Miami Dade Real Estate Scoop

I snapped this picture of a brand new house in Homestead on one of my many rides through the areas that I specialize in.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words.  What does this one tell you?  This homeowner is no happy camper, that's for sure!  He might have fared better if he had used a professional.  A buyer pays nothing to use the services of a Realtor® in most cases.  And the benefits are many. 

So leave the plywood and spray paint for hurricane season.  Contact a Realtor® and get the service you deserve.

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If anyone thinks the market is changing in Miami-Dade county I'd like to present this visual.  It is changing, but not for the better, it seems, at least in this price point. 

This graph represents homes for sale in Miami-Dade County vs. Homes Sold.  I limited the data to homes in the 300K to 400k range.  Notice the change in the figures for last month.  The inventory of homes for sale went up while the number of homes sold that month went down in comparison to the month before.

These figures illustrate how important it is to price your home correctly.  The inventory home sellers are competing with is increasing while the available buyers is decreasing.

If you need more information on pricing your home for sale, please contact me for a free, no-obligation market analysis of your home's value.  I am here to help you with your real estate needs.

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Miami-Dade County's Team Metro offers many useful services to our county residents.  Some of the services are:

• U.S. Passport acceptance
• Baby stroller parking permits
• Transit tokens, passes, parking permits, bike and ride permits
• Dog license tags
• Golden and Patriot Passports
• Homestead exemption applications ( January - March)
• Voter Registration forms 
• Hurricane preparedness information
• Library card applications

The closest Team Metro office to the Miami Redland is the South Dade Regional Office at 20505 South Dixie Highway, Suite 1623, Miami, FL 33189.  Their phone number is 305.234.1510  It is inside Southland Mall, which some of you may remember was called Cutler Ridge Mall previously.  They are open 8:00 - 5:00 Monday - Friday.  Passport applications may be turned in until 4:00pm only.  Call the Team Metro office directly for more information.

Did you know that Team Metro also makes neighborhood visits?  That's right.  They have a Government on the Go Bus which makes rounds to certain neighborhoods so you can benefit from the services they provide and not have to go to their offices.  It's one of the many ways that Team Metro is working for you!  To check the June schedule, click here.

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I have the distinct pleasure of knowing a master story-teller.  Ruth Vander Zee believes that everyone has a story to tell.  Ruth knows stories.  She's an accomplished and distinguished author.  Her books are poignant and have been critically acclaimed.  In my eyes, what makes Ruth even more special is that she sees potential in everyone.  We all have stories to tell, she claims.

A few weeks back, it was bittersweet sitting in Ruth's living room as she hosted the last Women's Breakfast for the ladies of our church.  Her breakfasts have been a highlight of worshiping there and we were all saddened when Ruth informed us that she needed to step down from hosting these gatherings on a regular basis. 

Once a month Ruth would prepare a scrumptious spread and the women would show up at her door.  We talked and ate and then sat down to hear our featured speaker.  Ruth always had a featured speaker.  The featured speakers were always common Janes.  There were no superstars there.  They were regular, everyday women.  But they were opening up and telling their stories.

She even asked me to speak once.  I wondered what I could share that would be of benefit.  I needn't have worried.  After I spoke I had women open up to me about things going on in their lives because I had opened up and shared my experience.

For those of you out there in Active Rain who wonder about getting featured, I'd like to say this:  "Don't."  Don't worry about the whys and hows of getting a featured post.  Just tell us your stories.  They are your stories.  No one else is living them so no one else can tell them. 

Speak loud.    Speak true.    Speak often.

Tell us your stories.  We're waiting to hear them.

I read a post by Rob Blake  months ago where he introduced a software program called PhotoFiltre.

I downloaded the program but didn't do more with it than Rob taught in his post.  I have been playing with it a lot these last 2 weeks.  It is an amazing program, in my humble opinion.  I do not have PhotoShop.  I do not have Word 2007.  I hear those are wonderful photo editing programs.  But PhotoFiltre suits my needs and it's FREE.  You can download it here.

I had long admired the shadow effects that some people add to their pictures.  I also wanted (needed?) to be able to add my copyright to my pictures and do so easily.  PhotoFiltre does this and more.  I have had a lot of fun creating different effects on my pictures with it.  There are so many effects that I have not been able to play with all of them.  It's also pretty intuitive and I've been able to teach myself most of it.  There is a tutorial online although I've not looked at it much.

Did I mention that it's free?

Here's some pictures I've edited with PhotoFiltre. 

The season is upon us again.  I love this time of year in the Miami Redland.  May, June and July always mean there's lychees around somewhere in the Redland.

For those of you who may not know what a lychee is, I'll explain.  Well, I'll give you my take on it.  I was only introduced to them 4 years ago.  They quickly became my favorite fruit.  The fact that I can only enjoy them a short time each year makes them even more precious.

Lychees (pronounced lee-chees by most, and lie-chees by others) are also called (incorrectly) lychee nuts sometimes.  They're not nuts at all and the seed is not edible.  You can learn everything you ever wanted to know about lychees here.

Lychees are smaller than a ping pong ball and usually heart shaped.  The skin is warty and leathery and breaks easily when you bite into it to get the fruit.  The flesh of the fruit slides out easily and is reminiscent of a huge, luscious grape.  Lychees are related to mamoncillos, or quenepas, if you know what those are.  Lychees are native to China and I'm so glad they found their way over here.  They are slightly acidic but sweet although not overly sweet. 

I have 8 lychee trees in my yard but the hurricanes of 2 years ago have prevented us from getting much fruit.  Last year we got none and this year only 2 of the trees produced, and very little at that.  Lychee trees usually produce fruit only every other year but the hurricanes made our waiting time even longer.

A couple of weeks ago I was driving along 147th Avenue and gasped and pulled over.  I gave my mother a terrible fright!  She thought something was wrong, but no, something was RIGHT!  There alongside the road was a farmer selling his lychees!  At $5 a pound I only bought 2 pounds but would have bought more if I had had more cash on me.  To demonstrate how popular lychees are around here I have to tell you that by the time I finished paying for my lychees, there were 6 other cars waiting to buy theirs.  I asked him if he would be back the next day but he said he didn't have that many to sell.  I understood totally.  They're hard to find this year.  That also explains the price.  One can usually find them for $3/lb and at the end of the season even $2/lb.

I can't wait for next June!

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At first glance this picture may not excite you.  It excites me.  I'll tell you why.

This is a brand new traffic light at the corner of SW 200 Street and 137 Avenue.  It was sorely needed! It was fully functional sometime in May.  There was only one STOP sign there before.  The traffic on 200th had the right of way.  I felt bad for everyone on 137th avenue trying to join the crowd.

When I first moved to Miami, I lived a little north of the Redlands, where I live now.  I used this particular intersection every single day to drive my kids to school and get to work.

I quickly discovered that if you didn't have an extra 20 minutes to spare and had to stop at this intersection, you were going to be late!  It was impossible to get onto 200th Street from 137th Avenue during rush hour.  They say necessity is the mother of invention.  Well, I needed to get where I was going on time and I invented a new route for myself.  I had it down to a science.  As I approached 200th street if I saw the cars were backed up I would turn before I got there and do a series of turns until I got to 200th street but at another avenue.  This required that I go through a residential area.  I wasn't the only one doing it.  I am sure those homeowners would have preferred the extra traffic stayed off their streets.

Where I used to make the turn onto 200th it got a little "hairy" sometimes to zoom onto the street.  I even had a little cartoon car racing sound I made as I made the turn.  The kids knew to be quiet when I did this.  I needed to focus and make sure I zoomed out there at just the right moment.  There was traffic going both ways on 200th and I did not want to become another accident statistic.  Nobody should have to do this to get to work on time.  I'm glad the powers that be realized this and did something about it.  That turning lane wasn't even there back then.  It was one lane, one stop sign and every man (and woman) fending for himself!

It's funny, I still use this intersection all the time but not from the avenue.  So in essence the addition of the traffic light has slowed me down as I head east on 200th street.  It's still a good thing.  I'm sure to the commuters trying to get onto the busy 200th street it is a very big and welcome deal.

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I was playing around with my super-dee-duper new graphmaker and thought I'd post one of the graphs I made. 

This one shows the relationship between the List Price (asking price) and the Sales Price (actual sold price) in the 33187 zip code. 33187 encompasses part of the Miami Redland as well as Southwest Miami (west of 147th Avenue and south of 152 Street).

As you can tell, the list price averages a lot more than the sold price.  Something happened in November and they were almost identical.  A fluke, I'm sure.  Apart from that the difference between the two is remarkable.

Numbers do not lie.  This is a great example of the importance of pricing your home to sell.  Don't let it sit on the market too long and get stagnant.  Price it right from the start.

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The other day I heard a noise outside my window and took a peek.  I found this little fella.  Of course I took a peek through the closed window.  I'm not a chicken but would rather not run the risk of having him come inside and get too comfy here.

When I moved to the Miami Redlands I knew it would be different than the Queens, NY neighborhood I grew up in.  In Queens, we heard the ambulance outside.  Let's not forget the bus that whooshed by every 20 minutes or so.  Except when someone needed to get off at the bustop right outside our window.  Then it stopped and we could hear the hydraulics as it took off again.  And that was our bedroom window.  The kids were actually used to the noise and had a hard time adjusting to the quiet in our new Miami neighborhood.

I kid you not when I tell you that the first time I heard cats on our roof I totally freaked.  They sounded so nearby that I was certain they were inside the attic.  Actually, I was unaware that they were cats.  In my wild imagination I thought they were rabid possums and was sure it would be only a matter of moments before they busted through the attic door and bit me.  Strange thoughts can go through your mind in the middle of the night.  I laugh about that now. 

I love living out here.  I often sit on the porch and listen to the birds.  I once had a quaker land on my head and stay there as I called excitedly to the girls and walked towards the front door.  Unfortunately when the door opened, the first one out was one of our cats and friendly Mr. Quaker took off.  I called him and called him but he no longer wanted anything to do with me. 

We saw a 3 foot iguana crossing the street once.  We've never seen him again.  But this little guy outside my window makes an appearance every couple of months or so.  He's not so little.  He's not our common lizards that, although pretty patterns adorn their backs sometimes, are a dime a dozen.  He's actually an Anolis equestris equestris - or Western Knight Anole, the largest of all Anolis species. Florida has only one true native anolis, the Anolis carolinensis, or Green Anole, which is usually 5-8 inches in length.  The Western Knight Anole is usually 13 - 19 inches long.  They were introduced to Florida from Cuba.  This one on my window seemed to be about 14 inches long.  His color is a bright green, not the dull browns, greys and slimy non-colors of some of the common lizards.

Anoles are great to have on your property.  They eat up lots of bugs.  One of our cats once brought one to us as a gift.  Unfortunately it was too late to help the poor guy and we let our cat know we were not at all pleased.  If you ever do get one inside the house, try to corner it so you can capture it and take it back ouside.  They can't live very long inside a house as it's too cold for them and they would only last a few days.  If you ever do have reason to capture one to release it outside, don't worry when it tries to bite you.  That's one of their defense mechanisms.  Their teeth are really tiny and the bite doesn't hurt (so I've been told). UPDATE - this is only true for the smaller Green Anole.  This larger Western Knight Anole bites and it hurts.  The other defense mechanism is he'll poop in your hand.  As gross as that sounds, it's a really tiny poop and not much to worry about.  Just make sure you wash your hands afterwards!

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While looking through my files today I realized that I had taken pictures of the brand new Homestead Hospital at their open house last month and never posted them.

Homestead Hospital is as impressive as we thought it would be.  Just the mere fact that it was built to withstand a category 5 hurricane is pretty impressive to me.  To read more about the hospital and it's construction, check out my prior blog.  It opened it's doors on May 6, 2007.  In the meantime, here are some real pictures of the place.  I've been playing around with a photo editing program.  Hope I didn't mess them up too much =)  The lights reminded me of a UFO so I included them here.

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