By Lyssa Goldberg | Boca Life Magazine

Boca Raton was just named the best city in the country for lazy people, and frankly, we're offended. Shopping and soaking up all that sunshine takes hard work, too.

Seriously though, Realtor.com released a list of the Top 10 Cities Where Lazy Folks Can Thrive this week, and Boca Raton landed on the top of the heap.

For the ranking, the real estate website enlisted its data analysts to determine the U.S. cities where the work-life balance scale tips toward "life." 

Analysts considered the following (silly) factors to make their determination: the number of restaurants that offer delivery; the number of day spas and massage therapy centers; the percentage of homes on Realtor.com that have a hot tub, sauna or steam room; average hours of sleep; average work hours per week; average cost of a cleaning service; and the number of available on-demand service apps, such as Instacart and Postmates.

By Miriam Kreinin Souccar | QUARTZ

Protests against the government are raging on the streets of Brazil’s major cities and its president is facing impeachment. High above the streets, in the posh living rooms of gated apartment buildings across Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, upper class Brazilians are talking about leaving the country for good.

Latin America’s largest nation has long had its ups and downs. But the current corruption scandal engulfing the government, coupled with increasing violence and the deepest recession in decades, has tipped some over the edge.

Brazil’s economy is set to contract 2.95% this year after shrinking an estimated 3.71% last year. Consumer confidence is at a record low. At the peak of the crisis in September, the Real went from 2.7 to 4 against the US dollar. Now it is at 3.6. And as if things weren’t bad enough, Brazil is now one of the most murderous countries in the world. One out of every 10 people who are killed anywhere is Brazilian, a murder rate that’s higher than Syria.

By Robert Frank | CNBC

The Miami real estate slowdown is becoming a meltdown — with the most expensive areas getting hit hardest. 

The number of sales and prices in posh Miami Beach — home to many of the city's most expensive and highest-profile properties — fell during the first quarter, according to a new report. Meanwhile, inventory soared by roughly a third compared with the prior-year quarter.

The report, released Thursday by Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants, found the average sale price in Miami Beach and the nearby Barrier Islands fell 7.5 percent year over year to $905,252. The median sale price fell 6.6 percent year over year to $408,750.

The total number of sales in the area also fell during the period, dropping 21.1 percent to 810 properties. Inventory surged nearly 33 percent, and there is now a 21.5-month supply of properties. That pileup means homes are taking longer to sell, with the number of days on market nearly doubling from 53 to 97 days year over year.

By Paul Owers | Sun Sentinel

South Florida homeowners have little to fear in the way of falling prices, new data show.

The likelihood of price declines in Palm Beach County in the next two years is 3 percent, according to a report from Arch Mortgage Insurance Co., a private mortgage insurer based in Walnut Creek, Calif.

Broward and Miami-Dade counties and 22 other areas in Florida have a 2 percent chance of price declines. The national average is 5 percent.

"I'm bullish," said Ralph DeFranco, chief economist for Arch. "I think it's a good time to buy. Interest rates are low, so buyers should lock in while they can."

Robert Frank | CNBC

By Paul Owers | Sun Sentinel

Frank McKinney, the real estate entrepreneur known for building oceanfront palaces in Palm Beach County, now has a new venture: the "micromansion."

McKinney said wealthy buyers still covet luxury homes, but they want smaller properties that are easier to maintain.

"I'm really seeing a shift away from oversized mansions that I have been building in my career," he said. "There's a little bit more common sense with the square footage."

By Paul Owers | Sun Sentinel

Fderal authorities announced a plan Wednesday to fight money laundering in the real estate industry by tracking the identities of buyers who pay cash for high-end homes in Miami-Dade County and New York City.

The Treasury Department said it will temporarily require title insurance companies to reveal the actual owners behind holding companies that acquire homes priced at $1 million or more in Miami-Dade and $3 million or more in New York.

The information will go to law enforcement officials and be included in a national database. The names won't be released to the public, the department said.

"We are seeking to understand the risk that corrupt foreign officials, or transnational criminals, may be using premium U.S. real estate to secretly invest millions in dirty money," said Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, in a statement. "Over the years, our rules have evolved to make the standard mortgage market more transparent and less hospitable to fraud and money laundering. But cash purchases present a more complex gap that we seek to address."

By Zachary Kussin and Alexei Barrionuevo | New York Post

The rise of Miami’s $25M+ penthouses

At One Thousand Museum, architect Zaha Hadid’s 61-story creation in downtown Miami, the duplex penthouse will have 360-degree views and a private elevator to the building’s helipad. Plaza Construction will build the penthouse, with Hadid flourishes, to the owner’s specifications, a sort of custom mansion in the sky.

All for a cool $49 million. The 16,220-square-foot gem is one of a handful of new penthouses listing for $25 million or more that are once again raising the bar for luxury living in South Florida. From Miami to Sunny Isles, developers are gambling that global high-end buyers will line up for the sort of opulence and starchitects once reserved for New York or London.

By Paul Owers | Sun Sentinel

Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Delray Beach rank among the top U.S. cities for ultra luxury home sales, according to a report from Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate.

The report, which covers transactions from July 1, 2014, through June of this year, shows that Palm Beach had 36 sales of homes priced from $5 million to $9.999 million. The town ranked 14th of 243 markets nationwide. Boca Raton was 17th with 32 sales.

New York led the nation with 786.