Brittex Blog

This special speaking event is this Saturday, November 15, 2008, at 5:00 P.M. at the Miami Dade Community College, Wolfson Campus, in downtown Miami.  Realtor, Ken Rosen, recently published Investing in Income Properties which contains his "big six" formula for achieving wealth in real estate.  See the recent Brittex Press Release.  

• Miami Book Fair Speaks Passion
• Miami Book Fair Highlights
• Miami Book Fair Tickets
• Book Fair Authors

On October 10th Kenneth D. Rosen, CCIM, Realtor, spoke at FIU's Jerome Bain Real Estate Institute on his recently published book Investing in Income Properties. In this book is his formula known as the "big six" criteria for selecting and buying income properties.

South Florida Markets

For years we have tracked the EWM trends for South Florida.  Using this site at www.ewm.com/trendx we have been able to follow the change in supply v. demand that is so important to price and marketing times.  

Appraisers and other analysts using market datas could see the rise in listings beginning in 2006. There was a lag in the lowering of residential sales prices in early 2007 as sellers had not reduced prices hoping markets would rebound.  It took time; however, the market principle of supply v. demand caused prices to drop substantially in late 2007 and 2008.

New construction has come to a screeching halt along with condo conversions.  I recall when graduating from the University of Florida, the federal government repealed the accelerated real estate depreciation rules, and commercial real estate sales and new construction slowed.  

Properties had to return to basic economics of "return on investment" and the "internal rate of return," for investors to become interested again in buying.  It took between six to ten years for the commercial market to rebound in the past due to tax reform.

Supply and demand in our residential markets will eventually fall into balance as the financial markets stabilize, population grows, and buyers find good deals for both residential and commercial properties. 

In The Miami Herald (below) I was quoted on "absorption." The reporter was not able to include that absorption times will  be shorter, helped in part by the end of both new construction and condo conversions. It is a principle of basic economics that price will fall until the supply and demand are back to normal levels.  We saw this business cycle in Miami on Brickell Avenue in early 1980, although it only involved about 5,000 total units.

As of August 2008, the listings and sales are broken down for Miami-Dade County into the following:

• Condominiums
• Single Family Homes
• Combined Condos and SFR's

According to the EWM data, the total number of combined condo and SFR listings are 42,292 listings with only 974 selling in August 2008.  That is a total absorption of 43.42 months or 3.62 years. (Note that in previous markets the normal marketing time was between three and nine months according to Realtors we have interviewed).  The data and total absorption is broken down as follows:

• Single Family Homes - 17,176 listings / 461 sales = 3.1 years
• Condominiums - 25,116 listings / 513 sales = 4.08 years

Note: This is general data and markets can be looked at individually, and the county can be broken down into sub-markets for further analysis.

Below is the "sub-market" graph for the Village of Pinecrest.  It indicates 271 total listings and 9 sales for the last reporting period.  This is a reduction from the 18 sales of March 2008 (see my previous post).

The total absorption is 2.51 years, which is less than the county-wide numbers.

It is clear that the "spec" building in Pinecrest has slowed substantially, which will help to tighten the supply.  Also, the prices for single-family homes and buildable lots (acres) have dropped substantially. 

Below is the data graph of The Village of Pinecrest. Blue represents listings and in red is the number of sales. 

My last post of August 24th dealt with appealing real estate taxes.

The deadline is approaching.

The appeal and check to the VAB must be received by Miami-Dade by September 17th.  For Broward County, the deadline is September 19th.

In Miami-Dade, the form and check must be received by that date (and the postmark does not count).  One can mail the appeal or you can go downtown to file the paperwork.

In Broward, one can file on-line. The following are links to the petition forms:

Miami-Dade Link:

http://www.miami-dadeclerk.com/dadecoc/Web-Forms/VAB/481-PETITION-2008.pdf

Broward Link:

http://bcvab.broward.org/axiaweb2008/wizard/petition.aspx

Once the application is submitted, the hearing will be scheduled in 2009. The county is still hearing 2007 cases, thus, there is an overlapping of dates.

The "just valuation" cut off date is January 1 of the current year which means that for the tax year 2008 comparable sales can not be submitted that occurred later than  January 1, 2008.  Thus, it is a retrospective date and analysis and not a "current" value.

The market data in connection with the appeal can be submitted prior to the hearing and it is not necessary to submit the sales at the time of filing the application.

Transfer of Homestead Assessment - For portability issues and transferring of equity, please see the following guideline and explanation of the tax reform act which is also known as portability or the "transfer of the homestead exemption difference." 

You will receive your 2008 tax notice by the end of August.  If you are contesting the market and or assessed value, you should contact Britt at (305) 663-7334 x170. 

Petition forms for the appeal of your taxes must be filed by September 17, 2008.  If you feel that the County Appraiser valued your property higher than the current market value, you should call us.

Britt recently successfully argued a 2007 appeal for a home in Coral Gables and convinced the county's Special Master to reduce the assessment by $197,555 (a reduction or 25%).  The tax millage is 19.53 resulting in a tax savings of $3,858.25.

Call Britt at  (800) 869-5517 x170.

P.S. Starting with 2008 as a base year, the assessments of non-homestead properties are limited to a 10% increase until there is a change in ownership or control.  Thus, the 2008 assessment and appeals are important.

The newest figures were released on May 27 from S&P Case Shiller Home Price Indices. The link to the site is below:

The land use restrictions requiring covenants can be broken down into three categories;

1) Restricted land use within a Wellfield Protection Area,

2) Restricted Land use due to the use of a septic tank,

3) Restricted Land Use to protect a natural resource.

Link to the Wellfield Protection Areas

This month listings and sales of single family homes in The Village of Pinecrest are being shown.  The source for this chart is www.ewm.com/trendx which contains information about many submarkets in both Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. 

The Village of Pinecrest's inventory of homes has grown from 254 homes on the market in December 2007 to 277 homes in March 2008.  There is a one month lag in the data reporting.  Sales are indicated in red. Absorption is arrived at by dividing the supply by the demand which is 15.4 months. Exposure and marketing times may differ from absorption. 

The EWM table showing Miami Beach condo sales for December 2007 was recently published.  There were only 44 sales of condos for that reporting period, down from 78 in the previous period.  This is consistent with the slow down of the economy which we have been experiencing. The supply (blue bar) of units appears to have flattened out since June 2007.