Miami news, Miami local news

When buying homes in Miami, a great investment, it’s standard practice to check out equivalent sales in the area to get an idea of value. But what do you do next?

You can do a walk-through and see that the back door sticks, but why? Maybe it because a hinge is loose but it could be much worse. It’s possible with some homes in Miami that something is wrong with the foundation.

It’s unlikely you’ll be able to pinpoint the problem unless you’re a building inspector.

Claude McGavick, a board member with the Florida Association of Building Inspectors, says, “A good home inspector will look at 800 to 1,000 things in a home.” He says inspectors follow standard guidelines that tell them what to look at and how to look at it.

Here are some tips for finding an inspector:

• Word of mouth is one of the best ways to choose an inspector for homes in Miami. Home inspectors in Florida are not licensed but that will change as of July 1st.

• Search professional organizations databases. They train their members and giving them inspection guidelines. Here are three places to start:

• Florida Association of Building Inspectors              800-544-3224
• American Society of Home Inspectors                    800-743-2744
• National Association of Home Inspectors               800-448-3942

According to the Florida Association of Building Inspectors, standard inspections involve a visual examination of the Miami real estate property from top to bottom. The inspector will check the heating system, the central air-conditioning system, the interior plumbing and electrical systems, the roof and visible insulation, walls, ceilings, floors, windows and doors, the foundation, basement and visible structure. The inspector should tell you about any system that may be near the end of its serviceable life or not up to par, and why. It’s very important to pay special attention to the roof and to termite damage of Miami real estate properties.

In general, expect to pay about $300 to $500 for an inspection, says McGavick, who also is an inspector with Home Check Home Inspection Services of Bradenton. The size of the Miami real estate property, the age, special structures and so on can affect the price.

It’s not up to the inspector to tell you whether or not to buy a house in Miami. No house is perfect; you must decide which imperfections and eventual repairs are acceptable.

The number of Miami homes in November, in some stage of the foreclosure process, dropped by 5.62% in Miami-Dade County compared to October. However, according to figures released Thursday by foreclosure data firm RealtyTrac, Miami foreclosures were still up by double-digit percentages versus the same month last year.
In November, 7,306 Miami homes had either received a foreclosure notice, were scheduled for auction or taken back by a bank in an auction sale. This was an increase of almost 13% from year ago.
The number of new Miami foreclosures filings was up from last year by a large 30% predicting a bigger lump of Miami homes that are likely to enter the market later on.
Miami-Dade ranked seventh in the state for foreclosures, with one of every 133 Miami homes in some stage of the process. By comparison, one home in every 417 was caught up in foreclosure nationally.
In November, the foreclosure rate in Broward fared slightly worse compared to October, rising 4.44%, with one of every 113 homes in the pipeline.
The rate was up 4.38% from a year ago and new foreclosure filings were up 27% from last year.
Following Nevada, Florida (with one home per 165 in foreclosure) displaced California for the state with the second-highest percentage of Miami homes in foreclosure. In Nevada, there was one home in foreclosure for every 119 that were not.