Is America a "FREE" or "FEE" Country?

You may not be aware that new "open road tolling" has gone into effect as of July 19th. For those driving around various highways in Miami-Dade County, a Sunpass is now the most cost effective way to go through these open toll areas.  The county has installed new seemless fast drive through toll scanners with cameras on the 878,  the 874 / Don Shula, and the Gratigny Expressways.  These key highways connect areas such as Coral Gables and South Miami to Kendall and the Turnpike south towards Homestead and the Florida Keys.  There are no manned booths at these stations, so you must have a sunpass or your license tag will be charged.

And they are "selling us" on this idea...

• with the benefit of less traffic and accidents around toll booths.
• saying that there will be less carbon emissions from cars idol on the highway.
• That everyone will now "only" pay the part of the road they drive on.

How does this effect you? Depending on how many exits you pass, the charge is based on a fee scanner prior to every exit on the road. This cost will most likely add up to more than what you were paying prior to the new open road installation, especially if you go through the old tolling area as well.

For example, if you prevously entered the 878 Expressway from US1 just north of Kendall Drive and then desired to exit by Metro Zoo (SW 152 ST), you would have previously paid a .75 cent toll.  Now (with Sunpass) you will pay $1.00.  Say you want to jump on the 878 just to exit Kendall.  Now you will pay .50 cents where prior to that it was free.  That is where the tax collectors are benefitting... all the prior "free" travel.

Photo of New Sunpass Mini

It's very important to note that without the use of a Sunpass transmitter, the fees will be charged by license plate.  A .15 cent surcharge will be tacked on to the regular fee for each toll charged by plate.

As you can tell, the author is not thrilled with this new idea but I suppose that is part of living in a "pay per click" state (Florida), where we have no state income tax.  Revenues are needed to build roads (and toll plazas) so taxes are charged on a per usage basis.  Click here to read more about open road tolling in Miami Dade.  Happy Trails to you!

Real Estate Scams - Here Are 5 To Watch Out For

Are you underwater on your mortgage (i.e... you possibly owe more on the mortgage than it's worth)?  If so, you need to read this article from Realtor Magazine on-line.  Click here for the article with 5 real estate scams with red flags to watch out for.   See below first...

FBI SEAL

It is apparent that whatever market we are in, people find a way to commit fraud.  In the boom, there was house flipping combined with buyers taking large kick-backs at the closing.  Now we see another "relative" of that fraud.  The FBI is working hard to target this fraud activity, and in fact have opened an office in Miami just for this matter. 

In 2009, prevelant mortgage fraud schemes included loan origination, foreclosure rescue, builder bailout, equity skimming, short sale, illegal property flipping, reverse mortgage fraud and loan modifications. The following are new emerging fraud trends: economic stimulus plans/programs, property theft/fraudulent leasing of foreclosed properties and tax-related fraud.

Miami is a key city where mortgage fraud is committed.  Entire neighborhoods have been effected. According to the FBI website, financial institutions reporting mortgage fraud around the U.S. increased from 6,936 cases reported in 2003 to 67,190 cases in 2009.

Short Sale fraud can be when people misrepresent their hardship, or when they sell their short sale house to a relative or friend for their own monitary gain.  A typical requirement of a bank short sale approval is the assurance that there is no relation and clearly an arms length transaction between buyer and seller.

Everyone is under observation.  Here is a story from a Miami Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog talking about two Broward County police officers and one FBI agent who were all recently charged with a mortgage fraud indictment.

One rule to live by is if you get a strange feeling about what someone is asking you to do, don't go along with it. Be careful with upfront fees regarding foreclosure or short sale bailouts, or with anyone who tells you to sign away the mortgage note or to not talk to your own bank.  If I help a client with their short sale, I never tell them not to discuss matters with their own bank.  That is a red flag to watch for.

Coconut Grove - Tour of the Peacocks Strike Beauty.

Coconut Grove loves their Peacocks, and so goes the display Tour of Peacocks that causes more fancy than fury.

Peacock in front of Saint Stevens in the Grove

You may have seen these Peacocks around Coconut Grove, but these are not your ordinary Peacocks.  For those of you who have not driven through the Grove lately, these beautifully painted Peacocks of Art have been carefully placed as part of the Coconut Grove Peacock Tour 2010.  

Peacock at Commodore Plaza and Main Highway, Painting by Eileen Seitz.The Peacocks were designed by local Grove artists and paid for by local businesses and organizations, all contributing to public art.  Peacocks will be on display for 6 months until the final "Coconut Grove Peacock Auction Ball", in which proceeds will be donated to the charity and non-profit partners.

Grand Avenue Peacock

Coconut Grove has always been known for its Bohemian identity - never without local vegetarian food, rick-shaw rides, or old hideaway bars.  Even though the community has become more affluent over the years, the Grove still has it's artsy flair.  I just don't see the Hare Krishna's parading as much, but their Temple still exists on Virginia Street.  For more information about the Peacock tour and auction, click here for the Peacock Tour Home Page. 

Good Price for 1204 EL RADO Coral Gables Foreclosure Resale from "Courthouse Steps".

My buyers just closed on this "corporate owned" property in north Coral Gables at El Rado ST.   I thought I'd share what kind of good deal this was as it was not your typical transaction.

This was a 3 bedroom / 2 bathroom plus 1 car garage "fixer-upper" foreclosed property purchased at the "courthouse steps" by the seller.  My buyers bought it resold on the regular market, but got a really good price... $350,000.

I am seeing quite a few "corporate owned" properties for sale in the MLS.  Groups of people are forming "corporations" and buying the properties at the foreclosure courthouse sale downtown.  This is not easy to do, as one must have all cash to participate plus be able to assume any risk or liability of potential liens or illegal construction on the property.  Experts do their homework in advance and have the resources to run a last minute title search on the property.  Homes sold at the courthouse are sold completely "AS-IS" without an inspection period.


Once a corporation acquires a property, many do a little clean-up work or minimal work needed to put the house back on the market for sale.  Depending on the seller, I am seeing (good) and (not so good) corporate owned properties.  My buyers got a good one... great to find a "real" 3/2 + garage in Coral Gables in good condition.


Many foreclosed properties end up back in the hands of the bank (if nobody bids on them), and then the bank sells them as foreclosures while generally putting "NO" work into them.  These corporate sellers on the other hand, do a good community service if they put a little fix up work in them, and then enable a regular buyer "who does not have cash" to buy a nice property for a good price.

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!