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.

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Miami Heat Intro Video – bring it! originally appeared on Miamism on December 28, 2011.

In part I of this series I explained why it is so important for a buyer of a condo-hotel not only to do their homework, but also to work with someone that can help analyze the investment. Developers choose “not to sell their projects as securities and are thus prohibited from discussing economic tax benefits from a rental arrangement and no projections on rental income can be discussed”.

The couple describes the experience as not just buying a condo, but as getting into the hotel industry! I don’t know about you, but that statement alone caught my attention.   One thing is buying a beautiful condo on the beach whose expenses can be covered by a hotel program and a completely different puppy is getting into the hotel industry! YIKES!

• When you own a condo at The Fontainebleau, you must notify management of your stay at least 60 days in advance if you want to use your unit. (this could be a hassle for a lot of people)
• Owners are charged housekeeping fees that begin at $30/day (this is not too bad considering you are getting luxury accommodations).
• Owners are also subject to 3 PM check-ins and 11 AM check-outs (personally, this would annoy me).

The same couple also goes on to explain that the income from their unit has not covered expenses, but they have used their unit frequently, have lent the unit to family and use it as an employee perk for their business.

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Condo Hotels – pros and cons – Part II originally appeared on Miamism on December 26, 2011.

Happy Holidays!!  Wishing you and yours the best holiday season ever!  Enjoy with friends and family and remember those that can’t be present but will always be there in our hearts.

Receive Hugs and Love from all of us!

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Happy Holidays from our Miamism Family to yours originally appeared on Miamism on December 24, 2011.

I can’t sit here and paint a perfect picture about condo-hotels because it wouldn’t be me.  The condo-hotel concept has become a very popular trend mostly because of the incredible vacation and urban destinations as well as the resort-style luxuries that these have to offer, especially when luxury hotel chains back these up.  Wouldn’t you be prone to investing in a project that includes Marriott, Four Seasons or even Ritz-Carlton?…..that’s what I call bringing “credibility” to the closing table.

The concept does have risks for both the developer and the condo buyer and it has to do with the way the actual sales are structured.  Mike Schneider, an Associated Press Writer explains that if units are sold with the expectation that the buyer will earn money or get tax benefits from the purchase, then these would be considered “securities” by the Securities and Exchange Commission and could only be sold by a securities broker, which would mean that the developer would be an easier target for law-suits under the SEC’s anti-fraud rules.

Most developers choose not to sell their projects as securities and are thus prohibited from discussing economic or tax benefits from a rental arrangement and no projections on rental income can be discussed.

This is HUGE to a prospective buyer because you could be buying without getting all the facts. It is crucial that you work with someone that can produce those projections and analyze the numbers so that you know where you stand when in comes to the investment.

Our customers benefit from Rick’s accounting background, since he can produce these projections and help customers make educated decisions with complete financial information necessary to purchase condo-hotels.

Look for Part II of this series Condo Hotels – pros and cons – Part II with expectations from condo-hotel buyers.

other sources for condo- hotels information:

• Miami, Florida – Ines Hegedus-Garcia – Condo Hotel Craze
• The Mortgae To Go Guy – David Podgursky – Florida Mortgage Loans | Condo-Hotel/Condotel Financing Explaine
• Clearwater Beach, Florida – Cyndee Haydon – Clearwater Beach Florida Condo Hotels – growing option in Luxury Vacation Homes and Resort Ownership

**originally published on July 18th, 2007**

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Condo Hotels – pros and cons – Part I originally appeared on Miamism on December 18, 2011.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers, loyal followers and even those competitors that have an eye on us!!   We thought it would be appropriate to re-publish this article with the story about how we started to blog.  Blogging has become a crucial part of our business and the time and effort we dedicate is a direct reflection of our business practice.  The truth is that I can’t even imagine where we would be without our blog.

I want to share an amazing article by Joshua Brown, “The Reformed Broker”, from Backstage Wallstreet, entitled “How Do You Have So Much Time to Blog” … if you blog, this will make you smile.  If you don’t, you will begin to understand.  (Thanks @tcar for sharing it).

And lastly, thanks to Realtor.com for their recognition today, Realtors We Are Thankful For And What They Are Thankful For | REALTOR.com® Blog.

How we got into blogging

Lately, I have been asked how I got into blogging and I thought this was an answer that deserved a post.

It was Roy Llera, our family photographer that first mentioned blogging to me in April of 2006.  Roy has been doing our family portraits for years and also does our business shots.  He is local, he is good and it doesn’t hurt that he’s a great guy.

We had done some family shots at the beach and Roy suggested doing some photographs of “Rick & Ines” just in case we decided to use them, heck we were there already, might as well.  When I got the proofs I thought they looked a bit too romantic and not professional enough and asked Roy to do studio pictures as well.  Roy rolled his eyes and made the appointment.

When picking up those stiff studio pix Roy asked (probably not in these exact words but bear with me)

“In your marketing, don’t you want to portray yourselves in those pictures?  Don’t you want people to know what you are about?  Why would it bother you if the picture portrayed you as being happy and in love?”

That was like a big rock had dropped on our heads from above.

Then he asked if we had heard of “blogging” – I said “WHAT??….how do you spell it?”

He explained briefly that blogging was like a daily journal where we could write about our daily business and our involvement in the community, show pictures of Rick coaching little league, The local Heidi Hewes Chapter events, a family moving into their new Miami Shores home.  Where we could be down to earth and show our real human side to our customers.

That’s all it took folks.   I went home and started doing some research…..started putting thoughts on paper, I mean blog…..and less than a year later MIAMISM.com was born.

I am so grateful to Roy Llera for the idea and for giving me that push to change our marketing and our boring static website.  So go check out Roy Llera’s website and blog,  they are fantastic and he is THE BOMB!

Roy Llera’s studio is located at 11510 NE 2nd Avenue  in Miami and his telephone number is (305) 759-2600

**original article published on July 25th, 2007**

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Miamism Blog – Thanks Roy Llera originally appeared on Miamism on November 23, 2011.

You know I love old homes and have a passion for historic preservation. Cuban Tile is one of the popular flooring materials of the known “Spanish Mediterranean Revival” homes found in Miami – not to be confused with Historic Cuban Barrel Tile used for roofs (see article).

*photo courtesy El Nuevo Herald – FOTOSGALERIA – losas de la Habana*

Cuban Tile flooring is popular in South Florida and found in historic 20′s homes as well as 30′s, 40′s and 50′s and although the patterns are not as intricate as their historic counterparts, it’s a great material nevertheless.

Trying to find the history of Cuban Tile, my mom brought me an article written by Sarah Moreno for El Nuevo Herald that gives great information from a gentleman by the name of Arturo Hernandez who has researched and documented these beautiful historic floors. Hernandez claims that Cuban Tile known also as cement tile, Encaustic Cement Tile or Hydraulic Mosaic Tile can be traced to Cataluña back to mid 19^th century where The Industrial Revolution allowed for the technical innovation and mass production of these tiles that did not need to be fired. Even known architect Gaudi, designed floors with cement tiles that looked like Persian rugs.

I was also recently contacted by Lundy Wilder, a maker of cement tile who has a beautiful site that includes not only history, but also an array of patterns for modern installation.

Until the 1920′s, colorful mosaico encaustic tiles were considered high-end ultimate flooring that decorated the palaces of the Tsars, the mansions of the Côte d’Azure, Gaudi’s Barcelona and Berlin’s official buildings. Later on, the encaustic cement tile expanded as a creative and durable flooring all over Europe, and the French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Around the 1950′s the mosaic hydraulic lost importance and was replaced by less labor intensive, and less colorful floors. The beginning of this century, the trend for authentic products and ‘green’ flooring has brought attention back to the encaustic cement tile. Recent storms along the Gulf Coast have raised awareness of durable, waterproof architecture. We hope to spread the word. We have first hand knowledge of the need for sensible flooring along coastal U.S. Additionally; this type of tile flooring is perfect for high traffic areas and any place where discriminating people gather.

Cuban tile is a mixture of Portland cement, marble powder and earth pigments for coloring. The end result can be as shiny as Terrazzo floors and as beautiful as hand painted tiles. The restoration of Cuban Tile Floors can be an intricate project depending on the tile design, but I have now given you a great resource if you need to replace or compliment existing flooring with www.VillaLagoonTile.com

There are many stories why cement tile is called “Cuban Tile” here in Miami and one of the theories is that Cuban Tile was entrusted as a special order to Cuban manufacturers who would hand make these tiles for residential applications in Miami. Next time you walk into a historic home in Miami or read a miami real estate description that includes “cuban tile”, you will know a little about the history of Cuban Tile, how these were made and how it is possible to restore them.

Thanks again to Lundy for sharing his beautiful website, and here’s a silent video on the making of cement tiles in Morocco.

*originally published on July 8, 2008*

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Cuban Tile Flooring – history and applications originally appeared on Miamism on November 15, 2011.

Time to FALL BACK!! I always figure the best way to attack this is to change clocks the night before, when you are going to bed.  So don’t forget to change your clocks tonight.

DST starts on Sunday November 6th 2011.

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A lot of you will be reading this thinking its a bit boring (at least Rick thinks so), but I wanted to address this because a lot of our Miami Beach Real Estate customers are constantly asking us about certain elements  of historic homes – so here it is …proceed with CAUTION.

Historic Cuban Barrel Tile is one of the key elements found in Mediterranean Revival Architecture.  Key, because it is one of the most visible elements and because without it, a historic house can seem stripped from its roots.  It is the one single element that has a history of its own.  It is a handmade or hand processed barrel natural clay tile, either made in Cuba prior to the imposition of the U.S. Embargo, or manufactured in 18th Century Spain, salvaged from buildings in Cuba and imported to the United States during the 1920s and 30s. (hence the name ‘Historic Cuban Tile’).

When buying Miami Beach historic real estate it is important to identify the original elements of a structure in order to know how well preserved the property has been through the years.  Most buyers of historic properties will look for properties that have maintained its historic integrity or properties that have the potential to be restored.  Historic Cuban tile is one of those elements that are cherished by the ‘historic community’, but don’t be surprised if finding a home with Cuban tile may mean that the roof is not water tight and a new roof may be necessary.  There are several steps that must be taken to replace a roof with Historic Cuban Tile.

1. Identify that a property does in fact have Historic Cuban Barrel Tile.  A lot of these tiles have an embossed identification mark usually located on the convex side at the wide taper end of the tile.
2. Once tile is identified as historic and property needs to be re-roofed, all means should be taken to salvage the tile.
3. Historic Cuban tile can then be mixed with modern hand-made tile, where the historic tile is used in caps, rather than pans to take full advantage of the visible portion of the new roof.

Please note that if Historic Cuban Tile was not found on the property, there are many ways of building a historically appropriate roof.  Historic Cuban Tile can be purchased, or when that is not financially possible, there are manufacturers of hand-made barrel tile that can be used to achieve the original look of the roof.   There are also  roofers that specialize in historic roofs, not only in salvaging original historic barrel tile, but doing installations that are historically appropriate like reapplying the tile correctly, and using double caps and/or pans on the edge of the roof line.

The overall look of a roof with Historic Cuban Tile is that of an ‘aged’ or ‘informal’ nature.  These tiles, because of their porous clay material will accumulate mold and pressure cleaning is not recommended.  There was a problem recently in Miami Shores with Code Enforcement requiring historic homes to pressure clean their roofs and every time I think of it I shake my head in disbelief.  In order to be able to appreciate our historic homes and architecture, it is important to educate ourselves on the materials, the process of construction as well as the history behind these.

The response I have gotten from this article has been amazing.  I am happy to see people interested in historic materials and more so, being interested in restoring the historic relevance of their homes.

**original article written on December 21, 2009**

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Historic Cuban Barrel Tile originally appeared on Miamism on November 1, 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.