Here’s the sales activity from our local MLS from last Wednesday, November 11, 2009 through tonight, Tuesday, November 17, 2009.

Here’s the sales activity from our local MLS from last Wednesday, November 4, 2009 through tonight, Tuesday, November 10, 2009 where the only banks involved in the transactions were doing loans for buyers. (There’s a link to the complete data report at the end of this post) 

Pinecrest currently has 167 homes for sale, 19 under contract, and 84 that closed in the last 6 months that were neither bank owned or short sales. In one week 4 entered the market, 2 went under contract and 2 closed that weren’t bank owned or short sales.

Palmetto Bay has 107 for sale, 19 under contract and 80 sales in the last 6 months that weren’t bank owned or a short sale. 8 homes entered the market, 4 went under contract and 2 closed last week that weren’t bank owned or short sales.

Cutler Bay has 43 homes for sale, 13 under contract and 49 that closed in the last 6 months that aren’t bank owned or short sales. 1 entered the market last week and 1 sold that were regular resales by the owners.

Total activity is posted here.

Have a great week!

The Village of Pinecrest has always been a prestigious and highly sought after location. For some, purchasing the right house in this ideal location is what they have in mind. For a select few, finding the ideal location to build their custom dream home is the dream they’re hoping to turn into reality.

A bargain, location and opportunity…

This post is for those with a custom built home in their future.

Village of Pinecrest
As of last night Pinecrest has a total of 189 single family homes for sale. Only one is a foreclosure…

Notice the pattern? In each area, short sales out number the foreclosures when the properties are under contract. The numbers reverse when it comes to actual closings. A much larger percentage of bank owned sales close than those that are short sales.

Bank owned; sale prices are approved prior to it going on the market. Short sales prices have to be approved by the lender after it’s under contract. Unfortunately for the seller and the buyer, a large percentage will not be approved and sold.

If you’re a buyer thinking of making an offer on a short sale, unless you don’t mind waiting two or three months only to find out the lender didn’t approved your offer, take a hard look at the numbers before making your offer. Forget the asking price. You don’t know how the asking price was determined. There are homes for sale at prices there’s no way a lender will ever approve of. All that does is create a flurry of wasted activity.

You can greatly increase the odds of getting a short sale purchase approved by being realistic with your initial offer after a review of what it’s really worth. Then at least you’ve got a logical basis to negotiate a good deal with the lender. Before approving an offer, the lender’s going to take a long, hard look at the property’s current market value. They’ll pay one or two brokers and an appraiser to offer their opinions on what that current value is to add into their data analysis mix. Then they’ll tally up the expenses they’d have to foreclose, maintain and sell it themselves. If your offer isn’t close to what that projected number is, they’re not going to approve your offer. Whether you’re buying or selling, market value is the majic number to base your strategy on. Need help figuring out what market value is?

Here’s some current facts regarding foreclosures in the Village of Pinecrest, the Village of Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay.

From data pulled from our local MLS Service where Realtors ® were involved in the sale, so far this year The Village of Pinecrest closed 132 single family home sales. Out of that total, 20 were foreclosure sales. Today, there are 192 single family homes for sale and only one is bank owned or a foreclosure sale. Only one.

From the same source, the Village of Palmetto Bay closed 147 single family home sales this year. 32 of those were foreclosure sales. Today there are 141 available for purchase but only 3 are foreclosure sales. Just 3.

Cutler Bay – 154 total sales, 69 were foreclosures. Today – 99 for sale, with 7 foreclosures. Having only 7 foreclosures available is a substantial change. A welcome change.

As it stands, these three areas have had foreclosure activity as most areas in Miami-Dade County have, but most have been purchased with an occasional one entering the market and disappearing almost as fast.

In Miami-Dade County, there were 46.2% fewer single family homes for sale at the end of September 2009 than there were at the end of September 2008, and there were 33.7% more sales recorded in September 2009 than there were in September 2008. The condo and townhouse market was similar with inventory levels down 29.4% and sales up 39%.

The Village of Pinecrest: 18.1% fewer homes on the market and sales up 171.4% from the same month a year ago. Available condos and TH’s went down 49.5% while sales remained steady with no increase or decrease.

The Village of Palmetto Bay: Inventory levels went down 47.9% while sales went up 47.1%. Condo and TH’s , quantities for sale decreased 41.7, sales went up 100%.

Cutler Bay: 61% fewer homes for sale in Sept. 09 than there was in Sept. 08. Sales shot up 52.2% Condos and townhouses numbers went down 43.2% while sales increased 400% from the same month last year.

Still not convinced the market is shifting? Take a look at the 5 year graph for Miami-Dade County real estate activity.

So what does this mean?

If you’re a buyer, your options to choose from are a great deal fewer today than they were last year. Fewer homes to choose from means competition with other buyers.  Multiple offers are already occurring. As competition grows, so will the odds of you paying a higher price. Higher prices turn into higher appraised values for similar homes. Property values stop decreasing,  level off, and start to rise again.

Bottom line… if you plan to buy, it really is time to get serious.

According to the  A+ Plan for Education, schools are assigned a grade, primarily based on student achievement data from the FCAT. The grades are calculated based on the annual learning gains of each student toward achievement of state standards, the progress of the lowest 25% of students and meeting proficiency standards.

School grades use a point system. Schools are awarded 1 point for each percent of students who score high on the FCAT and/or make annual learning gains. For an “A,” a school has to be awarded 525  or more points. For a “B” 495 or more, for a “C” 435 or more points, a “D” 395 or more, and anything less than 395 scores an “F.”

Students who attend a public school that has received an “F” two years in a 4-year period are also eligible for Opportunity Scholarships to attend another public school or private school of their choice. Transportation may be an issue, but there is a choice.

Here’s a list of the public schools and how they scored for the last 4 years that have districts that include all or part of Pinecrest, Palmetto Bay, or Cutler Bay. For a full list of schools, grades and much more information about each school, visit the Miami-Dade County Public Schools website. The  Assessment, Research, and Data Analysis page has a link to the 2008-09 School Performance Grades.

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No one disputes the fact that property values have declined. There’s not a whole lot of argument as to why it happened either. The 30+ % increases we were enjoying before April 2005 just couldn’t be sustained due to… (no point telling that one again) However, while numbers and statistics can be boring to the point your eyes strain to stay open, they tell the story straight and true. Ignoring these facts will cost you one way or another.

A house is worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it. Since REO’s and short sales have had a downward effect on prices, that has changed what buyers would be willing to pay in most neighborhoods. So again this year, we’ve had three main catagories of sales to keep an eye on; Resales, REO’s and short sales.

• Resales; Your typical homeowner moving for one reason or another. One or two decision makers involved. Responses to your offer can be quick. Tough times this year competing price wise with REO’s and short sales.

• REO’s; bank owned property, priced to sell quicker than their competition. Multiple parties involved in setting the asking price, and an asset manager selecting the best offer to work with. Normally the offer is subject to a board or panel for final approval. Initial responses to your offer from the asset manager can take up to several days, and a few more days for the final approval. Overall the wait is reasonable and the bargain makes the wait worthwhile.

• Short sales; homes for sale where the owner owes the lender more than the property will sell for. Approval of the sale amount from the lender is required in order to proceed and close. The seller isn’t allowed to receive funds at closing, so the price its sells for doesn’t matter much to the seller, unless the lender requires a promissory note for the balance. Because of this, sellers sometimes set low asking prices which affect neighborhood values, even though the lender won’t approve a sale that low. These can literally take months for the lender to research in order to decide to move forward with an offer or not.

Three areas I like to keep up with…

Village of Palmetto Bay:

Since the beginning of this year, 144 single family homes have sold via Realtors and the local MLS system Realtors use. Out of the 144 total sales, 31 were bank owned,  and 13 were short sales. Today there are 140 homes for sale; 1 REO and 34 short sales. The resale now has less competition and less downward pressure on the price. Asking prices range from $155,000 to $2,850,000. Sold prices range from $55,000 to $1,400,000.

Village of Pinecrest:

Since January 1 this year, 126 homes sold. 19 were REO’s, 11 were short sales. Today there are 196 for sale, 1 REO and 27 short sales. Asking prices range from $369,000 to $5,999,000. Sold prices range from $250,000 to 3,650,000.

Cutler Bay:

149 sold this year so far, 67 REO’s and 24 short sales. Today out of 107 offered for sale, only 6 are REO’s and 55 are short sales. Asking prices range from $79,000 to $ 775,000 while closed sales prices range from $32,500 to $450,000.

Bottom line is REO are now fewer and short sales, until something changes, are only short when it comes to closings.

17761 SW 112 Pl

Looking for a house to accomm0date more than a family of four is easy enough these days.

Finding a place with 5 bedrooms  if you’re budget and credit scores are high, still easy enough. Houses for sale in SW Miami Dade are still plentiful, though they’re disappearing much quicker now and competition for each is growing.

Finding a home with 5 bedrooms  under $200,000 can take some work.

Today, from Flagler St. down to SW 344 St., (Palm Dr. in Homestead) and east of Krome Ave there are 8 homes for sale with a minimum of 5 bedrooms for $200,000 or less, that aren’t a short sale.

Out of the 8 available…

• 5 advertise a bedroom count different than what’s on the tax roll
• 2 have maintenance fees (HOA)
• 2 can’t be financed – cash only
• 1 has only one bathroom

17761 SW 112 Pl: $159,500.00