March 29, 2024

Fort Laudedale Condominiums for Sale – Auberge

Rendering of the future Auberge Fort Lauderdale

Rendering of the future Auberge Fort Lauderdale

Auberge Fort Lauderdale !, the long awaited announcement for the future of the most desirable buildable property  along Fort Lauderdale Beach has been made and by all accounts its has been worth waiting for.  With preconstruction prices at Auberge Fort Lauderdale from at $1.5 to over $9 million, the total of 171 Fort Lauderdale Condominiums that will rise on these four square blocks are destined to become the premiere residences of Fort Lauderdale Beach.

The north tower of this most recent addition to the market of Fort Lauderdale Condominiums just went on sale. Consisting of 17 stories and just 56 units, this tower of the building will house some of he most desirable oceanfront condominiums in Fort Lauderdale. The entire condominium will sit on 450 feet of spectacular Fort Lauderdale beach front.  Condominiums at Auberge range from 1700 sq. feet of over 5000 sq. feet and all have expansive outdoor living spaces ranging from 900 sq. feet to over 4000 sq. feet.  If you have been waiting for the real estate market to come alive in Fort Lauderdale the wait is over as numerous new Fort Lauderdale Condominiums are coming to market. Auberg, with the architecture of Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe and Associates is destined to be the new trophy of Fort Lauderdale beach.

The team at Eric Miller and Associates, Keller Williams Realty Professionals, are award winning independent agents and can represent you throughout the buying process at Auberge Fort Lauderdale and all your local real estate needs. Eric Miller can be reached directly at (954) 383-8170 or via email at Eric@FortLaudealeGroup.com

 

FHA Loans Become Less of a Bargain

Being out blog is about Fort Lauderdale Real Estate any announcement about FHA mortgages must included the fact that as an overall percentage of mortgages in with Fort Lauderdale Real Estate home sales, FHA loans are a small percentage of all loan origination’s. Jumbo loans are available, but on these loans over $625,000 the fees are larger than the ones discussed here, The reasons are simply that most condominiums are not FHA approved and often Fort Lauderdale single family home market values exceed the limits of FHA lending without increased fees. That all being said the Federal Housing Administration most commonly known as FHA,announced it will raise premiums by 0.1%, on most of the new mortgages it insures.

Their loan are predominately low down payment loans, so the impact maybe more dramatic than it sounds in certain real estate markets. Borrowers who take a 30-year mortgage and put less than 20% down often are FHA borrowers. These buyers who put down more than 5% will pay an annual insurance premium of 1.3%, buyers who put down less than 5% down will pay a premium of 1.35%. In the past these premiums disappeared as a homeowner gained equity in the property but were always difficult to have removed. It now appears that most buyers can expect to pay these premiums for the entire time they have the loan. We have always felt when ever possible avoid loans that charge these premiums as it will add to the overall cost of home ownership and rob of you equity that you will accumulate faster with a conventional loan.

FHA historically has been the source for first time home buyers, and it is therefore sad that their fees and qualifications continue to rise as this will effect the number of first time home buyers able to enter any real estate market. In Fort Lauderdale Real Estate, FHA buyers face another obstacle and that is that it often hard to find a seller willing to accept an offer with smaller down payments, and the additional inspections qualifications required by FHA.  FHA loans face a reputation problem when it come to getting to the closing table and in a market where multiple offers are lately the norm, FHA buyers are having a harder time finding property in todays Fort Lauderdale real estate market.

Strong Planning, Upgrades, and now Sales are protecting property Values

Eventhough the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate market faced tough times over the last five years many condominiums and neighborhoods throughout the South Florida area approached the challenges knowing exactly what was needed to make sure as the next cycle of real estate began with property values of their homes particpating at the start of the rebound.

Neighborhoods that aggressively went after banks that were not taking care of properties whcih were in or heading to foreclosure, were protecting the value of their entire community. Cities that placed liens and refused to back down on poorly care fored properties saw banks pay attention and neglected pools were closed down properly and lawns were mowed. Condominium and homeowners associations who budgeted for unpaid maintance, foreclosed on property (when appropriate) and refused to give in on high amounts owed at closing simply because the system was slow, today are seeing the benefits of a well run property.

As these properties do proceed through the foreclosure system many well runned communitues will see nice returns back into the funds they created for “unpaid HOA dues” often in large lump sums at closing. Sometimes other, not so well runned communites, will get lucky when a realtor gets involved after many missteps by a property and gets the community a check far larger than they legally were entitled to with a large piece of it going to their own legal fees, luckily creating a surprise win for the community.

One property where Eric Miller of Keller Williams Fort Lauderdale has been very involved, as a former board member and a current property owner is the Tides at Bridgeside Square. This condominium has stayed the course throughout the real estate downtown with a great board, management company, and building staff that has risen to occasion. The building has funded reserves in a responsible fashion, worked through the process of foreclosures and short sales consistantly and is a well funded property that is watching their efforts pay off.

In 2012 the building at 10 years old completed an exterior painting of the building, there was no accessment done to complete this project. Currently the unit owners are voting on final design presenations for the new hallways, which will be upgraded beyond the level of the original construction, inlcuding marble elevator lobbies, and a new more elegant feel throughout. This huge project is also fully funded through reserves.

Just a few weeks ago numerous sales were recorded at the Tides of Bridgeside Square. In 2011 the highest recored sale was $290,000 so far in 2012 sales have been recorded at $315,000, $359,000, and with only 8 units available for sale in a building of 246 great Fort Lauderdale Beach Area Condos 2012 is certainly going be seen as the turn around year for this and many other Fort Lauderdale Beach Properties. Eric Miller and Associates were involved in everyone of the sales mention above and are always here to help you with your needs at the Tides at Bridgeside Square and every east Fort Lauderdale Property.

If you are just starting your search for real estate in the Fort Lauderdale area, and know that you like the beach area close to Oakland Park Boulvard and the Tides Fort Lauderdale, here are some other great proeprties we will be happy to show to you. That are selling to today at prices that we thing repreent very close tothe bottom of Fort Lauderale Real Estate market.  Some featured properties worth a look are below.

L’Hemitage is concerned to be one of Fort Lauderdale’s finest residential condominums, sitting on 12 acres of beachfront property. Built in 1997 the timeless architecture of the these two white tower on Fort Lauderdale Beach make it one the most desired resort style propeties in the area.  A pool side cafe and the fact that the buildings are pet freindly add to the appeal of L’ Hermitage. Today there are L’Hermitage Condos available starting at $699,000 range to just under $4,000,000.

 

At the classic Vantage View Condominium in most cases an odd numbered unit is featuring a beautiful intracostal and downtown view and an evn number is facring the ocean. At just a block form the beach this beautful building has received a new lobby and numerous upgrades over the years. One of the properties claims to fame is a roof toop swimming pool which provides from some of the most amazing views of the entire South Florida area and the beach. There are only 5 units listed for sale and they are ranging from $199,000 to $309,000 a great place to call your first Fort Lauderale home.

Curious about Fort Lauderdale Real Estate we are here to answer all your area real estate questions and may even use your question as a feature in an upcoming article.

Greenspan says, He doesn’t understand home pricing !

Alan Greenspan this morning said that when it comes to regular homes sales, that do not include Foreclosed or Short Sold properties  prices have flat lined nationwide. He went on to say that he does not understand why Foreclosed Homes and Short Sales are happening at such deep discounts to the market and actually making the average price of homes look like it is still dropping. I had to get typing here, Dear Alan, as a professional is the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate market please let me help you shed some light on your questions.

The first asnwer is simple, foreclosuers are not happening in great numbers in the best neighborhoods in town, Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Foreclosurer List, they are not on the beach (there is always an occasional exepction). These home were always in less expensive locations and continue to drive down the average price of all home sales as they move through the inventory.

Now lets discuss the more complicated issues. I hope to do so on a few fronts and maybe I will get lucky and someone of influence will read this and some light bulbs will go off. I sincerely do agree that there is no recovery to be had in this country until, the risk factor of construction is taken away, people are back to work, and the desire for housing ownership returns.

1) Banks are in processing madness. They appear to see no reason to get deals done quickly. Between insurance policies on their assets and government programs which help them along, urgency is gone. Someone has to pay for the outrageous time these hardship short sales take to process, and even though we don’t seem to understand it,  its all of us who are paying.   Part of the time factor, and failure rate, becomes priced into the asset with the “I don’t want to deal with a short sale attitude”. One example file , over a year old, has cost the bank 30% of the asset since the time they first had a chance to react, the government, you and I are picking up part of the tab. Taxes due, mortgage payments in arrears, past due maintance, dropping prices, buyers who left, bank foreclosurers of identical properties at lower prices have all hurt this asset. Solution –  place a time frame on all insurance and government programs such as HAFA  from the time a short sale offer is given to the bank, if they don’t react all programs need to disappear, if the bank does not react they should automatically waive their ability to ever seek a defiecency judgment. I will bet their ability to process would change quickly.

2) Foreclosures are selling at such a discount to the market, simply because the banks once again have gotten in the way of free markets. If the average days on market of a property in an area is 90 days and the bank tells their realtor they want it gone in 10 days ( after they have held the property for a year  and lead it into a state of ill repair) where and to whom do you think it is going to sell. It becomes a home not for an end user but for an investor, a renovator, and gets sold way under “market value”, it gets sold to a “friend of the market” for wholesale. If the property was sold on the open market with traditional neighborhood Realtors in a time frame reflective of the market, prices would certainly be higher. Prices are always higher when these homes come back on the market as normal sales 90 days later after a clean up. A very serious number to look at is the number of foreclosued  properties that are coming back on the market within 6 months as those, higher regular sales you talk about.

3) Strategic defaults – prices keep dropping – more people simply make the decision to give up as prices drop.  Its time to make sure  that foreclosure is not viewed as something easy, that will go away quickly. We spend more money in this country advertising that you shouldn’t smoke than, we spend discussing  the years of financial suffering that walking away from your home may cause. Foreclosurer is not something we should be proud of, it is just sad, and it is a hardship. I am totally sensitive to when it is the right decision, but when certain financial advisers are telling everyone to “just walk away”, as if it won’t hurt them, it simply becomes part of the problem. So where to go from here, we go to #4.

4) Encourage home ownership,  making  interest payments tax deductible, it is not enough. Use the money we are throwing at the system to Clearly Support Home Ownership in America. Take away the discussion that renting is cheaper than owning. Its time  to start thinking about what we do we encourage individual home ownership. A start, reward homeownership by making equity payments ( payment down of your mortgage) tax deductible. People who can pay additional money on their current mortgages will pump money back in to the system, and see a financial reason to keep their homes, and not walk away. Bring on depreciation deductions for primary residences, larger than the ones we give investors on the properties they rent out. Even out the playing field so Suze Orman cant  say “Walk Away“, to many callers.  Want some more ideas, ask Suze Orman ! Ask her, What would allow you to support ownership in front of your millions of viewers ?, I think she would certainly let us all know how she feels.

I dont’ have all the answers and most likely raise more questions that answers, but I do know that when people can’t see the value of building equity in their homes talking about a construction and housing recovery,  is a mis-directed conversation.

Ft Lauderdale Insurance Rates

State Farm Homeowners Policies rates about to rise.

The Office of Insurance Regulation approved a 19 percent average statewide rate increase for State Farm home insurance policies.  The changes are to take effect beginning in July as policies are renewed.

From this State Farm 19 percent statewide average home owners increase here are some average rate increase breakdowns for our area. Investor owned homes that are leased out will see an average state wide increase of 62%.  Homeowners in Western Broward will see an average increase of 64%.  Homeowners East of the Intracoastal in Broward will see an average increase of 50%.  Homeowners in the “middle of Broward”  will see an average increase of 10%.

There is some good news for renters who will see their statewide average drop 15% and Florida Condominium Owners who will see an average statewide rate decrease of 3%. Again this is for State Farm Home Insurance Policy holders, only.

Home owners insurance is only one issue to be aware of when buying Ft Lauderdale Real Estate,   another is, Ft Lauderdale Condominium association dues, and Broward County Real Estate Taxes are other costs which can be specific to an area. When buying Ft Lauderdale Real Estate these are discussions to have with your  Ft Lauderdale Real Estate Agent.

Shifting Markets in Fort Lauderdale Real Estate

When the real estate market shifts to a more balanced market, a market where neither buyers nor sellers have a huge advantage in a real estate transaction does anyone truly expect it to happen to the “national real estate market”? Does anyone truly expect to able to mark their calendars on the exact day the real estate crisis ended and the market stabilized?

The answer is simply, the real estate conversation is going to shift from one of the “national real estate market to those words much more associated with real estate, location, location, location? The shift to a more balance market is going to happen neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city, with the areas with a better economic foundation moving forward first.

Recently we have seen a shift in certain neighborhoods within the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate market that indicates the shift is coming. One such area is the City of Wilton Manors, where Wilton Manors Real Estate saw the supply of homes for sale drop to less than 5 months supply based on current sales trends. Many condominium buildings are seeing Fort Lauderdale Condos for Sale at their properties drop below 10% of the number of units at the property. We once saw this 10% number as a balanced market.

There will be bumps in the road. No recovery is ever a straight line out of the woods, and we don’t expect prices to be immune to the things that place pressure on our economy as a whole. However we do see inventory shrinking, multiple offers on well prices properties, and there is major activity in the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate market, check out our market statistics tab regularly for markets.

Ft Lauderdale Real Estate Auction Proves Demand for Ft Lauderdale Real Estate

Fort Lauderdale Real Estate demand proved to be the exact opposite of what national reports keep saying about the real estate market in general. A few weeks back as we discussed in an earlier blog post the Fountains on Ocean Blvd. conducted a real estate auction for the remaining unsold inventory. The auction drew a huge crowd of buyers to the Fort Lauderdale Hilton on a beautiful sunny day in Ft. Lauderdale, to buy their own piece of Fort Lauderdale Real Estate.

Fort Lauderdale Condominiums were sold in an orderly fashion of aggressive bidding, and in just over an hour the last remaining Ft Lauderdale Condominium units at the Fountains on Ocean Boulevard were under contract and called for by lucky buyers who will get to close on one the last remaining unsold developer Fort Lauderdale Condominiums.

Ft Lauderdale Condos were sold at about 40% off of the original asking prices, with unit selling from just under $300,000 into the mid $500,000 range. The demand was strong and the prices are a true indication of market value of Ft Lauderdale Condos.

Fort Lauderdale Condominiums near the beach are part of a Ft Lauderdale Real Estate market where location is everything and has not been plagued with an endless supply of foreclosures and short sales. The bargains are out there, but if you have been waiting to purchase a Fort Lauderdale Condo near Ft. Lauderdale Beach, now is the time to plan your shopping trip, as the good inventory is clearly being sold to the highest bidder, as inventory continues to shrink when it comes to Fort Lauderdale Condominiums.

Ft Lauderdale Condos – A Change for Fort Lauderdale Real Estate

Fort Lauderdale Real Estate News reports seem to ignore a simple fact about the Fort Lauderdale Condo market today. Construction plans have stopped and sales are growing. As Fort Lauderdale Realtors, we know that 2011 will be the last year to purchase a brand new condominium in the Ft Lauderdale Condo market for at least 4 to 5 years.
If you have been thinking for years about purchasing a New Condominium in the Ft. Lauderdale area, 2011 is the year as supply is twiddling of new Condos in Ft Lauderdale.

Fort Lauderdale CondosWhen Fort Lauderdale Real Estate prices collapsed there were only a few buildings under construction in the Fort Lauderdale Condo Market. Adding Pompano Beach, and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea to the inventory of the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate, only adds three additional new developments to the inventory of Fort Lauderdale Condos.

We currently estimate that in the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate market there may be less than 150 brand new Ft. Lauderdale Condos available for sale, and this number is shrinking rapidly. As developers dropped prices to sell units the market has responded accordingly.

 

Ready to see these condos, thinking about calling one of the last new Ft. Lauderdale Condos your own, call Eric Miller and Associates and schedule our new construction tour. We will set up the appointments and turn you into experts on the Fort Lauderdale Luxury Condo market in a few short hours. As FFt Lauderdale Condost Lauderdale Real Estate experts we are excited about the great product available and the bargains that current buyers are getting, but simply it is not going to last.  In real estate, if you can purchase a Ft. Lauderdale Condo brand new for less that it would cost to build, this is a bargain.

In the Fort Lauderdale Condo market there is remaining unsold inventory in the Sapphire, Fountains on Ocean Drive, and Coconut Grove. In Pompano we add the Sonata Beach, and the Oceanside, and in Lauderdale-by-Sea we add Villas of the Sea.  At Eric Miller and Associates we are here to answer to your questions about any Ft. Lauderdale Real Estate.

Taxes in the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Market

Taxes, Taxes and more Taxes – Whats the Real Truth?

Real Estate taxes in the Fort Lauderdale Real Estate market can be confusing to some buyers new to the Fort Lauderdale area. The basic concept that all Fort Lauderdale Real Estate buyers need to understand is that their property will be reaccessed with a sale, and taxes can go  both up and down depending on the last accessment.  As a rule of thumb estimating your annual real estate taxes at 2% of the purchase price will be a good estimate.

Foreclosure | Hot Property | Great Buy

Bamboo Flats is the one of the coolest newer town-home communities inan are just north of downtown Fort Lauderdale called Flagler Village. This area is destined to be cool artsy center for living in downtown Fort Lauderdale. When the Fort Lauderdale  Real Estate market slowed many of the area projects that were planned were placed on hold.

Bamboo Flat Mixed Use Foreclosure

Bamboo Flats which was already underway was completed and today stands strong as a great contemporary village of town homes with beautifully maintained landscaping and a great community pool. On the West side of the community a few mixed use units were built. The first floor is a work space, for a professional office. Opening on the street it is ideal for an office that does not generate retail type traffic. It is zoned professional office. Above the office is three stories of loft like living, with a seperate entrance plus a roof top deck. Originally this property closed in 2007 for $533,000. Today it stands designer ready ( waiting for flooring ) at just $306,900. As an REO sale we expect this property to sell quickly, with multiple offers and we are calling this our weeks best buy among Fort Lauderdale Foreclosures.

UPDATE HOME CLOSED FOR $300,000 – A Great Buy