The Related Group has had another big success with the Loft 3 in downtown Miami. One bedrooms from $189,000, two bedrooms from $285,000 and only 5% down. These prices have not been seen for several years in the Miami real estate market. Picture this: Awesome indoor space in the midst of a vital and vigorous downtown district. It's the character of the people that define the vision for Urban Hip. And the vision becomes reality through the people at the LOFT3. This type of affordable housing will be seen more and more in Miami and surrounding areas.
All I hear and read about these days is how the real estate market is terrible. The truth is, now is the time to buy. If you are a savvy investor, you know that now is the time. If you aren't a savvy investor, now is the time to learn. What you really need is an experienced realtor to point you in the right direction and guide you in the process. There are many opportunities to buy at a great price today, rent out the property for a year or two and then you can decide if you want to sell it or hang on to it. Investors have been making fortunes in real estate for many years, long before the so called real estate boom, and they will continue to make fortunes long after this so called real estate boom is over.
That is a great question, and the answer varies from person to person. The traditional 30 year fixed mortgage is being used less and less in today's real estate market because of all the new options that are available. Most people in South Florida will only own a home or condo for three to five years before they sell. That being said, the interest only with a five or seven year lock is one of the best products on the market today. Just about every lending institution offers this type of loan. I recently refinanced my home and this is the loan I chose. It helps to keep the monthly payment down and gives you the comfort of knowing you will have the same mortgage payment for the next several years.
We have just listed a new unit at the Venture in Aventura, Fl. Unit 225E at the Venture is now available for the price of $425,000. This is a two bedroom two bathroom split floor plan with beautiful dark wood floors throughout. Unit 225E is a faces the courtyard with a great view of the pool. The unit is now vacant and very easy to show. For more information and additional pictures, please call Carole 786-586-4780. You can also view all of the Venture listings.
Hansen Homes has reduced the price for unit 702 at the Pinnacle in Sunny Isles. This condo has beautiful imported marble floors throughout, and offers direct ocean views. The Pinnacle condo is located in the heart of Sunny Isles Beach and is within steps of shopping and dining. You may also look through the rest of the condo listings at the Pinnacle being displayed on our new listing pages. To set up a showing, please call Carole Hansen at 786-586-4780.
For the last few months an identity theft ring has been targeting property owners, mortgage lenders and the title insurance industry -- an international scheme in that many of the suspects appear to be of Eastern European origin and much of the stolen money is being wired to accounts in Greece, the Slovak Republic, Russia, Latvia and elsewhere.
The scheme involves absentee-owned property and includes both vacant land and improved residential and commercial properties. In most of the cases reported, the true owners reside outside Florida. Additionally, in some of the cases, the properties are listed for sale through the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
"This involves millions and millions of dollars, and it's all over the state -- not just South Florida," says Doug Pollock,
President and Founder of Information Data Services, Inc.IDS, www.idsnetwork.com which serves the legal, corporate, title insurance and mortgage lending industry.
Borrowers continue to choose risky nontraditional mortgages, even after state and federal regulators have issued widespread warnings about the unstable and rapidly rising payments associated with this kind of financing.
About 26 percent of mortgage loan originations by dollar volume in the first six months of 2006 were interest-only loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Another 13 percent were "option" adjustable-rate loans, which allow customers to pick their payment amount, including a low-cost choice that covers neither the full interest nor the principal.
The loans have been marketed aggressively by lenders to consumers who find them an attractive way to cope with rapidly rising home prices. Payments on the loans can double or even triple as rates adjust and reflect unpaid principal. Most home owners are making only the minimum payments, according to banking data.
Consumer demand is behind the growth in these loans, Doug Duncan, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, said in a statement. "As expected, consumers respond to changing opportunities in the marketplace, but it looks like these products serve an important need."
Sunny Isles is finally starting to take shape with some of the new oceanfront condos now being finished. Sunny Isles condos like Ocean Four, Turnberry Ocean Colony, La Perla and Acqualina are either ready or just starting closings. All of these condominiums will help to make the small city of Sunny Isles Beach into a high end resort destination. The city is already becoming known as the new "Millionaires Row" of Miami and in the next few years that will become more enhanced due to the other new luxurious condominiums that are being built. All of these new Sunny Isles condos will bring much needed tax revenue for the city to help make improvements to the infrastructure. The city of Sunny Isles has already seen new parks and improvements to existing streets, and there are many new projects the city has planned. The city has come a long way in the last five years, and the future is very bright for Sunny Isles Beach.
Let's face it, the reason most people use the "For Sale By Owner" or FSBO method is to save on the real estate commission. What those people don't understand is that the process of marketing and selling a home or condo is just that, a process. From start to finish the sale of your home can take up to six months. In the U.S.A. the National Association of Realtors (NAR) states that FSBO's sell for as much as 20% less than homes sold by Realtors. That is a far cry from the six percent real estate commission.
For a real estate agent there is one primary goal, selling your home or condo. The agent won't let his or her emotions get in the way like the owner of a home will. The truth is that most buyers feel very uncomfortable when the owner is home during a showing. Buyers tend to feel like they can't ask the questions they would like and can't voice their true opinions, so you can imagine what they feel like when they walk into a FSBO. When an owner shows their own home, they tend to make the entire experience too personal and geared toward their experiences there, and that turns off potential buyers which makes it harder to sell the FSBO.
FSBO's don't realize when they try to sell their own property that they will be subject to complete strangers walking through their home at all hours of the day. After a few weeks of FSBO's juggling their daily schedule to accommodate different buyers, FSBO's will generally get frustrated or completely stressed and call their local realtor to list their home for sale. Realtors will make sure that buyers coming through are pre qualified and looking for a property that is similar to your home.
If a FSBO does get lucky enough to finally get to contract, then comes the hard part, negotiating. Negotiating price and terms of the contract can be tricky and FSBO's tend to attract buyers looking to make low ball offers, or even worse commit fraud. They think if there is not an agent there looking out for the seller's best interest, that they can take advantage of them. Realtors are trained to spot fraud and help to keep potential buyers from bringing low ball offers.
Many times you will see FSBO's agree to accept an offer from a buyer being represented by a real estate agent, and since most serious buyers have an agent this happens all too often. This scenario can be catastrophic for the FSBO in the negotiating process. An experienced agent knows contracts and contingencies inside and out and will structure deals in the favor of their buyer. Without an agent on their side the FSBO will generally accepts price and terms far below what an experienced seller's agent would be able to get for them.
These are just a few reasons to use a Realtor when you are ready to sell your home or condo. The sale of a home is usually the largest and most stressful transaction that people make in their life, so why not make it a pleasant experience and enlist the services of a Realtor.
10. You open yourself to unneeded stress and aggravation.
9. FSBO's can be a security risk for the seller.
8. Unqualified strangers walking through your home.
7 Takes hours out of your day and some appointments never even show up.
6. You could end up negotiating with an experienced buyer's agent.
5. You may be unaware you are participating in fraud.
4. Advertising can be expensive and unreliable.
3. Most of the calls you will get will be from Realtors anyway.
2. You will probably overprice you home.
And the number one reason not to go FSBO.....who wants to ruin their weekend having an open house?
If you are looking for a great deal on Aventura real estate, the please call us today! We are finding more and more deals for our buyers than ever before. Due to our years of experience working in the Aventura real estate market, we are able to find distressed Aventura condos where the sellers just want to get out of the deal at what they paid for it. This means you may be able to pick up properties at pricing from three years ago. The Hansen Homes team is the best performing real estate sales team in Aventura, and we have been providing a great service for our clients of the last eight years. If you would like to find out more about the recent opportunities to purchase an Aventura condo at a great price, please contact us today!
We are always interested on why people are looking for homes in South Florida. We look forward to your participation in our survey. Please give the South Florida real estate poll a second to load.
All signs are pointing towards an active and fruitful season in the Miami real estate market. With hurricane season almost over and very little storm activity, the real estate market in starting to balance out and the prognosis looks good for a healthy real estate season in Miami. All of the experts that predicted gloom and doom for a record number of hurricanes should have their heads buried in the sand due to the embarrassment of being totally wrong. That just goes to show you, don’t try and predict what mother nature will do, because it may come back to bite you. Miami is, and will continue to be the American Riviera.
I can tell you one thing for certain from experience, I would rather know that a hurricane is coming and have advance notice, than getting caught in an earthquake or a tornado that comes almost completely without warning. Hurricanes are like the economy, they work in cycles and you can never accurately predict them.
The percentage of first-time home buyers under age 25 has been increasing in response to low interest rates
As they begin to enter the housing market, many consumers in their 20s are more likely to buy a home at a younger age than their older brothers and sisters as well as their baby boomer parents, and are not necessarily waiting for marriage or even a long-term relationship before becoming homeowners.
The next generation of homeowners is beginning to exert its influence on the housing market, said Thomas M. Stevens, National Association of Realtors president from Vienna, Virginia, and senior vice president of NRT Inc. Many younger buyers have seen the wealth-building effects of homeownership in their parents and understand the value of housing as a good long-term investment.
The motivations, interests, and home buying approach of some younger buyers are chronicled in Tomorrow Buyers: Who They Are and What They Want in the September 2006 issue of Realtor Magazine. The report integrates NAR research with the experiences and attitudes of real-life buyers who represent different demographic populations, putting a human face on statistical trends.
The percentage of first-time homebuyers under age 25 has been increasing in response to historically low interest rates and continued confidence in the long-term housing market, from 11% in 2001 to 14% in 2005, according to the 2005 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Owning a home is no more burdensome than renting, and in the long term, it's the better investment, said Kristen Carreira, a 26-year-old homeowner in Pittsburgh.
Carreira is also part of a trend in single female home buyers. While married couples are still the norm, they represent a smaller share of the home buying public than they did just 10 years ago, from 70% of home buyers in 1995 to 61%, says NAR. During that same time, the proportion of single women buying homes has increased, from 14% in 1995 to 21%.
Younger buyers are also likely to use technology and the Internet in their home buying search. In 2005, according to NAR research, the median age of buyers who used the Internet to search for homes was 11 years younger than those who did not, at 38 and 49, respectively.
Realtors have adapted to meet the needs of this growing population of young home buyers, said Stevens. More than one-third of NAR's 1.3 million Realtor members have had special training and lots of experience in buyer representation and technology. That expertise is reflected in special designations and certifications, such as the Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR) designation and e-PRO certification. A commitment to understanding the demands of this changing marketplace is just one more way Realtors add value to the real estate transaction.
We are all eagerly awaiting the Village at Gulfstream Park to open sales. Here is the lates on the project from the Sun Sentinel. Just part the Hansen Homes effort to keep you up to date on the latest real estate news.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted September 20 2006
HALLANDALE BEACH Commissioners late Tuesday voted to allow the city and developers to continue negotiating on The Village at Gulfstream Park project.
At a hearing to be held Oct. 16, commissioners will have the option of giving the final go-ahead.
Under a proposal, the developers would spend $10 million on traffic and road improvements, contribute $2 million to the Broward County School Board for classrooms, and build 225 housing units for low- and moderate-income families.
On top of that, commissioners want a separate agreement detailing the developers' specific obligations toward Hallandale.
Commissioners' concerns range from environmental issues such as traffic and street flooding to job guarantees for local residents and adequate parking for customers and those who live nearby.
"So far, we've got a lot of promises -- nothing written in stone," Vice Mayor Bill Julian said.
Mayor Joy Cooper said the developers initially wanted Hallandale to issue a community redevelopment loan to pay for impact fees and other expenses. But she said commissioners killed that request because it would have tied up funding for redevelopment projects throughout the district.
The Village would be built on 60 acres on a portion of Gulfstream Park, located south of Hallandale Beach Boulevard and east of Federal Highway. It would feature 1,500 condo units, a 500-room hotel, 2,500-seat movie theatre, an office-retail complex almost the size of Fort Lauderdale's Galleria Mall and 1.2 acres of open space.
The developers were supposed to reach an agreement with Hallandale Beach officials on two parking garages to serve prospective homeowners, tenants and customers.
Cooper said the parking facility would be financed with $25 million through the Hallandale Beach Community Redevelopment Agency's fund.
She said the city would recoup its investment through parking revenues, and developers would make up for any shortfalls.
Developers at Tuesday night's meeting said parking wouldn't be an immediate issue because they are not building residential units in the first phase of the project.
But they urged commissioners to act promptly.
"The difficulty we have is other people out there are waiting for us to get our zoning. These are the tenants; the tenants aren't going to wait forever," said Brian Ratner, a spokesman for the developers.
However, Cooper said negotiations should continue because there are too many unresolved issues with the project. Some commissioners didn't receive a draft of the financing proposal until late Tuesday, although it requires a long-term commitment from the city and the use of taxpayers' money.
"It's totally unacceptable," Cooper said. "I will not vote on anything until the developer agreement is totally fine-tuned."
County commissioners in May allowed the project to proceed after the developers agreed to reduce its size. But commissioners say they're not taking any chances until they are sure all issues are addressed.
Cooper said the developers' plans didn't include the proposed parking facility because they wanted to use existing parking available for racetrack patrons.
Today we just launced out new blog design for www.hansenhomesaventura.com. We would love to hear your feedback on the new look and navigation of the blog. If you have any suggestions on how we can make our blog better please leave us a comment. We also launched out new MLS listing system on the main site miami real estate . We will be adding unique features on a monthly basis. If there are any features that you would like to see please drop us a line or leave us a comment.
New mortgage applications are up. Pending home sales are up. The economy is expanding. Unemployment is at 4.6 percent. And mortgage rates are still historically low.
What kind of housing bust is this anyway?
All the dismal reports about the real estate market overlook the realities in the market place, some housing experts say.
The housing correction -- expressed through new home starts -- "may be closer to [its] trough than to [its] peak," says Federal Reserve vice chairman Donald L. Kohn.
Today's "unusually low" long-term mortgage-rate environment "stands in sharp contrast to some past downturns in the housing market that followed actions by the Federal Reserve to tighten credit conditions significantly," Kohn adds.
James Glassman of JP Morgan Chase is equally optimistic. He says 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at 5.75 percent are a distinct possibility if long-term rates in the global bond market keep easing. The current cyclical downturn in housing "is not your classic interest-rate story" he says.
Perhaps the most blunt appraisal comes from Mike Moran, chief economist of Wall Street’s Daiwa Securities America. Moran says the financial press is taking a normal and long-predicted cyclical rebalancing and "portraying it as a catastrophe."
Acqualina Miami is finally here. Acqualina condos are some of the finest condominiums you will find anywhere in the Miami real estate market. Acqualina is the most anticipated condo that has ever been built in Miami and it is located directly on the ocean in the heart of Sunny Isles Beach. Acqualina offers its residents one of the finest restaurants in Miami, IL Mulino. If a life of luxury is what you are looking for, the Acqualina is it. With many different Acqualina floor plans and views to choose from, Acqualina will astound you. Make sure you have an experienced realtor on you side to help you with your experience in purchasing a unit at Acqualina Miami. We offer a full list of current Acqualina resales to browse. For more information or to set up a showing for Acqualina, please contact Paul Hansen today! 786-586-4778
The Residences at Atlantis has been a huge success and they will be in New York at the Four Seasons hotel this week hosting a private cocktail reception. Due to my relationship with the developers of Atlantis, they have asked me to extend this private invitation to you. I have personally been to Atlantis three times this year alone, and I can tell you with great confidence that if you are looking for a first class project with a track record that is second to none, you must attend this cocktail event at the Four Seasons. Please read the email below from Mr. Reiner Perez of the Residences at Atlantis.
The billion dollar vision is finally becoming a reality. Construction for The Residences at Atlantis has begun along with
the entire 60 acre expansion. Dolphin Cay is filled with water and 6 of the 17 Dolphins are pregnant and thriving. The Aquaquest Waterscape is in it's final stages and the new 120 ft. Slide Tower, featuring four thrilling water slides, should be up and running by the Spring of 2007! The main arrival experience has exceeded our expectations, with views from the moment you enter the lobby and Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, directly overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The Residences at Atlantis is on the third floor of construction and should be complete by January 2008. I have attached the live web link of the construction site:
Due to the overwhelming response we have received on this project, speed of construction and the inquiries from clients in the tri state area, we will be in New York next week for a private Invitation Only cocktail presentation. I would like to cordially invite you to our private cocktail reception being held at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York on October 18th from 6:30pm - 9:30pm. I will be in New York on the 17th through the 19th meeting individually with interested prospects.
Please forward an email to me at: hansenhomes@gmail.com or visit our sign up form if you have a strong interest in acquiring one of the residences and will be attending, so that I may update our VIP list, or if you would like to schedule an appointment during my stay.
The average household spends nearly $9,000 on products and services
linked directly to a home, or about $170 billion a year, according to a new survey by Move Inc. About half of the moving-related expenses pay for household goods and services, including home decorating, improvements and repair. People who are moving spend 60 percent more on such purchases than non-movers, the study found. The rest of the money is spent when switchingto new merchants for services like banking, cable or satellite TV, telephone service and Internet access. Movers also switch to new grocery stores, insurance companies, auto mechanics and pharmacies. The 2006 Mover Study analyzed consumers' timeline for buying
move-related products and services as well. It found that many buying decisions were clustered around the two weeks immediately before and after a move.
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