Just sold! Marina Blue Condo on Biscayne Bay

Just sold! Marina Blue Condo on Biscayne Bay

3230 Calusa St Coconut Grove, FL - Sublime Elegance Cloaked in Paradox

Nestled on a coral ridge at the foot of an unassuming cul de saq along the historic end of Tigertail Ave in the North end of Coconut Grove lies a residence whose exterior frontage is as understated as those of its neighbors.  A simple wrought iron front gate and a common two car garage are your initial impressions of the home at 3230 Calusa St.

The North Grove is known for its hodgepodge of assorted architectural styles and home designs, ranging from modest two and three bedroom cottages and Florida style ranches to residential estates of jaw-dropping splendor.  Glistening high rises dot the skyline across from sleek sea-vessels that glide along Sailboat Bay.  Joggers and cyclists are seen getting their day’s exercise up and down Bayshore Dr.  The natural beauty of the community is the stuff of enchanted fables, where the azure blue waters of Biscayne Bay commune with lush tropical landscapes beneath a sun-drenched canopy.  Occasionally, you come across a family of peacocks as you travel down one of the winding tree lined streets that fill the neighborhood.  It is truly an enthralling community where walking is the standard mode of transportation as everything you could want or need is practically within arm’s reach.

Then, as you pass through the gate and just a few steps further under a covered walkway, an astonishing metamorphosis takes place.  Originally built in 1924, the home has undergone a number of reincarnations.  This last one, however, has transformed this home into a Phoenix of architectural design and a monumental achievement in style and taste that warrants admiration ordinarily reserved for works of fine art and sculpture.  I have seen many beautiful homes over the years, and there is certainly no shortage of them in Coconut Grove.  3230 Calusa St. is one of the most remarkably beautiful residences in this community that I have seen in recent memory.
Rather than go into a long list of feature, please allow the following images to tantalize your imagination.  As beautiful as these photos may seem, they are inadequate to the task of properly depicting the magnificence of this home.

Listed for $3,150,000, I must say this home is priced well.  If my words have stirred your curiosity and captivated your imagination, I would ask that you grant me the opportunity to show it to you.

 

General Information:

Bedrooms: 5

Bathrooms: 5 1/2

Square Feet:  8,390

Lot Size: 26,795 Sq. Ft.

Real Estate Commissions - You Get What You Pay For

Real Estate Commissions: You Get What You Pay For

by The KCM Crew on March 7, 2012

Considering a Discount Broker?

Does it makes sense to pay a full commission to your real estate agent in today’s market? Sellers, buyers and even agents are debating what should be charged to assist a consumer in completing a real estate transaction. Forget what the actual amount of the commission is. The bigger question is whether you should pay a ‘full fee’ when hiring a real estate expert to guide you through the complexities of today’s rapidly changing housing environment.

 If a full fee was the rule in 2006 when completing a deal was so much simpler, why would you now consider cutting the fee of your agent in today’s tumultuous market? You are depending on this person to help you reach your goals in a sale or purchase. In 2006, buyers were willing to pay almost anything to a seller just to get into a home. Banking entities seemed to be willing to mortgage any property for any buyer. The process was rather simple.

Today, a person looking to buy or sell should be willing and ready to pay a full fee for two reasons:
You need an expert guide if you are traveling a dangerous path:

The field of real estate is loaded with land mines. You need a true expert to guide you through the dangerous pitfalls that currently exist. Finding a buyer willing to pay fair market value for your home at a time that there are mass inventories of foreclosures and short sales will take a true real estate professional. Finding reasonable financing can also be tricky in today’s lending environment.
Experts in any profession do not discount their fees; especially when the job is becoming much more difficult.
You need a skilled negotiator

In today’s market, hiring a talented negotiator could save you thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of dollars. Each step of the way – from the original offer, to the possible re-negotiation of that off after a home inspection, to the possible cancellation of the deal based on a troubled appraisal – you need someone who can keep the deal together until it closes.
When an agent is negotiating their commission with you, they are negotiating their own salary – the salary that keeps a roof over their family’s head; the salary that puts food on their family’s table. If they are quick to take less when negotiating for themselves and their families, what makes you think they will not act the same way when negotiating for you and your family? If they were Clark Kent when negotiating with you, they will not turn into Superman when negotiating with the buyer or seller in your deal.

Bottom Line
We believe that famous sayings become famous because they are true. You get what you pay for. Just like a good accountant or a good attorney, a good agent will save you money…not cost you money.

FHA Loans And the Power of Assumability

FHA And The Power of Assumability

by Dean Hartman on January 12, 2012

One of the rarely touted advantages of people taking FHA mortgages today is the fact that they are assumable. What that means is, when the FHA homebuyer of today is looking to sell his home, a qualified purchaser can “take over” their loan.

Most people believe that interest rates will return to a “normal” range (between 6.5% and 7%) in a couple of years. When you assume a mortgage, the terms remain the same. This means that a buyer five years from now can enjoy a 4 – 4.5% mortgage by assumption rather than the 6.5% – 7% mortgage they would get without it. Since most people buy homes based on how the monthly payment fits into their personal monthly budget, this is extremely impactful.

As an example, a $300,000 loan at 4% today carries with it a $1,432.25 principal and interest payment on a 30 year fixed mortgage. If offered for sale in five years, the purchaser could assume the $271,858.56 balance with the same $1,432.25 payment and remaining term of 25 years. The total payments over the 25 years would be $429,675.

Compare that to a new $272,000 loan at 6.5% for 25 years, which would carry a monthly payment of $1,836.56 (over $400 more a month than the assumption and more than $120,000 more over the 25 year term).

At 6.5% for 25 years, to wind up with the same payment as the assumed mortgage, our borrowers would only be getting $212,000…$60,000 LESS!

The point here is that, when rates go up, homes with assumable mortgages will have more value and will sell at higher prices because they are more affordable. As an additional bonus, the closing costs on assumable mortgages are significantly less (especially here in New York where NYS Mortgage Tax is such a large component of closing costs).

The borrowers must be credit-worthy of course (have good credit, qualifying income, and necessary assets to close), but they would have to be credit-worthy to get a new mortgage too!

Besides the multiple other reasons to obtain an FHA mortgage (low down payment requirements, extended income ratios, lower credit scores, and easier sourcing of funds), there is another perk. In the future, there is a good chance that you may be able to sell your home for more money because of the FHA loan’s assumability.

Save Money With Energy Efficient Window Coverings

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  Save Money with Energy-Efficient Window Coverings

  Energy-efficient window coverings help reduce heating and cooling costs and may qualify for the federal energy tax credit. Read

Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.

Copyright 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Homeownership Under Fire!

This Time We Are Sounding the Alarms

by Steve Harney on October 12, 2011 ·

Occasionally, Steve Harney, our founder and lead content creator, asks us permission to share his personal feelings on a current real estate issue. Today is one of those times. – The KCM Crew



One of the things I often hear from people I meet is that real estate and mortgage professionals should have seen the current housing crisis coming and done something to prevent it. We should have realized that easing lending practices would lead to millions of families buying a home they could never afford. We should have warned our neighbors not to use their homes as ATMs. We should have realized that the economy could never withstand such growth and was about to crash.

Maybe these people are correct. Looking back, perhaps we could have been better stewards of the home buying process. We are committed to not making that same mistake again. Now, if we see a possible challenge in the future, we will speak up. That is what caused the writing of this blog post.

WE MUST SOUND THE ALARMS!

ALARM: Homeownership Percentage Has Dropped Dramatically!!

MSNBC.com, in an article entitled Housing Bust Worst Since Great Depression reported:

“The analysis by the Census Bureau found the homeownership rate fell to 65.1 percent last year… analysts say the U.S. may never return to its mid-decade housing boom peak in which nearly 70 percent of occupied households were owned by their residents.”

ALARM: People Are Losing Hope in the American Dream

In the same article, Patrick Newport, economist with IHS Global Insight is quoted saying:

“The changes now taking place are mind-boggling: the housing market has completely crashed and attitudes toward housing are shifting from owning to renting. While 10 years ago owning a home was the American Dream, I’m not sure a lot of people still think that way.”

ALARM: The Safety and Well Being of the Family Being Sacrificed

If we look at Fannie Mae’s quarterly National Home Survey, as far back as we can go, the top four reasons for buying a home are the same. The top four reasons people buy a home are:

1. It means having a good place to raise children and provide them with a good education
2. To have a physical structure where their family feels safe
3. It allows for more space for their family
4. It gives them control over what they do with their living space including renovations and updates.

Are children no longer important? Is safety less of a consideration today? Is the pride of homeownership soon to be forgotten? We must look at the long range consequences of being a renters’ society.

ALARM: Building Family Wealth Being Threatened

Let’s look at homeownership as an investment. The Federal Reserve does a survey every 3 years. In 1998 the average Homeowner’s net worth exceeded that of renters by 31 times. In 2001 it was 36 times and eventually in 2007 it was all the way up to 46 times that of renters. Now, homeownership isn’t about a guaranteed financial short-term return – the market goes up, down and back up again. We have to be prepared for the long-term and a key component to wealth is homeownership. Even in these toughest of times, the wealth of the homeowner is over 30 times that of renters.

At a time when we are discussing the gap in wealth between the top 1% and the other 99%, how does the less fortunate paying rent to pay off the mortgages of the more fortunate make any sense?

Bottom Line

Homeownership is important to the American family. If we lose this as a basic concept, what else do we lose? We didn’t realize the consequences when it was too easy to buy a house a few years ago and we are paying a price for that. We will pay an even larger price if we don’t realize the consequences of it being much too difficult for many to own a home today. SOUND THE ALARMS!

A Follow-up To Yesterday’s Blog

by The KCM Crew on October 13, 2011

Yesterday, Steve Harney expressed his thoughts on how homeownership is being impacted in this country. Some believed that Steve thought the American people where losing faith in the importance of owning a home. That is not the case. He just worries about how housing policies may impact our neighbors and our neighborhoods. Here is a blog we posted earlier this year on the issue. – The KCM Crew

Redistributing Wealth to the RICH?

Many people are placing the concept of homeownership under attack. There is more and more debate whether we should limit government assistance to homeowners. The administration just came out with their Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market: A Report to Congress. The report acknowledges the advantages of homeownership:

“…which has helped millions of middle class families build wealth and achieve the American Dream.”

The paper also talks about curtailing a century of government assistance for American homeownership (ex. the elimination of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac):

“But our plan also dramatically transforms the role of government in the housing market. In the past, the government’s financial and tax policies encouraged housing purchases and real estate investment over other sectors of our economy, and ultimately left taxpayers responsible for much of the risk incurred by a poorly supervised housing finance market.

Going forward, the government’s primary role should be limited to robust oversight and consumer protection, targeted assistance for low- and moderate-income homeowners and renters.”

At the same time it speaks of increasing its support for rental housing:

“The Administration believes that we must continue to take the necessary steps to ensure that Americans have access to an adequate range of affordable housing options. This does not mean all Americans should become homeowners … we should ensure that there are a range of affordable options for the 100 million Americans who rent, whether they do so by choice or necessity.”

In a press release announcing the administration’s points, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan is quoted:

“We must continue to take the necessary steps to ensure that Americans have access to quality housing they can afford. This involves rebalancing our housing priorities to support a range of affordable options, from promoting much-needed financing for quality, affordable rental homes to ensuring the availability of safe, and sustainable mortgage products for current and future homeowners.”

This is not just a matter of semantics. In his prepared testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said:

“Our goal is not for every American to become a homeowner.”

The administration is taking a strong stance against government’s role in supporting homeownership. This would be a major change in policy. Assistance for homeownership has been important to America for a century. Many young people were able to attend college because their parents were willing and able to refinance their home to pay the tuition. Many American business owners got their start-up capital by taking an equity loan on their house. Renters won’t be able to ask their landlords to help pay their child’s college tuition. Renters can’t expect landlords to finance the development of the new product they discovered.
If we start to create a land with greater numbers of renters, those able to still purchase property will get wealthier collecting the rents from those who can no longer attain the American Dream. The administration calls for more support for these developers:

“The Administration will explore ways to provide greater support for rental housing. One option would be to do so by expanding FHA’s capacity to support lending to the multifamily market.”

This will lead to the redistribution of wealth in this country with the owners of the rental units building family wealth with profits generated by this real estate.
Diana Olick in an article for CNBC Realty Check quotes Democrat Melvin Watt of North Carolina:

“…there’s not going to be any home ownership at the low income level…Rich people will have home ownership and rich people will make money on apartment rentals, but we’ll be a renter nation for low-income people.”

We have to make sure this is the America we want.

 

Selling? Waiting Until The Spring Makes No Sense

Selling? Waiting Until the Spring Makes No Sense

by The KCM Crew on September 27, 2011

Late last year, banks were warned that they needed to guarantee that the paperwork necessary to start a foreclosure process on a family was both accurate and complete. Since then, the banks have slowed down the foreclosure process while they re-examined their procedures. They are now confident that all the required documentation is in order. We are currently waiting on a settlement between the banks and the state attorneys general which will establish what penalties will be assessed.

Once this settlement is reached, the banks will again move forward on many homes which are currently stalled at some stage in the foreclosure process.

How many homes are we talking about?

There are millions of homes in this category. Calculated Risk quantified the situation:

“There are a large number of seriously delinquent mortgage loans in limbo waiting for this settlement. According to LPS, at the end of August there were about 1.87 million loans seriously delinquent and another 2.15 million loans in the foreclosure process. This is only down slightly from a year ago when 4.4 million loans were seriously delinquent or in-foreclosure. Once the settlement is reached, the pace of foreclosures will pick up sharply.

The pace will “pick up sharply”.

Bottom Line

As more foreclosures come to the market at discounted prices, there will be greater downward pressure on all housing values. Waiting for the spring selling season to put your house on the market may not make sense this year. The increase in demand may be overshadowed by an increased supply of distressed properties.

Foreign Buyers Swarming the US Real Estate Market

YTD 2011 Foreign National Real Estate Investment in the US

Florida Leads The Way

5 Great Reasons to Sell Your House Today

5 Great Reasons to Sell Your House Today

by The KCM Crew on September 6, 2011

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We are often asked “Is the time to sell my home?” The answer to that question is based on what your families’ goals are. If you don’t need or want to move for a few years it might make sense to wait for the housing industry to recover and prices to appreciate. However, if you wish to move within the next six to eighteen months, it is probably better to sell sooner rather than later. Here are five reasons why:

Your House Will Get More Exposure Now Than the Winter

Housing sales usually level off in the summer and then regain momentum in September and October. The spring buyers’ market has passed. Don’t miss the early fall market. It has consistently outperformed the winter season.

Distressed Properties Will Impact Prices

Distressed properties (foreclosures and short sales) on the market will increase this fall and winter. This will put tremendous downward pressure on prices for at least the next 12-18 months. Get your home sold before they become your competition.

Mortgages Will Become More Difficult to Attain

Lending standards are continuing to tighten. There is legislation currently being considered that will make it even harder for buyers to qualify. Less demand will equate to lower prices.

It is the Perfect Time to Move-Up

With prices where they are and interest rates at all time lows, there may have never been a better time to move-up into your dream home. If you move into a more desirable home now, you will be in position to gain larger equity as prices eventually appreciate.

You Get to Move On with Your Life

Probably the most important reason to sell is so you can get on with your life. You are considering selling for a reason. Do not allow a less-than-stellar housing market prevent you from reaching your goals as an individual or as a family. Think about the reasons you are thinking about moving . Are these reasons really important to you? If you have to take less than you were originally hoping to get for your house, your family has a question to ask each other: Is the dollar difference in sales price worth putting off our plans? Only you and your family know the answer to that question.

The Evolution of Belief in the FSBO -Simple Irony or Intergalactic Epiphany? You Decide

We all remember the ads for the "For Sale By Owner" website.. Why pay a Realtor a commission for doing what you can do yourself so easily?

Well, the founder of For Sale By Owner didn't exactly walk the walk, did he?  In fact, he ignored his own hype and hired a Realtor!

A picture is worth a 1,000 words....

What You Must Know About Home Appraisals

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  What You Must Know About Home Appraisals

  Understanding how appraisals work will help you achieve a quick and profitable refinance or sale. Read

Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.

Copyright 2011 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Interior Paint - Colors That Sell

Here are a few suggestions of paint colors that enhance the visual appeal of home interiors. In addition to the items covered in my previous post, Sellers can enhance the attractiveness of a home by using soft warm colors to gently guide the eyes and direct a buyer's perception around the home.

There are also a few colors you need to be very careful with. Blues, pinks, yellows, grays and blacks tend to overpower the subconscious, and actually become the focal point of a room or a home. It is safer to stay away from them.