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Guys,
This new park is good news for brickell, however it’s too bad it’s not on the bay. However it is only 4 blocks from my building.
I like very much the very upscale Brickell park that is on brickell ave and 5th st. Its on the south side of Icon and right on the bay. There is no actually parking for the park, however I guess you could take your chances and park next to the park in one of many empty spaces behind the church south of the park. I have been there many times (via my bike) and it’s is very nice and clean and I have never seen any bums or homeless folks there. Plus if you follow the bay shore south there are more places to sit (benches) on the bay as you make your way to 8th street
Also there is another nice upscale place with benches on bay that is open to the public. It’s behind the JADE condo building between 13th and 14th street. That is only 3 block east from my building. Very nice and peacefull. I have been there many times and I have not seem bums or homeless peolpe there.
An expensive dog park that will be unusable after six months.
Whatever happened to the “Tibor Hollo park” that was supposed to go in the undeveloped lot on the bay at se 12th st? Did that just go away?
More green more better.
What’s in it for Hollo?
Two women stabbed at South Pointe Park; man arrested
If this happened anywhere in downtown, the trolls would have had a field day shouting from the roof top how dangerous downtown is. Now they must be grinding their teeth as they cant say anything. Crime can happen anywhere. So the most high heaven SOFI had an incident. Lets see what these guys have to say.
BY PARADISE AFSHAR
[email protected]
Two women were hospitalized late Saturday after they were stabbed at South Pointe Park in Miami Beach, police said.
The women, who were not identified, were walking with a blanket wrapped around them when Kidane Mengesha approached them and asked if he could get between the two, police said. When the women said “no,” Mengesha, 24, continued with his request and then reportedly pulled out a knife and stabbed both of the women, according to Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS 4.
One woman was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, and the other was taken to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
Mengesha was arrested shortly after the incident and charged with attempted second-degree murder and aggravated battery.
He was held without bond Sunday.
Why Bother:
Why are you putting this on a http://www.miamicondoinvestments.com blog? What in the world does this have to do with Miami Condos? This is news and people know how to read the newspapers. This has nothing to do with the Condo market in Miami. So I ask you, Why Bother?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9Nzqy0TBU
Reggaeton riot in miami.
Miami and Miami Beach have so many problems it almost impossible to stop it. Every large park has had at least one attempted murder or fatality. Getting out of control.
DML- Considering Lucas ran a story last year on the grand opening of South Pointe Park and the positive effects related to the South of Fifth condo market, it is in fact relevant to the Miami condo market.
why bother- Actually if you check the archives, much of the violent crime postings on this site had to do with South Beach crime, not downtown. Downtown/Midtown, etc has always had alot of crime so there’s no use posting info that is already common knowledge. The South Beach violent crime stories are interesting and relevant b/c that area has seen an uptick in murder/assault over the past couple of years. Murders in broad daylight and stabbings at a waterfront park bordered by multimillion dollar condos shows that something is wrong in South Beach- whether its the police’s failure to adequately patrol, the # of riff-raff crossing the causeway, criminal tourists, recessionary factors, or the city’s too-liberal approach to the homeless/mentally ill, there’s definitely been a change for the worse….and the reputation has suffered.
Here’s a great 2 bedroom/2 bath APPROVED short sale at The Bridgewater in North Bay Village. A corner unit with 1413 square feet of interior, direct water views and comes with 2 assigned parking spaces. $220K
http://sef.mlxchange.com/Pub/EmailView.asp?r=1158461662&s=SEF&t=SEF
Wild Bill.
you said, Reggaeton riot in miami.
Miami and Miami Beach have so many problems it almost impossible to stop it. Every large park has had at least one attempted murder or fatality. Getting out of control.
—> I did not go the concert however at around 11:30pm/midnight I was on the merto mover that was filled with tons of young kids just getting out of the concert. They seemed pretty happy and well behaved too me. So I guess they recovered very quickly after their riot at the concert.
—-> seeing how the Bayfront area was SO packed with peolpe and cars on Sat night, it made me very happy that I didn’t buy in one of those 4 condo towers on the bay across from the AA center.
Any of the condos across from AA would be quite undesireable IMO. How about during winter music conference or ultra when you’ve got giant speakers blaring techno music until all hours of the morning. I can’t imagine how badly the sound must echo off of those huge condo buildings right across from the park.
Drew – I have heard numerous concerns from residents of South Beach regarding the crime. Not surprisingly, more of the headline crime is not committed by residents…but that probably has always been the case. Was down there recently and it always strikes me as unconscionable that homeless/mentally ill/addicts are allowed to loiter like they do. It isn’t good for them or for the area. It, without a doubt, attracts and creates crime…whether petty theft type crimes, opportunity crimes against tourists, or allows other more sinister criminals to blend in. The “hanger outers” on the street are waiting to score to take advantage of someone or steal, not good. Washington Ave is sad and allows for a dangerous environment. Time to clean that area up it if the PTB want the area to prosper.
5 murders and several stabbings in less than 3 months in SB?
listening to some you would think major crimes happened only one week a year in SB.
I know there is a huge problems with the mentally ill, addicts and homeless that reside there year round. The crazed drug addicted homeless are there all year and they are a big problem. The MB police really needs to get a handle on the crime problem. People are not going to continue to shell out big bucks to visit a place where there is a perception of a crime problem.
Wow, the people here never cease to amaze me. As usual most people completely over sensationalize social issues and make judgments based on feelings and not facts. Like when your 1000 times more likely to die on the way to the airport then in the actual flight but yet people have no problem driving without a seat belt but are completely freaked out about flying. It makes no sense. Here are the murders for ALL of MIAMI BEACH over the last few years and the corresponding population:
2000
Murders 6
Population 87,933
2001
Murders 6
Population 88,158
2002
Murders 7
Population 88,892
2003
Murders 6
Population 90,486
2004
Murders 8
Population 91,540
2005
Murders 3
Population 93,535
2006
Murders 4
Population 92,145
2007
Murders 4
Population 93,721
2008
Murders 6
Population 94,040
Your talking about an average of 6 murders a year. In an area with over 90,000 residents. That’s .008%. And that’s only looking at residents. Once you consider that over a million people visit Miami Beach each year and only about 6 people die, those are pretty good odds. Especially when you take out the murders of people who were murdered by people they know. For example one of the murders this year was a murder suicide where a guy killed his wife before killing himself. That has nothing to do with the police or a security of an area. Once these murders are taken out that only leaves a couple murders left. Then people take these three murders and go crazy because of 2 of them happened in SoFi. Give me a break.
Here are the rest of the crime statistics for 2008
Murders 6
Rapes 405
Robberies 529
Aggravated Assaults 1,279
Burglaries 6,144
Larceny 792
Burglaries seem to be the only one that approaches any statistical concern. But I somehow doubt that the majority of these burglaries are at at private luxury condos.
In 2008 there were 4 car accident fatalities and in 2007 there were 12 car accident fatalities. If people are going to be afraid of being murdered in South Beach because of a couple murders a year then they should also stop driving in South Beach as well.
Gixxer 1000,
Your said:
For example one of the murders this year was a murder suicide where a guy killed his wife before killing himself
—> that happen in the building (Akoya) on the beach when I was renting before I brought my condo in infinity. It happen after I moved out.
—>what is the murder stats for miami zip codes (33132 – midtown) and (33129 and 33131 – brickell)????? Please advise.
“Miami and Miami Beach have so many problems it almost impossible to stop it. Every large park has had at least one attempted murder or fatality. Getting out of control.”
This is the type of over exaggeration that I’m talking about. And you might want to rethink what the word riot means. Nothing on that video even came close. Has anyone here actually lived downtown in a major city before???
A canceled concert, traffic, noise in a downtown major city. You mean downtown is not like the suburbs??? Well duh. I know this whole sky rise living is new to Miami but what did you think it would look like. You don’t buy a more expensive but smaller place downtown if you want to drive everywhere. Consider the traffic and parking that is there now a luxury because it won’t last. In NY I had to pay $450 a month to park my car. That’s the nature of living downtown. If you don’t like it then don’t live downtown. I remember people complaining that some condos only have one parking space with them! To even get one parking space included with the condo purchase in a downtown condo unit is a plus.
It’s obvious that most people here don’t understand downtown living. I know Brickell is a hip new neighborhood but it simply isn’t just another neighborhood now. With time the market economics present in every downtown will take over. As property prices increase it will make more sense to make a space another building instead of a parking garage. The Miami21 zoning restrictions will help but not much. It simple supply and demand.
You see people here complaining about condos being next to the highway??? Do you think developers are going to stop building because a highway is there? Of course not. Now that building will obviously cost less than a comparable building away from the freeway but that is the nature of the market. No sh!t you can hear noise from your balcony, what do you expect? A quite oasis in the middle of downtown?? That’s what the beach is for.
A quick look at a map and it’s obvious that Miami cant expand anymore. Population density is only going to increase. If you think 20 years from now Miami’s downtown is only going to be composed of the most luxury buildings you see now then you’re fooling yourself.
As the people move downtown, business will start to prosper. From MiamiDDA:
“Downtown Miami’s population growth is fueling a dramatic surge in commercial and retail activity, despite the fact that most markets across America are struggling. Recent research conducted by the Miami Downtown Development Authority found that 42 new net retail businesses opened in Downtown Miami in 2009, marking the third straight year that the district has seen 40 or more new net retail outlets open.”
The more the business prosper the more need and desire for even more people downtown. Soon traffic will be crazy and therefore more lower income people will need space to live while they work there. Before long downtown will be even more noisy and busy, what a downtown is supposed to be.
Hopefully this site will still be here so people can look back and see how ridiculous they were.
owneratinfinity,
Crime is recorded by zip codes, its recorded by police department. So I wouldn’t be able to tell you individual zip codes. But the downtown police department is the Miami Police Department and there were 63 murders in within the city limits. An annual report shows that 4.76% or 3 people were murdered in all of downtown. In Wynwood/Edgewater (Midtown) accounted for 6.35% or 4 people. Again by the time you take out people murdered by people they know or people murdered who were involved with a crime themselves they threat to the every day Joe is nil. Can some random act of violence happen, sure. But the odds are pretty much the same whether you live downtown Miami or Columbine, Colorado.
Gixxer 1000,
I don’t know what your nefarious goal really is, but your dogged pursuit of truth and objectivity seems to already have put Renter Tom out of commission. I’m hearing that the poor chap is in the deepest bout of depression, unable to hit the “Enter” key. The last audible words to have come out of his mouth were “Please find me a good realtor”. Then silence and blank stare.
If you continue in this vein, this blog may lose its most miserable and mindlessly repetitive contributors who are already visibly running out of energy. Fighting reality and common sense can only last for so long, and with you piling on with all the accurate information, the tragedy can strike at any moment.
Please show some mercy and lie too.
Gixxer, bravo to you my friend.
It’s refreshing to see someone who actually bases their arguments off of facts and logic. I’ve been going back a forth with a few friends (of the teabag party persuasion) on political issues recently, and it’s infuriating trying to reason with someone who refuses to be objective and relies solely on emotional talking point to support their views.
Gixxer posted:
“You see people here complaining about condos being next to the highway??? Do you think developers are going to stop building because a highway is there? Of course not. Now that building will obviously cost less than a comparable building away from the freeway but that is the nature of the market. No sh!t you can hear noise from your balcony, ”
——————-
Gixxer, you start your argument with a false assumption. Do you realize there are 4 comparable condos in that vicinity and the one right on top of the freeway is the condo that wants to charge the most and be considered the highest end of the 4 comparables? The argument isn’t about building a condo on top of a freeway, it’s about building the “highest end” condo on top of a freeway.
Also, you should provide a reference link when you post hard data like crime stats. I’m not sure if you got it second hand, but your Miami Beach data for 2008 is way off due to a typo error. All your numbers are off 1 row starting with “rape”. Rapes should be at 50 (not 405) and Robberies should be 405, etc.
I’ll post a FDLE link shortly to show how to get accurate city/county crime numbers.
Gixxer 1000,
I agree with f-35, it does seem since you joined this blog there are less carzy peolpe posting dumb and insane comments on this blog. Keep up the good wook.
It’s perfect day here in Miami, I am going to have a beer on my balcony and enjoy my view.
Gixxer 1000, “A quick look at a map and it’s obvious that Miami cant expand anymore. Population density is only going to increase. If you think 20 years from now Miami’s downtown is only going to be composed of the most luxury buildings you see now then you’re fooling yourself.”
That is very correct. A few miles to the west is everglades, water immediately to East and there is absolutely not much space north-south. It is very likely that this city will be a high density population center very soon.
F35, Even I noticed that. many champions of Miami RE doom are all silent. maybe they are busy house hunting? even i feel that we have reached a bottom (or may have reached a bottom 2 months ago). For good or for bad, we seemed to have stabilized at $200/sf for general new construction and the high end waterfront stabilized at about $300/sf give or take. Probably due to that reason, there is less back and forth on this blog. Everyone has come to terms with it I guess.
Understanding Miami’s Crime Stats.
1) Miami-Dade/Metro-Dade (the cars with the green stripe and portrayed in the “Bad Boys” movies) is the largest police force in Miami-Dade and has jurisdiction over unincorporated areas of Miami-Dade and the Port of Miami and the airport, although they quite often work with police forces of incorporated areas like the City of Miami.
2) After the Miami-Dade police force, the 2nd largest police force in Miami-Dade is the (City of) Miami police force.
3) Downtown Brickell falls within The (City of) Miami Police Force
4) The upshot is, it may be possible to be arrested in areas like Brickell by Miami-Dade police and show up as a Miami-Dade stat and not an individual city stat? I’m not quite sure if this happens.
Anyways, here’s a link to the 2008 FDLE Florida county/city crime stats. What you want is on Page 13.
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/getdoc/ffd59732-77f2-4ed6-a0c6-15088d831f44/CoMuOff2008annual.aspx
You will see data for overall Miami Dade County along with individual data for the Miami-Dade Police Department and also data for the (City of) Miami Police Department, Miami Beach, etc.
JL,
Ihave been trying to find a map of miami that shows the borders of the city of miami as oppsoed to miami-dade as a whole. nowhere on the internet could I find such map. Is there a map you know of that clearly shows the boundaries of the city of miami and other incorporated cities in the larger miami dade county map? anyone?
I LOVE Wild Bill’s ability to get worked up about the cute little park. Even though his rant is reduced to a single sentence, it’s still very impressive.
owneratinfinity,
let me quote you a Paragraph 101 from Wild Bill’s “How to whine about everything” worst-selling manual:
“What many consider to be a “perfect day in Miami” is actually a laser beam of harmful UV radiation. And drinking beer on one’s balcony only adds potential liver damage to already high risk of skin cancer. Which proves that your condo is still overpriced”.
JL,
“I’ll post a FDLE link shortly to show how to get accurate city/county crime numbers.”
Give me a break. You are correct, I missed the motor vehicle theft column and everything should be shifted over one. Considering all my numbers exactly match FDLE numbers you would think it would be obvious that’s where they came from. Why not simply say “hey I noticed you transposed the numbers wrong and should be this”. And by the way the MPD statistics I presented are from MPD (MPD sends UCR reports to FDLE). FDLE will only tell you what happened in that department. The information from the individual police departments like MPD tell you exactly what crimes happened in each district. Here is the link if it makes you feel better, it toward the end of the annual report:
http://www.miami-police.org/annual_reports.html
Here is what the numbers should have been:
Murders 6
Rapes 50
Robberies 405
Aggravated Assaults 529
Larceny 6,144
Motor Vehicle Theft 792
“The upshot is, it may be possible to be arrested in areas like Brickell by Miami-Dade police and show up as a Miami-Dade stat and not an individual city stat? I’m not quite sure if this happens.”
The information we are talking about are from part 1 Crimes and not part 2 Arrests. Someone who is murdered or raped or robbed is not arrested. You cannot be murdered in Brickell and have that count in an MDPD district. I guess maybe if you were murdered in Brickell and then the body was taken an dumped in an MDPD district it would then be counted under MDPD. But the same could be said for a body found in an MPD district.
JL – i think Gixxer was talking about “Blue” being next to the highway not Marquis.
Gixxer – yea – your right. This ain’t the suburbs and that is exactly why i want to be downtown. It’s the pace and the pulse and the convenience of no car and the walkability that appeals to me. Having lived in NYC myself – some people just won’t understand that appeal. Anyway with the new buildings having these hurricane resistant windows you would be amazed at how little if any noise you hear after you retreat to your apartment 30 or 40 storys or more up.
DJ – Don’t get me started on Teabaggers. These people in general and being egged on by Republicans have lost any sense of reason and have themselves whipped up into a state of delusion and pretty darn near mass hysteria. To hell with the facts lets just make up some shit, throw it against the wall and if allowed to dry for a few hours may stick. They seem like some of the average Joe’s in this blog who cry that the “Sky is Falling” almost wishing for a complete economic collapse to justify their belief that the world is about to end. Can’t wait for 2012 – Ha ha.
owneratinfiniti (#19),
I just watched the sun set over the water from my balcony, all while polishing off a few cold Blue Moons, a good cigar in one hand, and the Greatful Dead playing in the background.
Life is good.
The bears are not dead in Miami….just can’t post! For whatever reason….posts do not show up. Either a technical issue or censorship???
We are NOT at the bottom for housing prices yet in the Miami area! Fact. Wait and see…
Renter Tom,
where is your energy, your confidence, your fire in the belly, your quick trigger, your ability to concoct the most elaborate lies? What the hell happened to you, man?
“I’m not dead yet” – is that all you could come up with?
Pick up the slack, dude. Spin it like you mean it. Manufacture your own facts. Do whatever you have to, but please -por favor – entertain us more.
Apparently, if you don’t register, you can’t post. And even so, the posts still get waiting for moderation. That’s gonna be a downer for the blog in general.
DJ – You sure that was a cigar? Oh wait, this isn’t California.
Don’t let this happen to your neighborhood or condo…
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hemet30-2010mar30,0,7301923.story
“From bucolic bliss to ‘gated ghetto’
Hemet’s Willowalk tract was family-friendly. Then the recession hit.”
“Reporting from Hemet – The gated community in Hemet doesn’t seem like the best place for Eddie and Maria Lopez to raise their family anymore.
Vandals knocked out the streetlight in front of the Lopezes’ five-bedroom home and then took advantage of the darkness to try to steal a van. Cars are parked four deep in the driveway next door, where a handful of men rent rooms. And up and down their block of handsome single-family homes are padlocked doors, orange “no trespassing signs” and broken front windows.”
…..see link above for the rest of the article.
Renter Tom is right yet again….two years running, renting at 1/2 price, banking $80K AND avoiding the price declines of hundreds of thousands of dollars…..that’s real money folks, pretty soon, despite paying $35K-$40K per year in rent, the real savings is AT LEAST $250K+++ and I will benefit from any eventual price appreciation going forward. Just wait for the fed to stop buying up mortgages….23 hours and counting….
For whoever or whatever F-35 troll is (yeah, home prices are gonna just skyrocket tomorrow in Florida and esp. South Florida afterall Miami is hemmed in by the Everglades…..hahahahahahhahahahahahha…..yeah and I got some swamp land to sell ya, oh, and you know what, Miami has ALWAYS been hemmed in by the Everglade so what’s new people, duh):
FHA’s Florida fiasco:
“Nearly 18% of all FHA loans in Miami are delinquent, making it one of the most troubled locales in the nation.”
“NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — What the heck happened to the FHA’s loans in Florida?
The state dominates the list of troubled metro areas for Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages. In fact, 16 of the top 25 locales with the highest default rates are in Florida, as of December, with tiny Punta Gorda on the Gulf Coast leading at 22.7%.”
– For the rest of the article see:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/26/real_estate/FHA_defaults_Florida/index.htm
Renter Tom WAS right, but the little bonehead ISN’t right anymore. Even stopped clock is right twice a day – and so is Renter Tom.
It’s being right CONSISTENTLY that really counts, and on that front Renter Tom ain’t looking too good, because Tommy simply doesn’t know when to quit.
Yo, Renter, do you know when that 30% RE drop – from these levels – finally start?
I just cannot wait.
I love how Mr. Statistics, a.k.a. Gixxer 1000, posted massively incorrect crime data but then *still* pretended the incorrect, inflated numbers were nothing to worry about.
ONLY *405* RAPES in MIAMI BEACH!
(Actual number: 50)
ONLY *1,279* AGGRAVATED ASSAULTS IN MIAMI BEACH!
(Actual number: 529)
Surprise, surprise — It appears Mr. Gixxer 1000 has an agenda here just like the bears.
More wonderful news from the sunshine state..recovery? lolol
ECONOMY
Florida lags behind recovery
Two new reports suggest Florida is a straggler on the road to economic recovery, as consumers remain dour and home prices struggle to find their footing.
BY JIM WYSS
[email protected]
Florida’s consumer confidence took a hit and a key real-estate indicator slipped, as two reports released Tuesday suggested the Sunshine State is struggling to keep up with the national recovery.
On Tuesday, the University of Central Florida’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research said the state’s consumer confidence index in March fell two points to 70 — its lowest level since December.
While residents reported feeling more positive about their personal finances and the short-term outlook for the economy, they also said they were less willing to purchase major household goods and were more nervous about the long-term prospects of the economy.
“The decline in optimism is almost certainly related to persistent elevated levels of unemployment in Florida and the perception that jobs are neither secure nor widely available,” said survey director Chris McCarty in a news release.
While national unemployment flattened out in February at 9.7 percent, the jobless rate in Florida continues to break records, reaching 12.2 percent last month.
The survey is important because consumers represent about two-thirds of all spending, making them vital to an economic recovery. In addition, high consumer confidence levels are often accurate predictors of future shopping habits.
The Florida figures were in sharp contrast to national consumer confidence data, also released Tuesday, which jumped six points to 52.5 in March for the best showing since May of last year.
While the two figures are different indexes and not directly comparable, they do highlight how Florida’s weak real-estate and job market are weighing on residents’ psyches.
Also Tuesday, the much-watched Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index for Miami — which includes Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties — fell to 148.32 inJanuary, down 0.2 percent from December and down 6.7 percent from last January.
When adjusted for seasonal variations, however, the Miami index only dropped 0.1 percent from December.
By that same seasonal yardstick, the national index, which includes 20 major metropolitan areas, was up 0.3 percent, as 12 markets saw price increases.
But the uptick was not as strong as in months past and, combined with other housing news, paints a picture of a still troubled market, said David Blitzer, the chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s.
“Housing starts continue at extremely low levels, recent reports of home sales suggest the market remains difficult, and concerns remain about further foreclosures and a large shadow inventoryof unsold homes,” he said.
“We are in a seasonally weak part of the year, but given [the index] data reported today, we can’t say we’re out of the woods yet.”
Joe,
What do you not get about the fact that I simply copy and pasted the numbers wrong. I think its obvious I was looking at the same FDLE numbers. And I believe the main point was about murders which were correct. In contrast, in 2010 there have already been 61 reported rapes and 625 aggravated assaults in Manhattan alone, and their real estate seems to be doing fine.
After I posted the numbers wrong I pointed out that burglaries were the only one that was reaching a statistical level of concern and I was wrong it should have been larceny.
But regardless my opinion (as does yours) means nothing. My point was that the current level of crime is not at a point that would actually put downward pressure on markets like SoFi. As I scrolled through the crime statistics they have only decreased over the last 20 years. To be honest when you realize that there are only really one or two actual murders of random violence those numbers could triple or quadruple and it would still be considered safe. It’s like if you quadrupled the price of penny candy it would still only be 4 cents.
I have seen varying estimates for the annual number of people that visit Miami Beach. From “More than 1 million” to 8 million on on Miamibeach411. Regardless even if you were to use my *inflated* numbers you would have 2,219 murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults in an area with 1 million – 8 million people visit. Your talking about a .2% or a .02% chance without considering a portion of these crimes happen to people who aren’t innocent.
So you found me out. My secretly plot to inflate the market from DC office by posting here on MCI. It was the first step in an evil plot to force the market upwards and therefore send nonsensical people like you and Renter Tom into a deep depression.
Again you want to argue against me instead of argue against the fact. If the crime is so bad and is actually keeping people from buying in SoFi then show me something to support it. Because as I see it now, you’re more statistically likely to be killed in a car accident then murdered in Miami Beach.
WITH SO MANY GOOD REASONS TO CARRY BUSINESSES DOWN HERE, WOULD ANYONE FIGURE OUT WHY THEY DON’T?
QUALIFICATION OF LABOR FORCE MAYBE? LOLOL..
IN SFBJ TODAY
Miami among cheapest big cities for business
South Florida Business Journal
with new owner driving fast growth
Miami ranks as the third least-costly place to do business among 22 U.S. cities or metropolitan areas with populations exceeding 2 million, according to a newly released study by KPMG LLP.
KPMG’s 2010 Competitive Alternatives study measured 26 significant cost components, including labor, taxes, real estate and utilities, as they apply to 17 industries over a 10-year planning horizon, as well as data on a variety of other non-cost competitive factors. The study is designed to allow companies to perform a quick scan of areas to determine which is the least costly for them.
Miami had an index reading of 97 compared with a national average of 100. It scored particularly well with back office/call centers (90.6) and electronics systems testing and devleopment (90.7).
Miami benefits from low labor and transportation costs, the study said.
Tampa ranked as the least-costly place to do business due to competitive labor costs and moderately priced commercial real estate rates, followed by Atlanta, according to the study.
Among other locations that performed well in the study were Baltimore, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, St. Louis, Houston and Phoenix – all with business costs below the U.S. baseline. The most expensive big cities in which to do business were Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, according to the study.
“Our study offers a comprehensive guide for comparing business costs in the United States and contains valuable information for any company seeking a cost advantage in locating a business operation, especially in the current economic climate,” said Hartley Powell, national leader for KPMG’s Global Location and Expansion Services practice, in a news release. “Selecting the best site for a business operation requires balanced consideration of many factors, including business costs, business environment, personnel costs and quality-of-life issues.”
If anything, I think the fact that gixxer has said repeatedly that he’s thinking about moving here and buying a place, would signify that he obviously doesn’t have an agenda to try and boost the market. That makes no sense at all. If he did have an agenda, he would be one of the ones posting all doom and gloom stories in hopes that he could get a lower price.
Bottom line, if anyone thinks people’s comments here have any meaningful impact on the miami RE market, you’re nuts.
Publisehd in the NYT yesterday.
Nice plans..are they going to happen and take off? Only time will tell.
A SoHo Visionary Makes an Artsy Bet in Miami
By TERRY PRISTIN
MIAMI — The developer Tony Goldman is known for envisioning thriving and architecturally appealing neighborhoods where others see only desolation or neglect. He was a major force in the revival of SoHo and South Beach, and has invested his time and money transforming small stretches of Center City Philadelphia and the financial district in New York.
Now, Mr. Goldman’s effort to work the same magic in Wynwood, a former industrial neighborhood here just north of downtown and a mile and a half west of Biscayne Bay, is starting, slowly, to bear fruit. Since 2004, he has spent some $35 million to buy about two dozen buildings.
On a recent tour, Mr. Goldman pointed out galleries that have sprouted in brightly painted cinderblock buildings once used as warehouses by shoe manufacturers; a former junkyard that now houses a stainless-steel sculpture park; and a new restaurant, Joey’s, which is named for his son and draws a fashionable crowd. Mr. Goldman has always used restaurants, whether the Greene Street Cafe in SoHo or Lucky’s in South Beach, to get people to talk about a neighborhood.
To provide an incentive to restaurateurs, the Goldmans persuaded Miami officials to ease parking-space requirements. Now Joey’s is one of seven recently opened lounges and restaurants in Wynwood. “He’s the perfect neighbor for us,” said Mera Rubell, an owner of the Rubell Family Collection, which operates out of a Wynwood warehouse. “Not only did he buy properties here, but now he’s bringing life and activity to them.”
The latest buzz-generating addition to Wynwood is the eye-catching display of murals by prominent street artists that Mr. Goldman and the gallery owner Jeffrey Deitch commissioned in time for Art Basel, the annual art fair in Miami Beach that was held in December.
Mr. Goldman provided lodging for the artists, who included Kenny Scharf, Shepard Fairey and Os Gemeos, at the Park Central, one of two hotels he owns in South Beach, and provided the canvas — freshly painted warehouse walls between Northwest Second and Third Avenues — but did not pay them. “I wanted to know that they had a desire to be part of this collective project,” he said.
Mr. Goldman said he sensed Wynwood’s potential the first time he saw it. The area had a critical mass of similar-looking small-scale buildings, a street grid, sidewalks and structures built right to the property line — the essential ingredients for a signature Goldman neighborhood.
“Wynwood spoke to me right away,” said Mr. Goldman, who is based in New York but has offices in Miami, Philadelphia and Boston. “It had an urban grit that was ready to be discovered and articulated.” Another advantage was that the district could be redeveloped without displacing the surrounding Puerto Rican neighborhood, he said.
Mr. Goldman is not the first to invest recently in Wynwood, which stretches from Northwest 20th Street to Northwest 36th Street and from North Miami Avenue to Northwest Sixth Avenue. The Rubell family has displayed its extensive contemporary art collection on North 29th Street since 1993.
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, devoted to contemporary works owned by the real estate magnate Martin Z. Margulies, opened in 1999. David Lombardi, a local developer and broker, followed the next year and currently owns 40 properties in Wynwood.
Tony and Joey Goldman have chosen their properties based on their expectations about how the neighborhood would evolve, the elder Mr. Goldman said. “We are planting a forest where there was no visible foliage,” he said. “How a single planting pollinates to adjacent properties is part of the strategy.” He said about three-quarters of his buildings were leased, mainly to galleries.
In their next step, the Goldmans are developing a 14,000-square-foot performance studio in a warehouse on Northwest 26th Street for an arts group called the Miami Light Project; the space is to be shared by several nonprofit organizations.
Mr. Lombardi said Mr. Goldman’s experience and marketing skills had been a boon. “The best thing that ever happened to me was him coming here,” Mr. Lombardi said.
At 66, Mr. Goldman keeps a busy schedule, but his life took a new turn after he received a diagnosis of interstitial pulmonary fibrosis a few years ago and underwent a double lung transplant. Since his illness — and the slowdown in the real estate market — Mr. Goldman has spent much of his time consulting on projects like improving downtown Newark and rejuvenating Flagler Street in the heart of downtown Miami. “What cities are desperate for are ideas that are fresh and unexpected,” he said.
He is contributing his time to an effort to restore the Miami Marine Stadium, a 1964 structure that has been closed for almost two decades, as the centerpiece of a waterfront park.
In addition, Mr. Goldman is planning the next phase of a project in Center City Philadelphia that took 10 years but led to the revitalization of a seedy section between Chestnut and Walnut Streets.
Plans to create another SoHo on the Boston waterfront have stalled, however. Mr. Goldman, who generally avoids working with partners, was brought to the project by the Archon Group, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs. But Archon did not want to wait for the real estate market to recover, he said. “Their goals were shorter term than mine,” Mr. Goldman said. About half the buildings were sold.
Given Mr. Goldman’s track record — which includes the redevelopment of Stone Street in the financial district into a popular restaurant row — few people would bet against Wynwood’s long-range prospects. “He has a superrefined instinct for what creates a great neighborhood and the potential for commercial success,” said Neisen O. Kasdin, a lawyer who worked with Mr. Goldman on South Beach.
But there are challenges. Wynwood’s signature warehouses lack the architectural interest of SoHo’s cast-iron manufacturing buildings or South Beach’s Art Deco hotels. The side streets near some of Mr. Goldman’s properties are lined with shabby housing. Private guards patrol the neighborhood.
The glutted residential market means new housing is at least five years away, Mr. Goldman said. Mr. Lombardi, who sold all 36 units of his Wynwood Lofts condominium development five years ago, recently suspended plans to build a second condo building.
With SoHo and South Beach, the task was to preserve the “irreplaceable assets” that were already there, Mr. Goldman said. “Wynwood, on the other hand, is another story,” he said. “You virtually have to create a place.” Tony Cho, the president of Metro 1 Properties, a brokerage firm based in one of Wynwood’s converted warehouses, said the neighborhood was catching on with Miamians who found South Beach too touristy and expensive. “There’s definitely a demand for something that’s not South Beach,” Mr. Cho said.
Recently, a client of Mr. Cho’s, Moishe Mana, the founder of Moishe’s Moving and Storage, bought eight and a half acres of land in Wynwood for only $5 million.
“I think the Goldmans may have been a little early in buying,” Mr. Cho said. But Mr. Goldman said he always buys early and does not try to time the market. “That’s not my business,” he said.
Robert Kaplan, a principal of Olympian Capital Group, a mortgage brokerage firm in Miami, said the Goldmans had acquired better-quality properties than other Wynwood investors. “He obviously is way ahead of the curve,” Mr. Kaplan said. “He has a low enough basis to be able to hold them, make incremental improvements, and survive or do a little better than survive and be poised for the next move up.”
Mr. Goldman said he had sold only one Wynwood building so far but would probably sell a few others to reduce his debt. Still, he said he was prepared to stick it out in the neighborhood no matter how long the process took. “The work we do is not for the faint of heart,” he said.
DJ,
“If anything, I think the fact that gixxer has said repeatedly that he’s thinking about moving here and buying a place, would signify that he obviously doesn’t have an agenda to try and boost the market. That makes no sense at all. If he did have an agenda, he would be one of the ones posting all doom and gloom stories in hopes that he could get a lower price.”
Thank you for using common sense. I’m right now deciding between moving back to NY and attending Columbia or moving to Miami and attending UM, I was put on the waitlist at MIT 🙁 . I would LIKE HOUSING TO CONTINUE TO GO DOWN. That is what is in the best interest for me. But the market doesn’t care about what I want. I obviously think 10 years down the road this will be a distant memory like all recessions. I’m just trying to objectively figure out whats likely in the next 1 – 5 years which is when I’ll more than likely be looking to purchase a place that I’ll stay in for 10+ years.
Carlos,
Funny how you like articles that spin case-shiller as negative but I can play that game as well. Here a article that spins the same number as slightly positive:
http://therealdeal.com/miami/articles/s-p-case-shiller-home-price-declines-letting-up-in-miami-and-nationwide
But instead of listening to the spin just look at the numbers and decide for yourself:
Feb 09 154.28
Mar 09 148.87
Apr 09 145.77
May 09 144.59
Jun 09 145.37
Jul 09 147.27
Aug 09 148.91
Sep 09 149.69
Oct 09 149.09
Nov 09 149.08
Dec 09 148.66
Jan 10 148.32
The latest month to month drop was .2%. No that’s not 2% that .2%. Or 1/5th of 1%. And it is still of its low of 144.59 in May 09. I have repeatedly said that 2nd quarter 09 will probably be recorded as the bottom in the history books.
For those of you who don’t know what case shiller is, its an index that based of off January 2000 prices. So an index score of 148 means that prices are 48% higher than they were in January 2000.
Funny enough if you start with January 2000 and apply 4% appreciation every single year then you end up exactly at 148. So current prices are EXACTLY in line with an annual 4% appreciation. If you bought in January 2000 you would still be UP 48% even after all the declines.
Most of the doom and gloom people seem to only be able to look back to when the boom began. Anything before that they simply throw out the window.
Renter Tom keeps yelling about how renting saved him money, and considering he was looking at buying at the height of the bubble it did. But that doesn’t chance the fact that if he would have bought years earlier he would have still made money.
Carlos, a good portion of this article is from 5-6 years ago when expectations were really high for the area. It will take years and years but I am sure it will happen. We all hoped that it should be sooner. Life and reality plays its own game.
I still like the potential of the area. It is though for people with a lot of money who can wait.
Gixxer,
I have already told you: I respect your point of view even if you have never lived in Miami and knows nothing about it. You believe in published statistics which can be distorted according to interests. But if you actually lived here, you would be able to see what is true info and what is data to convince outsiders.
You are bullish and I am bearish ( or realistic ).
That’s all.
If you ever move down here, we may begin to discuss. Other than that, I rest my case.
I agree with DJ….this blog doesn’t affect the real estate market here in any measurable manner.
I have also said that we are much closer to the bottom than the top, but we are not at the bottom in the Miami area yet. There are more deals in SFH than condos, but if you can get it at the right price (assuming you research any HOA), then go ahead and buy. BUT what is the RUSH? Once we reach the bottom we’ll be there for a long time and the price increases will be NIL in REAL DOLLAR terms. THERE IS NO RUSH! Do NOT fall for that old sales line.
Also, as I have said, I am an END user who wants to make a purchase to occupy that will also be a good “investment”, that is, owner better than renting. As of now that is not the case at all as renting is far smarter…not even close.
Carlos,
How and why is data from U.S Census, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, MLS, MPD police reports, case-shiller home price index, IRS tax returns all manipulated to convince outsiders??? Either six people were murdered in Miami beach or they weren’t.
I understand that statistics can be manipulated, which is why I usually just post the statistics and not the spin that comes along with them. You can call a .2% drop in the case-shiller index a decline and be correct. I can say that the .2% drop is less than last months .3% drop and shows prices are stabilizing and still higher than the lows in May 09 and be correct. We can spin this good or bad but at the end of the day the index is still at 148 which means that January 2010 prices are 48% higher than January 2000. Whether you think that is good or bad is up to you, but its a fact, whether you live there or not.
Me living in Miami is not going to change my opinion. I make my opinion about Miami based off of the same information that I make my opinion here in DC. Facts and statistics. No amount of anecdotal information is going to change my position. If I only see on average 10 new lights on in condo building downtown and MLS says they sell 100 new condos downtown I’m going to believe MLS. If I see that everyone is broke in Miami but I see that the IRS tax returns show that 20% of the people are making good money them I’m going to assume I don’t know the 20%, but I’m not going think that they don’t exist because I don’t see them.
Gixxer 1000 — Here you go again with the Miami vs. Manhattan comparison. How many times do we have to tell you: Those two areas don’t even belong in the same sentence.
Further, don’t be a liar. It’s not clear *at all* that you simply cut-and-pasted the crime data incorrectly. Your original commentary was *clearly* based on the incorrect data.
Greener the better, bring it on!
First Fannie Mae, now Freddie Mac:
National flood insurance has lapsed again. The housing market is so dire the federal government has to keep all these failed programs.
What a tremendous failure real estate is. One big government sponsored and supported entity.
The FIRE economy stinks.
Oh my, right next door to Infinity.
MIAMI (CBS4) ― Miami police need help identifying the man in this photo who may have information on a sexual assault in Brickell.
Police want everybody who visits a trendy Miami neighborhood to stay alert; a woman was raped in her Brickell condo after being followed home from a bar. Surveillance video from that building was released Wednesday afternoon. Now, police want to know if you know the man in the pictures.
Detectives believe the man on the tape is making an exit just moments after raping a young woman in the Axis Condominium building in the popular Brickell area. Detectives have already viewed security video of the unwitting victim and her attacker – a stranger – entering the building and riding up the elevator to her floor, where he reportedly barged in as she opened her front door.
Police have now released the video of the suspect riding the elevator to the main floor and walking out the front door because they believe it is revealing.
“Whenever you have a video, you’re not only seeing an image but you’re seeing how the person walks, how the person carries himself. And a lot of times, that in itself, a person can be identified,” explained Detective Willie Moreno of the Miami Police Department.
The man is believed to have followed his victim home early Sunday morning. She had walked the short distance – only three blocks – from the Blue Martini bar in the nearby club and restaurant district.
The victim originally believed the man who boarded the elevator with her was a fellow tenant or guest.”
http://cbs4.com/local/sex.assault.brickell.2.1603906.html
Homeowners balk as property tax bills stay high
Homeowners say property assessments and taxes are staying high despite the housing crisis.
By Paul Wiseman, USA TODAY
Javier Hyland was furious when he got his latest property tax bill from Miami-Dade County.
First, the county put the value of his ocean-view apartment at $417,000. He can’t see any way the place is worth more than $400,000 after a meltdown in the South Florida real estate market. Worse, the county assessed his neighbor’s bigger, nicer, newer flat at only $407,000: “Is that fair?” asks Hyland, a pricing manager for a shipping company.
The property taxes in dispute amount to just $360. But Hyland, 37, is appealing his assessment anyway, even though it will mean trudging into city offices to make his case.
He’ll probably have to stand in line: 143,000 Miami-Dade property owners appealed their property tax bills last year. And Harvey Ruvin, the county’s clerk of courts, expects a similar deluge in 2010. Property tax appeals in the county hit 104,000 in 2008 compared with an average 40,000 in normal years.
From Florida beachfronts to Nevada deserts, fed-up homeowners are challenging property tax bills that have stayed high despite the housing crisis. Retiree Carol Schneider, 63, of Ferguson, Mo., never saw herself as a tax rebel: “In the past, I just paid my taxes whether I agreed with them or not,” she says. “But the last tax bill increased so much … I decided to fight it.” She prevailed, persuading St. Louis County to cut her tax bill in half.
Angry homeowners like Schneider and Hyland say their tax assessments and tax bills haven’t come down as fast as real estate prices in the worst housing collapse since the 1930s.
They’re right: Despite a real estate implosion, property tax revenue collected by states and localities actually rose 2.7% last year to $421.8 billion, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Property taxes have been a lifeline for flailing local governments, which collect more than 96%of property taxes. Toss them out, and the remaining sources of state and local tax revenue — including sales and income tax receipts — sank more than 9% last year from 2008.
“If you lose your job, (income tax) withholding stops. You stop buying cars and going out to restaurants,” which erodes sales tax receipts, says Donald Boyd, senior fellow at the Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, N.Y. “It doesn’t work that way with property taxes.”
What makes property taxes so different?
•Property taxes are often based on outdated market prices.
A lot can happen to housing prices between the time properties are assessed and the time the homeowners get their property tax bills. Some governments reassess property only every three or four years. Others wait even longer: “Utah once went 20 years without conducting meaningful reappraisals,” Federal Reserve economist Byron Lutz noted in a 2008 paper.
Overall, Lutz found that it takes three years for changes in housing prices to have an impact on property tax revenue. “The 2009 numbers reflect what was happening in city housing markets in 2007, maybe even 2006,” says Christopher Hoene, director of the National League of Cities’ Center for Research & Innovation. “They were still picking up some of the growth at the end of the boom.”
•Some local governments have raised property tax rates, offsetting falling home prices.
Some places automatically adjust tax rates to keep property tax revenue stable no matter what happens to real estate prices. Others have imposed tax increases to deal with budget shortfalls.
After years of rapid population growth, for instance, suburban Gwinnett County, Ga., raised its 2009 property tax rate by 21%. So, many Gwinnett County homeowners are seeing bigger tax bills, even though their home values have fallen.
Gwinnett County homeowner Scott Johnson, an executive at an Atlanta technology firm, says his home’s tax bill went up 15% last year, and its market value fell. “Is it any wonder that people are getting mad?” he asks. “I am going to try to appeal but don’t expect much luck.”
Gwinnett County is expecting 10,000 appeals this year, vs. 7,500 in 2009 and 5,000 in ordinary times, says county assessor Steve Pruitt.
•Most states limit how much property taxes can rise in a booming market. That keeps a house’s taxable value below its market value. In some cases, the gap remains even after housing prices have fallen. Which means some homeowners are seeing bigger tax bills for homes that are worth less than they were the last time their property taxes came due.
In 1995, for instance, Florida instituted a constitutional amendment limiting increases in the tax assessments on owner-occupied homes to no more than the consumer price inflation rate or 3% (whichever was lower).
After an exhilarating run-up and a gut-wrenching decline in housing prices, some homes’ taxable values are still below their market values, leaving room for higher tax bills. In Palm Beach County, for instance, 25% of properties will see an increase this year in their assessed values.
This at a time when existing homes in the county’s West Palm Beachand Boca Ratonwere selling for 4%less in February than they were a year earlier and 44%less than they were in February 2006, according to the Florida Realtorstrade group.
Unsurprisingly, Palm Beach County government has been hit with a surge in property tax appeals — from 5,477 in 2006 to 14,578 last year.
“It’s very hard to explain to the average Joe,” says Tom Barnhart, Palm Beach County’s director of appraisal services.
Confusing taxes
True, property taxes are bewildering to many homeowners. There’s confusion about where the taxes are coming from: Some areas pay special property taxes for schools or other government services. There’s confusion about the dates of the assessments and the way taxes are calculated through a maze of exemptions.
“We’re still in the dark about much of this,” says Kelly Alexander, a Princeton, N.J., homeowner who is contesting her tax bill after seeing her home assessed at $1.48 million, up from $1.1 million in 2001.
There’s also confusion — and anger — over what’s needed to contest a property tax bill. In determining a home’s value, local governments often want to see what comparable homes sold for — but only from the same time period when the tax assessments were calculated. If your home was assessed in January 2009, for instance, the local tax authorities don’t care that your neighbor’s home sold for a huge discount last week. And many local governments throw out distressed sales such as foreclosure auctions.
Pete Giancola, who owns an insurance agency in Deephaven, Minn., is poised to challenge his tax assessment this year. Scott County, where he lives, has warned that property assessments and taxes are headed up. “They’re saying my property went up 6%.”
So Giancola has been collecting sale prices for homes near his. Unfortunately, “50% of the data I’m gathering is for foreclosures or short sales” — in which the proceeds fall short of what the home seller owes the bank, he says. The county won’t consider distressed sales when it weighs the appeal, he says, exasperated: “We’re in a full-blown recession, for God’s sake.”
Pete Sepp, vice president for policy and communications at the National Taxpayers Union, estimates that 2% to 3% of homeowners appeal their property taxes and that 20% to 40% of them win. “The odds of winning some kind of reduction are better than most people perceive,” Sepp says. “If they knew that the appeal process was reasonably straightforward and that they had a fighting chance of obtaining a reduction, I imagine that many more folks would investigate further.”
Lawyers benefit
Specialty firms and law offices are lining up to help them.
Madison, Wis., tax attorney Don Millis says property taxes now account for “70% of what I do,” up from less than half three years ago. His clients are mostly businesses fighting taxes on commercial properties, but increasingly he represents upscale homeowners, too. He sometimes finds ways to persuade tax authorities to be more flexible in accepting sales in weak real estate markets. “Like beauty,” he says, “distressed sales are in the eye of the beholder.”
Seattle entrepreneur Charlie Walsh last year started ValueAppeal, a service that lets you go online for free to see whether your local government is overtaxing your home, based on whatever criteria are used in local property tax appeals. “The rules do vary from county to county,” Walsh says. “We spend a lot of time doing the research so the customer doesn’t have to.”
The firm has so far rolled out its services in nine counties in six states, looking for those that are overtaxing their residents. It plans to cover 50 more counties by the end of the year. If you have a case, ValueAppeal charges $99 for a report you can use to contest the tax bill. You get your money back if the appeal fails.
The tax appeals are putting strains on local governments already coping with a weak economy, dwindling overall tax revenue and budget cuts. Clark County, Nev., which includes Las Vegas, expects property tax appeals to reduce revenue by about $150 million in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
“There’s a disconnect between values and taxes at this point,” says Rocky Steele, assistant director of assessment services in Clark County. “Values went off the planet” a few years ago. “You’d see signs advertising houses ‘from the $150s,’ and they’d paint that out and say, ‘the $250s,’ and then paint that out and say, ‘from the $350s.’ ”
In 2005, the Nevada Legislature imposed limits protecting property owners from big tax increases, creating a gap between taxable and market values. Then Las Vegas housing prices went into a free fall — but some still haven’t fallen enough to close the gap and cut homeowners’ tax bills.
Overall, the gap between assessed and real values is now closing. And soon state governments will likely see property tax revenue begin to shrink. Fitch Ratings, which analyzes government debt, predicts “weakness in property tax revenues for at least the next two years.”
But for now, property taxes seem to defy gravity. And taxpayers across the country are hopping mad about it.
Minneapolis last year received an especially unusual appeal: one filed by the city assessor himself, Patrick Todd.
Todd decided to challenge his own office after it assessed an investment property he owned at $166,500. He’d bought it in 2008 for only $90,000. The assessors, he said, hadn’t realized it was a fixer-upper, not comparable to nearby homes in better condition.
Todd decided to drop the case when the publicity got too embarrassing. After all, only a few hundred dollars were at stake. “It was getting so much notoriety,” he says. “It was such a silly thing.”
He says the experience was educational. “I had never appealed. I actually learned how to do it. I went down. I filed my fee. I got the paperwork. It was relatively painless.”
TAX APPEAL TIPS
The National Taxpayers Union offers this checklist for homeowners planning to appeal a property tax bill:
•Make sure you’ve been granted all the deductions you’re entitled to.
•Check the deadlines for filing any paperwork and don’t miss them.
•Check the assessor’s facts such as math, description of your property, records.
•Consult experts for help.
•Find at least five comparable properties.
•Adjust for differences between your property and the comparable properties.
•Compare your property’s assessment with the comparables’ assessments.
•If your assessment looks unfair, lodge an informal appeal to the assessor first. If the assessor doesn’t agree, file a formal appeal.
•Attend an appeals board hearing to learn the process.
•Prepare a written summary.
•Rehearse your presentation.
PROPERTY TAXES OFFSET FALLING TAXES
Higher property tax receipts helped state and local governments offset tax revenue declines elsewhere (in billions):
2008 2009 Change
Current tax receipts $1,336.3 $1,263.1 -5%
Income taxes $302.4 $245.0 -19%
Sales taxes $443.9 $422.7 -5%
Property taxes $410.6 $421.8 3%
Other $128.5 $115.0 -11%
Taxes on corporate income $51.0 $58.5 15%
Property taxes were one of the two largest sources of state and local government tax in 2009 (in billions):
Receipts Share
Income taxes $245.0 19%
Sales taxes $422.7 33%
Property taxes $421.8 33%
Other $115.0 9%
Taxes on corporate income $58.5 5%
Total $1.3 trillion
Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2010-03-29-property-tax-assesments-protest_N.htm
In case nobody saw this article from yesterdays New York times.
Square Feet
A SoHo Visionary Makes an Artsy Bet in Miami
MIAMI — The developer Tony Goldman is known for envisioning thriving and architecturally appealing neighborhoods where others see only desolation or neglect. He was a major force in the revival of SoHo and South Beach, and has invested his time and money transforming small stretches of Center City Philadelphia and the financial district in New York.
Now, Mr. Goldman’s effort to work the same magic in Wynwood, a former industrial neighborhood here just north of downtown and a mile and a half west of Biscayne Bay, is starting, slowly, to bear fruit. Since 2004, he has spent some $35 million to buy about two dozen buildings.
On a recent tour, Mr. Goldman pointed out galleries that have sprouted in brightly painted cinderblock buildings once used as warehouses by shoe manufacturers; a former junkyard that now houses a stainless-steel sculpture park; and a new restaurant, Joey’s, which is named for his son and draws a fashionable crowd. Mr. Goldman has always used restaurants, whether the Greene Street Cafe in SoHo or Lucky’s in South Beach, to get people to talk about a neighborhood.
To provide an incentive to restaurateurs, the Goldmans persuaded Miami officials to ease parking-space requirements. Now Joey’s is one of seven recently opened lounges and restaurants in Wynwood. “He’s the perfect neighbor for us,” said Mera Rubell, an owner of the Rubell Family Collection, which operates out of a Wynwood warehouse. “Not only did he buy properties here, but now he’s bringing life and activity to them.”
The latest buzz-generating addition to Wynwood is the eye-catching display of murals by prominent street artists that Mr. Goldman and the gallery owner Jeffrey Deitch commissioned in time for Art Basel, the annual art fair in Miami Beach that was held in December.
Mr. Goldman provided lodging for the artists, who included Kenny Scharf, Shepard Fairey and Os Gemeos, at the Park Central, one of two hotels he owns in South Beach, and provided the canvas — freshly painted warehouse walls between Northwest Second and Third Avenues — but did not pay them. “I wanted to know that they had a desire to be part of this collective project,” he said.
Mr. Goldman said he sensed Wynwood’s potential the first time he saw it. The area had a critical mass of similar-looking small-scale buildings, a street grid, sidewalks and structures built right to the property line — the essential ingredients for a signature Goldman neighborhood.
“Wynwood spoke to me right away,” said Mr. Goldman, who is based in New York but has offices in Miami, Philadelphia and Boston. “It had an urban grit that was ready to be discovered and articulated.” Another advantage was that the district could be redeveloped without displacing the surrounding Puerto Rican neighborhood, he said.
Mr. Goldman is not the first to invest recently in Wynwood, which stretches from Northwest 20th Street to Northwest 36th Street and from North Miami Avenue to Northwest Sixth Avenue. The Rubell family has displayed its extensive contemporary art collection on North 29th Street since 1993.
The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, devoted to contemporary works owned by the real estate magnate Martin Z. Margulies, opened in 1999. David Lombardi, a local developer and broker, followed the next year and currently owns 40 properties in Wynwood.
Tony and Joey Goldman have chosen their properties based on their expectations about how the neighborhood would evolve, the elder Mr. Goldman said. “We are planting a forest where there was no visible foliage,” he said. “How a single planting pollinates to adjacent properties is part of the strategy.” He said about three-quarters of his buildings were leased, mainly to galleries.
In their next step, the Goldmans are developing a 14,000-square-foot performance studio in a warehouse on Northwest 26th Street for an arts group called the Miami Light Project; the space is to be shared by several nonprofit organizations.
Mr. Lombardi said Mr. Goldman’s experience and marketing skills had been a boon. “The best thing that ever happened to me was him coming here,” Mr. Lombardi said.
At 66, Mr. Goldman keeps a busy schedule, but his life took a new turn after he received a diagnosis of interstitial pulmonary fibrosis a few years ago and underwent a double lung transplant. Since his illness — and the slowdown in the real estate market — Mr. Goldman has spent much of his time consulting on projects like improving downtown Newark and rejuvenating Flagler Street in the heart of downtown Miami. “What cities are desperate for are ideas that are fresh and unexpected,” he said.
He is contributing his time to an effort to restore the Miami Marine Stadium, a 1964 structure that has been closed for almost two decades, as the centerpiece of a waterfront park.
In addition, Mr. Goldman is planning the next phase of a project in Center City Philadelphia that took 10 years but led to the revitalization of a seedy section between Chestnut and Walnut Streets.
Plans to create another SoHo on the Boston waterfront have stalled, however. Mr. Goldman, who generally avoids working with partners, was brought to the project by the Archon Group, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs. But Archon did not want to wait for the real estate market to recover, he said. “Their goals were shorter term than mine,” Mr. Goldman said. About half the buildings were sold.
Given Mr. Goldman’s track record — which includes the redevelopment of Stone Street in the financial district into a popular restaurant row — few people would bet against Wynwood’s long-range prospects. “He has a superrefined instinct for what creates a great neighborhood and the potential for commercial success,” said Neisen O. Kasdin, a lawyer who worked with Mr. Goldman on South Beach.
But there are challenges. Wynwood’s signature warehouses lack the architectural interest of SoHo’s cast-iron manufacturing buildings or South Beach’s Art Deco hotels. The side streets near some of Mr. Goldman’s properties are lined with shabby housing. Private guards patrol the neighborhood.
The glutted residential market means new housing is at least five years away, Mr. Goldman said. Mr. Lombardi, who sold all 36 units of his Wynwood Lofts condominium development five years ago, recently suspended plans to build a second condo building.
With SoHo and South Beach, the task was to preserve the “irreplaceable assets” that were already there, Mr. Goldman said. “Wynwood, on the other hand, is another story,” he said. “You virtually have to create a place.” Tony Cho, the president of Metro 1 Properties, a brokerage firm based in one of Wynwood’s converted warehouses, said the neighborhood was catching on with Miamians who found South Beach too touristy and expensive. “There’s definitely a demand for something that’s not South Beach,” Mr. Cho said.
Recently, a client of Mr. Cho’s, Moishe Mana, the founder of Moishe’s Moving and Storage, bought eight and a half acres of land in Wynwood for only $5 million.
“I think the Goldmans may have been a little early in buying,” Mr. Cho said. But Mr. Goldman said he always buys early and does not try to time the market. “That’s not my business,” he said.
Robert Kaplan, a principal of Olympian Capital Group, a mortgage brokerage firm in Miami, said the Goldmans had acquired better-quality properties than other Wynwood investors. “He obviously is way ahead of the curve,” Mr. Kaplan said. “He has a low enough basis to be able to hold them, make incremental improvements, and survive or do a little better than survive and be poised for the next move up.”
Mr. Goldman said he had sold only one Wynwood building so far but would probably sell a few others to reduce his debt. Still, he said he was prepared to stick it out in the neighborhood no matter how long the process took. “The work we do is not for the faint of heart,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/realestate/commercial/31goldman.html?scp=1&sq=miami&st=cse
Scriv
Foreclosure-Bombed Florida Courts Ask State Lawmakers for $9.6 Million to Install New Judges and Case Managers
Florida courts have been hit with a record backlog of home foreclosures and need $9.6 million to hire more judges and case managers, according to the Florida State Courts Administration.
The organization, which represents judges and all court personnel, is asking the state legislature for the money to ease the case backlog.
In a so-called judicial state like Florida, a foreclosure must get a judge’s stamp of approval.
DSNews.com reports Florida has been aptly dubbed one of the nation’s foreclosure hotspots, regularly posting foreclosure rates among the highest four of all the states for several years now – and its courts have a wall of foreclosure cases to back up those numbers.
A recent study by Barclays Capital concluded that Florida has one of the most swollen pipelines of foreclosure cases in the nation, with Miami in particular having liquidated just 18 percent of its delinquent loans – the lowest percentage in the country.
By comparison, Barclays said Las Vegas, which has the largest share of loans that are seriously delinquent, has pushed about 38 percent through liquidation.
Estimates from Florida’s court administrators put the number of pending foreclosure cases at 500,000.
According to the Palm Beach Post, it’s routine in Florida for foreclosures to take more than a year to settle, leaving properties to deteriorate, association fees to go unpaid, and families to be in limbo.
The newspaper says judges there fear that without additional resources to clear the cases, the bottleneck will continue to drag down home values, which aren’t expected to stabilize until the backlog of distressed properties can be moved through the system, DSNews.com reports.
“We want to be good partners in the economic recovery, not part of the problem,” Peter Blanc, chief judge of the 15th Judicial Circuit Court in Palm Beach County, told the Palm Beach Post.
“We want to get properties through the courts and back onto the market. The numbers are just overwhelming.”
The Florida Bankers Association in January succeeded in lobbying lawmakers to introduce a bill that would clear the way for non-judicial foreclosures unless the borrower requests an appearance in court.
Under the legislation, foreclosures could be concluded in as little as 90 days.
Scrivener,
Thanks for reposting.
See post # 43 and Lara’s comment on 46.
Any comment?
In my opinion, this would be nice, but it will take many years to come true, ifit ever will.
Maybe in 10-20 years.
Seems like another rumor project like the world center downtown or the baymarket at biscayne blvd.
Carlos:
I do not know how to judge this.
I agree that it will take a long time for this type of development to gain any sustainable traction because, to quote a phrase from the article, “transplanting” in areas such as this is a speculative bet at best. For any “transplant” to survive, it will need an environment conducive to its survival. I don’t know that this area of Miami necessarily has such an environment.
You can put up all the window dressing you like (murals, art galleries, etc.), but sustainable growth requires a community. Communities, unfortunately, do not develop over night – – a truth that is clearly playing out in the new condo developments. Moreover, this area will need commercial traffic from outside – – meaning a flow of consumers from surrounding neighborhoods. This too will take time.
Put another way, they will have to create demand, not just “buzz.” Another lesson from the housing boom is that “buzz” is temporary, demand, although variable, is both quantifiable and real.
This is not exactly a “nice” part of town, so convincing people to come there will take considerable effort. Furthermore, the project will be further challenged by its location. Why would people want to patronize a warehouse district rather than, for example, Brickell Ave where they could have a water view? Right?
Regardless, it should be interesting to watch.
scriv
Scrivener,
Totally agree with you.
Comparing it to SOHO in NYC is a joke. If we really were in Manhattan, that would be a sure bet.
Since it is Miami, it leaves room for way too much doubt.
Florida’s consumer confidence drops
South Florida Business Journal
Florida’s consumer confidence fell in March, by three points to 70, as the state’s bleak unemployment rate cast doubts about the long-term health of the economy and people’s ability to make major household purchases, according to a new University of Florida survey.
“The decline in optimism is almost certainly related to persistent elevated levels of unemployment in Florida and the perception that jobs are neither secure nor widely available,” said Chris McCarty, survey director of UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
Unemployment figures released this week show Florida’s jobless rate for February was 12.2 percent, the highest since the state began keeping track in 1970. It exceeded the previous record of 11.9 percent, set in both May 1975 and January 2010.
Most economists expect Florida’s unemployment to continue to rise over the next several months.
A disturbing trend is the elevated level of the long-term unemployed, those who are looking for work but have not found a job for 27 weeks or more, McCarty said. These Floridians are dependent on extended unemployment benefits.
JW ,
The rape in the Axis building is very bad for the brickell area and it’s horrible that someone would be that sick.
I looked at buying at Axis. Since they have like 500 units still to sell and they are NOT Fanmie Mae approved, they are only sell few units a month.
So the developer is renting their units directly to renters, (something that my developer is not doing in my Infintiy building). I noticed at when I was at Axis that there was a hugh amount of renters and their friends coming and going their their secutiy was not being a good job of screenning peolpe who go into the building. They need to work on their security big time.
Even though, my building is still only 20% sold and around 15% occupied, the security is my building is doing a good job screening peolpe, however lets see how well they do once the building gets filled up.
Young lady that manages my building runs a very very tight ship, if anyone can keep the security tight is this manager of ours.
However only time will tell and I hope this type of thing doesn’t happen in my building or any other building. Woman should be able to be safe in their condos.
quick question. its your favorite fiu student trying to find out some of my fellow bloggers input. I really like the wynwood/midtown area and i have been doing some research on condoreports.com regarding 2 midtown miami. Now i was looking at the recent sales and i noticed there is a buyer named ” DM midtown miami owner llc” . I noticed they own quite a few units.Is that a bulk buyer firm or is that developer? im asking cause most of my friends here in the university know nothing or even care about miami real estate?
Rapes don’t occur only inside condos. It may occur anywhere there’s empty land, parks, alleys, or inside vehicles. Some other victims living in the area may be too embarrassed or traumatized to come forward. To all the women living in Brickell, there’s a rapist among yourselves at bars or even living in your building.
The rape in Brickell reinforces the need to live in a nice, secure and safe building environment. But if the building is lax in its operation these can quickly become dangerous locations. Couple of years ago I looked at Brickell Lofts. Really liked the concept (one of few lofts in the area) but the building had no doorman and outside access to the units. Did not feel safe at all-although that was just a gut feeling. Otherwise i really liked the project. Large numbers of renters in a building also creates a big security problem for the front desk. Too many unknown faces changing on a monthly basis can overwhelm control of the system. I have no problem with strict rules by security regarding entrance, but many renters make life miserable for security and owners but feeling the rules dont apply to them.
the Wynwood project appears interesting. the story starts by stating the success stories of Goldman to illustrate why the project would succeed. I would be interested in knowing if Mr. Goldman has been involved in failed projects as well. Like to bet on my horses after i see their past performances without the filter of success.
owneratinfinity:
How do you like your bldg. so far? I have a friend that is moving to Mia. w. family and is looking in that area to buy.What is the average price per sq.ft? how expensive is HOA?,Good to hear that safety is good,but as you said ;for how long??
Palapa,
You said,
owneratinfinity:
How do you like your bldg. so far? I have a friend that is moving to Mia. w. family and is looking in that area to buy.What is the average price per sq.ft? how expensive is HOA?,Good to hear that safety is good,but as you said ;for how long??
–> so far I like the building and after doing 2 years of research I picked infinity cause it was the best value for the money for what I was looking for. It’s was the least expensive new condo on the highest floor (50 and 51) in the best area with the BEST view.
—> right now the building is only 20%, sold however the developer is selling 15 per month which is very good. Most of the sales are cash deals (although you can obtain finiancing with 20% down and good credit since the buiding is fammie mae approved. I git a 5% fixed interest rate for 30 years). Alot of the cash buyers are investors that bought the smaller lower floor units that face west. This means there will be alot of less expenive rentals in the building at least for the next 5 years until the condo prices go up and the investors sell the units –
—-> however the building management is very very good so I hope they can contol the renters so the building doesn’t get too beat up. However all this middle of the road new condo buildings are loaded with renters so there is not much you can do about it.
—-> an issue that I am working on (which is not problem for most people) is the issue that there is a business on the street below my building that have music coming from their outside patio speakers that gets louder on the weekend nights, so that we can hear it in our condos (but only if we have our windows open). The city has an existing zoning noise rule that they are not enforcing all the time, however once it’s enforced we will not be hearding the music anymore with our windows open.
—-> yesterday morning I had a meetung the City Commissioner, the police and the code enforcement group at city hall to review the current zoning noises rules. They are aware of the noise problem near my building and in other areas of the city and they are doing a better job of enforcing the current zoning noise rules near my building, however I will contine to monitor the noise issue near my building and I will continue to work with the city until if get resolved for good. – NOTE the noise frron this place below my building is somethng that I don’t like, howver most peolpe would not be bothered by it, I want the city to enforce their exisiting zoning noise rules that all. My building l is 4 blocks away from Mary Brickell Village so it’s much queiter then living in a condo in Mary Brickell.
—> Right now the HOA fees like 43 cents per sq foot, however I am sure they will go up somewhat, to maybe 55 per sf once the developer is gone and the assoc takes aother the building. Most building like infinity have HOAs around .55 or so sf.
—> when I brought my condo like 5 months ago, I paid $220 per square foot, but I noticed in Jan and Feb they sold most units for $200 per sf. Then in mar they sold most units for around $250 per sf. I learned yesterday from various sources that the investor that bought the buildings contruction loan from the FDIC (Starwood Captial Group) has raised their prices, which is sort stange considering the building still is 80% unsold. But lets see what they sell them for in April.
—> the good thing is, regardless of what floor you want or wether you want a west or a east view the developer is charging the same price per sf. So I would suggest that your friend considers a condo in the building on one of the top floors facing east – thats is what I did. These condos have azaming views and they are best value for the money that I could find my all of miami and miami beach. Also the tops floor have access to the roof deck (which has both east and west views)
—-> here is a link to a site that has pictures of the building. Let me know if you have any other questions. I have the same view facing east that the roof deck has.
owneratinfinity:
Your info. is greatly appreciated by my friend and myself!!Thank you so much.