Friday, August 22, 2014
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Downtown Miami Condo Prices Soar 75% -
By Jennifer LeClaire | Miami
Prices for resale condo units in Downtown Miami from the last boom have increased 75% over the past two years.
MIAMI—Would you believe Downtown Miami condo prices are nearing pre-recession levels? It’s true, according to a new study from the Miami Downtown Development Authority (DDA).
Prices for resale condo units in Downtown Miami from the last boom have increased 75% over the past two years, rising from an average of $230 per square foot to $400 per square foot. The DDA credits most of appreciation to value recovery stemming from market stabilization and the launch of new projects since 2011.
“Downtown Miami has long been viewed as a business hub, but we are quickly gaining a reputation for our lifestyle offerings, everything from the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and Pérez Art Museum Miami, to a growing number of high-end hotels and restaurants and the addition of luxury retail,” says Alyce Robertson, executive director of the Miami DDA. “Overseas buyers eyeing U.S. real estate are finding that downtown Miami has all the amenities of a major cosmopolitan city, along with competitive pricing and easy access to Latin America and Europe.”
All told, there were 8,700 condo units for sale or under development through June 2014. Most of this inventory is expected to deliver through 2017, which would indicate the market is in the early stages of mid-cycle development. Second quarter 2014 pre-construction pricing ranges from $550 to $675 per square foot for current unsold inventory.
“Strong buyer demand, appreciating prices, and growing appeal among renters continue to fuel the downtown Miami condo market,” says Anthony M. Graziano, senior managing director for Integra Realty Resources in Miami, whose firm conducted the study. “While we expect price increases to slow with time, downtown is well positioned to absorb the new condo inventory currently under development should present-day buyer trends hold.”
Downtown Miami Condo Prices Soar 75% - Daily News Article - GlobeSt.com
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Credit Unions Preparing for Rising Rates: Onsite Coverage
By Nicholas Ballasy July 22, 2014
LAS VEGAS – Credit union executives said Tuesday their institutions are making changes in preparation for a potential interest rate increase.
“We’re trying to stay shorter and shorter. Interest rates have nowhere to go but up so we’re holding everything pretty short so that when the rates do change, we can get into the longer term loans with better rates to match where they’re headed,” said Richard Smith, chairman of the board at the $376 million ProFed Credit Union in Fort Wayne, Ind., at NAFCU’s annual conference.
ProFed has also been selling off long term mortgage loans as another way to prepare for rising interest rates, he said.
“We’re selling those off and Freddie Mac is buying a lot of those. They are paying about 102% on those upfront so we’re staying short that way,” he said. “We’re still helping the members out when they come in wanting a mortgage, 15 or 30 years. We’re still doing the servicing so they feel like it’s still with us but at the same time we’ve gotten it off the books.”
CU Times asked Smith if his credit union decided to sell off long-term assets due to recommendations from its examiner.
“We started doing that on our own. The lead examiner-
Continued > >>Credit Unions Preparing for Rising Rates: Onsite Coverage
Friday, July 18, 2014
Facebook Calculator Drives Auto Loans for Chicago Credit Union - American Banker Article
Facebook Calculator Drives Auto Loans for Chicago Credit Union
by Mary Wisniewski
JUL 17, 2014 4:20pm ETAs financial institutions struggle to find revenue-generating social media strategies, a Chicago credit union has achieved a surprising level of success from a simple tool: a loan calculator app on its Facebook page. Calcubot, the name of the calculator tool that connects to one running on its website, has helped generate nearly $1 million of auto loans for Alliant Credit Union since its November debut.
The tool, which lets people determine their monthly loan payments and optionally share them with friends and family, drove 478 prospects to Alliant's online auto loan application within the first four months, when the credit union actively promoted the tool on its website's homepage and through posts written on its social media channels. The credit union plans to prominently feature Calcubot again in coming months to grow sales leads.
"We are looking to increase engagement with social media and to drive more traffic to loan applications," says George Balchev, manager of digital channels for Alliant, an $8.1 billion-asset financial institution.
Alliant Credit Union, which has more than 270,000 members, created its Facebook page in 2009 and now counts more than 13,000 page likes.
Calcubot, created by a Berkeley, Calif.- based company called Shastic, estimates loan payments once a person enters in information like the selling price and down payment. It directs those interested to websites where they can apply for a loan.
Research shows the majority of U.S. car buyers use Facebook in their research.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Dayton Firefighters Federal Credit Union
Check out Dayton Firefighters Federal Credit Union Facebook page. Read down their time line and see how you can market products and events at your credit union.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Email Hacked? 7 Things You Need to do NOW – Ask Leo!
Since this seems to be an everyday occurrence, I though I would pass this article on to you. I continually receive questions on how to correct this theft and this is where I refer them. It is probably the most complete solution with easy to follow instructions.
Grant Sheehan
Executive Director NCOFCU
Email Hacked? 7 Things You Need to do NOW
Email account theft is rampant. If it happens to you, there are several steps that you need to take not only to recover your account, but to prevent it from being easily hacked again.
It seems like not a day goes by where I don’t get a question from someone that boils down to their email account having been hacked.
Someone, somewhere has gained access to their account and has started using it to send spam. Sometimes passwords are changed, sometimes not. Sometimes traces are left, sometimes not. Sometimes everything in the account is erased, both contacts and saved email, and sometimes not.
Continued at>>>>Email Hacked? 7 Things You Need to do NOW – Ask Leo!
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Firefighters Wanted!
Grant Sheehan Executive Director
National Coalition of Firefighters Credit Unions Inc.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Miami’s condo euphoria treads a historically familiar trail | Miami Today
If you’ve been around Miami at least a decade you recall the euphoria that’s causing condos to spring up faster than we can count.
“At this rate, we’ll have 12,000 [units] just this year,” architect Willy Bermello told fellow members of the Miami’s Urban Development Review Board two weeks ago as more than 1,300 units in four unrelated towers sought approval.
Mind you, he only tallied what’s about to rise inside the city of Miami, the county’s hottest but not only boom area.
As with all of Miami’s many booms, this one has unique elements, the reasons those caught up in the cycle use to assure anyone worried about a bubble that “this time is different” – which is always true right up to the point that it isn’t.
This time indeed differs from the bust eight years ago: buyers now finance construction, not the banks that did it last time and certainly not developers, who for years have operated on OPM – other people’s money.
So if condo values should ever fall – and it’s a safe bet that they will by some percentage someday – it’s the buyers who’ll be losers, nobody else.
And since most buyers are foreigners who rent out their units, bankers and developers take comfort, telling us that none of us will get hurt if the bubble bursts.
Nobody wants to talk about this, because lots of jobs and income are at stake. Why shake up the market?
Well, nobody wanted to talk about it in the past decade, either. In fact, nobody ever wants to talk about it.
Last decade, the global economic slide left more than 20,000 unsold condos in the county. We all thought they’d linger on the market – but fortunately the current boom soaked them up, leaving a hunger for more.
Developers are more than happy to feed that hunger. They are feeding it quickly. In downtown alone, 49 projects with 16,843 units are listed in preconstruction, though in their frenzy developers may already have begun some of them.
Thankfully, they’re building high-quality buildings. They will fill a need. Condos won’t go begging. The only question is, at what price? How long will it take foreign buyers to regain their full investments in sales or to rent profitably long term?
At the right purchase price, these units are all solid investments. But defining “the right purchase price” is tricky as the frenzy sends the sale price per foot of new units soaring.
Before the last bust $300 per square foot defined a luxury condo. The same units bring more than $600 per foot today. New condos are pricing well above $1,000 per foot – and getting their price.
Continued > Miami’s condo euphoria treads a historically familiar trail | Miami Today