Fort Lauderdale, FL

We list properties in Broward County and the Gold Coast. Sell your Broward County property through us. We are experts in selling properties in Broward County. Broward County Realtor. Broward County real estate.

Flat fee MLS listing Broward County. Discount real estate broker Broward County. For sale by owner services Broward County. List in the MLS for less. Use our FSBO MLS services to list your house or property. Flat fee discount Realtor.

List your home with us. Our buy owner real estate services are the best. Flat fee MLS and fixed fee MLS by owner services available. Contact us if you are looking to buy or sell a house or investment property. Investor MLS realty services.

Broward County is serviced by several local Realtor associations including the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale and the South Broward Board of Realtors . These associations use the South Florida Regional MLS (which we are members of) for their members to search for real estate listings.

Click here for more info on our flat fee MLS services.

We can provide our real estate services and discount MLS flat fee listings in all of the Gold Coast, Central & South Florida and beyond including Parkland, Coconut Creek, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, Margate, Pompano Beach, Lighthouse Point, Hillsboro Beach, Tamarac, North Lauderdale, Lauderdale by the Sea, Sea Ranch Lakes, Oakland Park, Wilton Manors, Lazy Lake, Fort Lauderdale, Ft Lauderdale, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, Sunrise, Plantation, Weston, Davie, Dania Beach, Hollywood, Southwest Ranches, Cooper City, Pembroke Pines, Miramar, West Park, Pembroke Park, Hallandale Beach, and all of Broward County FL.

There are so many naysayers out there and that will probably never change. Some people make a living at throwing negativity out in the world just to throw out a contrasting point of view. To them I say, "Find a new job!"

Just in the last twelve months in the Ft. Lauderdale real estate market, I've witnessed price points under $400k experiencing bidding wars over distressed or newly renovated properties. In many ways, it was reminiscent of the old glory days of 5 years ago.

Ft. Lauderdale has experienced a renaissance in the real estate market. Prices of homes and investment properties are now so affordable that the non-college type can purchase and own a piece of terra-firma. If a person has carpentry or mechanical talents, there are properties going for as much as 75% off their peak prices from 5 years ago. After recently doing some extensive research in the Ft. Lauderdale area investment arena, it's clear that the affordable properties to renovate and hold as rentals are quickly disappearing. This was not the case this time last year.

Mortgage rates have now calmed back under the 5% threshold to close at 4.98% on Friday, January 29th. Most economists do predict unfortunately that the rates will increase to approximately 6% by year's end. This could have a substantial impact to the local Ft. Lauderdale real estate market. The driving forces of recovery in this local real estate market have been ridiculously low interest rates and free government money. Someone in Washington maybe had a fuzzy but practical point to give tax credits to the first time buyers. When the tax credit was extended to existing home owners on December 1st, that was brilliant. Someone figured out that the pool of first time buyers would eventually dwindle, but a bigger source of movement could come from the pool of existing home owners. The key to the continued recovery in the local Ft. Lauderdale market will come from the extension of the tax credit due to expire on the 30th of April.

A huge turn for the Ft. Lauderdale real estate market came from a change in the perception of the consumer. There is a lot more confidence in the local real estate market now compared to two years ago. In 2007 to early 2008, you couldn't put a price attractive enough to sway many to take the leap of ownership. Many went into rentals knowing that the prices were falling and they were going to wait it out. Today, that ship has sailed and people are once again exchanging their existing homes, often securing the buyer within 79-90 days from listing the property and settling on an offer that is approximately 96% of their asking price. These are great number that have only improved within the past 12 months.

To the naysayers, find another job! Ft. Lauderdale real estate is alive and recovering nicely. To those who are still on the fence, jump off and dive right in. The water is warm and it's calm. You may tread a little water in terms of appreciation for the next few years, but the freedom of ownership, the free tax money and the income tax right off for interest and taxes are very intoxicating for building wealth in the near future.

If you'd like to chat more leave me a message.

Yesterday, FHA announced changes to the criteria in which they insure loans. According to the Florida Association of Realtors, here is a break down of the 4 key points.

1. The mortgage insurance premium (MIP) will be increased to build up capital reserves and bring back private lending

· The first step is to raise the upfront MIP by 50 bps to 2.25 percent and request legislative authority to increase the maximum annual MIP that FHA can charge.

· If this authority is granted, the second step is to shift some of the premium increase from the up-front MIP to the annual MIP.

· This shift will allow for the capital reserves to increase with less impact to the consumer, because the annual MIP is paid over the life of the loan instead of at the time of closing.

· The initial upfront increase is included in a Mortgagee Letter to be released today, Jan. 21, and will go into effect in the spring.

2. Update the combination of FICO scores and down payments for new borrowers.

· New borrowers will now be required to have a minimum FICO score of 580 to qualify for FHA's 3.5 percent down payment program. New borrowers with less than a 580 FICO score will be required to put down at least 10 percent.

· This change will be posted in the Federal Register in February and, after a notice and comment period, go into effect in the early summer.

3. Reduce allowable seller concessions from 6 percent to 3 percent

· FHA says the current level exposes the FHA to excess risk by creating incentives to inflate appraised value.

· This change will be posted in the Federal Register in February, and after a notice and comment period, go into effect in the early summer.

4. Increase enforcement on FHA lenders

· Publicly report lender performance rankings to complement currently available Neighborhood Watch data will be on HUD's website on Feb. 1. This is an operational change to make information user-friendly and hold lenders more accountable; it does not require new regulatory action as Neighborhood Watch data is currently publicly available.

· Enhance monitoring of lender performance and compliance with FHA guidelines and standards.

· Implement statutory authority through regulation of section 256 of the National Housing Act to enforce indemnification provisions for lenders using delegated insuring process.

· HUD is pursuing legislative authority to increase enforcement on FHA lenders.

As it stands, with the exception of the MIP increase, it appears that FHA is merely trying to set a standard for the first time on what they will insure. The banking institutions set their own standards of loaning money backed by FHA with higher standards than those announced yesterday. My purpose of giving this information is to make clear to everyone that the surge in activity we've all seen due to FHA and the government tax credit will be minimally affected. As for the Seller's concessions, Sellers were only allowed to contribute 3% on a minimal down payment prior to the announcement. Since most people opting for an FHA loan place the minimal amount down payment, there is really no substantial change.

Happy New Year everyone! In Ft. Lauderdale there is definitely something to cheer about. Inventories of all type of dwellings in the greater Ft. Lauderdale area continuing to shrink quickly.

Despite a minor uptick in the month of November, December continued Ft. Lauderdale’s winning way and another significant drop occurred. As I previously wrote, November seemed to be an anomaly. The slight uptick was created most probably due to the expiration of the Federal Tax Credit offered to first time buyers. Likely in October, most saw the purchase of a home to be too late to qualify for the credit, so the first timers backed off. After the extension was granted, everyone came out in full force and this would explain the drop in December.

Currently, according to the Ft. Lauderdale Board of Realtors, there are only 7889 single-family homes available on the MLS. Multi-family dwellings are also experiencing a huge uptick in sales leaving only 13,052 actual homes as of January 11,2010. These numbers represent a huge actual drop from approximately 24,000 homes available 3 months earlier. 2009 was a turning point for the Ft. Lauderdale real estate market. When analyzing price points up to $400k during the time period from December 2008 until December 2009, single-family home inventories dropped by a whopping 56.7% according to Trendsgraphix. During this same period, multi-family inventories dropped a staggering 59.9%!

Many factors played a role in what seems to be a successful recovery in progress. In spite of the 15% true unemployment and 10% mortgage defaults, people are choosing to look at the glass as half full. There are 85% of Americans who possess a job and 90% who are current with their mortgage. Another factor is the Federal Tax Credit. Who doesn’t want free money? With the extension of the tax credit until April 30th for contracts and June 30th to close on the home, people want and need help. First time buyers see the merits of throwing out the rent box in favor of future tax deductions for property tax and mortgage interest. Many are educated in this area and waited for the pieces of the puzzle to come together. Finally, interest rates have fueled the fire. With rates now hovering around 5%, buyers and sellers are beginning to realize that these rates are artificially low and won’t last forever. Any sane individual that has the need to buy or sell is trying to do so right now!

Sellers, you can also be encouraged. According to Trendsgraphix, single-family homes priced under $400k are selling within 79 days of listing for a comfortable 96% of the asking price. In multi-family homes, it’s taking 93 days to receive an offer of 94% of the asking price. These statistics are awesome. They are better than some months during the boom years for real estate. Market conditions within the greater Ft. Lauderdale area are getting to a point of being a Seller’s market in some price points. With inventories of single-family homes priced under $400k now at 5.1 months and 9.6 months for multi-family, one can see why many homes are experiencing multiple offers once again.

2010 offers the market of Ft. Lauderdale a sense of hope and promise. The light is coming at the end of an extremely long tunnel. If you’d like to talk more on this topic, click here and make your comments heard! Happy New Year.

The days of simply opening up shop and starting a loan modification business have come to an end in Florida. Individuals or businesses providing loan modification services must now be licensed as a mortgage broker by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) in order to conduct business.

The Florida legislature recently passed Senate Bill SB 2226. This law makes significant changes to Florida's mortgage brokerage law - Chapter 494, Florida Statutes - effective January 1, 2010. In particular, the new law specifically covers negotiation of existing loans as being part of the duties of a mortgage broker. As such, any individual or business attempting to negotiate a loan mortgage modification in Florida will require a license through OFR. Additionally, there are new disclosures required in order to perform a loan modification - large type print on contracts and a three day rescission period are among a few of the changes.

The new law also requires "loan originators" to obtain a license. Prior to the amended law, there was a large loophole that allowed salaried employees of a mortgage broker to act as loan originators and still receive compensation for bringing a borrower and lender together. Although this section of the law phases in on October 1, 2010, hundreds of individuals have submitted applications to the OFR to become compliant.

The new law was sparked by hundreds of complaints filed with the state attorney general's office in Tallahassee. While only 59 complaints were filed in 2008, the number skyrocketed to approximately 3,750 this year, according to Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, who recently appeared on the Credit Report with Bill Lewis on AM 1470 WWNN in south Florida.

In an effort to combat the rampant increase in foreclosure rescue scams within an industry previously unregulated, General McCollum sued three Miami-Dade County foreclosure rescue firms - and the attorneys who worked for them - alleging that they charged advance "qualifying payments" as high as $1,299 to perform loan modifications in violation of state law. Filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court on December 17, 2009, the suit also claims the company required clients to set up escrow accounts for additional fees and deceived them by implying the money was for legal representation.

After receiving numerous complaints - the majority originating from consumers outside Florida - the attorney general began investigating Kirkland Young LLC in July, 2009. State regulators soon realized that the business was affiliated with ABK Consultants Inc. and Attorney Aid LLC, which were also named in the suit. Although located in Miami-Dade, the businesses solicited customers nationwide. The legal action seeks to shut down the three companies, a $10,000 fine for each violation of state law, as well as restitution for consumers scammed in the process. Although in receivership, Kirkland Young has also been sued by the Federal Trade Commission.

Through November 30, 2009 South Florida ranks fourth in the nation for home loan modifications, with 34,860 under President Barack Obama's Making Home Affordable Program. Nationwide, 24 percent of the 3.3 million homes with distressed loans have been modified, according to a U.S. Department of the Treasury report. While the new law is not going to eliminate loan modification scams completely, it will make them more difficult. In the first half of 2009, the Miami-Dade County's Mortgage Fraud Task Force was handling more than 200 cases of loan modification fraud. In 2008, the Miami-Dade field office of the FBI had the second-highest number of mortgage fraud reports in the country with 5,155 reported instances.