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Your Bi-Weekly Newsflash from
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A quick dash of news you need to hear
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| Foreign Investors Dominate in South Fla Real Estate Purchases |
 The spectacular meltdown of the region's once white-hot housing
scene has caught the attention of global buyers who may have once
considered U.S. real estate out of reach.
A weak dollar is also
giving them an edge. In many areas, residential real estate is selling
for 50 percent less -- and even lower -- compared to peak prices. On
Friday, the euro closed at $1.473, a penny away from a 14-month high
against the dollar.
``The Swiss, Spanish, groups from Italy
and England who already own some stuff down here are seeing it as a
good time to buy, leveraging the economy and the currency effect,''
said Mike Lapointe, vice president of Baybridge Capital Advisors in
Miami.
The Florida Association of Realtors reported recently
that the median home price in Miami-Dade fell to $190,900 in September,
down 30 percent compared to a year ago. The median condo price fell to
$132,900, a drop of 37 percent.
Read on... |
Falling Prices May Prompt Rebound In Business Sales
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 The median asking price of a business for sale in the Orlando-area was
$195,000 in the third quarter, down slightly from $199,000 a year ago,
according to BizBuySell.com, a Web site that lists businesses for sale
by brokers and owners.
The site reported 41 closed transactions in the Orlando area during the
quarter, and said that, as sellers drop their asking prices, the
small-business market is picking up, both nationally and locally.
"We are starting to see, I would say, a rebound in small-business
transactions," said Mike Handelsman, the Web site's general manager. In
Orlando, the median sale price for completed transactions was $125,000,
or about 86 percent of the asking price. Among those looking to buy:
people who have lost corporate jobs.
"A lot of those people are going to look to the small-business market
to effectively buy a job," Handelsman said. "That's the phenomenon that
we're seeing."
Read on...
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First-time home buyers rush to meet deadline for $8,000 tax credit
First-time home buyers seeking the $8,000 tax
credit aren't just racing a Nov. 30 deadline to buy a house, they're
also competing with Thanksgiving, traditionally a 3-day work week for
financial institutions integral in closing a home deal.
Realtors and lenders say they doubt anyone was thinking of
Thanksgiving when the deadline was set earlier this year with the
approval of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Nov. 30 is a Monday, meaning paperwork would mostly have to be
completed the previous week, which includes the Wednesday before
Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day, and the unofficial shopping holiday of
"Black Friday."
"Really, the first-time home buyer deadline couldn't have come at a
worse time," said Brian Colon, a mortgage loan officer for Bank of
America in Boca Raton. "Come Wednesday afternoon, people's mindset is
all about leaving early. You know how it is when you have three days
off."
It's possible the popular $8,000 credit, which has already benefited
1.4 million people nationally and 106,000 in Florida, will be extended.
Read on...I hope you enjoyed this newsletter.
Sincerely Yours, Michael C. Blickensderfer, Esq.
This newsletter is not meant to substitute for legal advice. If you have a legal question, please contact our office and speak with an attorney. This newsletter is not an agreement for representation. If you would like to hire an attorney, please contact our offices to learn more.
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