South Florida’s real estate market is one of the hardest hit regions in the country, but bad times for brokerages also mean opportunities for consolidation as smaller, weakened players falter and seek deep-pocketed backing.
Keller Williams Pembroke Pines has added dozens of agents this year, including the just-completed acquisition of Lyon Company Realtors. In total, the Pembroke Pines office has 162 agents and saw $31,000 in May profits — its most profitable month ever — despite the local market challenges.
“We’re in talks with a few groups right now about mergers,” said Natascha Tello, broker and operating principal at the Pembroke Pines office. “It’s always about finding a win-win. With Mark Lyon, his core group was a match. Our two companies’ cultures are basically identical, placing God, family, and business at the forefront of our lives.”
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June 26th, 2009
With dozens of high-rise condos in trouble and an urban core that isn’t too active after dark, some analysts expected Downtown Miami to look like a ghost town after sunset once the housing bubble burst.
About 80 buildings comprised of 23,000 units have come online since 2003, so those predictions seemed reasonable after the 2006 peak. But a new study from Goodkin Consulting/Focus Real Estate Advisors says otherwise.
The majority of the residential units completed in Downtown Miami since 2003 are occupied and the closing rate is accelerating despite obstacles to financing. There’s still a long way out of the bottom, but the process is moving.
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June 26th, 2009
Despite the netbook craze that has many PC manufacturers competing at the low end of the mobile-computing market, Hewlett-Packard is rolling out a new generation of consumer desktop PCs just in time for back-to-school sales.The redesigned lineup includes the HP Pavilion, the HP Pavilion Slimline, the HP Pavilion Elite, and the Compaq Presario. Beyond the new looks that aim to add style to student rooms — from buttons and ports to the glossy piano-black finish with silver accents and touches of chrome — the PCs are heavily focused on digital-content storage. And the new HP Touchsmart software suite enhances the “touch” experience around photos, videos, music and other digital content.
“This new generation of desktop PCs features a fresh and modern design, unbeatable performance, and tremendous value,” said John Cook, vice president of worldwide consumer PC marketing at HP. “And with matching monitors and accessories, it’s easy to customize a desktop solution that combines performance with style.”
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June 26th, 2009
Palm on Thursday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss, but the smartphone maker’s shares rose sharply Friday morning on news of lower-than-expected deficits.Palm’s revenues for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2009, ended May 29, were $86.8 million. Gross profit was $20.1 million. Palm posted a loss of $105 million on the quarter, or 78 cents per share. That compares with a loss of $43.4 million, or 40 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
“The launch of Palm webOS and Palm Pre was a major milestone in Palm’s transformation; we have now officially reentered the race,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s chairman and CEO. “We have more to accomplish, but the groundwork is laid for a very promising future here at Palm.”
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June 26th, 2009
The iPhone jailbreakers are at it again. Two different outfits are announcing iPhone software hacks that allow consumers to use their phones on networks other than the exclusive carriers.In the U.S., the iPhone Dev Team (not affiliated with Apple) has released an unlock code for iPhone 3.0 software. The free hack is called Ultrasn0w and allows users of original iPhones or iPhone 3Gs upgraded to the 3.0 operating system to unlock the handsets and install jailbreak applications so they can use the phone on T-Mobile’s network. The team’s hack doesn’t work with the iPhone 3GS.
“As soon as you start messing with the innards of your iPhone with anything other than an Apple-sanctioned software release, there is always the potential of running into problems,” said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. “In the U.S. in particular, jailbreaking is almost a nonissue because the only other carrier you can use the iPhone on is T-Mobile. If you unlock a 3G or a 3GS, you can’t even run it on 3G because the hardware 
isn’t designed for T-Mobile’s 3G network.”
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June 26th, 2009
Google launched the Android mobile operating system last year to tap into the growing demand for smartphones and the applications that run on them. Now Google is launching a beta of its AdSense program for mobile applications.Appropriately dubbed AdSense for Mobile Applications, the platform allows developers to earn revenue by displaying text and image ads on their iPhone and Android applications.
“Lower prices, faster network speeds, and unlimited data plans mean that people often reach for their cell phone rather than their computer when they are seeking information,” said Susan Wojcicki, vice president of product management at Google. “As a result, mobile applications have become more and more popular, helping people find music, make restaurant reservations or check bank balances — all on their phone.”
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June 25th, 2009
