MIAMI REAL ESTATE NEWS

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Miami Real Estate Articles:

Dania shop specializes in treasures from the sea The official name of this store is Alex's Flamingo Groves and Gift Shop, but some regulars simply refer to it as the shell shop. Indeed, it is a shop with lots of shells. Bins and bins highlight the twisty, speckled, smooth, prickly and rippled assortment of treasures from the sea. Teeny apple blossom shells are pink and white. Lion's paws are fan shaped. A Japanese slit looks like a generous dollop of whipped cream. More than 700 varieties are in stock, and most come from the Philippines, according...

Sometimes, only the best gadget will do I am more thrifty these days. I buy bulk coffee beans instead of the Starbucks ground coffee I once used. I've cut back on restaurant meals. And I wash and iron some clothes that once were sent to the dry cleaners.

Casual coastal chic: Comfortable furniture designed for smaller places coming soon Three furniture makers soon will launch lines of coastal cottage-style furniture -- all designed to mimic the easygoing feel of a beach retreat.

This Month In Your Garden Ask Georgia a gardening question

Living Green Your guide to an environmentally friendly home and garden

Interactive Garden Calendar A year-round guide to gardening in South Florida

Dim bulbs cast pall on green efforts Does this sound like you? You are doing The Right Thing. You are thinking globally and acting locally. You eat what's in season, and you buy it at the farmers market. You opt for paper at the grocery store; you recycle the bags. You compost. Maybe you even drive a hybrid.

Dania shop specializes in treasures from the sea The official name of this store is Alex's Flamingo Groves and Gift Shop, but some regulars simply refer to it as the shell shop. Indeed, it is a shop with lots of shells. Bins and bins highlight the twisty, speckled, smooth, prickly and rippled assortment of treasures from the sea. Teeny apple blossom shells are pink and white. Lion's paws are fan shaped. A Japanese slit looks like a generous dollop of whipped cream. More than 700 varieties are in stock, and most come from the Philippines, according...

How about a mortgage at a 2.99% fixed rate? What will it take to get consumers off the sidelines to buy more houses and help stimulate the economy? How about a mortgage at a 2.99 percent fixed rate for 30 years for anyone who purchases a home before next July 1? Or how about a non-repayable federal tax credit of 10 percent of the home price up to $22,000?

Roof assessment wasn't used up so why wasn't excess returned? Q: I own a condominium with garden-style buildings. The board decided we needed to replace the roof on one of the buildings and created a special assessment of $40,000. Instead of replacing the roof they ended up only doing a patch job for much less, less than $3,000. I was outraged that we would have to pay for such a large assessment when not needed. I think the overage of the assessment should be returned to the owners. The president says they will keep the funds in an account. I do not trust...

A second look at vampire power My recent column on vampire energy -- also known as standby power -- generated well-deserved heat. Standby power is the energy wasted when electronic products are turned off, but plugged into an outlet.

There are ways to cut costs on pricey pet food Q: One of my dogs eats a special prescription diet because of his allergies. My cat is on another because of her failing kidneys. And they're really expensive! I don't know if I can continue to afford this. Do you have any suggestions?

Scarlet vine boldly climbs to the top Name: Red jade-vine; mucuna vine Botanical name: Mucuna bennetti (syn: Mucuna novoguineensis ) Description: There aren't many vines that can compare with this scarlet beauty for sheer voluptuous shape and searing color. A vine in the bean family, this New Guinea native can be just as aggressive as the jade vine, Strongylodon macrobotrys, whose flower shapes these resemble. The hanging bunches of flowers, called racemes, are not as long as those on the jade, but that hardly matters. They will hang...

Time to take out twice-fallen tree Q: We have a 25-foot avocado tree in our backyard. It has fallen over twice during the hurricanes of the last four years (both directions). We have had it supported with wood ever since. We had a great crop of avocados this year and the tree is very healthy.

Renovated home within a disabled vet's reach Clues that this is one extremely wheelchair-accessible house are built into nearly every inch of the 1,040-square-foot rancher in the Poconos.

Actor Ving Rhames lists Brentwood home My all-time favorite award-show moment came in 1998 when best-actor winner Ving Rhames gave his Golden Globe to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon, saying: ''I feel that being an artist is about giving, and I'd like to give this to you.'' There was nary a dry eye in the house, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association later made a duplicate award for Rhames.

Kelsey Grammer trying to quick-flip houses Actor Kelsey Grammer is trying to sell two Los Angeles houses he bought last year. Grammer, 53, of Cheers and Frasier, is asking $4.35 million for his estate in Bel-Air. He bought the 7,600-square-foot house, which was built in 1999, for $4.05 million.

Time to take out twice-fallen tree Q: We have a 25-foot avocado tree in our backyard. It has fallen over twice during the hurricanes of the last four years (both directions). We have had it supported with wood ever since. We had a great crop of avocados this year and the tree is very healthy.

Scarlet vine boldly climbs to the top Name: Red jade-vine; mucuna vine Botanical name: Mucuna bennetti (syn: Mucuna novoguineensis ) Description: There aren't many vines that can compare with this scarlet beauty for sheer voluptuous shape and searing color. A vine in the bean family, this New Guinea native can be just as aggressive as the jade vine, Strongylodon macrobotrys, whose flower shapes these resemble. The hanging bunches of flowers, called racemes, are not as long as those on the jade, but that hardly matters. They will hang...

Hot pots: Pottery maker in the spotlight Guy Wolff hung his shingle in 1971, in a little barn in Bantam, Conn. (Local lore has it that it once belonged to actress Mary Pickford.) Since then -- and even before -- he has been a potter deeply devoted to and inspired by centuries-old design -- Italian, French, and notably, English flowerpots from the 18th and 19th centuries. His pots are handmade, wheel-thrown and distinctly antique-looking. Far from baroque, they are elegantly rustic. In that studio, Wolff happily created pottery for locals...

General Real Estate Articles:

U.S. tries new tack on housing The Bush administration said Wednesday that it was changing its nearly-moribund mortgage rescue plan in an effort to spark more lenders and homeowners to participate.

Mortgage rescue or rip off? If mortgage lending was the Wild West during the boom years, foreclosure-prevention counseling is the lucrative new frontier of the bust.

Builders' confidence sinks Homebuilders' confidence in the housing market again plunged to a record low, dragged down by poor financial market conditions, rising unemployment and consumer anxiety, a trade group said Tuesday.

Home prices in record 9% decline National home prices, driven lower by a flood of foreclosures, plummeted by a record year-over-year 9% in the third quarter, according to a report issued Tuesday.

FDIC's Bair pushes mortgage plan In a surprise move, FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair Friday unveiled details of her plan to have the government help delinquent homeowners.

Latest home prices - first quarter Single-family home prices dropped 7.7% in the first quarter in the largest year-over-year decline since the National Association of Realtors began reporting prices in 1982.

Where home prices are headed next The housing implosion is nowhere near over. In 75 of the 100 top U.S. cities, prices are expected to fall in the next 12 months according to Fiserv Lending Solutions.

Fannie-Freddie plan: Not for all Mortgage giants Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac may back 30 million mortgages. But that doesn't mean that the new foreclosure prevention program announced this week by the Bush administration will rescue every troubled borrower on their books.

Mortgage rates down for 2nd week Mortgage rates fell for the second week in a row, finance firm Freddie Mac said Thursday, as the weakening economy resulted in the slowest pace of home purchase applications in nearly eight years.

Best housing 'bailout' may be no bailout Several mortgage-rescue plans are making the rounds in Washington, but economists say the best approach may be to sit tight.

85,000 homes lost in October As government and industry scrambled to stem the housing crisis, another 84,868 homes were lost to foreclosure in October, according to a report released Thursday.

U.S. mortgage plan falls short The federal government's plan to streamline modifications of troubled loans held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won't help the majority of people threatened with foreclosure, experts said.

U.S. unveils mortgage plan The Bush administration on Tuesday unveiled a new program to modify mortgages and stabilize the battered real estate market, but the plan stops short of providing direct government financial help to at-risk homeowners.

Citi to modify $20 billion in home loans Citigroup says it will expand its foreclosure prevention efforts and try to keep 130,000 troubled borrowers with $20 billion in mortgages in their homes.

House hearing spotlights mortgage rescue plans Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, highlighted the need for a bailout program for troubled homeowners on Wednesday. But he stressed that not all borrowers should necessarily be rescued.

Job losses fueling foreclosures For years, bad loans and their aftershocks have been sending homeowners into foreclosure. Now its lost jobs that are putting troubled borrowers over the edge.

September pending home sales fall Homebuyers pulled back some more in September amid turmoil in the financial markets.

Forecast 2009: Your home Forget the old saw that all real estate is local. What's pummeling housing prices in your nabe is the same thing that's hurting them around the country: the credit crisis.

Mortgage rates fall Mortgage rates fell this week amid a pullback in consumer spending and a weaker job market.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS BEFORE YOU BUY CONDOS

Chapter 718 Florida Statute - establishes procedures for creating, selling and operating condominiums. The law requires that the developer give a disclosure statement to the buyer stating that the buyer may cancel the contract within 15 calendar days of signing the contract or of receipt by the buyer of the condominium documents, whichever is later. A purchaser of an existing (resale) condominium unit has the right to cancel the contract within 3 business days after the date of the execution of the contract and receipt by the buyer of the condo documents.