A Quick note on Mortgages....

"Here’s a quick note to let you know how I can help you—or anyone you feel comfortable introducing me to. Buyers who are shopping for a lender may wonder why initial estimates of their price range vary from lender to lender. The answer is two-fold. On one hand, exact figures are not possible until a lender sees a buyer’s documentation of debt, income, and credit. Even small issues can cause interest rate variations, so any figures given without documentation are estimates. On the other hand, interest rates fluctuate daily, so one lender can give one estimate today, and a different lender a different estimate tomorrow. The best thing a buyer can do is provide a qualified mortgage consultant with all relevant data and paperwork, to get an accurate figure based on real data, not guesswork. That lender can help them lock in a low rate and hold it." Thinking on Selling or Purchasing Real Estate in South Florida? ..... please contact me, Espie Franky Luxury Realtor, BBA Dir: 305-283-5868 Email: espiefranky@gmail.com One Premier International Realty

Staging...getting it Done !

Getting your house ready to Sell? As Important as Pricing it correctly, it must be "magazine ready" ! it's possible if you take it step by step! Just think that staging it correctly will give you a higher NET $$ to your pocket 😉 at Closing. Remember the important "C" of staging: Clean, Clutter, Color, Creativity & Commitment. A good practice is to take pictures as your house is before staging. Usually what the camera sees and what we see are different scenes 😳, so be ready to rearrange, put away, store, patch and paint walls, ...until what you see through the camera shots is what you would like to see when purchasing a house. There must be commitment to make it happen. In conclusion, try to see your house through the buyers eyes..As you have never seen it before ! Thinking on Selling or Buying RE in So Florida? Give us a call. Espie Franky Luxury Member, BBA Dir: 305.283.5868

They’re back… Sunken living rooms are on the rise Sunken Room Those who remember the “conversation pit” living areas of decades ago may be surprised that sunken indoor and outdoor rooms are on U.S. and Canadian designers’ lists of hot new housing trends – along with tented rooms...

Tented Room

and chevron patterened floors.

Thinking on Selling...or Buying your new Dream Home ? Let me be of assistance !! I am a "click away" ....ESPIE FRANKY, Luxury Realtor at Your Service ! espiefranky@gmail.com twitter @espiefranky or #sellingmiamiestates

Staging guidelines to follow when ready to SELL....

Hello again my dear friends, the following are 101 for "Ready, Stage & Sell" 1. Pack up before showing the house, even before doing marketing it and having the professional photography taken Its easier for the future to mentally move in. Be very organized in the process, boxes and containers should be piled up and in the corners of the rooms....and please don't pack the garage, buyers need to visualize this space as well ☺ 2. Maintain the house clean, specially the floors and mainly the kitchen and bathroom floors! Clean houses look better, and buyers assume a clean house is a well maintained house. Clean doors, windows, kitchen appliances & remember..."if you can Smell it, you can't sell it 😳 important, smell inspect your house; kitchen floor, bathrooms, bedrooms, carpets, curtains, the pool, the garden, etc. 3. Maintain the house Clutter free ! Cluttered rooms shows stressed, absolves All energy of the space. Clutter is al that stuff you just don't use everyday...and that can be packed before showing the house. Important, Reevaluate the clutter in the kitchen, in the walls, in the closets. In synthesis; buyers want light bright rooms, uncluttered & fresh rooms, clean spaces. Thinking on selling ? Give us a call, we are SellingMiamiEstates Espie Franky 305.283.5868

Make sure you Really want to sell !!

It is crucial you really want to sell, Before you put your house on the market! At this time your home will be a house, meaning a product for sale. The memories lived in it will always go/move with you, is the product (house) will be sold. With this said, it must be in its Best appearance, in its very best it can be. Buyers today make decisions based on what they see, and they do see "inch by inch....outside and inside" 😳 Lets make it Simple, staging is not decorating to sell.... It is Depersonalizing to sell at its highest net! The psychology of the real buyer, meaning the end user, is that the house must be turn key ready. A place that inspires them to relax, peace, a comfortable feel ! Think about this, if you are looking to purchase a used car, would you not prefer the one which is polished ? If you are ready to sell, first give us a call, together we will review how we can get the most net for you! Espie Franky Luxury Realtor 305.283.5868 espiefranky@gmail.com

Planning on selling your house? ....

Staging is all about presentation, about moving things around, staging works...staging helps sell !! Note you never get a 2nd chance to make a good impression ☺ The goal to do staging is not to offer furniture for sale; selling a house is what home staging is about! Think the following: Staging is about using accessories & furniture in new ways Staging is having less around for you Staging is about giving a fresh look to the properties curb appeal Staging is about the palet of colors chosen for inside & out Staging is about clearing your house so that the buyers can envision it as their new home !! If ready to list & sell give us a call, we are SellingMiamiestates, reach us at 305.283.5868, espiefranky@gmail.com

Wealthy homeowners brace for 'fiscal cliff'

Real-estate experts say that as more of the wealthy sell out of fear of a tax increase, they could drive up inventory and lower prices in the top of the real estate market. Realtors to the rich have started getting a strange new kind of phone call. Wealthy homeowners with properties for sale are suddenly demanding that the brokers get them a deal in the next five months. The reason, they say, is the fiscal cliff. If the Bush tax cuts expire and capital-gains tax rates go up on Jan. 1, sellers in the high-end real-estate market could owe millions more in taxes on their sales. As a result, many wealthy sellers are racing to close before 2013. Others who were thinking of putting their homes on the market next year or later are listing them this summer. Call it “The Mansion Cliff.” Real-estate experts say that as more of the wealthy sell out of fear of a tax increase, they could drive up inventory and lower prices in the top of the real estate market, which has been one of the few bright spots in the economy. Any softening at the high end, or a spike in inventory, could ripple through the housing market and add new pressure to prices, although it could also increase sales volume. “This has become a key issue for sellers,” said Stephen Games of Pacific Sotheby’s Realty in San Diego. “Sellers want to get a deal done before the election. They want to avoid the uncertainty.” Games said that one of his clients recently sold a $13 million ocean-view property in La Jolla, Calif. for less than the original asking price – in large part to avoid the possible increase in taxes next year. The tax savings from the deal was more than $600,000 compared to the potentially higher bill next year. One of the top luxury brokers in Miami, recently sold a mansion in the posh enclave of Indian Creek for $38 million. He said the owner accepted a price below his original goal for fear of the tax cliff. “It was certainly a factor in his decision,” Realtor said. “When you’re talking about $38 million, that’s a big difference in tax savings. The tax issue was definitely a motivator in his decision to take a little less than he wanted.” One New York broker said she got two new listings in the past week that were driven in part by tax fears. “The sellers were on the fence on whether to sell, but when they considered the cliff, they decided to list,” the broker said. “They want to do this quickly. The message to me is, 'Get this done now.'” Granted, the tax fears of the mansion-set may prove to be unfounded. Capital-gains rates could remain unchanged if a deal gets done in Washington. And the selling deliberations of the wealthy are a minor problem compared to the broader headwinds in the economy. What's more, the rich (especially foreigners) continue to buy real estate as an investment as stocks and other financial investments weaken. Yet the million-plus real-estate market experienced a similar spasm in 2010, when many of the wealthy feared Congress would raise capital-gains rates. Inventory popped up and prices slumped. Jonathan Miller, of Miller Samuel, the New York appraisal and consulting firm, said that in the fourth quarter of 2010, the supply of homes priced at $1 million or more increased in the New York area. In the affluent Hamptons, inventory increased 5 percent in the fourth quarter, a much greater increase than the same period a year earlier. Miller said a similar or even larger increase is likely this year. “I’m confident we’ll see just as much or more this time because of the fiscal cliff,” he said. “People are going to be pressing to close earlier than they might have.” The math of the mansion cliff is compelling. If the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire, the current capital-gains tax of 15 percent will rise to 20 percent. Alan Kufeld, a principal with accounting firm Rothstein Kass and an advisor to wealthy families, explains that families who sell a second home that they’ve owned for more than a year pay capital-gains taxes on the difference between the sale price and their original purchase price (minus certain fees, improvements and other deductions). A $38 million home purchased for $8 million with $2 million in improvements could show a gain of about $28 million. The current federal tax bill on that gain would be around $4 million. If taxes go up next year, the tax would be $5.5 million – a difference of $1.5 million. The new federal health-care tax of 3.8 percent also kicks in next year for couples who make $250,000 or more. But for the $28 million gain described above, the tax could add another $1 million, bringing the total tax difference to $2.5 million. On primary residences, where owners have lived for more than two out of five years, there is a $500,000 exlusion. But brokers say that when a home is priced at $10 million or $20 million, the exemption is less of a factor. In addition to the federal tax, there will also be state and local taxes applied to the gains. Some of those tax rates are also expected to go up in some states next year. Kufeld aid his clients aren’t making long-term real estate decisions based on short-term tax issues. And the deals have to fit into a family's broader planning. But he said that since the potential tax savings are significant, “families are certainly having discussions about it. And they should.” ** Info from The Institute For Luxury Home Marketing website. (NBC News _ Business)