Real Estate Chatter

Miami Renter Foreclosure Scam – Don’t Let This Happen To You

February 26th, 2012 Categories: Real Estate Chatter

Yesterday I had the unpleasant experience of having to tell a Miami tenant that she had been scammed. It’s interesting that as I told the story to different people later in the day, some were surprised, but most were not. This is Miami after all. Capital of the scammers, is what most seem to think.

I still believe that there are lots of good people in the world. However, it’s hard to deny that there is lots of real estate fraud going on in Miami. The fraud that I am talking about is not necessarily being done by agents. This was done by someone who has no scruples, and can sleep at night, after taking a family’s last bit of money to put them into a home he knows they are going to be evicted from shortly after they move in. Here’s what happened:

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Spoken by Maggie Dokic | Discussion: 2 Comments »

Home Owners Insurance

January 30th, 2012 Categories: Real Estate Chatter

I was discussing home owners insurance with a colleague in the United Kingdom. Yes, we real estate agents DO get around. The internet has made it possible for an agent in Miami to correspond regularly with others around the U.S. and abroad. It’s pretty neat!

So back to our discussion of home owners insurance. She was surprised that our South Florida home insurance policies are so costly. She is accustomed to pretty decent premiums in the United Kingdom. She pointed me to one such U.K. home insurance company, Aviva. After checking their site (and using a currency converter!) I had to admit that our rates are nowhere near as economical, although it’s not a fair comparison due to the “special circumstances” we South Floridians face. The “special circumstances” I am referring to, of course, are hurricanes.

Hurricanes and hurricane related claims in the state of Florida account for our burgeoning premiums. They can send the average policy into the thousands of dollars as a matter of course. And that’s with discounts! If your South Florida home is older than 2002 it does not qualify for certain discounts afforded to newer homes. I was just notified this month by my carrier that our policy is going up by $1,800 come renewal time in May. Egads!

I know from my colleagues in North Carolina that a home policy for a home comparable in size to mine can cost $700 there. That’s one quarter the cost of my policy. Wow. Looking at it in reverse, that means I pay four times what they pay to have my home insured. Gulp.

This post is not meant to be an educative post about home owners insurance in Florida, but just water cooler talk. There’s much more to go into and I’m actually considering having our friendly, neighborhood insurance agent (yes, I am a Spidey fan) do a guest post about that. Best to get correct info straight from the horse’s mouth, no?

But in the meantime, I’d be thrilled if my carrier would offer a 50% premium discount for purchasing my policy online, like Aviva does. Hah! Dream on Maggie, dream on.

Spoken by Maggie Dokic | Discussion: No Comments »

Buying a House Now Makes Sense

October 28th, 2011 Categories: For Buyers, Real Estate Chatter

Buying a home in Miami today just makes sense. The special combination of low prices plus really low interest rates means you save on both counts. Mortgage rates are the lowest they have ever been since they started keeping track. Did you get that? The lowest. And home prices are back to what they were 10 years ago in many areas.  Anyone able to take advantage of this will look back in 10 years and pat themselves on the back.

People are always asking me “are banks lending money these days?”  They’re always surprised when I answer with a resounding, “YES!”  Here’s the deal, they’re lending money to people who can prove that they are creditworthy.  That means the person must have verifiable employment (those stated income loans are long gone, thankfully), a good credit score and history plus some funds to put down and reserves left over.

Doesn’t that sound like common sense?  It is.  What happened during the Miami real estate boom was pure crazyness.  People were qualifying for loans because requirements were non existent.  You had a pulse?  You got a loan.  That’s not a very responsible way to lend money, is it?

If you’re one of those with decent credit, you can benefit by qualifying for a loan and buy what could be the best deal ever.  But don’t take my word for it.  Bloomberg Businessweek is saying the same thing.  They’re even using words like epic.  Epic Home Deals Await the Creditworthy.  That’s their article title.  And they’re not exaggerating either.  It really is epic.  Awesome.  Incredible even.  Well, you get my drift.

Spoken by Maggie Dokic | Discussion: No Comments »

What’s a Short Sale?

September 4th, 2011 Categories: About, Real Estate Chatter

In today’s Miami real estate market it’s impossible to not come across many foreclosures and short sales.  Although the term “short sale” was probably a buzz word a couple of years ago, I still find that I am asked to explain what a short sale is.

A short sale is simply a home that is being sold for less money than is owed to the bank holding the mortgage note.  Because the price is less than is owed to the bank, the bank will have to approve the sales price.  The purchase price will be “short” a certain amount of money, hence the term “short sale.”

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Buying a Home NOW is a Very Wise Move

April 4th, 2011 Categories: Market Trends, Real Estate Chatter

FIU College of Business did a 30 year study which casts doubt on whether buying is really better than renting.  Although the results are not available yet, you can read a summary here.  After reading the summary, I’d like to make two points:

- Their conclusion that renting makes more sense is based on the premise that the renter would be investing the difference between renting and owning.  By their own admission, renters DON’T do this nor do historical trends support that they are likely to have the discipline to do so.  Life gets in the way and the money is spent elsewhere.  Additionally, in Miami, there are places where renting costs more than buying, so there would be no savings to invest.  So each month you’d be a little poorer and you’d have no tax advantages at the end of the year either.

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Greed.

March 17th, 2009 Categories: Real Estate Chatter

I’m so tired of the greed. Everyone needs to make a living. But charging fees to a client that isn’t your own because your client is not paying it, is WRONG.

I have a buyer who’s been looking at foreclosures. Today we found one he’d like to make an offer on. When I saw who the listing agent is, I cringed. I’ve dealt with them before. They’re the kind that stipulate in the Broker’s Remarks : DO NOT CALL OUR OFFICE TO FIND OUT IF YOUR OFFER WAS RECEIVED. Gee, I thought that’s what offices, phones and staff were for; to provide customer service.

Anyway, that’s not my beef with them today. When I looked further in the remarks it states that the buyer “must pay a $325 compliance fee for maintaining records and files.” The only reason they are charging my buyer this is because their seller won’t pay it to them!

My buyer is already agreeing to pay my brokerage firm our administrative charge. Why should he get hit with a double whammy and have to pay the seller’s side of the listing office fee because the seller refuses to pay it?

By the way, we’ve been on the other side of this as well and we do NOT charge buyers of our REO listings our administrative fee even though the seller (bank) is not paying us. We waive it because it’s the right thing to do. The seller is sending many listings our way, and we are going to show them our appreciation for those listings by charging our administrative fee to the buyer?! No. That would be wrong.

Spoken by Maggie Dokic | Discussion: 1 Comment »

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