Halloween Fun in Pinecrest, FL

October 27th, 2010 Categories: Entertainment, Pinecrest

Are you looking for something fun to do this Halloween weekend?   Pinecrest Parks & Recreation has the answer!

Track or Treat will be held on Halloween day at Evelyn Greer Park.  Miami-Dade Monster Merchants will be set up around the track providing treats to all ghosts, goblins and friends.  What a great, safe alternative to traditional trick or treating.  Please bring a trick-or-treat bag!  There will be a bounce house and haunted house.

Track or Treat

Evelyn Greer Park

Sunday, October 31, 2010

5:00 – 7:00pm

8200 SW 124 Street

Pinecrest, FL

FREE!

Domain of Fears will take place both Saturday and Sunday.  Enjoy an event of scary fun-fear where the killer cupid and his minions await your arrival! Travel through a scary graveyard, the gypsy’s tavern, the castle of hungry vampires, a torture chamber, a portal and killer cupid’s love nest.  This event is appropriate for all ages! I’m guessing that means that even chickens such as myself can go without fear of really being scared to death.

Domain of Fears

Evelyn Greer Park

Saturday 10/30 & Sunday 10/31

5:00 – 9:00pm

8200 SW 124 Street

Pinecrest, FL

$5 per person

Spoken by Maggie Dokic | Discussion: No Comments »

Pinecrest Entertainment Venue Revival

August 19th, 2010 Categories: Pinecrest

The Village of Pinecrest is looking into making better use of the Banyan Bowl amphitheater, located within Pinecrest Gardens.

Pinecrest commissioned a study which included the opinion of Pinecrest residents to discover whether the initiative would be welcomed by them.  Overwhelmingly, the majority of Pinecrest residents are on board for using the 500-seat amphitheater to bring cultural events such as music and theater to Pinecrest.

The study indicated that there are plenty of theater and music groups that could make use of the Banyan Bowl if it were upgraded.

Read more about it here.

Spoken by Maggie Dokic | Discussion: No Comments »

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.

Spoken by Maggie Dokic | Discussion: No Comments »

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.

The article is full of legalese and I have to admit that I couldn’t finish it.  It appears that the seizing authority (the Village of Pinecrest) has to prove that that the owner of the house knew or had reasonable cause to know that the Pinecrest house was being used for criminal activity.  They claim she leased the home without even so much as checking whether the driver’s license presented by the tenant was valid.

I checked the home’s history in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and found the sale in there.  The home is in a great north Pinecrest location with multimillion dollar homes around.  The home itself was move-in ready but needing updating according to the MLS remarks when it sold.  It sold back in 2006 for $1,075,000 and according to a desktop appraisal I quickly did on it, might be worth in the neighborhood of $717K today, although that doesn’t take into account the damage that is done to a home when it is used as a hydroponics facility.
In any event, I find the case interesting. Be cautious when renting your home and make sure you do background checks!

Spoken by Maggie Dokic | Discussion: No Comments »

Miami Bank Owned Properties On The Rise

March 29th, 2008 Categories: Community News, Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Kendall, Market Trends, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, Southwest Dade

As you can probably tell by my absence, I have continued to be busy both in the Redland and Miami in general. I prefer to use the word swamped. Something about being so close to the Everglades. =)

The last time I posted was 3 weeks ago. I know, I know, posting twice a month to a real estate blog is not really doing anyone any favors. I am working on being more consistent, but the bottom line is, if it’s a choice between working or posting to my blog, the work wins (although the truth is, if it were left to whim, the blog would win, but a girl’s got to set some priorities, right?).

So what’s been keeping me so busy? I’ve still got my Sellers and Buyers (yes they are capitalized on contracts and on my blog) and now I am running full steam ahead with bank owned property listings. Bank owned properties (or REO’s which stands for Real Estate Owned – a term used by banks to refer to their housing inventory) are homes which the bank has foreclosed on and now find themselves in the unsavory spot of having to do something with…namely get rid of them and not lose their shirts in the process.

In Miami and throughout the nation, many, many adjustable mortgage loans have been “adjusting” and in the process folks are finding themselves in mortgages they can no longer afford. They default on the loan and the bank starts the foreclosure proceeding. If the homeowner can’t keep up (or chooses not to) keep up with the payments they will be foreclosed on. By the time banks foreclose on properties most homeowners have vacated the home. But sometimes they haven’t (or have unsuspecting tenants in there) and then eviction proceedings start. Once the property is empty, the bank can concentrate on getting it sold.

We’ve been seeing lots of corporate and bank owned real estate listings on the MLS since last year but lately the volume is growing by leaps and bounds.

Something else we’ve been noticing is that the banks are pricing aggressively. Simply put, they price it cheap so it will sell NOW. Many factors are involved in the pricing of properties for a regular sale. It’s not any different for foreclosed properties. With the banks knowing that there are other banks out there pricing low to sell, they have no choice but to do the same. And please don’t think that this is happening only in blighted areas, or areas with a huge inventory of new construction bought by investors who haven’t been able to flip them. The very same thing is happening in luxury markets and established neighborhoods such as Coral Gables, Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay and others. It’s happening to varying degrees in just about every neighborhood.

So what does this mean to you? Well, that depends. If you are a Seller, it means you better be very motivated to sell. This is no time to be “testing the waters” to see if your custom home will sell at that price you have set in your head. It won’t. Speak to a knowledgeable real estate agent and get the truth about your competition. If there are bank owned homes in the area and you really don’t need to sell your home now, don’t put it on the market. You will only be competing with banks who have no emotional attachment to a property. Their only goal is to sell it, and most times, sell it in 30 days or less. The best way to do that is for them to price it below other similar homes. And they do.

And if you are a home Buyer, oh lucky you! Have I got great news for you. This is one of the best times to be a Buyer in Miami. Corporate and Bank owned homes can be found in just about every price range of homes you have been looking at, whether a small condo for the college kid to the executive with a growing family looking for an estate home in Palmetto Bay. The deals are out there. What sort of deals? Well, let me tell you about only 3 of the ones I’ve seen in the last month that made my heart go pitter-patter:

**The first one that made me flip was a 3/2 house in the Redland sitting on just over a true acre (which is 43,560 SF, not the acre wannabe known as a Builder’s Acre which only has 30,000 SF) with a 30′ x 40′ greenhouse with full workings inside, as well as a separate 20′ x 30′ poured concrete pad that was about 12 inches thick (did you know concrete price is determined by the thickness they pour? Twelve inches is about 3 times more than the cheapest out there), sprinklers throughout the acre, fully fenced and the piece-de-resistance that made me go ga-ga… a 30′ x 40′ half-grotto/half-paradise gardens which had been carved into the limestone beneath. I could see that whoever had carved this out had done so lovingly and with a definite goal in mind: to create something of beauty that would offer tranquility and the ability to get away from the rush of the everyday right in their own backyard. Steps had been carved in the stone leading to lower levels. Paths were carved which took you around the resulting project. Planters carved out of rock were filled with palms, still healthy yet waiting for someone to come and enjoy them again. There was a carved bench where I could picture sitting and enjoying the Koi which were surely planned for the lowest level carved out of the rock. One of the people I showed this home to suggested filling this “hole” in with dirt and I secretly cringed inside. It was blasphemy to me. Someone had spent a considerable amount of time, effort and probably money creating this. I could see the vision. All this was offered at a price of $250,000. An acre in the Redland without a home on it, presently sells for anywhere from $180,000 to $220,000, depending on the location. this home is located more in the higher range. So you were basically getting the home and everything else for about 30 grand. It sold in 12 days. Yes, even in this market.

**I saw a 2/2 townhome in Homestead which had originally sold for $205,000 two years ago on the market for $105,000. Most regular sellers are trying to get $160K for theirs thinking that taking a hit for $45,000 is a big deal (and it is) and along comes a bank and puts one on the market so far below theirs that they are forced to just wait ’til the bank-owned one sells and hope that another one doesn’t pop up. Good luck.

**Yesterday I saw a gorgeous estate home in Palmetto Bay sitting on a lot of over 15,000 SF. The home itself has over 3400 SF of living space, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, a desirable hidden 2-car garage, a swimming pool and hurricane shutters. The inside is a bit dated with original dark wood kitchen that would more than likely be renovated by new owners, but right now is usable. The home is listed in the low $400’s in a neighborhood where other homes are listed between $600,000 – $899,000. Momma didn’t raise no fool. I know a bargain when I see one. This home is a steal, even with the small repairs it needs.

I could go on and on, but I need to take my Buyer to South Beach to look at some condos (hi Emily!) If you need help with finding foreclosures in Miami, the Redland, Palmetto Bay, Homestead or just Dade county in general, please contact me. I see them all the time and am happy to keep an eye out for you. =)

Spoken by Chris Hotz | Discussion: No Comments »

Home Buyer Activity Increases in Miami

March 7th, 2008 Categories: Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, For Sellers, Kendall, Market Trends, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest

I have to apologize to my 7 (he he) loyal readers for not writing in ten days. This blog truly is kept up by me and not a ghost writer. Yes, believe it or not there are real estate bloggers out there who aren’t really writing their own stuff. Gasp!

Anyway, I am not here to trash those agents who would go against the nature of blogging and hire their writing out. Nor am I here to claim that blog purists insist “you’re not a blogger unless you’re doing your own blogging.” Whatever.

I’m simply stating that I have been busy. Super busy. Wait-it’s-3-o’clock-and-I-haven’t-yet-had-lunch-busy. And I imagine that if I had been interviewed by Canal 51 Telemundo (they asked) for their piece on foreclosures, I would be even busier. (Being busier is not always my goal btw).

The simple truth of the matter is that there has been an increase of buyer activity in Miami-Dade county since the first of the year. I noticed it. My colleagues noticed it. No, wait. “Noticed it,” would be an understatement. We noticed it then reveled in it. That rare commodity known as a buyer was making it’s reappearance. Hip,hip and hooray.

Why has there been a resurgence of home buyers in the last two months? I can’t attribute it strictly to the amendment 1 voting. That took place at the end of January and we noticed the shift at the beginning. Were home buyers starting to gain confidence knowing that the vote was coming up and things might start picking up afterwards? Perhaps.

I do think the buyers that are out there right now are fully aware that this is a great time to be buying a home in Miami. Home prices will not continue on a downward spiral forever. At some point the market will shift and the trend will be an upwards one. Listen to me please, by the time this happens, it will be too late to have gotten the lowest price. By the time one realizes, “oh, we’ve hit the bottom,” it will be because we’re on the rebound again and prices have started to climb back up. In real estate, as in the stock market, you can analyze all you want, but the truth remains that the only way to tell the very peak of a market or the absolute lowest point is in hindsight.

The fact remains that this is still Miami. And contrary to many’s beliefs, there are those who love living here (hand up – me, me!). Miami will continue to draw people here with it’s vibrant joie de vivre, cultural events, melting pot diversity, ever-increasing high quality restaurants, and let’s face it, the jewel in Miami’s crown, the weather, which makes for a different way of life. I was raised in New York City. Not a winter passes for me in Miami when I don’t think about my NYC peeps who are bundling up to go to work and I’m in a T-shirt. I don’t think I am the odd one out when I say I relish the knowledge that I’m not wearing a parka in the middle of January.

So those of you who’ve been sitting on that fence for a while…it’s still a great time to jump off and see what your dream home is selling for now. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Spoken by Chris Hotz | Discussion: No Comments »

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