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.
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
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
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
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
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.
Marina Blue Penthouse
Just wanted to share some great pictures that I shot earlier today of a 2,703 square foot penthouse at Marina Blue. All penthouse condos at Marina Blue have 20-foot ceilings.
Drive Down Brickell Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard – Video
I must say that I’m very impressed with how far video technology has come along over the past year. Gone are the days of YouTube’s grainy video quality. YouTube now allows people to upload and view HD videos. Don’t expect the HD quality that you see on your HD TV but it’s still a big leap for Internet video.
Here are a couple of videos that I shot Friday night while driving down Brickell Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard. (It may take a while to load if you’re using a slow Internet connection). You’ll notice Icon Brickell, Epic and One Miami in the video below:
Downtown Miami has changed tremendously within the past 4-5 years. I just wanted to share a few pictures that I took earlier this week. As you can see, the construction cranes are gone from the Downtown Miami skyline.
New Downtown Miami condo developments 50 Biscayne, Vizcayne, Marina Blue, 900 Biscayne Bay, Ten Museum Park and Marquis can be seen in the pictures above and directly below. The American Airlines Arena, Bayside Marketplace and Bayfront Park appear in the picture above as well.
(Below) A look south down Biscayne Boulevard.
(Below) The view east from a Downtown Miami condo high-rise.
New Miami Condos – Closing Rates for February 2009
It’s been a few months since my last Miami condo closing rate update. The percentage of closed units for 25 major condo developments are provided below, starting with the first development to begin closings. Four condo developments have been added: Icon Brickell, Everglades on the Bay, Infinity at Brickell and Epic. You’ll find these towards the bottom of this post.
Below, you will find the date that each condo development began closings followed by the number of closed units in each condo development:
With the exception of Onyx on the Bay and 50 Biscayne, the first group above has remained unchanged. Onyx on the Bay was able to close one additional condo while 50 Biscayne was able to close two.
Quantum on the Bay and Plaza on Brickell once again were able to show a decent improvement in their closing rate. Quantum on the Bay closed an additional 14 condos while Plaza on Brickell was able to close 21. 1800 Club did not have any new closings but I did find another deed that had been recorded twice. This is the reason why the total number of closed condos in this update is one less than the total stated in the December 2008 post for 1800 Club. It needs just 7 more closed condos to hit the all-important 70 percent mark.
As a result of the 60-unit bulk sale, Marina Blue showed the most improvement of the above five condo developments since the last update. I did, however, find re-recorded deeds for Marina Blue that I had previously missed. The developer of Marina Blue has now closed around 82% of the total number of units.
In my opinion, the five condo developments above are all likely candidates for some sort of bulk deal taking place in the future. Met 1 was able to close 7 additional units, Asia 2, 900 Biscayne Bay 13, 500 Brickell 17 and Axis 8. As a result of the new Fannie Mae guidelines, it is not likely that we’ll see significant improvement in any of the condo developments that haven’t thus far reached the 70 percent mark.
Above, you’ll find the four newly added condo developments which began closings within the past 3 months. Timing could not have been worse for these four. They’re going to need to find a plethora of cash buyers who are willing to pay dated prices. Ivy at Riverfront, which began closings back in June 2008, was able to close 14 additional condos since the December 2008 update.
The bright side is that the condo construction cranes of Miami are gone. The cranes that remain are for commercial developments. Marquis and Paramount Bay, which should begin closings within the next 3 months, will be the last of the newly constructed condos to hit the market in Miami. It does appear, however, that Met 3 has begun to lay its foundation. Hopefully, the condo market will reach some sort of equilibrium by the time that development has been completed.
Disclaimer: The above closing rate information was derived from public County records. There can be a 2-3 week delay from the time that a closing occurs and the time that the closing is recorded. The information above is not deemed 100 percent accurate as a result of delays in the recording of deeds and deeds being re-recorded.
Marina Blue Bulk Sale – A Closer Look
As many of you have already heard, a 60-unit bulk sale recently occurred at Marina Blue. Two local newspapers published articles about the deal earlier this week.
An investment group, under the name Welcome Bay LLC, paid slightly over $13M for the 60 condos. The transaction was recorded on December 24, 2008.
The 60 condos included in the Marina Blue bulk sale sold for an average price of $200 per square foot. Below, you will find the bulk condo sale separated as per the 60 recorded deeds. As many of you have discussed in a previous post about the Marina Blue bulk condo sale, it is important for everyone to realize that these are not retail prices. An individual cannot and will not be able to purchase condos at Marina Blue at these prices. The 60 condos below were part of package deal with prices that were distributed accordingly to arrive at the $200 per square foot average.
Correction: I just found out that there was an error in recording the deeds with the county. Each unit was sold for exactly $200 per square foot.
Unit 411 – $169,000 – 845 SF – $200/SF
Unit 610 – $169,000 – 845 SF – $200/SF
Unit 703 – $196,400 – 982 SF – $200/SF
Unit 810 – $169,000 – 845 SF – $200/SF
Unit 911 – $169,000 – 845 SF – $200/SF
Unit 1111 – $169,000 – 845 SF – $200/SF
Unit 1511 – $169,000 – 845 SF – $200/SF
Unit 1703 – $188,600 – 943 SF – $200/SF
Unit 1801 – $263,000 – 1,315 SF – $200/SF
Unit 1802 – $168,600 – 843 SF – $200/SF
Unit 1812 – $263,600 – 1,318 SF – $200/SF
Unit 1901 – $263,000 – 1,315 SF – $200/SF
Unit 1906 – $189,600 – 948 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2007 – $166,600 – 833 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2009 – $264,600 – 1,323 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2012 – $263,600 – 1,318 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2104 – $241,600 – 1,208 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2106 – $189,600 – 948 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2202 – $168,600 – 843 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2204 – $241,600 – 1,208 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2312 – $263,600 – 1,318 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2404 – $241,600 – 1,208 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2503 – $188,600 – 943 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2512 – $263,600 – 1,318 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2709 – $264,600 – 1,323 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2805 – $239,600 – 1,198 SF – $200/SF
Unit 2903 – $188,600 – 943 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3002 – $168,600 – 843 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3201 – $263,000 – 1,315 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3202 – $168,600 – 843 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3304 – $241,600 – 1,208 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3306 – $189,600 – 948 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3401 – $263,000 – 1,315 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3404 – $241,600 – 1,208 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3405 – $239,600 – 1,198 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3407 – $166,600 – 833 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3412 – $263,600 – 1,318 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3509 – $264,600 – 1,323 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3704 – $241,600 – 1,208 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3804 – $241,600 – 1,208 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3901 – $263,000 – 1,315 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3905 – $264,400 – 1,322 SF – $200/SF
Unit 3909 – $264,600 – 1,323 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4002 – $168,600 – 843 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4105 – $239,600 – 1,198 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4107 – $166,600 – 833 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4204 – $241,600 – 1,208 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4212 – $263,600 – 1,318 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4303 – $188,600 – 943 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4305 – $239,600 – 1,198 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4307 – $166,600 – 833 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4407 – $166,600 – 833 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4409 – $264,600 – 1,323 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4504 – $241,600 – 1,208 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4506 – $189,600 – 948 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4601 – $263,000 – 1,315 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4705 – $239,600 – 1,198 SF – $200/SF
Unit 4807 – $166,600 – 833 SF – $200/SF
Unit 5006 – $189,600 – 948 SF – $200/SF
Unit 5106 – $189,600 – 948 SF – $200/SF
New Miami Condos – Closing Rates for December 2008
It’s been almost three months since my last Miami condo closing rate update. The last one was published on September 22, 2008. Unfortunately, there has not been a lot of progress in closings for most of the condo developments below since that time.
Below, you will find the date that each condo development began closings followed by the number of closed units in each condo development:
Latitude on the River had three new closings since the last update, Onyx on the Bay had three new closed condos and 50 Biscayne had two. Ten Museum Park and Loft Downtown 2 were both unchanged since the last update.
Quantum on the Bay and Plaza on Brickell each had an impressive number of closings, since the last update, considering how long ago closings began. Quantum on the Bay had 28 new condo closings while Plaza on Brickell was able to close 46.
On Friday, the Miami Herald reported that the developer of 1060 Brickell is looking to sell around 60 percent of its condos in bulk. Closings at 1060 Brickell recently reached the 40 percent mark meaning that this represents the developer’s remaining inventory.
900 Biscayne Bay and Ivy have now each reached the 40 percent mark. I’m actually quite surprised that not one of the condo developments in this last group has been able to hit the 50 percent mark. Enough time has certainly gone by. To rev up sales, 500 Brickell recently held a 4-day promotion offering a free Mini Cooper with any condo purchase from the developer’s inventory.
The next update will include Icon Brickell, Everglades on the Bay (now known as Vizcayne) and Infinity at Brickell which recently began closings.
Disclaimer: The above closing rate information was derived from public County records. There can be a 2-3 week delay from the time that a closing occurs and the time that the closing is recorded.
Marina Blue Featured in New Akon Music Video
A little over a month ago, Akon shot a music video for his new hit single “Right Now (Na Na Na)” at Marina Blue. I came across the video and wanted to share it with everyone.
The opening scene is shot in the loading dock area of the parking garage at Marina Blue. It then appears that he is entering a nightclub but is actually entering the lobby of Marina Blue. 3 minutes and 3 seconds into the video, you will also see Akon singing on a couch in a living room. This was shot in a penthouse unit at Marina Blue. Notice the 20-foot floor-to-ceiling glass windows and the Miami Beach skyline in the background.
New Miami Condos – Closing Rates for September 2008
It’s been a little over two months since my last condo closing rate update. The last one was published on July 8, 2008.
Below, you will find the date that each condo development began closings followed by the number of closed units in each condo development:
You’ll notice with this first batch that I dropped Star Lofts from the list. I noticed a lot of double entries which made it difficult to gauge the true number of closed condos. Additionally, Star Lofts on the Bay hasn’t shown much progress in a very long time. Ten Museum Park closed 11 units since the last update while 50 Biscayne’s vast improvement reflects the bulk sale that took place. The rest of the condo developments showed very little progress.
Plaza on Brickell once again showed the most improvement within this group. Its closing rate jumped about 14 points since the July update revealing a total of 660 closed condos of the overall 1,000 in the two towers. Apogee South Beach once again inched closer to hitting the 100 percent mark, with only 2 additional condos to close before reaching it. Quantum on the Bay moves into second place in this group and has now closed around 75 percent of its condos.
The big story in this group is Midtown 4. It jumped from a 19.10 percent closing rate to an 84.92 percent closing rate. A large bulk sale of over 250 condos seems to have taken place to a buyer with a second party name of “D M MIDTOWN MIA OWNER LLC”. The same buyer also closed on slightly over 50 condos at Midtown 2 on the same day. Was this simply the developer transferring units to one of its other entities or was this an outside buyer with no association to the developer? Marina Blue jumped about 10 points, settling at around 70 percent of its condos closed. Wind and Asia showed nice improvements this update with Wind increasing around 17 points and Asia about 18 points.
These last four condo developments all showed good progress since the July update. The biggest surprise to me was Ivy which closed 125 new condos since that time. I would have guessed that 500 Brickell and Axis would each have more closed sales than Ivy.
Disclaimer: The above closing rate information was derived from public County records. There can be a 2-3 week delay from the time that a closing occurs and the time that the closing is recorded.
