S & J Journal

Florida Realtors gives clear reasoning on the pros and cons of renting versus buying real estate... read the article .

I want to share this article with you from the  South Florida Business Journal: South Florida led the nation in all-cash home sales according to a study by RealtyTrac . Just over 70 percent of October home sales in South Florida were cash deals, the highest among the Top 50 metropolitan areas. Many of the purchasers in those deals are investors, often foreign investors, or wealthy, second-home buyers. Working families rarely have the resources to shell out cash for a home. Read article.

Mia Patch Licensed Realtor 305-333-7167 mia@slesnick.net  Mia Patch is a marketing and sales executive with more than 20 years of experience in the Florida and Colorado real estate markets. Slesnick & Jochem now brings our expertise to Coconut Grove, Brickell, Key Biscayne and Downtown Miami, in addition to Coral Gables where we have consistently been #1 in the number of homes listed and sold. Welcome, Mia!

The Today Show's real estate expert Barbara Corcoran explains how low home appraisals are causing frustration and disappointment for buyers and sellers and she offers advice about how to avoid them.   VIDEO

Late last month , Redfin released a quarterly survey of homebuyer attitudes that included answers from almost 1,000 home shoppers in 19 cities...It appears buyers are frustrated by having to bid  against other buyers on homes, since inventory is low in some markets.  People are having to compete for properties and 70% of buyers said they’d encountered multiple-bid scenarios. The survey ran from August 16-22. Interesting survey findings: ·          46% believe now is a good time to buy, down from 56% in the first quarter ·          32% believe now is a good time to sell, up from 13% during the first quarter ·          61% believe prices will increase, up from 32% during the first quarter Read more: http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?p=5&id=280578

On the MLX, there are only 250 homes for sale in Coral Gables and just 97 of these are under $1M. Nationally... • The median single-family home price as of June is $190,100, according to the National Association of Realtors. The high was $230,900 in July 2006. • The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate is 3.59%, according to Freddie Mac, slightly above the all-time low of 3.49% last month. • The average cost to close on a mortgage fell 7% over the past year, according to Bankrate.com. Check back with us often.

First-time homebuyers are struggling to buy in this recovering real estate market, the Sun Sentinel reported last week. Although prices are affordable and mortgage interest rates are at an all-time low, first-timers are facing competition from banks who have tightened lending requirements and investors who are cash buyers. Sellers prefer cash or even buyers that have pre-approved conventional loans because they are weary of FHA loan transactions. Even when these first-time buyers put down offers on a home over the list price, they often lose it to cash buyers. Today’s first-time buyers also face a shortage of available homes. First-time buyers accounted for roughly a third of all home sales nationwide in May, according to the National Association of Realtors. Ideally, the percentage should be 40 percent or more, said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the Realtor trade group. It is conventionally first-time buyers that stimulate confidence in the real estate market. To compete...

We have been touting the same information for the past 12 months : Inventory is down to the lowest levels we’ve seen in 6 years. And...in Coral Gables, prices are creeping up for homes listed under $1M. The total number of homes for sale under $1M has dropped to about 39% of the C.G. inventory. Lately, the average list price has equaled the average sales price. In fact, the last 5 homes that Slesnick & Jochem sold between $475,000 and $775,000 went under contract within a week and sold for asking price or up to 7% over asking. None of these were short sales or foreclosures. We typically get multiple offers because our properties are fairly priced. Read the Miami Herald article.

Florida’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research released a report last week that shows positive news for the state’s real estate market. Although real estate is contributing less to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as compared to 2006 and prior, it is still currently the state’s largest industry, government being Florida’s second-largest industry. Read more at the Jacksonville Daily Record . And don’t forget to check back here at our blog often, where Slesnick & Jochem provide interesting real estate tidbits concerning Coral Gables, its environs, and more.

Demand is up, inventory is low and prices are rising. That is what a Miami Herald article is saying today. In South Florida communities stretching from Homestead up to Weston, bidding wars are exploding and real estate inventory is quickly diminishing. Read more.

Despite the sluggishness of national numbers, a few markets are downright hot again. You may recognize some as boom markets from years past. Bidding wars are erupting over some homes for sale in cities like Seattle; Sacramento, Calif.; Reno, Nev.; San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; and Miami, according to the The Wall Street Journal.  The limited number of homes for sale is causing the increased competition at some price points in some cities. Massive purchases of foreclosures by investors have helped gobble up much of the excess. But while sales volumes are increasing, prices aren't yet showing much of an increase, if any, says the Journal.