My Go to Realtor®

When you buy a home, there are one-time expenses, such as your down payment and closing costs, but there are also ongoing costs you need to prepare for. These costs include homeowners' insurance, property taxes and routine  home maintenance . With this essential guide to creating a homebuying budget, you’ll understand the costs of buying, owning and maintaining your home and how to budget accordingly.  READ MORE

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.           ...

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 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 (...

The “American Dream” could differ depending on who you ask, but firmly on top of most lists there are two that out rank the rest. Home ownership is probably number one, closely followed by “ being your own boss” , this entrepreneurial desire affects the home ownership more forcefully than we can imagine. Why is being your own boss so entrenched? The promise of unlimited earnings and progress in a short time motivates and attracts the potential new entrepreneurs.  But another reason as powerful is that a great number are not new to the labor market. Many have years of experience, training and in a lot of cases college degrees, but, they don’t speak enough English to be hired in the regular job market for opportunities with higher wages to match their skills.      There is one exception, the Real Estate industry is probably the only profession that allows to train and take the State Licensing exam and obtain the license all in Spanish. Th...

Florida Gov. Rick Scott that he again included a reduction in the state's business rent tax – as part of his proposed 2017 budget that he'll send to the Florida Legislature for consideration. "Florida is the only state that has a tax on commercial leases. It's unfair to our small businesses, and it makes it more difficult to attract new business and industry to the Sunshine State. It also causes an additional burden if an existing Florida business hopes to invest more or expand, which in turn creates new opportunities for families in their communities." In addition to the business lease tax deduction, Scott proposed the following tax cuts: Four sales tax holidays that would save Floridians an estimated $98 million this year: $72 million during a 10-day back-to-school sales tax holiday; $7 million from a nine-day disaster preparedness sales tax holiday; $18.4 million from a three-day veteran's sales tax holiday; and $500,000 from a one-day camping and ...

                           HOUSING Miami-Dade, Florida United States   Median Home Age   "The average age of homes in years. Updated: December, 2016" 37 37   Median Home Cost   "This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. Updated: December, 2016" $253,500 $185,800   Home Appr. Last 12 months "House appreciation - last 12 months Updated: December, 2016" 9.86% 3.74%   Home Appr. Last 5 yrs. "House appreciation - last 5 years Updated: December, 2016" 34.57% 16.02%   Home Appr. Last 10 yrs.   "House appr...