What's Going On?

What's going on? That's a question I get asked time and time again. For most people, when they get asked that, the person asking the question just wants to know how the other person is doing. When I get asked that, the person asking the question wants to know what's going on with the real estate market. Since I have been asked that a lot lately, I felt it is time I gave all of you an update on the real estate market within the last six months in Miami-Dade County.

What type of intentory of homes are on the market now? In the last six months, of all the new listings put on the market, one third were short sales (pre-foreclosures), eleven percent were foreclosures (REO's), and the rest (fifty-six percent) were regular sales.

Months of inventory is a term that is used in the real estate industry that determines what type of market we are in - stable market, buyer's market, seller's market. Months of inventory is basically the amount of homes available for sale in a given area divided by how many homes sell per month in that given area. So if there were 200 homes for sale in a given area and ten sell every month, you would have twenty months of inventory. In a stable market, there is roughly six months of inventory for sale. As the months of inventory increases, the market becomes a buyer's market because there is much more supply than demand. On the other hand, when inventory starts to decrease below six months, it starts to become a seller's market because demand becomes greater than supply. Just to give you an example, at the peak of the real estate market a few years ago, there were times when there were only three months of inventory, a very strong seller's market. During the worst times of the real estate market a couple of years ago, there were certain areas that had over sixty and seventy months of inventory, a strong buyer's market. Below are the months of inventory within different price ranges.

0 - $250,000 - 7 months of inventory
$250,001 - $500,000 - 11 months of inventory
$500,001 - $1,000,000 - 16 months of inventory
$1,000,001 - $2,500,000 - 28 months of inventory
$2,500,001 plus - 36 months of inventory

Stats are great, but what does the above information mean? That is something I will discuss in a future post. If you can't wait until then, please contact me and I'll let you know.


Amit Bhuta, ABR, CNS, e-PRO Realtor-Associate
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
Serving Miami-Dade and Broward County
(305) 439-3031 (Cell)
(305) 412-1171 (Fax)
www.ReasonsToHireMe.com (Why Choose Me?)
www.DadeCountyMLS.com (Website)
www.AmitsBlog.com (Blog - Web Journal)
abhuta@bellsouth.net (Email)
www.google.com/profiles/avbhuta (Google Profile)

Are All Realtors the Same?

Are all Realtors the same? That is a question I have been asked quite often in my many years as a Realtor. To be completely honest with you (not that I am ever not), but more so to get a point across; I did think all Realtors were the same prior to becoming a commited full time Realtor. More than ninety percent of all Realtors do exactly the same thing - put up a FOR SALE sign, enter your home on the MLS, advertise your home on a couple dozen websites, hold an open house, and make a brochure for your home. For me it seemed pretty ridiculous for a home seller to give a real estate agent thousands of dollars to do this. I still think it is utterly ridiculous for someone to pay thousands of dollars to have only THESE things done. Heck if that was all that was necessary to sell a home, it would make perfect sense to hire a friend or someone that you just get along with to do the deal that has no expertise in selling homes.

Once I became a full time Realtor, I realized that MUCH more than that is necessary to become a true professional in this business. I also became aware that the hardest thing to do is to make sure that the sale actually closes. There are so many different things that can happen to cause a transaction to NEVER close. So to hire a friend or relative to sell a home, just because they are a friend or relative, is like hiring a doctor to do surgery on you just because they are a friend or relative. It makes absolutely no sense.

So what makes me different than 99.9% of the other Realtors? Many things. Many many things. I know the market! I have lived in South Florida for over 30 years and am extremely familiar with it. Below are just a few of the things that I do so that your home WILL sell.

• Will Your Realtor Work this Hard for You?  I WILL!
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok8OHYQdDDI
  
  
• I specialize in selling homes that can't be sold - expired listings and for sale by owner homes


• I'm an agressive pro-active Realtor and everything I do to get your home sold is done that way. I don't just put up a sign and hope someone buys your house.


• I call potential buyers, top Realtors that sold homes in your area, invite people to open houses by phone calls, evites/facebook invitations, canvas different neighborhoods telling them about your home


• Put your home on up to 525+ websites


• Use social media to get the message out about your home for sale


• Use the latest technology and "old school" methods to promote your home


• Create a high definition video of your home


• Contact some of the largest relocation companies
• Know how to price homes to today's "new" technological buyer that uses smart phones and tablets


• Have an international web presence (over fifty countries) to help sell your home


• I specialize in divorce sales, so I'm extremely skilled at handling delicate, confidential situations


• I'm a Certified Negotiation Specialist (CNS)


• I spend a great deal of time and money on continuing education, technology, and contract courses so I will be completely up to date on changes in the industry and contracts


• I'll communicate with you as often as you would like in the manner you prefer - text, emails, phone, or in person


• I'll show you how many Realtors sent their buyers emails about your home, how many buyers actually read them, the number of people that went online to see your home, and what sort of interest there is in your home


• I'll let you know weekly about your competition - what homes sold, came on the market, had offers accepted, and any other stats about the real estate market, interest rates, or anything else appropriate


• I'll send you a list of over fifty references that you are more than welcome to call and ask about their experience with me as their Realtor


• MOST IMPORTANTLY - I make sure I do everything possible to give your transaction the best possible chance to close once we have accepted an offer. As mentioned before, making sure a sale closes is the hardest part in today's extremely difficult real estate market. I go to every closing and am there to try and prevent anything from happening to delay or cancel your transaction. I do many more things so that this will be a stress-free experience for you.

Amit Bhuta, ABR, CNS, e-PRO Realtor-Associate
Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate
Serving Miami-Dade and Broward County
(305) 439-3031 (Cell)
(305) 412-1171 (Fax)
www.DadeCountyMLS.com (Website)
www.MiamiForeclosuresDaily.com (Updated Daily Foreclosure List)
www.CoralGablesPinecrestHomes.com (Newest Listings for Sale)
www.ReasonsToHireMe.com (Why Choose Me?)
abhuta@bellsouth.net (Email)
www.google.com/profiles/avbhuta (Google Profile)

Something You May Not Know Yet, but Will Soon

The first thing that comes to mind for most people when they see, QR, are the seventeenth and eighteenth letters of the alphabet. In a couple of years for sure, they will mean something completely different for the majority of people. QR are the initials for quick response, as in quick response codes. So what does that mean to you? A great deal. QR codes are tiny UPC looking pictures that many people haven't noticed yet. They are used for driver's licenses, coupons, bills, websites, your local Best Buy store, tattoos, or basically any information that you want someone to see.

So how do you get all this information out of a tiny UPC looking photo? Very easily. With more and more people using smartphones - iPhones, Blackberrys, Drodis, etc, people can download these QR scanning apps for free. Since I own an iPhone, I did a lot of research and spoke to many people to find the best one. The two best one I came across are called i-nigma (or i-nigma qr datamatrix barcode reader for you guys that don't like to shorten things) and QR app. The i-nigma one is more sensitive at scanning but doesn't display websites as well as the QR app. So if you have an iPhone, please go to the app store now and go to search and enter i-nigma. After you download that one, enter QR app and download that one as well. I normally use the QR app because it is so good at displaying websites. But if there iss an issue with scanning, I will use the i-nigma one.

If someone is driving by a home I have for sale and they happen to stop in front of the FOR SALE sign, they can pick up a brochure and scan the QR code. When they do this, they will be taken to a website with many more photos of the home, schools in the neighborhood, demographics, the ability to schedule an appointment to view the home, my contact information, any other comments the person would like to leave me, plus many other things. By having the QR code, I will be able to do my little part in trying to help the environment by saving on paper, as well as help consumers get instant access to information they are probably interested in.

If you were able to download the QR app I talked about above or you already have a QR scanning app on your phone, please scan the QR code below.

Amit Bhuta
Real Estate Helper
Kendall Village Homes
www.DadeCountyMLS.com
www.google.com/profiles/avbhuta