My Go to Realtor®

CREDIT: US ARMY CORP OF ENGINEERS A bill to make homeowners pay roof-replacement deductibles failed, but OIR says it can be an insurer option, such as lower premiums for owners willing to take a risk. Fla. Regulator: Insurers Can Offer Roof Deductibles

Miami-Dade Home Prices Rise in June Due to Strong Demand and Limited Supply; Surging Pending Sales Reflect Market Recovery Following the COVID-19 Impact Miami Single Family Homes June 2020 June 2019 % Change Year-over-Year Closed Sales 1,089 1,234 -11.8% % Paid in Cash 16.7% 19.5% -14.4% Median Sale Price $388,500 $370,000 5.0% Dollar Volume $658,518,300 $661,694,246 -0.5% % of Original List Price Received 96 96 0% Median Time to Contract 63 49 28.6% Median Time to Sales 107 97 10.3% Active Inventory 4,929 6,623 -25.6% Months Supply of Inventory 4.8 6.2 -22.6% Miami Townhomes & Condos June 2020 June 2019 % Change Year-over-Year Closed Sales 804 1,202 -33.1% % Paid in Cash 38.6% 44.8% -16.1% Median Sale Price $262,000 $250,000 4.8% Dollar Volume $330,200,388 $467,467,416 -29.4% % of Original List Price Received 93 94 -1% Median Time to Contract 87 77 13.0% Median Time to Sales 129 118 9.3% Active Inventory 14,433 15,488 -6.8% Months Supply of Inventory 14.0 13 4.5% Guillermo "...

Their agent won’t have to say, “Picture this.” Buyers will see your home at its best.  READ MORE   From Spotlight: Best Pro Secrets for Buying & Selling In partnership with Guillermo "Bill" Sanjurjo Realtor® https://guillermorealtor.c21.com/ 12955 SW 42 St Suite 2, Miami, FL 33175 Cell: 786-232-1400

Here is an advertisement publish in the Miami Herald dated November, 13 1959 According to the ad, the price of the new home was between $18,000 and $21,000. Property cost ................................. $21,000.00 Closing costs................................. .$         0.00 Area Median price NOW.............. .$427,000.00 Profit of.............................................$406,000 I don't think there is a need to breakdown th3e numbers any further, to see the tremendous capital gain derived from the investment. The advertising also notes that an income of $8000.00 a year or more was required to qualify. Having been in Miami since 1959 I can tell you that at that time the minimum wage was about $1.00 an hour, so to meet the qualifying requirements the buyer need it to make at least $3.88 per hour. The bottom line is if you can afford to buy now, what seems very expensive now will be cheap a couple of years from now.           ...

About half of COVID-19-related forbearance plans expired last month, and one-fourth are set to expire this month, leaving mortgage loan servicers with the task of reviewing more than a couple of million loans for forbearance extensions or payment eligibility. Read full article Guillermo "Bill" Sanjurjo Realtor®  https://guillermo.realtor 12955 SW 42 St Suite 2, Miami, FL 33175  Cell: 786-232-1400

Miami ranked among top 10 most recovered housing markets since start of COVID-19 via Realtor.com “Homebuyer interest recovered quickly post COVID19 & remains high despite the weaker economic environment, as low  #mortgage  rates, virtual tools & lockdown lifts have enabled many buyers to continue the# home search process." Read more... Guillermo "Bill" Sanjurjo Realtor® https://guillermorealtor.c21.com/ 12955 SW 42 St Suite 2, Miami, FL 33175 Cell: 786-232-1400

An uptick in new-home developments is targeting investors who plan to rent-out homes rather than first-time or move-up buyers who plan to live there. Read more.. Guillermo "Bill" Sanjurjo Realtor® https://guillermorealtor.c21.com/ 12955 SW 42 St Suite 2, Miami, FL 33175 Cell: 786-232-1400

The national delinquency rate increased by 90.22%, according to Black Knight's latest  Mortgage Monitor Report , with 1.6 million new delinquencies since March and a rate of 6.45%, the largest single-month increase on record. Read more... as published in  Daily Dose ,  Guillermo "Bill" Sanjurjo Realtor® https://guillermorealtor.c21.com/ 12955 SW 42 St Suite 2, Miami, FL 33175 Cell: 786-232-1400

Source:  Hoyt 2020 . While developers and contractors agree that controlling costs is difficult until a project is “out of the ground,” there are three strategies that could help. First, conduct due diligence on the site in advance, and run site prep concurrently with other tasks when possible. Second, prioritize building forms that permit simple, shallow foundations. Third, local governments should update zoning regulations to reduce parking requirements, thereby reducing the amount of costly structured parking. Read more As published in the Joint Center of Housing Studies of Harvard University  |  Hannah Hoyt and Jenny Schuetz Guillermo "Bill" Sanjurjo Realtor® https://guillermorealtor.c21.com/ 12955 SW 42 St Suite 2, Miami, FL 33175 Cell: 786-232-1400

Borrowers who have taken forbearance can nevertheless take benefit of record low mortgage prices for buying a domestic or refinancing their current domestic, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Tuesday. The FHFA made the statement to try to solve a  confusion about those who've taken forbearance all through the COVID-19 pandemic, which now totals about 4.1 million owners. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the FHFA oversees, will allow borrowers who went into forbearance due to the pandemic to refinance their mortgage or purchase a new domestic as long as they’ve reinstated their loan and made three consecutive months of their reimbursement plan, payment deferral option, or mortgage change from their neglected payments. Also, there's no ready period for borrowers who requested forbearance but in the long run were able to make their payment in full and on time, Fannie Mae notes. “Homeowners who are in COVID-19 forbearance but continue to make their mortgage pay...

Considering the state of the economy due to the current pandemic, there are reasons why one should be worried about finances and credit ratings with that in mind, the three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, jointly announced a service to provide Americans free weekly credit reports through April 2021. CEO's of TransUnion, Equifax and Experian explained in a joint statement: These are unprecedented times facing the world. People are feeling scared and uncertain about the future. To help play our part and reduce some of that anxiety, we are uniting as an industry to help people know the facts about their financial data. We are making credit reports more accessible more often so people can better manage their finances and take necessary steps to protect their credit standing. To access the free credit reports, you’ll need to go to AnnualCreditReport.com and follow the same process you would normally use for your free yearly report.  Be aware, They don’t provide ...

Many American businesses have been put on hold as the country deals with the worst pandemic in over one hundred years. As the states are deciding on the best strategy to slowly and safely reopen, the big question is:  how long will it take the economy to fully recover? Let’s look at the possibilities. Here are the three types of recoveries that follow most economic slowdowns (the definitions are from the financial glossary at  Market Business News ): V-shaped recovery:  an economic period in which the economy experiences a sharp decline. However, it is also a brief period of decline. There is a clear bottom (called a trough by economists) which does not last long. Then there is a strong recovery. U-shaped recovery:  when the decline is more gradual, i.e., less severe. The recovery that follows starts off moderately and then picks up speed. The recovery could last 12-24 months. L-shaped recovery:  a steep economic decline followed by a long period with no growth....

When you own your home, things are going to break and, unless you want to spend your money on visits from a neighborhood handyman, you’re going to need to fix them yourself. Luckily, you don’t need an arsenal of tools to handle most home maintenance fixes. These five tools will cover most of your basic projects. Cordless drill.  A cordless drill is a must-have for installing cabinets, drawer pulls, hinges, picture frames, shelves and hooks, and more. Whether it’s for do-it-yourself projects or repairs, you’ll use your cordless drill just about every month. Drain cleaners.  Shower and bathroom sink drains are susceptible to clogs because of the daily buildup of hair and whisker clippings. You can use chemical clog removers like Drano, but they’re expensive and the lingering chemical scent is unpleasant. Instead, buy some plastic drain cleaners that can reach into the drain to pull out the clog of hair and gunk. You can purchase them on Amazon or at a local hardware store ...

When you put your home up for sale, one of the best ways to determine the asking price is to look at comparable sales. There’s rarely a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, so a pricing decision often relies on comparisons to several recent sales in the area. Here are five criteria to look for in a sales comparison. Location:  Homes in the same neighborhood typically follow the same market trends. Comparing your home to another in the same neighborhood is a good start, but comparing it to homes on the same street or block is even better. Date of sale:  It varies by location, but housing markets can see a ton of fluctuation in a short time period. It‘s best to use the most recent sales data available. Home build:  Look for homes with similar architectural styles, numbers of bathrooms and bedrooms, square footage, and other basics. Features and upgrades:  Remodeled bathrooms and kitchens can raise a home’s price, and so can less flashy upgrades ...

If Maxine Waters Takes Over the House … It's a week since the midterm elections results were declared and the Democrats took over the House of Representatives. Now, come January 2019, the House Financial Services Committee, which oversees the United States banking system, is also likely to get a new Chair in the form of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California). A vocal critic of the current administration, Waters is expected to get tough on big banks calling for more regulations on financial institutions. Right after the elections, Waters released a statement indicating that she would make it a key priority to ensure “that [the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection] can be allowed to resume its essential role of protecting consumers from harmful practices without interference from the Trump Administration.” This could put her on a course to butt heads with BCFP Acting Director Mulvaney, or his appointed successor, Trump nominee Kathy Kraninger, assuming she is confirmed (...

"When  life gives you lemons ,  make  lemonade" I think most people understand that you can make lemonade out of lemons by adding a little sugar and water. But most of us fail at finding  the water and sugar. Finding the sugar to turn the market sweet is extremely important.  We are bombarded every minute with statistics, figures and projections but most of them are global in nature, either national, state, county or very few on  municipalities . Its good to have an overview of the market but Real Estate is local in nature, down to your neighborhood and often to the block level. It does not matter is your selling or buying having the right information, accurate, timely information can make or break many transactions. It used to take many months and maybe a year or two for the market to change significantly, now changes are much faster leaving little time to react. Everyone hears phrases like, I should have bought then..,or I waited too...

Knowing the reasons why homeowners choose to remodel can show how they influence today's housing market. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) conducted a Remodeling Market Index (RMI)  for the first quarter of this years. The RMI survey asks remodelers to rate market demand for the remodeling market at the present time as compared to 3 months earlier. In addition to the questions that provide the data needed to compute the RMI, the survey often also includes a set of “special” questions on a topic of current interest to the housing industry. Included a special question asking remodelers to rate their customer’s reasons such as desire/need for more space, wanting to avoid moving/buying  etc., as a motivation for remodeling their home. Remodelers where asked. Please rate how often your customers cite the reasons below as a motivation for remodeling their homes. Desire for better/newer amenities 4.3 Need to repair/replace old ...