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LeBron James and Dwyane Wade Make Their Decision

October 1, 2010 by Lucas Lechuga
In today's Miami Real Estate Review episode, we discuss a report released by The Palm Beach Post stating that LeBron James of the Miami Heat has recently placed a tri-level home in Coconut Grove under contract.  We also reveal inside information that was disclosed to us last week that Dwayne Wade has signed a one-year lease on a 59th floor penthouse at 900 Biscayne Bay.   We close the show by highlighting a few housing statistics.

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Paul

Testing testing 123 testing…….is there anybody writing in to this blog?Or is there a technical problem? Please can someone let me know. Thank’s

Paul

WOW….I can’t believe this?????

Joe

I’m still here. We’ve debated Miami r.e. a thousand times here already, so it’s no surprise the comment volume has dropped off. Can’t really expect the bulls or bears to change their minds week to week. Just like the U.S. economy as a whole, the Miami r.e. scene is in for a long, slow recovery. No two ways about that.

Paul

Thank you Joe, I was starting to wonder if I was writing to myself.I thought things were picking up as a whole in the Miami R.E. Condo market….but I’m really beginning to wonder.I would hate to buy NOW and find out that the prices dropped another $25-$50 @ sq. foot in 6 months from now.What do you think Joe.I’m sure that there are some real GOOD DEALS around…but in general it still looks a little bleak out there.

Joe

Paul — I’m not in Miami right now, so I’m not in a position to talk about deals, time to buy, etc. I’m sure there are “deals” right now in the sense that the current price is much less than the peak, and maybe even much less than other comparable units on the market right now. The things that worry me about Miami are more of a general nature and not a unit-by-unit nature: (1) there’s a huge backlog of foreclosures still in the pipeline; (2) a lot of condos that were advertised as being “upscale” and “exclusive” have now… Read more »

Joe

Paul — I got distracted with emails and ended up not only burying but omitting the lede. My No. 1 concern with the Miami r.e. market is the U.S. economy. I simply can’t see how boom times can return to Miami while the U.S. economy languishes (if not trends back in the wrong direction). I don’t see how a jobless “recovery” can even remotely lead to any sort of short-term r.e. appreciation. A few years ago, appreciation would cover a person’s buying and selling costs within 2-3 months of moving in. But these days, with such narrow margins, the front-end… Read more »

Paul

Joe, those are true word’s of Wisdom there.When looking at the whole picture as you explain it….it REALLY REALLY makes a lot of sense.I thought we were almost at the bottom…but I can see we have a long way to go yet.Even though I was looking at the 5 yr. minimum picture.I am going to wait for more foreclosure’s to hit the market first before jumping in.Thanks Joe

Gixxer 1000

Paul, The problem with this “whole picture” approach is that real estate is local and differs from city to city and even neighborhood to neighborhood. Joe is looking at the entire market as a whole. That’s alright if you want to argue on a blog about where the overall entire market is going. But it does nothing if you personally want to buy a condo in a specific building. Even Joe admits that there are probably units that you can get that have already decreased in price and are even less that comparable sales. If you’re looking at a specific… Read more »

Gixxer 1000

Joe, “A few years ago, appreciation would cover a person’s buying and selling costs within 2-3 months of moving in. But these days, with such narrow margins, the front-end and back-end transaction costs could leave a person in the red even after holding a property for 2-3 years (or more).” This really shows how shortsighted your view of real estate is. That was the problem with the market. If you can make a profit withing 2-3 months of buying then basically everyone should buy regardless of their personal income or credit score. Since your buying a unit at market rate… Read more »

Gixxer 1000

Here some market information specific to Miami. Here is condo supply at the end of September: Total Condo supply 16045 units/1181 units per month = 13.59 months Under $200k 8227 units/839 units per month = 9.81 months (51% of market) $200k – $299k 2226 units/131 units per month = 16.99 months (14% of market) $300k – $399k 1491 units/61 units per month = 24.44 months (9% of market) $400k – $499k 949 units/35 units per month = 27.11 months (6% of market) $500 – $749k 1235 units/51 units per month = 24.22 months (8% of market) $75k and up 1917… Read more »

Joe

Gixxer 1000 — I specifically told Paul above that there are probably some deals out there for people who are confident they won’t need to sell for the next 4-5 years. It was kind of odd that you jumped in to disagree with my overall comments but then took a SEVEN-YEAR outlook (instead of my 4- or 5-year outlook). (Which one of us is the bear again?) As for your second rebuttal comment above, I don’t have a “short-sighted view” of real estate. I simply don’t think it’s a great idea to jump into ownership when the transaction costs alone… Read more »

owneratinfinity

Paul, You mentioned in your post the following “I thought we were almost at the bottom…but I can see we have a long way to go yet” —-> I think we have a long way to go to hit the bottom is incorrect, in fact I think at least for my infinity at brickell building I bought my unit at or near the bottom (end of 2009) —-> Since I bought my condo from the developer, he sold many many other units like mine for $30-50 more per sq feet then I paid. —-> in fact today I had my… Read more »

Joe

owner at infinity — Man, you’ve turned into a broken record. How many times are you going to tell us “I paid the least for my unit … on the highest floors … with a killer view” blah blah blah? You’ve been very clear that you intend to keep the unit for years and years, so your situation has little or nothing to do with that of an average buyer, for whom appreciation and resale are important. That aside, you’re refinancing your mortgage after less than a year of ownership and you’re financing the costs? You might have gotten a… Read more »

Poor and Unemployed

Owneratinfinity Wow! Man! You are the smartest and greatest. You must be advising the moronOMAMA on how to keep the prices up! At bottom in 2009??? Are you kidding me? So now they let the deadbeats to stay in their homes which they do not own for free for next few years……. Right? How does having a deadbeat welfare recipient as a next door neighbor, who does not pay taxes and mortgage? Will that be a luxury condo in a affluent neighborhood with a great view? Are you panicking? If I were you – I would put the apartment on… Read more »

owneratinfinity

Joe, I was directing my info to Paul who has not heard my story before not to you. Paul is new to the site, for what I can tell, so I was trying to be positive about how there are deals out there and that I don;t think the prices will continue to drop on non-repo/short sales units. Some of your comments didn’t much sense so I will say it again My total costs to refi are $4500 which is worth it to me since I am rolling them in the mortgage and because the reasons I am doing a… Read more »

owneratinfinity

Poor and Unemployed Says: You said: “At 3.75% it is free money! Please, please, please tell us which bank is giving 3.75% APR fixed rate mortgages?” —-> here is the link to the wells fargo web site, see that the 15 year fixed rate is 3.625% interest rate (3.943% APR) with 1 pt orig (however due to my excellent credit score and my very low debt to income ratio I got wells fargo to give me a free relock today so got 3.625% interest rate (3.943% APR) with .5 pt orig). https://www.wellsfargo.com/mortgage/rates —-> Now concerning the rest of your crazy… Read more »

Joe

owner at infinity — As I said above, the mortgage market hasn’t changed that much in 10 months, so you should have done the 15-year mortgage last year if that’s what you wanted to do. Yes, you might “save” in the long term, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re doing a refi of a 10-month-old loan at a cost of $10,000 (after financing the charges over 15 years). — I said: “The mortgage market hasn’t changed that much in 9-10 months.” owner at infinity replied: “when I orig bought the place it apprised for $9,000 more then I… Read more »

Joe

owner at infinity — By the way, what’s going on at Infinity? According to Lucas’ info., Infinity is a 480-unit building, but there have been *no* recent sales, only one unit is available for sale, and less than a dozen are available for rent. How did your bank even do the comps? Unless Lucas’ web site is missing a lot of sales, something seems odd here.

owneratinfinity

Joe, you said, Beyond that, if great deals are so plentiful right now, why don’t you sell your unit and buy a different one? If everything you said above is true, you should be able to make a quick $35,000 or more in profit (less transaction costs) by flipping your unit. Bank appraisals don’t mean much; actual sales tell the story. —–> The developer sold 9 Condos just like mine recently for 30K to 40K more then I paid for mine, So those were actual sales so that tells the story, Those units were my comps and that is how… Read more »

owneratinfinity

Joe Says: you said: owner at infinity — By the way, what’s going on at Infinity? According to Lucas’ info., Infinity is a 480-unit building, but there have been *no* recent sales, only one unit is available for sale, and less than a dozen are available for rent. How did your bank even do the comps? Unless Lucas’ web site is missing a lot of sales, something seems odd here. —-> I am tried of typing so this is my last comment tonight – OK? —-> You need to start looking at other re sites then just this one —–>… Read more »

Joe

owner at infinity — What percentage of Infinity has been sold (and/or what % is still held by the developer)? I’m not doubting your numbers, but it seems odd that you’ve been there for almost a year, but there are no recent non-developer sales and only one non-developer unit is *available* for sale.

owneratinfinity

Joe, You said: Owner at infinity — What percentage of Infinity has been sold (and/or what % is still held by the developer)? I’m not doubting your numbers, but it seems odd that you’ve been there for almost a year, but there are no recent non-developer sales and only one non-developer unit is *available* for sale. ——> First The building is new and closings started in 2008, however most of them were sold in 2010 and late 2009. ——> the building has 459 units and 156 units have been closed, the developer has 303 units left to sell. Some of… Read more »

George

Joe,
See link below re Infinity at Brickell
http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/101007/story1.shtml

Joe,

Infinity at Brickell recently lost its Fannie Mae approval status. That has probably contributed to the slow sales there. As George’s link points out though, Fortune Internatiional Realty recently took over sales. Maybe they can help rejuvenate sales.

owneratinfinity

Lucas, As of today per the fammie mae web site, Infinity at brickell still has Conditional Approval from Fammie Mae until Jan 2011. Here is the link to it https://www.efanniemae.com/syndicated/documents/dps/condopud/FL.pdf Its my understanding that “conditional approval” means that conv loans can be done on the building until Jan 2011 and famnie mae will buy them. However if Infinity doesn’t meet the outstanding conditions by Jan 2011, they will lose their Fammie Mae approval. However maybe they already lost the Fammie Conditional approval and Famnie Mae wasn’t updated their web site yet. I don’t understand this 100%. But it does not… Read more »

owneratinfinity

Lucas Lechuga Says: owneratinfinity, I heard directly from a sales person at Infinity a week ago. —> Ok, then Fammie mae has not updated their web site yet —-> plus the developer doesn’t need the building to be Famnie mae approved anymore, since forture will be selling the rest of building to south americans who are all cash buyers. —> the 1060 brickell ave building wasn’t fammie mae approved when Forture sold it out and that was not an issue since all the south american buyer paid cash. —> I am so just glad that I bought my place when… Read more »

Joe

owner at infinity (and others) — Thanks for the info. above. Very interesting.

I’m really surprised Wells Fargo is assuming a $35,000 appreciation has occurred on “owner at infinity’s” unit when only a third of the building has been sold. “owner” must have gotten a great deal and/or he has enough skin in the game that Wells doesn’t consider it a risk.

Anyway, “owner’s” other comments basically confirm what I’ve been saying. If the average Infinity unit had appreciated anywhere near $35,000 in the past year, a lot more than *one* out of 150-plus owners would be trying to flip their units.

owneratinfinity

Joe You said: owner at infinity (and others) — Thanks for the info. above. Very interesting. —-> You are welcome , Gald I could help I’m really surprised Wells Fargo is assuming a $35,000 appreciation has occurred on “owner at infinity’s” unit when only a third of the building has been sold. “owner” must have gotten a great deal and/or he has enough skin in the game that Wells doesn’t consider it a risk. —–> just fyi wells fargo does’t have their own apprisers, they use a third party apprisal company, that assigns an indepentant appriser to do the apprisal.… Read more »

Joe

owner at infinity said: “I think many peolpe think it’s impossible to get a loan on a condo these day, however it’s not, you just need a condo building that a lender will loan on, a good apprisal that shows that the condo is worth the purchase price, excellent credit, 740 or more FICA score, low debit/income ratio, a job with income enough to qaulify and 20% down cash. That is it.” — Well, that’s a long list in the current U.S. economy, and you didn’t even mention the biggest hurdle facing most potential buyers: The need to sell their… Read more »

owneratinfinity

joe said Well, that’s a long list in the current U.S. economy, and you didn’t even mention the biggest hurdle facing most potential buyers: The need to sell their existing home, which might be underwater and/or could take months/years to sell in such a stagnant r.e. market. —-> thats was not my problem – i sold my last home (house) almost 3 years old for full asking price, the first day it was on the market – cause i priced it right – i custom built it in 2000 and never took money out of it and had a 15… Read more »

gables

as i’ve said over the past couple of years, brickell condos purchased for around $200 sf are a reasonable buy. this is why owner at infinity will do just fine. I can’t see the nice buildings dropping below $150 in even worst case scenarios. After 6 or 7 years, a condo at $200sf will not be a financial burden. But you can see how difficult it is to move these condos even around that price point. not easy to get loans and typical owner occupiers cannot access the cash only buy-either because they do not have cash or its tied… Read more »

owneratinfinity

gables, You said But now that we are getting into the mess of foreclosure legality, things could get interesting. The moratorium will reduce the supply of condos and possibly provide a little price boost. But this foreclosure mess may get very bad and keep many of these units off the market for years! how that will affect HOA will be interesting. not only did the bankers loan to anybody breathing, but they could not even accurately and legally keep track of the paperwork. this is going to create to separate classes of properties in miami-and two different RE markets for… Read more »

Poor and Unemployed

Hello Ownerat infinity, Couple of things. What is the value of your condo. Is $35K increase in appraisal – is it 1% higher or 50% higher than purchase price? Most inmportant question – Do you work for the developer? As we all know about the people camping on the street for 3 days to buy a condo in Miami and subsequent urban myths about the guy in the front flipping the condo within 10 mins to the guy in the back for clean 150 K profit. We read in Miami Herald about the riot police being called because the developer… Read more »

owneratinfinity

Poor and Unemployed Says:

Sorry I just lost a long reply back to you, explaining in detail what I do for a living etc and that I have nothing to do with the developer and that I like the mortgage business and it’s hobby and I got the same 3.625 with .5 pt orig for my refi for 15 year fixed.

I am not hiding nothing, I have been 100% honest on this site, however if you don’t belive me then tough shit. And if you don’t find value in my comnments then just skip over them.

Poor and Unemployed

Ha! Ha! Ha! Dog ate my homework! I would live to make mortgage business my hobby. Only if they would give me those 125% mortgages now.

Take care man. Be happy.

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