Gulf Stream, Florida Oceanfront Homes Market Update

by Craig Greenberg

You can view the market update in it's entirety here:  GULF STREAM UPDATE

Oceanfront Real Estate Market Update

Gulf Stream, Florida

Gulf Stream is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 716 at the 2000 census.and ranked as the 11th highest-income place in the United States. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 746. Wikipedia

As you see from the above Wikipedia snippet,Gulf Stream is not a large town, so the inventory of oceanfront homes for sale usually remains pretty low.  Right now there is one home for sale at 3777 N Ocean Blvd asking $12,995,000.   All Images/Charts are clickable – this way you can view the details in their original size

The broker’s comments on the property:

Magnificent oceanfront estate has been newly designed and renovated in 2012 with the finest details and craftsmanship. Behind a gated privacy wall and surrounded by lush tropical gardens, this stunning, contemporary Mediterranean Estate offers magnificent ocean vistas.


 You can view the market update in it's entirety here:  GULF STREAM UPDATE

Delray Beach Oceanfront Update

Get a glance into the Delray Beach, Florida oceanfront real market.  

Delray, known as "Village by the Sea" has won America's hear over

New York Times recently pointed out, "East Atlantic Avenue has brought in a new energy: creative, stylish and yet attitude free."

Delray Beach is also Winner of Rand McNally’s Annual Best of the Road contest for Most Fun Small Town in America!

To see the most current real estate market update of Oceanfront Single Family Homes, please click here and enjoy:    CLICK HERE TO VIEW DELRAY BEACH UPDATE



 brought to you by LuxuryOceanFL.com

Illusions and Satisfaction

Mick Jagger said it best, "I can't get no satisfaction"

What if there were a way you can?

If you are like me, you are intrigued by illusions.  I recently came across a TV show called Brain Games on the National Geographic Channel which is geared towards illusions and the show picks those illusions apart sort of what Penn and Teller would do.  The show isn't as gimmicky as P&T's act, but it does help us understand why our brain is interpreting what it is seeing. 


I only caught one episode so far regarding the power of persuasion.  I think this is a helpful episode for all Realtors that spend countless hours, days and nights working their hearts out for their buyers.  It will help you hone in your skills on how to set up showings, the order to set up showings in and how to best make your client feel satisfied.  It's this satisfaction that will hopefully result in a sale, but will also result in referrals.   

They gave a great example about going to an ice cream store.  So there are two ice cream stores, a Baskin Robbins with 31 flavors and small store with three flavors, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.  Which ice cream store would you chose?  I can tell you if you chose the larger store, your mind will always be second guessing itself after you leave whereas if you chose the smaller store, you mind will be satisfied with it's decision.  When you start to think about setting up showings for buyers, does this ring a bell?


How many homes do you show one particular buyer to be productive?  Are you the type of agent that shows everything that meets the buyer’s criteria?  If a buyer were to purchase something in this scenario, the buyer will not feel satisfied versus if you only showed a limited amount of homes. 

Now in the same episode, they talk about how we make purchases.  This time we are at a movie theater and we're feeling a bit hungry and we want popcorn.  There are two sizes, Small for $3 or Large for $7.  Which do you chose?  Probably the small, right?  Now what if there were three choices, Small for $3, Medium for $6.50 or Large for $7.  Which do you chose this time?  Large, because we are now perceiving value by paying .50 more for a Large than a Medium.  The small doesn't look like such a good buy now.

Take this to heart when setting up showings and honing in on only showing a selection of all the inventory.  If you have buyer that says "I will do a 2 bedroom plus den with at least 2 1/2 baths, but I much rather have a 4 bedroom room with at least 3 1/2 baths," think strategically using the popcorn example above how to sell your buyer and make them feel satisfied through the Power of Persuasion.

We as Realtors need to take these lessons in.  We are all guilty of showing Buyers too much which becomes counter productive.  Negotiate with your buyers when setting up showings the same way you would negotiate a deal on their behalf.  Fight for satisfaction and watch your business grow.

Mold Schmold

by Craig Greenberg

We sell a lot of real estate in Florida, specially Boca Raton and Delray Beach.   

Whenever we represent the buyer, we always suggest three inspections: 

• Home

• Pest/Termite

• Mold 

Mold inspections have become more prevalent lately as part of a buyer’s overall due diligence (DD) on a property.  Whether you’re using a standard contract where the seller is obligated to repair items up to 1.5% of the purchase price (PP) for warranted items and/or 1.5% of the PP for  wood destroying organisms (WDO) or an as-is contract where you have a kick out clause for the buyer if the Buyer does not approve of the property after inspecting it, a mold inspection should always be done. 

If you chose not to inspect within your inspection period, it will then become your buyer’s problem if and when he goes to resell and their buyer opts to do a  mold inspection.  We have run across two types of inspections – full inspections where the inspector takes air samples, interstitial samples and surface samples to detect for mold.  This is the desired inspection because if the air samples show elevated signs of mold, the interstitial samples and surface samples will help located the source. 

The other type of inspection, which I find instigates problems without a solution, is just taking air samples.  I have seen home inspectors whipping out the air sample machine taking multiple samples in different rooms/areas of the home.  The  problem with this method is IF elevated levels of mold are found, the inspector will only tell you in which room or area of the home the elevated levels are found, but won’t tell you the source.  In Florida, the buyer pays for inspections.  When a buyer uses this method of mold inspection, he now shifts the financial burden on the Seller to locate where the mold is coming from.  This can be a process of elimination for the Seller and in some instances I have seen the seller hire a full service mold inspector just to locate the source.  Full service inspectors in this part of Florida are in the $500 to $1000 range.   

I highly suggest having a mold inspection if you are representing the Buyer, and more importantly to save time, stress and possibly keeping the deal together, use a full service mold inspection company and not only take air samples.  This is all my opinion and it is up to you buyer in the end what option they choose, if they do so.

Oceanfront Homes | Highland Beach, Florida

by Craig Greenberg

Highland Beach Waterfront Real Estate Market Update

Currently there are 10 oceanfront homes for sale in Highland Beach ranging in price from $3.795 million up to just about $20,000,000.   The lesser priced home either have small water frontage, or they are old and need to be completely renovated or just knocked down and rebuilt. 

CLICK TO ENLARGE

So what good does the above information do you.  First you might want to actually see what the properties look like because as humans, we are mostly visual people.  Best place to see all photos and applicable virtual tours is here:  HOMES FOR SALE

Now that you had a chance to view the photos and virtual tours of the oceanfront estates, let's see how they compare to each other.  Please use the below CMA to your advantage:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

This is just a bit easier to read format with a little more detailed info.  We'll see if there have been any price changes and how long the property has been on the market.  We also get a nice snapshot of the 'low, average, medium and high comparisons' as well as an Overall Market Analysis.  If you have any questions how to use this information to your advantage, please email at Craig@LuxuryOceanFL.com

Boca Raton Luxury Waterfront Condo Update

by Craig Greenberg
LuxuryOceanMarket.com

Boca Raton Luxury Waterfront Condo Real Estate Market Update

It's been quite a busy year for the Luxury Waterfront buildings.  Buildings like Presidential Place on the grounds of the Boca Beach Club have no more residences for sale.  High end buyers are coming to Boca Raton in droves and buying up the chic luxury properties.

One Thousand Ocean, Luxuria, Mizner Grand & Presidential Place

In this update, we'll look at the properties that have sold over the last 12 months in the above mentioned buildings.  As for a tally of closed sales over the last year, One Thousand Ocean had 8, Luxuria had 6, Mizner Grand had 5 and Presidential Place had 4.

If you are interested in purchasing a luxury oceanfront condo in the Boca Raton area, please feel free to contact either Tripta Chawla at 561-703-773 or myself, Craig Greenberg, at 561-376-850.  You can always send an email too and we'll respond ASAP:  info@LuxuryOceanMarket.com

Just as an FYI, we are both agents of Lang Realty.  Lang Realty was the leading broker in the Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Highland Beach area with over $500,000,000 in sales in 2012.  Tripta Chawla once again was named Lang Realty's top producing agent in 2012.  She has had this honor for the past decade, each and every year.  Tripta and I have been working as a team since 2005.

Residences for Sale:

One Thousand Ocean
Luxuria
Mizner Grand
Presidential Place

One Thousand Ocean

Luxuria

Mizner Grand

Presidential Place

Luxury Oceanfront Real Estate Market Update | Palm Beach County

by Craig Greenberg

Oceanfront Real Estate Market Update

Palm Beach County

Luxury Oceanfront Homes

In Palm Beach county, there are currently six oceanfront homes under contract for sale.  In this market update will cover the homes currently under contract to see what is attracting today's buyers.

 What I'll do in this update is just give a brief overview of the homes and this way we can see what Buyers are finding as good buys in this market.

702 N Ocean | Delray Beach

This home has been on and off the market since 2006.  Back in 2006 it had been listed as high as $3.499 million and has been falling in price ever since.  The home eventually found a buyer in April 2010 and sold for $1.9 million.  Approximately 2 years later the home was relisted for sale at $2.3 million and sold a few months later for $1.75 million in July 2012.  From this sale, in the matter of two month, the home was back on the market for $2.195 million and already has found another buyer.  I don't know the circumstances behind all of this activity, but apparently whatever 702 N Ocean has going for it is working.  It's a 3/3 built in 1963. The home is located a few blocks south of George Bush Blvd

3211 N Ocean Blvd | Gulf Stream

This home too has been listed on the market since 2006, but only for rent and not for sale.  The home did however come on the market for sale in Nov 2010 and took almost 750 days on the market to find a buyer priced at $6.5 million.  Here we have a 5/5 home built in 1960 with over 110' feet of beachfront property.  This home is either going to need to be torn down or completely remodeled.

1007 Hillsboro Mile | Hillsboro Beach

Here was have a true luxury beachfront property.  Not only is it beachfront, but it also has intracoastal (ICW) front.  161' feet of waterfront on both the beach and ICW.  It's a 6/7.1 home built in 1996 with over 10,100 sq ft under a/c.  There is a four car garage as well.   This home only came on the market in July of 2012 and was able to find a buyer within four months.  The broker remarks on this property:  "This Magnificent Estate is situated on 161 ft of Oceanfront & Intracoastal frontage. Features a timeless design using Walls of Glass, 40 ft Family Rm, Master on Ground Level w/ sit rm and his and her baths, Oversized Guest Suites, Fab lawns and Dock"

6011 N Ocean Blvd | Ocean Ridge

This home too was once a rental property but never seemed to rent out since 2010.  The home then came on the market for sale in May 2012 and found a quick buyer as well only taking a little over three months.  It's a 5/6.1 home with just shy of 5,500 sq ft under air. The home is from 1996.  The broker remarks are as follows: "THIS SOUTH PALM BEACH HOME, REMINISCENT OF BRITISH COLONIAL DESIGN, UNPRETENTIOUS AND IDEAL FOR AN ACTIVE YOUNG FAMILY AS WELL AS ADULTS WHO EMBRACE A CASUAL LIFESTYLE, PRIVACY AND SERENITY. THE HUGE EAT-IN KITCHEN CAN ACCOMMODATE A LARGE FAMILY OR MANY GUESTS. IT HAS TOP OF THE LINE APPLIANCES INCLUDING A 6 BURNER STOVE, 2 OVENS AND WARMING TRAYS, 3 REFRIGERATORS, 2 DISHWASHERS, A WINE COOLER, 3 SINKS ETC. THERE IS AN ABUNDANCE OF WALK-IN FITTED CLOSETS AND STORAGE. THE BATHROOMS ARE UPGRADED WITH EXQUISITE MARBLE AND/OR TILE AND THE MASTER HAS A JACUZZI TUB AND BIDET. THERE IS ALSO A GRANITE BUILT-IN DESK/COMPUTER AREA OUTSIDE THE LAUNDRY ROOM WHICH HAS THE FINEST EQUIPMENT AS WELL. HOME APPEARS PARTICULARLY SPACIOUS, WITH 10 FOOT HIGH WOOD PLANK CEILINGS AND AN EVEN HIGHER PEAKED CEILING OVER THE UPSTAIRS GREAT ROOM. MUST BE SEEN!"

6029 Old Ocean in Ocean Ridge doesn't have too many details to discuss.  It's a 2/3 built in 1958.  Other than that, the agent did not list other details.

If you are in the market to buy, sell and/or rent an oceanfront home in Florida, please make sure to visit LuxuryOceanMarket.com where you can view all the luxury oceanfront properties on the market from Palm Beach down to famed Hillsboro Mile and even create your own custom searches that will send you automatic email alerts as new homes come on the market.  And if you come across the home of your dreams, please make sure to either contact myself, Craig Greenberg at 561-376-8540, or my associate, Tripta Chawla at 561-703-7733, and we'll be more than happy to assist you.