AquaBlueRealty - Miami Real Estate News

The way you live in your home is not the way to sell your home. Oftentimes, homeowners who smoke or who have pets are so habituated to the odors that they do not notice how repulsive these are to other people, especially buyers. The way to get around this trouble is for sellers to solicit a second opinion, perhaps from their neighbor or from a pre-inspection professional, in order to determine how prospective emptors may see their home.

The Royal LePage poll also revealed that renovations can ameliorate the value of a home, especially in the Sarasota housing market today with such a rising inventory. But not all renovations are created equal. Style and décor are especially important with large renovations, as these features will be relatively more expensive for a buyer to change. Thus, they can be a considerable factor in buying decisions.

The poll also indicate that men were more concerned than women about the décor, with 41 percent of them saying that they would be willing to pay a bounty for an updated décor, as compared to only 30 percent of women saying they would. On the whole, more than a third of prospective emptors said they would pay more for a home with an updated décor.

The poll also shows that 79 percent of buyers said they would be willing to pay more for a home with a renovated kitchen. But when asked if they would still pay a premium if the kitchen was renovated in a style that was not to their taste, less than 50 percent of those who originally said they would pay the bounty were still likely to do so.

Friedland added that with the weak dollar potential, buyers today need fewer shekels to get to the buying price, and therefore the loan they need to take out could be between 8 to 10% smaller than previously.

Adversely, property sellers are now stubborn about negotiating the asking price, as was once common place.

“There is barely room for price negotiation as sellers have become very hesitant to move prices down,” said Friedland. “We hear sellers complain about all the shekels they have already lost, and some even try to increase prices.”

Foreign resident buyers, in particular from the US and the UK, have recently shown much interest in buying a second home in Israel, and more so now.

A nine-person education panel met with about 150 real estate agents at Coldwell Banker’s Coventry office to give them information about area public and private schools and colleges, and clear up any misconceptions they have about the area’s education.

The panel agreed when Steve Yager, superintendent of Northwest Allen County Schools, said real estate agents should emphasize the variety of good schools and universities when speaking to parents. Fort Wayne offers good public schools, Catholic schools, private schools, a public university, faith-based colleges and private colleges, he said.

Members of the panel presented what they thought were the best points of their institutions and discussed school safety and property taxes among other issues. The panel also debated whether there was a brain drain in Fort Wayne. A brain drain is when young and talented people leave an area for a more prosperous region.

Robinson and Yager were joined by Brian Smith, superintendent of Southwest Allen County Schools; Michael Wartell, chancellor of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne; Stephen Kempinger, superintendent for the Fort Wayne-South Bend Area Catholic Diocese; and representatives from the University of Saint Francis, Tri-State University, Indiana Tech and Huntington University.

One of the first questions posed to the panel involved school safety, in light of recent school shootings including a deadly one at a Pennsylvania Amish schoolhouse.

Smith said it is most important for school leaders to work with teachers, students and parents and encourage them to relay any rumors they might hear about possible violent attacks. Yager said sometimes there isn’t much more school officials can do, other than keep their ears open and hire security experts.

John Bellio, president of sales for Coldwell Banker, asked the panel about property taxes and how real estate agents should discuss schools’ involvement in raising money. Smith said he wished the state legislature would find alternative ways to finance schools such as revenue from a state sales or income tax.

Robinson, on the other hand, said Fort Wayne Community Schools needs property taxes to keep up the school buildings in order to preserve property values around the city.

In regard to brain drain, Robinson said residents need to stop dumbing the city down and recognize the positive aspects of living in Fort Wayne.

People also need to recognize the talented and intelligent individuals who remain and realize that those who left to work and live in other cities were going to move anyway, despite any educational opportunities or lack thereof, she said.

A nine-person education panel met with about 150 real estate agents at Coldwell Banker’s Coventry office to give them information about area public and private schools and colleges, and clear up any misconceptions they have about the area’s education.

The panel agreed when Steve Yager, superintendent of Northwest Allen County Schools, said real estate agents should emphasize the variety of good schools and universities when speaking to parents. Fort Wayne offers good public schools, Catholic schools, private schools, a public university, faith-based colleges and private colleges, he said.

Members of the panel presented what they thought were the best points of their institutions and discussed school safety and property taxes among other issues. The panel also debated whether there was a brain drain in Fort Wayne. A brain drain is when young and talented people leave an area for a more prosperous region.

Robinson and Yager were joined by Brian Smith, superintendent of Southwest Allen County Schools; Michael Wartell, chancellor of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne; Stephen Kempinger, superintendent for the Fort Wayne-South Bend Area Catholic Diocese; and representatives from the University of Saint Francis, Tri-State University, Indiana Tech and Huntington University.

One of the first questions posed to the panel involved school safety, in light of recent school shootings including a deadly one at a Pennsylvania Amish schoolhouse.

Smith said it is most important for school leaders to work with teachers, students and parents and encourage them to relay any rumors they might hear about possible violent attacks. Yager said sometimes there isn’t much more school officials can do, other than keep their ears open and hire security experts.

John Bellio, president of sales for Coldwell Banker, asked the panel about property taxes and how real estate agents should discuss schools’ involvement in raising money. Smith said he wished the state legislature would find alternative ways to finance schools such as revenue from a state sales or income tax.

Robinson, on the other hand, said Fort Wayne Community Schools needs property taxes to keep up the school buildings in order to preserve property values around the city.

In regard to brain drain, Robinson said residents need to stop dumbing the city down and recognize the positive aspects of living in Fort Wayne.

People also need to recognize the talented and intelligent individuals who remain and realize that those who left to work and live in other cities were going to move anyway, despite any educational opportunities or lack thereof, she said.

 In particular, trends affecting both the US discount commercial convenience real estate and the US distribution warehouse sectors have made them particularly attractive for investors looking to earn a steady income stream from rents.

In regard to discount commercial convenience real estate the trend has been a move by consumers away from traditional retail department stores.

In terms of the distribution warehouse space, the overriding trend has been for the storing of inventory in fewer more centralised hubs to make distribution more efficient.

The US being a big country has certain hubs and we’ve seen national distributors reduce the locations in which they hold stock down from say 20 locations to maybe five.

It’s all about getting the stock to the hub and getting it out more quickly. What that’s meant is bigger warehouses with the systems within the warehouses being more sophisticated.

US fund managers and Macquarie business partners, DDR and ProLogis, specialise in investing in discount commercial convenience real estate and distribution warehouses respectively.

Australian investors can only gain access to these managers’ core investment activities through two listed property trusts, the Macquarie DDR Trust and the Macquarie ProLogis Trust.

The following are reasons why brokers should focus on the profession:

1. Downward pressure on sales commissions. Consumers are no longer willing to pay agent commissions—at least not on the same level that they once were. “Companies and their agents must clearly understand and articulate their specific value as it relates to the customer,” asserts Staver. “It is the customer’s perspective that matters—not yours. The resulting pressure from consumers has brought to the table a need to evaluate how we price a listing and then how we provide for the customer a clear understanding of why it costs X to sell their house. If a clear rationale can’t be established, then perhaps the seller is being overcharged.”

2. A consumer-centric marketplace. Once upon a time, real estate was a provider-driven market. Customers listened to their agent and signed on the dotted line. Today, customers control the transaction. Staver attributes this sea change to the technologically driven flow of information and sense of consumer empowerment that spans many different arenas. “Providers no longer have a monopoly on information,” he says. “Think about healthcare. Everyone on the street can name two or three antidepressants, so doctors have lost much of their authority. And though many real estate professionals tend to cling to the belief that they’re in charge, it’s a delusion. The job has almost nothing to do with selling a house fast; it has everything to do with understanding the hearts and minds of the consumer.”

3. Emergence of alternate business models. Your competitors are no longer limited to other real estate companies like you. Completely new horse-of-a-different-color businesses are springing up to give consumers the information and experience they want and need. And the information-saturated marketplace has forced brokers to reevaluate their strategies. After all, any Mom & Pop company can get on MLS, get every listing, and post it on their Web site. “Consumers think, ‘Well, if you won’t tell me what I want to know, and provide a buying or selling experience the way I want it, perhaps the brokerage across the street will,’” notes Staver. “It’s just a different world now.”

4. An underdeveloped leadership talent pool. The robust real estate market, combined with the tidal wave of change that has swept over our industry in the past decade, has created a whole generation of managers out of former agents. And of course, the harsh truth is that no matter how brilliant and successful an agent might be as an agent, she is not automatically a great manager. “Real estate brokers are finally realizing that leadership skills don’t magically happen,” says Staver. “Development firms like mine are working with brokers to increase leadership competency and bring on board emerging leaders. The industry is in a massive learning curve as people work to learn vital new skills.”

5. Our current market correction. Let’s face it: for the past six years or so the real estate industry has been wallowing in champagne and caviar. A robust market has a way of hiding a multitude of sins. And now that we’re coming to the end of our economic power surge—and Staver insists that it’s a normalization, not a downturn—the receding tide is exposing some disappointing realities. “Homes that would have sold in days might be taking weeks or even months to sell, and people aren’t realizing the exorbitant profits they were a few years ago,” he says. “Many homes never were worth their selling price, but you know, everyone got accustomed to the fever pitch and normal seems slow.

Consumers are anxious, which makes agents anxious, which makes brokers anxious. We all need to take a deep breath and adjust our expectations. And fundamentally, we need to sharpen and intensify our focus on high-gain activities.”

Real estate professionals must break out of their comfort zones and start devoting their time and brain-power to high-gain activities: articulating vision and values, creating a framework for exceptional client experiences, increasing the value of assets under their control, creating a high-performance culture, and finding and developing world-class talent. (NOTE: See tipsheet below for more information on each.)
Tips to remember:

1. Articulate your vision and values. What does your company stand for? At the end of the day, what matters most? Integrity? Excellent service? Making lots and lots of money at all costs? Every company stands for something and leaders must make their values and vision absolutely clear to their followers. After all, people do not function without a purpose. If you are not keeping your company’s vision and values in front of them at all times, they can’t know what to align their behaviors with. Don’t be afraid to be passionate. People will follow you into the depths of hell when you can make them believe in where you’re headed. As Staver likes to remind his clients, “Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t say, ‘I have a hunch.’”

2. Create a framework for an exceptional client experience. Most organizations are structured to serve themselves, not the customer. But to be truly successful in the Information Age, you must design an experience focused on the consumer experience as articulated by the consumer. This goes much deeper than “customer service,” by the way. You must structure your company around what the consumer really wants, not what you want her to want.

3. Increase the value of assets under your control. If you automatically think “hard” assets like business equipment, you’re on the wrong wavelength. Your most valuable assets are your human assets—despite what your accounting department may believe. (Did you know that on most balance sheets a desk appears as an asset and a person appears as a liability?) How do you increase the value of your human assets? Commit to developing them on a personal and professional level. Help them maximize their strengths to the benefit of your company. “In most organizations, the most successful salesperson becomes a sales manager,” points out Staver. “But being great at selling houses or anything else doesn’t mean you’re great at leading. Smart companies capitalize on the natural abilities of their people and offer the training they need to truly thrive.”

4. Create a high-performance culture. This high-gain activity can be summed up in three simple steps: 1) Articulate your expectations to your people (this goes back to our first tip) . . . 2) Make sure there’s a system in place to give people what they need to achieve those expectations . . . and 3) Be certain you’re holding them accountable for achieving expectations. It’s that simple.

5. Find and develop world-class talent. It’s easy enough to focus on talent when you have a job opening and need someone pronto. Problem is, by then it’s too late. Constantly be looking for and wooing talented people, even if you have no place to put them right now. Do what you have to do.

Entitled “Riding on the High Growth of Viet Nam”, the conference, organised by the International Investment and Urban Development Joint Stock Company (IDJ), introduced 68 investment projects including office buildings, high-end apartments, resorts, industrial zones and urban zones.

Delivering the opening speech at the conference, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment (MPI) Cao Viet Sinh said that the promotion of foreign investment in Viet Nam - combined with improvements to the market economy mechanism and the legal framework for investment and business - played a vital role in Viet Nam’s efforts to advance its international integration.

IDJ Director Tran Trong Hieu stressed that the conference’s purpose was to encourage foreign investors and overseas Vietnamese to further invest in Viet Nam, especially in the real estate sector.

Hieu added that the real estate industry was drawing a lot of interest from foreign investors, while local project owners were short of cash to develop.

This was a major opportunity for enterprises to introduce their projects to nearly 200 domestic investors, as well as foreign investors from the US, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia, he said.

For investors, the conference was a chance to not only choose projects to invest in, but also to receive the latest information on Viet Nam’s investment policies.

At the conference, Pham Manh Dung, Director of the MPI’s Legal Department, summarised new regulations in the Investment Law that applied to foreign investors.

Ngai KT Roi, General Director of Malaysia’s Prima Line Horizon, said investors had been awaiting the changes in Viet Nam’s Investment Law for a long time, and that with these changes, investment flow into Viet Nam would be likely to increase.

The most prominent change is that the Investment Law has freed up access to the investment market, allowing investors access to all economic sectors. However, investment restrictions on 14 economic sectors still apply to foreign investors, which are consistent with WTO commitments and bilateral agreements. Apart from these 14 areas, foreign investors can make investments without legislative restrictions.

The new law has expanded investment forms available to foreign investors to include limited liability, partnership, joint-stock or private companies.

The previous Foreign Investment Law allowed foreign investment to take only three forms, namely wholly foreign-invested enterprises, joint ventures, and Business Co-operation Contract (BCC).

Requirements on minimum capital for a project and the ratio between legal capital and investment capital have been removed so that investors have more autonomy in mobilising capital.

In addition, trade measures and investment-related barriers have also been removed to comply with international agreements on opening the investment market that Viet Nam has joined.

The Investment Law guarantees that investors’ assets will not be appropriated and confiscated. Investors’ profit remittance and intellectual property rights are also assured.

Administrative procedures have been reformed to create more favourable conditions for investors. For example, in line with the increased decentralisation process, local authorities are now permitted to grant licences to all investment projects regardless of their scale and capital.

Under the law’s new regulations, investment incentives are decided on the basis of the sectors and locations of the investments, and are applicable to both domestic and foreign investors without any discrimination.