Village of Palmetto Bay, FL

Palmetto Bay (North) Market Reports for December 2010

Active Listings:

There are 101 active homes on the market in North Palmetto Bay. With an average of 8.9 sales per month, we have an almost 11 months worth of inventory.

1. Two Highest priced home: I consider both to be anomalous listings.
   6755 SW 152 St. Listed at $7,900,000. It's 5.37 acre parcel with an older 10,000 square foot home, next door to Westminster Academy. It's been on the market since July.
2. Next Highest priced home:
   13600 SW 67 Avenue. Listed at $2,300,000. It's a 2+ acre property with a 9,000 square foot home. It's been on the market for over a year.
3. Next most expensive home is more of a home:
   13925 Old Cutler Road. $1,995,000. Brand new chic modern home on an acre. It's been on the market since September.
4. Least expensive home:
   7601 SW 168 St. $275,000. It's listed at and has been on the market since September. They started at $350,000.

The median asking price in North Palmetto Bay is $525,000. That's having removed the anomalous listings of the 2 most expensive homes on the market. It gives us a truer picture of Palmetto Bay although you'll notice that the average pending price is 25% lower than the asking price.

Pending Prices in December:

13 houses went under contract in North Palmetto Bay (North of SW 168 St) in the past 30 days! There are currently 37 homes under contract in total. All won't close, so don't get too excited. But it's still great news. It shows that the market is continuing to improve as home prices do continue to stabilize. The median pending price in Palmetto Bay is $399,000 or $141 a square foot.

1. The highest priced:
   14480 SW 75 Avenue: Listed at $605,000 and went under contract in 22 days!
2. Lowest Priced:
   15735 SW 87 Ave: Listed at $259 and went under contract in 9 days!

As always, well priced homes sell quickly even a market that has 11 months of inventory to sell!

Here are photos and more information for all those newly pended.

December Pended Homes

Recent Sales

12 homes closed in the past 30 days in the same area. The average sales price in North Palmetto Bay was $350,000. The average listing price of closed sales was $368,000.

1. Highest Priced:
   14950 SW 76 Ct listed at $649,000 and closed at $580,000. It took 169 days to sell. They had one price reduction in the listing term.
2. Lowest Priced:
   16644 SW 93 Ct: Listed at $329,900 and closed at $260,000. It took 279 days to sell. They also had 3 price reductions before it finally went under contract.

Search the Miami MLS

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The cover of this month's Time Magazine reads "Rethinking Homeownership". It goes on and on about foreclosures, walkaways, neighborhoods plagued by abandoned properties and its economic woes. I know that there is doom and gloom all over. The housing market isn't recovering anytime soon. It so much worse than any of us could have imagined, yet I still believe in homeownership.

Although the article speaks truths about what has happened to homeownership in the past few years, I still truly believe that owning a home is so much better than renting one. I love my house that we bought in Palmetto Bay, Florida in 1996. Before that, we lived in Pinecrest, Florida, another wonderful community.

At first, I didn't even like the Palmetto Bay home, but it was in our price range, close to good schools and had a good floor plan. If I had been only renting the house, I wouldn't have done anything to make it more of a representation of our family. I would have kept the walls gray, the windows steel, the roof dirty and the bathrooms old. I would have felt like I was living in a large hotel room. My clothes were there, but not my presence. That only comes from homeownership.

Also, I would have been at the whim of my landlord. What if he stopped paying his mortgage payment? What would happen to my family? What if someone offered him higher rent? What if he sold the house? What if....? You get my drift. We would be out on the streets again and always looking for another house to temporarily park ourselves. Security in your home only comes from homeownership.

About the neighbors around my Palmetto Bay home. I love them all! There isn't a bad neighbor anywhere! If I rented the house, I wouldn't have even bothered to introduce myself to our neighbors. Many of us had kids the same age and in the summer we would have block parties. Someone would haul out a BBQ grill, someone would bring the burgers, someone the veggies, someone the chips and so on. Now that the kids are all grown, we still wave, see their children's children visiting and it's absolutely wonderful. This only come from homeownership.

So, that's my two cents about homeownership. It can't be beat!