Solar Panals - Seen in Coral Gables in the 1940's? Here's my Soap Box.

I was surprised to see an old photo of my Gables listing at 435 Giralda Avenue from the 1940's, with solar panals.  Frankly I didn't think they were used 70 years ago.  Due to a shortage of building materials during the WWII period, several homes built in the Gables were equipped with the panals.

Photo of 435 Giralda Ave from 1940's with Solar Panals

Photo of 435 Giralda Ave. in 2010, Listed at $350,000.

One may wonder why we aren't using more solar energy today.  I did some research and found a few interesting facts. Solar energy has been harnesed for over 100 years.  In this photo below are solar collectors 15 miles south of Cairo, Egypt in 1912. These were invented by Frank Shuman of Philidelphia.  Heat collected in the solar collectors energized and sent out 6000 gallons of water per minute, irrigating vast areas of desert land. 

With the outbreak of WWI, efforts ceased. After the war, large areas of oil were discovered in the region, and the allure of limitless solar energy faded.  Now with the oil spill in the Gulf, maybe the powers that be will be convinced to get back to utilizing solar power as a primary energy source.  

New pioneers are realizing the public's interest and desire for clean, renewable energy sources including solar and wind power, and this alone will create the demand needed for it to be a realization.  According to http://www.snrysolar.com/, the U.S. is expected to support more than 440,000 perminant, full time jobs in the solar industry by 2016.  The next go-around of development in Miami should include green building standards and conservation of our natural resources, which seems to be the ecomonical way to do business.

Windmills in Copenhagen

Using solar and wind energy, the most abundant energy sources in the world, helps reduce reliance on fossil fuels and directly reduces polutants: CO 2 emissions and oil spills.  You can't argue with that one anymore.

Drywood Termites are Swarming - Do you think you may have them?

Well, it's that time again - I have to tent my house for termintes this Thursday.  I'm the third house on my block to tent within the past 30 days.  Why all the tenting activity?

It seems like we've had an unusually busy termite season this year.  Swarming season is from April - August every year, and takes place when they are mating or growing their colony.  When the colonoy gets over populated, then they need to swarm (fly) to re-colonize to a new location.

Be aware that It takes roughtly 1.5 years after they nest for the actual damage in a property to appear. This means that if they swarm and attach to your house, it may not be until a year or so later that you see drywood termite damage!

  How do you know if you have them:  You may see evidence - a small pile of saw dust in a corner, on the side of a wall or inside a closet.  You may find little wings on a windowsill or near a light. Termites are attracted to light when they swarm, and they drop their wings.

Cold Weather Snap - These critters do not like cold weather.  This season, inspectors are finding less than normal amounts of termites on outside roof facia, and more swarming inside homes where it has been warmer.  In a nutshell, termites tend to relocate to the interior of a house during cold weather, then they swarm when it gets warm, hence, why we have noticed an abudance of swarming termites this year in particular.  Because we live inside homes, not out on the facia!

Click here for more information about termites and how they can be treated in this TERMITE OVERVIEW.   I hope this has been helpful.  Wish me happy Tenting! ... and hopefully you don't have to tent!

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.

What are some of the biggest mistakes homebuyers make?

I saw this article on CNN Money about the biggest mistakes homebuyers make with regards to property.  For any of you who missed it, check out this link: The Biggest Mistakes Homebuyers Make.

Most of these are obvious, including not forgetting to budget for insurance, or making sure your credit score is low in order to get the best interest rate.  Another that people don't always think of is to not make a major credit purchase (A Car) prior to closing.  See the link above for the entire story.

Miami Average Price Home Sales - Are short sales driving the market down?

Everyone knows that sales prices in Miami have dropped drastically.  One may ask, "Is that for my property or just for short sales and foreclosures?" 

The graph below shows the average sales price of Miami residential property over the past year.  This only includes "regular sales".  The average home price in March was $474,000 for "regular sales".

When you add distressed sales - short sales and foreclosures - to the mix, the average price decreases drastically.  In March, the average price including all sales - regular sales and distressed sales was $298,000.  See below.

Why is this so drastic, you might ask?  Out of the 1,775 total closings in March 2010, more than half of these were short sales or foreclosures, which were predominately in lower price ranges. The average sales price of a foreclosure in March 2010 was $119,000  in Miami-Dade.  While these foreclosures are bringing town the average market values, they are not necessarily widespread.  As long as there are good recent higher comparable sales in your neighborhood, your property value should be compared with those recent sales.  From an appraiser's point of view, they look for recent sales 3 to 6 months back.  Anything further back is considered out of date.