Ramesh Nyberg's Real Estate Blog

I always contend that Palmetto Bay is the place to be. Probably because I live here. The November sales statistics show that Palmetto Bay was the only one of the trio that I track whose sales went up. While pending sales and closings dipped sharply for Pinecrest and for Miami-Dade overall, the Village of Parks (maybe that's why we are so positive here!) went from 12 sales in September, to 20 in October, and notched 25 sales in November. Nice! Maybe its the abundance of peacocks and other wildlife, too.

During my morning exercise walk the other day, I walked through a crowd of at least 15 peacocks, all jumbled up alongside the road at 77th avenue and about 181st street. Then, I went along the lagoon at the Palmetto Bay Village Center building and saw a crocodile sitting in the water. He is apparently a permanent resident, as I saw him this past Thursday, too.

The rest of the stats looked pleasantly predictable: the inventory of unsold homes in Miami-Dade continued to drop (hooray!) -- that's 14 consecutive months of decline --and we were at 8599 unsold homes for November. The drop in sales was expected, as shopping, travel, and other holiday matters take center stage.

Two big additions to the sales data page are coming! Because of sales activity and customer requests, I will add the Village of Cutler Bay, and I will spotlight Coral Gables and Coconut Grove as well. Cutler Bay is being added because that is where the majority of my 2008 sales were. The Grove is being added because a customer suggested it, and I think its an excellent place to spotlight because of its unique nature, and appeal to both investors and residents alike. This addition will actually take in all of the area that Coconut Grove sits, and in this blog we will narrow down the conversation to just Grove properties.
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Well, my tree is up--it went up just a few days after Thanksgiving, but I cheated: it's artificial. I had real trees for years, and after a while, I just couldn't equate paying $70 bucks for a real tree, dress and undress it, and then throw it away in January. So three years ago we got a tree that looks very real, with the lights already on it. Yes, I know, that pine smell is wonderful, and I DO actually miss trips to the tree lot, walking around in a "forest" and inhaling that scent. Maybe I'll just go visit one this year.

I am more and more impressed with the integration of "smart" technology in automobiles, TVs, and well, everything. I just got the new AT&T U-Verse, and I have to say it's remarkable. The ability to record and watch from different rooms, the multi-view screens, the online news, stock, and sports information you can bring up on a sidebar...all very cool. Cars are getting smarter too. The OnStar service on our Saturn sends me an email once a month detailing what mechanically need/doesn't need attention.
The new Lexus, and I think, other vehicles now, have an automatic parallel parking module. You press a button, take your hands off the wheel, and the car parks itself. The new Ford Taurus has a cruise control function that automatically senses the car in front of you and adjusts your speed to keep a safe distance. 

There are "smart" homes now, too. High-tech appliances that need repair  automatically download repair patch files, and fix themselves. There are refrigerators that scan the bar codes on every item you put inside and take out, and at the end of the week or month, calculates what you need to replace, prepares a shopping list, and emails it to the grocery store. (I don't have such a grocery store, either) I haven't sold one of those homes as yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Then you go there and pick up your pre-purchased groceries. My father-in-law wouldn't care for this. He likes his trips to Publix as much as I like going to the stadium for my Dolphin game.
My son was showing me how the PS3 not only plays DVDs, but it can access your home network, and display shared photos, files, and movies. He and his buddy went online on the PS3 and actually downloaded game demos. You can play live against people from all over the world, too.

Speaking of smart, U.S. News and World Report just published their analysis of the nation's school systems, including the country's 100 "Gold Medal" schools. South Florida had five schools on the top 100 list: Design and Architecture High School in Miami ranked number 15; The Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of Arts (West Palm Beach) came in at number 57; Key Biscayne's Maritime and Science Tech High School ranked number 66; the New World School of the Arts in Miami was number 82, and Coral Reef Senior High (south Miami-Dade County) was number 95. Congratulations to those great schools, teachers, parents, and students!
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I want to thank all of you for reading this blog this year. I hope you will continue, and I hope you'll share it with your friends and family. Remember, I would love to hear your feedback on the blog content, the sales charts, anything you care to comment on.
I hope you have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, or whatever else you celebrate, as well as a great New Year. 2010 is full of promise!

I met six really nice people last Sunday evening, but I kind of wish I had not.
We all met--literally--at the intersection of SW 136 St and Old Cutler Road, when the lady in front of me decided to take a left turn directly in front of an oncoming car. That car swerved, hit her, then hit me head on. I never really saw him coming, and I was only vaguely aware that she was turning off Old Cutler. And so that dark evening, just seconds after we showed my daughter the moon through the moonroof, headlights suddenly appeared directly in front of me.

There was no time to get out an "omigod". The collision was hellacious. There was that brief moment after the crash that I sat there, my head spinning, smelling the charge from the airbags, and hearing the hiss of fluids from the engine, wondering if this was the afterlife.
Amazingly, my wife and daughter and I were uninjured (unless you count my sore shoulder from the seatbelt and scrapes from the airbag). Even more amazing that none of the other people in the  other vehicles were hurt either.

I guess if you have to crash, do so right in your real estate farm area.

Every Thanksgiving from here on in there will be some reflection on that crash, not just because we survived it, but because Thanksgiving was truly horrific for another family.
Lisa Knight Mehrige, one of our Realtors, was murdered along with her twin sister and two other family members on Thanksgiving night, at a family gathering. Their brother was the killer, and as I write this is still at large.
Lisa was one of the nicest, sweetest people you'd ever want to work with, and her death has shaken our office deeply. She worked along with her mother, Carole.
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Business has been typically slow as most everyone turns their attention to the holidays.

More details to come after this weekend.