South Florida Real Estate and...

South Florida Home Prices To Hit Bottom in 2012 

Six years after the housing collapse here in South Florida there is a predicted light at the end of the tunnel. Time goes by very fast. It seems like just yesterday we were watching home prices fall by over 50% in many parts of South Florida- in Palm Beach County, Broward County and Miami Dade County and up to St Lucie County along the Treasure Coast. 

Here we are six years later and prices are beginning to stabilize. That is a long free fall! Moody's Analytics projects that in the next 10 to 15 months we will see the bottom of the fall. 

It is not going to be some housing boom especially not the likes of what we have seen in 2003, 2004 and to the middle of 2005 when the prices peaked.

This is all about median also. So bear that in mind. That means there are areas that will see a faster rise and others a slower upswing. There are condos on the waterfront in South Beach in Miami that already have risen by 25% but yet down the street into North Miami Beach off the waterfront sellers can not give their condos away. So it is all relative to your exact market.

Here in Wellington the prices for most properties and subdivisions are beginning to stabilize. Near 60% of all our sales are ALL CASH closings. The lower end properties sell to first time homebuyers or investors. The equestrian high end has always sold to those serious about moving their horses here to our great climate.

But there are areas all around us that are not fairing as well. 

Some of the banks are not as positive in the outlook because they say there are still too many foreclosures in the courts and too many people behind in their payments and too many bank owned properties that still have yet to be put on the market. 

Unemployment rates, tougher lending rules, harder to get a mortage regulations and more fees on mortgages will slow down the process of recovery as well. 

New home construction is starting again so if you are in the market for a new home now may be a good time to buy one. 

  Rates are still low. Interest rates for mortgages are still at record lows so if you can get a mortgage now is a great time to do so. 

Sellers who are not doing short sales and who are not in foreclosure will have the upper hand and some leverage as me move into 2012. Most likely we will continue to see bidding wars on non stressed properties. This is good news for sellers who don't want to wait until all their equity lost decides to come back. 

There are over 371,000 open foreclosure cases in the state of Florida. Palm Beach, Broward and Miami/Dade counties have about 100,000 of those cases. 

So we are not in a free fall any longer but still have a long ways to go to get out of this mess. 

Back To Bethlehem Relived- Amazing Experience in Loxahatchee Florida 

This is one of the most amazing Christmas season events you can take part in each year. The Back To Bethlehem experience is just a few minutes away from our home. The entry fee is FREE. We look forward to going to Back To Bethlehem each year. 

A church out in Loxahatchee works all year each year to make sure that we all get to experience not only something beautiful but actually transport us back into time, to the time of the birth of Christ. The Community of Hope church puts this event on with so many volunteers. 

They transform the woods behind their church into Bethlehem complete with in period costume, speaking, artifacts and events. They certainly don't forget their humor either. As we wait in line to get into the Town of Bethlehem there is a husband and wife in period clothing bickering about which path is the right path to Bethlehem where they have to go to pay their taxes. 

When you get to the gates of Bethlehem there are Roman soldiers guarding the town. They are standing around us and above us on top of the gate. To the right of us is a long board whereon all heads of households must sign in for their families. Many of us were taking flash photos of the Roman soldiers at which they shouted at us: " Are you sorcerers? How do you make lightning from your hands? How do you make lightning without thunder?" 

There was another man walking around the village who came up to me and asked me who could I make this fire from my hands like this. He then said I must be from Persia so I played along and said I had brought magic from Persia. The then said, did you get this from the village of Walmart? We laughed and laughed. It was a great time. 

Inside the village there were so many people participating in this re-enactment of Bethlehem.

There were bread makers, pottery artists, girls weaving cloth on looms, blacksmiths making different tools.

There were children playing and then there were sheep, goats, roosters, chickens and donkeys. 

We traveled through the village on our way to the stable to see baby Jesus lying in a manger with Joseph and Mary watching over him. I must not have learned to use my camera very well in the dark because my photos did not turn out as well as I had hoped they would. 

We were once again amazed at all the work that went into this event. People come from as far away as Orlando and up from Miami to take part in this experience. We hope to see you there next year. Here is my favorite song... 

I just read a featured post about an attorney who is not going to be negotiating any more short sales in his office. There were many supportive comments but there were many that were quite disturbing. The post was a 'members only' post so I can not refer to it however I will go over what is most alarming to me. 

More than one commenter stated that they don't like to do short sales because they rarely close.Some even said they don't want to take short sale listings because they don't close. I don't know the ratio of who's comments were those who list short sales compared to those who had buyers for short sales. 

My big question is: WHY are your short sales NOT closing? What is your closing ratio for your short sales closing? If it is not over 90% than you are right - you should not be listing short sales not because they are not closing but rather you are not closing them for some reason. 

What is the reason you are NOT closing your short sales? 

• IF you are doing an intake evaluation with each seller before you list their house for sale as a short sale you should know right up front whether the short sale is going to close or not. 

We should not be gambling with people's homes. 

• IF you look over the short sale package the seller turns into you- which should be done BEFORE you list their property for sale as a short sale- you should be able to tell whether there are going to be any issues and if there are you can address them before you list the property for sale. 
• IF you made sure your seller understands the process of a short sale and he or she has committed to participate in the short sale- there should be no reason for this short sale not to close. 
• IF you DON'T give up with the lender, if you DON'T behave like a debt collector, if you DON'T give up on your seller, there is no reason for you not to get the short sale closed. That means if you have to climb to the top of the food chain, that is what you do. 

IF the seller is going to get foreclosed on next week- you don't LIST the short sale! 

The odds are in your favor if you know how to negotiate a short sale that you will get your short sales closed. If you are not getting your short sales closed then you need to take a good negotiating course. We list and negotiate and sell our short sale listings. In over 20 years of negotiating short sales we have over a 90% approved short sale ratio. That is after dozens and dozens of short sales. The same goes for Broker Bryant and many others that do short sales. 

Yes, they can be tough.

But don't take listings if you run out of breathe before you get to the finish line. That is not fair to your sellers, the homeowners and it is also not fair to the buyers waiting for the approval and it is not fair to yourself. 

2011 December Blogging Challenge- Day 26- Either learn how to do short sales or stop doing them. 

Nestor walked into one of our favorite stores, Whole Foods of Wellington to pick up some extra organic butter I needed on Christmas Eve morning to finish some baking. 

When he got to the cashiers - of course he knows ALL the cashiers at Whole Foods in Wellington! He is just the most likeable guy ever and whenever we have a store we frequent often he will get to know all the clerks and cashiers. They love seeing him and he always cheers up their days. 

On Christmas Eve there was a new cashier. The cashier says to Nestor, "Happy Holidays" on Christmas Eve. Nestor said, " Do you know what day it is?" Nestor then says, "It is Christmas Eve so Merry Christmas." He then told the cashiers that he wished them all a very Merry Christmas and they all smiled and wished him also a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

After he left the store he thought about what happened and decided to go back into the store to talk to the manager about this. So he went to the customer service area to lodge the complaint ( not a real complaint). There were about 5 clerks and managers around and he wished them all a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year. They all gleamed and smiled. They responded in kind. 

He further explained that it was not the Fourth of July or any other holiday this day. It was Christmas Eve and therefore, he wished to be wished a Merry Christmas. 

He told them this is a great opportunity to make this statement since the whole reason we can no longer say Merry Christmas is because it may offend someone. Well, what about putting the shoe on the other foot? Those of us who say Merry Christmas are offended by not being able to be greeted with Christmas greetings. So here we are. 

They all smiled and nodded for they know Nestor and they know he meant what he said and that he is a great customer of Whole Foods in Wellington. :) He could also tell they were happy he made the complaint by the twinkle in their eyes. 

The word 'holiday' actually means, 'Holy Day'. However the word holiday no longer carries a reverant meaning. Calling New Years day a holiday proves the point. Putting Christ back into Christmas is what is important. 

Christmas is full of traditions, cultural differences and similarities. Christmas means different things to different people. Christmas in the eyes of a child is different than in the heart of an elderly person. This year was one of thought and contemplation for me. It was a year of re-examining the reason for this Holy day and more so of my soulful intent in living in the reason for the season. 

This year we told all of our grown children that they would be only receiving one big gift from us and one gift from our little guy. The grand-kids would get more gifts and our youngest son was told to make a serious list not of all the toys in the Toyrus catalog that would be for just a fleeting moment of excitement only to find their way into the donation pile within the next 30 days but rather the gifts that would last and have meaning. 

What brought about this serious discussion was when this grandmother came over to pick up for freecycle. We belong to our Wellington Freecycle group. It is a yahoo group where you give to others in the group. We give everything we have first to freecycle and to our church members before giving to goodwill, etc. The day before we went to get our Christmas tree which we do every year the day after Thanksgiving we gathered up boxes of our little guy's toys. He has so many toys and many of which he no longer plays with. So many that our grandchildren already have their fill of his hand me down toys. So here were these 4 boxes and 4 Whole Foods' bags full of all kinds of Heroes characters and dinosaurs, games and soldiers, cars and trucks, etc. 

I placed the offer on freecycle and within minutes of posting my inbox was full of requests to pick up the toys. I read through the requests and decided it would be too hard to make the decision of who to give all these toys to by myself. So I prayed about it. I asked the Lord to guide me to right person. He led me to a grandmother. When she came to pick the toys up she thought she was getting a bag or two of toys. When she saw all the boxes and bags... she began to cry. She hugged me, this complete stranger to me poured out her heart to me. She told me how her grandsons had no gifts for Christmas this year. How they would be so happy. How we made Christmas for her and her family and on and on. I was so humbled. This pile of junk to my son was manna from heaven to her grandchildren. 

It was then that I decided no more toys that break in five minutes after opening would be wasted under the tree this year. No more gifts just for the sake of wrapping and to be admired under the tree as if the amount of presents matter in the grand scheme of things. No more wasteful moments shopping at malls and in stores full of junk. All of my shopping with the exception of Walgreens stocking stuffers ( where I do most of my couponing) would all be bought online. I saved so much time in knowing exactly what each person needed most and where to find it online between Amazon and Brookstone, Office Depot and Legos.com. 

As a child I was blessed to be a Navy brat living in different places and traveling much of the world. We lived in Germany for 4 years, from the time I was about 5 to about 9 years old. We went to German schools and lived in Berlin off of the base due to the nature of my father's intelligence work during the Cold War. My mother was born in Riga which is home to the very first Christmas tree documented in 1510. In Germany they have the tradition of St Nicholas. We would put one of our shoes outside of our bedroom door and during the night while we were sleeping St Nicholas would walk by our shoes and fill them with goodies, mostly wonderfully delicious German made chocolates. 

We did not even know about Santa Claus. My mother was not a material person and did not want us to learn about material things. My father was a self proclaimed atheist and my mother was all over the place with her spirituality from pagan traditions to Christian beliefs but nothing centered or that made sense. From a very early age I knew there was a God and I felt there was something special about Christmas. Somehow the idea of buying gifts just to buy gifts did not seem to be the reason for the season to me. In Germany and Latvia we celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve and everyone takes a turn to open a gift. 

It was my resolve to keep this tradition in my own family. So even through my kids saw Santa Claus we never paid him much mind. Very rarely did my children even ask for a photo with Santa nor was I inclined to enter that thought into their minds. I wanted them to know that Christmas was about the birth of our Savior and not cave into the commercialism that occupies most minds during Christmas. We had a saying in our family, if your mind is occupied with a certain thought it replaces another. So if you are in the moment thinking about Santa Claus then that is a moment you are not thinking about Baby Jesus. Who would you like to think about I would ask. 

The tradition has continued for over 32 years now since I had my first child. We tell the Christmas story from Luke and then we listen to Christmas music. The last three years we have been listening to 'Mary Did You Know?' each Christmas eve on YouTube. We each give our gift to Jesus for the year. These gifts are from our hearts. It is different for each person. Then the youngest child finds gift under the tree and it can not be his or her own gift. They give that gift to the person it is for, then the person opens their gift. They get up to give the person whom the gift if from a hug and kiss, then pick up a gift from under the tree to give to another person. And so on this goes until all the gifts are unwrapped. This is our way of making sure that the gift of giving and receiving is learned and appreciated and practiced. It is also my way of making sure that we are focused on what is important, that the gift of Jesus is impressed upon our minds and that space and thought is one of Christ Jesus and not of commercialism and the opposing thoughts. 

May you find this Christmas season room in your hearts and minds for Baby Jesus. God loves us so much he gave to us his Begotten Son, Jesus Christ who is the reason for the season. 

Merry Christmas! Wishing you and your family and friends a very Merry Christmas. 

We wish all our subscribers here on ActiveRain and those who are reading our blog from around the world, a very Merry Christmas.  

We wish Bob Stewart, Nikesh Parekh, Kerrie and Kellie and Kate and all the rest of the ActiveRain leadership and employees a very Merry Christmas. 

We wish all of our sellers, the homeowners who entrust us with their Wellington short sales, the rest of south Florida short sales from Port St Lucie down to the south in Miami a very Merry Christmas. 

We wish all of our loved ones, our family, our children, our grandchildren, our nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters a very Merry Christmas. 

We are looking forward to a wonderful evening Christmas eve with our family. We celebrate Christmas the Latvian traditional way which is to open our gifts one at a time on Christmas Eve. We tell the story of Mary and Joseph and their journey into Bethlehem where they had to go to pay their taxes. We tell the story as told in Luke about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Our children never believed in Santa Claus as that was not the spiritual Christmas we wanted our children to grow up with. In reverence and awe is how we spend the Christmas Eve. 

Most of all, we show our children how to reach out to those kids who may not get to have Christmas. Each year we would adopt a family to give a Christmas to. We would buy the tree and gifts and the kids would wrap the gifts. Then they would bring them to the family in need. Our church has an Angel Tree and we take the tags off of the tree each year and buy gifts for the age and gender on the tag. We never know their names. These names are of others in our church family that would not have Christmas gifts if not for the Angel Tree. 

There are so many ways in which to reach out to those who are sad, lonely, alone this Christmas. The world will always have those who stand in need of your touch, your hugs, your gifts. For in giving you receive. It is most often the giver that is blessed more that the receiver. There is something magical about generousity. 

May the Lord bless you this Christmas with a touch of grace, charity and love. 

2011 December Blogging Challenge- Days 24 and 25

Chinese Drywall Settlement- Good News For Homeowners 

Florida homeowners who have Chinese drywall may finally get some relief. Homeowners settled a case against one of the biggest manufactors of defective drywall- Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. They settled for 

This one settlement may be able to help at least 3,000 homeowners who have the defective drywall in their homes. 

More than 8,000 more homeowners in Florida may also be reaching some settlements with other drywall companies. The drywall is made in China. 

Banner Supply Co. a Miami firm that distributed the imported from China drywall also settled by agreeing to pay up to 54 Million dollars to compensate about 2000 homeowners. 

If you have Knauf drywall you need to act now. Don't wait the attorneys are saying. You can choose a cash payment to or Knauf will choose a contractor for you and they will pay them directly. Knauf is also paying for economic losses such as foreclosure and attorneys fees. 

You can expect to get a notice about the settlement in the early part of 2012. All work will commence in January of 2012. 

Knauf has a pilot program going on to see how this will all work out. So far in their pilot program 421 homes are being prepared to get their repairs, 57 are being worked on and 37 homes have been repaired. 

Around 40% of all the homes affected by this settlement are in South Florida. If you have Chinese defective drywall check with an attorney to see if your manufacturer is reaching a settlement with homeowners. 

To find out more about Chinese drywall you can read these posts that I wrote about it here: 

Chinese Drywall- If You Have Chinese Drywall 

Chinese Drywall- Your Insurance Company 

The builders started to buy the drywall made in China after Hurricanes Wilma and Katrina because there was too much of a demand and not enough supply to keep up with the housing boom at that time along with repairs that needed to be made from Hurricane damage.

2011 December Blogging Challenge- Day 23- Keep On Top Of Local Issues To Help Homeowners

Wellington Little League- End of Fall Season

Wellington Little League rec games were fun and exciting this fall season as this was the 9 year old league. Why is that special? Because it is the first year for Kid Pitch. Before 9 years old, the boys have Coach Pitch. The Coach pitches for the boys. But now when they turn 9 and up- the kids have to pitch. 

Our son is a great pitcher and short stop. He was also on the Wellington Colts Travel BaseballTeam. He had to go out for tryouts for Travel Ball for the spring season. The coach texted Nestor that our son made the Travel Team once again. 

Here is a photo of the Wellington Little League Blue Jays Team- 9 years olds along with their siblings: 

LOL, for those of you who know us and have been following my blog about our baseball journey- you know I have come a long way because now I am finally enjoying Baseball:) Spring baseball will be here before we know it! 

Florida Property Owners Tax Relief 

A proposed constitutional ammendment Tallahassee is underway. Please contact your state legislators to tell them to pass this amendment. This is good for homeowners. Homeowners need a break. Preserve your property rights. Call today. 

If this ammendment is passed this is what it will mean to you: 

If you are Florida resident and your home is your homesteaded property you will be getting a super exemption. Right now your exemption is $25,000. Depending on the fair market value of your home your exemption will range from 15% to 30%. 

So if your home has a market value of $300,000 and you are being taxed for the value of $250,000 you will get a super exemption of $45,000 which will make your taxable amount $205,000. 

If you own a home that is valued at $300,000 and you are being taxed at $200,000 your exemption will be $37,500 so your revised taxable value will be $162,500. 

If you have lived in your home for a long time with a value of $300,000 but are being taxed at $145,000, your super exemption will be $21,000 for a new taxable value of $124,000. But because that is less than the Save Our Homes benefit of $105,000 the exemption would not apply in your case. 

If you are a snowbird who paid $45,000 for a condo but that condo is now worth less than $25,000 you are not going to get the exemption. The property is less than the exemption. If the property value rises over 7% then you will get a snowbird exemption. 

If you have lived in your home for a long time and your home is valued at $1 Million but taxed at $700,000 you will get a super exemption of $67,500 and then your new taxable amount will be $632,500. But you will not get the super exemption because your Save Our Homes exemption would exceed the super exemption. Your Save Our Homes exemption is $250,000 in your case. 

You can not get both the Save Our Homes exemption and the Super exemption. Your Save Our Homes exemption is deducted from the Super Exemption. If your Save Our Homes Exemption exceeds the Super exemption you don't get to take the super exemption. If it does not exceed, then you get to subtract the Save Our Homes exemption from the Super Exemption. 

The reason for this is because Florida does not want to punish new homeownership. Those who have lived in their homes for a long time will not be punished either. They were careful to make sure the exemptions would help both existing and new home owners. The other thing they did not want to happen is for longtime homeowners to sell their homes to buy a new one with a better exemption. This is an equal exemption. 

The best part of the ammendment is that the tax appraisers can not increase assessed values no matter whether it is owned by a non Florida resident or a homesteaded resident for more than 7% per year. Snowbirds will not be taxed at the appraised increases of 10% per year that is the current rate of increase when prices increase but they will be topped out at 7% at the most if the property value goes up by 7% per year or more. 

If this ammendment passes the legislature it will go to the voters. Cities and counties of course are not happy about this ammendment because that will mean less revenue for them. I have never understood why cities and counties don't privatize more of their projects and services. That is the best way to cut out expenses and lower everyone's taxes. 

This comes down to being a private property rights issue. As Realtors® we promise by joining the NAR to uphold and defend private property rights. Make 2012 the year that you take action for private property rights. Pay attention to your state legislators and your local and county rules. Be involved. Get educated about private property rights. Get ready to defend property rights. 

Having a fair tax system enhances the free transferability of property. Cities and counties will make up for the losses of income through taxation through economic growth and people spending their money in their locales.

2011 December Blogging Challenge- Day 22- Get involved with your state's private property rights. 

NAHREP South Florida Annual Toy Drive and Picnic- 

We have a break from baseball games but not baseball practice over the Christmas break. So last week we attended the NAHREP South Florida chapter first annual Toy Drive and Picnic. We drove down to Pembrooke Pines to the C.B. Smith Park. It was the first Saturday we did not have a baseball game in a long time. 

We knew for sure the food would be good. Whenever there are Cubans involved at a social event you can count on great food. Everyone had a great time eating, socializing, networking and playing games like volleyball and croquet. The kids had pony rides and enjoyed two bounce houses. 

And here we have a visitor. Not sure of his Hispanic roots but nevertheless this Duck was part of the NAHREP family :) BTW- NAHREP is open to all Realtors® of all nationalities, that was just a joke about the duck. 

Here is Rosa who is one of our coaching clients. She is a broker/owner of her own brokerage in Miami Florida and we are helping her with her online branding in a very competitive market. Rosa Hernandez is a very courageous woman too. She was showing a house and suddenly she felt a sting in her neck. She wiped her neck with her hand and discovered her hand was full of blood. She had been hit by a drive by bb bullet but her earing acted as a buffer between the bullet and her neck. While the bullet still went into her neck it did not kill her. It was right next to her main vein. She is very blessed to be alive today. She was in the hospital for 4 days. 

The members of NAHREP South Florida chapter stepped up with the toy drive. We all brought unwrapped gifts which were donated to the Susan B Anthony Recovery Center. The center is a recovery center for mothers who suffer from addiction. The toys will really be appreciated and will help the children have a hopeful future. 

NAHREP South Florida chapter is my favorite Realtor® organization. I love all the positive upbeat members and all the community service, community awareness, homeowner support they do. We are going to continue to be active members of our South Florida chapter. 

Choose a Realtor® organization that you would like to be a part of this next year. There are a lot of them to choose from and most certainly a chapter near you. It is a good networking opportunity also. 

2011 December Blogging Challenge- Day 21- Realtor® Organizations