Stephen B. Sokolow

Sales of Town Homes in North Miami, Fl have picked up over the past 2 months. With the battle raging between straight owner sales vs the Shadow Inventory from banks this is a positive news. While most Real Estate experts believe that the current crisis in housing will last for another 3-5 years it is good to highlight good news when there is some available. In North Miami there have been 14 sales over the past 2 months. The median sales price for a town home was $149,750.

None of the 14 sales that occurred in the past 2 months are Foreclosed properties. These were all traditional sales. What is interesting about this figure is that it is win in the battle against the shadow inventory. Kevin Brungardt, who formerly held positions at Citigroup's Citi Mortgage and Fannie Mae and is currently the CEO of RoundPoint Financial Group, a Charlotte, N.C.-based mortgage banking, servicing and investment firm, says while borrower defaults have fallen "significantly," the so-called foreclosure shadow inventory remains "stuck," This decline in distressed assets from banks is going to directly effect the supply demand model.

As the shadow inventory stays on the market longer the banks are going to be forced to keep lowering their prices. Since the forecast for the next few years is not great economically in the US the supply of foreclosed properties is going to go up and drive prices down. This is going to bring a lot more buyers who have been renting the past 5 years off the sidelines and into the arena of home ownership.

http://sokolowrealestate.com/3494/dsp_agent_page.php/93763/Hot_Property/Featured_Property

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www.SokolowRealEstate.com

Ten Unit Foreclosed Apartment Building in North Miami, Fl for Sale.

 

When you sit down and examine the advantage of owning multifamily properties, you will be amazed at the multitude of benefits. While other types of commercial properties offer some attractive incentives, owning and investing in multifamily properties brings many great things to the table. Let’s take a look at just a few:

 

1. You can buy with NONE of your own cash. This one is my favorite! You will find that apartments are easier to get financing on and that the MORE you borrow the LESS they look at the borrower’s credit. In some instances, they don’t even look at the borrower’s credit but at the borrower’s assets instead.

 

2. Apartments are made to cash flow. This means that instead of there being one house with one roof generating only one source of income, you have one roof with a multitude of little houses under its’ roof creating multiple income streams. You have economy to scale. Apartments are designed to be income-producing properties.

 

 

3. Better leverage of your time and effort. Think about it. What would you rather do? Look for ten houses or a ten-unit apartment building? On the flip side, wouldn’t you rather sell a ten-unit apartment than sell ten houses? Of course! You have more leverage of your time.

 

4. The value of income properties is based on income. This is a function of Net Operating Income (NOI) and you can create value by raising the rents and cutting the expenses. This is a very predictable process. You can determine how much the property is worth based on how much you raise the rents.

 

 

5. Non-recourse financing. The more money you borrow, the easier it is to borrow. When you get to loans of two million dollars and above, it becomes non-recourse financing which means the asset is the sole security for the loan. No one is personally guaranteeing the entire loan balance, only a percentage.

 

 

As you can see, the advantages to owning multifamily properties are solid and sound. With so many venues to consider when trying to find something to generate passive income for yourself, you just can’t overlook the tremendous value created by multifamily properties.

 

Visit www.sokolowrealestate.com today to view Multi Family properties in South Florida.

 

ORLANDO, Fla. – Nov. 10, 2010 – For weeks leading up to the Nov. 2 elections, thousands of Realtors across Florida held signs, passed out stickers, alerted Facebook friends, made phone calls and knocked on doors to spread the word about the dangerous consequences of Amendment 4, the constitutional amendment which – if it had passed – would have required voter approval for all city and county growth management plan changes. Without the hard work and passionate commitment of Realtors and others opposed to Amendment 4, the outcome of the election could have been very different, said 2010 Florida Realtors President Wendell Davis, a broker with Watson Realty Corp. in Jacksonville. Realtor members and local Realtor associations were instrumental in the grassroots campaign to “Vote No on 4,” which was spearheaded by Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy, a coalition formed of more than 300 diverse organizations, including Florida Realtors among other business, labor, civic and planning groups, as well as concerned individuals. Rei L. Mesa, president and CEO of Prudential Florida Realty, Florida Real Estate Services, said he and the company’s large force of sales associates and affiliates worked diligently to tell customers, colleagues, friends and others throughout their communities why Amendment 4 should be defeated. “It was important to educate people about Amendment 4 and its consequences, and to keep the consensus growing,” Mesa said. “I’m a strong believer in ‘out of sight, out of mind’ – we consistently sent out emails with the ‘Vote No on 4’ message utilizing our customer database and extending it even beyond that. About 45 to 30 days before the election, we sent emails on a weekly basis; and then last week, I think I had an email message distributed almost every day. We were very pleased with the reaction from our customers and experienced no negativity.” Members of the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors supported the “Vote No on 4” campaign in numerous ways, such as distributing info cards and other materials at area events and trade shows, putting up yard signs and calling more than 1,700 households that received absentee ballots, urging residents there to vote no. According to Nancy Garcia, NEFAR’s government affairs director, members waved signs or handed out “Vote No on 4” materials to arriving fans at three of the Jaguars home games, as well as before the big Florida-Georgia game – NEFAR President Carol Hill even handed out stickers in the Jaguar colors at the NFL game and Gator-colored stickers at the UF/UGA matchup. Eric Sain, treasurer of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches and a Realtor with The Corcoran Group in Palm Beach, put up “Vote No on 4” signs near polling precincts at 4 a.m. on Election Day. He has two T-shirts with the “Vote No on 4” logo, and he wore them every day the week before the election – with daily washings, of course, he said. The shirts were a great way to start conversations about the amendment. “I was at our local farmers’ market and had people stop me to ask about Amendment 4,” he recalled. “They’d say, ‘I’ve seen the signs, I’ve seen the TV ads, but what is it all about? Why are you voting no on Amendment 4?’ Wearing the T-shirt helped put a face to our cause, and it really engaged the average guy on the street to feel comfortable in asking me about it.” In the Tallahassee area, more than 72 percent voted no on Amendment 4, noted Steven Louchheim, association executive for the Tallahassee Board of Realtors. “Our members really rallied to the cause,” he said. “People put out yard signs, they waved signs at strategic intersections and at the polling precincts. We raised money locally that paid for stickers promoting ‘Vote No on 4’ on the front page of the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper for three days and for seven billboards, which stayed up for 30 days. The effort definitely coalesced the business community in Tallahassee.” Amendment 4 was rejected by more than two-thirds of the state’s voters, demonstrating that the grassroots effort paid off at the polls. Following the election results, Davis thanked Realtor members and all “Florida voters for taking action to protect the future of our great state. Clearly, Floridians are committed to protecting jobs, preserving personal property rights and protecting our economy.”