Edgewater property demand puts pressure on Developers!

The land demand in Miami’s Edgewater area is driving up property prices to the point where some notable local developers are questioning the viability of planned condo projects in the bayside neighborhood. Carlos Rosso, president of the Related Group’s condominium division, cited the recent land buying binge by Russian mining oligarch Oleg Baybakov as a concerning example while participating in a panel discussion during Forbes LATAM’s South Florida Real Estate Forum on Wednesday. “Compare what we paid for land in Edgewater to what the Russian developer has paid recently and prices have more than doubled,” Rosso told the audience of about 100 real estate professionals and invited guests at the EPIC hotel in downtown Miami. “He will need to sell [units] at $1,000 a square foot to make money.” Since February, Baybakov has spent nearly $39 million for five properties in Edgewater totaling about two acres. His first deal was for a 37,462 square foot building at $21 million, or $560 a square foot. According to a recent condo survey by the Miami Downtown Development Authority, Edgewater is downtown Miami’s fastest growing market, with 1,900 new units in development. Some developers are turning to nearby neighborhoods which haven’t gotten as much attention as Edgewater, like the Omni area. During the forum, NR Investments principal Nir Shoshani discussed his company’s decision to develop a 37-story condo tower called Canvas at 1630 Northeast First Avenue, near Braman Motors.

Want to get people moving? Set a due date. In real estate, deadlines bring results—and high returns.

Homeowners who set a deadline for offers tend to get a faster deal for more money than those without a deadline; still, due dates can be ignored.

So far this year, 58% of home listings with published offer deadlines sold above list price, according to an analysis of 37 major metropolitan markets in the U.S. by real-estate brokerage Redfin. Listings with offer deadlines also averaged 31 days on the market, compared with 61 days for listings without published deadlines. Published offer deadlines—where real-estate agents cite a specific due date for offers in the listing and marketing materials—are rare. Less than 4% of U.S. listings include a deadline, according to the Redfin data, and most of those are written in private agent-to-agent comments instead of public listing descriptions. In hot markets like San Jose and Oakland in California, more than 20% of listings in 2014 had deadlines, according to Redfin. In the 37 markets analyzed, offer deadlines are 89% more common in listings priced between $500,000 and $1 million when compared with homes priced under $500,000. "As a buyer's agent, I have been one of 40 offers. It's scary, and it's exciting," says Abby Wentworth, a Redfin agent in San Francisco. Offer deadlines are typically short—just a few days—and appeal to sellers because they can evaluate all offers at once. Setting a deadline expresses confidence in a property and price, and in some cases, can spark a bidding war. Redfin examined for-sale listings in its coverage area of 37 metro markets from Jan. 1, 2009, through April 26, 2014, excluding foreclosures, short sales and other bank-owned homes. The brokerage searched keywords like "bid," "offer" and "best" used in conjunction with words like "due" and "deadline" followed by a date or day of the week to determine listings published with offer deadlines. People tend to delay making decisions, but deadlines help them focus and act, says Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University and a Wall Street Journal contributor. The more public a deadline is, the more pressure people feel to make decisions, he adds. The problem with real-estate deadlines is that they aren't binding. Agents can accept offers at any point during the listing and many do so. "It's frustrating for everyone," says Rebecca Schumacher, an agent with Sotheby's International Realty in San Francisco. "It's an embarrassment to the agent representing those buyers, and it's not good for agent-to-agent relationships." Hannah Driscoll, a Redfin agent who represents buyers in Boston, says one of her buyers recently decided to submit an early offer for a two-bedroom condo listed for $950,000. "We hit it with everything we had—$15,000 over asking, waived mortgage and inspection contingencies, and we showed a preapproval [letter] that showed they were strong buyers," she says. After a bit of back and forth, and an additional $10,000 from the buyer, the seller accepted before the offer deadline. "It's a seller's market, and sellers can choose whichever buyer they want," Ms. Driscoll says.

BRICKELL HEIGHTS IS MIAMI'S NEW CENTER FOR THE LUXURY LIFESTYLE!

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MAY-2014 Newsletter by Lazaro Lopez, PA

National market update April Existing-Home Sales Show Modest Improvement Behind Gaining Inventory WASHINGTON (May 22, 2014) – Existing-home sales increased for the first time this year in April, while inventory meaningfully increased and home price growth moderated, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Monthly sales gains in the West and South offset a modest decline in the Midwest while the Northeast was unchanged. Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 1.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.65 million in April from 4.59 million in March, but are 6.8 percent below the 4.99 million-unit level in April 2013. Forecast for Housing and the Economy Suggests Gradual Improvement through 2015 Housing activity was sub-par in the first quarter of this year, dampened in part by severe weather patterns, but an uptrend is expected with healthy underlying demand over the balance of the year and through 2015, according to presentations at a residential real estate forum here during the Realtor® Party Convention & Trade Expo." Read more National housing indicators Existing home sales (April) 4.65* Existing home median price (April) $201,700 Housing Starts (April) 1,072,000* New home sales (April) 384000* *Seasonally adjusted annual rate. Source: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Sales of new single-family houses in April 2014 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000. This is 6.4 percent (+/- 15.9%)* above the revised March 2014 estimate of 407,000. How much is your home worth? Get a real-time report on the value of your home. Start now If you are interested in determining the value of your home, click the “Home Evaluator” link for a free evaluation report: http://Lazaro.housingtrendsenewsletter.com/homeworth.cfm Sound decisions can only be made with accurate and reliable information, and I am happy to be a trusted resource for you. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with this monthly eNewsletter, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have and to the opportunity to be your REALTOR® in the future. Sincerely yours, Lazaro Lopez, PA Fortune International Realty 1390 Brickell Avenue Suite 104 Miami FL 33133 305-400-6393 | 786-525-9430 Lazaro@fir.com

Miami Developer Melo Group proposes two Miami rental projects

Miami developer Melo Group wants to build a pair of rental apartment buildings near the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Melo is slated to present the latest design for Melody Tower to the city’s Urban Development Review Board on Wednesday, according to a written announcement from a company spokesperson. The developer plans to construct a 36-story mixed-use rental building at the 245 Northwest 14th Street site, which is adjacent to the Arsht Center. “With the Arts & Entertainment District building momentum as a world-class cultural epicenter in the Southeast, one thing is still lacking – a luxury residential community that serves young professionals who work in the area,” Melo principal Carlos Melo said. “At Melody, professionals seeking an urban lifestyle will enjoy a family-friendly atmosphere in a walkable neighborhood that will attract much-needed restaurants and retail to the district.” Melo is also proposing a 36-story, 650-unit apartment tower four blocks west of the Arsht Center. The company has not given a name to the project. It plans to ask city commissioners for a zoning change to allow the 36 stories on the site.

On global scale, Miami luxury home prices puny...

Miami is officially a first-class place to live now that it was named for the second consecutive year in Christie’s International Real Estate report detailing the top 10 luxury properties in the world for 2013. And the company this city keeps is certainly impressive, featured along with Cote d’Azur, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney and Toronto. Yet realtors say Miami stands out on this list because its luxury properties have attributes second to none. Homebuyers get more for their money in Miami with prices per square foot so much lower than the other luxury markets, said Ron Shuffield, president and CEO of EWM Realty International. For example, Miami’s average square foot price for luxury homes was $559 in 2013 compared with $4,683 in London (the highest on the list) and $829 in San Francisco (the lowest of the ten markets profiled). Several things distinguish Miami from the other markets: our cultural offerings, the beautiful weather and the values we offer. Luxury properties – defined by most Miami realtors at $2 million and higher – are aligned in value similar to fine art and high-end collectibles as opposed to the general housing market, he said. Miami is a multi-cultural community on a gorgeous coastline with beautiful weather year-round. It is home to the best nightlife, beaches, sport teams and restaurants in the world, and we have no state income taxes. These factors appeal to individuals to live here and companies to headquarter here. Luxury residential homes in Miami solld at a faster pace in 2013 than in 2011 and 2012. The people who are buying such luxurious housing are coming from Latin America as well as other parts of the US. There are a growing number of people who want to be here because of our lifestyle, economic uncertainty in their countries and the strength of our currency and educational system.

Lincoln Road retail building fetches $34.5M

A Lincoln Road retail building traded for $34.5 million, the same price Romero Britto’s nearby gallery commanded last week, The Real Deal has learned. New York-based JSRE Acquisitions acquired the 716-720 Lincoln Road property on Wednesday, exactly one week after Britto’s 818 Lincoln Road gallery was purchased by a Montreal-based company. JSRE picked up the 6,943-square-foot building through a company called 718 Lincoln Owner. No financing was recorded. Thai Investment Group of Miami is the seller. Ronald Felton signed the deed as president of the company. It owned the 7,500-square-foot South Beach property for 21 years before selling it to JSRE. The building was originally constructed in 1936. It located between the H&M and Forever 21 stores. Cache and American Apparel occupy the two retail spaces in the building.