Nationwide Rental Affordability Chrisis

Worst rental affordability crisis that this country has known

http://homes.yahoo.com/news/skyrocketing-rents-hit--crisis--levels-193605175.html

This is the root of a lot of the increase in homelessness.

How do we tackle this problem?

While many Americans are not in a position to buy homes due to the economy and other factors, international buyers have stepped in and created an artificially high and robust housing market. If it were truly robust the interest rates would be rising quickly and they are not. The renters cannot afford and or qualify to buy so they are forced to rent. This has created a booming rental market that speaks very badly for the economy and things in general.

The American dream of owning a home is becoming a distant memory and younger generations do not even aspire to do so. What are all these people who can’t afford to buy homes or rent them going to do? More than likely turn to crime, out of sheer necessity. If they get caught what is the downside? Sure loss of freedom but that may be well worth it for a bed, 3 meals per day and access to services they probably had a hard time getting before they went to prison. Do you know how much it costs the government to incarcerate people? A lot, and I am sure way more than the subsidies and food stamps they were giving out before. I often think the government just doesn’t think about what will happen if they push these people too far.

Orin Rosenfeld

President

Rosenfeld Realty Advisors

9858 Glades Rd. Suite 209

Boca Raton, FL 33434

Phone: 561-756-1665

Fax: 561-470-0707

Web: www.rosenfeldrealtyadvisors.com

Florida Job Growth Attributed to Private Sector.

A great, quick, article in the Tampa Bay Business Journal validating what most of us intuit.

The Private Sector is the source of job growth in Florida.  The private sector is the main engine driving our recovery, & growing prosperity.

Florida recorded its largest private sector job gains last month adding 19,450 jobs to the economy.

This is the second most of any state for the same period, second only to Texas.

With jobs comes prosperity.

Rosenfeld Realty Advisors stands ready to help any of these growing businesses finding appropriate commercial real estate in South Florida.

Orin Rosenfeld

President

Rosenfeld Realty Advisors

9858 Glades Rd. Suite 209

Boca Raton, FL 33434

Phone: 561-756-1665

Fax: 561-470-0707

Web: www.rosenfeldrealtyadvisors.com

Commercial Realestate Relocations in Florida

Sun, Wages, Low Taxes and Pristine Beaches

An interesting Op Ed came to us in Forbes.  the gist of the message is that large businesses are coming to Florida and feeding our economy.

The article starts with Hertz, a fortune 300 company, moving its corporate headquarters from NewJersey to Ostero  (for those that don't know, that's on the west coast of Florida, south of Sarasota).

What is interesting is how hard New Jersey lobbied to keep Hertz with tremendous financial incentives.

One of the more significant motivators to draw more and more businesses to Florida is the lack of state income tax.  Businesses in Florida enjoy the 12th lowest corporate income tax rate in the nation as well.

We applaud the efforts of all those who work so hard to keep Florida so competitive.  The more businesses move into town, the more tremendous employment opportunities, and the stronger our local economy.

Nice to be mentioned in Forbes as being so very business friendly!

For an assistance in finding commercial real estate, or if you have property that you need to find a business to occupy, don't hesitate to give your South Florida Real Estate Advisors a call at Rosenfeld Realty Advisors.

Orin Rosenfeld

President

Rosenfeld Realty Advisors

9858 Glades Rd. Suite 209

Boca Raton, FL 33434

Rosenfeld Restaurant Review Time! The Meatball Room

I know, We are commercial real estate brokers, not restaurant reviewers.. but eating out is one of my passions.

The Meatball Room

This is a new place located at Yamato and Jog in Boca Raton. They initially lured us in under the faulty premise that they delivered. Once we discovered this fallacy, we still decided to check it out. I am glad we did, although we had some doubts at first. This restaurant location has changed over numerous times in the past few years. It just didn’t seem like anyone could make it work there. But these guys stick to a simple formula and do it well: pizza and pasta. We started out by sitting outside, which I love to do. There are plenty of tables and they are not on top of each other. They had 2 large screen TVs outside with college football on, my type of ambiance. My daughter and I liked the lighting too, which changed colors throughout the meal. The pizza was excellent. The tomato sauce is very authentic and there is a lot of it.

There was a comical moment during the meal when some of it actually sprayed out onto the table from the pizza. But a dirty table cloth is the sign of a good meal so no worries. From there I had no choice but to get meatballs. I don’t eat red meat, so I was very excited to try the turkey meatballs (like the delivery ruse, they also do not make chicken meatballs, as it said on the sample menu we were sent in the mail). They were excellent, like small balls of meatloaf. Coupled with the very good tomato sauce and just the right amount of pasta, I was very happy.

Wines by the glass were very mediocre, a weak point for sure, but easy to overlook with all the good food. Happy surprise with desert. They have their own pastry chef who makes cakes daily. They happen to have my favorite, carrot, along with a chocolate that my wife and daughter really enjoyed (which was further enjoyed by my other daughter when we brought the rest home). Strangely they had some very hard toasted coconut sprinkled on top of the carrot cake. It didn’t ruin it as I was able to scrape it off but I let them know that the cake really didn’t need it. All in all, I really liked this place and look forward to returning. Make sure you come hungry!


Orin Rosenfeld
President
Rosenfeld Realty Advisors
9858 Glades Rd. Suite 209
Boca Raton, FL 33434

Phone: 561-756-1665
Fax: 561-470-0707
Web: www.rosenfeldrealtyadvisors.com

Homelessness On The Rise

While those in the middle and upper middle class are seeing a reprieve, and a recovery from "The Great Recession"  The fact of the matter is that those that live in poverty last year, was 15%, down only .1% from Recession high of 15.1%.

Yes, Thankfully, the jobless rate is at its lowest in 5 years, and the stock market is setting new records, however, the bottom of the economic food chain seems to continue its struggle with little change.

This article in the Sun Sentinel points out some unsettling realites in the face of poverty, homelessness, and food stamp cutbacks.

For me, the most telling captions were

On an average night, more than 20,000 people sleep on Los Angeles' streets, and almost 2,000 of them are families or children living on their own, the city reported. Homelessness has increased 26% in Los Angeles since last year, and 16% of L.A.'s homeless were turned away for housing help.

Chicago reported an 11.4% increase in the number of homeless families since last year, with requests for emergency food assistance up 6%. City pantries had to reduce the amount of food they gave to the hungry. And homeless shelters were increasing the number of people allowed to sleep in a room to meet rising demand.

Rosenfeld Realty Advisors is involved in commercial real estate in South Florida.   As facilitators in the economy, by virtue of the fact that we focus on commercial real estate, we feel a l level of stewardship for those not yet participating in the recovery.

In whatever way you can, lend a hand, leave a comment, volunteer, better yet, give a job.   Lets continue to see this economy strengthen though our time and efforts and capital, and remember to pay particular attention to those in need to ensure that they see hope in their futures as well.

Comments welcome.

The Invisible Child... (Con't)

Homelessness and Poverty and our Children

http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/invisible-child/#/?chapt=4

http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/invisible-child/#/?chapt=5

This may seem like overkill to some of you but it is actually one long story that is broken up into 5 parts. While I know it is a lot to read, I think you will learn important things about a very neglected part of our society that is larger and growing faster than anyone knows. While we read about unemployment numbers being at record lows, and foreclosures are down this negativity barely even makes a blip in the way of national news but homelessness can no longer be ignored. The gap between rich and poor has never been so wide and again, it is growing wider very quickly with no end in sight. If this is not dealt with now think where it will be in just 5 years. It is truly heartbreaking that in a country where 50% of food is thrown away that there are so many people going hungry right here in the U.S. not some third world country.

The Invisible Child, Get upset, then act. #1

We need to shed more light on these kinds of stories and situations. More must be done to help the neediest people in our own country that the government and others just want to sweep under the rug and pretend it is not happening. But we all know it is happening, and sadly things are getting worse for these people, not better. I always think about them when I read that we (the U.S.) are giving hundreds of millions in aid to this country or that country, for the cost of our elections, billions of dollars for this or that. More of our resources need to go to these people, struggling Americans, in order to break the cycle of poverty. It is not that I don’t think we should be helping others around the world, I just think our own people should be helped first. As always, I welcome your comments or ideas. Thanks for reading and for making a difference out there.

http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/invisible-child/#/?chapt=1


It is exciting to think that possibly hundreds of people might be able to read this article that otherwise wouldn’t. Maybe it can help in some way, if by increasing awareness of the issue if nothing else. It would be fun to go to one of these places like the Auburn House with a few thousand dollars and change their lives. With your help hopefully it can happen! If you have the time, read the article, which is very long and the first of a series. I promise I will be supplying the rest of them as well and will want to post them.