According to the Florida Association of Realtors (FAR), the sales of resale single family homes are up in for the second consecutive month in Miami South Florida. This is excellent news for the sluggish Miami real estate market. The jump marks the bottom of the slump and the beginning of the recovery. As prices continue to drop sales figure should rise even more.

The rise in sales is certainly a good sign. It is the best Miami real estate news in a while. As home prices drop, buyers find themselves qualifying for a mortgage again. We still have a long way to go. Buyers are having a hard time getting financing. Banks should ease the credit crunch and start lending money again with better guidelines.

 Foreclosures sales lead the way in the sales statistics. Florida ranks number two in foreclosures in the United States behind Nevada who is number one. The amount of foreclosures, short sales and bank owned (REO) in the Miami real estate market is staggering.

Miami Real Estate, Miami Lakes Real Estate  We offer a South Florida Foreclosure List.

In a recent election the town of Miami Lakes elected Michael Pizzi as its new major. I think Major Pizzi is a good choice as he will continue to work hard for our town. He is replacing former Major Wayne Slaton who also has done a great job for Miami Lakes. Mr. Slaton was major for the last eight years.

I think our worst problem is the traffic jam in the mornings and in the afternoons that is generated from the Bob Graham School. We must be able to divert the traffic so we don’t come to a complete halt, especially at the 826 entrance in Miami Lakes Drive.

The continuing sand blasting is also a huge concern as it has damaged many of the homes surrounding Miami Lakes Drive and 82 Avenue areas. We must stop this daily nuisance. The blasting is destroying the tiles and the brick pavers.

Miami Lakes is a great place to live and work. I feel confident that Major Pizzi will help to improve our town even more. Congratulations Michael Pizzi.

Hector Lesende is owner/licensed real estate broker in Florida. Please visit our website at www.lesende.com  and search Miami Lakes Real Estate  We offer a South Florida Foreclosure List.

Renting your investment property to Miami-Dade Hosing Authority Section 8 is the best choice for Miami real estate investors and property owners. I wrote an article on the steps of the Section 8 rental process. I have a few Section 8 tenants in the properties that I manage and found that they are the best tenants I have. Since I have been having some problems with non-paying tenants and evictions lately, I have decided to rent only to Section 8 in Miami.

The section 8 tenants give me no problems at all. The only thing I have to worry about it passing the yearly inspection. The tenants help me to pass the inspection as they know how important it is to pass it the first time. We work together on the inspector’s list of items to be repaired. If the tenants don’t pass the inspection the payment stops and they have to move out.

Stability – Section 8 tenants are very stable as they do not like to move every year. It is not unusual for Section 8 tenants to stay in the property for five years or more. The process to move is very long and time consuming and rejection is a constant factor. Also a Section 8 tenant will never leave in the middle of the night owing you rent money. The tenants know that they lose Section 8 benefits if they leave the property without notice.

No Evictions - You never have to do an eviction unless the tenant loses Section 8 for some reason. I have never evicted a Section 8 tenant. As long as the property passes inspection you will receive the rent check every month. If there are any problems you have a mediator in the social worker. The tenant will lose all Section 8 benefits if they are evicted.

Many landlords refuse to rent to Miami-Dade Section 8 Housing Authority. Landlords fear that Section 8 tenants have no credit or bad credit and don’t have a full deposit. Since the US government guarantees the rent, no credit or bad credit is irrelevant. The Government will send you the rent check every third of the month as long as you pass the inspection and the property is maintained up to their standards. All you have to collect is the difference in the rent money which is usually less than one hundred dollars a month. Section 8 tenants are an excellent alternative of finding a tenant with less of the headaches related to being a landlord in the Miami real estate area.

 Lately, I have been having some problems collecting rent from tenants in the properties that I manage in the Miami Real Estate area. I wrote an article on the steps of doing an eviction in Miami. Even the best tenants are requesting more time and paying late fees.

Recently, one of my tenants in N.W. Miami informed me she did not have the rent money. I went to collect the rent a few times in the beginning of September. The tenant said she was “grinding” and will have the rent by the weekend. I gave her the three day notice on Monday. The tenant did not answer the notice, did not say anything and did not call me. I knew I was in trouble. This was going to be an eviction.

Usually I try to work with the tenant in order to avoid an eviction in the Miami Real Estate market. I try everything including: negotiating, returning the deposit, finding another place, paying for storage, offering money to move out. It is always better to negotiate with the tenant and get them out in a friendly and professional way rather than going thru a full eviction. Most tenants leave or pay after the three day notice. This tenant knows the system. I started the eviction process immediately.

The tenant in N.W. Miami has refused all my offers and has decided to put the money in court registry instead of paying me the rent. It is not very often the tenant will pay the rent at the court registry. I made a motion to the judge to strike and also to release the funds at the court registry. The judge has requested a hearing since the tenant did pay the rent. Now we have to go court to a landlord/tenant hearing at the end of the month. The judge will determine who gets the money in the registry. Why would she pay the money at the registry and not to me directly? Obviously this tenant has been evicted before.  No eviction showed in her screening. I do not want the tenant to remain in the property, so whatever happens she will have to move out. I think my next tenant in the Miami Real Estate area will be from Section 8.

President Bush signed into law today the $700 billion bailout as the presidential elections are around the corner and the economy is almost in a recession. This bailout will help the economy and more specifically it will stabilize the Miami real estate market by stopping the declining of home values and re-establishing lending guidelines.  Banks, after writing off billions dollars of delinquent loans from their books, will ease their current credit policies and start to lend money again and continue with normal day to day business.

Most of the public was against passing this massive bailout and it might cost the politicians their career in the next elections.  The key change in the bill was to temporarily increase the cap for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) from $100,000 to $250,000 through the end of 2009. The passing of this bill could backfire for many lawmakers that approved the bill today as the public voters will remember their vote in the next election.

We must learn from the mistakes made and try not to repeat them again. Banks should not lend money to buyers with no money down and with no closing costs. Also buyers must realize that buying a property with no money down and with a teaser adjustable rate is not a good idea. Buyers will just walk away when they have no financial interest in the property and their investment is worth less than what they paid with nothing to lose but their credit. 

The foreclosure and short sale epidemic will stop as banks will not have to sell their distressed inventory for pennies on the dollar.  The Miami real estate prices will start to go up again after the overwhelming amount of foreclosures is out of the market. Buyers who are on the fence and waiting for the market to hit bottom should realize that this bailout will help the economy and therefore the property values will stabilize. Miami real estate prices will only go up from here and by the next couple of years home values will be at the same level as in the boom years. This bill will mark the beginning of the Miami real estate market rebound.