Lipe Medeiros is the director of luxury sales for Douglas Elliman and founder and CEO of SOFI Property Group working in Miami.
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 Lipe Medeiros, director of luxury sales for Douglas Elliman and founder and CEO of SOFI Property Group.
Miami Agent (MA): Recent figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that more adults than ever are choosing to live single. Have you noticed this trend, and if so, how do you think it will shape the real estate market in the future?
Lipe Medeiros (LM): Miami is a city of young people and many more young professionals are being attracted to the area’s lifestyle. Both the condo boom of the mid 2000s and the current one has taken into account that this new generation puts career and their own achievements ahead of settling down, thus creating buildings with floor plans and amenities that attract the “single lifestyle.” These buildings, mostly in Brickell, Downtown and Midtown, have exquisite gyms, restaurants, libraries, lounge areas, roof deck pools and much more. These amenities are meant to bring together young single people and make them interact more.
Additionally, because nowadays-young individuals are more career focused than family focused in their 20s and early 30s and it’s normal for woman to plan to start having children after 32 or 35, this trend shall continue. Developers will continue to pay attention to this and build accordingly
MA: In a recent article, we discuss some of the top reasons that home sales don’t close. What are some big drivers of failed transactions in your experience?
LM: Difficulty in financing would top the list. Ninety percent of our sales are cash and above the $2 million mark, even so, every now and then we have clients who choose to finance and even with outstanding credit or low LTV ratios (financing only 50 percent), they are either being denied credit or the documentation needed is way too big and they get extremely frustrated by the process. We have an extremely high rate of contracts that close because we go beyond the typical transaction broker to find solutions to our clients needs. Having a great network of mortgage brokers, attorneys and title companies also help tremendously.
Additionally, by dealing with the very upper tier of the market and making sure our clients have the financial flexibility to afford what we are offering them (both on the listing and buyer sides), we usually do not encounter many objections to a smooth closing.
MA: Our latest cover story talks about some of the dangers of ambiguous advertising language, like making false claims to be No. 1. How careful are you when it comes to the wording on your advertisements, and have you ever come across agents or brokerages whom you know to be making false claims (not mentioning any names, of course)?
LM: We are extremely careful and treat all advertising as if we were a fortune 50 corporation. Douglas Elliman is the most professional real estate company I have ever seen and worked with and they double check all our ads for compliance in details before we go to print or even post online. We have a corporate culture that hails from NYC, where agents are more competitive and the regulations are tougher. This is a huge plus for us.
In terms of other agents or brokerages, my biggest complaint would be on Realtors that publish websites and advertisements purposely omitting the brokers’ information. They create a URL or a group name and omit any information about who their broker is, giving the false impression of them being the brokers. This is a very common tactic and I wish FREC would have a task force to enforce this issue.