Some buyers of mine (and dear friends) who purchased a home in the South Grove will be featured on HGTV’s show Color Splash this weekend!  David Bromstad has redesigned their family room to help bring the outdoors in and combine Old Florida style with a contemporary twist. 

If you’ve ever seen the show Color Splash before you know that the homeowners are asked to choose an inspiration for their design.  Wanting to keep it local, they decided on The Peacock Garden Cafe which is located in the heart of Coconut Grove. 

I have seen the finished product and can tell you that David did an incredible job.  It will be great to see Coconut Grove in the national spotlight.   The show airs this Saturday, January 28th at 9:00 pm.

The numbers are in and I am proud to announce that my team has sold the most number of homes in Coconut Grove in 2011.  This marks the second consecutive year that we have earned this title.  Thank you to all of our friends and clients who have trusted us with their business needs.  We are looking forward to a successful and productive 2012!

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to our new team member, Carleen Smith.  Carleen specializes in the marketing and sale of residential properties and offers both buyer and seller representation.  Carleen has experience in the Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, South Miami and Pinecrest markets and I know will be a great asset to The Riley Smith Group.

Just this past week Carleen listed and placed under a contract the home located at 305 East Shore Drive in the Bay Heights neighborhood of Coconut Grove for $499,000.  She received 5 offers within the first few days of coming on the market.  The home offered 2,937 square feet of living space on a 13,000 square foot lot.

Carleen joins my longtime buyer’s specialist Dominique Duque and the rest of our team to make sure that our clients receive the highest level of customer service and satisfaction.

Yesterday I launched the new and improved Real Estate Coconut blog!  As you know, we are Coconut Grove’s original and longest running real estate blog and now I am happy to announce that we offer home search tools that are more user friendly than the national websites.  You won’t need to look any further than The Real Estate Coconut to help you find the perfect home in Coconut Grove.

In the right-hand sidebar you will see a map of Coconut Grove which I have broken down into neighborhoods.  By clicking on each segment of the map you will find homes for sale as well as homes that are for rent.  Below the Coconut Grove map is a condo search tool, and lastly I have a list of popular segments of the Grove market including homes for sale in gated communities, vacant land, villas, townhouses, etc.

Please enjoy and I am always happy to hear your comments or suggestions.

If you receive my blog posts via email, click here to check out the new site.

As the first half of 2011 comes to a close, I want to take a moment to thank all of my readers and clients for their continued support.   I can’t tell you how many times people stop me in the street and say “Hey you’re Riley…I love your blog!”.   I am thrilled to hear that residents are reading and enjoying the information I put out there.  Whether I’m at Scotty’s Landing, Greenstreet or just walking through the Grove please never hesitate to stop and introduce yourself. 

As of today, I have sold 1 home every 5 days since January 1st 2011.  That is 26 closed sales and 8 currently under contract.  Right now I have an inventory of 17 listings. 

When buying or selling a home in Coconut Grove it is essential to use a local Realtor or better yet, a hyper-local realtor such as myself.  I have the experience and the knowledge to help you with any of your real estate needs.

Thanks again, I am looking forward to a great finish to 2011!

Coconut Grove is seeing a large influx of out-of-town buyers which is creating an increased demand for property management.  Landlords and investors are always asking me if I have someone on my team who could assist them with home checks, maintenance and repairs, preparing the home for a storm etc.  However as EWM agents we are not allowed to handle the property management side of the business so I must refer my clients to someone who is extremely trustworthy and reliable.

Over the past few months I have had several clients use Pointe Group’s property management services and they have been extremely satisfied with their work.  They have gone above and beyond the client’s expectations.  Another thing I like about Pointe Group is that their offices are right here in Coconut Grove.   I asked them to send me over a flyer that I could post on the blog for anyone who might be interested, click on the image above for more details and their contact information.  

If you are interested in buying or selling real estate in Coconut Grove and are looking for an experienced realtor please do not hesitate to contact me at 305.342.1623 or send me a message here.

Can I add that to my property descriptions or is that overkill?

Today we pulled out the winter crops and planted some more heat resistant varieties of herbs and vegetables.   As you can see above we’ve got everything growing from watermelon and cantaloupe to beans, kale, sorrel, heat-resistant homestead tomatoes, sage, purple basil, rosemary, oregano, banana peppers and celery.  

Nothing compares to the taste of food when its pulled right out of the ground and put on the plate.  It is farm to table at its best.

As seen in the Miami Herald today…..

“Riley Smith of EWM is a residential real estate agent based in Miami, Florida.  Riley is unlike 99% of most other Realtors because he is a creative thinker determined to change most of the paradigms established by his industry.  A local investor recently described him as a person “who will put the competition and especially….the less tech-savvy brokers out of business in this new economy.”

“By late 2007, he began to sense that he needed to adjust his business model.  At that time he noticed that the real estate market was slowing down.  He spent time with his team discussing the trends taking place in his industry and decided to act quickly to address the oncoming challenges.”

“To get more listings, he embraced technology to help advance his business and differentiate it from the competition.  He started writing a real estate blog [www.TheRealEstateCoconut.com] to garner attention from a larger audience….”

Some of the other agents mentioned were Peter Zalewsky of Condo Vultures and Paco Diaz of CB Richard Ellis.

Today’s post is a question to all of you who follow The Real Estate Coconut.  What topics do you like me to write about here on the blog?  What are the most interesting posts?  Is there a particular building or segment of the market that you have been curious about?  Do you ever say to yourself, I wish Riley would write about this….. 

If you do, please send me a private message here or post a public comment below and over the next few days I will write my posts according to YOUR requests.

By the way, have you checked out my other blogs lately?  Here are today’s posts from my Coral Gables Real Estate and South Miami Real Estate blogs:

• Foreclosure In Ponce Davis - Partially Completed
• Home In Snapper Creek Lakes Sells Fast