Fort Lauderdale Real Estate News

Las Olas River House condo 2306 is now available for rent fully furnished. This absolutely stunning high floor Lexington east/west floor plan features 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, professionally designed by Perla Lici offers approximately 2,000 square feet of living area.

Featuring a European kitchen with Snadairo cabinets, stainless appliances and granite counters. Split bedroom plan and 2 balconies offering impressive panoramic views of downtown Ft Lauderdale, ocean, river and Intracoastal views.

Las Olas River House offers residents exceptional amenities including a state-of-the-art Fitness Center, heated pool, Bistro lounge, security, concierge and valet parking. This condo is also offered for sale at $799,000.

Contact John Sabia at 954-850-2397 to request a viewing.

More Las Olas River House Condos for Rent More Las Olas River House Condos for Sale

The St Regis Hotel & Resort on Fort Lauderdale Beach will no longer be managed by Starwood Hotels which owns the St Regis brand name. As of August 11, the 220-unit resort owned by Castillo Grand LLC will no longer be affiliated with the St Regis name. According to a spokesperson, the contract cancellation decision by Starwood Hotels came after several undisclosed disputes.

The St Regis Fort Lauderdale Condo-Hotel opened on Fort Lauderdale Blvd (A1A) across from the Atlantic Ocean in May 2007, promoted as a prestigious landmark, offers lavish hotel suites as well as luxurious condos for sale ranging in price from just under $2 million and up

Update: Ritz-Carlton will take over operations beginning August 11th marking the St Regis it’s fourth South Florida property including hotels in Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne and South Beach.

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Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Listing and Sales Activity for the month of June reports an upward swing over last months figures reporting positive numbers for single family sales (32%) and condo-townhome sales (10%).Average Sales price for single family homes is up 8% while condos-townhomes are down -9%.

Pending Sales for both types of property are also in positive territory: Single Family (6%) and condo-townhouse pendings (2%).

Monthly supply of Inventory is down for both single family (-25%) and condo-townhouses (-12%).

More detailed information at Fort Lauderdale Real Estate Listing and Sales Activity.

Looking for things to do in Fort Lauderdale this week?

Full Details on the following events can be found at Sun-Sentinel .

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Clients of mine just bought this Riverside floor plan WaterGarden Condo in downtown Fort Lauderdale on the 30th floor. This unit boasts spectacular views of downtown Ft Lauderdale, the Nu River, Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. This condo features 2 bedrooms, 2 baths + Den, approx 1600 square ft of living area, a large open balcony with forever views. WaterGarden Condo offers residents luxurious amenities and is located just 2 blocks from shopping and dining on Las Olas Blvd. Sales Price was $700,000 and closing date was May 28, 2008.

If you are looking to buy, rent or sell a condo at WaterGarden, please contact me today.

I was watching a recent television airing of the Suze Orman Show when she talked about the decline in the real estate market and how a great number of people are panicking and freaking out because they are watching the value of their home decline significantly. Many people are agonizing about what to do… should they sell? should they stay?

The truth of the matter is that while some people are in the position where they have to sell and will have to bite the bullet in order to move on with their lives, many more people have absolutely no intention whatsoever of selling their home. They are happy in their homes, they are able to afford the monthly expenses and they plan to stay there for many years to come.

These people were very happy in their homes until they started watching the negative news everyday, listening to the radio and reading the newspaper all beating the same drum that the value of their home is going down, down, down. All of a sudden, the bliss turns to frustration because they feel that they are now poor, they have lost a lot of money, they don’t know what to do, should they sell and so on…

Suze warns it is time to stop thinking this way. She explains that while it is true that the housing market in many areas of the country is declining and it is possible the decline can continue for the rest of 2008 and into 2009, the fact of the matter is “a house is where you live.” She drives home the point, “what do you care what the value of the house is, if you are not planning to sell?

“If you have a good mortgage, you are able to keep up with the payments, you love the house, you love the neighborhood, you love the schools, etc, than stop worrying, and stop paying attention to the value of your home! The value of your home will eventually go back up.”

Suze cites as an example, the Hong Kong real estate market in 2001-2002. Hong Kong’s real estate market was very similar to the real estate boom we experienced here in the United States. Properties were skyrocketing. All of sudden, in 2001/2002 the real estate market in Hong Kong fell apart, similar to what we are experiencing now. Properties there had declined drastically to a point that many property owners saw the values of their homes decline to far less than what was owed on the property. Sound familiar?

Suze’s advice to them at the time, ironically, is the same advice she has now, “Just stay put. If you can afford the monthly mortgage and expenses, and you are loving everything about your home, just stay put!”

The real estate market in Hong Kong has rebounded and the property values today are higher than ever before. Will this happen in the United States? “Absolutely!” When it will happen, no one knows. Markets go up and markets go down. The key to remember is that your house is a home. If you can afford it and you love your home, stop worrying about the decline in value.

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If you’ve wondered how Trulia is beginning to dominate search engines with real estate key word phrases over local real estate sites (the source of the content), it may have something to do with their aggressive web ranking strategies. I’ve written an article at SEOMoz (YOUMoz) that explores the possibilities titled Trulia’s Web ranking strategies Come Under Fire.

Housing Affordability Index - Buyer’s Market

At the end of May, The National Association of Realtors released a report on the Housing Affordability Index for the month of April. The report showed a decline to 129.4 from the March level of 130. The change was a reflection of an increase in the median price home for the month of April. A clearer description of what the 129.4 number is that a family that earns the median family income in April, which was just over $60,000, had $129.4% of the income required to quality for the conventional loan. The conventional loan would cover 80% of the median-priced single family home. In April, the median priced single family home was valued at $200,700.

In July 2007 the Housing Affordability was at 103.6 and was due to higher home prices at the time along with higher interest rates. The more than 25 point increase since July 2007 should continue and this will mean that there will be some recovery for the struggling real estate market. Some have speculated that right now we are in the midst of a buyers market and when you look at these numbers, it is undeniable. The market as of June 2008 is a buyer’s market through and through.

Do you want to search Short Sale Listings in Fort Lauderdale, Florida?

I have added a new feature on my website listing available Short Sale listings.

You can view single family and condo short sales in all of Broward County by visiting Fort Lauderdale Short Sale Listings

Short Sales may be great opportunities for purchasing a property well below market value, however, be prepared to exhaust a great deal of patience because lenders have not been very cooperative in approving the sales in a timely fashion if at all.

March 2008 numbers for Fort Lauderdale Real Estate are looking better. Could this be a beginning of a rebound into positive territory?Fort Lauderdale Single family home closings saw an increase of 60% over February’s figures with a total of 434 homes sold. Condominium sales were also up with 553 condo sales representing a 41% increase.

Although total number of sales were up, the Average Sales Prices was down in both categories. The Single Family home Average Sales price in March was down 11% at $423,482. The Average Sales Price for a condo was down 9% at $195,260.

Pending Sales figures were up for both Single Family and Condominium categories. There were 499 homes pending (394 previous month) and 560 Condos pending (477 previous month).

Total New Listing Inventory for March was down 7% and total inventory was down by 74 properties.

At the present time, Fort Lauderdale has a 29 month supply of inventory for both single family homes and condos down from 46 (single family) and 42 (condos) months in February.

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