Adam Levy is a Realtor with The Levy Group at Coldwell Banker in Pinecrest.

Every week, we ask a Miami real estate professional for their thoughts on the top three stories from the week before. This week, we spoke with Adam Levy, a broker-associate with The Levy Group at Coldwell Banker, a five-person, trilingual real estate group with 70-plus years of experience combined. They work in the Coldwell Banker Pinecrest Office and service the areas of South Gables, South Miami, Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay.  

Miami Agent (MA): Recent reports suggest that the time on market dropped nearly 8 percent last year. Are you seeing that properties are selling faster? If so, why or why not?

Adam Levy (AL): Right now the turn-key, well-priced homes are flying off the shelves. It’s now about location, price and condition; These are the three things I always tell the sellers. It’s not all about location, location, location. If the property is not in good condition and is not well-priced, the property is not going to sell. Everybody who’s trying to list a house needs to get it staged and decluttered. They need to look at what has sold, dig down deep, look in the mirror and ask if they’re really pricing their house like the one that just sold. Do the features and the condition stack up? Pricing is key, along with location and condition. There are always houses entering the market place and the market is healthy. But you get a lot of people that see a house sold for $500,000 down the street, and they want to sell it for $520,000 because they hear the market is going up. Then, it turns out their house is in a worse location and/or condition, and they want to just bump it up.

MA: We recently wrote about how the government’s housing policy might or might not change. What industry-related policies are you keeping your eye on in 2014 and beyond?

AL: Well, I think the big thing everybody can breath a sigh of relief on is flood insurance, and that was a biggie; we dodged a bullet. They were going to raise it tenfold, and we seem powerless as Realtors, because the people in Tallahassee and Washington just feel like they can do what they want. As a residential Realtor in the suburbs of Miami, the things I’m dealing with are basically what’s happening still with insurance. In the area I work, we still have houses with the same roofs that withstood Hurricane Andrew in 1992. We have houses designed in the ‘50s and ‘60s that have whole systems that are antiquated – air conditioning, plumbing, and electric. The insurance companies are now saying, “This house is going to be insured at a super high rate if these systems are not cleaned up and updated.” So, for me insurance is going to continue to be a big thing in 2014. The insurance companies are insuring these homes with older systems at a high rate, and that is affecting the ability of these homes to sell.

MA: Recent reports indicate that multifamily housing became in high demand with the fall of single-family housing during the crisis. Did multifamily housing gain popularity in Miami, is it still thriving today, and what do you predict for its future?

AL: In my market multifamily homes are limited. Someone in my office just had 16 offers on a $300,000 townhouse. In the $350,000 condo/townhouse marketplace there is no supply and huge demand. There are many people that have been renting since the crisis hit who got bumped out of their houses due to foreclosures or short sales. In the $350,000 and under condo/townhouse marketplace – and this is across the board, be it in Brickell, Coral Gables, Pinecrest, or other good areas of Miami – the properties are getting taken off the market at an obscene rate. In the $750,000 up to several million range, properties are mainly in gated communities with either country club amenities or boat docks, and those sales have slowed a bit.  Not everyone is ready to pay $7,500-$20,000 in HOA fees per year on top of mortgage, taxes and insurance.  But for the right buyer, we have some beautiful communities down here.