New & Improved South Florida MLS Property Search for Condos
Many of you have already noticed that a much improved Miami condos search has now taken the place of the old property search. New search parameters have been added to allow your search experience to be more powerful and effective. For example, you can now search by year built, number of parking spaces and distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales), as well as many other parameters. Additionally, you can now draw a shape onto the map to restrict the search to condos located within that shape. For example, in the picture above, I drew a shape around Brickell Key to restrict the search to only condos located in Brickell Key. Enjoy!
South Beach Vacation + Bargain Condos = Miami Condo Investments Tour
I’ve been kicking around this idea in the back of my mind for quite some time. I guess the timing just never felt right. Prices have now fallen to a more realistic level, however, and it may be time to at least discuss the idea to see if there would be any interest.
I’m proposing to hold a two-day tour of Miami and South Beach condos in June of this year. The tour would focus on the best condo deals in Brickell, Brickell Key, Downtown Miami, the Arts District of Miami and South Beach. The objective would be to educate nonlocal buyers, who may not be familiar with the various neighborhoods and condo developments, but may have an interest in buying here at some point in the future. It’s also an opportunity for local buyers to take a first-hand glimpse into the best condo investment deals in Miami. Weather-wise, June may not be the best time of the year to visit South Florida, but I expect the deals at that time to be even better than they are now.
The condo tour would be held on a Friday and Saturday, in which time we would visit 10 buildings and about 30 condo units. The tour package would include a 3-night stay at the Loews Hotel, a 4-star/4-diamond oceanfront hotel in South Beach; 3 breakfasts; 2 lunches; and the 2-day chartered bus tour. The cost would be $900 for one person or $1,500 for 2 people staying in one room. The 2-day chartered bus tour would also be open to local buyers who do not require hotel accommodations at a rate of $300 per person. To those who close on a condo that was placed under contract within 3 months of the tour, I would credit half the cost of the condo tour package at closing for those requiring hotel accommodations and the full cost to those paying the $300 rate.
I’d love to get your feedback about this idea, and I’m open to suggestions regarding the buildings that will be included in the tour. Please add your thoughts in the comments section and use the second poll below to vote on the buildings that you’d like to see on the tour (you may select multiple buildings when voting). I’m hoping to get around 20-25 interested parties in order to set this plan into motion.
[poll id=”7″] [poll id=”5″]
2 Bedroom Foreclosure at Murano Grande Sells for $331 Per Square Foot
I was looking through the recently closed sales in South Beach and came across a 2 bedroom/2 bath foreclosure condo at Murano Grande that sold for $475,000, or $331 per square foot on February 9, 2009. This is by far the lowest that a 2 bedroom condo in the Murano Grande has sold through the MLS. Grant it, the recently closed condo, unit 609, is on a very low floor but from the looks of the pictures it appears to have been in pretty good shape.
Previously, the lowest sales price for a 2 bedroom condo at Murano Grande was $650,000. That unit was located directly two floors above unit 609 and closed in April 2008.
Unit 609 appears to have been the victim of mortgage fraud. It previously sold for $1,100,000 in September 2006. What’s interesting is that the list price at the time was intially $949,999. After being listed at that price for about seven months, the list price was increased to $1,100,000 a month before the condo closed and, of course, the listing agent was able to get both sides of the deal.
South Beach Luxury Condo Sales
There have been 10 closed sales for luxury condominiums in South Beach within the past three months that appear in the MLS. I defined a sale as being a luxury condo sale if it had a sales price at or over $2.5M. As you’ll see below, Apogee South Beach topped off the list with a condo selling for $7.3M. Even more impressive is a Penthouse condo at Apogee South Beach, which did not appear in the MLS, that closed for $16.5M on June 9, 2008.
Il Villagio – Unit 804 – $2,500,000 – $1,506/SF – May 13, 2008
Beachfront Foreclosure "Steals" Just Aren’t Happening in South Beach
I receive a number of phone calls each week from nonlocals looking to “steal” a condo in South Beach directly on the beach. I tell them every time that it’s just not happening. Beachfront property is still in very high demand.
Case in point is a foreclosure condo at Hilton Bentley Miami Beach that became available towards the beginning of February. It’s a 1 bedroom/1 bath with 620 square feet, fully furnished and listed at $379,900. I never posted about this foreclosure because I wanted my best clients to jump on this opportunity before other agents in town knew about it. I took a look at the condo and it was in prestine shape. Great views, plasma TVs in the living room and bedroom, stainless steel appliances and furniture that was in like-new condition. I submitted a few offers but I was told that 8 other offers were submitted and none of mine were the highest. One of my clients has contacted me a few times within the last couple of weeks, out of curiosity, to find out for how much the condo eventually closed. The foreclosure condo at Bentley Beach closed for $459,900 on March 26, 2008. Again, it was listed for $379,900. Someone bid through the asking price by $80,000!
This is not just one instance. I’ve been seeing a number of South Beach foreclosures and short-sale condos being bid through their offers. As the old adage says, if it looks too good to be true then it usually is.
Follow-Up to the Flamingo South Beach North Tower Cancellation Story
I received a very interesting phone call from a Realtor ® this afternoon. He told me that a client of his placed a contract on a condo in the North Tower of Flamingo South Beach a while back. Now that the North Tower will not be converted, his client is requesting his deposit back. However, the developer is telling the agent that his client’s deposit will not be refunded unless the agent’s broker gives back the front-end commission it was paid in the past. I called another agent who sold a condo in the North Tower of Flamingo South Beach and he is going through the same ordeal.
This is a bunch of B.S. if you ask me. These contract holders are not the ones looking to cancel their contract. It is the developer who is canceling their plans to convert the tower. The agents did their job in bringing the developer a willing and able buyer. I’m not an attorney but I would think that the developer doesn’t have a strong argument. Besides, real estate brokerages are struggling these days. How many brokers will want to fork over the commission that was spent long ago? What happens to contract holders who bought a condo in the North Tower through a brokerage that is now out of business? Do these contract holders simply lose their deposit money?
It’s a dog-eat-dog world I tell you!
The Floridian 3 Bedroom Condo Foreclosure in South Beach – A Fantastic Deal at $444,900
A 3 bedroom/2 bath condo foreclosure was listed earlier today for $444,900 at The Floridian located at 650 West Avenue in South Beach. The condo is located on the 28th floor and faces west with direct views of Biscayne Bay, the Downtown Miami skyline and Star, Palm and Hibiscus Islands. The bank is also offering a $7,000 credit at closing to the buyer. Take a look at the MLS details of this condo foreclosure at The Floridian.
The following three bedroom units have sold on the MLS within the last 12 months at The Floridian:
Unit 2008 (faces east) – closed April 26, 2007 – $695,000
Unit 3007 (faces west) – closing June 15, 2007 – $725,000
My guess is that there will be multiple offers on this condo by the end of the week.
Foreign Buyers Finding Deals in the Miami Condo Market
On February 20, 2008, Reutors published an article entitled “Miami Condos are ‘for sale’ for Foreign Buyers“. The article discusses how foreign buyers are stepping in to buy condos at a discount in Florida, where prices have dropped “20 to 30 percent”. The appreciation of their currency is another motivating factor in their decision to buy Miami condos. The story particularly focuses on Canadian buyers, who have a particular interest in buying within the United States, because the Canadian Dollar “has gained 25 percent against the greenback in the last two years”. The article also discusses that these buyers are willing to pay for these condos with cash.
I, for one, have met with a large influx of foreign buyers within the past six months from countries such as Ukraine, China, Russia, Canada, England, Italy, Germany, various countries in South America and territories of the United States, such as Puerto Rico. Many of these buyers came prepared to pay for South Florida condos with cash. In fact, two of the three pending sales that I have scheduled to close in March are cash deals, with no financing contingencies. Great deals in beachfront condo buildings are exactly what these foreign buyers have in mind.
The Reuters article also revealed the following which I found very interesting:
In a study by the National Association of Realtors last year, Florida was the top destination for foreign buyers, accounting for 26 percent of all transactions, ahead of California at 16, Texas at 10 and Arizona at 6 percent.
More than 7 percent of all Florida homes were sold to foreigners, the study found, and 65 percent of Realtors said they had brokered at least one foreign deal.
I would think that Miami homes sold accounted for much higher than 7 percent since Miami should have a much larger percentage of foreign buyers than the rest of Florida.
I’d also like to note that new buyers for Miami condos aren’t only coming from countries abroad. I’ve also found buyers from New Jersey, New York, California, Illinois and Texas. I will admit that local buyers remain a very small percentage of my overall business. In a nutshell, if I had never started this blog I’d probably be out of business. This blog allows me the opportunity to reach people all across the world (including the two people in Ethiopia and Afghanistan who found my site within the past week, according to Google Analytics). The Miami condo market is not a local market…it is a global market. It may not seem cheap to local buyers, but to foreign buyers Miami and Miami Beach condos are bargains to them.
Flamingo South Beach North Tower Canceled?
Earlier this week, I received an email from someone stating that they had heard rumors that the North Tower of Flamingo South Beach had been canceled. I asked around and it seems that, while nothing has officially been announced, there are plans to give deposit money back to contract holders of units in the North Tower of Flamingo South Beach and to maintain it as a rental building. I’m assuming that the option to convert the Center Tower will not be exercised by MCZ/Centrum and that it too will remain as a rental building.
This is actually great news for owners of condos in the South Tower at Flamingo South Beach, as well as for owners of condos located in the surrounding neighborhood. There will now be much less condo inventory hitting the market. The three towers comprising Flamingo South Beach have a total of 1,688 units. I’m not sure how many of these are situated in the North and Center Towers, but my guess would be that it is something close to 1,100 units. That’s 1,100 less condos that would have otherwise become available on the market (if my estimate is accurate).
I’m just wondering if this will mean that the plans for the courtyard will now be scrapped. The renderings for the courtyard looked fantastic! I’m sure this additional element calculated into the decision-making process of someone who purchased a condo in the South Tower of Flamingo South Beach.
