Miami and Fort Lauderdale are both among the most-searched-for cities by those looking to buy homes nationwide, the Miami Herald reported. Numbers from Realtor.com showed that Fort Lauderdale ranked 17th, and Miami ranked 18th. Another Florida metro area, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, was ranked fifth. [more]

Prices for Miami real estate have dropped as much as 43 percent from the 2006 peak

From the February issue:
For some Manhattan renters, buying a second home is coming before buying a first. While New York real estate has seen severe discounts (Manhattan prices are down roughly 20 percent from their peak), some New Yorkers are going to real estate markets like Miami or the Hamptons that have been burned by even deeper discounts. In the Hamptons, prices have dropped as much as 30 percent since 2006, said Barbara Weber, managing director of Nest Seekers International in the Hamptons. In Miami they have dropped as much as 43 percent, compared to the city’s historic high in 2006, according to Peter Zalewski, a broker with the Bal Harbour-based Condo Vultures Realty. “You can literally buy five condos in Miami for the price of one in New York,” said Ron Shuffield, president of EWM Realtors in Miami. New Yorkers are also taking advantage of foreclosures and short sales in the Miami-Dade area, said Alfredo Vizcarrondo, president of the AV Group in Doral, a real estate company. “In the last quarter of the year, there [was] increased interest from New Yorkers,” said Vizcarrondo. He said he recently closed on properties in Miami’s Brickell area and in Aventura for prices as low as $160,000.  [more]

Basketball star Dennis Rodman and the Fort Lauderdale home

From the South Florida Web site: Fort Lauderdale homeowner Miles Brannan won’t be raffling his $3 million home off to $30 raffle ticket purchasers, after all. Even with the help of spokesperson and former NBA star Dennis Rodman, the drawing attracted only 63,000 to 65,000 ticket purchases, far fewer than the 300,000 that would have allowed him to pay off his debts and donate money to an area church. The charity that is overseeing the raffle, the Mission of St. Francis, said it will instead draw for a pot of cash: $800,000. It plans to divide the pot equally with the winner. Market observers said raffles to raise money in situations like Brannan’s often do not raise enough money to succeed. Brannan said he wasn’t sure of his plans for the house, which he bought in 2005 for $2.35 million.