Check out the video to learn more…
KW Red Day 2009
RED (Renew, Energize and Donate) Day is a new Keller Williams Realty service initiative dedicated to improving our local communities. We are asking all Keller Williams Realty associates in the US and Canada to donate their time on May 14, 2009 to renewing and energizing aspects of their local communities. Because of her constant commitment to the culture of our company, this day has been dedicated in honor of our Vice Chairman, Mo Anderson.
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This Month In Real Estate – April 2009
Each month, This Month In Real Estate features our real estate experts that guide you through national real estate news. Check in at the end of each month to stay informed and feel free to call me with any questions.
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Lennar Being Sued Over Chinese Drywall
Chinese drywall continues to be a headache for home builder Lennar Corp.
Lennar said Monday that it had been sued in U.S. District Court in Florida in connection with imported drywall that smells bad and possibly releases dangerous gases.
The suit was filed by an individual, Lorena Garcia.
Lennar itself is suing two Chinese drywall manufacturers, claiming the drywall, which it bought and installed in 2005 and 2006, is defective and is causing electrical problems and foul odors in homes it built throughout Florida.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Ingrid Pedrick Lehrfeld (04/20/2009)
Author Says Lowering Ceilings Adds Visual Impact
Sarah Susanka, author of the popular “Not So Big” home-design books, devotes lots of space in her eighth book “Not So Big Remodeling: Tailoring Your Home for the Way You Really Live,” to ceilings.
She urges owners of homes with vaulted ceilings to consider lowering them so the house has what she calls, “visual layering.”
“Ceiling height is something that people don’t understand,” Susanka says. “If you make all ceiling heights 9 or 10 feet tall, it becomes monotonous.”
She recommends differentiating space by adding soffits that don’t reduce the space, but do define the area and differentiate it from neighboring areas.
“Just as punctuation helps us to extract the full meaning of a sentence, spatial layering serves the same function for our eyes, separating the space we’re looking at into bite-sized pieces without obscuring the experience of the whole,” she writes in the book.
In the case of small rooms like powder rooms, she recommends creating a “beltline,” a horizontal division in the wall space created with molding or wainscoting that makes the small, high-ceilinged space feel less like a cell.
Source: Chicago Tribune, Mary Umberger (04/19/2009)
50 Million Price Drop for Helmsley Estate
The heirs of the late Leona Helmsley have cut the price of her Greenwich, Conn., home by 40 percent to $75 million from $125 million (property taxes alone are $1.8M). Helmsley and her late husband, Harry, paid $11 million for the property in the early 1980s. The renovation of the 20,000-square-foot, Jacobean-style mansion led to her conviction for tax evasion in 1989 after she billed her company for millions of dollars in costs related to redoing the home. She served time in federal prison for the crime. The $50 million reduction is believed to be the largest price reduction ever on a U.S. house.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Christina S.N. Lewis (04/20/2009)
BUYER IN DOWNTOWN FORT LAUDERDALE GETS A 70% DISCOUNT ON NEW CONSTRUCTION!
Built in 2005, Nola Lofts in Downtown Fort Lauderdale were selling in the $500’s and $600’s. This particular unit had been purchased in 2005 from the developer for $600,000 then flipped in 2006 for $670,300. The unit just closed on March 31, 2009 at $223,125 in an auction. The property was owned by Suntrust Bank, who foreclosed back in June 2008 after the owner had been unable to pay the mortgage.
Nola Lofts is a beautiful new Urban-style building offering an incredible downtown location and many amenities and luxuries including airy 10’8″ ceilings in the “Classic Lofts” and 20′ ceilings in the Penthouses, oversized windows with hurricane impact glass, exposed ductwork, stained concrete flooring, european cabinetry in kitchens and baths, and pre-wiring for telecommunication systems.
The community offers walking/biking paths, a heated swimming pool and resident club room.
This goes to show how great of a time it is to buy right now! When else are you going to get over a 50% discount on REAL PROPERTY! Contact me for more information on bank-owned property and short sales in South Florida.
Vacant Homes
One in nine homes across the U.S. is empty, according to the Census Bureau. Experts predict that the current overstock will change the real estate landscape for years, though some areas may see real estate values stabilize by the end of this year as buyers seeking bargains begin to reduce the backlog of homes.
The white notice taped to the front window of a luxury home in the Vasaro subdivision is a telltale sign.
“Bank-owned,” says real estate agent John Groves, without skipping a beat.
There are other clues. Dirt where a lush lawn should be. Vacant lots on either side. And the sale price: $729,900 for a never-lived-in, 5,500-square-foot, five-bedroom, 3.5-bath custom home that about a year ago was listed for more than $1.2 million.
In a nearby subdivision of this community of 246,000, one of the largest suburbs in metropolitan Phoenix, a foreclosure sign in the front yard of a more modest house signals yet another financially troubled home needing a buyer.
Multiply that scenario hundreds of thousands of times. From Maine to Hawaii, millions of new McMansions, post-World War II bungalows, modern downtown lofts, exurban town homes and inner-city row houses sit empty. This unprecedented glut of vacant homes – one in nine homes across the USA, according to the Census Bureau – will change the real estate landscape for years.
Already, rock-bottom prices in the hardest-hit markets are attracting first-time home buyers who could not afford a home during boom times. Some areas may see real estate values stabilize by the end of this year, as buyers seeking bargains begin to reduce the backlog of homes for sale. At the same time, the availability of rental housing will widen, potentially pushing down the cost of renting.
“We overproduced by 1 million new units,” says Edward Glaeser, economist at Harvard University. “Now we have to work our way through the stock.”
What happens to the 14 million empty houses, condominiums and apartments and the 9.4 million that are for sale? How long will it take to absorb this massive and unprecedented oversupply of housing?
“Two more years,” Glaeser says. His is one of the more optimistic estimates. Projections by housing analysts range from as early as this year in some areas to as late as 2014 in others.
“From a pure need for shelter, we don’t need more homes built for the next several years,” says John Burns, head of John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, Calif., who says the recovery might take five years in some areas. “We clearly overbuilt.”
©2009 Florida Assocation of REALTORS®
Chinese Drywall – Another Problem For Homeowners To Deal With…
Drywall imported from China continues to make headlines nationwide, and a growing number of lawsuits have been filed in Florida. In response to the problem, FAR’s Business Forms Forum Task Force is considering a new form that addresses Chinese drywall problems. Task force members are slated to discuss the issue again on April 6.
Attorneys with Higer Lichter Givner, The Blumstein Law Firm and Podhurst Orseck have filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of Florida homeowners Janet Morris-Chin and Dajan Green. They’ve targeted Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd., and the foreign company that distributed that company’s drywall within the United States, Rothchilt International Ltd.
Drywall manufactured in China was used in U.S. homes between 2004 and 2007. According to the lawsuit, toxic chemicals that emanate from the drywall have damaged houses, fixtures and personal property. Members of the class action are also seeking medical monitoring for any adverse effects of prolonged exposure to the toxic chemicals.
“We have filed a national class action because more than 60,000 homes in 13 states are believed to have defective Chinese drywall,” says Victor M. Diaz with Podhurst Orseck. “We anticipate that when the Consumer Products Safety Commission completes its investigation, this product will be recalled across the country. This could be potentially one of the largest product liability cases related to home construction in U.S. history.”
Gov. Charlie Crist has called in the feds to help with problems related to the use of Chinese drywall that could affect up to 30,000 Florida homes. On Friday, Crist sent a request for help in developing testing strategies to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control.
Some Louisiana homeowners who rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina are discovering that they share a problem with some Florida homeowners – Chinese drywall. The sulfur-emitting wallboard burns out electrical wires, eats away at metal and possibly sickens families. The U.S. Product Consumer Safety Commission and a number of states, including Florida, are investigating.
KELLER WILLIAMS LAUNCHES “Buyer Protection Program”
Keller Williams Realty, South Florida Region, announced it is offering the SAFE HOME Buyer Protection Program, in conjunction with the Rainy Day Foundation, a Washington D.C. based non-profit.
Nikki Ubaldini, Regional CoOwner of Keller Williams South Florida Region commented, “We are pleased to partner with the Rainy Day Foundation because their financial counseling and education services are unrivaled, and are naturally aligned with Keller Williams’ mission of delivering ongoing education and service to homeowners. We are hearing firsthand, through our customers and clients, how homeowners are finding themselves overburdened by their mortgage situation and our looking for real solutions that can help them now.”