Home Sales Continue to Rise

New U.S. home sales rose by the largest amount in more than eight years last month, in another sign the housing market is finally bouncing back from the worst downturn in decades.

The Commerce Department said Monday that sales rose 11 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000, from an upwardly revised May rate of 346,000.
It was the strongest sales pace since November 2008 and exceeded the forecasts of economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who expected a pace of 360,000 units. The last time sales rose so dramatically was in December 2000.

Sales have risen for three straight months. The median sales price of $206,200, however, was down 12 percent from $234,300 a year earlier and down nearly 6 percent from $219,000 in May.
The report is another encouraging sign that the beleaguered housing sector is finally coming back to life. Last Thursday, the National Association of Realtors reported that home resales posted a monthly increase of 3.6 percent in June.

There were 281,000 new homes for sale at the end of June, down more than 4 percent from May. At the current sales pace, that represents 8.8 months of supply — the lowest level since October 2007.

Fallout from the housing crisis has played a central role in the U.S. recession, now the longest since World War II. Foreclosures have spiked, homebuilders have slashed construction, and financial companies have lost billions.

Get your Suits on, The Anti Business Left is turning up the Heat!

A friend recently went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. This is VERY serious for the direction of our country. The ramifications are staggering for us & our children.

To my Friends & Associates: Last Monday was a profound evening, hearing Dr. Charles Krauthammer speak to the Center for the American Experiment. He is brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is neither a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views. He is a fiscal conservative, and has a Pulitzer Prize for writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post.

The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have shared this with many of you and several have asked me to summarize his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally.

Even 2 Dems at my table agreed with everything he said! If you feel like forwarding this to those who are open minded and have not 'drunk the Kool-Aid', feel free. A summary of his comments:

1. Mr. Obama is a very intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a 'cool customer' who doesn't show his emotions. It's very hard to know what's 'behind the mask'. Taking down the Clinton dynasty from a political neophyte was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.

2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton. He has a way of making you think he's on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather, watch what he DOES!

3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can't be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to 'level the playing field' with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada .

4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, & NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn't care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada . God forbid.

5. He's surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they're going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can't work in the long run. Obama's not a socialist; rather he's a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.

6. Obama doesn't really see himself as President of the United States , but more as a ruler over the world. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America , as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!

7. He's now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) ill not 'come due' until after he's reelected in 2012. He'd like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Mr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.

8. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. We're 'pining' for another Reagan, but there'll never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she's to be a serious candidate in the future. We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and states' rights.

9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We're spending trillions that we don't have. This could lead to hyper inflation, depression or worse. No country has ever spent itself into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn't work, nor will the stimulus package. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama's allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.

10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed. Fear and panic swept in, we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of 'change' caused people to act emotionally. Any Dem would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.

11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it's under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it's between 8-10%, it'll be a dogfight. It'll all be about the economy. I hope this gets you really thinking about what's happening in Washington and Congress.

There's a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we're right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it's far too late.

Master the Short Sale

75 % of all the current sales and pending sales in South Florida are Short Sales or re sales of foreclosed properties. For this reason, its important to master the process which can in the least, be quite daunting.

There are some very important steps that you need to take while making a decision on making an offer on a foreclosure or short sale property.

1) Only work with a licensed Realtor that KNOWS the area or property in which you are interested. Dont simply assume that an agent knows the market that he is showing and is not simply trying to close a sale and move on..... at your expense.

2) Know the area in which you are looking to buy. If it is a Condo Association, make sure that you see current financial statements on the Association. Make sure that no more than 10% of the units in the building are in arrears in payments to the Association. Typically, I am very wary of a property where more than 5% of the units are in arrears. This makes for a potential problem for the remaining home owners who must continue to make up the difference in expenses.

3) Get PRE qualified for a loan. Have a letter of credit prepared prior to submitting an offer on the property

4) Be prepared to put down at least 40% in the current market to make your offer attractive enough to the existing lender to take your deal. The more cash down, the better your position will be.

5) Make sure that you have a promise from the listing broker IN WRITING to your agent that they will reveal all other offers on the table in a timely fashion. You want to have the opportunity to adjust your offering price if another offer comes in higher. You dont want to be the one waiting for months for an answer from the bank and then at the last minute a line jumper beats you out of the deal simply because you were not given the opportunity to adjust your offer.

6) Be patient. Impatience reaps no rewards. This is not a rabbit race. It is a turtle crawl. Realize that those with the staying power are likely to get the best deal. Dont get impatient. Short Sales are notoriously slow and full of red tape. BUT they are the best prices out there. It can take from 3 to 6 months to get an answer from some banks.

Good LUCK!

From the People that gave you the DMV and the Post Office, They are at it again!

Government Sets New Rules for Appraisal of Property

The Federal Government in its infinite and ever changing wisdom has messed with the Free Market once again. This time its a blow to home sales in the making. This comes at a time when the government is supposedly trying to get as much real estate sold as possible or at least keep people in thier homes. I think that was the idea we were all sold to print 2 trillion dollars and give to AIG, Bank of America, Meryl Lynch, Countrywide, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Washington Mutual and the list goes on!

What they have done now is change the rules on property appraisal. So how is that going to play itself out in the market place? Simply, The old rule was that two people would go into contract to sell and buy a property. Mr and Mrs. Smith would sell thier house to Mr. and Mrs. Jones. They both agree on a price and Mr. and Mrs. Jones qualify to buy it at the agreed price. Typically, Lenders would hire an appraiser who then looks at comp sales in the area and writes an appraisal that would justify the purchase price. Obviously Mr. and Mrs. Jones, ( and I say this without knowing them personally) are not complete idiots and have shopped the market and know that they are getting a good deal. The appraisal should validate that decision. Right?! WRONG! Enter the NEW Federal government lending and appraisal rules required of Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac. ( Both of which underwrite about 60% of all home loans in America)

THE NEW RULES

The lender and the appraiser can have no relationship and no contact. The appraiser is literally pulled out of a hat in a lottery who then appraises the property. What if the appraiser has no experience or knowledge of the area that he is being asked to appraise? TO BAD, SO SAD, Go to Jail..Do not pass go,, DO NOT collect $ 200 or likely get a loan! This new rule is already KILLING sales and keeping property which value is being set by the selling price to not be appraised correctly by a knowledgeable person. The result is that people cant get loans to close.. THAT means that deals are going sideways that otherwise would have closed with new buyers.

There is emergency legislation being drafted to present to Congress to fix this ridiculous and business killing rule. Be watchful as it makes its way through PELOSILAND via Barney Franks House Committee on " How to run a free market when I have never worked outside of Government a day in my life" If you care about Real Estate you should call the Insane Asylum that is our current US Congress and demand that your representative SUPPORT Free Enterprise and Free Markets and stop meddling in the process. Business and and Free Markets which create efficiency and lower costs for all require fair and steady regulations that are not constantly changing at a politicians whim. It also requires that government stand aside and only intervene when injustice takes place, not to use the law to penalize one group or another based upon thier voting patterns.

Why Sunny Isles Beach?

Very simply, Sunny Isles Beach, Florida is likely one of the best real estate investments that a person could make today in luxury oceanfront real estate. Not Dubai, not European Med properties, not South America, not Thailand can match the affordability, the stability or the quality of the ocean front residences of Sunny Isles Beach. This area is known as the American Riviera.

But lets take a closer look at the investment side in today volital market. Why buy NOW?!

1) Inflationary pressures are building in the economy. Oil has doubled in price in the last 7months. The reason of which is NOT demand, but the lack of faith in the US dollar to hold its value as we rack up Trillion plus dollar deficits. The only way to finance the out of control spending in Washington is to print more money and to borrow it from overseas. Both of these schemes make the dollar worthLESS and thereby the price of properties and the loans to finance them will rise. Also, this feeds demand from overseas buyers who suddenly find themselves in a candy store of real estate sales with thier own currency buying MUCH MORE than they could just a year ago.

I have one property in escrow on the Beach in Sunny Isles that two years ago was selling for 1.2 million. It is in escrow at $690,000 with FOUR back up offers on the table. ALL foreign buyers. These prices will not last for Americans in the long term. As our currency weakens, we will be in increasing competition with foreign nationals coming in to buy up properties which to them seem like a steal. To us holding US notes, NOT! There is a window we are in at the moment that is what I call "pre-inflationary pretext" This is the time NOW to refinance to the lowest possible rate you can if you are staying in your property. This is also the time to lock into a property at low prices with relatively cheaper US dollars. THIS WILL NOT LAST friends. Dont get caught with your pants down. We are reliving 1971 all over again and we all know where this is headed. Its Jimmy Carter part two. Why politicians continue to think they can defy gravity is beyond this Real Estate Professional, but it happens perannually none the less.

THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS NOT A TRAIN

Thank God its not a CHOO CHOO

There is a light at the end of the tunnel in Miami Beach Real Estate and that light is no longer an incoming train! The bottom HAS been reached and none to soon. For the last 9 months, sales have increased over last year by double digit proportions. Last month alone, condo sales in Miami increased at a staggering rate of 37% over last year. The average price of beach front real estate INCREASED last month by over 1.2 % Thats welcome news to owners who have seen prices plummet, even on the beach by about 35% since 2006. Lower interest rates, a weak dollar, the fear of inflation and decreased prices have all combined in a perfect storm to bring sales sizzling back to life. Keep in mind that over 75% of these sales are foreclosure or short sale properties. Short Sales are where the bank is selling distressed properties by owners for less than the loan amounts in leu of foreclosure. Its all good news for Miami Real Estate.

If you have been holding back on making a good real estate investment, you should not be waiting any longer or you are going to miss this cycle. Prices WILL go up. Inflation WILL go up, Interest rates WILL go up. You cant print 2 trillion dollars in funny money in Washington D.C. and NOT have that happen. One of the few hedges against a devalued currency and inflation IS real estate. DONT MISS OUT or the light you see WILL be train of regret!