Real Estate Feast

Archive for November, 2008

Our screech owls are nesting again

We’ve got a lot of wildlife here in easy-living South Miami/High Pines.  We’ve got hawks, possums, raccoons, even the occasional fox.  And screech owls.  It’s one of the reasons this is some of the most desirable South Florida real estate.  Last year I put up a screech owl nesting box and we were fortunate enough to have a pair move right in.  They begin nesting about this time of year and in March the hatchlings start coming out of the box.  This summer a swarm of wild bees took over the box, so I put up another one nearby.  The bees have left the old box and last night my wife and I noticed that owls have moved into the new one.  I don’t know if owls have moved into the old one or not.  But I’ll keep looking and let you know.  The owls are little, about five inches tall, and look really cute standing on their skinny legs with their feathers puffed up against the cool night air.  (It’s been cold for us Floridians–night temps in the fifties!).  One of the best things about these owls is their distinctive call.  You can hear it here.  Scroll down that page until you find the Eastern screech owl.  I like the “a song” recorded in Winnepeg, Canada.

If you’d like to talk about our wildlife or real estate you can reach me at 305-401-8058 or bishopric.r@ewm.com.

How I sold an impossible to sell house–The End

Here are Part One and Part Two.

By now it was April and I was on a late-season skiing vacation with my wife’s family in Park City, Utah. I’m sitting in front of the fire nursing a brandy deciding whether to jump into the hot tub or read a book while everybody else is up on the mountain throwing themselves downhill on sticks of wood, probably breaking tibias and fibias and whatnot even as we speak.

The cell phone rings and a very nice guy named Jim and I talk about the house. He says he already stopped by and introduced himself and Theresa showed him the property. And he says he’d like to buy it. Would pay cash, thank you. Wow, I should go on vacation more often.

He was offering about a hundred and fifty thousand less than Theresa wanted. So I gulped and called Theresa and she said that he made the same offer to her and she showed him the door and said don’t let it hit you on the way out. Read the rest of this entry »

How I sold an impossible to sell house–Part Two

In case you missed Part One, here it is.

Before meeting with Theresa and her daughter and son-in-law, I toured the neighborhood sincerely wishing I was driving a beat up old car and packing a pistol. The house next door had a mattress on the front yard and the windows were broken. Some guys were lounging on the porch with a boom box and beers. The two houses across the street had every opening barred and the yards fenced in. Really big, really ugly dogs didn’t like the way that I looked at their domains. I imagined them contentedly gnawing on the bones of burglars stupid enough to go through the gates.

I spent about two hours with the family at the kitchen table going over comparable sales and paperwork and talking about how we might sell this house and to whom. Theresa had a price below which she didn’t want to go, and I thought at the time that it was realistic based on what else had sold.

It was not realistic.

My listing began, “Old Florida gem…” and went on to describe the strongly built house with fairly new roof as perfect for someone who wanted to walk to work in the Civic Center or as an investment.

The sign went up in the yard and I got a lot of calls from neighbors and friends and family of neighbors. “Wow, you want that much for that house in this neighborhood?” was the basic response in various languages and degrees of shock. Read the rest of this entry »

How I sold an impossible to sell house–a true story.

My friend, Dr. R., an eye surgeon, sends me referrals from time to time. Being an eye surgeon, most of his patients are older and many are little old ladies whose husbands have died and as they’re lying there in the chair they say “oh Doctor, I’ve just got to sell my house!” Bingo. The problem is the houses. This is a story about one of those houses.

Theresa, who just turned 85, owned a house that was purchased new by her parents in 1938. Built well, it was in a nice little neighborhood called South Allapattah Manor outside of downtown Miami.  In 1957 Theresa and her husband bought the house from her parents and they raised their family there. She has lived there ever since, maintaining her house—by herself after her husband died twenty years ago—as the nice little neighborhood fell into disrepair around her. The houses became ramshackle, the zoning changed, the demographics declined and property values went south. The Civic Center with its jail, courthouse and states attorney office sprang up. And bail bonds offices moved in to service their clients.

Then in the seventies, someone bulldozed the houses on the southwest corner of the block and built a strip mall and someone else bulldozed the houses on the northwest corner of the block and built a crematorium.

Dr. R. had sent me to sell a house next to a crematorium! Read the rest of this entry »

SELECT SOUTH FLORIDA CITIES HOUSE SALES STATISTICS

Here are some current house sales statistics for selected municipalities that I am interested in.  (I either have listings there or have sold there recently.  I try to keep current on the basics so that when someone asks me a question,  I have an answer ready.)  The statistics below on based on the last ninety days as of this writing and are grouped by city.  (Not good for a formal price opinion, but good for a general idea of things.)  For an accurate methodology on pricing your home, see my article here. These are the main variables people want to know: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s official South Florida Hammock Season

We down here religiously observe the official beginning of South Florida Hammock Season, which occurs on the third Sunday in November or the day of the second cold front of the year, whichever comes first.  This year we were very fortunate to have the second cold front of the year happen on the third Sunday in November, so we hammockites were especially happy.

South Florida Hammock Season is the calendar opposite of Washington, D.C. Porch Season, which is observed by my brother-in-law Joel Achenbach, who writes for The Washington Post.  You can read Joel’s blog here.

This is also the time of year when I begin tormenting my older daughter Read the rest of this entry »

Two easy ways to value your house: right and wrong.

There are two easy ways to put a value on your house in South Florida.  There’s the wrong way:  use a site that purports to value your house with just a click.  And there’s the right way:  get a licensed Realtor to provide you with a “broker price opinion.” 

The automated sites generally do not do an accurate comparison within a short enough period of time. 

To be accurate, a price analysis has to compare four factors:  size, age, geographic proximity and date sold.

When I do a BPO, I compare homes within +/- 10% of size, +/- 10 years in age, within one mile and within 6 months of sale date.   For example, a house with 2400 square feet of living area, built in 1965, would be comparable only to houses between 2,160 and 2,640 square feet, built between 1955 and 1975, within one mile of the subject and sold in the last six months only.  The automated sites usually include sales that are outside those parameters and this creates unrealistic expectations.

My neighbor down the street is listing his house with me (jinx, I hope!).  For the last couple of months he’d come out of the house when I was walking my dog past and wave some more printouts at me.  Then I’d sit down at the computer, look up those sales Read the rest of this entry »

And I’m not selling for a penny less!!!!!

So I was talking to a guy the other day about listing his house and we got pretty quickly to the part where we talk about what he thought he should get for it. He’s an accomplished businessman ready to retire and because he can take his “portability” tax structure with him, wants to downsize and move upstate. Perfect. I show him what houses like his—in an older but very nice neighborhood—have been selling for lately. The conversation is getting pretty quiet, because it’s becoming obvious that he’s thinking much higher than I am. He’s stuck on $1.8 million and I’m coming out at $1.3, $1.35 million if you stretch it. To me, the facts of what is selling are obvious. To him, his house is worth way more than that. So I say “You’re not a greedy guy, are you Frank?” Somewhat taken aback he says, Read the rest of this entry »

Hidden leases–how to avoid trouble when buying income property

I’ve been working with an investor who buys small apartment buildings downtown near the civic center.  We identified one that he wanted, took a look at it and noted that it had a coin-operated laundry—one washer and one dryer on the premises.  My buyer says to be sure that the coin-operated laundry equipment comes with the building and that there is no lease.  So I put that in the contract, talk to the listing agent and am assured that the equipment comes with the building and that there is no lease.  We negotiate and arrive at a price.  The building passes inspection and a closing date is set.

Next thing a few weeks later, we’re all sitting around the closing table Read the rest of this entry »

Rare High Pines gem now on market–just $650,000

Easy-living South Miami/High Pines is a kid- and dog-friendly, get out and walk the streets kind of neighborhood. This new listing at 5360 SW 76th Street is a well maintained three-bedroom, two-bath beauty on an over-sized 12,500 square foot lot.  The home is a split plan, with two bedrooms and a bath on one side and the other bedroom and bath separated by a breezeway.  So it would be perfect for a guest room, mother-in-law quarters, an office or even a rental.  The kitchen features brand-new stainless steel appliances, a new tile floor, contemporary white cabinetry and a unique seamless double window behind the sink for a nice view outside.  The dining area overlooks the porch through French doors. There’s a giant family/living room area with beautiful white tile and even a back porch under wide awning.  Open the French doors and let the outside in when the weather turns nice! There’s even an air conditioned storage shed which could be used as a play room or an office.

If you’d like to see this fine home in High Pines or any other listing in South Florida, you can reach me at 305-401-8058 or bishopric.r@ewm.com.  I look forward to hearing from you.