Tag Archives: Rentals

Weekly Hotsheet – August 7th

For Rent, For Sale, Foreclosures & Short Sales, Multi-Million Dollar Listings, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Will rentals thrive in a seller’s market?

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There’s been plenty of talk about how the housing bust propelled the rental market to new heights as people skipped buying a home and decided renting made much more sense.

But now as the housing market enters an unsteady recovery phase, the relationship between the two sides of the market is shifting. Now it seems that markets favoring sellers are often places where apartment developers are looking to build. So in this case rentals would benefit not from a weak housing market, but a strong one.

The best places to sell your home are almost exclusively in the West and Southwest of the country, according to a new report from real-estate listings service Zillow. The best places to buy, generally, are on the East Coast or in Midwestern Rust Belt cities. Zillow’s calculation is based on a number of factors, including a comparison of sales prices and list prices and the number of days it takes to sell a home.

In many of the cities where sellers have the most negotiating power – San Jose, Calif., San Francisco, Austin and Phoenix, for example – apartment construction is heating up as well. That’s according to apartment pipeline data from Axiometrics Inc., a real-estate data firm that recently launched a research tool that tracks the number of planned apartment units.

The trend makes sense: Developers deciding to pull the trigger on construction of new apartment building look at a lot of different factors, including the renting versus owning balance of a market. If a city is a true sellers’ market, that’s a sign that more of the population moving there or starting a new household will turn to rentals until the market comes back into balance.

Similarly, in markets where buyers have the upper hand, like Cincinatti, Cleveland, Providence, Jacksonville and Hartford, Conn., developers have less interest in building rentals, a sign that apartment builders are shying away from the competition from for-sale single-family homes.

There are, of course, some exceptions.

Perennially an outlier, New York City is considered by Zillow to be the nation’s No. 4 “buyers’ market,” but Axiometrics shows that 111 projects, with nearly 40,000 new apartments, are planned for the next few years. That’s probably because New York, with its strong job market and a population that’s almost continually turning over, has seemingly endless demand, despite rising apartment rents.

On the other side, some markets that have seen steep price declines, like Las Vegas, Sacramento, Riverside, Calif., and Salt Lake City, are considered “sellers’ markets” by Zillow because of bidding wars that have erupted as investors, often paying all-cash, look to convert foreclosed homes into rentals.

But none of those markets have much in their apartment pipelines. Apartment builders know they can’t really compete with single-family rentals or a market where retail buyers can still purchase a home cheaply from a bank or an investor looking to get rid of it quickly.

Source: WSJ Online

New Waterfront Listing in Boca Harbour

For Rent, Intracoastal, Waterfront, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ONLY $2150/month!

844 NE 72nd Street 

Check out this BOATER’S PARADISE!  3bd/2bth + Carport with over 1700 sq ft of living space.  The property includes 85 feet on a deepwater canal with NO FIXED BRIDGES!  Easy access to the Boca Raton Inlet within minutes.  Click the link below for more details and pictures.
844 NE 72nd St

Congress clears way to rent foreclosures

Financial/Mortgage Industry, Foreclosures & Short Sales, National, Real Estate News, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

080618-foreclosureOverview-hmed-343p_hmediumHere are two questions getting a lot of attention on Capitol Hill and from the Obama administration: When homeowners lose their houses to foreclosure, should they be able to stay in the property, leasing it at fair market rent from the lender?

Should they also get an option to purchase the house from the bank at the end of the lease term, assuming they have the income to afford it?

Before leaving for their August break, Democrats and Republicans in the House took a rare, unanimous stand on both questions by passing the Neighborhood Preservation Act by voice vote.  The bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar (Los Angeles County), and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. The bill would remove legal impediments blocking federally regulated banks from entering into long-term leases – up to five years – with the former owners of foreclosed houses.  It would also allow banks to negotiate option-to-purchase agreements permitting former owners to buy back their houses.

The idea, said Miller, is, “at no cost to the taxpayer,” to “reduce the number of houses coming into the housing inventory and preserve the physical condition of foreclosed properties,” which ultimately should help stabilize values in neighborhoods with large numbers of distressed sales and underwater real estate. 

If the bill is approved by the Senate, participation by banks would be purely voluntary.  But the legislation might encourage banks to calculate whether they would do better financially taking an immediate loss at foreclosure, or by collecting rents and then selling the property at a higher price in four or five years.

Though it was not opposed by banking lobbies, the bill quickly attracted critics.  The Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank based in Washington, said a key flaw is to leave decisions about leasebacks solely to banks themselves.  “If Congress does want to give homeowners the option to stay in their homes as renters,” said the group, “it will be necessary to pass legislation that explicitly gives them this right.”

Some private-industry proponents of short sales – where the bank negotiates a price that’s typically less than the owners owe on their note – say turning banks into landlords won’t work well, either for the banks or foreclosed owners who want to stay in their houses. 

Al Hackman, a San Diego realty broker with extensive experience in commercial transactions, argues that leasebacks with options to buy are the way to go – but not if banks run the show. Hackman and a partner, Troy Huerta, have recently begun putting together what they call “seamless short sales” as alternatives for banks and property owners.  Their short sales and leasebacks are “seamless” because the financially distressed homeowners remain in their properties, before and after the settlement.

Here’s how they work:

First, the bank agrees to a short sale to a private investor, just as they often do now. In the seamless version, however, the investor is contractually bound to lease back the house on a “triple net” basis – the tenants pay taxes, insurance and utilities – for two to three years. The former owners only qualify if they have sufficient income to afford a fair market rent and can handle the other expenses, including maintaining the property. The deal comes with a preset buyout price after the leaseback period. That price is higher than the short-sale price paid by the investor, but lower than the original price of the house paid by the foreclosed owners.

Hackman and Huerta already are doing seamless short-sale transactions.

Here is one that Hackman says is moving toward escrow:
A family purchased a house for $725,000 with 20 percent down in 2005, then made substantial improvements with the help of an equity line of $72,500. The house now is valued at about $500,000, but is saddled with $625,000 in mortgage debts. Enter the seamless short sale: Hackman has brought in a private investor who is willing to buy the house at current value, all cash. As part of the deal, the investor has agreed to lease back the house at $25,000 a year, triple net. In three years, assuming they’ve been good tenants, the original owners have the option to buy back the property for $550,000.

Hackman says the internal rate of return to investors can be raised or lowered based on rents and the buyback price, but typically are in the 8 percent to 10 percent range.  “It’s a win-win,” he says. “The owners stay in their houses.  Private investors get a moderate return on what should be a safe investment.”  Plus the banks are out of the equation.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Tenants in Foreclosed Properties Will Benefit from New Federal Law

Foreclosures & Short Sales, National, Real Estate News, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Foreclosure NoticeOn May 20 President Obama signed into law the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. Understandably, primary attention has been paid to the Act’s provisions that are designed to help distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure. But the Act has other beneficiaries as well. One group that will receive particular assistance from this new law is those people who – often in good faith – are renting a property that goes into foreclosure.

Many times renters of residential properties are caught in the middle of a foreclosure situation. Frequently, they will not be aware of the fact that the owner is delinquent. Their first notice of trouble may be the posting of a sale notice on the property. That may only give them a few weeks warning that something is awry. Moreover, they may not know how this might affect them. In some jurisdictions they may be subject to eviction with little advance warning.

Sections 701 – 704 of the larger bill are cited as the “Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009.” This applies to all federally related loans, which is to say just about every residential loan except seller financing. Section 702 provides that any person or entity who acquires a property through the foreclosure process may give a bona fide tenant not less than a ninety-day notice to vacate the premises. This applies to tenants who are on a periodic tenancy such as the typical month-to-month rental.

If a tenant has a lease that was entered into prior to the notice of foreclosure, then the tenant has the right to occupy the property for the duration of the lease. There is one exception to this. The exception occurs if the foreclosed property is sold to someone who will occupy it as their primary residence. In that case, even if there is a lease, the tenant may be given a ninety-day notice to vacate “effective on the date of sale of the unit to [the owner occupant] purchaser.”

So, if the notice must be at least ninety days, and the termination of the lease is effective the date of sale, that would mean that the notice of termination would be given during the escrow period, not less than ninety days prior to closing. Suppose the escrow “falls out” (e.g. the buyer doesn’t qualify for a loan) during the escrow period. What happens then? The Act is silent on such a possibility, but, presumably, a new ninety-day notice period would be required if there is a subsequent sale to another owner-occupant buyer.

That’s my interpretation. Some bank might have a different one.

The provisions of the Act do not supersede any federal or state subsidized tenancies – or any local provisions – that might provide for even longer notice periods.

For purposes of Section 702, a tenancy is bona fide only if (1) the tenant is not the borrower who has been foreclosed on, (2) the tenancy was created as a result of an “arm’s length” transaction, and (3) the tenancy requires a rental payment that is “not substantially less than fair market rent for the property.”

These provisions are effective immediately and will terminate December 31, 2012.

Source: Bob Hunt

Manhattan Home Prices Plunge

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manhattanHuge downturn for co-op and condo owners in pricey housing market. Number of sales ticks up as buyers with money take an opportunity.

The housing bust has finally clobbered super-pricey Manhattan home prices.

Reports released Thursday by four major New York brokers show that prices cratered during the three months that ended June 30.

Prices fell between 13% and 19% compared with the same quarter last year. The brokers found median prices that ranged from $795,000 to $849,000.

The decline shows a marked turn from the first quarter of 2009, when the year-over-year change in median home prices ranged from a loss of 2% to a gain of 6%.

Another change in the recent period: More people are buying.

The number of sales picked up by more than 28% in the second quarter, according to Prudential Douglas Elliman.

Driving the increase were sales of studio apartments and one-bedrooms, both of which gained market share, according to Jonathan Miller, president of appraisal company, Miller Samuel, which compiles data for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

“It’s value-based shopping,” said Pam Liebman, chief executive of the brokerage Corcoran Group. “People are coming back into the market, but nobody is going to overpay.”

Of course, in Manhattan “value” means studio prices that go for a median of $400,000 and one-bedrooms that fetch $650,000.

South Florida Market Looking Better

Buyers, First Time Home Buyer, For Sale, Foreclosures & Short Sales, Keller Williams Realty, New/Pre-Construction, Real Estate News, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

South FloridaMIAMI – June 16, 2009 – South Florida home prices have hit bottom, but threats to the housing market still loom as foreclosures rise, mortgage rates creep up and inventories remain high.

That’s according to a prominent economist and several top real estate brokers who spoke here Thursday during the International Real Estate Congress hosted by the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches.

“We’re certainly near the bottom if not at the bottom,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.

The median price of an existing single-family home in Palm Beach County has plunged more than 40 percent since 2005. Yun cited a study released last week by research firm IHS Global Insight that said home prices in Palm Beach County are undervalued by 32 percent.

Mike Pappas, head of Keyes Co. Realtors, agreed that the withering collapse of the past three years finally has ended.

“We believe the worst is behind us,” Pappas said.

That’s not to say that the housing market is poised for a big rebound. Realtors see obstacles, including:

• Foreclosures. The number of foreclosure filings in Palm Beach County rose 33 percent from April to May, research firm RealtyTrac said Thursday. “Unfortunately, foreclosures will continue to increase,” Yun said.

• Rising mortgage rates. The average rate for a 30-year mortgage spiked from 5.29 percent last week to 5.59 percent this week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. Yun acknowledged that rates above 6 percent would slow the recovery, but he predicted rates will fall to 5.2 percent later this year. “I believe the bond market is overreacting,” Yun said, causing rates to rise.

• High inventories. The number of homes for sale has fallen over the past year, but there remains a glut of homes on the market. Inventory “is still much higher than it should be,” said Ron Shuffield, head of EWM Realtors.

• A sluggish high-end market. Although properties priced at under $200,000 are moving quickly, the high-end market is “stagnant,” in part because of high rates for jumbo loans, said Rei Mesa of Prudential Florida Realty.

Copyright © 2009 The Palm Beach Post, Fla., Jeff Ostrowski. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

This Month In Real Estate – May 2009

Buyers, Financial/Mortgage Industry, First Time Home Buyer, For Sale, Foreclosures & Short Sales, Keller Williams Realty, Real Estate News, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Each month, This Month in Real Estate provides expert opinion and analysis on real estate trends across the nation. The aim of the consumer-oriented segments is to provide real information on real estate.

 

 

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New waterfront luxury mid-rise in Downtown West Palm Beach

Downtown West Palm Beach, For Rent, For Sale, Intracoastal, New/Pre-Construction, Waterfront, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

aerial-tower1

Located on Clear Lake, in the heart of sunny West Palm Beach, The Edge is a visionary development that provides the exhilaration of an urban lifestyle, while also offering a sanctuary to escape the stresses of everyday life. The Edge is only minutes from the sun-kissed beaches that have made South Florida famous, and just a hop, skip and a jump from the best nightlife, theaters, restaurants, shopping and cultural attractions of the Palm Beaches.

Priced from the very low $100’s
Lease Purchase Options Available
Leasing offered, starting at $1,275 per month

New “Green” Luxury Apartment Building In Downtown Ft. Lauderdale

Downtown Ft. Lauderdale, For Rent, New/Pre-Construction, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 

pool

 As the finest rental community in Fort Lauderdale, Satori will awaken your senses in life-inspiring ways.  Fill your soul with the serenity of a gentle waterfall or the tranquility of a relaxing Zen garden. Enjoy the ease and convenience of neighborhood shops nestled in a brick-paved village just below your residence.

Live in harmony with a plethora of earth-friendly features that save you money on energy costs while reducing your carbon footprint.  Free yourself from everyday chores with private concierge and valet services.

Pamper yourself in luxury with wonderful amenities — from beautifully appointed interiors by designer Steven G., to the spectacular infinity pool outside your 2-story health club and spa. Everything at Satori has been designed to enrich your life.

amenitiespool21

Recharge and refresh in The Club

Awaken your senses in a private two-story health club and spa that is the heart and beat of Satori. Take a swim in the infinity-edge pool, a favorite gathering place for your neighbors and their guests. Enjoy a long afternoon of languor and repose lounging or sipping cocktails by a tantalizing waterfall as it cascades into a whirlpool spa. Stretch and unwind in a yoga class or power through a cardio and strength workout in the gym. The Club also features a Cyber Cafe and conference room, media center, and juice bar.

sauna

Renew Your Mind At the Spa

Inside The Club at Satori you’ll also enjoy a full spa with massage treatment rooms, whirlpool, and men’s and women’s steam and sauna. Soothe away your stresses with a healing massage. Or pamper yourself with a rejuvenating facial in this tranquil oasis.

 

Indulge at the Gourmet Demonstration Kitchensushi

If you enjoy tantalizing cooking classes and guest chef appearances, the gourmet demonstration kitchen at The Club will provide the backdrop for you to experience culinary masterpieces by local chefs. Indulge in decadent desserts from gourmet pastry chefs or enlighten your palette with a wine tasting hosted by a renowned sommelier. It’s all here, just for you! 

 Maintain your chi in our tranquil Zen garden

Discover what an unexpected moment of bliss can add to the quality of your day. Whether you take a moment to meditate in the formal Zen Garden, or gain a measure of inner peace from the mere sight of a reflecting pool lined with palms, or enjoy the smell of fragrant flowers surrounding a verdant courtyard, life at Satori will reward you with happiness.

Enjoy eco-friendly living and make your friends “Green” with envy.

With Satori’s extensive list of “Green” features, you’ll be doing your part to leave a smaller carbon footprint for tomorrow while saving money on your energy costs today.

energy efficiencieswasher

HIGH-EFFICIENCY AIR CONDITIONING (SEER 15) helps reduce electrical consumption by 14%. Carrier’s Hi-efficiency “Puron” meets the Energy Star Guidelines. Plus the use of no CFC based refrigerant is environmentally friendly and won’t deplete the ozone. Efficient MERV 8 air filters reduce air pollution.

PROGRAMMABLE THERMOSTATS help you save energy and lower electric bills.

ROOF SOLAR SYSTEM using Flex Light Photovoltaic system to help lower building electrical costs.

WHITE REFLECTIVE ROOF MATERIAL lowers energy consumption by using single ply 80 mil white reflective roofing material containing 7.5% recycled content.

FRONT LOADING WASHERS AND DRYERS not only use less water and less energy, they are also more gentle on your clothes.

recycle

recycling and pollution prevention

CHLORINE-FREE POOL eliminates chemical exposure to your skin, eyes & hair

RECYCLING PROGRAM for plastic, newspapers, and garbage is good for the environment by reducing landfills.

BARK PARK has an abundant supply of bio-degradable waste bags

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY CLEANING PRODUCTS

PUBLIC TRANSPORTION helps reduce greenhouse gases while lowering fuel costs and Satori makes it easy with a bus stop right outside the front door. So next time you go grocery shopping, or spend a night out with friends, leave your car home and take an earth-friendly bus

PLUG-IN STATIONS available in the garage for charging electric/battery powered vehicles.

eco-friendly construction

ZERO VOC-EMITTING CARPET AND LOW VOC-EMITTING PAINTS means low Volatile Organic Compounds.

CONCRETE PAVERS use recycled content.

LIGHT GAUGE STEEL used for interior walls contains a minimum of 31% recycled content.

THE DRYWALL uses gypsum board with no reportable VOC content.

COVERED PARKING GARAGE utilizes a reduced heat island effect to reduce global warming.

PRESERVED NATURAL HABITAT through redevelopment of the property.

RECYCLED MATERIALS from the demolished buildings.

CONSTRUCTION WASTE diverted from landfills to recycling transfer stations

pricing 

1bd/1bth from $1,407 per month
875 – 976 square feet

2bd/2bth from $2,149 per month
1,215 – 1,516 square feet

3bd/2bth from $2,500 per month
1,426 – 2,885 square feet

**Select units offer 2 free months
**Pricing and availability subject to change