Miami Beach Real Estate Blog

Given that we are in a Buyer’s Market, most real sellers today should have a listing agent that is working full-time and marketing their properties aggressively, right? Unfortunately, far too often, we’ve seen both buyers and sellers represented by agents with sloppy administrative and contract negotiation skills that make it difficult to successfully close a sale. Also, we’ve seen many sellers poorly represented and fall into foreclosure or financial distress due to poor communication and lack of attention to detail on the part of their listing agent. A strong Real Estate agent is well worth their weight (and commission), and can save their clients thousands and perhaps even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Alejandro Daguer, a highly skilled, forthright, and knowledgeable real estate professional, specializing in Miami Beach waterfront properties shares his experiences and insights with our viewers:

The world is constantly changing and evolving- and this is especially true for Miami Beach’s internationally focused local real estate market. Most of the luxury buyer’s in today’s market are both tech savvy and very well informed.  In order to reach this target market, whether we are the listing or buyer’s agents of a Miami Beach waterfront home or condo, it’s more important than ever to stay current with marketing trends.  These can involve promoting properties and communicating via social networking sites, search engine marketing (Yahoo, Google, Bing, etc.), as well as old fashioned phone calls and direct mail campaigns.

We make it our business to stay up to date on the latest international marketing tools, such as our website, and  the latest technology trends as they relate to real estate.  We’re passionate about what we do, which means that we also embrace change while at the same time not abandoning the tried and true old-style real estate marketing tools.

Our international target marketing includes a network of over 200 affiliates, which allow us to successfully represent sellers and buyers from Miami Beach to Key Biscayne, Sao Paulo to Bogota, Buenos Aires to New York.

Given that we are in a Buyer’s Market, it should be easy to get a great deal buying a property in Miami Beach, right?  Not so!  Unfortunately, far too often, I’ve seen both buyers and sellers represented by Real Estate agents with sloppy administrative and contract negotiation skills that make it very difficult to complete a sales transaction.  Also, we’ve seen many buyers overpay due to poor communication and negotiation skills on the part of their real estate agent.  A good listing or buyers agent is well worth their commission, and can save their clients thousands and perhaps even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

For the past few months, we’ve been hard at work to bring to our clients, online visitors, and interested buyers and sellers a much needed update to our main real estate website. TheKleerTeam.com is Miami Beach’s most advanced and comprehensive online Real Estate resource site. The Kleer Team site provides users a one-stop solution for obtaining information on bank owned properties, foreclosures, and short sales.

Visitors to our site can research closed sales of single family homes and condos, the best rental deals in Greater Miami, and see entire building & single family community information. Also offering Buyers & Sellers access to Legal, Mortgage, Interior Design, Home Staging services, and Concierge information.  Be sure to look on the right hand side panel for new additions and services.  We are constantly upgrading our online presence and adding new features as requested by users from around the world.

We have a Spanish-only website for direct marketing of properties to South American buyers and Brokers.  Users also have the option to search for properties in Portuguese, French, German, and Italian.  These features allow us to promote homes and condos for sale in Miami Beach to a truly global audience.

My team and I recently had an interesting experience which I’d like to share with our readers. Last week, we placed an offer on a condominium offered as a short sale at the Murano Grande in Miami Beach.  We only went through the effort of contacting one of our most loyal and best buyers after receiving a solicitation on behalf of a distressed owner who I happen to know (this South Beach condo is listed with a family friend).  Unfortunately, shortly after submitting a contract significantly ABOVE the list price, we discovered that the price on the Multiple Lisitng Service was raised several times, and that the commission to cooperating Broker was changed to one percent (with total commission payable of six percent).

Here’s the problem – our ready, willing and able CASH Buyer was completely turned off by the lack of coherent pricing. Also, all short sales and bank foreclosures which we have dealt with in the recent past (and we’ve closed on many) stipulate commission splits of 50/50 between the buying and selling brokers.  We subsequently found out that the listing agent for the condo convinced the current owner to accept a finance contingency contract (his own buyer) at a significantly lower price.  Not only was this agent acting unethically with us, but the worst part is that the owner (and the lenders) have no idea of the games that this particular agent is playing in a desperate attempt to earn some extra commission income.

I firmly believe, especially in this market, that it’s an agent’s duty to do everything possible to sell a property for as high a price as possible to a QUALIFIED buyer.  Any agent (or Brokerage firm) that is not willing to work for the best interest of their client should no longer be in the business.  The old adage applies – “Let the Buyer (and Seller) beware.”

Latest Closed Sale from TheKleerTeam (Buyer Representation):

Continuum condo - North Tower #1404

Continuum North Tower presents over 15 styles of residences, with this unique split two bedroom floorplan offering views of Fisher Island, the Atlantic Ocean, and Government Cut. Residences feature private balconies with glass railings, floor to ceiling sliding glass doors with tempered, tinted glass designed to meet hurricane standards of the South Florida.

Closed Sales Price: $1,250,000 (7/1/09)
Original “For Sale” Price : $1,425,000
Bedrooms: 2
Bathrooms: 2.5
Sold Price per S.F.: $838/S.F.
Reduced from Original Price: 12% (106 days on market)