Top 5 Distressed Condo Sales Closed in January 2010

Below, you will find what I believe to be the five best condo deals of the 66 distressed sales that closed in January 2010 in the MLS located in Brickell, Brickell Key, Downtown Miami and the Arts District.

1. Ten Museum Park #1905 – 1 bedroom/1.5 bath (791 square feet) – This unit sold for $137,000, or $173 per square foot, on January 11, 2010.  Short Sale
2. Neo Vertika #PH226 – 1 bedroom/2 bath (1,155 square feet) – This unit sold for $158,000, or $137 per square foot, on January 11, 2010.  Foreclosure
3. Parc Lofts #206 – 2 bedroom/1 bath (1,267 square feet) – This unit sold for $122,000, or $96 per square foot, on January 8, 2010.  Foreclosure
4. The Club at Brickell Bay #1506 – 1 bedroom/1 bath (825 square feet) – This unit sold for $108,000, or $131 per square foot, on January 15, 2010. Foreclosure
5. Solaris at Brickell #806 – 1 bedroom/1 bath (754 square feet) – This unit sold for $120,000 or $159 per square foot, on January 29, 2010.  Foreclosure

Miami Super Bowl Condo Rental

A friend of ours has a furnished 2 bedroom/2 bath condo that he would like to lease the week of Super Bowl XLIV.  It’s an upgraded corner unit with 1,204 square feet of interior space plus a 164 square foot wraparound balcony located on the 16th floor.  The building is located in Brickell within walking distance of the shops and restaurants at Mary Brickell Village.  Starting and ending dates are flexible.  Asking price for the entire week is $2,500.

Rentals Now Available at Icon Brickell II

I was notified yesterday that rentals are now available in tower 2 of Icon Brickell.  Tower 2 is the southeast tower of the Icon Brickell development.  The units are renting fast!  56 rentals were made available on Saturday and as of yesterday 15 had already been rented.

Below, you will find the floor plans that are available along with the starting prices.  The rent price includes 800 channels of cable, high-speed Internet, one parking space, water and a health club membership.  Pets are NOT allowed.

Call me at 305-428-3860 or email me at [email protected] if you would like to schedule a showing.

• H floor plan – 1 bedroom/1 bath – 732 square feet – starting at $1690
• G floor plan – 1 bedroom/1 bath – 984 square feet – starting at $2000
• G-Rev floor plan – 1 bedroom/1 bath – 1035 square feet – starting at $2100
• E floor plan – 2 bedroom/2 bath – 1327 square feet – starting at $2750
• C floor plan – 2 bedroom/2 bath – 1500 square feet – starting at $2850
• B floor plan – 2 bedroom/2 bath – 1503 square feet – starting at $2950
• D floor plan – 2 bedroom/2 bath – 1600 square feet – starting at $2500

There currently aren’t any studio or 3 bedroom rentals available.

Top 5 Distressed Condo Sales Closed in December 2009

Below, you will find what I believe to be the five best condo deals of the 59 distressed sales that closed in December 2009 in the MLS located in Brickell, Brickell Key, Downtown Miami, and the Arts District.

1. Uptown Lofts #1005 – 1 bedroom/2 bath (1,280 square feet) – This unit sold for $135,900, or $106 per square foot, on December 4, 2009.  Foreclosure
2. Cite on the Bay #3304 – 1 bedroom/1 bath (797 square feet) – This unit sold for $107,000, or $134 per square foot, on December 16, 2009.  Short Sale
3. Solaris at Brickell #1001 – 2 bedroom/2 bath (1,145 square feet) – This unit sold for $182,000, or $159 per square foot, on December 23, 2009.  Short Sale
4. Latitude on the River #2407 – 1 bedroom/1.5 bath (899 square feet) – This unit sold for $148,000, or $165 per square foot, on December 4, 2009. Short Sale
5. 2 Midtown #M0707 – 2 bedroom/2 bath (986 square feet) – This unit sold for $165,000 or $167 per square foot, on December 7, 2009.  Foreclosure

Brickell & Brickell Key Closed Condo Sales – November 2009

Click on the links below to view the condo sales in Brickell and Brickell Key closed  in November 2009:

Brickell Closed Condo Sales – November 2009 – There were 30 closed condo sales in Brickell last month.  The average sales price of these condos was $243 per square foot.  I was surprised to see that a one bedroom condo at Skyline on Brickell sold for $334 per square foot.

Brickell Key Closed Condo Sales – November 2009 – 10 condos in Brickell Key closed last month.  These sold at an average sales price per square foot of $258.  Here I was shocked to see that someone would be willing to pay $294 per square foot for a unit at Isola, especially one with carpeting.

Completely Renovated Townhouse at Atlantis on Brickell

I remember walking through unit 306 at Atlantis on Brickell towards the end of 2007.  The place was a disaster!  Flooring was ripped out, walls were horribly damaged, mold was evident in a few of the rooms and the kitchen and bathrooms badly needed to be updated.

Unit 306 is a 4 bedroom/4 bath two-story townhouse with 2,628 interior square feet.  In 2007, when the unit came onto the market as a foreclosure, the unit was listed for $799,900.  After eight price reductions and a little over nine months later, the unit sold for $415,000, or $158 per square foot, on February 29, 2008.

After a complete overhaul, the unit made its way onto the market about six months ago for $1,130,000, or $430 per square foot –  quite a stretch even after accounting for renovation and holding costs.    The list price was slashed a few times before recently being reduced to $865,000, or $329 per square foot – a step in the right direction but still at least $100,000 away, in my opinion.

My guess is that it probably cost somewhere in the ballpark of $100 per square foot to completely gut and renovate the unit, given the quality and the fact that mold was present.  I’ve estimated taxes to be around $25,000 and HOA fees to be around $22,000 over the past 21 months.  That represents about an extra $18 per square foot to the cost basis of the owner.  It’ll be interesting to see if the owner is able to make a profit or, at the very least, break-even on this investment, especially after accounting for cost of capital.

Before Pictures

After Pictures

Construction to Begin on Sky Palace at Mary Brickell Village Next Month

Construction is scheduled to begin on the condominium high-rise that was once known as Skyline at Mary Brickell Village in December 2009.  The 369-unit Mediterranean-style condo building is now known as Sky Palace at Mary Brickell Village.  It will sit atop the parking garage at Mary Brickell Village located on the west end of the commercial development.  Completion of Sky Palace at Mary Brickell Village is projected to occur in the last quarter of 2011.

Update: Sky Palace at Mary Brickell Village was later renamed Nine at Mary Brickell Village.

Top 5 Distressed Condo Sales Closed in September 2009

Below, you will find what I believe to be the five best condo deals of the 53 distressed sales that closed in the month of September in the MLS located in Brickell, Brickell Key, Downtown Miami and the Arts District.  It was tough to decide between the first two for the number one spot but The Mark on Brickell #1608 took it based on location and view.

1. The Mark on Brickell #1608 – 2 bedroom/2 bath (1,140 square feet) – This unit sold for $210,000, or $184 per square foot, on September 18, 2009.  Short Sale
2. Blue Condominium #1701 – 2 bedroom/2.5 bath (1,449 square feet) – This unit sold for $210,000, or $145 per square foot, on September 10, 2009.  Foreclosure
3. Brickell on the River North #3715 – 3 bedroom/2.5 bath (1,512 square feet) – This unit sold for $287,000, or $190 per square foot, on September 4, 2009.  Short Sale
4. Jade Brickell #1201 – 2 bedroom/2.5 bath (1,878 square feet) – This unit sold for $675,000, or $359 per square foot, on September 30, 2009. Foreclosure
5. Marina Blue #2302 – 1 bedroom/1.5 bath (843 square feet) – This unit sold for $190,000 or $225 per square foot, on September 30, 2009.  Short Sale

As a side note, bidding on foreclosures has become extremely competitive.  I noticed that the majority of the condo REOs that closed in September closed at a price that was above the asking price.  This was the case in 19 of the 26 REO listings that closed last month located in the aforementioned neighborhoods of Miami.  It has become more important than ever to know the comparable sales in the neighborhood.  The mentality of automatically going in with a bid 10-15 percent below asking price doesn’t fly anymore.  With season right around the corner, I’m confident that the worst is well behind us.

Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony To Acquire 10 Units at Icon Brickell

I confirmed that Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony placed 10 units under contract at Icon Brickell earlier this afternoon. People magazine reported last month that they had acquired a penthouse condo in the same development as well.  It looks like Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are very bullish on the future of Brickell Miami.  I heard last week from a separate source that prices at Icon Brickell were recently reduced to around $350 to $400 per square foot.

Update: Marc Anthony ended up losing two of the ten condos at Icon Brickell as part of a divorce settlement with wife-number-four Shannon De Lima. The two Miami luxury condos were valued at over $2 million.