We get a lot of calls from people who are interested in buying a short sale condo but aren’t exactly sure what a short sale is or what the short sale process entails. On yesterday’s show we answer several frequently asked questions regarding short sales and also discuss how a short sale differs from a foreclosure, also known as an REO or real estate owned. At the beginning of the show, we discuss three Miami foreclosure condos that came on the market recently: One Miami #1426, Courvoisier Courts #203 and Solaris at Brickell #1601. This is our longest video to date but a lot of good information is provided.
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.
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.
Bentley Bay – 1 Bedroom Bank-Owned Foreclosure – $449,900
A 1 bedroom/1 bath bank-owned foreclosure with 777 square feet of interior space at Bentley Bay recently had a $100K price drop. At this point, it fell onto my radar as being a good deal. It is currently being offered at $449,900. The condo is located on the 12th floor.
The unit faces west which, in my opinion, offers a better view than those facing east. The units facing west have a view of Biscayne Bay, Star Island and the Miami skyline. I haven’t viewed this unit in person but from the MLS pictures it appears that the appliances are still in place. I’ve noticed in a lot of other foreclosures that the appliances are oftentimes removed from the unit.
A unit in the same line sold for $550,000 in June 2007. That unit was sold furnished, however. There’s usually a price difference of $3,000 per floor in Miami and Miami Beach. If the foreclosed condo is in good shape then I think acquiring it in the low $400K’s would make for a great deal.
The following units in the same line at Bentley Bay North are currently listed at the prices below in the MLS:
Unit 1013 – $526,500
Unit 713 – $529,999
Unit 1613 – $599,000
Unit 1713 – $599,000
Unit 1213 – $650,000
Unit 2313 – $679,500
2 Bedroom/2 Bath Bank-Owned Foreclosure at Murano Grande in South Beach
A 2 bedroom/2 bath bank-owned condo at Murano Grande just became available yesterday. The unit has 1,437 square feet of interior space, with marble floors throughout, and is listed at $899,000, or $626 per square foot. The price is negotiable. The condo is located on the 23rd floor and has panoramic views of Biscayne Bay, the city and the Atlantic Ocean.
The latest South Beach Condo Index reveals that units at Murano Grande have sold for an average price per square foot of $752 over the past six months.
The following are other 09 units currently listed in the building:
Unit 809 – $875,000
Unit 709 – $885,000
Unit 1009 – $944,000
Unit 1909 – $999,999
Unit 1109 – $1,025,000
Unit 1709 – $1,199,500
There have been two 09 line condos at Murano Grande that have closed within the past 12 months. The first is unit 2109 which closed for $950,000 on December 21, 2006. The second is unit 1809 which closed on November 11, 2006 for $1,150,000. None have closed within the past six months.
Click on the following link to view the MLS information pertaining to unit 2309 at Murano Grande. Contact me if you or someone you know has an interest in viewing this bank-owned foreclosure in person.
Four Bank-Owned Condos in Miami & Miami Beach to be Auctioned September 19, 2007
Four condos will be auctioned off Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at approximately 3pm. Three of the four condos are located in Miami while the fourth is located in Miami Beach. All four condos have gone through the foreclosure process and are currently owned by the bank.
1. Meridian Place – 325 Meridian Avenue #6 | Miami Beach, FL 33139
This is actually a townhouse. Of the four units being auctioned, it will probably hold the most interest because of its fantastic location. Some of South Florida’s most expensive condominiums reside in the South of Fifth neighborhood of South Beach. Built in 1994, this 3 bedroom/2 bath townhouse has 1,300 square feet of interior space, as well as two parking spaces (one garage space and one driveway space). County records indicate that the bank is owed $549,000. The opening bid is $100,000.
Let’s just say that I’m not surprised. I’ll leave it at that. This 1 bedroom/1 bath condo has 818 square feet of interior space. The bank is owed $610,000. I guess they’re in for a rude awakening come September 19th. The opening bid is $100,000.
3. Venetia Condo – 555 NE 15th Street #16-H | Miami, FL 33132
Venetia Condo is located at the entrance of the Venetian Causeway in Miami. The building was built in 1980. The condo up for auction is a 1 bedroom/1 bath with 800 square feet of interior space. It faces south and has views of Biscayne Bay as well as the cities of Miami and Miami Beach. The bank is owed $410,000. The opening bid is $50,000.
4. Blue Lagoon Condominiums – 5091 NW 7 Street #705 | Miami, FL 33126
Of the four condos that will be auctioned on September 19, 2007, I think the 2 bedroom/1 bath at Blue Lagoon Condominium will hold the least amount of interest from the people attending the auction. However, this makes it a great candidate to be acquired at bargain prices. Blue Lagoon Condominium is located near the airport, about 12 minutes from Brickell. It’ll make for a great investment property if it can be obtained for $175,000 or less. The unit has 862 square feet of interior space. The bank is owed $305,000. The opening bid is $50,000.
Contact me for more information regarding this auction featuring the above four condos.
Foreclosure at Yacht Club at Portofino – 2 Bedroom/2 Bath – $669,900
There’s a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo foreclosure at Yacht Club at Portofino in South Beach. It has 1,090 square feet of interior space and faces west towards Biscayne Bay, Fisher Island and the Miami city skyline. The condo also has a view of the swimming pool deck at Yacht Club at Portofino. The unit is listed at $669,900, or $615 per square foot. The South Beach Condo Index for July revealed that Yacht Club at Portofino had an average price per square foot of $745.27 for units listed in the building. The average price per square foot of units sold over the preceding six months was $665.19. According to the Miami-Dade County website, the previous owner paid $780,000 for the unit in May of 2006. The list price is good but I think it has room to come down quite a bit.
The unit looks to be in great shape. Take a look at the picture slideshow below to view a variety of pictures that accompanied the MLS listing.
This is not a short sale. It is a bank owned property. From my experience, buying a bank owned property is much easier than buying a short sale. When you purchase a short sale the bank usually takes 4-6 weeks to respond to any offers received. Just because the seller signs the contract does not mean that the bank is going to accept the submitted offer. In the past two months I had two short sale deals fall apart because the bank was not willing to negotiate. They wanted market value for the unit and would take nothing less. I find it shocking, that with foreclosure rates soaring, that banks are so inflexible. It will end up costing them more in fees if they end up repossessing the property. Bank owned properties are much easier to deal with because you usually get an answer back from the bank regarding your offer within 2-3 business days.
Yacht Club at Portofino is a luxury high-rise condo building located in the South of Fifth neighborhood of South Beach. It is arguably the best and most luxurious neighborhood in South Beach.The address of Yacht Club at Portofino is 90 Alton Road. If you or anyone you know is interested in this 2 bedroom foreclosure then please feel free to contact me by phone or email.
Miami Condo Foreclosures – Search Engine Results
I’m an avid reader of anything to do with search engine optimization (SEO). The algorithms involved in producing search engine result pages (SERPs) fascinates me. I haven’t hired any outside companies to do any of the SEO work for my site. My blog has done the work for me. I began my blog a little over three months ago and the results that it has produced with the search engines in that short time span is amazing.
If you type in “Miami Condo Foreclosures” into Yahoo my sites appear as the first, second, fourth and eighth results on the first page.
The results on Google aren’t as great but they still drive a lot of traffic to my blog. You will find my site by clicking on the fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth links on the first page of Google when typing in “Miami Condo Foreclosures“.
Surprisingly, the search results for “South Beach Condo Foreclosures” on Google is much better. I know that there is a lot of weight placed on key words used in the URL and “South Beach” doesn’t appear in my URL. So, I was shocked that “South Beach Condo Foreclosures” would have my site ranked higher than “Miami Condo Foreclosures” since keywords such as “Miami” and “Condo” appear in my URL. This is probably due to the fact that the keyword “Miami” has more competition than the search term “South Beach”. You will be led to my site by clicking on the first, second, fourth and fifth links that appear on the first Google result page after typing in “South Beach Condo Foreclosures”.
After this post, I’m sure that my site will hold even more relevance to the search terms cited above so you’ll probably find that my site appears even higher in the rankings than what I’ve noted.
Update #2: 2 Bedroom Foreclosure @ The Cosmopolitan in South Beach
The list price of the 2 bedroom/2 bathroom foreclosure condo at The Cosmopolitan in South Beach has been reduced from $520,000 to $495,000. This is the second 2 bedroom foreclosure at The Cosmopolitan in the past month. The first condo unit went under contract after it was reduced to $485,000. That unit was inferior for several reasons. The first 2 bedroom foreclosure had one parking space, tiled and wood floors and no balcony. The most recent 2 bedroom foreclosure has two assigned parking spaces, marble floors and a balcony that offers a partial ocean view. The pictures below will show you the most recent 2 bedroom foreclosure at The Cosmopolitan.
In 2007, there have been two 2/2 condo units at The Cosmopolitan that have closed. They sold for $581 and $558 per square foot. This unit is being offered at $490 per square foot.
The Cosmopolitan was built in 2004 and is located two blocks from the beach at 110 Washington Avenue in South Beach. The map at the top will show you a street-level view of the building. Please refer to my first and second foreclosure postings on The Cosmopolitan for more information about the building and the neighborhood.
UPDATE: I finally got to see this condo at The Cosmopolitan for myself. I’ve seen a lot of condo units at The Cosmopolitan and this one holds up to or even surpasses what I’ve seen. Marble floors, 2 parkings spaces, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, partial ocean view from the balcony and a spacious floor plan. What more does someone want in South of Fifth for under $500K? This one is a steal!
Pre-foreclosure @ Flamingo South Beach
A 1 bedroom pre-foreclosure unit at Flamingo South Beach has recently been listed in the MLS. I think this is going to be the first of many pre-foreclosures and foreclosures that we’ll be seeing at Flamingo South Beach in the next 12 months. In my opinion, Flamingo South Beach will turn out to be a solid investment in the long-term, but with 1,688 total units in the three towers that comprise Flamingo South Beach and current real estate market conditions, it is going to take a long while for the demand to catch up with the supply.
Flamingo South Beach is the largest condo-conversion ever to occur in the United States. MCZ Development Corp has completed the conversion of the south tower, which total 562 units, and has recently begun the sale of the 614 units in the north tower. MCZ Development Corp will likely begin the sale of the remaining 512 units in the center tower early next year, if they choose to exercise their option to purchase that tower.
Unfortunately, the recently listed 1 bedroom pre-foreclosure at Flaming South Beach is grossly overpriced. At a list price of $369,000, and an average price per square foot of over $500, it isn’t even close to being the best priced resale in the south tower. With minimal views from the third floor facing the open courtyard, I think we’ll see this unit move once the owner becomes truly motivated to avoid foreclosure.
Prediction…a list price of under $300K will get it sold. View all South Beach condos.
The video below will show you a typical 2 bedroom at Flamingo South Beach to give you an idea of how the interior of the units look. This is NOT the pre-foreclosure unit. The unit in the video is much larger and has fantastic views of Biscayne Bay, Star Island and the Miami skyline from a much higher floor.
One of best amenities at Flamingo South Beach is the 15,000 square foot, state-of-the-art fitness center. It has recently become the newest addition to the David Barton Gym chain and has been renamed accordingly. The video below will show you the fitness before the transition was made from being called the Flamingo Athletic Club to David Barton Gym.
