Florida Real Estate News / Articles - Miami Ft Lauderdale

Overseas, the real estate market is still booming. So reports Worth, which gives three reasons Americans are increasingly making investments outside the United States.

Also, the increasing number of real estate investment trusts, securities that trade like stocks and are backed by pools of investment property, has made purchasing foreign real estate, albeit indirectly, substantially easier.

December, Britain approved draft legislation that would allow the establishment of a REIT market, so British-listed REIT’s should be available in 2007. Since 2001, global REIT’s have outperformed equities “by a factor of five.”

There were 215 cities rated by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. CFO reported that looking to eliminate the gyrations that hit their stock price four times a year, more companies have stopped giving quarterly earnings guidance. According to a survey by the National Investor Relations Institute, in March, just 52% of companies said that they were providing earnings estimates to Wall Street, down from 61% a year earlier.

A recent study by McKinsey & Company shows that firms offering quarterly earnings guidance enjoy no valuation premium compared with companies that do not, adding that there seems to be no penalty assessed by Wall Street when a company discontinues such guidance.

Some 16% of all companies - including Google - provide no guidance at all. Google closed yesterday at $404.86, up $4.91, trading at more than 60 times earnings. In a handful of professions - for example, airline piloting - employees are forbidden to work after drinking. Some 15% of bartenders and waiters say they drink “heavily at work - the highest in any industry.”

There are many options today for paring down real estate commissions or handling the sale themselves for seller.  In the recent years, commissions have fallen to an average 5.1% nationwide.  Commissions will be under more pressure, as the market cools.

Here are some easy tips on how you can cut down the commission rate:

Negotiate with your real estate agent. In a typical home sale, agents for buyers and sellers each take a commission of roughly 2.5% to 3%, for a total cost of 5% to 6%, paid out of the seller’s proceeds. However, as agents compete with discount brokers and flat-fee services, some are becoming more amenable to reducing their cut to 2% or less.

In order to get a good commission, first, ask several agents in your area to prepare a free market report, estimating the sales price of your home. You may then interview each agent.

There are firms that are offering non-cash rebates, such as frequent-flyer miles.  If you use a real estate agent sponsored by LendingTree and its sister company RealEstate.com, for example, you can receive rebates for airline miles or gift cards from Costco or Home Depot.

Moreover, if you’re similarly comfortable handling part of the process, there’s no shortage of sites and services willing to help you.  Help-U-Sell Real Estate, with more than 1,000 offices nationwide, is one of the fastest growing franchises that provide a menu of fee-for-service options, including MLS listings, access to licensed real estate brokers and marketing help.

There are also other well-known services like Redfin, currently available in Seattle and San Francisco, and MLS4Owners.com, a Washington state brokerage that lists homes in the MLS for a flat fee of $595.

If you haven’t received any offers on your home you’re probably facing the question of whether to take it off the market whether you’re in a bone-dry market or a sizzling selling season.

You may check at recent sales reports of similar homes nearby to determine a reasonable selling interval. In a hot seller’s market, a house that hasn’t sold within one month indicates a problem. Here are some tips on how to improve your selling skills.

You may consider videotaping your house, inside and out. And then watch the tape as if you were a prospective buyer. By watching the video you will know if the home is uncluttered and spotlessly scrubbed. Remember that sparkling-clean houses sell faster than those that look too lived-in or show an abundance of the owner’s personality.

You may also have a second look at your listing price. You may do this by visiting open houses in your neighborhood. Selling prices may have dropped since your first comparative market analysis. In a hot market, if you haven’t sold your home within one month, chances are good that you’ve overpriced it. If you do lower your asking price, consider a figure slightly below those of other comparable homes if you are interested in a speedy sale.

You can also ask your listing agent to talk to buyer agents in his or her firm who have shown your home. Take out some extra newspaper ads or print up flyers, even if your agent is doing a good job with promotions. You can even offer perks to buyers, such as a cash bonus or a season ski pass.

Have a neutralized color scheme for your home. Many buyers prefer pale, neutral colors that make it easier to imagine a new home as their own. Houses with white exteriors are the highest sellers; for interiors, try whites, off-whites or pale grays.

You need to make sure that your listing agent is giving your house adequate attention. If not, start by having a candid talk. If there’s no change, discuss the problem with the firm’s broker. If you do sweeten the pot for your agent, amend your listing contract to reflect the change, and be sure it’s added to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) book-buyer agents will also be inspired to give your house extra attention.

Once you have tries these steps, you can be confident that your asking price is competitive. However, if you have an ace agent, and you’re still not getting any action, it’s probably time to take your house off the market. If you can afford to do so, relist during a more dependable selling season. Research the trends in your area: If you live near a winter resort, for example, winter may be the savviest time to sell.

Many agents say that few sales traditionally come from open houses. However, they say they love open houses, but not because they move properties. Last year, 77% of homebuyers shopped online.

Indeed, only 2% to 4% of Johnson’s listings sell from open houses. Agents, sellers question effectiveness. For the most part, agents do not hold open houses for listings unless sellers press the issue. Many agents now refuse to hold open houses, considering them a waste of time, and a security threat.

This time around, many decide to forego scheduled open houses and simply give potential buyers private tours of houses as needed. Many brokers say that there are times when an open house is not practical at all, such as if a house is off the beaten path, or in a gated community. In their opinion, an open house is only worth having if it’s done properly. That involves sprucing up the house and its landscaping and advertising it well in advance. To be sure, in some cases, a house is just too unique to market without an open house.

Mortgage scams come in various flavors. Victims usually spend years fighting to get their homes back and some never succeed.

Attorney Leah Weaver, who focuses on fighting the scams as an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, explains how scammers work this fraud:

For example you’ve got a $200,000 home, with $100,000 of equity in it.  So you sell your home, for $120,000 — not much more than what’s owed on the mortgage. Often, the lease terms desperate homeowners agree to turn out to be as onerous as their previous mortgage payments that helped get them into trouble. Con artists also manipulate victims when facing crucial deadlines.

Beware of any home sale contract where you aren’t formally released from liability for your mortgage. Do call your Mortgage Company or lender if you’re in trouble. Contrary to popular perception, lenders don’t want to steal your house. Lenders always lose money on foreclosures, even in a rising market.

Proceed with caution, if a company or person describes itself as a “mortgage consultant,” “foreclosure service,” or something similar. Also, if a company or person describes itself who collects a fee before giving any services, advertises to people whose homes are listed for foreclosure, including anyone who sends flyers or solicits door-to-door, and says you should make home mortgage payments directly to them or to their company instead of your mortgage lender.

You need to get full information on the foreclosure process in your state. Minnesota, for example, has the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency as well as the Minnesota Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Association, which has federal Housing and Urban Development counselors available.

Never should you sign a contract under pressure. Lately, some scam artists promise they’ll wipe out or pay off your home’s debt for you. Some flustered homeowners’ bite.

Refinancing a home doesn’t make sense for everyone even with mortgage rates at historic lows. Mortgage refinancing keeps hitting record highs as interest rates dribble to generational lows.

Mortgage brokers say that out of every 10 calls they get, probably three of them really shouldn’t refinance. The most obvious case of when refinancing doesn’t make sense is when the homeowner won’t live in the house long enough for the savings from a refinancing to outweigh the costs of getting a loan. If you’re 10 or 20 years into a 30-year mortgage, refinancing to another 30-year loan may only increase your costs in the long run.

If you’ve missed payments, run up big credit card bills or otherwise stressed your credit, you may not qualify for a low enough rate for refinancing to make sense. Refinancing might not make sense if you’ve already borrowed 90% or more of your home’s value in mortgages and home equity loans. Taking out extra cash during a refinancing to pay off credit-card debt is a popular tactic these days — and a huge potential mistake. Cut up the cards.

Learn to define your goals. Run the numbers. You also need to look at the total costs of the loan over the long term. Even if you have a much shorter breakeven point, for example, you could wind up paying more for a new loan if you’re several years into your current loan or if you’ve made substantial extra payments on your mortgage.

Rates on real estate are anticipated to go down over the next few months in Navi Mumbai by about 5%.

People looking to buy a house can think of Navi Mumbai or New Mumbai, a satellite city where the prices are showing signs of fall. Developers say the next three-four months are crucial as prices might come down in other prime areas, including Nariman Point.

As of now, areas where there is a 2.5% drop are near Vashi railway station. Prices are down from 6000 per sq ft to 5,700 pockets of MIDC (Navi Mumbai) 1800 to 1400 per sq ft.

On the other hand, land prices in Kharghar (Navi Mumbai) are 20,000 per sq meter to 13000 per sq meter.  While most brokers and developers will not admit to a cooling down in prices in Mumbai and its surrounding areas they do agree that property transactions are slowing down.

Developers say realty prices in those areas where people buy houses to live in will stay firm or may even rise. These include parts of Navi mumbai like Vashi, CBD Bailapur, Kopar Khairne Ghansoli, Palm Beach road, western suburbs like Bandra, Khar, Santacruz parts of the island city such as Worli and Prabhadevi.

The Internet is redefining how customers approach real estate, increasing competition and putting pressure on real estate agents who have had exclusive access to such information and last year made $63 billion in commissions.

Redfin, which launched its online real estate brokerage in February, lets consumers scan aerial photos, view past sales data and sell or buy homes on the Web. In a typical home sale, the seller pays a 6 percent commission; 3 percent goes to the listing agent and 3 percent to the buyer’s agent. Redfin keeps 1 percent of its share of the buyer’s commission and refunds 2 percent to its clients.

The Internet is making it easier for home buyers and sellers to see what properties are selling for and even what they’re worth, information long considered the expertise of real estate agents.

Online real estate sites like Seattle-based Zillow.com and Kirkland-based Homepages.com let customers view aerial photos of homes, access recent sales of similar homes and get school and crime data. After spotting their dream home on Redfin, the Wolfs drove out to visit. Redfin Chief Executive Glenn Kelman noted that most sellers who hire a listing agent expect them to show houses. Taking suggestions from Wolf and other clients, Redfin recently added a $250 service for a home tour with an agent if clients want.

Riss said full-service companies like Coldwell offer an edge, particularly in hot real estate markets like Seattle, where homes sell quickly, often with multiple offers.

ZipRealty’s homebuyers do extensive online research, but are connected to full-service agents when they’re ready. Redfin is still a small player. By comparison, Coldwell’s 1,600 real estate agents in the Northwest complete about 1,400 real estate deals a month.

A legislation that limits the reach of federal taxes at death was recently apporoved by the House of Representatives. It will permanently spare an estimated 2,800 multimillion-dollar estates.

According to the Bloomberg reports, the legislation will exempt the first $10 million of a couple’s estate from any taxation. While estates valued between $10 million and $25 million would be taxed at the capital-gains rate, a value of more than $25 million would be taxed at top rates of 30 percent to 40 percent.

The approved legislation will be in effect in 2011. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist urged the House to pass the tax-reducing measure after the Senate fell three votes short June 8 on a procedural measure that would have allowed a vote on outright repeal of the estate tax. Unless acted on by Congress, the tax is scheduled to return in 2011, with rates as high as 55 percent on estates valued at more than $1 million.

Lar Sol and Morgan Stanley are investing 600 million € in what is being described as ‘Europe’s largest golfing resort.’

Desarrollos Lar Sol MS SL, jointly owned by the real estate funds which Morgan Stanley manages, and by Lar Sol, is buying almost one million square metres of land in La Cala Resort, in Mijas. Their project includes more than 2,000 homes, a five-star hotel, restaurants, and leisure and commercial premises.

The partnership has started two other projects in Málaga province since their alliance for investment and development of the housing sector on the Spanish coastline was formed just over a year ago. Those projects are in Estepona and Casares. They have other ongoing projects in Alicante and Murcia.