20 April 2014

Happy Easter!

Photo: "Bunner" at Easter, ©tckaiser
Photo ©tckaiser



18 April 2014

Market Report for Southeast Florida, First Quarter 2014

The first quarter of 2014 repeated some trends that I have observed at least since 2009, most obvious being the falling inventory.

This year, all three counties started 2014 quite a bit higher than year's end, but over the course of three months fell back to December levels quickly.

Median relative inventory now stands at 6.3 months (means: if no new house comes on the market, everything is sold in 6.3 months). That is due to rising number of sales, outpacing the rising number of homes on the market.

In all three counties, asking prices per 31 March exceeded asking prices per year-end, and except for Miami-Dade, the same goes for selling prices (absolute and per sf).

However, the time homes spent on the market (beginning of the listing until a contract is signed, the so-called “Days-on-Market”) increased in all three counties, most noticeably in Palm Beach county.

Interesting also: the very same goes for the Seller-Buyer-Disconnect, the gap between what sellers want and what buyers are willing to give (= pay). As it has been since I analyse monthly, the disconnect number again is largest in Palm Beach county, with 161 percent.


South Florida single family home market, last three years: Inventory, Median asking prices and Median selling prices, Apr 2010 - Mar 2014.

As all projections – especially mine – are notoriously off, I will not lean out of the window except to say that the second quarter will be a very active one, as it traditionally is:

June is busiest home selling month in South Florida. With rising sales and stagnant inventory, that should lead to further price increases.

We’ll see.

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“All is Lost”

Did you watch Robert Redford’s latest movie, “All is Lost”?

My wife and I did on Tuesday, together with a sailing friend. I just have to vent.

Even as a non-sailor and non-boater, as someone who can barely differentiate a boom from a mast, all three of us were incredibly ticked off by the countless flaws and harrowing boating mistakes – obviously dramaturgically necessary to propel the story forward, else the plot would have sunk much faster than the poor boat in the film did.

She only had a nasty gash in the hull, but the film’s story had holes you could drive the Exxon Valdez through. What an insult to our intelligence.

Seems though that – outside the sailing community perhaps – everyone else, including my fav reviewer Joe Morgenstern from the WSJ, loved the movie.

I don’t get it. But at least now I feel better.

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Coming up

A new series, following the ground-up construction of a 4,000+ sf modern house


04 April 2014

Chance Encounters with Modern Architecture: Red Reef pavilion, Boca Raton, FL

"Chance Encounters with Modern Architecture" is a series of unexpected finds of modern architecture – or perhaps art – which caught my eye. It's about sharing delicious little morsels that pop up while on your merry way to get a snack or stock up at, say, Seaboard Wines.


Today: Red Reef park pavilion, Boca Raton, FL


On the west side of the Red Reef golf club – actually behind the west parking lot – I discovered this neatly designed pavilion (?) gazebo (?) right on the Intracoastal Waterway.

A single massive steel column supports the roof structure made of T-beams and tubes, which carries sheathing looking like corrugated pvc.





Note the two roof parts facing east, while the west-facing roof is "fractured", probably to ease the wind load. Neat, no?

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photos ©tckaiser




01 April 2014

4 FL Supermarkets to offer rebates for "modern healthy eating"

In an inspired move to make the connection (any connection?) between modern life and healthy lifestyle - aka regular exercise and healthy eating – the non-profit South Florida Society for the Promotion of Modernist Architecture (SFSPMA) has teamed up with four supermarket chains to offer food discounts to its members.

Fresh Market, Whole Foods, Winn Dixie and the new Florida-entry Trader Joe's are onboard a deal offering SFPPMA members a 13 percent discount on storewide purchases.


Seal the deal: Trader Joe's Joe Saussenheimer, SMFAPPF's Bettyann Hepplethorpewithe, Whole Food's Santiago Manchego, Winn Dixie's Christina Carbonara and Fresh Market's junior CEO Jim-Bob Fresh (counterclockwise from left).


The trial phase will run from today through May 31st. After that, results will be tallied, and managers from the four chains as well as from SPSFAM will decide if to continue the cooperation on a permanent basis.

Noticeably absent from the discount offer are Publix Supermarkets, which lately has been under flak from consumers for their non-organic high price-policy aiming at their organic-food competitors Fresh Market and Whole Foods.


SMASPSF's trial voucher; see below for link to printable version

SFMASPF offers a limited amount of vouchers on a first-come-first-serve basis to non-members, supposedly to generate interest in the Society's work. To print a trial discount voucher, click here.

Please let me know if the voucher worked for you, and I will post the success rate during the trial run.