Comments on: Mary Brickell Village Picture Tour

By: Sky Palace is a Dream

Sky Palace is a Dream — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:38:39 +0000

I invested all of my life savings about five years ago into the Sky Palace at Mary Brickell Village. This is a worse decision that I have made in my life.

The developer, Evangeline Gouletas, has failed to deliver on her promises. I think the name of the projects says it all – it is a fairy tale.

Mrs. Gouletas is probably the best realstate marketer that exist in the planet. Only she buys into the paid ads and articles about how great the building is going to be.

For five years, these folks have changed the name of the project, have delayed construction, and have fooled so many families and investors.

Mrs. Gouletas and her team love to host parties for owners and send emails frequently to keep the dream alive of building this luxury condo.

What ever you do, do not invest in this project. The Sky Palace at MBV is fantasy realestate at its best.

By: camilo

camilo — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:00:30 +0000

The big story on the collapse of Mary brickel Village is yet to be told. It is unlikely that most of the people who put down payments on their condos at MBV will close on them. I can see a whole bunch of lawsuits on their way when the developer fails to complete the condos by the end of 2011 as schedule . It is really going to get ugly unless the developers are willing to drop the orginal prices of the condos by 50% -60%

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:24:37 +0000

Interesting point re: Fisher Island. I figured prices would drop in SoFi before they would on Fisher Island, but maybe not.

By: JL

JL — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:17:32 +0000

I don’t think SoFi is safe at all. I think you have “sector rotation” going on into SoFi based on a very specious argument. If enough people say SoFi is different then you’ll get sellers willing ot hold out longer… but when they let go, watch out.

My opinion would be a much much stronger and stable class of owners can be found on Fisher Island and that is starting to get ugly.

By: gables

gables — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:11:34 +0000

SoBe, and in particular SoFi, is a unique market. You may catch a couple of distress sales, but you wont see an overall significant fall in prices. Underwater investors perhaps, but many folks with money who own there will just ride out the storm. Their capital will be tied up in an nonappreciating asset, but they will not give up the property at a loss. Most likely, they will rent it out, or use it more often as their primary vacation home-a possible nice side effect for the local economy. Moving north along Miami Beach, and the argument will be completely different-those units will fall. But SoFi will remain fairly safe overall-just not very liquid. I would much rather buy a unit in SoFi, but realize the mainland is only place prices will reach my affordability level.

By: Wild Bill

Wild Bill — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:45:46 +0000

Joe,
The Herald used to post a few neighborhood specific sales and list the previous purchase prices. I only use MLS as a reference point, asking prices mean nothing. Public records is the only way to go. Problem is you have keep your own records.

By: JL

JL — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:09:54 +0000

Joe, when you have something illiquid and it’s ticking down, beware. Don’t believe anything till you see some volume.

By: Renter Tom

Renter Tom — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:59:21 +0000

Joe – The “homes as an investment” strategy that sooooo many people got into esp after the asset-less tech bubble is pretty much gone. Even celebrities have been dumping their extra trophy properties and so have the wealthy. Gone are the days that asset appreciation was three times the holding costs. With respect to SoFi, it really depends on how many were investor units and how long the owners will want to pay the bills without really enjoying their properties much. If I were you I’d look at rents and how many lights are on at night…..RENTS and LIGHTS. If the rental units don’t command rental prices that make sense for the asking sales prices then you know that ULTIMATELY the demand to live in that location isn’t there at those prices. Rents should cover all holding costs plus a profit margin…..afterall, if a renter won’t even commit to the full costs then why the heck would a buyer in such an illiquid asset??? The rents are the best gauge of demand and Lucas’ website includes mls recent rentals rates which really is the most invaluable resource out there…it tells you what the market actually is in a way that sparse sales data doesn’t since it is more fluid and is more of a “real time” number. My bottom line is that highly leveraged asset prices will continue to decline in this deleveraging environment and there is a lot more deleveraging to go. Another thing to consider is that the “move up” buyers are no where to be found in almost all areas of the country…..

“Jim Gillespie, president and chief executive of Coldwell Banker Real Estate, in an interview with Reuters, said sales were only modest during the spring, with demand overwhelmingly dominated by first-time home buyers and investors.

“The more important ‘move-up’ buyers were absent and that is not encouraging,” said Gillespie …”They are key to a U.S. housing market recovery,”"

By: Publix at Mary Brickell Village - Now Open » Miami Condos For Sale and Rentals, Miami Condos Investments Blog, Bulk Sales

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:42:49 +0000

[...] was told that the new Publix at Mary Brickell Village opened on June 6, 2009. Last week, I had a chance to walk its aisles. Overall, I was pleased. [...]

By: Mondrian

Mondrian — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:42:52 +0000

Broham- look at the mondrian. There are major price drops in some units there. All it takes are 1-2 units then comes the waterfall.

MBV is so freaking nice. I’ve never ever seen anything like it. Mind blowing. Abso-fucking-lutely mind blowing! WOW! Starbucks! Shiiiiit!