August 6th, 2009 · View Comments
I've been working on finding an FHA approved condo for a client of mine and it's taken a little longer than expected because there are several moving pieces to the deal. Usually when you look for a home and are preapproved for a mortgage, you know exactly how much home you can afford. If you can afford (and are preapproved for) $150,000, you would look at condos at or under that price.
However, when your lender thinks about how much home you can afford they think differently, and they look at your total monthly housing expenses relative to your income. For a condo, monthly housing expenses would include maintenance fees, taxes, as well as your mortgage payment. For each property, maintenance fees and taxes are fixed, what the lender figures out is how much of a monthly mortgage payment you can make. From the mortgage payment, the lender is able to calculate the mortgage amount, and when added to your down payment produces how much house you can afford. What you need to keep in mind is that the more your maintenance fees and/or taxes are, the less house you can afford.
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Posted in Financing | View Comments
July 27th, 2009 · View Comments
When talking with my clients about the condo market in Miami, one of the questions that constantly comes up is "What is a Short Sale?". With the majority of attractively priced condo listings in Miami being short sales, it is important for a buyer to understand what a short sale is and the typical process involved in purchasing one.
In a short sale, the property owner is behind on their mortgage payment and wants to sell the property in an effort to avoid foreclosure, but can’t find a buyer willing to pay enough money for the property to cover the remaining principal on the mortgage. The property owner then asks their lender if it is willing to accept less than what is owed on the mortgage. Because the property owner needs the lender's approval before agreeing to the sales price, short sales can take months to complete as lenders try to figure out how big of a loss they are willing to take. In some cases, even after months of analysis, a lender may decide it doesn’t want to do one at all.
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Posted in Distressed Properties | View Comments
July 22nd, 2009 · View Comments
When visiting Miami Beach what many tourists don't know as they enjoy the scenic drive over the Julia Tuttle Causeway from Miami to Miami Beach, is that a colony of 70-80 convicted sex offenders have been living underneath the bridge for the last three years. When I first heard the news, I found it shocking and appalling that there was nowhere else for these people to live. Apparently not, as Miami-Dade County has a more stringent ordinance than the State that restricts convicted sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of where children congregate -- that includes schools, parks, and day care facilities. So the only place far away from these locations is the middle of Biscayne Bay.
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Posted in Miami News | View Comments
July 17th, 2009 · View Comments
As a buyer, when deciding to work with a real estate brokerage on a transaction, you have three basic options concerning the role the firm will assume for you:
- The brokerage firm may work as a transaction broker.
- The brokerage firm may work as a single "buyers" agent (cannot represent both buyer and seller in the same transaction).
- The brokerage firm will not represent the buyer. This situation is referred to as no brokerage relationship. The brokerage firm simply facilitates the transaction.
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Posted in Uncategorized | View Comments
July 16th, 2009 · View Comments
Nowadays, many buyers are interested in purchasing "distressed" properties hoping to get a great deal. My definition of a "distressed" property is a property where the owner has fallen behind on their payments to either their mortgage company or the homeowners association and a lien has been filed with the courts, initiating foreclosure proceedings.
Of the properties available on the market, short sales are those that are in the earliest stage of distress or "pre-foreclosure". In a short sale, the property owner is behind on their mortgage payment and wants to sell the property, but can't find a buyer willing to pay enough money for the property to cover the remaining principal on the mortgage. The property owner then asks their lender if it is willing to accept less than what is owed on the mortgage.Short sales can take months to complete as lenders try to figure out how big of a loss they are willing to take. In some cases, even after months of analysis, a lender may decide it doesn't want to do one at all.
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Posted in Distressed Properties, Stats and Trends | View Comments
