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The Point Aventura

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Flurry of High End Sales in Miami

Posted in Real Estate on June 14, 2010 by Kevin Brass

While headlines focus on the towers of empty condos, Miami has been posting some big-dollar sales.

Last week a “German businessman” paid $16 million for a new 17,200-square-foot, 10-bedroom house in Miami Beach. The developer built the house as a spec property in 2008, which was, to say the least, unfortunate timing.

The waterfront house, which includes two docks and a five-car garage, originally hit the market at $25 million, according to the Miami Herald.

The $16 million is believed to be the biggest luxury sale of the year, so far, and the priciest since Shaquille O’Neal sold his Star Island property for $16 million (after originally listing it for $32 million). The second biggest sale this year was a Coral Gables house, which sold in March for $14.1 million, local luxury specialist Kevin Tomlinson notes.
 

Marquis Residences
Meanwhile, a 7,800-square-foot penthouse in the 67-story Marquis Residences recently sold for $4.2 million, which the developers are touting as “the most expensive condo ever sold in downtown Miami’s Biscayne Corridor.” The four-story condo includes the “highest terrace and hot tub in Florida,” they say.

The sale may not have hit the gaudy numbers of yesteryear, but any condo sale not related to a lender repossession is good news for the market, providing evidence that buyers are ready to pull the trigger.

Latest Miami sales numbers showed an eight percent jump the median sales price for single family homes, the first increase in three years, according to the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (SEFMLS). The median price for condos was down a “negligible” three percent in April, suggesting the market may at least be stabilizing.

The number of sales in Miami has been steadily increasing for the last 21 months, RAMB notes. In April, the number of condos sold was 33 percent higher than a year earlier, a 111.4 percent jump from the dark days of 2008.

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

7 Tips for Staging Your Home

7 Tips for Staging Your Home

Make your home warm and inviting to boost your home’s value and speed up the sale process.

The first step to getting buyers to make an offer on your home is to impress them with its appearance so they begin to envision themselves living there. Here are seven tips for making your home look bigger, brighter, and more desirable.

1. Start with a clean slate

Before you can worry about where to place furniture and which wall hanging should go where, each room in your home must be spotless. Do a thorough cleaning right down to the nitpicky details like wiping down light switch covers. Deep clean and deodorize carpets and window coverings.

2. Stow away your clutter

It’s harder for buyers to picture themselves in your home when they’re looking at your family photos, collectibles, and knickknacks. Pack up all your personal decorations. However, don’t make spaces like mantles and coffee and end tables barren. Leave three items of varying heights on each surface, suggests Barb Schwarz of www.StagedHomes.com in Concord, Pa. For example, place a lamp, a small plant, and a book on an end table.

3. Scale back on your furniture

When a room is packed with furniture, it looks smaller, which will make buyers think your home is less valuable than it is. Make sure buyers appreciate the size of each room by removing one or two pieces of furniture. If you have an eat-in dining area, using a small table and chair set makes the area seem bigger.

4. Rethink your furniture placement

Highlight the flow of your rooms by arranging the furniture to guide buyers from one room to another. In each room, create a focal point on the farthest wall from the doorway and arrange the other pieces of furniture in a triangle around the focal point, advises Schwarz. In the bedroom, the bed should be the focal point. In the living room, it may be the fireplace, and your couch and sofa can form the triangle in front of it.

5. Add color to brighten your rooms

Brush on a fresh coat of warm, neutral-color paint in each room. Ask your real estate agent for help choosing the right shade. Then accessorize. Adding a vibrant afghan, throw, or accent pillows for the couch will jazz up a muted living room, as will a healthy plant or a bright vase on your mantle. High-wattage bulbs in your light fixtures will also brighten up rooms and basements.

6. Set the scene

Lay logs in the fireplace, and set your dining room table with dishes and a centerpiece of fresh fruit or flowers. Create other vignettes throughout the home—such as a chess game in progress—to help buyers envision living there. Replace heavy curtains with sheer ones that let in more light.

Make your bathrooms feel luxurious by adding a new shower curtain, towels, and fancy guest soaps (after you put all your personal toiletry items are out of sight). Judiciously add subtle potpourri, scented candles, or boil water with a bit of vanilla mixed in. If you have pets, clean bedding frequently and spray an odor remover before each showing.

7. Make the entrance grand

Mow your lawn and trim your hedges, and turn on the sprinklers for 30 minutes before showings to make your lawn sparkle. If flowers or plants don’t surround your home’s entrance, add a pot of bright flowers. Top it all off by buying a new doormat and adding a seasonal wreath to your front door.


Read more: http://buyandsell.houselogic.com/articles/7-tips-staging-your-home/##ixzz0x1FK8rGT

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