International Real Estate Congress
This year saw the Biltmore in Coral Gables host the International Real Estate Congress, a 3 day event from June 10th - 12th. This event was the highlight of my month, as it reinforced my guidance to my customers that ALL Real Estate is local, and one should use the laws of supply and demand when dictating the investment side of Real Estate, and of course the 'Happiness' Factor on the enjoyment side of Real Estate. Miami Beach Real Estate has high marks in both categories: It is not only located in a tropical paradise within a bustling metropolitan city full of culture, entertainment and action, fine dining, excellent shopping, exciting nightlife, and who can forget our beautiful beaches; but it also has not seen the excess in over supply and continues to attract international demand making for a very solid mid-long term investment. Add to this, the larger pool of buyers and renters due to the vacation/2nd home aspect, and this too drives a higher demand than many other Real Estate markets.
There were numerous representatives and presentations on some of the other favorite 'hot spots' within the world, and though I will admit there are some very beautiful places throughout the world where people are purchasing retirement homes, vacation homes, investment properties, 2nd or 3rd or whatever number home; Miami Beach still has the International appeal and the very important safety factor. Safety not only from a crime and political standpoint, but from an investment standpoint as well. With the over-building of Downtown and Midtown Miami, many good things will come, it is just going to take time. With Miami Beach right across the causeway and your choice of charming art deco studios in the interior of South Beach that are more affordable than ever, to the very high-end luxury high-rise condominiums with spectacular views and having only so many to choose from, there is something here for everyone.
On to some of the highlights of the event:
Dr. Lawrence Yun is the National Association of Realtors Chief Economist, and he gave an hour presentation on his views of Real Estate and the surrounding issues in general, and specifically the South Florida market. Rather than relay a summary of the presentation for which I do not believe will be nearly as beneficial as yourself viewing it and determining your opinions of what his various slides mean to you as a buyer, seller, investor, etc.; I instead have converted his power point presentation to a format that can be read on a standard Adobe Acrobat Reader, so please click here to view and interpret for yourself his presentation: Dr. Lawrence Yun Real Estate and Market Update, presented during the International Real Estate Congress held in Miami during June of 2008.
Just to give a background on Dr. Yun, he was recently chosen as USA Today's 5th Top Economists. The criteria for this was the anonymous Economists submitted their economic forecasts on a quarterly basis and each quarter was awarded points for accuracy, the top 10 were chosen based on a years worth of accurate forecasts.
Another highlight was Mike Zellner, a publisher for Latin Trade, whom gave his outlook on the numerous countries in South and Central America. While not all have optimistic outlooks, it seems a majority are really working through the various struggles each country is facing. And with the growth of so many diverse economies, Miami tends to be the gateway city from Latin America to North America, and vice versa. The single most important piece of information I took away from this presentation, combined with a presentation from representatives of the Sao Paolo State Housing Syndicate (Secovi-SP, recognized as home to the Brazilian Real Estate Industry), was the enormity of the Brazilian economy and just how much opportunity there is within this country. Of course, Miami has a very large Brazilian population and numerous Brazilian companies have offices in Miami; this is very exciting. Their currency continues to strengthen, and the policies they have put in place and stayed true with has truly positioned them very well within this Global Economy. One startling prediction I overheard was that Brazil just might be the 'sleeper' economy and outpace India and be closer to China in GDP than anyone might have imagined. Only time will tell, but it did open my eyes to the vast amount of opportunity that one should always keep an eye out for.
The Congress was full of other guest speakers, presenters, formal luncheons, various panels, and great networking opportunities. The focus was on the International Real Estate market in general, and the natural appeal Miami and Miami Beach has for not only domestic buyers and investors, but International buyers and investors as well. From the über rich, to those just wanting a small piece of South Beach.
There was an excellent presentation, as well as panel discussion on using the purchase of Real Estate for Immigration purposes to the U.S. If this is something that you are interested in, please give me a call and I can get you in touch with the right people.
There were numerous presentations on some great tools and resources that I plan to incorporate into my website.
One such that should be up within this month is a Global Imaging System created by Terrafly in partnership with NASA; specifically a Real Estate product created with the sponsorship of the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches that will enable visitors to my website to search for and view real life imagery of Miami-Dade County and all the various properties including homes, condos, buildings, land, etc. (similar to Google Earth). You will also be able to further search for specific Real Estate related criteria and use the images and other data to help gather information on specific neighborhoods, areas, etc. So keep an eye out for this new feature.
Another exciting resource full of promise is the International IDX alliance. With FNAIM (Federation Nationale de I'Immobilier; a professional Real Estate Association serving Paris and surrounding cities in France) and RAMB (Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches) being the first Real Estate Associations to share their listings with each other via the International IDX alliance. With more cities planning to come aboard, this means that you can view listings in cities throughout the world on my website, and have peace of mind knowing that I have already established an honest business relationship with a colleague in that city for you to be referred to. This goes a very long way in being able to help guide you as a buyer, or promote much more International exposure as a seller. Just one more example of the added value I bring to the table as your Real Estate Consultant. In this world where Globalization is occurring, it doesn't mean you need to unknowingly get into unpleasant situations domestically or abroad, regarding important matters such as the buying and selling of Real Estate. Call me if you would like to further discuss this International IDX alliance, my Certified International Property Specialist designation, Transnational Referral Certificate, and how all of this combined will help you in your Real Estate search not only in Miami Beach or surrounding areas, but in major International cities around the world as well!
Lastly, I thought this to be a very interesting article on some of the differences with the various housing price indexes available, some more prevalent with certain groups. With such an important statistic, I find it interesting how greatly the differences are in some of the various indexes. Anyway, no specific comments, just thought this Commentary on this topic by Blanche Evans was an interesting one: click here
