Pinecrest Adopt-a-Tree Program

July 13th, 2010 Categories: Community News, Pinecrest

Are you a Pinecrest resident wanting a tree on the swale outside your property?  Although the right-of-way property is not legally the homeowner’s, the public swale is to be maintained by the homeowner.  And who doesn’t want to keep their surroundings looking pretty?

Pinecrest has an Adopt-a-Tree program which provides trees at low-bid prices for interested homeowners.  Pinecrest has been designated as a Tree City, USA by the Arbor Day Foundation for their commitment to community forestry. The Village of Pinecrest has planted over 10,000 trees since 1997.  Not shabby at all.

If you’d like more information about the Pinecrest Adopt-a-Tree program, click on the link.

And remember that Miami-Dade County still has it’s own program where they give two trees per year to homeowners of single family or townhome properties in the county.

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Old Cutler Road Construction Will Cause Delays

July 12th, 2010 Categories: Community News, Palmetto Bay

Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay residents who use Old Cutler Road please note that it will be shut down at the end of July for construction.  The South Florida Water Management District will be installing a flow-way tunnel beneath Old Cutler Road and this will impact the stretch between SW 156th Street and SW 162nd Street.

The road will be open to local traffic only.  If you don’t live in the area, make plans for a different route during construction.  SFWMD has stated that the project will take two weeks only and it is slated to begin no earlier than July 26th. Utility services and the popular bike path on Old Cutler may be impacted as well so plan accordingly.  Click here for more information.

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Pinecrest Seizes Home. Maybe?

July 10th, 2010 Categories: Community News, Pinecrest

A citizen is fighting the Village of Pinecrest for improper seizure of her home.  Or should I clarify and say, her property, as she does not live in the Pinecrest house.

I just read an interesting legal article about the case involving Zenaida Gomez and the Village of Pinecrest.  Apparently Ms. Gomez purchased the Pinecrest home in 2006, in 2007 leased it to someone and in 2008 the Pinecrest police were called in to investigate some goings on in the home.

The police found that the Pinecrest home was being used for an illegal hydroponics lab (proving that the Redland doesn’t have that market cornered and that upper scale neighborhoods are not immune to criminal activity, but I digress).  Due to the activities going on at the home, the Village of Pinecrest proceeded to seize the home, through legal means.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Palmetto Bay Keeps Residents Safe From Lightning

June 16th, 2010 Categories: Community News, Palmetto Bay

The Village of Palmetto Bay has installed a system at one of the village parks to predict when a lightning strike is possible.

The system, aptly named Thor, has been installed at the Palmetto Bay Park (SW 94 Avenue & 175 Street) and will sound a siren to alert parkgoers and nearby residents to seek shelter if a lightning strike is predicted.  Read all about it here.

Considering that Florida gets a ton of activity where lightning is concerned, this is a great benefit to area residents.  Way to go Palmetto Bay!

Check out this link for tips on staying safe in case of lightning.

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South Miami Home Market Analysis

May 21st, 2010 Categories: Market Trends, South Miami

Nothing gives you a clear picture of the South Florida real estate market as aptly as looking at the numbers.  And nothing gives a better understanding of the numbers as well as a visual aid.

Here’s what’s going on in South Miami. Please note that these numbers do not include the High Pines and Ponce Davis area.  While folks like to think of each of them as part of South Miami, they really aren’t officially part of the city of South Miami.  I ran these reports by city.  I’ll devote separate market reports to High Pines and Ponce Davis homes.  Below is a breakdown of the homes presently available for sale in South Miami:

There are 56 single family homes available for sale in South Miami. The lowest priced one at $29,900 (no, that isn’t a typo) and all the way at the other end of the spectrum is the highest priced at $1,899,000 (a beautifully appointed newer construction with 6 bedrooms and centrally located just minutes from U.S. 1).

In comparison, below is what is Pending Sale in South Miami.  That means that the home seller and buyer have come to an agreement on price and terms, escrow has been opened, and the transaction is on its way to closing sometime in the near future.  Considering the number of closed sales in the last 3 months (noted below), this number of pending sales is a very healthy number.  Keep in mind that not all sales that go under contract get to closing.  Sometimes the transaction falters and the reasons are many.  Of the 22 homes pending sale in South Miami, 12 are short sales and 2 are foreclosures.  So more than half of the pending home sales are distressed sales:

The final graphic shows what has actually closed in the last 30 days.  There were 3 closed sales in South Miami in the last 30 days.  There were 9 closed sales in the last 3 months, so last month’s activity is pretty much the average for the area lately: 3 sales a month:

When you think about the fact that there are 56 homes for sale and they are selling at a rate of 3 per month (we do not count pendings when calculating this), there are 18.66 months of inventory available for sale in South Miami. A normal market has about 6 months of inventory.  This means it is crucial that you price your property well to be one of those closed sales.

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Miami Areas To Love

May 21st, 2010 Categories: Areas to Love

In an attempt to better organize the content on this blog, I have been tweaking the categories and such.  I created a new category, Areas to Love.  This new category is the “parent” category of the specific areas, or the “children.”

The areas within are specifically:

• Pinecrest
• Palmetto Bay
• South Miami
• Coral Gables
• Killian
• The Falls
• Kendall
• Cutler Bay
• The Redland
• Southwest Dade

By the way, not only can you read the posts in those particular categories by clicking on the category links on the right sidebar, you can also reach the same posts by clicking on the graphics with the same names in the carousel, also on the right sidebar, but above.

It’s a beautiful day in the Miami area.  Happy Friday!

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