For the ninth consecutive month, Keller Williams Pembroke Pines/Miramar Market Center is in the Top 25 Market Centers for all of Keller Williams Realty. The market centers are ranked by the number of closed sales for each month. Read the full letter!

 

NAR Economist gives U.S. Housing Predictions for 2012; Miami Lone Standout for Double-Digit Appreciation, excerpts from post by Michael Gerrity, 11/11/11. 

The Miami Association of Realtors, in coordination with the National Association of Realtors, hosted the annual International Real Estate Congress in Miami. This event was attended by hundreds of real estate professionals from as far away as Russia, Brazil, Mexico, France, Spain and China.

Keynote speaker Lawrence Yun, NAR's Chief Economist, gave a detailed presentation of the real estate market with the bright spot being Miami FL.While he stated he sees somewhat low home price appreciation in most U.S. cities in 2012, Miami was the lone standout with an estimated 10% to 12% double-digit price appreciation expected.

The reason: International buyers.

Miami, once the epicenter of the U.S. housing crisis with almost 25,000 unsold new condos in downtown alone representing over a 19-year inventory supply in 2008 -- now has become the new poster child of the U.S. housing recovery by bucking every national U.S. housing trend since late 2010.

Currently over 68% of all residential sales last month in Miami-Dade County were to foreign buyers, of which over 86% was paid in cash. As for the entire State of Florida, over 25% of all residential sales in 2011 have been to international buyers.

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Peter Zalewski

A large reason for such strong buying in South Florida is Latin America's rising economy tied to a very favorable exchange rate against the US dollar. Today, Brazilian's typically buy Miami condos at an additional 40% discount (off the already discounted price) just from the exchange rate. In effect, they are enjoying a double discount.

According to Condo Vultures CEO Peter Zalewski, another presenter at the event, "Over the last 4 years South Florida has effectively become a laboratory of how to resolve and process the U.S. housing crash."

To put Miami's rapid market recovery into perspective; during the boom-era years of rapid real estate development and growth from 2004 to 2008, there were over 180,000 'condo formations' in South Florida (100,000+ apartment units converted to condos, and an additional 80,000 newly built condo units in Palm Beach, Broward & Dade Counties).

In 2008, the rate of pending sales was 9,200 signed contracts a month (all 3 counties in South Florida) from an average monthly inventory pool of 105,000 units.

Now in 2011, the pending sales pace (all 3 counties) is over 28,000 contracts signed each month (300% increase in pace), against a much smaller (over 60% decrease) monthly available inventory of only 42,000 units (all 3 counties).

In downtown Miami, the largest condo foreclosure project in South Florida's history was the ICON Brickell, with almost 1,700 unsold condo units foreclosed upon in the spring of 2010. Today less than 60 units remain.

Based on the Miami Association of Realtors, the City of Miami will break every sales record in the history of Dade County in 2011, including the condo boom years of 2006 and 2007, because of the torrid pace of international buyers now flooding the market with cash purchases.

Zalewski told the World Property Channel that "Miami has now entered a new era of property expansion with another 17 newly proposed condo towers for Miami in the planning process that could deliver over 4,700 new units into the market within the next 2 years. But the difference now is 'Latin American financing' - developers are getting up to 80% of the purchase price in cash up front."

As one delegate at the conference said this week, "It truly is a difference world down here in Miami; the laws of gravity no longer apply - again."

 

Dateline August 2, 2011 (Austin, Tx)

 

Keller Williams Realty's eEdge Awarded Most Innovative Web Service by Inman News. - Keller Williams Realty's proprietary lead-to-close business solution have been recognized by Inman News as the real estate industry's Most Innovative Web Service of 2011. The award was announced last week during Inman News' annual Inman Connect event in San Francisco, CA.

 

Dateline July 27, 2011

 

Keller Williams Pembroke Pines Team receives an acknowledgement letter from the South Florida Regional Director of Keller Williams Realty, Mark Olesh. He states;

"Your spectacular first half of 2011 has made the South Florida Region excited and proud."

"Congratulations on being #27 in the Nation for closed units #39 in the Nation for written units and #41 in the Nation for GCI. As you know Keller Williams has over 700 market centers so that's quite an accomplishment."

 

A great achievement for our office, brokers and agents. Read the complete letter. Send us your comments and feedback.

 

Dateline July 27, 2011

 

Keller Williams Realty DOMINATES the 2011 REALTOR Magazine Franchise Report! To agents who have experienced Keller Williams Realty it came as no surprise that Keller Williams Realty dominated REALTOR Magazine’s 2011 Franchise Report! The report outlined the fact that 54% of REALTOR members were affiliated with a national or regional franchise. Due to difficult market conditions most franchise companies have or are currently experiencing severe contraction. RE/MAX Real Estate has seen a net loss of 700 offices over the course of the last two years. CENTURY21 Real Estate has lost 901 offices over the same time period and COLDWELL BANKER Real Estate has lost a staggering 2,137 offices. While this severe contraction is common place REALTOR Magazine notes “one notable exception is Keller Williams, which has continued to see a net growth in agents and numbers of offices.”


In fact, this comes on the heels of recognition from REAL Trends, Inc., a leading source of analysis and information on the residential brokerage and housing industry. In their annual REAL Trends 500 report, an industry ranking report, Keller Williams Realty was shown to represent 24% or 119 of the top 500 offices ranked by closed transactions and 28% or 138 of the top 500 offices ranked by closed volume. The number of Keller Williams Realty offices ranked on the list surpassed all other major franchise players – with twice the number of brokers represented (by closed transactions) and almost three times the number of brokers represented (by closed volume) compared to Coldwell Banker, currently the largest real estate company in the U.S. by agent count.

 

Along with growth in numbers, the company received many accolades in 2010 including:

  • Entrepreneur magazine, No. 1 ranked real estate franchise on the 31st Annual Franchise 500 list
  • J.D. Power and Associates, highest in overall satisfaction ratings from home buyers among the largest full-service real estate firms for the third year in a row
  • Inman News, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board Gary Keller named one of the 100 Most Influential Leaders in Real Estate
  • Training Magazine, highest ranking real estate franchise on the annual Training Top 125, #47 Overall

Bottom line, the old models are showing that they don’t work and that they are antiquated. When you choose who to align with to build your real estate career you should choose carefully. Do you want to partner with companies whose models are losing agents, losing offices and most important losing money? Or do you want to partner with a company that is the fastest growing real estate company in the U.S.?

 

Dateline March 8, 2011 (Austin, Tx)

 

Keller Williams Realty Climbs to Second-Largest Real Estate Franchise in United States. Goals set for worldwide expansion to add 75,000 international associates. Keller Williams Realty Inc., announced today that it is now the second-largest real estate franchise in the United States based on the total number of sales professionals, surpassing Century 21, according to research conducted by REAL Trends, a leading source of analysis and information in the residential real estate industry.

 

Keller Williams Realty Partners SW in Pembroke Pines, Florida has been ranked in the Top Firms Ranked by Closed Transactions Per Office in the US and #25 with 1,479. More transactions closed means more satisfied customers which means a better transaction for you, our client.