Archive for July, 2007

No Info Tube For You!

July 30th, 2007 Categories: For Sellers

When was the last time you went up to an info tube (or an info box) and found it actually had a property flyer in it?  OK, let’s suppose the agent or homeowner was on top of things and the tube/box was actually filled.  Did you call the number listed and ask for more information?  Hmmm, I didn’t think so.

You see, most people pick up flyers at properties just to appease their curiosity.  Most people picking up those flyers are not serious buyers.  It could be the nosy neighbor down the street wanting to know what the house is listed for.  The young family around the corner who’s thinking of selling is picking up comps in the area.  The “dreamer” who is always looking at homes they’ll buy “one day” but “one day” never comes.  Someone selling in the neighborhood wondering how this home’s features and price stack up against his. 

Info Tubes are a waste of time, money and trees!  You’ll never see an Info Tube on my properties.  It won’t do my seller any good for me to put one there.  So how do I better serve my seller’s need to get his property info out there to someone who is standing outside the house and absolutely, positively needs to know all about it right now?  I use a toll-free hotline with recorded information about the house instead.  This information is available 24/7.  It’s also free.  You won’t have to set up a pin number or give me your first born to get it.  You just call the number and listen to the information.  Pretty simple.

Even though the caller doesn’t have to provide anything to get the information, I do get something in return for the phonecall.  The caller’s phone number.  You see, the hotline is set up to pick up the phone number making the call.  Then the system sends a text message to my cell letting me know the number and the house they’re calling about!  Smart system. 

How is this helping my seller get his house sold?  Well, now that I have the phone number, I can call the party back and weed out the “lookers” from the interested buyers.  I now have the opportunity to tell them more about the house and quite possibly set up an appointment for them to view it.  It all about getting more qualified traffic to the home.

Yes, I will still need to deal with the nosy neighbor, the young family, the “dreamer” and the other seller.  But I will also get to talk to the serious buyer who may never have seen your house because the last flyer he picked up that day was better than yours and he had already forgotten what was so pretty about yours anyway.

I won’t let him forget.

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What’s A CDD And Why Should I Care?

July 23rd, 2007 Categories: For Buyers, South Florida Living

OK, first of all, you must be wondering what CDD stands for. In real estate, it stands for Community Development District.

Now that we have that out of the way, why should you care what a CDD is? Let me tell you so it doesn’t surprise you 8 months after you purchase your new home.

Some new homes are built in what is known as a Community Development District. The Miami Dade Property Appraiser has his own definition and a darn good one at that. It states… “The Community Development District - CDD” means a local unit of special-purpose government. A community development district may charge separate non-ad valorem special assessments for satisfying the debt obligations of the District related to financing, constructing, maintaining and servicing the District’s improvements and/or services.

If it still isn’t clear, I’ll spell it out real simply…it boils down to a larger tax bill. You will pay more money for property taxes than someone else with a home valued at the same amount but whose home is not within a CDD.

How much more? Well, that depends. It could be in the neighborhood of $800/yr to $1200/yr or more. It is totally based on the types of improvements and/or services that were constructed, financed and maintained and on the budget adopted annually by the CDD.

If you are buying a home that is part of a CDD it must be disclosed to you. However, you may have stars in your eyes as you check out that shiny new townhouse and completely gloss over the fact that this will be an additional expense on top of the mortgage, taxes, insurance and homeowners association, if any.

There are many new developments in Homestead, Cutler Bay and Miami which are in CDD’s and that impacts your monthly payment. Make sure you’re including the additional cost a CDD brings when you’re figuring out your numbers.

For instance a CDD which imposes an assessment of $984 per year is costing you $82 per month. With an extra $82 per month on a 30 year fixed mortgage with 6.5% interest rate you could afford to purchase almost $13,000 worth of extra house in a community without the extra expense of a CDD.

Make sure you’re including all of your monthly expenses when figuring out how much home you can afford.

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Redlands Home For Sale - Lowest Priced!

July 12th, 2007 Categories: Featured Homes, Redland Real Estate, The Redland

Have you been looking for a home in the Redlands but can’t afford the prices? Own this great gem of a home in the historical Miami Redlands area at a phenomenal price!

$349,900 buys you this small but ample home in the Miami Redland area, slightly off the beaten path.

The lot is 150′ x 108′ for a total of 16,200 SF. There’s plenty of room here! The home has been completely remodeled inside. Click on the picture to enlarge and see details! When you’re done, backspace to return here.

To make an appointment to see this affordable home in the Redlands, please call your Miami Redland REALTOR, Maggie Dokic at 305-975-3842.

The Redlands is waiting for you!

Please mention code P8240411

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Brand New Homestead Hospital Is Open For Business

July 12th, 2007 Categories: Homestead, The Redland

While looking through my files today I realized that I had taken pictures of the brand new Homestead Hospital at their open house last month and never posted them.

Homestead Hospital is as impressive as we thought it would be. Just the mere fact that it was built to withstand a category 5 hurricane is pretty impressive to me. To read more about the hospital and it’s construction, check out my prior blog. It opened it’s doors on May 6, 2007. In the meantime, here are some real pictures of the place. I’ve been playing around with a photo editing program. Hope I didn’t mess them up too much =) The lights reminded me of a UFO so I included them here.

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Leaping Lizards!

July 12th, 2007 Categories: South Florida Living, The Redland

The other day I heard a noise outside my window and took a peek. I found this little fella. Of course I took a peek through the closed window. I’m not a chicken but would rather not run the risk of having him come inside and get too comfy here.

When I moved to the Miami Redlands I knew it would be different than the Queens, NY neighborhood I grew up in. In Queens, we heard the ambulance outside. Let’s not forget the bus that whooshed by every 20 minutes or so. Except when someone needed to get off at the bustop right outside our window. Then it stopped and we could hear the hydraulics as it took off again. And that was our bedroom window. The kids were actually used to the noise and had a hard time adjusting to the quiet in our new Miami neighborhood.

I kid you not when I tell you that the first time I heard cats on our roof I totally freaked. They sounded so nearby that I was certain they were inside the attic. Actually, I was unaware that they were cats. In my wild imagination I thought they were rabid possums and was sure it would be only a matter of moments before they busted through the attic door and bit me. Strange thoughts can go through your mind in the middle of the night. I laugh about that now.

I love living out here. I often sit on the porch and listen to the birds. I once had a quaker land on my head and stay there as I called excitedly to the girls and walked towards the front door. Unfortunately when the door opened, the first one out was one of our cats and friendly Mr. Quaker took off. I called him and called him but he no longer wanted anything to do with me.

We saw a 3 foot iguana crossing the street once. We’ve never seen him again. But this little guy outside my window makes an appearance every couple of months or so. He’s not so little. He’s not our common lizards that, although pretty patterns adorn their backs sometimes, are a dime a dozen. He’s actually an Anolis equestris equestris - or Western Knight Anole, the largest of all Anolis species. Florida has only one true native anolis, the Anolis carolinensis, or Green Anole, which is usually 5-8 inches in length. The Western Knight Anole is usually 13 - 19 inches long. They were introduced to Florida from Cuba. This one on my window seemed to be about 14 inches long. His color is a bright green, not the dull browns, greys and slimy non-colors of some of the common lizards.

Anoles are great to have on your property. They eat up lots of bugs. One of our cats once brought one to us as a gift. Unfortunately it was too late to help the poor guy and we let our cat know we were not at all pleased. If you ever do get one inside the house, try to corner it so you can capture it and take it back ouside. They can’t live very long inside a house as it’s too cold for them and they would only last a few days. If you ever do have reason to capture one to release it outside, don’t worry when it tries to bite you. That’s one of their defense mechanisms. Their teeth are really tiny and the bite doesn’t hurt (so I’ve been told). UPDATE - this is only true for the smaller Green Anole. This larger Western Knight Anole bites and it hurts. The other defense mechanism is he’ll poop in your hand. As gross as that sounds, it’s a really tiny poop and not much to worry about. Just make sure you wash your hands afterwards!

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Miami Redland 33187 Southwest Miami List Price vs Sales Price

July 12th, 2007 Categories: Redland Real Estate, The Redland

I was playing around with my super-dee-duper new graphmaker and thought I’d post one of the graphs I made.  (Click on the image on the left, and to return, just hit ‘backspace’ on your keyboard)

This one shows the relationship between the List Price (asking price) and the Sales Price (actual sold price) in the 33187 zip code. 33187 encompasses part of the Miami Redland as well as Southwest Miami (west of 147th Avenue and south of 152 Street).

As you can tell, the list price averages a lot more than the sold price. Something happened in November and they were almost identical. A fluke, I’m sure. Apart from that the difference between the two is remarkable.

Numbers do not lie. This is a great example of the importance of pricing your home to sell. Don’t let it sit on the market too long and get stagnant. Price it right from the start.

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Miami Redlands Traffic Improvements

July 9th, 2007 Categories: South Florida Living, The Redland

At first glance this picture may not excite you. It excites me. I’ll tell you why.

This is a brand new traffic light at the corner of SW 200 Street and 137 Avenue. It was sorely needed! It was fully functional sometime in May. There was only one STOP sign there before. The traffic on 200th had the right of way. I felt bad for everyone on 137th avenue trying to join the crowd.

When I first moved to Miami, I lived a little north of the Redlands, where I live now. I used this particular intersection every single day to drive my kids to school and get to work.

I quickly discovered that if you didn’t have an extra 20 minutes to spare and had to stop at this intersection, you were going to be late! It was impossible to get onto 200th Street from 137th Avenue during rush hour. They say necessity is the mother of invention. Well, I needed to get where I was going on time and I invented a new route for myself. I had it down to a science. As I approached 200th street if I saw the cars were backed up I would turn before I got there and do a series of turns until I got to 200th street but at another avenue. This required that I go through a residential area. I wasn’t the only one doing it. I am sure those homeowners would have preferred the extra traffic stayed off their streets.

Where I used to make the turn onto 200th it got a little “hairy” sometimes to zoom onto the street. I even had a little cartoon car racing sound I made as I made the turn. The kids knew to be quiet when I did this. I needed to focus and make sure I zoomed out there at just the right moment. There was traffic going both ways on 200th and I did not want to become another accident statistic. Nobody should have to do this to get to work on time. I’m glad the powers that be realized this and did something about it. That turning lane wasn’t even there back then. It was one lane, one stop sign and every man (and woman) fending for himself!

It’s funny, I still use this intersection all the time but not from the avenue. So in essence the addition of the traffic light has slowed me down as I head east on 200th street. It’s still a good thing. I’m sure to the commuters trying to get onto the busy 200th street it is a very big and welcome deal.

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