Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, Miami real estate

Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit 2009/2010

Congress has developed plan and passed a new legislation to stimulate the U.S. housing market and address the economic challenges facing our nation by:

*Extends the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit of up to $8,000 to first-time home buyers until April 30, 2010.

· *Expands the credit to grant up to $6,500 credit to current home owners purchasing a new or existing home between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010.

Full article...Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, Miami real estate

Miami Short Sales, Miami Real Estate

As Foreclosures Rise, banks take more loses on short sales

Three years into a U.S. housing slump that pressed the economy into a recession and reduced resale values and Miami real estate by 30% from the peak in July 2006, more and more banks are beginning to accept increasing numbers of short sales. In the first six months of 2009 short sales almost tripled to 40,000, from the same period a year earlier. However, according to data from the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, for each short sale there were 25 foreclosures started or completed in the first half of this year.

This year, Wells Fargo, Bank of America Corporation and JPMorgan Chase & Company have hired and trained more staff, developed software systems for accelerating short sales and increased marketing of short sales to delinquent borrowers.

Full Article...Miami Short Sales, Miami Real Estate

Miami homes for Sale, Miami Beach Real Estate

South Florida home and condo sales surge amid lower prices

Among continued signs that the steepest of the declines may be over, falling median prices for Miami homes for sale in South Florida were boosted in August versus a year ago. The figures were in contrast to national numbers, which showed a dip in sales for the first time in four months.

The Florida Association of Realtors reported, in August Miami homes for sale were up 22%, while the median price was $194,800, a slide of 29% versus a year ago. Miami condos for sale also rose by 17% as median condo prices dropped 31% to $144,700.

In Broward you see a similar pattern, where Miami homes for sale were up 35%, while the median price dropped 20% to $217,000. Miami condos for sale rose 61%, with the median price falling 36% to $85,100.

Full Article...Miami homes for Sale, Miami Beach Real Estate

South Florida's Housing Market, Miami Real Estate

Positive Changes in South Florida’s Housing Market, Miami Real Estate

The housing market in Florida might be just the medicine it needs to bring back Consumer confidence.

Just recently a University of Florida survey showed the Consumer confidence index climbed three points in August after a steady decline.

While the economic environment is by no means bright, the drop in July seemed unsustainable given the lack of any very bad economic news and some encouraging signs in Miami real estate and the stock market. Even though we are not yet out of a recession, things are not nearly as bad as they were a year ago.

Full Article...Florida's Housing Market, Miami Real Estate

Florida Foreclosures, Miami Real Estate

New Federal Housing Administration loan assistance

The government will announce Thursday that loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration will be qualified for payment reductions comparable to the Obama administration's loan modification program. Thus helping residents with their Florida foreclosures and Miami real estate properties.

Financially troubled homeowners who have an FHA-insured loan can apply for a adjustment under a program parallel to "Making Home Affordable" to help lower their payments and possibly avoid Florida foreclosure on their Miami real estate property. This will be effective on August 15.

Full Article...Florida Foreclosures, Miami Real Estate

Miami Condos, Miami Beach Real Estate

Occupancy Rates are Soaring in Downtown Miami Condos

With most downtown Miami Condos’ dark and desolate, newly built condo towers may look ghostly. But as the downtown area quickly fills up with residents, that's changing.

Renters are marching in to help lighten things up, although Miami condos sales remain sluggish. Sales are picking up, too.

An occupancy report released Wednesday by the Miami Downtown Development Authority, found that 62% of the new condos built since 2003 are, in fact, inhabited by humans.

Full Article...Miami Condos, Miami Beach Real Estate

Miami Condos, Miami Beach Real Estate

Borrowing for Miami Condos Easier in 2009

Twenty six Miami Condos have been approved by Fannie Mae for Federally backed mortgages this year, compared to zero in 2008, according to Condovultures.com. Fannie Mae refused to finance units in condo towers where values had dropped too much or where a large portion of the condos were in foreclosure, as the housing market collapsed last year.

The higher number of projects in Fannie Mae's mirrors the quickening pace of sales in the battered Miami real estate market. Fannie Mae approved 25 South Florida condo projects in 2007 and 19 condo projects in 2006.

Miami Homes, Miami Beach Real Estate

Feds get Tough on Mortgage Fraud, Miami Homes

The string of rapid-fire sales at a Coral Gables home was emblematic of the cause and consequences of South Florida's housing bust, to neighboring residents. In less than three years, the four-bedroom house, now vacant and deteriorating, was sold, bought and foreclosed on three times.

Neighbors always suspected that something wasn't right with one of the Miami homes on Alesio Avenue as the value of the home more than doubled to $1.2 million in the short time span. As it turns out they were right.

This week a federal judge sentenced Jose G. Martin to 65 months in prison. Martin had once posed as a renter in the home and was charged with orchestrating a $6.6 million mortgage fraud scheme involving the Alesio property and six other homes in Miami-Dade County.

Full Story....Miami Homes, Miami Beach Real Estate

Miami Condos, Miami Beach Real Estate

Miami Foreclosure-Ridden Complexes are Now Top Sellers

Miami condos complexes that had the worst foreclosure problems are now showing high condosales. In a reversal of fortune, seven of the top 10 most foreclosure-ridden complexes last year ranked among the 10 top-selling projects in the first three months of 2009, mostly because banks slashed prices in order to speed sales.

The new figures come from Miami-based market research firm CondoReports.com, which compared foreclosure and sales transactions in its database of 2,000 Miami-Dade projects built before 2008.

Three of thr best selling Miami condos projects were in Miami-Dade's farthest flung suburbs. Shoma at Keys Cove in Homestead ranked first with 50 sales; followed by Mandarin Lakes near South Miami Heights, with 32 sales; and, Bluewaters subdivision in the Country Walk area, also with 32 sales.

Full article...Miami Foreclosures, Miami Beach Real Estate

Miami Homes, Miami Beach Real Estate

Miami Homes, April Sales Rise by 2.9%

From March to April, sales of previously occupied homes rose modestly as buyers who were brave enough to dive into the market took advantage of prices that were 15.4% below year-ago levels.

On Wednesday, the National Association of Realtors said that home sales rose 2.9% to an annual rate of 4.68 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 4.55 million in March.

The results slightly more then economists' forecasted. According to Thomson Reuter, sales had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 4.66 million units.

Full Article....Miami Homes, Miami Beach Real Estate

Miami Homes in Foreclosure, Miami Real Estate

Florida Foreclosures, Treasury Rolls out Relief for More Homeowners

ON THE WEB:
Treasury fact sheet: http://tinyurl.com/qlbn9m
Progress Report: http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/docs/05142009ProgressReport.pdf
Making Home Affordable site: http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/about.html

The Obama administration unveiled new programs Thursday designed to make it easier for homeowners who owe far more than their houses are now worth to sell those homes at a loss and have their remaining debt forgiven.

These programs are the latest additions to Making Home Affordable, an evolving $75 billion plan that tries to break the national housing crisis into separate pieces, attacking the problem on several fronts.

The first two legs of the program sought to help borrowers refinance into today's low mortgage rates, or if they're behind on payments, to seek loan modifications to avoid foreclosure.

MIami Condos, Florida Foreclosures

Florida Foreclosures, Onyx on the Bay Units Face Action

The developer of Onyx on the Bay, a 28-story highrise in Miami, faces foreclosure.

According to court records, Corus Bank has filed a foreclosure action targeting 41 unsold units within the 118-unit condo tower.

Named in the lawsuit, which was filed April 29 in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, is Developer Biscayne Bay Lofts and the principals of the development partners, Willy Bermello and Luis Ajamil, of Miami-based BAP Developers, and Gustavo Micuslitzki, of Argentina’s GGM Developers.

Onyx appears to be the first to fall-Last month; the troubled Chicago-based Corus Bank warned that it was preparing to foreclose on three South Florida projects.

Full Article....Miami Condos, Florida Foreclosures

Florida Home Seizures, Florida Foreclosures

Home Seizures up Drastically, Florida Foreclosures

In the third quarter, failing Florida economy helped push 90,000 more homes into foreclosure, amid mounting job losses and falling home prices, according to an industry report released Friday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported at the end of September, Florida foreclosures stood at 7.32%, representing 261,027 homes. The percentage of all homes in foreclosure in Florida easily outranked those of other states. Nevada's rate of 5.58 was second highest.

Jay Brinkmann, MBA chief economist says ''Florida has lost 156,000 jobs [this year], the highest in the country, and that now is clearly driving problems in Florida in addition to some of the overbuilding issues we saw there''. He noted that speculation and poor underwriting had contributed to both Florida and California's high rates.

Full Article...Florida Home Seizures, Florida Foreclosures

Prices Down Even with South Florida Home Sales Up

As more and more are snapping up properties sold at levels not seen in four years, falling home values continued to stimulate sales in October. But South Florida's housing market remains weighted down by a huge surplus of Miami homes for sale.

According to numbers released Monday by the Florida Association of Realtors, prices for existing single-family homes dropped 30% in Miami-Dade County and 29% in Broward Compared to October last year,. Also, condominium prices fell 26% in Miami-Dade and 28% in Broward compared to the same period a year ago.

Full Article...South Florida Home Sales Up

Florida Home Prices, Miami Real Estate

South Florida Home Prices Drop 16.9%, Miami Real Estate

National Association of Realtors said Tuesday; the median sales price for South Florida single-family homes fell 16.9% from a year earlier in the third quarter.

Sales of properties with mortgages in default accounted for at least a third of all transactions: Nationwide, prices were down 9%.

In four out of every five U.S. cities, in the third quarter, home prices fell; a record spurred by distressed foreclosure sales across the country. In 120 U.S. metropolitan areas prices fell, prices rose in 28 and were unchanged in four, the biggest share of declines in data going back to 1979.

Full Article...South Florida Home Prices, Miami Real Estate

Housing Market, Miami Beach Real Estate

HOTTEST TEN BUYERS MARKETS

Extraordinary change is expected in real estate markets all over the nation, but the hottest 10 Buyers Housing Markets in 2008 are exceptions to the rule. These Hot 10 markets have also undergone more changes as a result of the national housing crisis that is seeing most markets decline.

HOTTEST 10 BUYERS MARKETS
RANK	REAL ESTATE MARKET	2008 FORECAST
1.	Biloxi, MS	4.9%
2.	Salem, NC	4.7%
3.	Bismarck, OR	4.6%
4.	Spokane, WA	4.4%
5.	Yakima, WA	4.1%
6.	Austin, TX	4.0%
7.	Grand Junction, CO	4.0%
8.	Fargo, ND	4.0%
9.	Mobile, AL	3.9%
10.	Albuquerque, NM	3.5%

Click here for....Florida's housing Market Statistics

U.S Home Prices, Miami Real Estate

U.S. Home Prices Predicted to Plunge Until 2010

U.S. home pries are predicted to continue to fall until 2010, the worst declines since the Great Depression, said Nouriel Roubini, the professor at New York University's Stern School of Business who predicted the current financial crisis in 2006.

Roubini said Monday in a Bloomberg Radio interview, ''I expect home prices are going to fall at an annualized rate of 16 percent.'' ``The cumulative fall in home prices is going to 40% until 2010. It's the biggest drop in home prices since the Great Depression.''

New home sales, Miami Beach real estate

U.S. Housing Market, Pending New Home Sales up in August

Unforeseen positive news for the battered U.S. housing market- pending new home sales rose 7.4% from July to August.

On Wednesday the seasonally adjusted index of pending new home sales rose to 93.4 from an upwardly revised July reading of 87. The reading was the highest since June 2007, said The National Association of Realtors.

A pending home sale is when the seller has accepted an offer, but the deal has not yet closed. Usually there is a one to two month wait before a sale is completed.

Wall Street economists had predicted the index would fall to 84.9.

The index sunk to a record low of 83 in March and stood at 85.8 in August 2007.

Full article...US Housing Market, Miami Beach Real Estate

Miami Condo Hotels, Miami Beach Real Estate

Miami Beach Real Estate Developer to Build New Condo Hotel

The Related Group, which recently scrapped plans for a condominium tower on the oceanfront site, will now build a hotel in South Beach with Orient-Express.

Related led the way in Florida's condominium boom before that market hit a severe downturn and will now be part of a $150 million project which will mark the first new South Florida project in three years for Related.

The Related Group will be a full partner with Orient-Express in building the new hotel and have recently canceled sales contracts for the planned Viceroy Miami condo-hotel tower on the site at 801 South Pointe Drive.

Full Article...Miami Condo Hotels, Miami Beach Real Estate

Florida Foreclosure Listings, Miami Real EState

Below you will find a link to a list of 50 Miami homes that have been significantly discounted because they are in some stage of foreclosure process. Our Florida foreclosure listings consist of Miami homes in foreclosure, Miami short sales and distressed properties in Miami. These Miami homes are in various stages of foreclosure such as pre foreclosures and foreclosure auctions. For additional information on any of the Miami homes in foreclosure shown below please call our Miami real estate office at 305-673-3303 to speak with a professional real estate agent.

Click here for.......Free Foreclosure Listings in Miami