Michigan Avenue in Miami Beach's South Beach neighborhood.
Other bidders competing on the nine-building complex included Cyric Chiosa, Tony Dipiazza, Ryan Freedman, Andrew Gale, Bruce Litsky, Miguel Poyastro, Horacio Rozenblum, Daniel Stauber, Chaim Scmochet, and Thomas Sullivan, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court records.
The nine buildings total 84,976 gross square feet of Art Deco-type walkup units, according to LoopNet. Their average range is 477 square feet to 678 square feet.
"There is a strong interest in distressed residential product in South Beach," says Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures, LLC.
"The fact that nearly 20 groups showed up at the auction with $75,000 deposits in hand to bid is proof of just how deep the demand really is in South Beach," Zalewski says.
"Unfortunately, many of the distressed projects in South Beach have already been acquired or secured which is why the buyer interest was so strong for the Fairway Village."
Zalewski says South Beach has some of the most expensive real estate in South Florida with prices hovering around the $1,000 per square foot mark in certain buildings.
Overall, the area is home to nearly 16,400 units located in 147 projects with at least 30 units, according to the newly released Condo Vultures Official Condo Buyers Guide To South Beach.
This is only the sixth bulk deal to close in Miami Beach since July 2008, Zalewski says. During this time, there have been 37 transactions for more than 3,100 units for a price of nearly $900 million, according to the Condo Vultures Bulk Deals Database.
Source: http://www.realestatechannel.com/us-markets/residential-real-estate-1/real-estate-news-peter-zalewski-miami-beach-condo-foreclosures-distressed-miami-real-estate-fairway-village-condo-vultures-alton-michigan-llc-ram-realty-ii-reit-1942.php
Reverse Foreclosure Ruling could give embattled associations relief
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www.BuyMiami.net The days of banks delaying the foreclosure process to avoid financial responsibility for distressed residential properties may be coming to an end.
In a “reverse foreclosure,” a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge has forced a bank to take title to a property from a homeowners association. The HOA had agreed to waive its rights to the property.
“It’s new, and it addresses what we think is a huge problem in Florida,” attorney Ben Solomon said of the strategy. Solomon and David Arnold of North Bay Village’s Solomon & Furshman represented the South Miami-Dade homeowners group in the case.
The association had foreclosed on the home and obtained title but couldn’t sell it because of the bank’s lien. The bank had foreclosed but hadn’t pursued the case over a period of 2½ years, Solomon said, leaving the homeowner’s association stuck with a home and no one paying dues.
Florida law says that banks are only required to pay 12 months in past-due homeowners’ association dues — the lesser of six months or 1 percent of the mortgage, in the case of condos, Solomon said.
“Their liability is capped. Plus, once they take title, they’re liable for attorney fees and taxes,” he said. “With all their upside-down mortgages, they don’t want to take on that additional liability until they find a buyer. So they’re simply not pursuing the cases they’ve filed.”
“That stalling is crippling our clients,” he said.
Solomon said his firm is taking the most “flagrant” cases to court, telling the judge that as the defendants in the foreclosure, they want a summary judgment against themselves. Then they request an immediate sale date, waiving their rights to a waiting period. He said the firm has filed another 82 similar reverse foreclosure requests in courts around the state.
The association in this case, Keys Gate Community in Homestead, has 3,000 homes and owns title to about a dozen of them through foreclosures, Solomon said. The reverse foreclosure can only be filed after a homeowner is out of the picture and the home is legally the property of the homeowner’s association.
“That waiting period protects the consumer, but banks are taking advantage of the judicial backlog, and then in many cases they are canceling the sale date and resetting it,” he said. “What we did was tell the judge, we don’t need more time.”
HSBC Bank USA, which acted as trustee in the case, declined to comment.
Quick Transfer
Circuit Judge Jerald Bagley granted the homeowners’ association motion, and the title was awarded to the bank the same day.
“We’re not saying they need to complete a foreclosure more quickly than normal,” Solomon said. “But there’s no good reason why that lender has taken 2½ years to foreclose on this particular unit.”
Attorneys familiar with foreclosure cases said the tactic was innovative.
“This was pretty ingenious,” said Alan Kluger, a commercial litigator who has represented financial institutions and associations in foreclosure cases. “It’s basically saying, ‘Hey, they want this [house.] Give it to them.’”
“Banks understand if they take title, they have all these responsibilities, so they decide not to. It’s a business decision,” said Kluger of Kluger Kaplan Silverman Katzen & Levine.”The banks are doing this all over town.”
Jorge Gonzalez del Valle, a foreclosure attorney, also said the case was unique.
“It’s an interesting twist to file for a summary judgment against yourself,” he said. “When banks delay like that, they’re really avoiding their obligations. The people who are getting screwed are the condo associations. What the association has done is get the bank to pay sooner rather than later. The associations are starving right now. They need their dues paid now.”
Solomon credited Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin with helping his client get the title transferred quickly after the judge signed the order. Ruvin said his office is working on ways to limit the number of times and reasons cases can be delayed.
“One of the problems is that we’re setting these cases, and we keep getting a lot of delays and resetting of dates without any basis,” he said. “We’re trying to tighten up the criteria for getting a reset, because those create additional costs.”
There are more than 115,000 open foreclosure cases in Miami-Dade, with 7,000 more being filed each month, he said.
“The quicker we can move these distressed properties through the process and into the hands of somebody who will pay a mortgage and pay taxes and pay their dues, the quicker we can get our economy back on track,” he said.
Bill Raphan of the state condo ombudsman’s office in Fort Lauderdale, said he applauded anything that helped associations struggling to deal with so many distressed properties.
“We get so many calls about these kinds of problems,” he said. “Anything that would provide some kind of relief for these associations that are in such dire straits would be welcome.”
Source: http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=60105
Florida tipped as best for bargain property in 2010
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www.BuyMiami.net Florida is set to be one of the bargain hotspots of 2010 for real estate investors with some properties selling for as little as $47 a square foot, according to a new report.
As the global recession eases and the recovery begins, experts are forecasting that investor confidence will flow back into the US real estate market and national house price declines are predicted to improve by the middle of the year.
New home sales should post an increase of around 20% from the very low levels seen in 2009, according to the report from Winkworth International.
It points out that few real estate markets have suffered more than Florida where oversupply has been a major factor in driving down prices. Foreclosures and a glut of unsold condominiums have especially contributed to slowing down the Florida housing market.
Florida’s loss can be a UK buyer’s gain, according to Charles Peerless, director, Winkworth International. ‘With low prices on a wide range of top quality luxury homes and condominiums in world class developments, combined with a favourable exchange rate and low interest rates, buyers who seek sun, golf and wide ranging lifestyle attractions can now buy a home here for about half what they would have paid in 2005,’ he explained.
Sean Snaith, economics professor and forecaster for the University of Central Florida in Orlando, agrees. ‘For international buyers, 2010 will be a great time to buy in Florida. The imbalance of supply and demand puts the buyer in the driving seat. Large inventory, pricing power and the continuing weakness of the dollar when compared to other currencies mean awesome deals in the housing sector,’ he said.
‘All this means that there has seldom been a better time to get into the Florida property market. According to most local experts, prices have nowhere to go but up and a home in Florida bought at today’s bargain prices should prove to be a laudable investment five years from now,’ added Peerless.
New home construction in Florida suffered more than expected. In the second quarter of 2009 housing starts fell to an annual rate of 35,352, an 88% decline in starts from peak to trough.
There are some pockets of Florida that have been affected more substantially by the downturn than others which now offer excellent opportunities to investors in high quality new developments, Peerless points out. In Orlando, buyers can pay $140 per square foot down from $250 in 2006 and in Sarasota prices that were $350 per square foot are now as low as $47.
He added that this region of Florida enjoys relatively uncongested areas, is sophisticated, less crowded than the east coast. Sarasota was recently highlighted on NBC as the top place in the whole of the US to buy a home and is known for its fine restaurants, beaches, theatres, arts, shops and lifestyle. Prices are at 2002/2003 levels and there has been little or no new construction in the area for four years, so high quality inventory is being snapped up.
The report predicts that central Florida with attractions like Universal Studios and Disney World should experience a quicker comeback than most other areas in Florida. While south Florida is described as the place to buy a condominium. There are sales being made well below construction cost. The major reason for the decline in the Miami condo market is the difficulty in getting finance which tends to be more available on houses. As such, condos offer an excellent opportunity for cash buyers, the report says.
Prices are discounted in North West Florida and are around 2005 levels. ‘Buyers get so much more for their money in Florida than in Europe. Spacious high specification properties, spectacular golf communities, high future capital growth predicted, excellent transportation and, of course, the ever popular Florida lifestyle including sunshine, beaches, golf, cruises, theme parks, shopping and dining,’ it concludes.
Source: http://www.propertywire.com/news/north-america/florida-prices-at-bargain-level-201001253837.html
