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Batting Practice, First Seat Installed in Florida Marlins’ New Stadium

February 16, 2011 by Lucas Lechuga
Florida Marlins new stadium

It appears that construction of the Florida Marlins' new stadium is still on schedule for a March 1, 2012 opening.  For those who missed The Miami Herald article yesterday, Marlins players such as Hanley Ramirez, Mike Stanton, John Buck and Gaby Sanchez took batting practice and the first seat was installed in the new ballpark.  The article also mentions that premium seating is selling fast and full season-ticket sales for 2012 already exceeds all season-ticket plans sold for 2011.  I, for one, look forward to the day when Miami will have its own stadium and arriving at a ball game will take just 7 minutes rather than making the long commute to Broward County.

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Wild Bill

Audit: Miami misused millions in public works funds

owneratinfinity

the report about the city of miami is what I expected from them, Back in 2009 I had first hand experience with the city and I understand their culture and their 2009-2010 budget issues very well. I got to know a lot of their senior and non senior employees in the various departments very well. The purpose of each of them is to maintain their high level of wages, while producing only the bare min amount of work, as they wait for their retirement with their great pensions. This was all thanks to their strong unions. On average they get… Read more »

Gixxer1000

New report from the DDA:

http://www.miamidda.com/pdf/download/GoodkinFocus_DDA_ClosingsOccupancyStudy_Feb2011.pdf

The downtown condo occupancy rate is now up to 85% with 56% being renters and 44% being owners.

Wild Bill

What if 56% of these buyers overextended themselves and need to sell within one to two years?

owneratinfinity

THESE TWO ITEMS BELOW SURPRISED ME. I would think the average unit sales price and sf price would be lower. Also I did not expect there would be any increase in sales price or sf price from 2009 to 2010. I expected these numbers for 2010 to be the same as 2009. If correct, it is good news and makes me glad I bought back in 2009 and did wait any later to buy. 1. Average unit sales price in 2010 was $347,729, representing a 15% increase from the average unit sales price of $302,254 in 2009. 2. Average condominium… Read more »

owneratinfinity

I forgot to say.. If this information is correct then the price bottom for the Downtown Condo Market was in 2009, unless another crash hits

gables

Owner, one should think the overall sales prices in 2010 would be higher than 2009. In 2009 we were still in the midst of a massive financial crisis-that was not so true in 2010, when it was just the recession. Many distressed sales were done under extremely severe financial conditions in 2009, far more so than 2010. Also remember, many of the buildings which came online later were very luxury (think Epic and Icon), compared to many of the earlier buildings. New sales come from developers, and they typically follow the pattern of slowly increasing sales price as inventory decreases.… Read more »

owneratinfinity

Maybe, but it’s still very positive news for the downtown housing market and makes me feel better for taking the risk and buying when I did. I was very nervous that the prices would continue to drop a LOT after I bought. That I would be holding “the bag” like friends of mine who brought their condo in the Quantum On The Bay building in mid town. They bought in the Fall of 2008, one year before I bought mine, they paid $280K ($290 per sf ) for 1bed 1bath with a windowless den. Today that exact same unit in… Read more »

gables

owner, no legitimate residents on this blog suggested $125 sf, that was the typical trolls that roll through every now and then. In my view, most of the bears figured the best deals would be had between $150 and $200 sf-too much value to let it drop much below $150, and that was not to be found in luxury buildings either. It is hard for 2B units to drop below $200k, since that becomes rather affordable to a wide range of folks. today, a legitimate question is, however, is $300k too high for those 2B? I say yes, others (including… Read more »

Wild Bill

The curse of negative home equity

Hundreds of thousands of South Floridians are underwater on their mortgages, which could have profound impact on the region’s economic recovery, or lack of.

owneratinfinity

ok makes sense

Just FYI – in my building the developer is selling the 2beds as quickly as the one beds. And all of the 2bed are selling for over $300k. These are being sold mostly to investors for cash,

Since these investors think that they will be able to re-sell them later for more, they would say no to your question.

Of course only time will tell.

gables

owner, it is an interesting question. we will know the answer in about 5 years most likely. it all depends upon jobs and the economy. if enough higher paying jobs exist to cover the costs of those condos, it will work out. if those jobs do not exist, who will afford to live in $300k+ condos? Even without jobs, $200k is very doable. But as you push $300k, higher salaries are definitely needed. Can downtown support this action? I know gixxer likes to argue the trend is urban-and i feel similar. but a $150k townhome in suburbia versus a $300k… Read more »

David

The majority of Condo purchases in 2009 – 2010 were cash purchases and Cash purchases continue to rule the Condo market, so that’s tremendously helping Buildings to become much more stable. With Financed purchases being a very small part of the current Condo market, the issue of a large number of new Owners becoming over-extended by Mortgages or needing large salaries to support their Mortgages is now almost non existent and Condo carrying costs of Maintenance Fees, interior Insurance, and Taxes are remaining fairly stable without drastic increases in most Buildings. Additionally, with the significant increase of purchases beginning in… Read more »

owneratinfinity

d, very good points – mostly cash deals is another reason i waited to buy and why i bought in a brand new building where nearly all of the owners pay in cash. if they paid in cash, then they should be able to pay for the buildings maintenance fees and other carry costs

gables

David and owner, that is certainly true of buildings which did not start selling until 2008. buildings which were open for business before 2007 will not have the large number of cash buyers except through foreclosure sales. this will probably create two classes of buildings in the future-ones with problems and ones without based on the timing of the opening. as owner says, infinity should do better in this case.

Gixxer1000

“Ownwer, its a little hasty to say this info dictates the bottom. Most people identify the bottom based on Case-Schiller or similar metric. These are based on resale values-not first sales of units, since greater luxury skews the prices up at that time, but may not capture the trend year over year. Long term trends appear on the used market, not new market.” gables, That’s a lot of spin right there. Owner specifically stated this shows the bottom for DOWNTOWN in 2009. Case Shiller looks at Dade, Broward and Palm Beach county as a whole. I’ve already agreed that when… Read more »

Gixxer1000

“owner, it is an interesting question. we will know the answer in about 5 years most likely. it all depends upon jobs and the economy. if enough higher paying jobs exist to cover the costs of those condos, it will work out. if those jobs do not exist, who will afford to live in $300k+ condos? Even without jobs, $200k is very doable. But as you push $300k, higher salaries are definitely needed. Can downtown support this action?” gables, Again there are a lot of false pretense here. Jobs obviously play a role in real estate but to extrapolate that… Read more »

Gixxer1000

gables, I’d also like to point out something else about the Case Shiller index. They also break down the index into tiers. There is a low tier (under $148k), middle tier ($148k – $255k), higher tier ($255k and up) and aggregate which is what is typically reported. I think its pretty obvious that downtown condo would fall into the higher tier ($255k and up). When looking at the higher tier, it bottomed in May 2009 (sound familiar). So homes $255k and above bottomed in 2009 according to Case Shiller even without taking into account all the first time sales that… Read more »

owneratinfinity

1. I think we can agree per the report, that prices of new downtown condos was increased in 2010 over the 2009. So prices of sold downtown condos are not dropping any more and 2009 was the bottom for prices of at least NEW downtown condos. 2. The folks that paid cash for their condos most likely are NOT desperate, so unless they have a major financial problem, they will hold on to their condos until they go up and then sell them for more money (or worst case break even if they become desperate) This means prices in brand… Read more »

owneratinfinity

Per the Case Shiller index, miami did bottom in 2009, sadly per the index in the higher tiers– Las Vegas and Phoenix is still dropping, that sucks for them. For me, without an beach and an ocean I see no reason to live there.

gables

gixxer, dont get your panties in a wad! I simply told owner that using the DDA report showing rising prices in 2010 over 2009 indicates a bottom in 2009 can be misleading. Most of those units in the DDA report are new, and many luxury units continue to enter the market over time at higher values. But that does not say the SAME unit would have sold for less in 2009 than 2010. That is not what the report is indicating. For the most part these are not repeat sales. Perhaps more penthouses sold in 2010 than 2009? or higher… Read more »

Drew

Gixxer, thanks for the absurd quotes above. “People moving into these urban areas are millennials who are grwoing [sic] to be the largest population segment.” – Actually, the elderly are the fastest growing population segment. “They stay single longer, get married later, have children later and therefore don’t have a desire or need to move to the suburbs like everyone else did post WWII…They’ll most likely graduate and stay in urban areas and rent.” – Is that so? Wait until you get married and have kids (assuming you go that route) and then tell me what your plans are. It’s… Read more »

David

Gables, good point about 2 classes of buildings, depending on when they came on the market, but I think that there’s good news, even for the ones that had sales in 2007 because a good number of original Owners are being replaced with new, healthy Buyers who are purchasing Units that went into default through Foreclosure or Short Sale.

Owneratinfinity, definitely a good move with the timing of your purchase and health of the bldg.

Gixxer1000

Drew, Once again you show your ignorance. There were 76 million births between 1946 and 1964 (baby boomers). As of the 2000 census 4 million had died leaving 72 million. Because of immigration that number is now closer to 78 million. There were 75 million births between 1977 and 1998. When you factor in deaths and immigration the number today is about 77 million. The people in the middle are generation x where there were 51 million people born between 1965 and 1976. And before the baby boomers was the silent generation (1925-1945) where there were less than 50 million… Read more »

owneratinfinity

D,

Thanks, I waited two years before I bought, while I rented a condo on Miami Beach. During that time, I studied every newer building in my price range in Miami Beach and Miami.

Since I never owned a condo before, I learned A LOT about them, their prices, their HOAs and the condo market. Yet I still sweated my purchase big time.

….but when all is said and done, it was just my dumb luck, that i was at the right place at the right time and I was willing to take the risk….

gables

David, the real problem will be how many units will actually shortsale or be foreclosed upon. If you look at many of the buildings, there are rather extensive lists of short sales. More than likely, these will become foreclosures. How quickly and at what price remains to be seen. Unless the banks can continue to control the flood of foreclosed properties into the market, these units will keep prices down. the effect is unknown, but the issue most definitely exists.

Gixxer1000

gables,

“But that does not say the SAME unit would have sold for less in 2009 than 2010. That is not what the report is indicating. For the most part these are not repeat sales. Perhaps more penthouses sold in 2010 than 2009? or higher floor units?”

That’s completely ridiculous. You can look and see what units sold in 2009 and 2010 and there are a mix of units. You can find similar units, in similar buildings selling for lower in 2009 than 2010. Were talking about sales over an entire two year period.

gables

Gixxer, the DDA report mostly indicates behavior in new condo buildings resulting from the sale of developer units.

Also, when discussing demographics and population behavior, you need to understand that your “Millenial” theory is far from proven correct. Many millenials are finding it very difficult to obtain what they consider secure, long term and high pay employment. Hence the apparent lack of marriage, kids and homeownership-avoidance of longer term financial commitments. Many other outcomes can result-just look at Japan and its demographics.

Joe

This place is always full of comedy. Where else can a post about a baseball stadium devolve into this type of bickering? — I hate to keep going in circles with Gixxer 1000 on a monthly basis, but his theories on housing demand and urbanism and the so-called millennials really seem like a stretch. As I’ve said what seems like 100 times before, if there was such a pent-up demand for downtown Miami housing, why has it taken 5 years to sell out a measly 25,000 (or whatever the number is; I keep forgetting) new condos in Miami-Dade? Real estate… Read more »

Poor and Unemployed

Since I never owned a condo before, I learned A LOT about them, their prices, their HOAs and the condo market. Yet I still sweated my purchase big time.

….but when all is said and done, it was just my dumb luck, that i was at the right place at the right time and I was willing to take the risk….
————
Overtheinfinity – Man! you need to see a shrink. This site can not help you much anymore.

Your story is like a broken record and infinity is a old building now.

owneratinfinity

Poor and Unemployed, Still waiting to hear about your Miami condo buying experience. Please share your story. I would love to hear about.

Gixxer1000

“Gixxer, the DDA report mostly indicates behavior in new condo buildings resulting from the sale of developer units.” Gables, We are talking about downtown. The over 22,500 units that they are talking about is over two thirds of all of the condos downtown. There were only 11,500 units built downtown between 1963 and 2002. The DDA report is tracking the additional 22,250 units built after 2002. These new buildings are the majority of the market. And as I pointed out before, 40% of the sales are resales. “Also, when discussing demographics and population behavior, you need to understand that your… Read more »

owneratinfinity

I have seen a trend to move out the burbs into the cities for the same reasons, I am one those peolpe that left burbs for a city. Today Oil prices passed $100 per barrel (highest price since 2008). The cost of gas is one of the major reasons why folks are moving to the cities to be closer to their jobs. Also, they want to cut down on their drive and spend more time with their families. Another trend is for some of the over built far out burbs where prices have dropped the most to get section 8… Read more »

Gixxer1000

Here is an article from yesterday with ULI CEO talking about development patterns over the next few decades: http://www.realestatechannel.com/us-markets/residential-real-estate-1/urban-land-development-urban-planning-urban-land-institute-exurbs-north-carolina-state-university-college-of-design-raleigh-department-of-city-planning-3917.php “Increased urbanization — More people now live in urban areas than rural ones.” “Echo boomers entering adulthood — The children of baby boomers, Generation Y, is starting to enter the housing market and workforce. “They are the most technologically connected generation in history – they are far more interested in social networking than cars.” Echo boomers and Generation Y are other names for Millennials. “Housing shortage — There likely will be a housing shortage over the next few years. Housing starts… Read more »

sobesecondhome

Interesting to see the statistics on downtown Miami. I’m curious as to how people see that market for second home buyers. I live in the Northeast and considered downtown / brickell for a 2nd home. However, after looking around, I thought it was still expensive: I ended up getting a 2 bed 2 bath in South Beach for mid 300s, whereas 2 bed 2 bath in downtown were still in the high 200s or low 300s. I thought for that kind of price differential, the beach had more value. Granted if I lived in Miami full time, I might want… Read more »

Joe

sobesecondhome — I agree 100%, and I’ve been saying the same thing here for several years. I still believe most of the high-end Miami Beach buildings are overpriced, which probably accounts for there being so little action in the high-end market there. But I’m really astonished that the spread between prices and carrying costs has narrowed so much between downtown and the beach, especially in the middle price segments.

gables

one big difference between downtown and miami beach is the age of the condos. the downtown condos are rather new. the midpriced miami beach condos are not as new. the luxury units are new, but in completely different price ranges from downtown. thus the premium on downtown units at this point in time narrows the spread. once the downtown buildings lose this new feeling-give it a few more years-the spread will increase. question is, will the spread increase by higher beach prices, lower downtown prices, or a mix? but you can be sure the spread will increase-the beach will always… Read more »

owneratinfinity

That’s right, however Brickell will ran out of land too (someday if and when another Brickell building doom hits).

You only have a few blocks to build west until you hit the the I-95 Highway.

I would think, building any new condo towers in Brickell west of I-95 would not be desirable since they would be too far west to any have type of water view of the bay.

owneratinfinity

Just FYI:

This is something I noticed from living on a high floor..

At a clear day, the sky looks very very clear when I look east to the bay/ocean from my unit.

However when I go to the roof top deck which is one floor above me on the 52rd floor) and look west the sky always looks hazy. I guess caused by pollution.

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