On April 30th the City of Hollywood Florida commenced the long awaited Hollywood Boulevard Improvement Project. The project will take nearly a year to complete and it’s main objective is to construct a median that will prevent direct crossing from north to south along the Hollywood Boulevard which has caused numerous accidents over the years. The landscaped median will be 19 feet wide and will span from the Intracoastal Bridge (recently renovated as well) to Downtown Hollywood, the project will also focus on improved drainage.  The Hollywood Lakes community will definitely benefit from the project which in addition to preventing direct crossing along Hollywood Blvd. will also add to the neighborhoods aesthetic appeal.

I went down to Hollywood Blvd. to capture the work in progress!

Read more about Hollywood and Hollywood Lakes!

Check out this month’s issue of the Aventura Magazine. I and other experts weigh in on the South Florida Real Estate Market including the local markets of  Golden Beach, Golden Isles, Aventura, Hollywood Florida and the surrounding areas.

Read the Article

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This Sunday March 8th Hollywood Lakes will be holding their 8th annual Historical home tour.  The tour will feature a guided walk tour of six architecturally unique houses walking distance from one another and will feature antique cars and period music to set the scene at each home.  The event is from 1:00pm to 4:00pm starting at 1701 Monroe Street.

For tickets and information visit Hollywood Lakes Historical Society 8th Annual Home Tour

Since the beginning of this year there have been 9 closed sales with 3 being over $500,000 in the Hollywood Lakes, Hollywood Florida Area.  The statistics for the 3 closed sales over $500,000 are below.  This time last year there were only 3 closed sales all under $500,000, volume of sales are up.

My listing 915 N. Southlake Drive closed last Friday for $2,461,000 the listing price was $2,750,000.

915 N. Southlake Drive:  5 Bedrooms, 6.5 Baths, 100′ on the water & approx. over 5,700 sq.ft.

940 N. Northlake Drive: 5 Bedrooms, 4 Baths, Waterfront & approx. over 4,000 sq.ft. SOLD FOR $1,324,000 on 2/5/2009

1109 Hollywood Blvd. : 4 Bedrooms, 3 Baths, approx. over 2,300 sq.ft. SOLD FOR: $550,000 on 2/2/2009

View all the active listings in Hollywood Lakes in Hollywood Florida

The regulation (Fla. Stat. §718.111 (2008)), effective January 1, 2009, will require Florida condominium owners and their insurers to specifically name their condominium association as an additional named insured. In addition, the minimum amount of loss assessment coverage carriers must provide has been increased from $1,000 to $2,000.

Some of the major implications on South Florida condominium ownership include:

• Condominium associations may require each unit owner to provide evidence of a hazard and liability insurance.
• Effective January 1, 2009, unit owner policies must include loss assessment coverage of at least $2,000 per occurrence.
• Effective January 1, 2009, condominium associations must be listed as a loss payee (additional interest) on all unit owner policies issued. The actual wording includes reference to additional named insured and this wording is up for review in the next legislative session.

Questions About these Changes in the Insurance Regulations?

If you currently own a condo in Aventura, Hallandale, Hollywood, Golden Beach or any other community in South Florida, these changes will impact you. If you have questions about these changes you may leave a question/comment here or email us at JHolz@atlassinsurance.com or scott@scottpatterson.com.

Guest post written by Janise Holz

Janise L. Holz
Atlass Insurance Group
1300 SE 17th Street
Suite 220
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33316
Direct: (954)653-2834
Fax: (954)525-0588
Email: JHolz@atlassinsurance.com
Web: www.atlassinsurance.com

Hollywood Lakes largest estate was built in 2001 and is located on Northlake at 900 S. Northlake Drive.  The lot is over 1 Acre, around 48,000 sq.ft. making it one of the largest lots on either lake and the home is approximately 15,000 sq.ft. with 9 Bedrooms, 9 Baths, 4 half baths and a separate 1,800 sq.ft. guest house.  The corner lot offers open water views along the 450ft. of seawall.

The home is currently listed for $14,900,000.00

Southlake & Northlake

Hollywood Lakes is a waterfront community centrally located minutes to Hollywood Beach Florida, Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale Airport and many local attractions.

Scott Patterson

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In today’s competitive Hollywood, Florida real estate market, home sellers deserve the absolute best in terms of property visibility. You really do deserve the most sophisticated marketing plan for your South Florida property. And sophisticated South Florida buyers are targeting Golden Beach, Hallandale, Aventura and Hollywood luxury neighborhoods with pinpoint accuracy. How is this possible?

National Websites & Smart Phone Tools for South Florida Home Buyers

While it’s important for a South Florida real estate agent to provide typical neighborhood information like area maps, easy to use South Florida MLS property search tool, offer neighborhood information and hyper-local market stats on their personal websites, tech-savvy buyers are using even more creative resources to access South Florida neighborhood listings. In addition to my personal South Florida real estate website at BuySouthFlorida.com, a few of the creative ways I make sure your listing is exposed to the masses includes the use of high-traffic national websites, smart phone applications and of course, this South Florida real estate blog.

Creative Hollywood, Hallandale, Aventura, and Golden Beach Property Marketing Strategies

Below are a few strategies and tools used to market your Hollywood, Aventura, Golden Isles or Golden Beach property.

What Do You Expect?

What other creative marketing tools and strategies would you expect to see take place if you were to place your South Florida home on the market?

Hallandale Square Project

600 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd.

The City of Hallandale recently approved plans for a five-story 380,000-square-foot retail project located at the southeast corner of Hallandale Beach Boulevard and Federal Highway (US 1).  Hallandale Square will include approx. 320,000 square feet of retail, 28,000 square feet of restaurants, a 749 seat movie theater and open atrium.  Developers estimate construction to begin late spring.  The pedestrian friendly project will focus on environmentally friendly materials and design.

Whole Foods Market Coming to Hallandale Beach Florida

Whole Foods Market will be coming soon to Hallandale Beach Florida  just around the corner from the waterfront community of “Golden Isles”.  Whole Foods will be one of the anchor tenants along with Cobb Theaters for the Hallandale Square Project which is located just north of the $1billion mixed-use project , Village at Gulfstream Park.  Currently there is an old shopping center where Tony Romas and The Knife restaurant are located along with other offices and retail.

Hallandale, Hollywood, Aventura and Golden Beach Seeing Fast Growth

Hallandale Beach Florida is changing fast and is yet another reason why I think the cities of Hallandale, Aventura, Golden Beach and Hollywood Florida along with sub-communities of Harbor Islands, Hollywood Lakes, Golden Isles, Presidential Estates, Aventura Lakes and Porto-Vita will be some of the key areas for growth and appreciation since they benefit from being “in the center of both market’s of Miami and Fort Lauderdale”.

You may access the City of Hallandale’s Current Development Activity List to find out about the major construction going on in the City.

Developers for Hallandale Square Project: Laura and Irwin Tauber principals of Taubco
Architect for Hallandale Square Project: Behar Font & Partners

Scott Patterson
Aventura Real Estate
Hollywood Florida Real Estate
Golden Beach Real Estate
Golden Isles Real Estate

Avoid the Crowds – Come to Hollywood Beach!

Offering visitors and residents alike many advantages including easy access to Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Hollywood Beach is located minutes from Aventura, Golden Beach, Sunny Isles, Golden Isles and Hollywood Lakes. In South Florida we all know its all about the beaches and Hollywood Beach Florida offers some of the finest beaches like its sister South Florida cities. Want to avoid the peak season crowds? You must come to Hollywood Beach. Offering something for every budget, visitors to Hollywood Beach can access accommodations from the luxurious to the affordable.

The Hollywood Boardwalk

Measuring two miles in length, the Hollywood Boardwalk was built in 1923. Beckoning to days of old, this landmark thirty-foot wide pedestrian promenade is home to a vibrant blend of beach activities, cultural events, awe-inspiring views and of course – a terrific beach! Named one of America’s top notch nostalgic venues by USA Today, the Hollywood Boardwalk is an auto-free zone. Expect to find an active crowd enjoying a bike ride, along with runners, walkers and rollerbladers. Blending in perfectly in this nostalgic setting are fanciful boutique hotels, interesting shops, and great Oceanside eats.

Supply & Demand Hollywood Florida

In order to assist both Buyers and Sellers in better understanding the South Florida real estate market and precisely Hollywood East including “Hollywood Lakes” I have provided a “Supply and Demand” graph of the past 5 years. The peak of the market was April 2005 when there was hardly any inventory and tons of sales creating what is called a “Sellers Market”, we had approximately as little as 2 months supply of single family homes in both Broward and Miami-Dade Counties.

Condo v.s. Single Family Homes

If we were to graph different areas throughout South Florida they would all look very similar to this graph with the exception of the “Condo Market” which is dramatically different. Although often grouped together the “Condo Market” and the “Single Family Home” market are “Apples and Oranges”. The “Single Family Home” “Waterfront Market” is in much better shape than any other sector of the real estate market. Sellers were in the drivers seat for a very long time but today the Buyers have much of the control due to the abundance of inventory and especially International Buyers that are also taking advantage of the weak dollar.

What Is A Healthy Real Estate Market?

Many of the single family home markets have anywhere from 20 to 50 months supply of inventory and some of the condo markets have up to 90 months supply, depending on the location, price range and even the development. To give you an idea of what is a “Healthy Market”, we need no more than 6 to 12 months supply, below 6 months supply is a “Sellers Market” and above 12 months supply is a “Buyers Market”.

International Influence

I could talk about supply & demand and the whole real estate market forever but let’s all be thankful we are selling and/or owning properties in South Florida (Hollywood, Golden Isles, Aventura and Golden Beach) where we have one of the largest concentration & influence of international Buyers in the US. The Aventura Mall is now one of the top grossing malls in the country mainly due to “International” shoppers. My sales so far this year are up 22% over last year, I contribute this directly to South Florida being the place the world wants to be.