As I am getting ready to go speak at RETSO again this year and discussing conference topics with colleagues on twitter, I remembered writing this post in March of 2009 which remains so relevant in today’s social space. The changes are drastic in 3 years and technology has come a long way. But the human aspect of our web interactions and the tangible side of relationships is still there and we cannot ever lose track of it.

I just came back from speaking at RETechSouth RETSO (a Real Estate Technology conference) and meeting with colleagues around the nation (the ones that get the Internet and Social Media) helped reinforce how I feel about real estate in general, but most importantly, how Rick and I approach Miami Beach Real Estate.

It’s not about sales sales sales!  It’s not about what the media will say next – It’s so much more than “how is the Miami Real Estate Market doing?” – It’s about LIVES!  How trivial can that really be?  Everyone needs a place to live, whether it’s temporary or not….feeling at home is one of the most important factors in everyone’s life, whether you choose to get help to achieve that or not – HOME is such a powerful word and some of us really care about how people achieve that.

The reason we like and live social media and blogging is because we get the opportunity to give a piece of us – to open up and be vulnerable because it shows our human side and ultimately will help you decide whether or not you want to do business with us.  Yes we make a living from real estate – but the connections and friendships we make in the process mean so much more than the commission check at the end of a transaction.

One of the highlights of the trip was a presentation I did with Teresa Boardman and Jeff Turner.  Teresa is also a Realtor and has become a dear friend because she also “gets” relationships and is never boggled down by irrelevant technical details and politics behind real estate and social media (you NEED to check out her St.Paul Blog).  Jeff Turner is the owner and president of Real Estate Shows (those virtual shows I embed here in miamism and use for all of our listings), and president of Zeek Interactive (“a people-focused design and development company dedicated to finding world-class solutions to real-world problems” << gotta love that).  Jeff is a strange breed (and hopefully he won’t read this) – he is a strange breed because he NEVER sells his business, people just gravitate to him because he is a genuinely nice guy with no agenda and willing to help everyone.  It doesn’t hurt that these two have awesome spouses that I am also extremely fond of – and have become very close friends through this medium…amazing no?

The presentation was about Flickr but it was so much more than that – being on stage with Teresa and Jeff made me realize that technology gives us the opportunity to connect with like minded individuals at a level that I would have never thought possible.  There we were, the 3 of us talking like old friends, so comfortable and finishing each other’s sentences as if we had known each other all of our lives.  All that because of social media!

So as technically savvy as I may be and ahead of the latest marketing trends- it’s all about people.  It’s about you and how we can help you achieve your goals and give ourselves in that process.  Sorry to sound corny here but thank you to all our clients who have allowed us to be a part of that process and who are now important part of our lives.

**photo compliments of Stacie Wells (AugustaGALiving) **

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Real Estate = relationships = life originally appeared on Miamism on January 30, 2012.

Not a typo, you read correctly!

Realtor.com’s Top 10 Turnaround Town Report, based on third quarter 2011 data, includes six Florida markets: Miami, Orlando, Fort Myers-Cape Coral, Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota-Bradenton, and Lakeland-Winter Haven.

And out of those 6 Florida markets, Miami is number one!

Miami, FL: The number one town on the report, Miami has gone from being one of the first victims of the subprime crash to having a healthy inventory that is only half the size from a year ago. Today, Miami is only reporting one foreclosure for every 407 homes, compared to the national rate of one per every 213. And, condo sales have increased 79 percent in the first five months of this year, largely due to an influx of foreign investors.

We do expect you to be suspicious about these stats, after years of  hearing the worst about Florida, why would you not question our market?  All we can ask is that you request proof from us.   We have been providing evidence here on a regular basis, to show that desirable areas in Miami are not just seeing a price increase already, many areas don’t even  have distressed inventory available, and in many cases we are seeing proof of a seller’s market.

Every neighborhood is different and has its quirks, so depending on the type of property you are selling or buying, its condition and location within the neighborhood, things can vary quite a bit.  Don’t be afraid to ask us, that’s what we’re here for.

Realtor.com’s Top Ten Turnaround Town Report is compiled using a formula based on price appreciation, changes in inventory, median age of inventory, searches by Realtor.com visitors, and unemployment data.

New REALTOR.com Post with quote by yours truly  Miami, FL Tops REALTOR.com’s Top Ten Turnaround Town List | REALTOR.com® Blogs

MORE STATS from Realtor.com

December 2011 real estate search results are in and Miami, FL was the #18 most searched market in the country in December 2011, based on data released today by Realtor.com

Median list prices for homes in Miami, FL hit $265,000 in December 2011, a 32.50% increase from one year ago this month, and 2.32% increase from November 2011.  The national median list price in December 2011 was $188,000, a 5.03% increase compared to December 2010.

Each month, Realtor.com surveys up to 250 Metro Service Areas (MSA) throughout the nation and monitors real estate trends including consumer search behavior, median list prices on for sale homes, active inventory counts and median age of inventory. The information is released to local markets to help consumers and real estate professionals as they work together to successfully navigate their local market.

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Miami Dominates REALTOR.com Top Ten Turnaround Report originally appeared on Miamism on January 17, 2012.

If you are a Miami seller who knows me and reads miamism, you know I have drilled you over and over on how important it is for your property to show like a model.  You may think I’m exaggerating and may even think that buyers don’t really care if your house is organized or if it is staged, but you are wrong.

When there is a lot of competition, it is crucial that your property stands out, that your house shows better, that you have more to offer.  If a real estate buyer is looking at 2 very similar Miami Beach homes in the same location with similar price ranges, they will always pick the property that is clean, pretty and organized.  There is a psychological factor that tells that buyer that the person that is selling the pretty and organized home “takes care” of their home, it also feels more welcoming and ultimately the property they want to buy.

Don’t leave it up to chance! There are properties that are just sitting unsold for months, even years!  Is it worth a little trouble of your time to make your house show the best way possible? I really hope so.

When we list a property, Rick and I meet with our seller customers and we go into detail about what needs to happen to the property for it to be in “showing condition”.  Of course we understand that sometimes circumstances don’t allow for extreme measures, but there are key factors that need to happen for a property to sell, ignoring those factors will only keep your house on the market longer and will determine how motivated you are to sell.

Any Miami Beach Realtor will tell you that decluttering is the single most important factor when selling a home today.  If you refuse to do anything else, you must at least declutter your property.

How do you declutter a home?

• put away small decorative items
• leave all surfaces clear – including top of dressers and tables
• put away personal items like photographs
• pick up the mess!
• empty closets out as much as possible
• if you have too much furniture, store it or get rid of it!
• Remember you are not selling your belongings, you are selling the home.

By not taking the time to make your home look presentable, you are sending a message that you are either not motivated to sell, or even worse, that your house is worth less than what the market calls for.

Here are some other articles about preparing your property for sale:

Top 5 Tips for Selling Your Home in a Down Market

To smell or not to sell…..that is the question

First Impressions in Real Estate

When are Holiday Decorations too much?

Please don’t be stubborn! We, as your Realtors will do our job, will market aggressively and will do everything in our power for your property to sell, but we are not magicians and will need your total cooperation to get the job done.  You can look at it as a team effort, all parties need to do their part to get results.

*originally published on Feb. 19, 2008*

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Why isn’t your Miami home selling? originally appeared on Miamism on November 29, 2011.

Real Estate is about relationships and emotions. It may be a little hard to swallow since there are plenty of people who buy and sell real estate as often as they change underwear. But the truth is that those people are not the norm and most real estate transactions are intricate because of the emotions involved.

As real estate professionals we just don’t sell Miami Beach homes by volume and hope to make our ˜quota at the end of the year, we assess your needs as our clients in order to help you identify properties to buy or sell.

It is our job to ask the right questions and spend some time with you to help you make key decisions. It is important for you to feel comfortable with us and to trust us. I think you would agree that strong relationships are based on trust. The more you are willing to share with us about your lifestyle and your expectations, the better equipped we will be to help you.

We are currently working with some awesome Miami condo buyer clients from Massachusetts and after communicating back and forth by e-mail and meeting them for the first time, this is what they had to say,

Thank you, Ines, for your time, advice, and patience. It was truly a pleasure to meet you, hang with you, and explore possibilities with you…You did a great job of matching us with a potential property. That’s a real talent. Thank you

Relationships can be tricky, you only need to look at the divorce rate in the US to get a clue. So picking a Miami Realtor can be just as difficult. Most people will need “chemistry” to occur, and not all personalities will be a good match. I can confess that we have worked with clients where there was an awkwardness about the experience that wasn’t comfortable. I can also confess to telling clients that I could not help them and it would be better if they found another Realtor.

Rick and I will not work with people who don’t trust us or don’t appreciate what we do and that’s what makes our business so successful. We have a sense of humor and we like to have a little fun. We also know when to put our serious hats on and work for your best interest. We will be brutally honest and will go out of our way to help you, as our client.

So the next time you are surfing the web looking for Miami properties and curious about a Miami Beach Realtor, research their competence level, their exposure on the web, their Web2.0 knowledge, and their experience, and don’t forget to dig a little further to know if you will get along with them and will have a perfect “match”.

*originally published April 30th, 2008*

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Do you love your Miami Realtor? originally appeared on Miamism on October 23, 2011.

We obviously sell Miami Beach homes for a living and take the actual process for granted and even trivialize it.  The fact is that the process has gotten more and more complicated through the years.  Especially after the whole real estate market inflation, accompanied by so much mortgage fraud, the actual home buying and home selling undertaking has gotten complicated and sometimes frustrating beyond words, even for those of us immersed in the system.

A standard “AS IS” Residential Contract For Sale and Purchase by The Florida Association of REALTORS is 10 pages long! (CLICK TO DOWNLOAD SAMPLE HERE).  It includes not only price, financing and closing date, but details about title, special assessments, disclosures, broker liabilities, dispute resolution, and most importantly, standards for real estate transactions.

Needless to say, knowing the process is key for a transaction to go smoothly, but even then, transactions can get messy.  It’s about being able to foresee issues and being proactive before they happen that will keep those frustrations in check.

There’s a quote by Albert Einstein that I hold near to my heart:

Intellectuals solve problems; geniuses prevent them.

Not that we call or consider ourselves geniuses, but we are proud of our Miamism Transaction Management Team.  Our clients always thank us for keeping them informed and being able to foresee and prevent issues.  The key for you to know, whether on the selling or buying side, is that you need to be represented and you need to know the steps in the process (or at least trust that your Miami Beach Realtor is thorough and efficient).  Here are some of the steps to keep in mind.

• Purchase price will be based on cash or financing with direct contractual dates associated with either.
• You will need proof of escrow deposits and those will be provided by escrow agent upon request at time they are due according to the contract.
• Closing Date can be extended, but need signed extension by both parties, don’t just assume this will extend automatically.
• Know if contractual dates are based on business days or calendar days.
• Financing Commitment Deadline is Key! Mortgage broker must be reminded of this if property is being financed and extensions requested if deadline cannot be met.
• Know what seller will be charged for Owner’s policy of title insurance or title abstract – this can be negotiated at contract date.
• Disclosures are handled differently by each owner – we always recommend to disclose everything that could materially affect the value of the Real Property, even those things that are not easily observable.
• Inspection period is negotiable – make sure you know exactly when the inspection deadline is.  No negotiations will be possible after that inspection deadline.
• A walk-through of the property will need to be done prior to closing – plan that in advance.
• Broker or Seller Contributions MUST be included in body of contract or additional addenda – these need to be part of contract to be included in HUD statement.
• Know of special addenda or additional terms at time of contract to avoid problems.  Things like Lead Based Paint Statement for housing built before 1978 MUST be signed.

We can’t stress enough the importance of contractual dates.  For our foreign national clients, this can be a challenge because of distance, but as long as you know ahead of time, you can be ready.  As for actual closing date, you don’t really have to be present – there are “mail-away” closings, or you can assign a power of attorney to your title company, agent or a third-party.  One thing is true, the single most important aspect of a real estate transaction is communication, make sure you communicate with your agent and make sure your agent communicates with all parties involved to assure a smooth and timely closing.

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Miami Beach Homes Sales – Understanding The Process originally appeared on Miamism on August 31, 2011.

What is the secret for selling your Miami Beach Home? The COO of Zillow, Spencer Rascoff says, in an article on ABCNews that,

Sellers used to have to worry about curb appeal: How does the grass look, etc. Now a seller needs to worry about Web Appeal: When a buyer is browsing on the Web, what is their first impression.

I could not agree more and the article could not have come at a better time.  We say it over and over again to our clients, sound like a broken record and it’s nice to get get a reinforcement.  If 85% (some sources say almost 90%) of buyers start their search online, doesn’t it make sense for you, as a Miami Beach Real Estate seller, to take full advantage of online marketing?   And when I say take full advantage I don’t just mean pretty photos and a couple of search platforms.  You should be doing great photos, video, virtual shows, e-flyers, directories, blog posts and using as many available tools as possible to expose your property to potential buyers.

Rick laughs at me when I talk to him about online marketing because he says I speak a foreign language  between embedding, syncing, html, css, syndicating, plugins, widgets……you get the picture. It does feel like I have a some sort of degree in Social Media after being immersed in the medium for almost 3 years….and to think that he’s supposed to be the “techie” .

Is there a magic formula for which search sites to use or what way to market on-line for your house to be noticed?  I wish I could say yes, but the way I look at it, the more you do and the better you expose, the better the chances that a buyer may find your property.  We go out of our way to learn about new platforms and new methods of marketing so our listings are found.  It takes a lot of work to stay on top of technology, but it’s one of the services we feel is crucial for successful marketing of any real estate property.

A good web listing can help you sell your house during a down market

**photo credit: Dale Chumbley at ClarkCountyRealEstateGuide**

**written June 18th, 2009**

Related Articles:

Curb Appeal or Web Appeal originally appeared on Miamism on August 15, 2011.

**originally published July 11, 2007**

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Real Estate Expectations originally appeared on Miamism on August 10, 2011.

Robert Scoble and Shel Israel shared a breakthrough quote (in their book “Naked Conversations”) by The New York Times editorial (August 5, 2005) which really puts blogging into perspective:

“It’s natural enough to think of the growth of the blogosphere as a merely technical phenomenon.  But it’s also a profoundly human phenomenon, a way of expanding and, in some sense, reifying the ephemeral daily conversation that humans engage in.  Every day the blogosphere captures a little more of the strange immediacy of the life that is passing before us.  Think of it as the global thought bubble of a single voluble species”.

So here’s my take. Blogging puts our thoughts out there, out there in the open for you to tear apart.  A Realtor colleague from Miami Shores told me a couple of days ago that she did not feel comfortable blogging because she felt like she was “stripping in front of everyone”.  That was another “breakthrough” comment.

We blog to let people know what’s going on, to explain the inside scoop, to educate and to encourage dialogue.

We want you, the real estate consumer, to know us, to know about the Miami real estate industry inside and out.  We also understand that the real estate consumer today is ahead of the game, with tons of tools at their disposure.

Our job is to strip the façade off the real estate industry and let you know what’s going on. We write articles about community events, restaurants, architecture, articles for real estate buyers and sellers, about Miami real estate stories, off the wall and funny things that have nothing to do with real estate, and not to forget miamisms.   We understand the need people have to know what’s going on, so we will keep on talking.

**Please let us know if there’s a particular subject you would like for us to discuss**

*originally published on November 9th, 2007 and the same applies today*

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Miami Real Estate in the open originally appeared on Miamism on August 1, 2011.

What does your front door say about you?

We have all heard that the front door is one of the most important elements in a house and it is true.  The front door not only echoes the architectural style of the home, but sets the tone for the rest of the home.

When you are about to list your Miami Beach home for sale, you need to consider the approach to the house:

• a clean walkway free of debris
• potted flowers or plants to make a great first impression
• clean and visible numbers
• nicely painted or finished door
• well lit
• hardware in good working condition
• avoid clutter
• and please oh please make it CLEAN!  Spider webs are for Halloween (and maybe not even…see Halloween Decorations or DISTRACTIONS?)

If you want to add your own personal touch, do it with the entrance mat or a wreath or simply with plants or flowers like shown in these Miami Shores homes.

If you are a selling your home in this down real estate market,  this may sound a bit trivial.  The truth is that you need to pay attention to every detail of your home to give you an advantage over the competition,  starting with the front door which gives the first impression!

First impressions are the most important – you can control the destiny of the sale of your Miami Beach home by making sure the approach to your property is perfect!

(article originally published on September 12th, 2007)

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First Impressions in Real Estate originally appeared on Miamism on July 19, 2011.

Dear Miami Beach home Seller:

Do you realize that today’s real estate buyer is smart? is educated? and will research your property to death before they even place an offer?

Most of you are even aware that almost 90% of buyers start their search on the Internet, so what do you have to do to sell your home?

If you are planning to sell, you have to be just as smart as those buyers and you need to do a little homework.  Your research should start with Google.

Google the area you live in to see which agents have a strong Internet presence.  Those agents that have a strong presence will know how to market your property on-line and will know how to expose your listing to millions of buyers.

Example:  You want to sell you Miami Shores Home – you should Google “Miami Shores Real Estate”, “Miami Shores”, “Miami Shores Homes” and any other combination thereof.  Take a look at the first 2 (maybe even 3) pages of Google Searches and find out what each one of those Realtors is doing to market their listings.

It’s not about your Realtor having a website anymore, it’s about your Realtor knowing where to place your listing, exposing your property in not only local web-portals, but all over the world.

If you are not finding your favorite agent in Google, or the properties they are selling, it may be time to re-examine your “selling strategy”.

Please remember that although this is a very important part of the equation, once you find that “Googable Realtor” (no that’s not a real word), you should also follow home preparation and pricing recommendations.

• Staging your Miami Home

• Why isn’t your Miami home selling?

• Pricing your Miami Home

• How to Sell Your Home in Black and White

• Home Sellers Can’t Handle The Truth

• First Impressions in Real Estate

**originally published June 25th, 2008**

Related Articles:

Basics to sell Miami Real Estate originally appeared on Miamism on June 27, 2011.