Miami Real Estate

To receive my blog posts directly to your inbox, click here to subscribe.

You may be eligible for a tax break when you purchase a home. The First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit is benefitting many people by making it more affordable to buy. Here’s what you need to know…

Are You Eligible?

If you purchase a primary residence between now and April 30, 2010, you are eligible. If you (and your spouse if applicable) haven’t owned a primary residence in a 3-year period before the current purchase, you qualify as a first time home buyer. Last November, it was decided that buyers who have lived in their primary home for 5 of the last 8 years also qualify for the credit.

How It Works

The credit directly reduces the total amount of taxes you owe. When filing your taxes for the year of your home purchase, you will subtract the amount of the Federal income tax liability. In doing so, you increase the size of your refund or reduce the amount you owe.

Funds At Closing

The Department of Housing and Urban Development created guidelines for FHA lenders that allow them to make the credit available to buyers to cover closing cosrs or a down payment above 3.5% required for an FHA insured loan. Meaning the credit can be available at closing no matter where you’re purchasing, as long as your lender participates in the program. Check with your lender to make sure they are on board.

How Big Is The Credit?

The tax credit is equal to 10% of the purchase price of your home up to $8,000 for first time buyers and up to $6,500 for most other buyers. A full credit is available for single individuals whose adjusted gross income is less than $125,000, and $225,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Other Provisions

The purchase price of the home may not exceed $800,000. If you sell your home within 3 years of the purchase, the entire amount of the credit is recaptured (the government takes it back). You cannot clain both the DC and the national First time Homebuyer Tax Credit. Purchases by  non-resident aliens are not eligible. The house must be under contract by April 30, 2010 and must close by June 30, 2010.

Take advantage of this phenomenal opportunity to purchase a home. Contact me with any questions or to get started on finding the right home for you!

To receive my blog posts directly to your inbox, click here to subscribe.

If you invested $100,000.00  this past decade,  according to the Case Shiller Report,  your return on that investment would have either put you in the hole …  or not… depending on whether you’d invested in stocks, bonds, or in real estate:

January 1, 2000 -  December 31, 2009

Source:                            Return on investment:                     %

DOW                                  Less than $95,000                        -5.6

S&P 500                          Less than $80,000                       -20.9%

Nasdaq                            Less than $60,000                       -43.9%

Real Estate                    Up almost $50,000                     +56.2%

To receive my blog posts directly to your inbox, click here to subscribe.

Case Shiller predicts that you will have lower (and fewer) offers on your house.  Why?  Because buyers won’t be able to afford the payments.  Read the rest of this entry »

To receive my blog posts directly to your inbox, click here to subscribe.

10 Years from now, someone will be saying:   “That house around the corner, I could have bought it for 1/2 that just  a decade ago,  and I could have gotten a 5% mortgage!”   Each generation says pretty much the same thing. 

My husband and I are kicking ourselves (still) for not having bought an apartment in Manhattan  30 years ago, in John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s building .  The one we  ‘almost’  bought was for sale for $40,000.00.  I can only imagine what it would be worth in today’s market.

And… we wish we’d bought a weekend get-away on Miami Beach.  Read the rest of this entry »

To receive my blog posts directly to your inbox, click here to subscribe.

Real Estate prices are dropping in Florida. What does that mean for the Real Estate Market – for 2010? Whether you and I are buying or selling (or just curious) …  information will be key to our decision-making.

New York Real Estate Guru, Steve Harney, and founder of “Keeping Current Matters”    flew to Miami last week to shed some light  – and met with Realtors from Esslinger Wooten Maxwell: “Shadow Inventory hasn’t (yet) hit the real estate market in South Florida.  Just How big a role will foreclosures play?” Read the rest of this entry »

To receive my blog posts directly to your inbox, click here to subscribe.

ARE INTEREST RATES GOING UP?    Not yet… No!   They are about to though!  Interest rates are low (on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage) and have stayed artificially low (for such a long time). The Federal Government has  been keeping them that way - stimulating the economy by buying mortgage backed securities.  

HOW LONG will the FED keep doing this?     WHEN  will they  STOP?     Read the rest of this entry »

To receive my blog posts directly to your inbox, click here to subscribe.

Miami attracts foreign buyers in droves.  The destination is appealing .  It’s  easy to get here.   From almost anywhere in the world you can be in Miami in just a few hours.  The weather is  hard to beat.  Where else can you be outdoors, poolside and oceanfront,  literally year-round?    Miami  offers an alluring lifestyle …  has a diverse population with  a mix of  cultures  and people .  Not hard to find common ground here:  food, languages, interests.  It’s an easy place to fit in…   make friends…  and feel at home.  

35% of  property bought in Miami over the past year was purchased by foreign buyers.  In 2009,   sales  of condos equalled the number of single family homes sold.  Read the rest of this entry »

To receive my blog posts directly to your inbox, click here to subscribe.

BusinessWeek bellows:  “If you don’t buy a house now, you’re stupid or broke”.    Okay, Marc Roth softens the blow somewhat as his article continues … but the basic gist of the message is simple and straightforward.  Here’s what matters…  Want to know why?   Read the rest of this entry »

To receive my blog posts directly to your inbox, click here to subscribe.

In real estate, location is everything … The same applies to timing.  In the midst of a major South Florida real estate downturn, and a disasterous economic climate that Miami has been swimming through over the past several years,  I’m not at all convinced that breaking ground and launching one of the biggest projects Coral Gables has seen in awhile was well-timed: Old Spanish Village.  

Ponce Circle Developers (a partnership between Jose R. Mas and Juan C. Mas of the Mas Group, and Raphael Sanchez of the Sanchez Group) obviously disagreed though Read the rest of this entry »

To receive my blog posts directly to your inbox, click here to subscribe.