As the signs that the Miami real estate market remains stable

many investors and residents are interested in what future Miami condo developments may be in store. While developments may take years to complete, they show promise as growth for the area, something recent investors and current residents are interested in monitoring.

Miami land

previously earmarked for commercial towers in the downtown Miami area, many of which are now in financial distress, has attracted the interest of investors seeking to construct future condo developments. Year-to-date, investment groups have purchased at least 10 condo sites for nearly $300 million according to the Miami-Dade Country records.

2011 Significant Land Deals In Miami

Some of this year’s largest land deals include:

· $236 million for the waterfront Miami Herald land at 1 Herald Plaza
· $14.8 million for the Coral Station at Brickell Way
· $14 million for the land currently occupied by the Brickell Tennis Club
· Acquisition of a 78,200 square foot development site located on the north bank of the Miami River, once slated to become the Cima condo development

These significant land deals represent only a small fraction of the available land within a focused area of Greater Downtown Miami. The prime real estate attracting attention currently consists of the 60 block stretch spanning the Julia Tuttle Causeway to the Rickenbacker Causeway.

Driving Forces Behind Increasing Developer Miami Land Interest

Developer and investment interest has picked up throughout this year as rental and lease activity, resale and new sale activity has picked up.

More and more Miami residents are choosing to lease Miami condos, offering an attractive income stream for investors, both on an individual and group investor basis. The average rental rate for the areas, as of June 30th this year, is approximately $1.82 per square foot, or $1,500 per month for a small, 800 square foot condo unit.

Another contributing factor is the decline in developer condo inventory. This decline in inventory has freed up investor capital. The current sales pace for the area indicates that the developer inventory will sustain only 12 more months of sales activity. This activity has enabled current developers to turn their attention away from moving already constructed properties toward what’s next.

While new projects have yet to be announced, speculation backed by the aforementioned land deals points to a wealth of new projects to be announced and constructed in the Greater Downtown Miami area over the next 3-5 years.

Auction.com, one of the country’s leading real estate auctioneers, closed its initial summer Miami foreclosures series in the southern portion of the state. Approximately 73 percent of the bank owned properties were sold, 269 of the 369 properties listed. While there are multiple sources for available foreclosed properties, Auction.com leads in volume with $157 million being spent on 2,450 properties, through the platform this year alone!

Miami Foreclosure Numbers

The demand for foreclosure properties in Miami Florida is high. Roughly 1 in every 461 properties received a foreclosure filing in May 2011, ranking the area among the highest nationally in foreclosure rates, according to Realty Trac. With the steady volume of foreclosed properties landing in the marketplace, industry experts suggest similar buying activity throughout the remainder of the 3rd quarter and into the 4th quarter of this year.

Who is currently driving the foreclosure market in Miami Florida?

While individual and family buyers are a contributing factor to the rise in this market’s interest, the driving force behind the sales can be attributed to foreign buyers. According to the National Association of Realtors, foreign buyers have represented nearly one third of all purchases made in the South Florida real estate market year to date. Representatives from Global Real Estate Advisors suggest that the breakdown of these foreign buyers largely stems from Europe and portions of Turkey, although there are certainly buyers from other worldwide regions becoming property owners in the area.

While many of the buyers are utilizing these properties for their own personal vacation pleasure, a large proportion of the buyers plan to establish a presence in the Miami rentals market. Rental buyers aim to generate income over the next few years as the property market recovers, selling when they can generate a profit on their capital investment, adding to the financial benefits already received from rental income over the years.

Sellers Need to Capitalize on the Current Market Opportunity

The foreign presence in the Miami real estate market

presents an opportunity for those currently looking to sell their properties. Whether homeowners are behind their financial commitments, need to relocate for employment purposes, or who are looking to move-up in the South Florida property ladder, now is the time to sell! During the past 6 months the inventory has gone down 60% and properties with unique characteristics, water access and/or rental potential will be the most coveted properties being considered by this influx of buyers.

While many look at a rising foreclosure market as a negative sign for South Florida, experts feel quite differently. As new buyers enter the market, inventory levels are down, and prices are holding their own, now is a prime time for those interested in profiting from the circumstances.

Miami real estate

as well as sales of existing condos in the Miami metropolitan area rose 46 percent in May, 2011 compared to the same period in 2010, according to data from the Miami Association of Realtors. There were a total of 1,420 condo sales last month, up from 972 in May 2010. Miami single family home sales also showed an increase, jumping 20 percent to a total of 875 sales last month.

Most of Miami condos

are purchased by International buyers who continued to dominate the Miami real estate market, with 60 percent of closed residential resales last month transacted by foreign buyers, who also bought a staggering 90 percent of new construction sales. “The current performance of the Miami market is exceeding expectations,” said Jack Levine, Chairman of the Board of the Miami Association of Realtors.

In fact, the volume of Miami home sales rose, continuing a record-setting pace. However prices are still on the decline, although there are signs of stabilization. This logic-defying housing market phenomenon continued to embrace interesting trend lines in May of 2011 — Miami condo sales soared, slashing down the inventory even further, but overall prices fell once again. Furthermore, local sales are increasing while the national market slumps, but local prices are falling faster than the national average.

Here is a full story from Miami Herald – http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/21/2277801_p2/south-florida-real-estate-paradox.html or you can read it below:

The region’s real estate narrative is also at odds with traditional market economics. The coexistence of shrinking supply, rising demand and falling prices has left analysts with a number of questions: How long can this frenzied sales pace —fueled by Latin American and cash investors’ appetite for discounted real estate — continue? With inventory shrinking rapidly, when will the strong sales activity translate into price stability and appreciation, as market economics dictate? How large is the “shadow inventory,� and how will those unlisted bank-owned homes affect the recovery?

In Miami-Dade, there were 875 sales of existing single-family homes and 1,420 condo sales, increases of 20 percent and 46 percent from last May, respectively. Compared to April, home sales were up 5.4 percent and condo sales were up 1.1 percent.

In Broward County, 1,142 single-family sales and 1,537 condo sales represented increases of 6 percent and 14 percent over last May, respectively.

In the first five months of the year, more than 23,000 homes and condos have traded hands in South Florida, one of the strongest five-month runs on record. Nationally, 2011 has been a poor year for sales, with double-digit declines nearly each month.

South Florida’s rapid sales pace has helped reduce the region’s housing inventory, which has gone from severely bloated to suddenly lean over the last couple of years.

There are now 31,659 homes and condos for sale in Miami area, down from 61,755 in May 2009.

The crucial “months-of-inventory� figure has slimmed to 7.2 months in Miami-Dade and 5.5 months in Broward, both down to a fraction of their peaks. Economists say that six months of housing inventory is indicative of a healthy market.

So why hasn’t the shrinking supply of homes led to price stabilization?

“We have a whole bunch of pent-up supply,� said William Hardin, professor of real estate and finance at Florida International University . “There’s a squeeze play going on because no one is going to sell a house in today’s market unless they have to.�

The majority of homes that are selling are under distressed circumstances —either a Miami foreclosure sale, or a short sale that doesn’t cover the cost of the mortgage. Those properties — popular among cash investors and foreign buyers — sell at deep discounts, dragging down overall prices in the market.

In the single-family market, May 2011 median prices fell 8 percent to $180,200 in Miami-Dade. Broward suffered a particularly large decrease, with single-family prices falling 17 percent to $188,500.

There are some signs that prices may be beginning to stabilize, specifically in the condo market, where sales have been the most rapid.

In Miami-Dade, median condo prices slipped just 1 percent, to $124,300. In Broward County’s condo market, there was a 9 percent year-over-year increase, with median prices reaching $80,400.

Year-to-date, median prices are up across the market: Miami-Dade condos (36.2 percent), Miami-Dade single-family homes (19.4 percent), Broward condos (16.5 percent) and Broward single-family homes (14.2 percent). While prices are up since January, the year-over-year figures provide a more reliable barometer of values, since they compare the same time periods in the region’s seasonally driven market. It’s too soon to say if sustained appreciation is here to stay, although industry insiders are pitching that message.

But even as South Florida’s market looks to rebound from its worst bust in history, a number of troubling issues threaten to drag out the recovery.

However, two of the factors that normally support a healthy housing industry — a strong job market and significant home equity — are painfully absent in South Florida. In Miami-Dade County, unemployment sits at record high 13.4 percent. Nearly half of all South Florida homeowners with mortgages owe more on their homes than the current value, one of the highest underwater rates in the country.

Stricter lending standards have made it difficult for many potential buyers to obtain a mortgage. In May 2011, 60 percent of home sales were completed without a mortgage as all-cash investors.

As of June 3rd, 2011, the number of foreclosed condos and homes in South Florida year-to-date is 11,551, down from 30,635 at the same time last year, based on the most recent data available from Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. Please see the graph above which shows foreclosure activity in these three counties.

South Florida real estate

is known for its boom and bust cycles. The current bust cycle, one of the worst in history, seems to have bottomed out and now on it’s way to recovery in a big way, judging by recent statistics. A rise in employment in the state and a great deal of foreign buyers are among the factors playing into what seems to be a quick climb in the desirability and the value of Miami real estate.

Of course, this is not a new phenomenon for Florida real estate. The state’s real estate market has historically gone through cycles such as this, when the value of homes declined and when it became a buyer’s market. The sales of homes have also gone up in much bigger ways than employment has gone down. Compared to 2010 figures, condo sales were up over 130%. The increase has also impacted single family homes, with an over 50% increase in those sales figures over last year.

Miami’s high-end rentals are also booming, led by Miami Beach rentals, which has seen its inventory practically vanish, led by New Yorkers looking to establish residency in South Florida. It seems right now people are establishing residency out of New York City and into South Florida, whether they’re buying or renting. We’re back to 2003 or 2004, where we have pocket listings, and things don’t need to go on the MLS to be rented. The high-end market follows the trend from downtown Miami and Brickell, which had a rental occupancy as high as 85 percent in February, according to the most recent report from the Downtown Development Authority. That was a 31% increase from 2009.

The US is slated for another round of quantitative easing, which will likely drop the value of the dollar further and which may make this market even more attractive to international buyers than it is already. Combined with an increasing rate of visitors and tourists in Miami where every year is a new record, it’s possible that the decline cycle has finally ended.

Click here to view all currently available <a href="foreclosure condos in Miami and foreclosure homes in Miami

In today’s Wall Street Journal I read a great article about International buyers all over the world. The Russians are buying luxury properties in London, Miami, New York, Silicon Valley. The Brazilians are buying condos in Miami and Chinese are buying in California. The biggest players in the residential-real-estate scene today often come from halfway around the world.

If you prefer you can read the article on Wall Street Journal site (the link is below) or here is the full article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576317150261940990.html

This spring, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner paid $100 million for a French chateau-style mansion in Silicon Valley, setting a record for the highest price ever paid for a single-family home in the U.S. In January, Ukraine’s Rinat Akhmetov closed on two of London’s most expensive apartments ever for a combined $222.5 million. In Paris, a Gulf princess spent $96.9 million last year for a mansion with an inner courtyard, garden and private chapel on the Left Bank.

Some of the biggest residential real-estate buyers in many cities are emerging from halfway around the globe. In London, one report finds that 65% of buyers in the Miami luxury residences hail from abroad. According to the Miami Association of Realtors, nearly 60% of all sales last year throughout the city were to buyers from foreign countries. About half of the buyers in one new luxury condominium on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue are from overseas.

While foreign purchasers make up about 7% of the U.S. residential real-estate market, their numbers have swelled: According to the National Association of Realtors, 18% of Realtors in the U.S. market reported selling a home to at least one international buyer in 2010, up from 12% in 2009.

The makeup of these buyers is changing, reflecting changes in the global economic scene. Buyers from Russia have returned, and the numbers are growing from Brazil, where the economy grew 7.5% last year. Australians are buying ski homes in Aspen. In Tampa, Fla., Venezuelan buyers are buying heavily discounted beach condos.

One of the biggest factors in many areas is the emergence of the Chinese. As housing costs on China’s mainland skyrocket—raising concerns of a property bubble there—monied buyers are heading abroad, moving into markets that look, in comparison, like a bargain.

In Orange County, California Chinese buyers now account for more than half of his showings in tony Newport Coast, up from a very small handful two or three years ago. Many Chinese buyers seek brand-new homes with more than 10,000 square feet to use either for vacations or as a place for their children to live when they attend college.

Amy Williamson, the vice president of sales for Prodigy Network, which markets condo buildings like Trump Soho Hotel Condominium in New York, visited Shanghai last month, meeting with local brokers and potential buyers there. Beverly Hills-based broker Joyce Rey traveled to Beijing in October, arranging a reception at an art gallery where photographs of homes priced between $10 million and $125 million were displayed around the room like artwork. Tim Swannie, the Valbonne, France, director of Home Hunts, says one of his agents is working with two Chinese clients who are looking for vineyards in the $5 million-to-$10 million range in the Bordeaux region.

In the U.S., many foreign buyers are taking advantage of the relatively weak dollar. In March, Pascale Saliou, a 44-year-old from Brittany, France, paid about $600,000 for studio in a building with a contemporary art-filled lobby in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. Ms. Saliou has been visiting the city regularly for more than 20 years and finally decided to buy a New York apartment because of the exchange rate. “We never imagined we could one day do this,” she says.

Not all foreign purchasers are shelling out millions (in the U.S., the median price paid for a home by an overseas buyer was just under $220,000, according to the National Association of Realtors). And not all are traveling thousands of miles. Canadians are the largest group of foreign buyers in the U.S. today, representing about 23% of foreign buyers, up from about 17.6% in 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Global property buyers gravitate to a handful of highly specific locales: In London, Russians and people from the Middle East flock to central Knightsbridge, where blocks of sleek condos offer top-of-the-line amenities. In New York, newer condos packed with contemporary design attract foreign buyers. Here’s a look at some of the top global real-estate markets for foreign buyers.

Last month, Russian composer Igor Krutoy—who has recorded more than 100 songs in Russia and collaborated with many of the country’s music stars—made headlines when he and his wife, Olga, purchased a 6,000-square-foot 12th floor condo at the Plaza for $48 million. It was one of the highest prices ever paid for a condo in New York.

According to Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal and consulting firm Miller Samuel, foreign buyers make up 15% to 20% of all home sales in Manhattan. They’re particularly strong buyers of thoroughly renovated or newly built condos priced at several million dollars or more. Pamela Liebman, president and CEO of New York-based brokerage Corcoran Group, says that in the first quarter of this year, nearly 20% of new condo sales at Corcoran went to foreign buyers. One deal under way includes a group of Asian investors who are buying 13 apartments in a building, each priced between $1.5 million and $2.5 million.

Manhattan has long been one of the most popular markets in the world for international buyers. But the makeup of international buyers has shifted. Gone are the investors from Ireland who were snapping up condos amid the economic boom in their homeland, says Mr. Miller. Today, it’s buyers from China and Brazil. In the past 18 months, brokers say Russians—known during the boom years for making large real-estate purchases in opulent trophy buildings—have returned after sitting on the sidelines during the recession.

International buyers tend to gravitate to certain buildings. Luigi Rosabianca, a real-estate lawyer who works with international buyers, says the André Balasz-designed William Beaver House in the Financial District is popular with his Latin American clients. “Certain people are attracted to certain energy and aesthetics,” he says. At the Sheffield, a 582-unit condo building at Columbus Circle where 28% of sold units have gone to overseas buyers, sales staff now print marketing materials in Mandarin, French, Spanish and Italian.

At midtown’s Setai Fifth Avenue Residences, where apartments are priced from $1.2 million to $15 million, about half of the buyers have been from overseas. Giuseppe Rossi, the executive vice president of Bizzi & Partners Development, who is originally from Italy, notes that many Italians have purchased apartments there. “We’re Italian developers so there’s a certain appeal to Italian products and the way we built,” he says. Brazilian buyers have also made several purchases there, including Brazilian soccer star Kaka, who recently bought three apartments in the building which he plans to combine, says Mr. Rossi. (Kaka didn’t respond to requests for comment.)

Giorgio Castro, a 62-year-old Rome-based entrepreneur, says he dreamed of owning a place in Manhattan for decades. Last year, with the euro-dollar exchange rate giving him more than a 40% discount, he finally snagged a $1.3 million one-bedroom condo in a Wall Street building designed by David Rockwell.

“It was a good opportunity to buy something I longed for,” says Mr. Castro. “With the money I spent, I could not have bought something equivalent in Rome.”

The Paris real-estate market is booming, driven in part by the high prices foreigners are willing to pay. In the “Golden Triangle”—the tony area near the Champs-Élysées—apartment prices rose 38% in the last year, according to the Paris Notary Chamber. For Paris apartments costing over $2.8 million (€2 million), three foreigners buy into the market for every one foreign seller, says Charles-Marie Jottras, president of the Daniel Féau network of real-estate agencies.

Mr. Jottras just closed his first deal with a mainland Chinese buyer, an apartment on the luxurious Avenue George V for $14.2 million (€10 million). The six-bedroom apartment, down the street from the Chinese embassy, features a 2,150-square-foot living room. A new influx of Chinese buyers is also looking at the 16th arrondissement near the Trocadéro Place, where stately buildings appeal to foreign buyers. The Brazilian presence is also growing; Jean-Philippe Roux, manager of luxury real-estate agency John Taylor’s new Paris office, says he has nine Brazilians interested in the seventh and eighth arrondissements.

France’s neighbors Italy and Britain account for about a third of the international market. These buyers often seek apartments on the Left Bank, in the Saint-Germain neighborhood, as well as in the more bohemian Marais area because of the central location for train stations.

Russian and Middle Eastern buyers tend to concentrate in the “Golden Triangle,” where there are the most luxurious hotels and boutiques. A 1960s-era building at 12-18 Avenue Montaigne, near the Louis Vuitton and Chanel stores, is a big draw, as is the recently renovated building at number 51-53 on the opposite side of the street.

There are only a handful of mansions in Paris. Mr. Jottras’s record sale happened last year and was for the Hôtel de Bourbon-Condé, a mansion with an inner courtyard, garden and private chapel, in the seventh arrondissement on the Left Bank. For $96.9 million (€68 million), a Gulf princess had a new home.

China’s housing boom spilled over to Hong Kong, where property prices have surpassed previous historic highs and are now some of the highest in the world. According to property agency Savills, Hong Kong’s homes are 52% more expensive than London’s—and 111% more than New York’s.

In April 2011, a 5,636-square-foot condo at 39 Conduit Rd. in the Mid-Levels district sold for $46.4 million (HK$361 million). Local newspaper Ming Pao reported that it was bought by Shi Yuzhu, the Shanghai-based founder of online gaming company Giant Interactive. Forbes magazine reported his net worth at $1.6 billion.

Meanwhile, a house on 11 Headland Rd. in Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay neighborhood recently sold for $84.9 million (HK$660 million). Newspaper Ming Pao reported the buyer as Gao Yanming, chairman of Hebei-based shipping company Hosco Group. Henderson Land, the developer, confirmed the transaction but declined to comment as to the identity of the purchaser.

Mainland Chinese buyers are more concentrated in the new luxury sector of condos priced over $1.5 million (HK$12 million), like the Cullinan in West Kowloon. In this sector, they represented 28.8% of the deals during the last half of 2010. In the ultra-expensive range—$25.7 million (HK$200 million) and above—Joseph Tsang, managing director at Jones Lang Lasalle in Hong Kong, estimates that almost all the transactions involve buyers from China.

Mr. Tsang says Chinese buyers look for luxury finishes, ornate decorations and grand hotel-style lobbies. “They’re into glamour and bling,” he says. “In order to attract the Chinese buyer [from the mainland], you need to put out the most expensive stuff on display.”

In the past, the pricey homes along the southern coast of Hong Kong island were popular among well-heeled expatriate bankers from the U.K., Australia and the U.S. But the influx of Chinese buyers and the resulting spike in prices has even forced some members of this wealthy class out of their traditional stomping grounds.

The city’s largest brokers routinely organize bus tours for interested buyers from mainland China to visit new development sites.

Local brokerage firm Midland Realty recently organized three tours during the May 1 weekend, a public holiday. By the end of the weekend, the agency had 10 deals signed, starting at $643,000 (HK$5 million) for new condos. During a tour earlier this year, the agency says some buyers purchased units for $1.3 million (HK$10 million) on their first visit to Hong Kong.

“If you look at the new apartments [in West Kowloon], over 60% are mainland Chinese buyers, but if you count the lights at night, you won’t see many. It’s sold out, but it’s pitch dark,” Mr. Tsang says.

According to Liam Bailey, head of residential research at real-estate agent Knight Frank, London’s ratio of international to domestic buyers for prime real estate is the highest of any major city in the world. According to his report last month, 64% of buyers of central London homes priced over $8.1 million (£5 million) are foreign—”the highest of any major city, without a doubt”—and probably the highest it’s ever been, Mr. Bailey says.

The number of nationalities represented has also swelled; 61 nationalities purchased homes in London last year, up from 46 in 2009, with Russian, Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern buyers seeing the biggest growth, according to Knight Frank.

For many, the U.K.’s steady political environment and stable economy make London a safe haven for wealth. Sterling’s decline against the dollar—around 20% since 2008—makes property even more enticing. But currency arbitrage and safe-haven status aside, different nationalities are drawn by different aspects.

For U.S. buyers, it’s London’s leafy Hampstead Village, according to Marcus Oliver, associate director at real-estate agent Chesterton Humbert’s Hampstead office. He said 80% of foreign buyers in Hampstead over the past three months have been from the U.S. “Americans are attracted to the quintessentially ‘London village’ feel of Hampstead, with its quaint Victorian houses and the rolling Heath. It matches up with the clichéd impression of London.”

Meanwhile, the status and bright lights of a pad in central Knightsbridge are luring the newly monied Eastern Europeans and Middle Eastern buyers, says Roarie Scarisbrick of HSBC-owned buying agent Property Vision. “Knightsbridge property is the ultimate status symbol for the new settlers of Eastern Europe with their newly amassed fortunes.” Properties like the Knightsbridge, One Hyde Park and the Lancasters, where residents enjoy 24-hour security and amenities ranging from golf simulators to private movie theaters, are attracting some of the world’s wealthiest oligarchs and sheiks.

One such buyer is Ukranian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, who in January closed on two apartments in the Candy Brothers’ new One Hyde Park development in Knightsbridge for a reported $222.5 million (£136.6 million) to combine into a triplex penthouse. Mr. Akhmatov’s press secretary Olena Dovzhenko confirmed the property was purchased as investment through the oligarch’s company, SCM Capital Management.

In neighboring Kensington, with its proximity to museums and coffee shops, the typical buyer is French, Swiss or Italian, says independent search agent Charles McDowell. He recently found a home for 38-year-old Parisian Michelle Dellion, in South Kensington. The five-bedroom townhouse on Mulberry Walk cost $16.3 million (£10 million) and has 5,000 square feet of living space. “We had to be in London for my husband’s job. Kensington is near the Lycée [Français Charles de Gaulle] and the park—with our three children it was the best area for us,” said Ms. Dellion, a stay-at-home mom whose husband works in finance.

Mindful of this tendency to flock together, developers have launched targeted marketing drives. Within the last six months, luxury London developments The Heron, Bramah Chelsea, Wellington House and Neo Bankside have held marketing exhibitions in Singapore and Hong Kong. Last September, Bramah hosted a successful exhibition at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Hong Kong. “We sold 50 apartments off plan over two weekends,” says sales executive Matt Shenton.

In the Greater Miami area, nearly 60% of all sales last year were to buyers from overseas, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. For sales of newly built condos downtown, like Icon Brickell that figure jumps to 90%, says the group.

Many of the buyers are from Brazil, which experienced an economic growth rate of 7.5% last year. Brazil’s currency, the real, has risen about 40% against the U.S. dollar in the last two years.

Property developer and marketer Fortune International focused heavily on Brazil to sell Jade Ocean, a 50-story building the company is marketing with infinity pools, a private movie theater and a children’s playroom decorated with Philippe Starck furniture. Its two-story penthouse loft apartments sold for between $3.5 million and $10 million. Nearly 85% of Jade Ocean’s sales have gone to overseas buyers.

Fortune’s principal developer Edgardo Defortuna says that last fall, he worked with American Airlines to invite a group of potential buyers and American Airlines contacts to a dinner party at a restaurant in Brasilia. “The Black Eyed Peas were having dinner in the next room,” he says. His company is also encouraging the airline to add new flights from different cities in Brazil to Miami, which American Airlines says is in the works. In an e-mail, an American Airlines spokeswoman said, “it makes business sense to promote Miami not only as a place to visit but a place to live.”

Russian buyers tend to cluster in northern, beachfront areas. Mr. Defortuna says he’s planning a trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg to pitch several of his Miami-area buildings. There, he hopes to throw a dinner party with Donald Trump Jr., an executive vice president with the Trump Organization.

Unlike Americans, who tend to look for single-family homes, overseas buyers favor condos. Italians have been drawn to the Capri South Beach, a condo building with downtown views and its own marina, says broker Nelson Gonzalez. The Icon Brickell Condo, a three-tower complex downtown, has a large number of British and Brazilian owners.

Venezuelans are also a growing presence, as are buyers from Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Henrik Wiingaard-Madsen, a shoe-manufacturing company owner from Denmark, says he got a 30% discount in July for two apartments in the Icon Brickell Tower—$520,000 for a two-bedroom and $840,000 for a three-bedroom—plus a rebate. Icon “had so many units, they were kind of desperate at the time,” he says. “The price was so low compared to the quality.” Mr. Defortuna says his company took over marketing for the complex last June, and that the building “has filled in significantly since then.” So far, about 80% of the units have been sold.

Because so many Miami homes are now in foreclosure

the market is favorable to buyers who have money to invest. Making sure that you actually get to take advantage of the best deals on the market, however, requires some foresight and some serious consideration of the realtors that you work with. There are some differences between agents that some homebuyers are not aware of, in most cases, but which are absolutely vital to getting the best deals out there.

Realtors And Their Access

Not every real estate agent has access to foreclosure information. In the cases of those that do have access to foreclosure information, not all of them boast the expertise required to make sure that their clients get the best deal when they purchase home that are foreclosed upon. There are several ways that a good agent can help you if they understand foreclosures and the process of buying these homes well enough.

First, make sure the agent has a very good understanding of the Miami real estate values. As people are beginning to understand, foreclosed upon properties affect the values of the properties around them, which may mean that the realtor can get you a better deal than is immediately apparent. Make sure your realtor has this sort of expertise before you start working with them.

An experienced Miami realtor

actually working with foreclosed properties is also imperative. In most cases, they’ll have a more comprehensive understanding of the market on the whole and will be able to direct you toward the best bargains on the market at any given time.

Miami Short Sale Condos: Are they Good Deals?

A bank that has foreclosed upon a property is a very motivated seller. Where short sales are concerned, this is less so. Properties that are being offered in a short sale are not repossessed by the bank, so there are generally more delays for the buyers.

In most cases, the banks will consider the properties that they own outright—meaning those that they have already foreclosed upon—to be the priorities where selling them off is concerned. Short sale properties are not a total loss for the bank and the homeowner and their realtor will be actively doing the work of selling those properties off.

A short sale properties

is also subject to a competitive bidding process. The actual sale of the home may take as long as a year to complete, so you may not want to deal with these properties if you want to take advantage of current market conditions. You’ll also be up against other bidders. The whole point of buying any type of distressed property is to get the best deal possible and, with many other bidders working against you, this is much harder to do with a property that’s being sold as a short sale.

The Right Bid

Where distressed properties are concerned you’ll always want to offer a lower price than is being asked. It’s important to make a realistic offer, however, to avoid simply wasting your time. A good realtor can make sure that you don’t offer too much, but that the offer is also enough to be interesting to the bank. This ensures that you get the most value out of the deal.

Prime Areas

In some areas that were particularly hard-hit by the housing crisis, the bank may be willing to entertain offers that are substantially lower than the asking price. The condos on the Marcos Islands, for example, can sometimes be purchased for prices well below the asking price. Your realtor will be the best route toward making sure that you know how much to bid for any given property.

Closing Costs

A good realtor may be able to get the banks to cover your closing costs. Sometimes they’ll refuse, but it’s always worth it to ask. Remember that every day a bank owns a property is a day that they have to cover the costs of that ownership and it may be worth their while to help you with these costs simply to get the property off of their books.

Financing / Credit Score

You’ll want to get pre-approved, if possible. This ensures that there is minimal delay when you want to make your move to purchase the property. If you show up with the money for the purchase basically in hand, it makes the deal much more attractive for the bank. It also lets them know that you’re serious about the purchase.

It’s also important to take the pre-approval step simply because the credit markets are much tighter than they were even a few years ago. By having pre-approval for the funding for the house, you can be certain that you’ll be ready to close the deal and, if it all works out right, that you may not even have to pay for the closing costs themselves!

Buying Miami foreclosure home is a far different thing than buying a Miami short sale home

Both of them involve properties that are in distress. A foreclosure action is taken by the bank that owns the mortgage on the home when the owner becomes behind in their payments. There is a specific process the bank must go through to take this action and, in the end, the bank owns the property.

A short sale is a much different thing. There are specific consequences for the buyers involved in these transactions and it’s important to understand what you’re getting into if you decide to buy a distressed property in either scenario.

Purchasing Foreclosure Homes in Miami or Fort Lauderdale

When a homeowner cannot make their mortgage payments for some reason and falls far behind, the bank will try to recover their money by seizing the home. After the home is seized, the homeowner loses all of their rights to the property and the bank will generally sell it off as quickly as it can. Approximately 4% of the homes in the use are facing the specter of foreclosure.

When a homeowner falls behind in their payments—usually 3 months behind, in most states—the lender will send what’s called a Notice of Default (NOD). The NOD informs the homeowner that their property will be put up for sale if they fail to make good on their mortgage payments and constitutes a threat to take the home away from the homeowner. The bank, not having been paid, has this option and the homeowner will likely find themselves without a roof over their head if they don’t make the situation right. This happens for many reasons. Recently, high unemployment and the bursting of the Miami real estate bubble have contributed to what’s been termed the Foreclosure Crisis in the media.

Buying a home that’s in foreclosure is much faster and more convenient than buying one that’s being offered in a short sale. If you make an offer to the bank, they have 7 business days to reply, ensuring that there is speedy communication between the buyer and the bank. Where a short sale is concerned, the situation is much different.

Purchasing Miami Short Sale Property

A short sale is a way that the homeowner tried to make the situation with the bank right but is also one in which they walk away from the property.

A short sale is oftentimes brought about because the homeowner is facing a financial hardship. They may have lost their job, incurred high medical expenses or have endured some other setback that resulted in them not being able to make their house payments anymore. When this happens, they have the option of simply defaulting on their loan, which is never a good idea. As an alternative, they can arrange for a short sale of their property. They may also pursue this action if the value of the home is less than the total amount of loans and liens against the home; a situation that is oftentimes referred to as a mortgage being “underwater�.

The bank has to approve the short sale. This requires that the borrower provide them with evidence of their financial hardship. This is oftentimes done with the assistance of a realtor and the bank or other lender will generally take the petition more seriously if it’s filed by a real estate professional.

After the bank has approved the short sale of the home—which may or may not happen—the home is put off for sale in the normal fashion. It is listed on the Miami MLS system and the realtor does the work of advertising and showing the home to perspective buyers. The difference between this transaction and a normal real estate transaction is that the lender understand that the property will not sell for the value of the loans against it and, therefore, that the sale will be literally short of the original value of the home.

The seller gets to walk away from the sale without owing any money, in the ideal situation or them. This is a way that they can sell their property instead of having it foreclosed upon and it is sought out by sellers who want to mitigate the damage to their credit. There will, however, still be damage to their credit in this situation.

For the buyer, the real difference is that the short sale process is a competitive bidding process. It can take up to 6 months or a year to find out whether your offer has been accepted. Because you have committed to that deal, of course, you cannot make offers on other homes that may become available on the market. This can severely limit the ability of the buyer to stay active in the real estate market and, of course, this makes the arrangement much less attractive to very aggressive buyers.

You can read more about it here: http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=257042 or down below:

Florida home sales and condo sales rose in February

according to the latest housing data released by Florida Realtors®. Existing home sales increased 13% last month with a total of 13,701 homes sold statewide compared to 12,164 homes sold in February 2010, according to Florida Realtors. February’s statewide sales of existing condos rose 29 percent compared to the previous year’s sales figure.

Seventeen of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased existing home sales in February; 18 MSAs had higher condo sales. It’s the third month in a row that Florida Realtors has reported higher year-over-year existing home and existing condo sales statewide.

“Current market conditions and very low mortgage rates continue to offer great opportunities to anyone looking to buy a home in Florida,� said 2011 Florida Realtors® President Patricia Fitzgerald, manager/broker-associate with Illustrated Properties in Hobe Sound and Mariner Sands Country Club in Stuart. “Every day, Realtors® help people realize their dreams of homeownership – they see the positive impact that homeownership has on families and communities.�

She added, “To showcase homeownership opportunities across the state, Florida Realtors is sponsoring its second annual Florida Open House Weekend, March 26-27. Realtors will host open houses on behalf of home sellers in neighborhoods from the Panhandle to the Keys, giving buyers a chance to tour dozens of homes in a single weekend. Talk to a local Realtor about Florida Open House Weekend and look for participating open houses throughout your community.�

Florida’s median sales price for existing homes last month was $121,900; a year ago, it was $124,500 for a 2 percent decrease. Analysts with the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) note that sales of foreclosures and other distressed properties continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes. The median is the midpoint; half the homes sold for more, half for less.

The national median sales price for existing single-family homes in January 2011 was $159,400, down 2.7 percent from a year ago, according to NAR. In Massachusetts, the statewide median resales price was $284,500 in January; in California, it was $278,900; in New York, it was $227,000; and in Maryland, it was $222,535.

NAR’s latest outlook notes that continuing improvements in the economy is a positive sign for the housing sector. “The housing market is healing with sales fluctuating at times, depending on the flow of distressed properties coming on the market,� said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “The broad fundamentals for a housing recovery are developing. Job growth, high housing affordability and rising apartment rent are conducive to bringing more buyers into the market.�

In Florida’s year-to-year comparison for condos, 6,984 units sold statewide last month compared to 5,424 units in February 2010 for an increase of 29 percent. The statewide existing condo median sales price last month was $77,300; in February 2010 it was $90,400 for a 14 percent decrease. The national median existing condo price was $154,900 in January 2011, according to NAR.

The interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.95 percent in February, down slightly from the 4.99 percent average during the same month a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac. Florida Realtors’ sales figures reflect closings, which typically occur 30 to 90 days after sales contracts are written.

Several positive articles appeared in Sun Sentinel as well as Miami associations of Realtors:

Sales of Miami condominium

units jumped 134% in January of 2011 compared to January 2010, according to a report from the Miami Association of Realtors. A total of 1,262 condo unit were sold last month, compared to just 540 in January of 2010. The report is based on data from the 25,000 member Miami Association of Realtors and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service. Sales of single-family homes rose 55 percent last month compared to January 2010. “These significant increases in sales for both single-family homes and condominiums reflect the strength of the Miami real estate market,” said Jack Levine, chairman of the board of the Miami Association of Realtors.

Also, there are Fewer vacant new homes in South Florida

Paul Owers reports on February 25, 2011 that the surge in buying existing homes in January did not translate to new home sales, which fell 12.6 percent last month. People aren’t bothering to buy new homes when they can scoop up low-priced foreclosures and short sales.

But here’s a bright spot for home builders: the inventory of finished vacant new homes is declining in many markets across the country. South Florida’s inventory dropped 10 percent in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago, according to Metrostudy. The Palm Beach Gardens research firm considers South Florida to be Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties.

Of the 33 markets nationwide that Metrostudy analyzes, 26 saw year-over-year declines in inventory.

“South Florida, like most markets in the country, is seeing a nice reduction,â€� Metrostudy’s Brad Hunter said. “That’s a necessary thing. That puts less downward pressure on prices.”

Miami Condos

have always been popular with those who want to call Florida home. There are also plenty of condominiums, particularly on the ocean in Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach that are owned by people who call the area their second home. The inventory for properties at luxury developments such as Jade Ocean, located in Sunny Isle Beach, has been dropping consistently over the past couple of years. As the shocks of 2008 have faded, investors, developers and individuals are all looking to acquire properties in luxury markets and at luxury developments.

The inventory of Miami Beach homes on the market

including luxury and condominium properties, has dropped almost 40 percent in the last two years, according to recent reports. People are buying Miami real estate again, particularly at the high end. Not all of these buyers are bargain shoppers, however. Luxury properties such as those at Jade Ocean Sunny Isles are commanding high prices per square foot, proving that selling real estate has become viable as a way to turn a profit again.

Jade Beach

is situated on Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. This makes it a good representation of luxury real estate in the area. Collins Avenue is one of the most desirable places for the affluent, packed with high-end shopping, dining and other diversions. Easy access to the Intercostals waterway and to the ocean make this area even more desirable. Some properties listed at Jade Beach Miami sell for in excess of $800 per square foot. There are even some that command more than $900 per square foot. While this may have seemed like the result of huge demand during the boom days of the real estate market, today it’s simply a testament to the fact that people are willing to pay for luxury properties.

Properties such as Jade Beach Sunny Isles

appeal, of course, to a particular clientele. With the least-expensive units at the property hovering around $600,000, this is obviously not the type of development that appeals to first-time homeowners, unless they’ve done very well for themselves. This property needs to be marketed to the right segment of the population, and that means the luxury market. While FSBO—For Sale By Owner—properties might be common sights in the residential neighborhoods of the US, the luxury neighborhoods and the expectations of the market demand that a realtor be used to sell these properties. In South Florida, realtors have been able to unload a lot of the inventory that built up after the real estate market crash of 2008, and that has been good news for property owners and buyers.

Jade Beach condo

is a recently-built property, like many of the condominium properties in Sunny Isles Beach. The real estate boom brought tremendous development in this area and, today, it is home to some of the most upscale properties in the area. Though South Beach real estate is usually recognized as the most affluent of the real estate markets in the area, Sunny Isles Beach real estate has established itself as the place to be, with many celebrities and international business people calling the area home. With the number of properties for sale in southern Florida having diminished by over 40,000 total since 2008, listings are becoming scarcer and more valuable.

Jade Beach apartments

offer one-, two- and three-bedroom units available for sale as of the last quarter of 2010. These units ranged in price from $600,000 to over $11 million for the property’s 6-bedroom unit, which was also on the market. These unites have actually gone up in price, on the whole, indicating that the luxury market is not suffering, even in an economy that is generally rated as being very down. These luxury properties, however, are not as ubiquitous on the market as they so recently were. Developers have been snatching them up, as have individual property owners, and the numbers of units available at such luxury establishments as Jade Beach is steadily dropping.

With few listings on the market relative to just a couple of years ago, it may be a good time to list your own condominium. With a good realtor, the market is more favorable than it has been in years and sales are no longer difficult to make happen. In fact, the luxury market seems to have vastly improved over the last couple of years!

For the level of Jade Beach real estate

be sure you engage the services of a suitable realtor. Luxury property is its own market and it takes a realtor who has familiarity with it to make a sale. A good realtor will be able to help you take advantage of the diminishing inventory on the market and the increased enthusiasm in the upscale market. With prices increasing, inventory decreasing and the economy seeming to recover, it’s a good time to consider consulting with a realtor about your property.