With recent Florida statistics, more than half of all Florida home owners are underwater on their homes. This has become a big problem, even bigger for people who have a decent income and do not qualify for a short-sale through their financial institution.

It was estimated that in 2010 that 40% of all foreclosures were strategic. This means that they foreclosed on the home even though they could technically afford the payments. If you don’t quality for a short-sale, foreclosing on the property, or turning to a property management company are the only two choices.

It may take a decade or longer to reach the home prices in 2006.

Over 1.3 million square feet of office space was added to Miami in 2010. Washington DC was the only city that added more – at 2.5 million square feet. Two new office towers in Miami, the first since 2004, were recently completed.

Over the past quarter, 100 units at Mint were sold because of aggressive discounting. Mint at Riverfront is a 51-story, 530-unit tower at 93 S.W. Third St. It stands within a gated condo enclave with neighboring towers Ivy and Wind at Neo on the north bank of the Miami River. Three more towers were planned for the enclave, but were never built due to South Florida’s condo crash.

According to Altos Research, there were 125 high-end condo transactions during the week of 11/15/2009 that skewed pricing forecasts and models, leading some to believe that Miami condo prices may have bottomed out. In reality, there are still over 9000 condos available for sale and median prices are continuing to fall as foreclosures hit the market.

The trendy Gansevoort in South Beach will be hitting the auction block soon after defaulting on a $89m loan to Credit Suisse.

The property was renovated by a father and son team and reopened a 334-room hotel in 2007. There are also 259 condos, a rooftop pool, and 63,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants.

A partnership of Armco Capital Inc. and Southwest Properties Ltd. paid $17.9 million in cash for 158 units to Goldman Sachs who had aquired the property in foreclosure. The original developer paid roughly three times that amount for Downtown Dadeland, a seven-tower residential and retail development in Kendall, Florida, about six miles south of downtown Miami.

This exciting commercial and retail development is sure to satisfy residents and condo owners in downtown Miami. Built by Developers Diversified Realty, this project is sure to amaze and wow. Current anchor tenants include a Super Target, Ross, Marshalls, and PetSmart among others.

The site consists of 645,000 square feet of prime retail space on 28 acres, easily accessible to downtown Miami and Miami beach. The shops are nested between I-95 and I-195. Be sure to visit for all your shopping needs the next time you are in Miami!

Yes, it seems like everyone and their mom has jumped on the bandwagon and added some kind of foreclosure page to their website.

And rightfully so, in a recent study 80% of all real estate searches online were for a foreclosure related term or address. ASTOUNDING! So what seperates the good foreclosure pages from the not so good? Well, some are paid and others are not, but at the end of the day they all have pretty much the same information.

Unless you’re closely watching individual properties and plan on making an offer the bank immediately after reposession, chances are you’re going to be watching the mls. And that’s where all these sites get data – the local mls. There is no need to pay for this data anymore. Realtytrac and other sites exist just to extract money from your pocket and sell services you don’t need. Investor reports, tenant services, blah blah. The $49.95 can easily become $200 or more if you aren’t paying attention.

The best way to find great deals on distressed properties is to use a local Realtor that understands the market. Allison Ables in Gainesville has one of the greatest local foreclosure and short sale pages I have seen. She sorts out Gainesville FL bank owned and short sales in an understandable layout. There is even a nifty mortgage calculator!

I’m sure we’ll have some interesting foreclosure pages before this entire saga is over with. Unfortinately, we’re only at the beginning of the foreclosure wave.

Is now the time to buy a condo for your kids in a college town? Probably so – churn has always been higher in college areas making these units more liquid than other places. In addition, if you have more than one child that goes to the same school it may actually be cheaper than living in dorms.

In addition, they’ll love you for it. Two of the most interesting college markets in Florida are UCF area condos in Orlando and Gainesville condos.

In an amazing feat, WCI Communities, a builder of high rise condos and homes primarily in Florida, has emerged from bankruptcy and eliminated $2b in liabilities. Most people know WCI from their gorgeous high rise condos located along Florida’s coasts. They were based in Bonita Springs, Florida, and many of their best buildings are along the southwest coast spanning from Ft Meyers to Naples.

What makes WCI condos so unique are the floorplans that span across the building providing views of the ocean and interior. They were one of the first companies to pioneer direct elevator access to the units. The amenities in their condos were also outstanding and they did tremendous amounts of research on what homeowners wanted out of the buildings.

Maybe now they can put the housing crash and bankruptcy behind them. I am looking forward to new product and inventory!