A “Git-R-Done” Home

Larry the Cable Guy’s Masculine Home

World-famous comedian, Larry the Cable Guy’s rustic 6,000 square foot Man Cave has just been listed for $1,550,000. This “Git-R-Done” home is private, secluded and listed with Donna Evans, sales associate at Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate’s Winter Park office. This 4 bedroom 4 bath home is a masculine reprieve from the outside world with features like:

• A stocked fishing pond
• A detached gym
• A building that resembles an old service station
• A pool and outside entertainment area with a sunning beach, waterfall, grotto,spa with a pop-up television, fire pit and outdoor movie theatre
• A 3-car garage with a second-floor bonus area for guests
• An indoor game and media room
• A serene wooded lot with live oak, cedar and palm trees surrounded by state conservation land

Check out the article on the Man Cave from Orlando Sentinel.

What features do you think every man cave should have?

DALLAS & FORT WORTH AMONG FASTEST GROWING CITIES

Five Texas cities were among the nation's fastest growing between 2000 and 2009, according to revised U.S. Census Bureau population figures released September 10.

Fort Worth ranked fifth in population growth nationwide, adding 184,239 residents during the nine-year period. Dallas was 11th with 110,640 newcomers.

Other fast-growing Texas cities included Houston, ranked second in growth with 284,199 new residents; San Antonio ranked fourth with 213,752 and Austin came in ninth with 118,137.

New York City topped the list nationwide, adding 383,195 residents, the largest growth of any U.S. city. Nationwide, only 13 cities gained at least 100,000 new residents between 2000 and 2009.

The Census Bureau revised its 2009 estimates, although the 2010 census results are scheduled for release next year.

How does this large influx of new residents impact the economy and housing market, statewide and on a local basis?

10 Market Facts for Uncertain Times

Although the economy is soft and consumer confidence remains low, new data from the National Association of REALTORS® shows positive signs for the future. To help REALTORS® interpret current economic data and address clients’ concerns, here are 10 key facts to understand about today’s market according to Realtor.org.

1. The economy is growing, though slowly

2. The private sector is finally creating some jobs

3. Consumer confidence remains low, though clearly off bottom

4. The 30-year mortgage rate is at generational lows

5. The national median-home price is stabilizing

6. Other home-price measurements also are showing price stabilization

7. Home price-to-income ratios have returned to fundamentally justifiable levels

8. Economists expect price increases in upcoming years

9. Delinquencies are high but recent loan originations are performing well

10. The long-term path to self reliance may be helped from long-term housing-wealth gains

What are your thoughts on the market?

What to look for when choosing a neighborhood

There are factors that need to be considered before you buy:

1. The time of day – you should visit the area at different times for a more complete picture of the neighborhood.
2. The cost of living, both in money and time - taxes, mortgage, work commute expenses, etc.
3. Ask those who live there already – they can provide a lot of
4. Use the internet to help you find the answers you need.
5. What is the “quality of life” in the neighborhood?

For more details on choosing a neighborhood, please read the Inman News article by Mary Umberger.

Why Buy Now in Miami-Dade County?

Contributed by Charles Richardson, Regional Senior Vice President Coldwell Banker Southeast Florida Region

There is always the lingering question when one is considering making a real estate purchase, “Is this a good time to buy?” In the past several years we have witnessed declining values and markets in upheaval with bank owned properties and short sales stealing the headlines. It has led to much confusion and apprehension in the markets causing some potential buyers to sit on the sideline and wait for the right moment. Is this that moment in Southeast Florida?

There are many factors which would play into this evaluation. One of the key factors is that of selection. The market has been steadily shrinking in inventory for some time. In August of 2008, the total listings on the market for residential properties in Miami-Dade County totaled 41,101 properties in the local MLS system. In August of 2010, that number has shrunk to 24,271. The selection of properties on the market today has some of the best prices and values in the prime areas of Miami-Dade County that we have seen in almost a decade. The average sales price for residential property in the same time has declined from $391,000 to $231,000. There are sellers who are creating exceptional values in the market in order to orchestrate sales activity.

The other key that makes this the absolute right time to buy is the historic rates we now find in the market for residential loans. There have been 30 year fixed rates mortgages in the 4.5% range and lower in the past month. We have seen 15 year fixed rate mortgages well below the 5% level. It is almost like stealing money to see these rates reach this level. Most analysts will tell you that the pressure on rates to go up will be steadily increasing. No one is actively suggesting they will trend much lower.

Accordingly, when we look back upon this time in the future, the winners of this market will speak of the opportunity they discovered in Miami-Dade County in 2010. They will talk about the selection they had and the fact they took the courage to pull the trigger. Waiting to see if the prices will slip a little more makes no sense today. Any potential gains you might find on the pricing side would most likely be given back with the monthly cost in future mortgage payments over the life of the loan.

Now in Miami-Dade County, we have excellent selection at incredible values with loan rates which are the best we have had in the last 50 years. It is easy to see that now is a great time to buy in this market. Don’t miss this opportunity.

Home Energy Saving Workshops

By Guest Contributor Jenny May, Sales Associate, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, San Remo office

In these trying economic times, everyone is trying to figure out ways to save money and energy. Miami-Dade County is holding workshops on how to do both. In these workshops you can look forward to:

• Learning how to reduce your energy bill by 30%
• Finding out how to save $750 a year
• Receiving a free home energy savings toolkit worth $100
• Learning about energy rebates and incentives
• Getting free compact fluorescent light bulbs

For more details and dates please go to (Home Energy Saving Workshop flyer)

Most Expensive U.S. Housing Markets

Coldwell Banker's parent company, NRT LLC, just released its Home Listing Report, a snapshot survey of U.S. four-bedroom, two-bathroom home listings, which found a $1.7 million difference between America's most expensive and most affordable housing markets. Newport Beach, CA, led the list of most expensive real estate markets in America, with an average home listing price of approximately $1.83 million for property listings meeting the subject home criteria. By contrast, America's most affordable housing market was Detroit, MI, with an average home listing price of approximately $68,000.

Known for its sandy beaches and historic Balboa Pavilion (established in 1906), Newport Beach, the most expensive market, has been the backdrop to numerous television shows including "The O.C." and "Arrested Development." Detroit, the most affordable market, is the only major U.S. city that looks South to Canada. Residents of the Motor City take great pride in Red Wings hockey and appreciate the city's hard-working industrial and automotive history.

CEO Jim Gillespie, noted... "Our study shows that homeownership in the United States is generally affordable, with nearly 30 percent of the studied markets averaging $200,000 or less for a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home -- a size many buyers aspire to own. Today those who have the financial resources and a desire to move up to a larger home have a unique opportunity to take advantage of historically low mortgage interest rates coupled with comparatively lower prices and greater selection."

Click to see the complete report

QR Codes for Real Estate Shopping

Snap to View

Oh, snap…real estate shopping has become instantly interactive with just a click of a button from your smart phone. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, the leading provider of real estate services in Dallas/Fort Worth, is expanding its smart phone technology services by becoming one of the first real estate brokerages in Texas to deploy quick response or “QR” codes in its marketing and advertising efforts.

QR codes have been around for years in Japan and Europe as a way to link consumers to websites, videos, images and other advertising channels, but the technology is really just starting to catch on in the U.S.

QR codes, also known as “tags,” are part of an emerging technology, where homebuyers can point their smart phone cameras at newspaper ads, magazines, home flyers, and even for-sale signs on front lawns that contain the QR codes, to link to websites with more property information.

QR code-reader apps can be downloaded free or for a nominal cost from the Web or the Apps Store for iPhone users. BeeTagg QR code-reader is a free app downloadable directly from your mobile device and compatible with most mobile smart phones.

How are you using QR code technology throughout your day?

$25K Donation Helps Troops Call Home

Coldwell Banker CARES Foundation, the charitable arm of Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, is helping troops deployed overseas stay in touch with their loved ones back home. The Foundation recently donated $25,000 to AT&T/USO that will provide Florida’s troops with 1,600 Coldwell Banker-branded pre-paid international phone cards — loaded with 300 minutes each.

Agents and employees throughout Florida held fundraising events like bake sales, golf tournaments, and office luncheons to raise these funds.

“Our generous sales associates, employees, families, vendors and customers have made it possible for our service men and women to call home more often and say ‘goodnight’ to a child, ‘I love you’ to a spouse or ‘I miss you’ to a parent,” says Clark W. Toole, President, Coldwell Banker Residential Estate, Florida.

Photo (l-r) – Robin Muzeka, branch manager, Coldwell Banker’s Lake Mary/Heathrow office and statewide chair of the CARES foundation, and Selena Rogers, USO representative.

Let us know of fundraising intiatives you want to share in support of our troops.

Largest Home Sale in Tampa Scores $9.2 Million

Hughes-Shelton Realtors at the company’s Westshore office recently closed a home sale in South Tampa for $9.2 million, representing the buyer in the transaction. This is the highest priced sale since 2008 in Hillsborough County.

Two neighboring homes were purchased by the high profile buyer for his family, representing the biggest sale in Tampa in two years. Located on the Palma Ceia Golf Course, the main home at 914 South Golf View, sold for $6 million with an asking price of $6.7 million; the smaller home next door — not listed on the market, 910 South Golf View was purchased for $3.2 million. The combined properties will be used for family and guests.

“We are excited to hit this mark with the highest home sale,” said Jeff Shelton of the Hughes-Shelton Realtors. “A home’s value is determined by what the buyer is willing to pay for the home and in this case, the combined properties were exactly what our buyer wanted.”

910 South Golf View

914 South Golf View

Market timing, a luxury community, and the seven year itch…

Contributed by Carlos Lobato, Sales Associate, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Miami Lakes office

Those rare times when the planets seem to be astrologically aligned to favor our major financial transactions, such as the buying of a home, are few and far between. Yet occasionally, I’m able to direct my clients to just such a “Haley’s comet” if you will: specifically Silvercrest Lakes Estates in Miami Lakes.

Simply put, Silvercrest is one of the finest single-family luxury gated communities in South Florida. However, this is not the primary reason that you want to consider buying a home here in the near future. A convergence of seemingly non-related events has created a wonderful opportunity for would be buyers in this community. For starters, this project was built in 2001-2002. Hence many of the still original owners bought their homes before prices started appreciating at such an alarming rate. Subsequently, many would-be Sellers can price their homes realistically while still making a profit; a win-win scenario.

Additionally, the foreclosure rate in the community is very low, which bodes well for the present and future property values. As a matter of fact, there’s only one recorded foreclosure filing in 2010 out of 167 homes.

What about the “seven year itch?” Well, statistically speaking, the average American family stays in a home approximately seven years before moving on. So for some who bought homes here in Silvercrest in 2002, the time has come to make a move. And the net result of all of this is that a prospective Buyer here now has an excellent selection of homes to choose from, generally well priced, in a pristine secure community…………………and let’s not forget the ridiculously low interest rates; that’s just a Bonus…LOL!

Hear the Eco: Miami-Dade Green Schools

Contributed by Melanie Dawn Molina Wood, Sales Associate, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate Pinecrest office

With the new school year just starting, I had the pleasure to talk with Victor Alonso, Administrative Director of Design and Sustainability with the Office of the Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. He was speaking at a recent US Green Building Council event about the many ways Miami-Dade Public Schools are “going green” to the benefit of students and taxpayers.

In one example, the 2009/2010 Energy Conservation Initiative challenged participating public schools to stay at or below specific kilowatt hours based on historical usage. In return, 75% of any savings achieved beyond the targets was returned directly to that school. Mast Academy received a reimbursement of almost $850.00 in their very first month by reducing their energy consumption 5.8% below target.

Victor also spoke about the recently opened Terra Environmental Research Institute, which was designed from the ground up as an eco-friendly sustainable building. The school has been submitted for Gold for Schools LEED certification by the United States Green Building Council, a first in Miami Dade County. This school of choice offers students three specialized programs: Environmental Research & Field Studies, Biomedical Research, and Robotics & Engineering Technology.

Future projects will include schools powered by solar and the use of green roofs for energy conservation while older schools are being renovated to LEED standards. And in addition to curriculum to engage the students in energy conservation, there is a pilot program in the works that will train teachers in this burgeoning field and help them attain their LEED Green Associates credential.

With governmental budget cuts a fact of life today, the long term cost savings from “greening” our schools is a smart approach.

Melanie Dawn Molina Wood is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC and a member of the US Green Building Council – South Florida Chapter. She is a designated Eco-Broker and holds her level one Green Leadership (GCREP-GL) certificate among many other certifications and awards.

Sarasota Real Estate Climate 9/13/2010

By Guest Contributor Valerie Wadsworth, Sales Associate, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, St. Armands Office

Temperature - 91 Degrees F Interest Rates – 30 Year fixed 4.5% - 15 Year fixed 3.85% Sarasota Real Estate 3722 Total active listings / 1148 Total Pending Listings 172 Foreclosure’s Active / 149 Foreclosure’s Pending 706 Short sale’s Active / 677 Short sale’s pending *Total Listings include Foreclosure and Short sales

Almost 100,000 Texans Claim Homebuyer Tax Credit

Texans received over $680 million in federal funds under the Housing, Recovery and Assistance Acts. Texas ranked second nationwide in the number of first-time buyers who qualified for one of the three IRS tax credits, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

Top-ranked California had almost 117,000 claims and over $814 million returned to residents. Florida ranked third behind Texas, with nearly 65,000 claims and over $455million received in federal money. Nationwide, Americans collected about $23.5 billion and submitted 3.32 million claims, which is about $1.5 billion higher than original estimates.

How has the local economy been impacted by nearly 100,000 Texas residents purchasing homes for the first time?

Coldwell Banker Agents on Wealth TV

Two Coldwell Banker Sales Associates,Barbara Ackerman and Judy Kepecz-Hays, were featured on the Wealth TV program Behind the Gates. The episode that aired August 7, showcased Kepecz-Hays listing of a $7.7 million penthouse at Beau Ciel in Sarasota, and Ackerman’s $13 million waterfront listing on Longboat Key.

Behind the Gates allows audiences to see “behind the gates” of some of America’s most exclusive and luxurious homes. Check your local listings to see if Wealth TV is found on your cable network.

ARM rate increases – know the risks

Although the initial interest rate on adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) runs about 1 percent lower than the 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs), there is a greater risk that accompanies the lower rate. Borrowers who take advantage of the lower ARM rate expose themselves to the risk of future rate increases. Exactly how large that risk can be is one of the greatest considerations for anyone contemplating an ARM.

For more information about the risks involved and how to minimize them, read the Inman News article by Jack Guttentag.

SOMETHING YOU MAY NOT KNOW NOW, BUT WILL IN THE FUTURE

By Guest Contributor Amit Bhuta, Sales Associate, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, Kendall Town & Country Office

The first thing that comes to mind for most people when they see, QR, are the seventeenth and eighteenth letters of the alphabet. In a couple of years for sure, they will mean something completely different for the majority of people. QR are the initials for quick response, as in quick response codes. So what does that mean to you? A great deal. QR codes are tiny UPC looking pictures that many people haven't noticed yet. They are used for driver's licenses, coupons, bills, websites, your local Best Buy store, tattoos, or basically any information that you want someone to see.

So how do you get all this information out of a tiny UPC looking photo? Very easily. With more and more people using smartphones - iPhones, Blackberrys, Droids, etc, people can download these QR scanning apps for free. Since I own an iPhone, I did a lot of research and spoke to many people to find the best one. The two best one I came across are called i-nigma (or i-nigma qr datamatrix barcode reader for you guys that don't like to shorten things) and QR app. The i-nigma one is more sensitive at scanning but doesn't display websites as well as the QR app. So if you have an iPhone, please go to the app store now and go to search and enter i-nigma. After you download that one, enter QR app and download that one as well. I normally use the QR app because it is so good at displaying websites. But if there is an issue with scanning, I will use the i-nigma one.

If someone is driving by a home I have for sale and they happen to stop in front of the FOR SALE sign, they can pick up a brochure and scan the QR code. When they do this, they will be taken to a website with many more photos of the home, schools in the neighborhood, demographics, the ability to schedule an appointment to view the home, my contact information, any other comments the person would like to leave me, plus many other things. By having the QR code, I will be able to do my little part in trying to help the environment by saving on paper, as well as help consumers get instant access to information they are probably interested in.

If you were able to download the QR app I talked about above or you already have a QR scanning app on your phone, please scan the QR code below.

High-End Condos Experiencing High Activity on Miami Beach

For the first half of this year, Miami Beach condominium market has seen some impressive numbers in increased sales.

There were 3 sales of condos listed at $2,000,000 or more in January of this year, and in June that number was 16 – a 433% increase. There was a 57% increase in pended units at that price point for the same 6-month period.

At the beginning of this year, there were 287 condominiums at $2 million + on the Miami Beach market, and as of June 30 there were 267. The average price per square foot went from $799 in January to $1,029 in June.

“There are so many exceptional condominiums in the upper end of the price spectrum now that buyers are finding an impressive array of options from which they can choose,” notes Nancy Klock Corey, Managing Broker for the Miami Beach Office and District Manager of the Southeast Florida Region of Coldwell Banker. “We are seeing high levels of interest from the international markets, and many people are paying cash for the opportunity to enjoy the Miami Beach life style in their ocean front condo”.

This trend in luxury condo sales is happening in other parts of the country as well, with areas like Manhattan experiencing a 5% increase in the average sales price of apartments with at least three bedrooms for the second quarter of this year.

Although Florida is often referred to as a seasonal market, buyers from other parts of the world still flock to Miami Beach throughout the year. The weather may be a little warm now, but that is exactly part of what draws people here – sun, surf and sparking sandy beaches. Add to that the allure of a palatial condominium in a building like the Blue or Green Diamond, The Fontainebleau, ICON, The Bath Club or Apogee, and you’ll discover a true paradise along the Atlantic and Biscayne Bay.

Information obtained from Trendgraphix, based on data provided by the Southeast Florida Regional MLS. Numbers reflect activity in zip codes 33139, 33140 and 33141 for the first six months of 2010.

Foreclosures Drop in Q2

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, Florida’s delinquency rate for home mortgages fell in the second quarter to 10.97 percent, a decrease of 35 basis points from the first quarter of the year. However, the delinquency rate excludes loans in the process of foreclosure.

For more information read the full South Florida Business Journal article.

NEW TAR INITIATIVE HELPS MORE HOMEBUYERS

A new initiative will help potential homebuyers take advantage of housing assistance programs and make buying homes more affordable for Texans, according to the Texas Association of Realtors (TAR).

Texas ranks 44th out of 50 states in overall homeownership, according to TAR, partly because of a need for more affordable housing. This gap is widest among Hispanics, who account for 36% of the state's population but only 5% of homeowners.

Because consumers are unaware of the many programs available that can help make homeownership more affordable, TAR has launched TxHomePrograms.org, an online searchable database of housing assistance programs statewide.

How will your home buying strategy be impacted by the homeownership assistance programs available?