The Real Estate Mango

Archive for the 'New Developments' Category

CHATEAU-BEACH RESIDENCES COME TO SUNNY ISLES BEACH

ULTRA LUXURY BUILDING TO BE BUILT AT 17475 COLLINS AVE.  33 STORIES, ONLY 84 RESIDENCES.  PRICES STARTING AT $1,100,000. 

Sunny Isles Beach is becoming uber fashionable with the advent of the PORSCHE and now CHATEAU-BEACH !!

Construction will begin in September of this year and will be completed in 2014.  If you want to live in fabulous style, call me today because only 84 lucky families will get to live here!

These are a few of the ultra luxury features: size starts at 1500 square feet up to 9000 sq. ft. These residences will have 2 stories, deep terraces and a private swimming pool.

All the residences will have floor to ceiling glass with panoramic ocean views.

Full concierge services, spas, wine lockers and a cigar bar.

Pre Sales will begin immediately with construction.  Call as soon as possible for more details.

IMPORTANT TIP FOR THOSE SEEKING PROPERTY TAX RELIEF

If you think you are paying too much for your property taxes, PAY YOUR BILL FIRST BEFORE YOU CONTEST THE AMOUNT!

1200 Property Owners in Broward county received rejection letters because they did not pay their taxes before March 31st.  Under the new law, which went into effect July 1 of 2011, owners who want to appeal their taxes must pay at least 75% of the amount before April 1 if they want their appeals considered.

A word to the wise is sufficient!!

ANOTHER TERRIFIC TIP THAT WILL SAVE BUYERS MONEY!!  AVOID HIGH ENERGY COSTS IN YOUR PROSPECTIVE NEW HOME!!

When considering a new home and are ready to write your contract, add another inspection along with the usual home owner inspection.  This inspection is called HERS and it stands for Home Energy Rating System.  This is an energy audit that checks all specific features of energy use in the home.  It interprets its findings into dollars spent on inefficiencies.

If the house needs a great deal of upgrading into better efficiency, and if the seller doesn’t want to reduce his price accordingly, or if the seller doesn’t want to make these changes, you can walk away from the property.  Even if you decide to go ahead with the purchase, at least you will know what you are buying and how you can fix it.

This audit has been available to the public for years and rarely does anyone take advantage of it.

 

 

 

 

BELLINI….NEWEST AND LAST HIGH RISE DEVELOPMENT IN WILLIAMS ISLAND

WILLIAMS ISLAND IS BUILDING THE BELLINI ON THE LAST REMAINING RESIDENTIAL SITE AND IT IS A BEAUTY!

I was invited to a presentation breakfast this weekand listened to the descriptions of the units and this is what I came away with.

For those of you who need an exclusive, boutique style building with only 70 residences, this 24 story building is for you!!

These apartments are large, 2300 square feet to 2700 square feet, each with 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 baths.

The top two floors will have extraordinary penthouses that will each encompass nearly 5000 square feet.

Poggenpohl kitchens and marble in baths and granite counters in kitchens, private elevators and 10 foot ceilings and hurricane-rated impact resistant glass,

SO many amenities….24 hour concierge, 2 story lobby, fitness center, media room, Kid’s game room, beautifully landscaped sundeck with resort style pool and spa and a large cabana area, all overlooking the Williams Island Marina.

Bellini will be a wonderful addition to Aventura with completion scheduled for 2013.  Remember the best apartments will be sold first, so if this seems interesting to you, call me as soon as possible to see the property floor plans.

 

WHAT IS MERS AND HOW CAN IT HELP THE HOUSING MARKET?

First, let me define MERS….Mers is an innovative process that simplifies the way mortgage ownership and servicing rights are originated, sold and tracked.  Created by the real estate finance industry, MERS eliminates the need to prepare and record assignments when trading residential and commercial mortgage loans.

NOW THAT WE HAVE DEFINED IT…LET’S UNDERSTAND THE UNDERLYING CONDITION THAT LED TO THIS PROCESS.

The mortgages that are written to this day, are sold to service providers (these are the banks that collect the payments) who ultimately sell them to other service providers.  All this in the effort to make money on these sales.  Finally, these loans are sold to Wall Street firms that package them and sell them as investments.

When homes sales began declining and some were worth half of the original price, many banks could not even locate the original loan in order to make modifications or to prove how much was owed in back payments.  Paper, paper, everwhere and not a piece that was the right one.

MERS COMES IN….THIS IS AN ELECTRONIC  SYSTEM OF TRACKING THE ORIGINAL MORTGAGE NO MATTER WHERE IT WINDS UP. 

Until this system becomes the only way of doing mortgages, we will not get out of the lengthy foreclosures still waiting to be finalized.  Once these mortgages are dealt with and either saved or completely foreclosed and back on the market for sale, the housing slump will hang around for a long time.

The U.S. government would have to make this a mandatory way of doing business for all l banks and mortgage lenders for this to be effective.  Let’s hope this happens!

Just thought you should know.

 

 

 

Today is a Great Day for America..Why I am glad the Health Care Reform Passed

People want to live their lives happily and without constant worry about money and health  Well, today is the beginning of a new era in America…Today we can see a future where our quality of life will improve.

So many times, I have seen the carefree faces of people sitting in the cafes of Europe enjoying the food, the air, the wine and the time to be human.  They take long paid for vacations.  They leave worries behind.  Once, while staying in Paris, my husband caught the flu.  A doctor was called by the hotel and in 15 minutes he arrived, gave an exam and medicine and voila!, he was better the next day.  No waiting in an emergency room.

Not so much in the U.S.  We work hard, and until now, we worried about what would happen if we lost that job.  How would we take care of our health?  Thoughts like these take the joy out of life.                                                 

We are closer to the day when we can lie in the sun and truly have peace of mind.

EWM Monthly Mailer…first time on the internet…showing many of the great properties in EWM inventory

Enjoy our fabulous Monthly Mailer, first time, ever in an internet edition.  Flip through the pages to see our terrific properties.  Call ME for any you would like to view…

If you list with us, your property will appear in this mailer which is also mailed to many thousands of contacts.  A very successful marketing tool and that works for YOU…

That $8000 Tax Credit For First Time Homebuyers Will Expire

December 1, 2009 is the cut off date for first time homebuyers to take advantage of the $8000 tax credit offered by the federal government.  The property must close by this date, December 1, 2009!!

This also applies to anyone who has not owned a principle residence in the 3 year period prior to purchase.  SO IT IS NOT JUST FOR THE FIRST TIME HOMEBUYER!

Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit.

IT IS A FREE GIFT FROM THE GOVERNMENT that you never have to pay back as long as the house remains your primary residence for 36 months after purchase.

Please check out my post of  July1, 2009, “Attention Homebuyers“… with further details. 

It is already September, it takes time to look and make a decision.   Time is awasting!!

 

 Don’t miss this chance.  Click on my home search link and find a home for you!

Housing Plan Revealed! How It Helps Aventura Homeowners

Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner put out the details of the foreclosure assistance program today, March 4, 2009. The program can be studied in detail in the Wall Street Journal.

To homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments, this is an excellent opportunity to modify your mortgage to 31% of your  income with an interest rate of 2% for five years. These loans have to have been made before January 1, 2009.  The Loan Modification Plan will be in existance until December 31, 2012.

There is an incentive of $1500 to each homeowner who modifies his or her loan.  Every year for five years, the homeowner will receive $1000.

The government wants to avoid more foreclosures.  It is encouraging any mortgage holder who is struggling, to see a loan officer, as soon as possible to discuss loan modification.

This is good news!   There will be those who say this is too expensive for the government to do, and they have already began saying it as soon as the news broke.  But, I believe it is a good thing for the housing market.  For every foreclosure there is a loss of value in the adjacent homes.  If this plan avoids more foreclosures, property values will have a chance to recover.

Contact me with remarks or questions…I will be glad to discuss this or offer guidance.

Important Features of the Housing Recovery Act 2009

The new bill addressing foreclosures and real estate is a complicated bill, no doubt, but here are a few important provisions that stand out and will help the housing market, tremendously.

1. Lower interest rates for mortgages
2. Greater ability to get financing through FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in high cost areas.
3. A true Tax credit incentive to buy a home NOW
4. Foreclosure negotiation and short-sale standards

All this will help our market and will make getting loans easier.  As you know, getting financing at this moment until these new features go into effect, has been almost impossible for condos, in particular.

As they say, Help is on the Way!!

Call me with any questions.

Credit Problems In The Word of Real Estate

First, before I go into my story…I want to say that the Obama Foreclosure Plan is going to be a great help and is long overdue.

Now for the story I have been hearing over and over again.  A working single mother, was very disheartened to learn that her apartment located in the Aventura Real Estate market,  had decreased in value over 50%  since she bought it and her mortgage was more than the unit was worth.  Her maintenance had gone up 30% to make up for the owners who were not paying theirs.  Maintenance increases are becoming more and more common in the Aventura Real Estate market.

She called the bank every week for several weeks asking to speak to a loan officer.(By the way, it was Countrywide).  It was important to try and reduce her interest rate and change her payments.  Her credit card debt was mounting and she had trouble paying her bills.

The bank never returned her calls.  She stopped making payments. Then the  bank  called.  They offered her new terms, her payments would be less.  By now, her credit cards were maxed out.  She couldn’t pay the maintenance even with the new mortgage plan.  It was too late for her.  She is letting the bank foreclose.

This is a story I hear every week from different people in all walks of life.  Hopefully, under the government’s new plan the banks will start to help before it is too late to stem the flow of foreclosures.

Do you have a story?  Let me hear from you.  I will publish the best ones.