…this is almost always the case. There are reasons.
Our Biggest Day This Year!
Today I am thrilled to announce that OCF Financial, LLC just closed and funded a $20.2 million construction loan on a $5,000,000 revolving line. Over a year’s worth of hard work with our lending partners, and I can't thank them and our wonderful (and patient) clients enough. It’s a great feeling to get a call from your business banker and she says “the eagle has landed”.
Don't Belive the Media Hype. Numbers Don't Have A Politicial Agenda.
The Case-Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks changes in residential home prices across the US, reported that nationwide homes appreciated 5.8% in August, down from 6.0% in July.
Don’t let the negative media deter your clients away from a significant financial opportunity in Real Estate. Remember a deceleration in appreciation is very different from declining home prices.
Ex. A $350,000 home today at a 5.8% rate of appreciation would be worth $370,300 next year…a gain of over $20,000.
Why I Don't Think Amazon is Coming to Miami.
I want to make this clear, I am not being negative.
Personally, I would love Amazon to have HQ2 in the Miami area. We are a wonderfully diverse, vibrant, exciting place to live with lots to offer. But in thinking about the viability of an HQ in South Florida like the MBA I am, there are several reasons why I don’t think it is going to happen. Disagreements are welcome by the way.
1: Miami is at the bottom, southeastern tip of the US. This makes the supply chain to the rest for the southeast region much longer, not shorter (there is a reason FedEx and most fulfillment centers are around Nashville, TN... that isn't accidental). Anyone who has driven from Miami to anywhere else out of Florida has wondered after ten hours in the car “are we even out of the state yet”.
2. The infrastructure is total crap. Road construction is magnificent, but congestion is a problem already. There are only two freeways that bisect the state. Only two freeways go South to North on either coast. Congestion on either effectively eliminates alternative routes.
3. Frequency of the possibilities of shutdowns because of natural events like hurricanes that can halt everything for a week or more.
4. Let's be honest about that elephant in the room; employees from Miami at that price-point aren't exactly famous for their work ethic or punctuality. In my personal experience I have done a significant amount of business with Amazon and other shippers. Items routinely leave the fulfillment centers on time, get to Miami, and then are frequently delayed, lost, or (like the couch I ordered from Wayfair) just disappear. The problems seem to begin as soon as items get to South Florida.
There might be factors that outweigh this; no-state income tax, friendly state and local government, probably tax incentives, a multi-lingual sales force, the unlikelihood of a snowstorm shutting down operations, a great quality of life for employees. And maybe amazon has an eye toward South American operations with Miami as the perfect jumping-off point (although the socialist direction South America is turning will destroy that market entirely and very quickly). But for just the geographic piece alone, I'm not feeling this.
South Florida September Market Numbers
Since I know the internet is a visual medium, I’m posting the September South Florida Market number hot off the virtual presses. I’ll be happy to get into detail on what I think they means but I need to know if anyone reads this. If you do please go on over to our Facebook page and give a like. I’d truly appreciate it.
Closing Cost Via Infographic
The Best Referral Email I've Received All Year
Below is a cut-and-paste of a section of a referral email a realtor sent a colleague regarding a deal we just closed together and your humble correspondent. It’s brief, but I was flattered and thought others deserved to see it.
I wanted to take a moment to e-introduce you to Nicholas
James, Founder and CEO of OCF Financial down in Miami
near you and Ive ccd him here.
Nicholas and I have met recently because we were both
working the buy of a dear set of mutual friends.
He was lender, and I was agent.
The loan was NOT an easy one, and ran full spectrum of
challenges.
Nicholas pulled it off with grace and style, and we closed
on time last Friday.
He specializes in the hard to close loans down in Miami,
and knowing what I do about your market I believe he
could prove to be a great asset for you.
I suggest you guys meet for lunch soon to talk about it.
Instant Curb Appeal on a Budget:
With the fall buying season heating up, at least here is Florida, curb appeal may help your house sell faster. Below are some easy and inexpensive ways to make your house look even more amazing to prospective buyers driving by.
Instant Curb Appeal on a Budget:
-Pressure wash everything ($80)
-Mulch around trees and flower beds ($50 buys a lot of mulch)
-Plant a lavender bush ($50)
-Plant honeysuckle vines (average cost $22)
-Add planters under windows where possible (average $16 per)
-Paint your front door ($40)
-Have a nice welcome mat (literally rolling out the welcome mat for $11)
A Discussion Regarding Condo Oversupply in Miami:
I had an interesting discussion this morning with a multi-billion dollar developer via LinkedIn regarding the condo market in Miami. I made allusion to construction slowing due to oversupply. Interesting take, I thought:
Nicholas: "Sputters"? Interesting that word was used. If oversupply is really a threat, why does it seem more projects are being green-lit every week? Or is this a case of comparison-fatigue; the market seeming to cool because it went from white-hot to just red-hot?
Developer: I can appreciate how one could draw this conclusion, but you must decipher fact from fiction. The only two new projects that are coming online is Una and Okan Tower. These projects are the exception because they do not require financing. The developers are multi-billionaires that are building for cash, without the usual financing condition of pre-sales. They are in a very advantageous position, because when these projects come online in 2022 or so, the market will have swung back around, and they will be the hottest product on the market, when others are just starting to break ground. What you see with Elysee and other towers of the 2014-2019 vintage, are developers that made 50% to 80% pre-sales in the building during the 2012-2014 run-up, and now have buyers over a barrel with significant deposits. The cranes are still up, and the developers are closing on many of their units, but the re-sale market is all but frozen. Take a look at several of our Friday Wrap Up videos for details on specific buildings, many of which have 100-400 months of inventory when you look at transaction volume over the last 6-18 months.
What Goes Into a Credit Score
It controls everything.
Literally everything. It's scary just how much your credit score affects your life. What is just as scary is that seemingly nobody knows what goes into calculating the score itself.
Since I am fairly certain not any people are going to read a long and lengthy blog post about the ins-and-outs of the algorithm, BEHOLD... an infographic:
