AOL Real Estate - Blog

Behind on Your HOA Fees? Forget the Pool and Pizza Delivery.

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-04-01T10:00:00 00:00

Many struggling homeowners have to make tough choices about which bills to pay. If you live in a community with a homeowners association or own an apartment in a building with a condo association in Florida, you'd better pay those monthly fees -- or you could lose your house.

Florida law puts a homeowners association on par with the bank. Don't pay association fees or special assessments and the association could foreclose on your house. Across the state, HOAs are cracking down on delinquent members, barring them from common areas and even from getting their pizza delivered. With HOA delinquency rates as high as 50 percent in some communities, several bills up for consideration in Tallahassee would give associations even more power to deal with in arrears members.

Melissa Solis discovered this firsthand. Her situation, reported recently in the Orlando Sentinel, could be seen as a new low for beleaguered homeowners.

When her husband lost his job, Solis's family fell behind on paying her homeowners association fees. She understands why she can't use the facilities such as the pool and the clubhouse at the Stoneybrook West community where she lives near Orlando. But now, security guards at the gatehouse won't let in family and friends. She must come to the guard house and escort them in herself. The guards have even barred a pizza delivery man and her mother-in-law.

"If you haven't paid your association fees in months, should you be able to use the pool or book at a party in the clubhouse?" asks Donna Berger, the executive director of the Community Advocacy Network (CAN), a lobbying group for homeowners and condo associations boards and residents. "Clearly, she's not paying for the guardhouse either."

Berger acknowledges that not letting in the pizza guy might be a bit much, but homeowners and condo associations are taking big hits as many owners -- still in their homes or units -- are past due on paying association fees. Some associations are seeing delinquency rates as high as 50 percent. Once foreclosure proceedings start, or a bank takes title, associations are even worse off. They're often left with empty, unkept and uninsured units and a mounting pile of unpaid fees.

But Solis' plight could become the norm in Florida.

Several bills up for consideration in Tallahassee would give associations more power to deal with delinquent home and unit owners, allowing HOAs to bar delinquent members from common areas, strip them of voting rights, and collect rents directly from tenants in delinquent units and put the money toward the unpaid fees.

The bills would also put more onus on banks, requiring banks to maintain units while they are working through a foreclosure, and then pay all past-due fees when they take title to the property. Right now, if a bank takes over a unit, state law requires the bank to pay only 1 percent of the original mortgage payment or pay only six months of the past-due fees -- whichever is less.

State Rep. Julio Robaina from Miami had offered a bill that would have required banks to pay higher amounts to home or condo associations when they foreclose on a property. But it didn't get far. It was shot down in a committee.

Another bill would shield investors buying a group of units from having to take on any outstanding liabilities from a developer. But bulk buyers would still have to pay all common expenses owed to a community association.

See more stories on Florida and condos.

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South Florida Home Bargains Galore. Just Don't Expect Waterfront

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-03-17T11:45:00 00:00

Filed under: News,Lifestyle

Southern Florida has become the capital of bargain real estate. More than 56 percent of residential properties for resale in South Florida can be nabbed for less than $250,000, far less than prices a few years ago during the boom, according to a recent report by Condo Vultures LLC. For condos and townhouses, the deals are even greater: more than two-thirds of the roughly 41,000 condos and townhomes on the market are less than a quarter mil.

Sun, palm trees and cheap homes... what more is needed to warm a homebuyer's heart?

Water, you say? Well, there's the catch. For that, you still have to pay.

The bulk of these abundant deals generally are not near the water. These bargains are located in western suburbs such as Doral and Kendall in Miami-Dade and Plantation, Coconut Creek, Pembroke Pines, and Miramar in Broward County.

"If buyers are looking for value, they have to get in the car and drive west," says Peter Zalewski, who authored the report. In general, the homes and condos priced under $250,000 are more middle-of-the-road, he said, and offer an average amount of square footage of 2,000 square feet or more.

Bargains under $250,000 located east of Interstate 95, which runs through all three counties and is generally considered the east-west dividing line, have already been snapped by second-buyers and investors over the past year, adds Zalewski. A year ago, buyers could find condos built in 2004, 2005 and 2006 on Brickell Avenue or the downtown Biscayne Blvd. corridor in that price range. Many would need only touch-ups before they were ready to move in. Prices have steadily inched higher as well as second-home buyers seek out homes close to the water and the lure of South Beach.

But the vast stock of homes to the west and north haven't moved as fast. "If you're living in New York City, you don't dream of buying a second home in the Miami suburbs," says Zalewski.

Right now, east of I-I95, $250,000 or less buys you the "handyman special" -- probably a bank-owned property that's been stripped of appliances and needs plenty of rehab inside and out before you're ready to hang artwork on the walls and break out the grill in the backyard.

But if a buyer is wiling to go north, say to Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach in Broward or Boca Raton, Delray Beach and West Palm Beach, there may be a few bargains closer to the coast in those areas. Those properties may appeal more to second-home buyers from the Northeast or the Midwest. Foreign buyers only want Miami, says Zalewski.

On the other side of the spectrum -- homes and condos priced over $1 million -- there are fewer properties on the market -- a total of 6,493. Miami alone has 2,717 houses, condos or townhomes over $1 million on the market. More than half of these properties are condos.

But unlike the sub-$250k category, they're not selling. Only 352 of these million-dollar abodes are currently under contract.

These number defy the widely held notion that the upper end of the real market does better during a downturn because buyers of these homes don't have to worry about tight credit or job loss. In a recession, it seems, everybody loves a bargain.

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Florida's Broward County Officials Take a Stand Against BofA

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-03-15T13:30:00 00:00

Filed under: News,Lifestyle

As Florida continues to reel from foreclosures, some officials have had enough. Of Bank of America, that is.

Last week, Broward County's Board of Commissioners barred the bank from participating as one of five co-managers in an upcoming municipal bond sale. The bond will raise $208 million to pay for the replacement of a section of the county courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Why keep out brawny BofA?

The county commission wanted to send a message: Bank of America, they believe, is not playing nice with struggling homeowners who desperately need mortgage loan modifications.
BofA has one of the poorest track records when it comes to processing and approving loan modifications through the Federal Home Affordable Modification Program (not to mention its record of wrongly seizing people's homes).

The HAMP program features a three-month trial period for modification before making the modification permanent. Based on February data released by the federal government, BofA has 1,086,512 loans eligible for modification -- the highest number of eligible loans among the 24 largest mortgage providers that are participating in the federal program.

Broward commissioners rightly took notice that Bank of America was actively working on loan modifications for only only 240,550 loans, or 24 percent -- one of lowest percentages among the big participating banks. Only 22,303 of the bank's loans have been permanently modified.

Propublica.org, which has been following the federal modification program, estimates that 12.4 percent of the homeowners that began BofA's trial modification program have gone beyond the three-month trial period with no permanent relief.

Wells Fargo, in contrast, had the highest number of permanent modifications, at nearly 25,000. In total, 37 percent of the bank's eligible borrowers have had their loans modified on either a trial or permanent basis.

In total, Florida has 102,033 mortgage holders in the modification program, yet only 21,111 of those have completed the modification process.

Bank of America recently reported that it has beefed up its home retention staff -- a unit created as part of a settlement with 11 state attorneys general over the predatory lending practices of Countrywide Financial Corp. -- to 15,000 in an effort to better help consumers who are having difficulty making payments on their mortgages.

As a co-manager of a bond deal, the BofA could have earned $30,000 to $50,000 in fees. As lead manager, with responsibility for bringing in other banks to underwrite the county's bonds, it might earn between $150,000 and $200,000.

That kind of money is chump change to Bank of America, said Leo Guzman, head of Guzman & Co., a Miami-based investment banking firm.

The bank raked in $6.3 billion in net income last year. While we applaud Broward County officials for taking a stand, you can bet they're not losing sleep over at BofA on a lost muni deal.

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Subprime Lender Countrywide Mails Checks to Cheated Homeowners

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-02-23T13:00:00 00:00

Filed under: News,Lifestyle

The check's in the mail.

The money promised to homeowners in Florida and 39 other states -- part of a 2008 settlement with a mortgage lender that came to symbolize the worst practices in the realm of subprime lending -- began to flow last week.

Some 2,700 Florida residents who had lost their homes after Countrywide Financial Corp. foreclosed on their mortgages can look forward to checks totaling a little more than $6,000 each. Seems like chump change to someone who's lost their home. Yet, Florida homeowners may be faring better than most.In California payments are ranging form $2,500 to $3,000. Michigan residents that qualify are seeing checks for about $3,000. In Connecticut, checks are totaling $3,400. Further south in Pennsylvania, former Countrywide loan holders are seeing checks of about $4,300. The dollar amount going to affected homeowners depends on the number of borrowers that met the criteria set up by the lawsuit settlement.

Ken Thomas, a Miami real estate consultant and a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, said compared to the tens of thousands of dollars many consumers lost when Countrywide foreclosed on mortgages they couldn't pay, a $6,000 settlement hardly seems worth the effort of filing out the paperwork required to qualify.

The lawsuit, filed in June 2008, alleged that Countrywide put consumers in mortgages they couldn't afford, or in loans with rates and penalties they didn't fully understand. And the company's deceptive marketing practices also glossed over the hidden costs or puntive terms on some of its mortgages.

The settlement with Countrywide, which was purchased by Bank of America one day after the lawsuit was filed, totaled $8.6 billion. It included home retention relief, requiring the company to modify loans, moving borrowers from adjustable-rate mortgages to fixed-rate loans they could afford as well as waiving late fees, penalties and other costs. The AGs have called on the bank to be responsive to homeowners who have run into economic trouble and are looking to modify their loans and save their homes from foreclosure.

In Florida, $4 million is being used to fund a foreclosure defense assistance program over the next two years that will provide free legal assistance to homeowners who are facing foreclosure proceedings and can't afford to hire an attorney.

Thomas contends that more regulation of mortgage company lending practice would have curbed some of the abuses we saw during the real estate boom. Countrywide was the largest lender in South Florida as the real estate boom peaked in 2006 and 2007.

Ironically, the payments began going out to former Countrywide loan customers during the same week that the Federal Housing Finance Authority has proposed new rules prohibiting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from using subprime mortgages to satisfy the government requirement to finance loans to low-income consumers.

The FHFA now believes the two companies had been relying too heavily on bonds backed by subprime mortgages and commercial mortgage-backed securities to meet its affordable housing goals.

If those new rules had been adopted, say six or seven years ago, some of the real estate problems we've seen in the past two years might have been avoided. And many homeowners in Florida and elsewhere might not have lost their homes.

But that's not the end of Countrywide's legal woes. A civil case against Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide's former CEO, is still pending in Broward County Court in Fort Lauderdale.

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Outlook for Florida's Real Estate Market: Overcast But Clearing?

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-02-18T15:36:00 00:00

Filed under: News

In foreclosure-wracked Florida, there are tiny signs of life. The state's foreclosure rate dipped in January. Earlier this month, all eyes were on Miami when the Super Bowl XLIV came to town. And recently, the deep freeze in real estate lending seems to have thawed.

An investor group buying a 63-unit condo project on Brickell Avenue in Downtown Miami recently secured financing from a local bank, according to CondoVultures LLC, a real estate consulting firm in Bal Harbour, Fla. Granted, the $5.5 million mortgage for the new buyers works out to $68 per square foot -- quite a drop from the $126 per square foot price that was the basis for the building's original purchase price of $10.2 million in August 2009.

Still, these events amount to cheery news for the southern Florida's beleaguered real estate market.Peter Zalewski, who runs Condo Vultures, believes the deal signals a belief on the part of lenders that Miami's condo market is starting to stabilize and a willingness to lend on larger deals. Most recent condo sales in downtown Miami have been done with cash buyers.

And brokers say they have been busy in the last three weeks as South Florida glowed in the national spotlight -- and was flooded with visitors. In addition to the Super Bowl, played on a picture perfect day, Miami was host to the NFL's Pro Bowl on January 31. And during Presidents Day weekend, the region hosted the Coconut Groves Arts Festival and the Miami Beach Boat Show, two events that usually brings in out-of-town buyers for art and boats.

"We just had the greatest commercial for South Florida we could ever have," says Kenneth Rietz, who handles the Bank of Miami's portfolio of foreclosed properties.

Despite the hopeful signs, the outlook for the real estate market in South Florida is still rather gloomy.

Yes, foreclosures were down in January, but Florida still ranked among the the top states in terms of the number of properties receiving foreclosure notices that month. Combined, Florida, California and Arizona accounted for the more than 44 percent of new filings nationwide in January, according to RealtyTrac.com.

A still-high rate of foreclosures, little credit availability and a continued high unemployment rate don't bode well for the real estate market, according to the University of Florida's quarterly survey of real estate professionals throughout the state, done by the school's Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies.

As one respondent summed it up: "Unemployed people don't need office space, don't shop, don't pay rent, and don't buy houses."

Ken Thomas, a Miami-based real estate consultant and a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, says that until the credit shortage is alleviated, any full recovery is doubtful. But lending can be tough when many of state's banks are on the ropes. Thomas estimates that about 60 of Florida's 300 banks are troubled. He expects federal regulators will close some 20 banks this year. In 2009, 14 Florida were shut down.

As properties -- from single family home and condos to, increasingly, commercial buildings -- continue to feed into the foreclosure pipeline, brokers worry about increasing supply in the market as they emerge on the other side. A study by the John Burns Real Estate consulting firm in Irvine, Calif. estimates Miami has a "shadow inventory" of about 24 months to work off.

This is not a good sign. Rietz says he initially worked only on residential foreclosures. Recently, his team was split in two. Now he's part of a team of five bankers working only on commercial foreclosures.

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Dramatic Facelift for Low-Income Housing in Miami

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-02-16T12:58:00 00:00

Filed under: Design,Lifestyle

New-and-improved home sweet home.

A Mediterranean Revival style building, once so deteriorated that the city of Miami Beach was ready to demolish it, has been brought back to life by the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation (CDC), a non-profit group that will maintain it as housing for low-income seniors.

The 11 residents who still lived at Villa Maria when the renovation work began in July 2008 will come back to the building, which sits on Collins Avenue and 28th Street in the heart of the city's heavily trafficked hotel district. Returning to their renovated apartments is a huge blessing. They enjoyed -- and missed -- the comeraderie among the tenants in the building.

The rest of the 34 units will be rented to seniors on fixed incomes. The tenants will pay only 30 percent of their monthly income for rent. The remainder is subsidized through a federal housing program. (To be eligible for HUD's Section 8 housing subsidy program, family income must be 50 percent below the median income of an area. In the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area, the median income is $55,900.)
The CDC bought the building (they used $2 million provided by the City of Miami) from a developer who planned to take advantage of the demolition order and put up a luxury condo tower. The $6.6 million for restoration -- funded by city, state and federal dollars as well as private money including a grant from CitiFoundation -- replaced crumbling concrete and rusted pipes with new walls, floors, cabinets and appliances and coats of fresh paint. The property includes a parking lot, where the CDC will soon begin to build a brand new building, also for senior housing.

A documentary that chronicles the restoration of Villa Maria that began in 2008-- "Building Lives: The Story of the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation"--premieres this Thursday (more information below). The documentary also tells the story of CDC and its effort to maintain affordable housing on Miami Beach. The non-profit organization grew out of the preservation movement in the 1970s when Barbara Baer Capitman and several Beach residents created the Miami Design Preservation League to protect the city's architectural heritage. As the city began its resurgence, Capitman and her colleagues quickly saw the need to maintain housing for residents of all economic levels, especially the elderly who had congregated in Miami Beach for years. Hence the creation of the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation.

Jack Johnson, chairman of the Miami Beach CDC, explained how the Villa Maria project took form, its impact on the surrounding area and detailed the agency's mission.

HW: How will the renovation of Villa Maria affect the surrounding neighborhood, especially in terms of rental rates and home values?
JJ: We increase their value. If you had seen Villa Maria before we bought it as compared to what it looks like now, you'd see the renovation has significantly improved the surrounding area. Private developers like it when the CDC comes [to the neighborhood] because it immediately makes their properties more valuable.

We don't build plain, ugly housing. We take beautiful older buildings and restore them in such a way that our project becomes the best building in the block. We have never had a "not-in-my-backyard" response to any of our projects. People want us to renovate buildings in their neighborhood.

Where did the 11 residents who were still at Villa Maria go when the renovation got under way?
The residents were moved into other properties that we own. We already have 14 properties in operation and we have another eight that we're currently developing. We'll soon have over 500 housing units that we operate.

If this agency didn't exist, what would happen to these lower-income residents?
They would have left Miami Beach by now. There have been a few times in the past when it would have been impossible for people in this income level to find decent housing in Miami Beach. That isn't the case today due to the depressed housing market. There are a lot of privately owned buildings that rent apartments nowadays for rates close to what we offer. But that's a temporary situation. That will change once the real estate market recovers. Our housing isn't temporary.

(Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in an older renovated building in Miami Beach could run between $1,000 and $1,500 a month, and possibly higher, depending on its location.)

Why is it so important to maintain housing in Miami Beach for senior and folks living on a fixed income?
The mix of people in Miami Beach is one of the things, addition to the architecture, that makes it so unique. We work to preserve that neighborhood feel, which is dependent on the income mix of the people in the neighborhood as it is on the physical surroundings.

There are lots of empty apartments in Miami Beach right now thanks to the recent building boom. How does that impact Villa Maria and the other properties that the CDC runs?
When we opened [the application process] for Villa Maria, we received 600 applications in one week for the 34 units in the building. People think of Miami Beach as a wealthy community. But over half of the people on the Beach qualify, based on income, for our program

What happens to those people do didn't get an apartment at Villa Maria?
Assuming they qualify, they will be part of a lottery for units at Villa Maria as they become available. They could also be future tenants in other buildings that we own.

How did the Miami Beach CDC start out?
In the early years, we worked only to promote development on Miami Beach.

In 1979, the Miami Beach's Art Deco district received its designation as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. How did that impact housing and rental values in the city?
We started to attract developers because of the federal tax credit they could get if they preserved the older buildings. We soon began to see developers come back to Miami Beach and tourism begin to come back, which also, of course, resulted in rents going up. The CDC realized that because of its success, it needed to start doing housing for low-income people. That way the economic mix that existed in Miami Beach could be maintained.

Is Villa Maria in the historic district?
No, the Art Deco district extends from 6th to 18th Street. But Villa Maria, originally, known as Hampton House is a significant building because it's one of the older extant buildings in Miami Beach. It was built in 1924.

For tickets for the premiere of "Building Lives: The Story of the Miami Beach Community Development Authority" Thursday, Feb. 18., at the Colony Theater in Miami Beach, contact the theater box office via Ticketmaster, or Denis Russ at the Miami Beach CDC. Cost is $50; $45 will be considered a donation to the Miami Beach CDC, which is a 501c3 organization.

"Building Live: The story of the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation"

Directed and Produced by Cork Friedman

Produced by Jack Johnson

A Rum Lime Films Production

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Florida Bankers Can't Wait to Foreclose

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-02-08T09:00:00 00:00

Filed under: News

Hasta la vista, your honor.

The Florida Bankers Association has proposed a new approach to deal with the backlog of foreclosure proceedings in the state's courthouses: skip the courts and proceed immediately to the sale.

The banking trade group -- a significant lobbying force in the state capital -- is shopping a bill that would allow "non-judicial" foreclosures as a way to speed up the process that can take as long as 18 months, according to the St. Petersburg Times. The bill would kick troubled homeowners out of their homes in as little as three months, and allow banks to continue pursuing homeowners for unpaid mortgage debt long after they've been foreclosed upon.

With Orwellian flair, the bankers have called the bill The Florida Consumer Protection and Homeowner Credit Rehabilitation Act.

The proposal comes just a month after the Florida Supreme Court mandated a statewide mediation program between lenders and homeowners aimed at averting foreclosures -- a program the bankers' proposal would nullify.
The mediation order, championed by Alex Sink, Florida's chief financial officer and a Democratic candidate for governor, would increase communication between lenders and homeowners and possibly lead to a loan modification rather than proceed with the foreclosure. Mediation programs that foster face-to-face meetings between lenders and borrowers are in place in several states and have proved successful in resolving issues that can lead to foreclosure.

Under Florida's program, all foreclosure cases involving residential property will be referred to mediation. The Collins Center, a non-profit organization, began managing the mediation program last year. It has plenty of experience in resolving dispute. The center ran a successful hurricane claims mediation program to help homeowners settle claims disputes with their insurance companies.

A mediation session costs $750: $350 goes to the mediator, who is certified by the state supreme court and has gone through a one-day training program, $125 pays for a financial advisor and the rest of the funds are used to administer the program.

Florida had one of the highest foreclosure rates in 2009. A task force headed by Jennifer D. Bailey, a Miami-Dade County circuit judge, likened backed-up caseload in Florida courts to a traffic jam on a major highway following an emergency hurricane evacuation order. The task force concluded that one of the best ways to reduce congestion was managed mediation at the beginning of a foreclosure case, and expedited sales when properties are abandoned or empty.

The task force also acknowledged the need for consumer education and access to information, including certified foreclosure counselors, court records and dockets, which it said could be made available on a web site.

Still, the bankers have some precedent on their side: 37 other states, including California, Texas and Georgia, allow non-judicial foreclosure.

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Aging Boomers: No Golf Please, Feed My Mind

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-02-04T16:00:00 00:00

Filed under: News,Lifestyle

How times have changed.... at least if retirement trends are the measure.

When my parents' generation thought of retirement living, it was in Florida, probably on a golf course. If you lived in the Northeast, it was Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale or Miami. Midwesterners typically opted for Naples or Fort Myers.

But Baby Boomers -- always the individualists -- are breaking the mold. As the post-war generation begins hitting retirement age, they are bypassing the golf course communities, Sunshine State and other traditional retirement trappings of their parents. Instead, they're choosing smaller urban areas, in states such as North and South Carolina, and even downsizing on housing choices.

The newly released 2010 Del Webb Baby Boomer survey, conducted by Harris Interactive for Pulte/Del Webb, found that 42 percent of today's 50-year-olds plan to move during retirement. The researchers found the Carolinas are now considered "the new Florida" among young and older boomers: 20 percent preferred South Carolina, while 16 percent favored North Carolina. Florida hasn't lost all its charm, however: 15 percent of those queried would opt for the Sunshine State. Tennessee, Arizona, California and Virginia are also contenders.

What's driving the changes? Aside from errant golf balls, you can blame it on the economy, says a report on Marketwatch.com. The economic recession has eroded savings and fundamentally altered the retirement plans of Americans 55 and older.

The Del Webb survey found that 72 percent of younger Baby Boomers plan to continue working even after retirement. Among young boomers, 14 percent fear they'll never retire.

Some of the retirement choices reflect a broader trend towards more pedestrian-friendly urban living. A study by the National Association of Home Builders, done in conjunction with the MetLife Mature Market Institute, found that when Baby Boomers start thinking about the attractions of a community as a place for retirement or a second home, proximity to shopping, walking and jogging trails, public transportation, doctors offices/hospitals, churches looms large.

What amenity did they rate dead last? Proximity to golf courses.

Larry Meyer and Anne Robertson exemplify the trend. The couple chose to buy a second home in a small village in the mountains of northern Virginia -- a choice they say was reinforced by a recent visit with friends who live in a grand home overlooking a championship golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. The Virginia community has rural charm, organic farms and a friendly air. But it's also got a touch of sophistication -- Lorin Maazel, former New York Philharmonic director stages a summer music and arts festival -- and it's just 70 miles from Washington, D.C.

"We have no regrets that there are no golf courses, no clubhouses and no 19th hole," says Meyer.

Gail Meadows and Bill Robertson, long-time Miami residents who are recent retirees, bought a condo in a 1925 former department store that was converted into apartments in downtown Asheville, N.C. (pictured). The nearby cultural activities, the ability to walk to just about everything they want to do, and having some family in the area all factored into their choice. "We got a great apartment with high ceilings and very tall windows and we can look out onto this fabulous little streetscape," said Bill Robertson, a former journalist.

Those two couple bought existing homes. But, with many recent retirees opting for new ones, real estate developers and homebuilders are taking heed of their likes and wants. And no wonder: those aged 55 and up represent about a quarter of the population, figures the NAHB -- or 76.6 million people, up from 21 percent when the last U.S. Census was done in 2000. What's more, the 55 + demographic is expected to grow by around 26 percent, to 85.3 million, in 2014.

And what will senior citizen Boomers fill those new homes with? Desired amenities include bigger bathrooms, first-floor master bedrooms, washer/dryers inside the unit or house, storage space, wider doors and extra lighting, according to the homebuilder group's survey. And these are tech-savvy seniors. Their golden years will be digital, with high speed internet access, home security systems, lighting controls, and energy management systems.

And perhaps a Clapper or two.

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The Perils of Living on the Green

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-01-27T11:37:00 00:00

Filed under: Design,Lifestyle

So you want to live in a home on a golf course? You may want think twice about that.

The cachet that comes from that beautiful expanse of green outside your window and country club living, also comes with...golf balls.

Hundreds and hundreds of golf balls.

Ask Willam and Dorothy Abbott in North Naples, Fla. For more than 15 years, the couple has tried to co-exist with the Stonebridge Country Club next door. But errant golf balls have rained down on their property, breaking windows, roof tiles and patio screens. The Naples Daily News reports the couple has tried to get the country club to pay to repair the damage but to no avail. When the Abbotts built their retirement home in 1988, there was no golf course next door. It came five years later and they quickly realized this might not be the best neighbor.

Their plight isn't unique, especially in states like Florida, California, and Nevada, where many new communities -- both high-end and more modest -- are built around golf courses. There are more than 2,941 golf courses built in real estate developments in the United States, according to the National Golf Foundation.
Some clubs might be willing to work with surrounding homeowners to find ways to protect against recreational golfers and their wayward golf balls. The Miami Shores Country Club in Miami Beach, FL moved its driving range a few years ago. One home was the landing point for long shots, says General Manager Alberto Pozzi. But even after the redesign, the homeowner still has a net stretched across a portion of his backyard to catch any wayward golf balls that may come his way.

The Miami Shores' golf course, built in the 1930's, predated the surrounding homes which were built in the 1950s. But if, like the Abbotts, you're buying a home next to empty land, ask about zoning. You don't want to find out after you've moved in that the property next door is slated for a golf course, or perhaps worse yet, a shopping mall.

Claims for broken windows and smashed garden sculptures aren't much of a concern for insurance companies, says Jeff Weiner, a Coral Gables, Fla., insurance agent. Repair costs are usually a homeowner's deductible of $500 or $1,000.

Risk isn't the only deterrent to having a golf course be an extension of your backyard. There's also a loss of privacy -- unless you like having dozens of golf carts, loaded with players and clubs, whiz by your patio as you're enjoying your morning coffee and newspaper.

"On a few holes, you don't dare look to the left or right when you're in the tee box, otherwise you're staring in someone's backyard," says Alex Soto, a Miami insurance agent and a member of the Riviera Country Club in Coral Gables. Soto says he once broke a window with one of his shots. Lucky for him, the homeowner was a friend and he just paid for the repair.

The proximity of homes so close to the fairways can cut both ways. Nothing can break a player's concentration like the sound of a family splashing in their pool some 20 feet away.

One country club general manager in Pompano Beach, Fl, admits to living on a golf course, but also says he didn't let his kids play in the backyard when they were small.

"If you want the view, you have to accept the risks," he said.

Moral of the story: buyer beware.

FORE!

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Temple To High-End Zen For Sale in Miami

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-01-25T11:40:00 00:00

Filed under: Design,Lifestyle

For a house with a self-professed "wow" factor-its website address is www,ownthewow.com-it seems that no amount of promotion is too much.

The Temple House, in the heart of Miami Beach, has a Facebook fan page, a Twitter account, its own blog with postings of all the celebs-Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, BowWow and Playboy model Vicky Vodar, to name a few- who have crossed its threshold, and a stream of photos of its Flickr page.

Ines Hegedus-Garcia, an agent who is working with Broker Jeff Morr, owner of Majestic Properties, has tapped social media tools to market the Temple House. She tweets about every event at the house; all are chronicled with photos and videos.

"I wouldn't do this with every luxury property. But this property calls for a different approach," says Hegedus-Garcia.

Indeed, Temple House isn't your typical multimillion dollar Florida mansion.

For one thing, it's not on the water. It's located on a busy street -- behind the requisite high hedge, of course -- within walking distance of some of South Beach's coolest nightclubs and boutiques and the new Frank Gehry-designed music hall that will house the New World Symphony.

It's also roomy, at more than 16,000 square feet. A former synagogue, it's been converted into a modern single-family home over the last two years. Besides the master bedroom, complete with an 800-square-foot master bath (about the size of one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan), there are four guest rooms and six other bathrooms, two kitchens (one for caterers), 30-foot ceilings, a roof-top sundeck and swimming pool.

In 2003, entrepreneur Dan Davidson was walking passed the house as a real estate agent was planting a for-sale sign outside. Right on the spot, he told the agent he was going to buy the house.

"I always dreamed of living in a big white house," says Davidson, who led the renovation and designed some of the furniture for the house. The walls and floors are white. Most of the furnishings and accessories are in browns and black. And there's a little zen thrown in. Price tag on the redo: Millions of dollars so far.

Built in 1933 as a two-story single-family house, it was designed by renowned architect L. Murray Dixon, who is also responsible for some of the prized jewels among SoBe's Art Deco buildings, including the Victor, Raleigh, Marlin and Tides Hotels. Lester Avery, another well-known architect, supervised an expansion in 1965.

Davidson put the house on the market because he is spending less time in South Florida as he starts up a news and media business.

The asking price: $7.5 million, down from the original $12 million listing price. The high end of the real estate market is often recession-proof. But this house may have to wait for another unique buyer to happen by.

"This property won't attract the typical family," says Hegedus-Garcia.

Don't want to commit to owning the wow? You can rent it for about $100,000 a month.

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Foreclosure Auctions Move Online

Beatrice Garcia — 2010-01-22T12:05:00 00:00

Filed under: News

Many a real estate dream has died on the courthouse steps during the past two years, via a foreclosure auction. Going forward, these mini-dramas will play out more quietly and efficiently on the Web.

To whittle down the load of pending sales-a record 2.8 million properties received foreclosure notices last year, up 21 percent from 2008-local officials are turning to online auctions.

Florida, which recorded the second highest number of foreclosure filings in the country in 2009, is the first state to turn to Internet-based auctions to process distressed property sales. These cyber auctions can bring in buyers from around the state or around the world.Miami-Dade County started its online auctions last week, Palm Beach County started this week and Broward County should get rolling later in the first quarter.

Lloyd McClendon, president of RealAuction.com, a company in Plantation, Fl, that's handing the Miami-Dade and Broward auctions, said the first week was slow because potential bidders had be to walked through the process.

"Just because the process is online some buyers think they don't have to do the research and they can walk away with a home for $100," he said.

There are some bargains out there but bidders have to do the legwork, McClendon warns. To get started, they should see if there are any liens on the property and check on its condition and location. "The address could turn out to be waste dump," he says.

So far, RealAuction.com has handled 533 sales for Miami-Dade, including 117 on a single Wednesday. Sales totaled more than $26.8 million, McClendon reports.

Harvey Rubin, Miami-Dade's clerk of the courts, would like to see 300 online sales daily. He has big hopes for the online system. He told The Miami Herald the county has about 110,000 open foreclosure files and they're coming in at the rate of about 7,000 a month. He's also hoping the county will save $750,000 a year in processing these files.

Potential bidders have to register at RealAuction.com. Registration is free but bidder must put down a five percent deposit, either online or in person. Users will have online access to listings of foreclosed properties, photos, and links to the property appraiser's reports and property profiles on Zillow.com. More than 6,275 bidders, including 201 from outside the U.S., have registered to participate in the Miami-Dade auctions.

Grant Street Group is administering the auctions for the Palm Beach County, which has about 53,000 open foreclosure cases.

With foreclosure filings expected to reach 3 million nationwide this year, online auction houses will be plenty busy as other states bring the sales process into the digital world.

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