What's Your Facebook Lingo?

Sometimes I wonder what the point of having a blog site is when one could just have a blog page on Facebook.  Some Realtors are starting to have both.  It's becoming more apparant that Facebook is the #1 "go-to" site for communiction.

Here are some interesting stats for Facebook:

• Facebook has 400 million users logged on daily.
• People spend 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
• The average user is connected to 60 pages, groups, and events.
  

And one that I thought was very interesting...

• Only 30% of Facebook users are in the United States!

So with all this activity on Facebook, shouldn't we be using it as our main platform of communication?   So far, only about 250,000 websites have integrated with the Facebook platform.

It's sort of a catch - 22, because Facebook is obviosly the way to reach people, but do we want to be so reliant on Facebook as the only source of getting information out?  Maybe that is giving a lot of control to one platform.  Please share your thoughts!

North Coral Gables - Prices THEN and NOW!

I just had an appraisal done on a property I just sold in North Gables.  I thought it would be interesting to share these findings of property values THEN AND NOW for the area.  According to this appraiser, property values have depreciated 4% yearly over the past 5 years.  Here are 5 homes that sold both (THEN AND NOW).

1236 Obispo Avenue

Then (Feb. 2005) $1,225,000.

Now  (April 2010) $990,000.

3.71% Yearly Decline

1221 Alhambra Circle

Then (May 2006) $675,000.

Now (April 2010) $535,000

5.30 % Yearly Depreciation

828 Milan Aveune

Then (January 2005) $765,000.

Now (April 2010) $700,000.

1.62% Yearly Depreciation

1203 Columbus Boulevard

Then (May 2005) $599,000.

Now (March 2010) $399,000.

6.91% Yearly Depreciation.

1412 Medina Avenue

Then (August 2003) $450,000.

Now (March 2010) $375,000.

2.53% Yearly Depreciation.

Tax Credit is Over, Are Buyers Still Shopping?

People often ask me if the increased real estate market activity we have seen in the past year would continue after culmination of the tax credit on April 30th.  If a buyer was not in contract by that date, they would no longer qualify for the $8,000 maximum tax credit.

There was a huge rush and incredible frenzy of buyers during the month of April to hurry and find their tax credit dream home.  We saw bidding wars and buyers agreeing to pay over the appraised value for a home.  We all know appraisals can be tough these days, and that is a subject for another posting.

This graph (red line) shows the past year of pending sales in Miami-Dade County for properties under $400,000. As you can see, pending sales have shot up during the past few months. This was the end of the tax credit.

I have a few buyers of my own who were not able to settle on their perfect home prior to April 30th, but they haven't stopped looking just because the tax credit ended.  My feeling is that the tax credit was beneficial for the economy.  It did stimulate the activity we needed to jump start the market and help stabalize prices. Now that it is over, I am still seeing buyer activity, and more "normal market" activity.  Time will tell how by mid to late summer how many people took advantage of the tax credit.