In 2008 I started selling real estate. To be honest the market was horrible and it was very difficult. The market was drowning in product and it struck me that buyers (and sellers) were not getting a clear line of sight to the true market values. Ironically I felt that even if they were getting the right advice there was little explanation on why it was happening and where the neighborhood that they were focused on were going: was it a time to buy or hold? Should I sell or rent? Should I buy building A or building B; and which was a better investment? – it was all so unclear. At least to my relatively untrained eye this is what it felt like.
This started a 10 year love (and hate) affair with me trying to dig down and figure what was going on. I was going to find all the answers – and I am still trying today! I decided I was going to have to write reports better than those I was seeing produced elsewhere. Where were the reports written by the people actually on the ground? The ones written by those down at street level walking the condos and homes every day with the very people the reports were designed for? In essence where were the reports written by the agents themselves? These are the very people who sensed what was going on. I was certainly not going to get the answers I needed from the reports compiled by data analysis groups located outside of Miami-Dade. At the start what I found was the same story – data specific only so far as general neighborhoods. Rows of numbers but no explanation on what or why it was happening and no advice on what told do next. In short nothing actionable and no one to guide. Sycophantic answers a plenty! This is what drove me to write my first report in 2010.
Admittedly my first reports left a lot to be desired. I did not have enough day to day experience to fill in the gaps and I ended up picking the brains of more experienced agents and making some pretty big assumptions based of what I considered fair logic. I got it wrong as much as I got it right but weirdly enough it was well received and widely read. Was it good? Not really… it was sort of terrible if I am honest! but it was still more actionable than anything else out there and it was thus enough to give an edge.
Soon after that I started writing blogs; professional observations and frustrations which evolved into economic observations, Neighborhood and building comparisons along with stories designed to enlighten, educate, protect and even sometimes entertain the very people I was aiming to help – humor is important to engage our readers, especially when you talk numbers as much as we do!
Now, with close to a decade of writing we combine these blogs with our reports to paint a much clearer vision of the real estate landscape. Neighborhood Reports that have evolved with hyper local focus. Annual reports and Forecasts broken down not just by neighborhood but by 5 different price levels. Condo and Home reports as well as luxury specific reports that allow us to focus on the ultra high end market as well as waterfront homes and gated communities as well as luxury new construction condos…. and if that was not enough we have taken it one step further by underpinning all this with video. Lots and lots of videos! If a picture paints a hundred words then video paints a thousand and it takes a lot less time to do so! I like to think that with over 1000 blogs we have as much of a holistic sense of what is going on as a hyper local one. Many of our blogs articles are ‘evergreen’ and as relevant today as they were when we wrote them more than 5 years ago. We are now starting to understand the complete system not just pieces of it.
Today our goal is to bring you unparalleled education on the Miami real estate scene: relocation guides, predictive economic models, probability formulas for neighborhoods, successful marketing strategies and tools for selling better and buying better.
I give thanks that this has only been made possible with the relentless contributions from our incredible territory experts (Pinecrest, Coral Gables, coconut grove, Brickell, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, Aventura, Sunny Isles and Fort Lauderdale) all who are focused on staying ahead of what is going on in the markets. Check them out on our teams page they are all truly stars in their own right.
This is underpinned by an expert logistics and marketing team – a team of media monsters who are constantly pushing the boundaries of reaching clients before they even hit the tarmac at MIA: funnel campaigns, retargeting, geo Specific campaigns, data mining and catchy and interesting video to name a few things.
Yes, Our business is still driven by serving buyers and listing properties for sellers but we do so by keeping one thing in mind: “help the clients make a better decision” and always strive to set a new standard – as one of our videos says ‘Do what they can’t!’
