South Florida sees third-highest annual home price growth in nation

Home values across the nation

Miami’s single family homes rose 9.2 percent in February 2015 over February 2014 prices — the third fastest growing in the nation.

City	Rank	Increase from Feb. 2014
Denver	1	10 percent
San Francisco	2	9.8 percent
Miami	3	9.2 percent
Dallas	4	8.6 percent
Seattle	5	7.1 percent
Portland	6	7.1 percent
Tampa	7	6.9 percent
Los Angeles	8	5.8 percent
Las Vegas	9	5.8 percent
Atlanta	10	5.6 percent
National		4.2 percent

S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article19800501.html#storylink=cpy

A strong economy and an influx of new residents meant higher home prices in South Florida over the last year.

The resale value of single-family homes in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties grew 9.2 percent in February over the /the same month in 2014. Only Denver (10 percent) and San Francisco (9.8 percent) saw bigger annual gains.

Nationwide home prices grew 4.2 percent over the year.

Those numbers come from a closely watched market barometer, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which measure home prices around the country and are released on a two-month lag.

But rising home values can pose a problem if wages don’t keep up.

“In order for people to move into a second home, we need first-time home buyers to come into the market,” said Bill Banfield, a vice president at the mortgage lender Quicken Loans. “If the jobs being created for younger people don’t have sufficient wages, you’re going to end up with buyers priced out of the market and reluctant to purchase a home.”

Read More: http://www.miamiherald.com/

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article19800501.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article19800501.html#storylink=cpy

It now cost more to stay clean and dry at the Pavilion

The provider of the laundry machines at the Pavilion, Laundry Systems USA,  has increased the fees  over 16% without the prior knowledge of the owners and residents.  The amount has gone to $1.75 from $1.50 per load.

The Association, at least, needs to ask the provider for an explanation of this increase.  After all, all the owners pay for the water ,electricity and upkeep of  these commercial units.

Please, contact the Association to let them know your concerns and to request them to act in our behalf.

Cash-out refinances on the rise

Could it be time to cash out some home equity by refinancing your mortgage? For growing numbers of owners, the answer this year is an emphatic yes, at least according to new data from some major lenders.

In a cash-out refinancing, you convert part of your home equity into money, adding to your mortgage balance. Say you have a $400,000 home with a $200,000 first mortgage. You have $200,000 of equity and a couple of worthwhile projects in mind — paying off high interest rate credit card balances and renovating the house — that will cost you around $50,000. Since mortgage rates remain attractive in the 4 percent range and you can handle the higher monthly payments on a larger balance loan, you refinance your $200,000 existing loan and take out a new $250,000 loan to replace it. You end up with more debt, but you also walk away with roughly the $50,000 you need, less transaction fees.

Cash-outs were the rage during the housing boom years of 2004-2007. At their peak, in the third quarter of 2006, nearly nine out of 10 owners who refinanced pulled out money from their homes, according to mortgage investor Freddie Mac. But by late 2008, the bubble had imploded. Equity holdings plunged. Cash-out refis virtually disappeared.

Now, with home equity higher in many markets — especially along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts — cash-outs are making a comeback.

Read More: http://www.miamiherald.com/

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/living/home-garden/article19353213.html#storylink=cpy

Mark your calendar - Pavilion BOD Meeting

THE PAVILION OF MIAMI BEACH CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Date: Thursday, April 23, 2015

Time: 7:00 P.M.

Location: Social and Activities Room (Mezzanine Level)

Place: 5601 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33140

AGENDA

I.                   Call to Order – Calling of the Roll – Quorum Determination.

II.                 Old Business:

-         Confirmation of Waiver of Reserves Funding for 2015.

III.              Adjournment.

IV.              Open Forum.

A three minute time limit will be in effect for any owner who has a question pertaining to AGENDA ITEMS ONLY.

Posted Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Karina T. Panait, LCAM

Property Manager

CONDO OWNERS – YOU SHOULD BE OUTRAGED

By Eric Glazer, Esq.

We often times blog about how a Board member or a manager stole a few thousand dollars from the association and how they should be prosecuted for it.  If someone should be prosecuted for stealing a few thousand dollars, what should happen to the people that steal 16 million dollars from condo owners over the last five years?  Ask your esteemed Florida legislators, because it’s them that stole your money.

            Florida Statute 718.501 reads as follows:

Each condominium association which operates more than two units shall pay to the division an annual fee in the amount of $4 for each residential unit in condominiums operated by the association. If the fee is not paid by March 1, the association shall be assessed a penalty of 10 percent of the amount due, and the association will not have standing to maintain or defend any action in the courts of this state until the amount due, plus any penalty, is paid.

All fees shall be deposited in the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes Trust Fund as provided by law.

As all of you know, the fees collected from each of you are placed into this Trust Fund, and must be used to help administer the Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes.  The monies should be spent on resources, arbitrators, investigators, staff, educational materials, seminars and more.  

Despite the fact that these monies are allocated to the DBPR each and every year, it is not getting spent in its entirety and each year there is a huge surplus of a few million dollars.  Instead of reducing or suspending the collection of these fees from condominium unit owners, or returning your money to you, The Florida Legislature has a better idea……..JUST KEEP IT AND SWEEP THESE FUNDS INTO THE GENERAL REVENUE FUND.

  

That’s right.  Condo owners are in effect paying monies to the state that were supposed to be spent on them.  The funds are not being spent on them and instead are going to whatever else the state wants to allocate those funds to.

How about this?  If you’re outraged and want this theft to stop, respond to this e-mail and demand that it stops.  If we get a lot of responses, I’ll submit it to The Florida Legislature and keep the fight going.  If we don’t get responses, you apparently don’t care much about getting stolen from and feel free to leave your credit card information and bank account numbers below for all to see.

Read More: http://www.hoa-condoblog.com/

Is Your Board Carrying Out Its Fiduciary Duty?

By Bruce A. Cholst Esq.

One of the most distressing issues confronting board members is how to comply with their fiduciary duty to shareholders and unit owners. Although misconceptions abound as to the precise nature and scope of this obligation, a breach of the fiduciary duty could result in grave consequences for both the offending board member and the community which he or she represents. Perhaps the most widespread misconception is that fiduciary duty is related to the degree of competence or zeal with which board members perform their management responsibilities. For example, I have often heard it said that, The board has a fiduciary duty to operate on budget, or, As a board member, he has a fiduciary duty to regularly attend meetings. In fact, the fiduciary responsibility has nothing to do with board members' skill or fervor. Basically, a breach of the fiduciary duty to shareholders and unit owners occurs whenever a board member's abuse of such power results in harm to one or more of his constituents. 


Defining Fiduciary Duty

The essence of the fiduciary relationship is best described in a 1972 court decision which held that a franchisor owes a fiduciary duty to a franchisee:

...a fiduciary relationship is one founded on trust or confidence reposed by one person in the integrity and fidelity of another...the rule embraces both technical fiduciary relations (i.e. trustees, executors) and those informal relations which exist whenever one man trusts in and relies upon another...A fiduciary relation exists when confidence is reposed on one side and there is resulting superiority and influence on the other...

Thus, the placement of one's trust, confidence and responsibility in another person or persons is the hallmark of a fiduciary relationship. The investiture of such trust, confidence and responsibility in the fiduciary bestows upon him or her a position of influence and superiority over the person(s) with whom he deals. As such, he is charged with an extraordinary degree of moral accountability to these people. The scope of this moral accountability is most dramatically described by Judge Cardozo in the classic case of Meinhard v. Salmon:

A trustee (i.e. fiduciary) is held to something stricter than the morals of the marketplace. Not honesty alone but the punctilio of an honor the most sensitive is then the standard of behavior...

Consequences of a Breach of Duty

The consequences of a finding of breach of fiduciary duty can be severe. First, the offending board member will be held personally liable in money damages for all pecuniary losses sustained as a result of his misconduct. Such judgments (and the attendant legal fees) are rarely, if ever, covered by directors and officer's liability insurance. In addition, courts are not shy about assessing punitive damages against those board members who breach this most exacting of moral obligations. Finally, the Business Judgment Rule does not inoculate board action from judicial review when there has been a finding of breach of fiduciary duty. Thus, board action which may in fact be highly beneficial to the community is vulnerable to being struck down by a court when it is implemented in such a fashion that it breaches the fiduciary duty. These adverse consequences can readily be avoided with advance knowledge of the nature and scope of the fiduciary obligation and forethought by board members as to the implications of their conduct.

Read More: http://cooperator.com/

MIAMI IS THE FIFTH LEAST AFFORDABLE COUNTY FOR RENTERS

Start to feel nervous around the first of the month when the landlord comes to collect the rent check? You're probably far from alone in Miami-Dade. It's no secret that rents have started to skyrocket recently — they weren't exactly cheap before — but things have gotten so bad that Miami-Dade is now the fifth least affordable county for renters in the entire country. That basically means that rents are priced insanely high compared to how much Miamians are actually taking home in their paychecks. 

It turns out that in Miami the average family spends 45 percent of their yearly income on rent. The old adage is that people should spend no more than a third of their income on housing and utilities.

Read More: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/

EXCLUSIVE: Miami Beach Sand Restoration from a Drone

To view video click here: http://ipavilionCondo.com

EXCLUSIVE: View from a Drone

Taken on April 7, 2015

BOARD MEMBER APATHY

By Eric Glazer, Esq.

   

It seems like no matter how early, or on what day of the week we hold our Board Certification seminars for both condominium and HOA members, the classes are packed to the rafters.  There’s often times complaints about communities going to hell because of unit owner apathy.  When you see a room full of hundreds of owners at 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday attending an educational course, you realize that while there certainly are people out there who would never participate in the affairs of their community, there are countless others who do care and who care about becoming educated and striving to be the best board member they can be.  For me, it is truly inspirational every time I address a crowded audience.  What an honor!

And then there’s the flip side.  For those of you that have attended my seminar, you know how angry I am that the law still allows Board members to get certified by signing what I call a silly self-serving affidavit that certifies :

in writing to the secretary of the association that he or she has read the association’s declaration of condominium, articles of incorporation, bylaws, and current written policies; that he or she will work to uphold such documents and policies to the best of his or her ability; and that he or she will faithfully discharge his or her fiduciary responsibility to the association’s members.

The same ridiculous affidavit can be signed by condo board members and HOA Board members.  Simply by signing this affidavit, the person is certified to the same extent as anyone else who bothered to attend a class.

  

The affidavit does not even require a director to acknowledge that they read or even know that Florida Statutes 718 or 720 exist. Moreover, many of you have illegal provisions in your governing documents (for example – no children allowed even though you’re not a 55 and over community).  Yet, this affidavit requires the director “to uphold such documents and policies to the best of his or her ability.” You’re actually swearing to uphold illegal provisions.

  

Some of you are disappointed that The Florida Legislature won’t allow the DBPR to assist homeowner associations in our state. You’re upset that there’s little to no protection against fraud or theft in your community.  You’re upset that even when fraud or theft is found, nothing is done about it.  Unfortunately, to correct much of these problems would require legislative change which is somewhat out of your hands.

   

There is one way to help yourselves.  There is one option that lies exclusively in your hands and one way to immediately bring change to your community.  This same law allows owners to get certified within one year before getting on the Board of Directors.  If someone cares about your community and is serious about doing a good job, they should only get your vote only if they have already become certified by participating in an approved class.  Countless people have taken the course I teach before getting on the Board, because they care enough to learn something before taking over the awesome responsibility of running your community.  On the contrary, shame on any director who is too lazy to learn something for a few hours while sipping coffee and eating breakfast or who won’t attend a class because they think they already know everything, having  been on the board for decades.  How about…….No vote for you if you’re not interested enough to take a class and learn something?

Read More: http://www.hoa-condoblog.com/

It's the law: All meetings must be held in the Sunshine

Meetings of the board at which a quorum of the directors is present and discussing association business constitutes a board meeting and must be open to all owners. There is no getting around this; if there are enough directors sitting by the pool discussing association business to constitute a quorum, it is a de facto board meeting that should have been properly noticed in advance so owners could join in or listen to the discussion.

There is no exception for "executive sessions", brief chats or emails that substitute for a discussion that should more properly take place during a board meeting that is open to the members. Asking your association counsel to sit in on a board meeting does not, in and of itself, make it a closed meeting. Your counsel must be present to discuss proposed or pending litigation to warrant closing the meeting to the owners and even then the closed meeting must still be properly noticed to the members as a closed discussion with counsel regarding litigation issues.

Florida law requires associations to post notice of all regular board meetings at least 48 continuous hours preceding the meeting except in an emergency.

Check out Florida Statutes 718.112.5 (c)