All The Signs Are Pointing Up, Up, UP!!

There was a great article in the Miami Herald this Morning that read the following:

Bidding wars are erupting from Homestead to Weston, as home sales and prices take off, further reinforcing the end of a prolonged market slump.

A two-bedroom, two-bathroom, bank-owned condominium in Coral Springs sparked 64 offers within 10 days — selling for $71,000 on Tuesday, or 34 percent over its $53,000 listing price.

“It was a feeding frenzy. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Marta DuPree, broker associate and vice president of the Keyes Company in Coral Springs. “It was a rentable building, so all the investors were out.”

In Broward County, the median sales price of single-family homes rose 17 percent in April to $205,000, and condominiums jumped 17.4 percent to $84,300, compared to prices in April 2011. And in Miami-Dade, home prices continued a five-month ascent — up 30 percent for condos, to $150,000, and 8.2 percent for single-family homes, to $183,000, compared to a year ago, according to figures released Tuesday by the Miami Association of Realtors.

Across South Florida, higher demand is leading to multiple bids and, in turn, elevating prices — as the real estate market keeps turning around.

“We have a very limited amount of inventory at this point and there are a lot less foreclosures on the market,” said Tony Garcia, district sales manager for the Keyes Company in Homestead. “What we are seeing is that people are going again to bidding wars … We’re in a situation where for 80 percent of contracts there are at least three or four offers for the same property.”

Realtors say the inventory of residential listings is way down. It has decreased 34 percent in the past year in Miami-Dade, from 17,897 to 11,878, and down 4 percent since March, the Realtors’ Association said.

Similarly, in Broward, the inventory of residential listings has dropped 30 percent in the past year, from 15,781 to 11,086, also down 4 percent from March.

With a housing stock of 16,000 homes and condos in Weston, only 254 single family homes and 91 condos are currently for sale, said Chip Rowand, assistant district sales manager for the Keyes Company’s Weston office.

Neighboring areas of Southwest Ranches, Pembroke Pines, Davie and Cooper City are all experiencing a similar dearth of inventory, said Fritz Hawkins, general manager for the Keyes Company.

“We can put a property on the market and we can have multiple offers in one day,” he said.

Investors with cash — predominantly foreign buyers — continue to fuel the market.

In both Miami-Dade and Broward, 64 percent of closed sales in March were all-cash sales, with the vast majority to international buyers, the Miami Association of Realtors said.

“We’re at a point where builder inventories are low, and in fact, for some builders, sales are proceeding faster than they can build,” said Brad Hunter, South Florida director for Metrostudy, a housing market advisory firm headquartered in Houston.

“For those who are waiting four or five or more years for home prices to stabilize and start edging back upwards, we are essentially there,” he said.

Meanwhile, distressed properties still make up a large number of sales.

In April, 47 percent of all closed residential sales in Miami-Dade were distressed, including REOs (bank-owned properties) and short sales, compared to 59 percent in April 2011 and 49 percent the previous month.

In April, 38 percent of all closed residential sales in Broward were distressed, compared to 50 percent in April 2011 and 41 percent the previous month.

Even more distressed properties are sure to hit the market, which could still dampen prices, analysts say.

“We still have 52,000 foreclosures that haven’t been sold, and it is still taking 809 days to process a foreclosure in Florida,” said Jack McCabe, chief executive of McCabe Research & Consulting, based in Deerfield Beach.

When those distressed properties become available, they may be sold online, rather than through Realtors, he said.

“Things are better, but they are still not great, and there is still a flood of distressed property yet to be sold,” McCabe said. “And that will have an impact on the marketplace.”

Statewide median sales prices in April increased 10.2 percent to $144,350 for single-family homes and 16.1 percent to $108,000 for condos, according to the Florida Realtors Industry Data and Analysis department and vendor partner 10K Research and Marketing. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $177,400 in April, a 10.1 percent increase from April 2011.

Why wait any longer? Reports everywhere are showing positive gains which means that real estate is likely to start giving great returns on investment. Positive equity situations are starting to take route and that is the road to a healthy recovery. If you or someone you know is eager to take advantage of this market, schedule a meeting with us to discuss your goals and how the FORSTER TEAM ADVANTAGE can help you to reach them.

JO-ANN FORSTER   305.778.5555

BRIAN FORSTER SHAPIRO   305.960.2459

WWW.UNIQUEHOMESOFMIAMI.COM

EWM REALTY INTERNATIONAL

Out of All The Possibilities, AOL Chose The Forster Team!

There are dozens of open houses held every weekend in Miami-Dade County. Despite this, AOL Real Estate chose to feature our property located at 13500 SW 66 Avenue in their blog post. AOL reaches million of readers across the world and this really gives an enormous amount of exposure. Click on the image to view the blog post.

This is the second time that one of the Forster Team’s listings is featured on an internet news blog. Back on National Open House Weekend, the Huffington Post Miami featured our property located at 6200 SW 132 Street.

If you or someone you know is looking for more exposure, clearly the marketing strategies of the Forster Team are yielding unique opportunities for our clients consistently. To find out how our marketing strategies can benefit you contact the Forster Team for a listing consultation.

JO-ANN FORSTER   305.778.5555

BRIAN FORSTER SHAPIRO   305.978.8655

EWM REALTY INTERNATIONAL

Rentals Are HOT!!

There was a great article on the from of the Miami Herald today. It read:

Rental, sweet rental: Shift toward apartment living spurs new construction

Since the housing meltdown, more South Floridians are renting a place to live because the financial reality is that they can’t buy.

A lot of other people simply prefer to rent.

The two groups are spawning a fundamental shift in housing and a fledgling boom in the construction of new apartments for the first time in years. It is a national trend that is crystallizing in South Florida with rental apartment projects in the works in cities ranging from Plantation and Davie to Doral and Coral Gables.

“Rentals will be in demand for a while. The pendulum has swung,” said Mahesh Pattabhiraman, chief lending officer for Miami-based Apollo Bank, which this month made a land-acquisition loan to Miami’s Adler Group, a major commercial developer that plans to build two 20-story rental apartment towers near the west end of 79th Street Causeway in a joint venture with ECI Group of Atlanta.

“A lot of people with bad credit won’t qualify to buy a home. And because of the crisis, some people are not convinced it’s the right time to buy,” added Pattabhiraman.

Like Adler, other major South Florida developers with specialties in areas such as luxury condominiums and industrial parks are refocusing on rental apartments to capitalize on the strong demand and the availability of financing.

“Everybody is jumping on the bandwagon,” said Armando Codina, a prominent Miami developer of industrial parks and commercial projects who has turned his attention in a big way to rental apartments, with projects in various stages from Doral to Davie. “The fundamentals are right. This is not a trendy thing,” said Codina.

On Wednesday, Codina announced his Coral Gables-based CC Residential has formed a partnership with AREA Property Partners, a New York real estate investment giant, to develop rental apartment projects in South Florida. The alliance includes two projects in which Codina has already broken ground: a 352-unit project renamed The Signature at Doral, at Doral Boulevard (NW 41st Street) and the Homestead Extension of Florida’s Turnpike, and a 350-apartment project on Davie Road between SW 29th Street and SW 31st Street, renamed The Signature at Davie.

AREA’s CEO for North America, Richard Mack, said his firm’s recent success in acquiring a troubled condo project and turning it into an apartment complex on the Miami River called Terrazas River Park Village reinforced his view that the time is right for multifamily rental development. “It led us to conclude that rents are going to continue to rise and demand is going to continue to rise in a way to sustain new development,” Mack said.

Fueling the demand is the dearth of professionally managed apartment buildings in the wake of the condo-conversion mania of the last decade. Many multifamily rental apartments in the region were snapped up by developers, converted into condos and sold for quick profits.

Aside from a handful of rental apartment projects built during the boom, much of the rental availability in South Florida is in condominiums where investors bought units and are leasing them out.

Rental rates are marching steadily higher. Rents jumped 11 percent in downtown Miami from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012, according to Craig A. Werley, president and CEO of Focus Real Estate Advisors LLC. Rents are rising in other neighborhoods as well, though typically more modestly.

Focus Real Estate is getting peppered with requests for market analyses by developers and investors interested in sizing up Miami.

“There is a feeding frenzy by rental apartment management companies, the big REITs,” said Werley, who believes the pendulum has shifted long term away from homeownership since the meltdown. “It went beyond rational. It got completely out of hand,” he said of the subprime lending fiasco, where banks were hawking loans to poorly suited borrowers.

With strong competition for rental apartments, Paul Riemer, a 23-year-old insurance account executive, said he felt “lucky’’ when he landed a one-bedroom rental unit in ICON Brickell owned by a Swiss investor last October. Other renters had beaten him to the punch on a couple of others in which he had interest. “People came in and outbid me,” he said.

One Broadway, at 1451 South Miami Ave. in the Brickell area, which was one of the rare professionally managed rental apartment towers built in Miami during the last boom, enjoys consistent occupancy above 95 percent, drawing heavily on young professionals like Nastassia Luisis, a marketing manager who loves the urban vibe.

While the American Dream of homeownership hasn’t disappeared, more people are seeing renting as the best option for where they are in life now.

The 18th-floor, two-bedroom condo that Benjamin Wilson rents at ICON Brickell has 1,500 square feet overlooking a gleaming pool with amenities including a spa and fitness center. But the clincher that keeps the 35-year-old real estate attorney as a renter and not a home-buyer out in the suburbs is the minutes it takes to commute to his law office at Shutts & Bowen.

“I go ahead and choose to rent,’’ said Wilson, who moved to Miami from Kentucky. “The kind of home I’d want to buy would be at an astronomical price. And if I was in Pinecrest or Kendall or even Coral Gables, then I’d have to deal with the traffic as an attorney working a lot of hours.”

Wilson ticked off other advantages such as lifestyle flexibility, freedom from property taxes and condominium fees, and not having to ante up a huge down payment. And the condo has no objection to his 65-pound English bulldog, Rodney.

“This craze society went through — that at the earliest age if you can buy a house you have to buy a house — really wasn’t good economics,” said Michael M. Adler, CEO of Adler Group . “It’s much healthier for a community to have a balance between ownership and rentals.”

The bullish market dynamics have big institutional investors like insurance companies, real estate investment trusts and pension funds champing at the bit to invest as long-term owners of apartment buildings for the steady stream of revenue. That demand is making banks comfortable with financing construction of apartments even as they routinely snub new condominium deals.

Indeed, among the handful of condominium projects going up since the collapse, most are financed by getting foreign buyers to plunk down cash in advance to buy units in the building.

“You cannot get construction loans for condos — but you can for rental towers,” said Peter Zalewski, a principal with Bal Harbour-based Condo Vultures Realty, who predicts some of the new rental construction will end up getting converted to condominiums as soon as the market improves.

But for now, apartments are the hot play for developers.

Jorge Perez’s Related Group, which was one of Florida’s largest and flashiest luxury condominium developers during the boom, has dived into new apartment construction to seize the opportunity. Its Related Development arm is touting plans for a “pipeline” of nearly 4,000 units stretching from Tampa to Miami in various stages of planning and execution.

In Plantation, Related’s six-story Veranda project is under construction at 599 NW 82nd Avenue with 197 units planned for leasing in the summer of 2013.

Related said it expects to break ground soon on the first of two 360-unit complexes at Doral View, a three-story, garden-style project. It also plans a 24-story tower with 249 units, Allied Marine, in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Steve Patterson, president of Related Development, which is focusing on apartment construction, said the stars have aligned for apartment living to take off.

“Home ownership has dropped significantly. Look at the problems people are having with credit: It’s still hard to get a mortgage,” he said. “And baby boomers don’t want to deal with the headaches of a broken pipe.”

Added Matthew J. Allen, chief operating officer of Related Group: “There is a big uncertainty in buying a home and whether it will hold its value. That is contributing to people wanting to rent.”

If you or anyone you know is looking to take advantage of the current rental market please have them contact the Forster Team. Our knowledge and expertise have made the difference for hundreds of clients. Let it work for you!

JO-ANN FORSTER   305.778.5555

BRIAN FORSTER SHAPIRO  305.978.8655

WWW.UNIQUEHOMESOFMIAMI.COM

EWM REALTY INTERNATIONAL

Forster Team’s Listing Featured on the Huffington Post

The Huffington Post Miami posted an article informing readers of National Open House Weekend that occurred across the country on April 28 – 29, 2012. Our property located at 6200 SW 132 Street in Pinecrest was chosen out of hundreds of possible candidates to be featured on the post. We participated in the National Open House Weekend by holding six of our properties open for the public including 6200 SW 132 Street. You can view the article by clicking here.

 

If you or any one you know is looking for that special home please have them contact the Forster Team. We have been helping South Florida buyers reach their real estate goals for over 30 years.

JO-ANN FORSTER   305.778.5555

joann@uniquehomesofmiami.com

 

BRIAN FORSTER SHAPIRO   305.978.8655

brian@uniquehomesofmiami.com

 

EWM REALTY INTERNATIONAL

Don’t Miss The Best Value in North Pinecrest Under $700,000!

We just listed a fantastic home at 7325 SW 105 Terrace in North Pinecrest (Map It!) that is easy on the budget, perfect for the family and in the best location! Enjoy a large yard with pool, perfect for entertaining, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,722 adj sf on a 17,500 sf lot. The home is currently being renovated and will be move-in ready shortly. It’s the perfect deal! Don’t miss it!

View more information at www.7325SW105.com!

VIEW FLYER

For more information contact Jo-Ann Forster – 305.778.5555 or Brian Forster Shapiro – 305.978.8655.

Miami Market Still Showing Upward Gains

The Miami Herald has been consistently publishing information on South Florida’s real estate market, and rightly so, because the entire nation is fixated upon what is happening here. Throughout the series of recessions we’ve had throughout the century Miami has always been on the radar as an indicator market. This means that the rest of the country looks at markets like Miami to judge the overall health of the nation’s economy as a whole, giving future insight into whether a recession is on the horizon, or recovery is just within reach.

According the the article, several indices were referenced and all showed that Miami, FL and Phoenix, AZ were showing steady and consistent signs of recovery. The statistics revealed that in April of 2011 the market reached its lowest dip and has been slowly rising ever since. Previous rises in the past decade or so of this recession never caught the attention of analysts due to drops in values occurring very shortly after and not lasting for a consistent period of time, indicating a non-existent or weak recovery at best.

The source of these figures were Stan Humphries, Cheif Economist of Zillow and Maureen Maitland of S&P/Case-Shiller. Although Zillow’s reports showed a promising sign of recovery and a positive outlook, S&P/Case-Shiller were not ready to make any definitive calls just yet. According to Maureen Maitland, they are “not ready to say that Miami has turned the corner yet.” Her reason? It still hasn’t been long enough. We need to wait a little more time to see if the trend can maintain this rise.

Maureen Maitland
Senior Vice President, S&P Indices
Courtesy of HousingViews.com

Stan Humphries expects to see a 5.6 percent rise in value over the next year, which is faster than the normal rate of about 2% a year in a healthy market. His main reason for increased momentum…affordability. Interest rates have never been this low and prices have never been this great, even though the are rising. Another promising statistic is that the amount of homes that have sold that have negative equity situations decreased by 41.8%.

Stan Humphries
Chief Economist of Zillow
Courtesy of TheRealDeal.com

Although some of the news is hopeful, some financial advisors still warn that a wealth of shadow inventory from banks still remains and will undoubtedly affect the market when released. Apart from Miami, other cities in the United States have reached record lows in housing prices such as Atlanta, Tampa, New Your, Seattle, and others. If Miami continues to show a consistent and healthy rate of increase, it may just be the best place to invest and get great returns.

If you or anyone you know is interested in taking advantage of this rise and looking to build some positive equity please have them contact the Forster Team. Our knowledge of the local market is unrivaled. Call us today!

JO-ANN FORSTER  -  305.778.5555

JoAnn@UniqueHomesOfMiami.com

BRIAN FORSTER SHAPIRO  -  305.978.8655

Brian@UniqueHomesOfMiami.com

EWM REALTY INTERNATIONAL

Miami’s Condo Vacancies Have Almost Dried Up

I was reading an article on The Real Deal which is a South Florida Real Estate News site. According to them and other sources, the once volatile Miami Condo market is fast approaching over demand as buyers from all around the world are flocking to Miami to get a condo that boasts the coveted Miami lifestyle. The report of 93% occupancy came directly from Miami’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA).

“Approximately 93 percent of the 23,000 condominiums built in Miami since 2002 like Icon Brickell are now occupied. The 93 percent number is up from 65 percent in 2008.”

Miami’s Condo Market’s recent demand is only likely to increase in the coming months. If you or anyone you know is eager to begin living the perfect Miami lifestyle feel free to pass my contact information along. With over 37 years in real estate, the Forster Team has the knowledge and negotiation expertise to get results!

JO-ANN FORSTER   |   BROKER-ASSOCIATE   |   EWM REALTY INTERNATIONAL

305.778.5555   |   joann@uniquehomesofmiami.com

In Today’s Market…Results Matter!

Coming Soon To Your Mailbox! Take a look at some of our recently produced direct mail pieces which will be mailed to residents in the area featuring homes on the market and recent sales in Coconut Grove and Pinecrest. You may click to zoom.

Call me today to add your home to the growing list of sale success stories. I can be reached at 305.778.5555 or email joann@uniquehomesofmiami.com.

Million Dollar Plus Market is Alive and Well!

The million dollar plus real estate market in Miami-Dade County is quite active. Last month there were 29 Closed Sales of Single Family Homes in Miami-Dade County, which happens to be the same as last year during the same period. Last month 32 Single Family Homes in Miami-Dade County went in Pending Status (Under Contract). Two of the Ten Pending Sales over $2 million during that time period are my listings.

Condominium sales in the million dollar plus price range are also selling, interestingly almost at the same rate as Single Family Homes. Last month there were 27 Closed Sales of Condominiums in Miami-Dade County and 20 in Pending Status.

My office is busy with showings, second showings and offers! Call me today to add your home to the growing list of sale success stories. I can be reached at 305.778.5555 or email joann@uniquehomesofmiami.com.

Snapper Creek Lakes Market Snapshot

The last 7 months have been booming with activity in Snapper Creek Lakes with an average of 1 closed sale a month. This is following a 10 month period of no sales which ended March of 2010. The subsequent months brought an increase in the amount of sales, sales price, and sold price per square foot in Snapper Creek Lakes as shown below. The highest sale in over a year was my sale which closed April 14, 2010 at 5295 Fairchild Way. This home was custom built in 2005 with 7,243 sqft with 5 bedrooms and a guest house all on over 58,000 square feet of land. This home sold at $3,443,500 or $475/sqft. It was only on the market for 13 days and received 3 offers in only the first week on the market.

Today, the market is still strong at Snapper Creek Lakes with Pending Sales and reduced prices incentivizing buyers to purchase property in one of Coral Gables’ top waterfront gated communities.  There are two pending sales and both are my listings on the canal at 10950 Snapper Creek Road and 11100 Snapper Creek Road.

I am proud to report that EWM is the leader in Snapper Creek Lakes listing and sales. Myself and other EWM agents were involved in the listing of 6 of the 7 closed sales and EWM agents were involved in both listing and sale side on 3 of the 7 closed sales.

Call me today to add your home to the growing list of sale success stories in Snapper Creek Lakes. I can be reached at 305.778.5555 or email joann@uniquehomesofmiami.com.