Cromer Parker Team Pinecrest Blog

It's looking very good that The Village of Pinecrest will finally have a dog park. The Village of Palmetto Bay, a much younger municipality, has had a dog park for a couple of years now and it's a big draw for families with their kids and dogs. It's only appropieate that the residents of Pinecrest have one too.

On Sept. 14^th, the Village Council will have its last meeting to discuss the issue. The park would be located at Veterans Wayside Park on US 1. I think it's a perfect location for a dog park.

Presently it's a park that is rarely visited. I don't believe I have ever seen a person enjoying this park. There is a lovely pond in the middle of it, perfect for a little dog bathing.  As Cindy Lerner, the mayor, points out, 52% of respondents polled are in favor of it. The Village allocated the funds in 2009-2010 budget, but it keeps getting delayed!

So Pinecrest residents, get moving and attend this meeting and show your support for a dog park! There's many reasons that it should pass...great community builder, nice to have dogs run leash free in a safe environment, but mostly to me because it would bring people to a park rarely visited!

Photo from "DogParkMiami.com

The cover of this month's Time Magazine reads "Rethinking Homeownership".  It goes on and on about foreclosures, walkaways, neighborhoods plagued by abandoned properties and its economic woes. I know that there is doom and gloom all over. The housing market isn't recovering anytime soon.  It so much worse than any of us could have imagined, yet I still believe in homeownership.

Although the article speaks truths about what has happened to homeownership in the past few years, I still truly believe that owning a home is so much better than renting one.  I love my house that we bought in Palmetto Bay, Florida in 1996. Before that, we lived in Pinecrest, Florida, another wonderful community. 

At first, I didn't even like the Palmetto Bay home, but it was in our price range, close to good schools and had a good floor plan. If I had been only renting the house, I wouldn't have done anything to make it more of a representation of our family. I would have kept the walls gray, the windows steel, the roof dirty and the bathrooms old. I would have felt like I was living in a large hotel room. My clothes were there, but not my presence.  That only comes from homeownership.

Also, I would have been at the whim of my landlord. What if he stopped paying his mortgage payment? What would happen to my family? What if someone offered him higher rent? What if he sold the house? What if....? You get my drift. We would be out on the streets again and always looking for another house to temporarily park ourselves. Security in your home only comes from homeownership.

About the neighbors around my Palmetto Bay home. I love them all! There isn't a bad neighbor anywhere! If I rented the house, I wouldn't have even bothered to introduce myself to our neighbors.  Many of us had kids the same age and in the summer we would have block parties. Someone would haul out a BBQ grill, someone would bring the burgers, someone the veggies, someone the chips and so on. Now that the kids are all grown, we still wave, see their children's children visiting and it's absolutely wonderful. This only come from homeownership.

So, that's my two cents about homeownership. It can't be beat!

Dadeland Walk is a wonderful community. For those looking to downsize from their large Pinecrest home, or for a first time home buyer, you won't be disappointed in the community. It features a gated, manned security gate. There are tennis courts, a community pool and club house!

This particular town home is updated and very light and bright.

Features clay flooring downstairs. There is also an indoor laundry room, kitchen open to the living area with large sliding doors overlooking a nicely landscaped screened patio. The 2nd bedroom is downstairs with a lovely updated full bath right outside the door.

Upstairs is a large loft overlooking the downstairs area. The master bedroom is huge. The bathroom has been beautifully updated and has plenty of closet space.

Dadeland Walk is only minutes from Dadeland Mall, Downtown Dadeland and the Village of Pinecrest.

Call us to see this wonderful town home.

       

      

       

Those were a few of the photos of the townhome. Isn't it beautiful? Call Robin or myself to see this great home!

Yesterday we went to the Coldwell Banker Preview's Symposium, which is a training program for Realtors who have a "Previews" designation. This designation is for Coldwell Banker agents who specialize in the luxury marketplace and we are then considered "Certified Luxury home Marketing Agents".

As a Previews agent, we are specialists trained in marketing luxury homes and are uniquely qualified to represent a luxury seller's interests. We are required to attend a Preview's Symposium at least once every two years, although Coldwell Banker has frequent programs for us to continue to educate ourselves on how best to market luxury properties. We are also required to market at least 2 luxury homes every 24 months, in order to keep this designation.

I found the day to be extremely informative. There were many of our vendors on site to help us navigate the best ways to service our clients. Some of the vendors included Xpressdocs, which is the company we order all our marketing pieces, such as brochures and- postcards. Our brochures are absolutely exquisite and I invite you to call me to see a few of them.  The Miami Herald , AmeriSpec Inspection Company, Sunbelt Title, VHT Virtual Tours just to name a few. We were given a plethora of information and tools from all.

My partner, Robin Parker and I, are Previews Designated, and would love the opportunity to help you or someone you know in their real estate needs.

Experience & Expertise in Selling Luxury Homes since 1986.

This can serve as a type of newsletter to help you confront insurance issues.

Yesterday, my Coldwell Banker office in Pinecrest, Florida had a great class called "Nuts and Bolts of Short Sales". It was given by Sunbelt Title's Attorney, Henry Ensler. Sunbelt Title has opened a Short Sale Assistance program, called Short Trac, that is extremely helpful. It was "created to facilitate the lender review and approval process on short sale listings with the aim of freeing up the sales associate's time to focus on marketing and business development activities.  

Short Trac will help the seller facilitate communications between you, the lender and Sunbelt Title through the short sale process.   Short Trac is a statewide program utilizing local branch offices throughout Florida and the Short Sale Assistance Center  located in the Tampa Bay region. This service is offered in addition to our title and closing services". They claim an 80% approval on closing short sales! Not bad!

A few things to remember about short sales:

1) Can take 2-3 months for to close.
2) Seller could have tax liability
3) Bank could make seller pay the deficiency, especially if Seller is an investor.

If you are taking a listing in Pinecrest, Florida, a Realtor should go to www.miamidade.gov and look up liens, mortgages held, judgements, etc before meeting with the seller. A Realtor should also call the appropriate HOA to see if the seller is behind in maintance fees. You should not need an estoppel letter to get this information verbally. If they are delinquent, it's either the bank or the buyer who will have ot pay these fees at closing.

Another important issue is having control of the short sale. Therfore a Realtor should put in the Broker remarks, the the Seller chooses the title company and will pay for title insurance. Then don't forget to put in that commissions are split 50/50. Then have your seller speak to Sunbelt Title about having them help them with the process. They DO NOT charge an upfront fee, as many of others do.

A couple of other points:
Suppose a seller says that "I'll just walk away from the home" rather than try for a short sale. Well you need to point out that the problems don't go away just because they walk away from a house. The property taxes, insurance, attorney fees from the bank and litigation fees, will follow them and don't stop the bleeding. Getting an approved short sale, can stop the bleeding faster.

Lynn Cromer & Robin Parker are real estate sales and marketing professionals for Coldwell Banker in beautiful Pinecrest, Florida. For more information on Pinecrest, Florida or the communities of Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay and Coconut Grove, Lynn can be reached at 305-962-4068, Robin at 305-546-0447, by email at info@WeSellMiami.com or online at www.WeSellMiami.com.

 

The U.S. Senate passed two bills last evening previously passed by the House. Both bills still need President Obama's signature to become law, but that's expected to happen quickly.

Homebuyer tax credit
The Senate passed HR 5623, which extends the mandatory closing date to qualify for the homebuyer tax credit. The contract deadline does not change - homebuyers must have a contract signed by April 30, 2010 (an exception for active duty military) - but the previous closing deadline of June 30, 2010, has been extended to Sept. 30, 2010. The National Association of Realtors estimates that the approved bill will benefit more than 14,000 deals in Florida.

National Flood Insurance Program
Congress once again reauthorized a short-term extension for the National Flood Insurance Program to Sept. 30, 2010. The bill, HR 5569, makes the program retroactive to May 31, 2010, the date the program went on hiatus.

Lynn Cromer & Robin Parker are real estate sales and marketing professionals for Coldwell Banker in beautiful Pinecrest, Florida. For more information on Pinecrest, Florida or the communities of Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay and Coconut Grove, Lynn can be reached at 305-962-4068, Robin at 305-546-0447, by email at info@WeSellMiami.com or online at www.WeSellMiami.com.

Absolutely charming Devonwood home on quiet street. Home has a Key West look, country charm, Florida lush landscaping with many updates. Corporate Relo. Use addendums attached. Many updates in the past few years. Impact glass, except master bath, pretty country kitchen with island, separate breakfast bar, granite counter tops and stainless appliances. Fourth bedroom is perfect guest room with own bath. Professionally landscaped and private yard.

For a full brochure and many more photos, go to
http://www.announcemymove.com/announcement.php?id=a65336&code=pYX8OJURe
or

http://www.postlets.com/repb/3962677

Lynn Cromer & Robin Parker are real estate sales and marketing professionals for Coldwell Banker in beautiful Pinecrest, Florida. For more information on Pinecrest, Florida or the communities of Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay and Coconut Grove, Lynn can be reached at 305-962-4068, Robin at 305-546-0447, by email at info@WeSellMiami.com or online at www.WeSellMiami.com.

As we are reaching the end of May when I write this, I thought it was a good time to give an update on the Pinecrest Market from the beginning of the year.

 East of Ludlam:

Active Properties:

There are currently 89 homes for sale. 36 at $2,000,000 or higher, 32 homes are priced from $1,000,000 to $1,999,000 and 21 are below $1,000,000.

 Pending Sales:

There are 16 homes under contract, 5 which are short sales and 1 is a foreclosure.

 Closed Sales:

There have been 21 closings since the beginning of the year.  There were no foreclosures but there were 3 short sales.

 

Absorption Rates:

The estimate of the rate at which homes will be sold each year is called the absorption rate. This absorption rate will help you understand how the inventory of homes on the market affects the sale prices in the Pinecrest Real Estate market.

We measure months of supply as (The Number of Homes Currently on the market) ÷ (The Average Number of Homes Sold each month in the past 12 Months).

There were 6.3 sales per month in the past year and there are 82 homes currently on the market. The absorption rate we see is of 13 months, meaning we have an inventory of homes that will take about 14 months to sell.

Lynn Cromer & Robin Parker are real estate sales and marketing professionals for Coldwell Banker in beautiful Pinecrest, Florida. For more information on Pinecrest, Florida or the communities of Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay and Coconut Grove, Lynn can be reached at 305-962-4068 or Lynn@LynnCromer.com , Robin at 305-546-0447 or RobinParker@bellsouth.net or online at www.WeSellMiami.com.

 (Information believed accurate but not warranted)

Pinecrest Data for Year End 2009

  It's been a pretty good year for Pinecrest. Overall home sales were up in 2009 compared to 2008 and the beginning of the year seems to see the trend continuing. Prices though have dropped a bit, but this was to be expected. I believe we are definitely seeing a stabilization of the market place in most of South Miami Dade.
 All data that follows is for the entire Village of  Pinecrest. If you would like a more specific market data for your home, please feel free to contact us. It would be our pleasure to provide you with one.

 For Sale Vs. Sold:
From Jan to Dec, inventory for sale is down 23%.
Sold properties are up 18.2% year to date with  pending properties year to date up 33%. The highest selling month of the year was June 2009 with 24 homes closed.

 Months of Inventory:
In January, we had 24 months of inventory, while in December we only had 16 months. 

Average Price per Square Foot:
The average asking price per square foot for homes is down almost 10% from January. In January the price was $225 a foot and in December it was $205 a foot. 

Excluding REO's & Short Sales:
The lowest sales price in 2009 was $236,000 at 12855 SW 77 Avenue and the highest price sold was $3,665,000 at 5940 SW 108 Street. The average sales price by year's end  was $1,105,576 at $239 a foot.

 Acre Properties:
The average sold price for the year end for homes on acre properties was $1,459,707 at $265 a square foot.

 Foreclosures and Short Sales:
At the time of this writing, there is currently only one home on the market in foreclosure and 24 short sales. In 2009, 16 homes were closed that were short sales between the prices of $295,000 to $2,325,000. There were 25 foreclosures closed between the prices of $261,000 to $865,000.

 Lynn Cromer & Robin Parker are real estate sales and marketing professionals for Coldwell Banker in beautiful Pinecrest, Florida. For more information on Pinecrest, Florida or the communities of Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay and Coconut Grove, Lynn can be reached at 305-962-4068, Robin at 305-546-0447, by email at info@WeSellMiami.com or online at www.WeSellMiami.com.

All information from Trendgraphix