Ashley Brinson Cusak

Ashley Cusack Receives R.E.A.L. Award!

We hijacked Ashley’s blog to share some WONDERFUL news with you!  Ashley was nominated to receive a R.E.A.L. Award (Real Estate Achievers & Leaders) given by the Chamber of Commerce in the residential real estate category (single family homes) and selected as one of the top three finalists. At the awards luncheon last Friday, she was granted this wonderful honor and received the award! The award was given to the person who has achieved great success in real estate, and who is also a leader in the community. Ashley was the perfect match. She’s had an incredible 23-year career in real estate, selling more than $300 million since 2000 and always volunteers her time in the community. From the Junior League to the Race for the Cure, Ashley gets involved everywhere she can! Her energy and dedication are contagious, her achievements are many and her love for our community is evident in everything she does. Ashley, WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!

Luxury Rental Market in Miami continues to strengthen

While the high end real estate market has started to come back as I wrote in my post a couple weeks ago, the high end rental market has always been pretty strong (rentals of $8,500+/month).  But we’re starting to see more and more people paying higher prices for rentals these days, helping our luxury rental market get even stronger. So far this year, 6 high end single family homes have been rented in the Gables/Grove/Ponce-Davis area, with another 2 pending rental. Comparing this to the same time frame in 2011 and 2010, we are renting the same number of homes, but rates are up across the board. We have seen a 14% increase in prices since 2010! It’s all good news recently for Miami real estate!

Interested in luxury rentals? Here’s everything on the market in Coral Gables/Coconut Grove/Ponce-Davis right now!

Interested in real estate in Miami? My areas of specialty are Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, Ponce-Davis, South Miami and waterfront properties. Feel free to call or email me today. Let me and my team help you in your search!

Tags: Rentals

An Update on Interest Rates

People ask all the time how interest rates are doing, so I thought I’d give a brief update on them this week. Interest rates have been at all time lows in the past year, dipping as low as 3.875% on a 30-year fixed loan. Historically, jumbo loans (anything greater than $417,000) have higher interest rates than conventional loans, but rates for jumbos and conventionals have been fairly comparable recently. As the market has stabilized, it seems more and more lenders now have better Jumbo products and rates to offer. Interest rates started to rise slightly this year hovering around 4.5% for a while, but are back down, so we have been in the 4% range pretty consistently on conventional loans for the past year. Rates are always a little higher on a 30-year-fixed product than on an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM), where rates have been as low as 3%! Now is the time to take advantage of these low interest rates!

Interested in real estate in Miami? My areas of specialty are Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, Ponce-Davis, South Miami and waterfront properties. Feel free to call or email me today. Let me and my team help you in your search!

Tags: conventional loans, FHA loans, interest rates, jumbo loans, mortgages

Luxury Real Estate in Miami

I know I constantly talk about how much our market has rebounded already and what progress we’ve made in our recovery. If you saw the cover of the Miami Herald on Wednesday, they are even on board and talking about how our prices in Miami are coming up again – we are leading the nation with our real estate recovery. So it’s all good news! Thankfully, our luxury market is following the same trend. So far this year, we have sold 21 homes in excess of $4 million in Miami-Dade County, and there are currently another 14 sales pending. At this point last year, we’d had 15 sales, in 2010 we’d only had 11 sales, and in 2009 we’d only had 6 sales.  So we have more than tripled our luxury single family home sales in Miami-Dade County since 2009 – what wonderful news!

Interested in real estate in Miami? My areas of specialty are Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, Ponce-Davis, South Miami and waterfront properties. Feel free to call or email me today. Let me and my team help you in your search!

Tags: luxury real estate

Coral Gables’s No Pickup Truck Policy

My son just learned about the Coral Gables no-truck policy and immediately was intrigued, so I thought I’d write about it today since it’s a hot topic recently! Coral Gables banned pickup trucks from parking in residential neighborhoods back in the 1960s. Over the years, people have fought against this zoning law, but none of the attempts have been successful. However, last month the Board voted unanimously to have the City Attorney write a new truck ordinance which would have to be approved by the City Commission. If approved, residents would allegedly be allowed 1 truck per household as long as it has a hard top on the truck bed, is kept in a driveway as close to the home as possible, and with the bed facing the home, not the street. So now my kids and I have a new favorite car game besides Punch Buggie and the License Plate game – Coral Gables Truck Tag!

Interested in real estate in Miami? My areas of specialty are Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Pinecrest, Ponce-Davis, South Miami and waterfront properties. Feel free to call or email me today. Let me and my team help you in your search!

Tags: Coral Gables truck policy, Pick up truck laws