November Activity Summary

Upper Keys:
New on the market: Click here
Price changes: Click here
Pending: Click here
Closed: Click here

Middle and Lower Keys:
New on the market: Click here
Price changes: Click here
Pending: Click here
Sold: Click here

If you are interested in buying or selling property in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Long weekend - take a look what's on the market

Waterfront homes:
Key Largo:
Buccaneer Point

Key Largo Ocean Shores

Lake Surprise

Largo Sound

Lime Grove Estates

Ocean Isle Estates

Pirates Cove

Port Largo

Riviera Village

Sexton Cove

Silver Shores

Stillwright Point

Sunset Acres

Sunset Point

Sunset Waterways

Tavernier Ocean Shores

Twin Lakes

Winston Waterways

Islamorada:
Indian Waterways

Kahiki Harbor

Lake Harbor

Lyseloma

Pearl City

Plantation Lake

Plantation Key Colony

Plantation Shores

Plantation Lake Estates

Sunshine Estates

Tavernaero

Treasure Harbor

Tropical Atlantic Shores

Venetian Shores

Condos:

Beacon Reef

Buttonwood Bay

Coral Harbor

Executive Bay Club

Future Yacht Club

Harbor92

Kawama Tower


Landigs of Largo

Mariners Club


Moon Bay


Ocean Harbor


Ocean Pointe


Port of call


Rock Harbor

Seagulls


Sunset Hammock

Tamarind Bay


The Palms
The Sanctuary

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

The biggest sellers

in the current market are the lowest priced canal front homes. They make great vacation homes and are a good investment. Canal front houses are popular as vacation and annual rentals; if you are handy, there are quite a few homes that just need some TLC and could turn a profit within months even in this market.

These are the lowest canal front homes currently on the market:
Click here

Season is almost here and these will fly off the shelves; please contact me if you are intrested in any of these or other properties in the Keys: 305-393-0923
Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

New on the market! This is perfect for the avid boater

I just listed this property and it's a great buy! The home sits on three lots (over 18000SF!) directly on Adams cut with the larget cut in boat slip I have ever seen in the Keys. This is perfect if you have a large boat. Ocean and bay access is immediate. You can add on to the existing CBS home and add a pool. There is plenty space. Listed at 1,2 Million.
If you are interested in this or any other properties in the Keys please contact me 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Some more great deals

There has been a lot of activity in the MLS in the last 24 hours including some great deals. Here they are.
If you are looking for something for less than 125K; this is a great opportunity: A 2 bedroom, 2 baths condo: Click here
A canal front house; here is one for less than 330K; it is a short sale but has been approved by the bank: Click here
A canal front house in Venetian Shors. It is also a short sale and not approved but one heck of a deal at 799K: Click here
If you have a cash and are looking for a 'cheap' canal front property; this mobile home is a good deal under 300K (You cannot get financing for this hence the cash):
Click here
Please let me know if you are interested in this or any other Real Estate in the Keys: Wiebkewestedt@aol.com or 305-393-0923

Best deals

Following are what I consider the best deals on the market (Based on asking price).

Condos/Townhomes under 500K : Click here

Condos/Townhomes over 500K: Click here

Canal Front Homes under 700K:: Click here

Canal Front Homes 700K to 1 Million: Click here

Open Water Front Homes: Click here

Dry Lot Homes: Click here

If you are interested in any of these or other properties please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

October Activity Summary

Upper Keys

New listings
Price reductions
Under contract
Sold

Lower and Middle Keys
Price reductions
Under contract
Sold

If you are interested in Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923
or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

REO investment opportunity for 212K Under contract

This is the perfect property if you have been looking for a vacation/rental property. Seagulls is located in Tavernier and offers: Tennis Courts, sandy beach, pool, clubhouse and gym. This is a 2 bedroom unit with fantastic views for 212K.
Please email Wiebkewestedt@aol.com or call me 305-393-0923 for any more info

Why private financing

Private real estate financing has been around since land has been bought and sold. When banks don’t lend on certain properties for many different reasons, private financing is an excellent alternative. It is a win win for all involved. The private investor (person or institution lending the money) gets a much higher return on their money than it sitting in a bank, the seller gets to sell his property and the buyer obtains financing he would otherwise not be able to.

Today the main reason private financing has been getting so popular is due to the tightening of underwriting guidelines such as credit and income requirements. Basically if you don’t have fairly good credit or can verify the right amount of income, you may not qualify for a loan irrelevant of the size of your down payment.

In comes the private investor. Yes, the rate is higher and so are the fees but it allows the buyer to acquire the property they want now and work on the issues to be able to refinance into a better loan later. The average private loan is paid off within three years. The requirements are usually 35-50% down payment and rates from 8-14% depending on the scenario and property.

The first place to look for a private loan is your friends and relatives. If they have the funds you are seeking sitting in a bank at 2% you can offer them a much higher return with the property securing the loan. The title agent or attorney can draw up all the paper work needed and help with all the details.

Many times the best route to go is trying to get the current seller to hold the note for the first 3-5 years. The seller should be motivated by not only by selling his property but also by making interest on the sale of his property. In today’s real estate lending environment this option has become more popular than ever before for the obvious reasons.

Never give up on trying to find the right financing for the home or property of your dreams. There are many different options to explore in the creative financing world.

By; Frank Lazcos
Mortgage Banker
Home Financing Center
frankl@homefinancingcenter.com

Fantastic deal! REO condo 315K

If you are in the market for a condo; this is the one to buy! Assigned Dockage (please contact me for details), a view and over 12000 SF living space. This unit is in Tamarind Bay, Key Largo, Mile Marker 103. Amenities are: 2 Pools, tennis courts, gazebo on the bay and great dockage. Tamarind Bay is immaculately kept!

This is the view from the unit.
If you are interested in this unit or other Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

The lowest priced everything

These are the lowest priced properties in each category.

Canal Front Homes: Click here

Dry lot homes: Click here

Condos/Townhomes: Click here

Open water front homes (Bay front or Ocean Front):: Click here

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

All water front homes for sale listed by neighborhood

Key Largo:
Buccaneer Point

Hammar Point

Key Largo Ocean Shores

Lake Surprise

Largo Sound

Lime Grove Estates

Ocean Isle Estates

Pirates Cove

Port Largo

Riviera Village

Sexton Cove

Silver Shores

Stillwright Point

Sunset Acres

Sunset Point

Sunset Waterways

Tavernier Ocean Shores

Twin Lakes

Winston Waterways

Islamorada:
Indian Waterways

Kahiki Harbor

Lake Harbor

Lyseloma

Pearl City

Plantation Lake

Plantation Key Colony

Plantation Shores

Plantation Lake Estates

Sunshine Estates

Tavernaero

Treasure Harbor

Tropical Atlantic Shores

Venetian Shores
If you are interested in buying or selling property in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or e-mail me at Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Great REO deal in Key Largo $346,500 Under contract

This is a 3 bedroom, 2 baths house on a canal in Key Largo with a great view over the bay. Don't wait; this won't last!

Please call me at 305-393-0923 or e-mail me to Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Summary of September activity

Upper Keys
New listings
Price reductions
Sold
Pending

Middle and Lower Keys
New listing
Price reductions
Closed
Pending

If you are interested in Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or e-mail me to Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Canal front homes under 600K - Not many left

Canal front homes are selling the fastest in the current market. There are not many left under 600K. These are all canal front homes in the Upper Keys listed under
600K: Click here

These are currently under contract under 600K: Click here

If you are in the market for a water front home, you should buy very soon; activity and solds indicate that the 'botttom' came and went.

If you are interested in any of these properties or other Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or e-mail me to: Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

All condos for sale in each complex

By the way: These links get updated automatically. If you are interested in one particular complex you can come back and visit the link to see if there are any new listings or price reductions etc.
Beacon Reef

Buttonwood Bay

Coral Harbor

Executive Bay Club

Future Yacht Club

Harbor92

Kawama Tower


Landigs of Largo

Mariners Club


Moon Bay


Ocean Harbor


Ocean Pointe


Port of call


Rock Harbor

Seagulls


Sunset Hammock

Tamarind Bay


The Palms
The Sanctuary

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Have you seen these?

Under Contract
The REOs are not always the best deals. These are two excellent deals:
This house is located on Lower Matecumbe on a large corner lot with direct ocean access. 3bd/2ba upstairs, large wrap-around porch, screened room downstairs, huge storage area, covered parking, concrete dock and davits and great fishing location.
Asking price 425K

This is a brand new waterfront home in Key Largo! New custom-built all concrete 2BR/3BA home with a roof-top terrace offering views of the bay. Gorgeous kitchen cabinets with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Beautiful tiled floors, impact windows and doors, brick pavers. Easy boating access from 45 feet of concrete dock with 15000lbs boat lift. Excellent homeowners parks with boat ramps, sandy beach area, chickee hut, volleyball area, and temporary boat dockage and trailer storage. Asking price: 595K

Please let me know if you'd like more info and pics on these properties or if you are interested in other Real Estate in the Keys. 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

New REO on the market Under contract

This Reo just came on the market. All offers must be in by this coming Wednesday.

It is priced at $371,250 was built in 2007. It is a canal front stilt home in the heart of Key Largo. 3 bedrooms/2 bath up with den area and one bath down. Garage, concrete dockage, tiled living area. Most windows impact resistant.


If you'd like more info please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Two great Townhouse deals

If you have a boat and want a water view these are two great deals!



This unit is located in Harbor 92 and is the lowest priced and nicest unit in the complex: Click here



and this unit is in Buttonwood Bay; it is also the lowest priced unit in the complex: Click here

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate please call me at 305-393-0923 or e-mail me to Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

August Activity Summary

Upper Keys

New listings
Price reductions
Pending / Under contract
Sold

Middle and Lower Keys

New listings
Price reductions
Pending / Under contract
Sold

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Best deals

These are what I consider to be the best deals (Based on the asking price)on the market today:

Condos/Townhomes: Click here

Non water front homes: Click here

Canal front homes: Click here

Open water front homes: Click here

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Can you finance a condo in the current market? By Frank

Condo Financing
In this article I will be explaining the difference in financing a condo versus a single family residence. The first and most obvious difference is that each unit shares a building with the other units. In order to maintain the structure that houses all these units there must be an association as established by Florida Law. The rules and guidelines set by the association is for the benefit of all unit owners. This includes the payment of a monthly condo fee to maintain and pay common area repairs and upkeep such as landscaping.

In a condo you have limited rights as opposed to fee simple ownership (Single Family Residence) which gives you 100% ownership of the land and all the improvements. Each form of ownership poses different issues for lenders and mortgage insurance companies. Fee simple is the least riskiest for lenders. In a condo the additional condo fee expense is calculated into the borrowers mortgage expenses to qualify for their loan. This fee must be paid every month by the unit owner or the association has the right to foreclose on the property posing another risk to the lender.

Should a percentage of owners stop paying the condo fees, the remaining owners would be responsible and may see an increase in the fee to make up the difference. Another item that adds to the risk of lenders are unforeseen repairs such as replacing a roof. The replacement of a roof on a condo structure may run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and should the association not have enough capital reserves the unit owners would be assesed a special assesment that is an unexpected expense for unit owners.

Due to these issues and many others lenders are very careful as to which condos qualify for financing. Fannie Mae the largest investor in the mortgage industry publicizes a list of which condos it will not lend on. This list is constantly being updated. Before a lender approves a loan on a condo they request a condo questionaire to the association or management copmpany that runs that association.

This form answers questions the lender needs to know in order to approve the condo for financing such as reserve requirements, percentage of investor properties and if involved in any litigation. Due to the flood of recent foreclosures many condos are no longer qualified for conventional financing and due to that the buyer may need to come up with a substancial down payment and incure higher cost and rates.

Should you want to check if a specefic condo is approved for conventional financing you can do so by visiting Click here . Should you have any further questions please feel free to contact me. frankl@homefinancingcenter.com

Automatically updated list of REO's in the upper Keys

Even though REOs are not always the best deals, many times they are. We do not have a lot of them in the Keys; here are the ones that are currently listed:
Click here
This link gets automatically updated when the properties go under contractt, new ones come on the market etc. So come back and check this list.
A few pointers regarding REOs: They are always 'as is', the bank will make no repairs.
When making an offer you need to be preapproved if getting financing; if it is a cash offer the bank requires 'proof of funds' (Bank statements, letter from the bank etc.).
If you are interested in Real Estate in rthe Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Check out the facts - what has gone under contract and sold in the last three weeks

This gives you a great idea about the Real Estate acitivity in the Upper Keys.
Click here to see all properties that have gone under contract in the past three weeks (and keep in mind that there are more; many Realtors wait to change the status to pending until all contingencies have been removed).
These have closed thus far.
If you are looking to buy or sell Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com
I'll find you a great deal that suits your needs and wants!

All Water Front Homes listed by neighborhood in Key Largo

Buccaneer Point

Hammar Point

Key Largo Ocean Shores

Lake Surprise

Largo Sound

Lime Grove Estates

Ocean Isle Estates

Pirates Cove

Port Largo

Riviera Village

Sexton Cove

Silver Shores

Stillwright Point

Sunset Acres

Sunset Point

Sunset Waterways

Tavernier Ocean Shores

Twin Lakes

Winston Waterways

If you are interested in selling or buying Real Estate in the Keys please call me at 305-393-0923 or e-mail me to: Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Waterfront homes in Islamorada/Plantation Key - sorted by neighborhoods

Indian Waterways

Kahiki Harbor

Lake Harbor

Lyseloma

Pearl City

Plantation Lake

Plantation Key Colony

Plantation Shores

Plantation Lake Estates

Sunshine Estates

Tavernaero

Treasure Harbor

Tropical Atlantic Shores

Venetian Shores

If you are interested in buying or selling property in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or e-mail me at Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Inventory is decreasing

If you are seriously in the market of buying property in the Keys: Don't wait too long! The good deals are going and the inventory is decreasing. If you have missed a good deal and are waiting for the next one to come around and you are in "no hurry" you might miss the boat. Almost every 'good deal' property that I have shown to customers in the past few weeks is under contract and as properties are selling the supply is shrinking and the demand increasing. It is still a buyer's market, make sure to buy while that is the case. I'd love to help you locate the prefect property for you. You can reach me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Two Condo REO's

There are currently two REO's in condos and both of them are great deals:
One is in Moon Bay; it is a 2 bedrooms, 1,5 baths unit on the second floor with a DEEDED boat slip for $239,900 This unit is perfect for an investment/vacation property. Moon Bay permits weekly and rentals and produces good rental income especially when dockage is available. Take a look at this listing: You will easily break even on this condo:
Moon Bay

This is a 2 bedroom 2 baths condo in Tamarind Bay for $384,000 It has a great view of the bay and is a ground floor unit. This is perfect if you have little kids; they can walk to the pool etc. This is a great investment. You will not net as much in rentals but the future appreciation makes up for that. Dockage is assigned, Square footage is 1360 SF, every room has a view.
Please contact me for more pics. etc.
Tamarind Bay

Please contact me if you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in the Keys:
305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Another REO canal front in Key Largo for 310K Under contract

This is a unique home: a one bedroom home house with 1500SF living space. The top floor is one large master bedroom suite. It's a great deal, that's for sure.
If you'd like more info please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Summary of July activity

Sorry, I just realized that I forgot to post my monthly summary for July.

Here it is:

Upper Keys
New listings
Price reductions
Under contract
Sold

Middle and Lower Keys:
New listings
Price reductions
Pending
Sold

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

Another REO (Bank Owned) CBS Canal Front on Lower Matecume for 499K under contract

Here is another great deal on Lower Matecumbe (MM76) on the Ocean side. The house is CBS; there are 2/2 upstairs and 1/1 downstairs. The downstairs is on the tax rolls which shoul indicate that it is legal. (in the process of being confirmed).

For more info please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

320K Canal Front House You will have to hurry on this one Under Contract

This house just came on the market. It is a 2 bedroom/2 baths frame stilt home with a cut in boat slip. It is an REO (that stands for Real Estate owned)which means that it is owned by the bank. You will either have to have proof of funds if you are making a cash offer or you'll need to be pre approved by the bank that owns the property (which you can do while making the offer). If you are interested please give me a call at 305-393-0923 or e-mail me at Wiebkewestedt@aol.com
I wish I could buy this!

Condo Townhouse Deals

There are some great condo deals out there and they can make for very good investments.
If you have dreamt of a house in the Keys but don't want to spend as much as a canal front house costs, a condo could be an alternative for you. Condos make great vacation homes: The grounds and buildings are kept up by the association and ammenities like tennis courts, pools,dockage, beaches, clubhouses etc. are at your disposal.
These are the best deals under 300K (in my opinion): Click here

Best deals beteen 300 and 500K: Click here

Best deals between 500 and 700K: Click here

Best deals between 700 and 900K: Click here

If you are interested in buying or selling Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at 305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com

What I would buy in Single Family Homes

Following are what I consider the best buys.

Canal Front homes under 700K: Click here

Canal Front homes between 700K and 1 Million: : Click here

Open water front homes: : Click here

If you are seeking luxury and money really isn't the issue:: Voila

If you are looking to buy or sell Real Estate in the Keys please contact me at :305-393-0923 or Wiebkewestedt@aol.com