Griselda's Blog

2nd Annual TASTE OF MIAMI LAKES FESTIVAL                                                                         

When?   Saturday FEBRUARY 28TH, 2009 - Between 11 am and 9 pm

Where?  MAIN STREET - TOWN OF MIAMI LAKES

Come and enjoy great food! The Taste of Miami Lakes Festival is an event that brings together fantastic food, live music, arts and crafts, children's face painting, a fashion show, and more, all in a day of fun for everyone. And most importantly, admission is FREE!

Check the official "Taste of Miami Lakes Festival" website.

See you there!

Great opportunity to own a large and gorgeous home in the Town of Miami Lakes, Florida.

15470 NW 82nd. Court - Miami Lakes, Florida 33016

                                 *** Offered at $ 499,000 ***

Located in the gated community of Royal Palm Estates, this property is close to the main expressways that connect South Florida: just a few blocks from 826 and I-75, and minutes from the Turnpike, I-95, and 836.

It offers 24 hrs security, the comfort of a large one-story home, and the privacy of a corner lot.

Features:

- Home - 3,283 sq.ft

- Lot - 10,600 sq.ft.

- 5 bedrooms

- 3 and 1/2 bathrooms

- Tiled floors throughout

- French arched windows

- Decorative fireplace

- Vaulted ceilings

- Formal Dining

- Gourmet kitchen with two ovens (one is a built-in wall oven)

- Breakfast area with bay window overlooking pool

- Master bath with double sinks, bidet, roman tub, and separate shower

- Central A/C

- 40 feet by 12 feet covered patio (under home roof, could be easily enclosed if desired)

- Pool with fountain

- Two car garage with tiled floor, insulated doors, and split A/C

- Paved circular driveway

- Accordion Shutters

If you would like more information regarding this property, or if you have any questions about the real estate market in the Town of Miami Lakes, please give me a call or send me an email. I'll be glad to help you.

Your Miami Lakes real estate agent,

I want to introduce the new addition to our family.

My daughter just adopted a 6 month old puppy named Macky. He is a mix and we are not sure what the mix is. But the result is pure sweetness! Macky is adorable, and Charlie, our 2 year old Schnauzer/Poodle mix loves him.

Here he is. Macky is mostly white with some very cute black spots. He is so sweet and well behaved the whole family fell in love with him immediately, including Charlie. The only thing I don't like about him is that he sheds a lot. But nobody is perfect, right?

And here below is Charlie in his crate taking a nap with Macky. As you can see in the second picture, Charlie found out that Macky can be used as a pillow.

                       Miami Lakes has that small town feeling to it that makes it so endearing. This is just one of the reasons many want to call it home. It also offers varied opportunities to its residents to enjoy cultural events totally free of charge.

September brings a month-long celebration named “Renaissance 2008."

Every weekend of the month will offer opportunities to enjoy art and live music.

These are just some of the planned events:

Saturday 6 – 7pm – Car show, Banjo music, Barber Shop Quartets, at Main Street

Friday 12 – 8 pm – Square Dance at the Community Center

Saturday 13 – 7 pm – Concert by Barbara Goleman’s Jazz Band “Sounds of the 40’s” at Main Street

Friday 19 – 7:30 pm – Folk Music at the Main Street Theater

Saturday 27 – 7:00 pm – Hip-Hop, Art exhibit and contemporary dances at the Community Center

Isn't this great? Enjoy!

                           

FROM MIAMI LAKES' MAIN STREET, OF COURSE!

Miami Lakes is a great town with a wonderful sense of community, and Main Street is its heart.

It is always nice to take a walk along Main Street and find a musician or a group playing some great tunes. This coming Saturday and the next one are going to be such days with musical entertainment scheduled to play at the Main Street Gazebo in the corner of Main Street and New Barn Road.

Saturday August 23rd – music by the Cachet quartet from 7 to 9 pm

Saturday August 30 – guitarist Nicolas Marks from 7 to 9 pm

Enjoy and have fun!

Sometimes, numbers and pictures speak louder than words. So I want to share the "picture" that I got today from the MLS.

The following is a TWO-DAY snapshot of the activities that took place in the real estate market for our Area 20. This includes the Town of Miami Lakes and other adjacent areas such as Hialeah, Palm Springs North and Country Club of Miami.

This data is for all residential properties, single-family homes as well as condos.

Total homes for sale in Area 20 as of today: 2,297  

New listings: 44

Pending: 11

Back on the Market (previously under contract that didn’t close): 11

List Price revision: 86

So how do we interpret these numbers?

These numbers tells us that just in the last two days, 44 new homes were added to the market. We also find out that 11 properties went pending (under contract). However, since 44 homes were added to the market and only 11 went under contract. This means that we are adding more properties to the already huge inventory of homes for sale. So there is more coming in than what is going out. Or put in other words, we have a much higher offer than demand, and Economics 101 tell us that's good for the buyer, but not for the seller. That's why we call this a buyer's market. Also, it tells us that the pressure is on the seller to lower asking prices. And there's more of this below.

Another thing we find out is that 11 properties that were under contract (pending) didn’t close. That's what Back on the Market means. This could be the result of many different problems. But one issue that is becoming more common lately is that buyers who were initially pre-approved with a lower down payment are suddenly required to come up with a higher amount and they simply can’t afford it. Mortgage Lenders keep changing the rules on a daily basis and it is making the trip to the closing table more difficult for many people.

In these two days there were 86 price revisions. These days, a price revision usually means price reduction. These numbers are telling us that for each new home that entered the market there were almost two that reduced their listing price. The pace of price reductions seems to be accelerating. No one knows when we will hit bottom, but prices are definitely going on a downward direction, at least for now.

For other interesting numbers specific to the Town of Miami Lakes see my current Market Report by clicking here.

These are the current numbers for the Town of Miami Lakes:

Single-family homes

Total Homes for sale:  182

Homes sold in the last 6 months: 40

Pending sales (under contract): 22

Condos  - (includes Town-homes and Villas)

Total Homes for sale: 200

Homes sold in the last 6 months: 26

Pending sales (under contract): 15

The number of homes for sale continues to be very high in relation to the ones that are selling. This is particularly true for condos, which are selling at a slower pace than single-family homes.

There are many different ways to measure the real estate market, and even more ways to interpret them. I just entered another post with some statistical data of the last two days for our area. Those numbers offer another interesting view of what is happening in this market.

Search terms, that is. With all the exposure real estate agents are having to foreclosures, you’ll think we would have learned how to spell this term by now. But no, that’s not the case. Just look at our MLS and you'll find at least a couple of variations. Missing the first “e” seems to be a favorite one. So including these misspellings in our searches is almost a given.

                                                      

"Foreclosures”, “short-sales” and “pre-foreclosures” are terms that have entered most everyone's vocabulary by now. The media talks about them…writes about them and analyses them. We talk about them at the office. Our customers ask for them.

Some areas are more affected than others. But it seems that here in Miami-Dade County no area or neighborhood is "foreclosure" free, including Miami Lakes. I believe that in one way or another most real estate is affected by the "foreclosure" wave that we are going through. I also believe that we are where we are because of greed. The kind of greed that fueled mortgage fraud and that made real estate speculators out of people who didn't even know how to calculate their own mortgage payments. Everyone wanted to get rich...quickly!       

Numbers relate information in a way that often seems devoid of emotion. But many emotions rush to my head and to my heart when I read the statistics below. I don't think they need any commentary. They do speak for themselves.

Miami-Dade County Mortgage Foreclosure Filing Statistics

Year                   Filings

2002                  14,567

2003                  11,605

2004                   9,606

2005                   7,829

2006                   9,814

2007                  26,391

2008                  20,508 (from January through May)

Pictures are even harsher than numbers. They bypass our rational thoughts and hit you with not much warning! Just look at the picture below.

This map shows an area of Broward County, Florida. Each black hammer symbol represents one property in the process of foreclosure. This is a beautiful gated community built around a huge lake.

It is a very sad picture.

But it is what it is. We need to face it and work with it.

By the way, there is a new study done by Harvard University that points at the current housing slump as the worst in the last 50 years. You can download it from this website. The whole version of the report is over 40 pages and covers a lot of interesting information. You can also opt to download only the parts of the report you are interested in.

“Father Knows Best” is an annual fishing tournament that’s becoming a family tradition. The event takes place in the Town of Miami Lakes, at Graham Dairy lake. This year it’s scheduled for June 14th, from 7:30 am to noon.

                                         

This popular fishing tournament will award prices for the first fish, biggest fish, smallest fish, youngest fisherman, oldest fisherman, most fish caught, best fishing team (father and child), and best overall fisherman. This surely sounds like a lot of fun!

The deadline to register is June 12. For more information, and to register for this event e-mail mlcac@miamilakes-fl.gov or call 305-364-6100, ext. 138.

I mendioned in previous posts other events like the Senior Games, and the Poker Walk. Our town is always building community by regularly offering activities such as these. Just one more reason for anyone to want to call Miami Lakes their "home."

Until a few days ago I had never heard the term "meme", and now I'm supposedly writing one!

Bonnie Westbrook tagged me to write this "meme" thing. I hope I got it right, because here it goes...ready or not

1. Who's your favorite musical artist?

There are so many artists that I listen to depending on my mood... I listen to The Beatles, Elton John, Mozart, Pavarotti, Julio Sosa, Bobby Darin, Bon Jovi, Andrea Bocelli, Carlos Gardel, Billy Joel, Sarah Brightman, Barenakedladies, Paul Simon, Rosemary Clooney, Joan Manuel Serrat, Frank Sinatra, CCR, Mina, Enya, Elvis Presley, La Lupe, Johnny Cash, Loreena McKennitt, Edith Piaf, Dean Martin, Maria Callas, and the list could go on...

But if I have to choose just one, then "the one" has to be Elton John...no wait! It has to be The Beatles! Well, I don't think I can decide between these two, or is it five? Both (the five of them?) are at the top of my list!
                

 
2. Who is your favorite artist?

One of my favorite artists is the graphic artist M.C. Escher. I find Escher's creations endlessly fascinating. His pieces often play with perspective and symmetry. It seems as if he is playing games with us. I believe his work shows this artist had a great imagination, a good math education, and a very good sense of humor. Do you recognize some of these?

3. Who is your favorite blogger?

So many great bloggers...and only one choice? I have at least 30 I could mention. But if for some reason I was able to read only one, the blog I would read is TLW's. She is full of energy, sincere, and has a great sense of humor. TLW's posts are always a lot of fun to read. Sorry Broker Bryant, I have to choose your wife...but you are my second favorite!  ;-)

Here is the lovely lady herself!


4. If you could meet anyone (alive or dead), who would it be and what is the most interesting thing about them?

Florence Nightingale I simply admire this lady for everything she accomplished in her life. She was a pioneer in many fronts, including medicine and math, at a time when women where expected to just get married and produce children. She was definitely  a courageous woman by any measure. It would be wonderful to be able to meet her.                                                                
 

5. What did you want to be when you grew up?

A chemist. I don't think I really understood what chemists did but from an early age that's what I wanted to do. We had a friend in the family who was a chemist and that's probably where the idea came from.

 
6. What is the most interesting piece of trivia you know?

I'm usually inclined to remember what my daughters call "gross stuff."  Do you know this one?

There are some types of tape worms that use humans as their host (this means they live inside your body) that can grow as long as 30 feet! I've seen some of these really long creatures inside huge formaldehyde jars. This kind of tape worm is commonly called in Spanish "la solitaria" which I believe it would translate as "the loner." Because only one of these parasites will grow inside each host. Other worms don't mind company. But this one wants you all for themselves...

When you have one of these "solitarias" inside you they basically eat everything you do. As they grow you become hungrier and hungrier but the solitaria is eating your food, so you become thinner as time goes by (don't be surprised if one of these days somebody comes up with the "Solitaria Diet").

So the longer this worm remains inside its host the larger and longer it grows, and it can live inside you for years...

     Are you hungry yet?

 
 

7. If you could live in any point in history what would it be and why?

    
I would choose the present time. It could be fascinating to make short visits to other points in history. But this is my time and I’m happy to be living in it.


8. What is the most interesting job you have ever held?

One of the most interesting jobs I had was working on a market research project for the Argentinean Consulate.

I was a student at the time and this was a summer internship. I learned new things and met many interesting people. It was also a time when we were just starting to use the Internet for research, even if it was not as friendly as it is today. It took a lot of work to get where you wanted to go and to gather the information you needed. There was no world wide web (WWW) at the time.

My daughters went with me to all the places I needed to go to and they also accompanied me when I had to conduct interviews. Then we would go home and have some summer time activity and I would work on the project at night when they were asleep. It really didn't feel like work. The three of us had a lot of fun during those summer months…
 
 

I'm done

So here they are. If you are in this list you've been tagged! 

Denise O'Dell

Sharon Paxson

Charlene Sandoval

Dale Baker

Peggy Edwards

April Hayden-Munson

Elaine Manes

Roberta LaRocca