Recently Listed Condo REOs in Miami – August 2009

The 1800 Biscayne Plaza and the 50 biscayne are good deals. But 50 Biscayne HOA is quite steep.

AJ,

Sorry not to respond to your earlier comments. I completely agree with your assessment about the site. The content has not been up to par within the last 1-2 months. I, alone, have been completely responsible. I accept complete fault.

It has been progressively difficult to balance the integrity of the website with the customer service that my clients expect. I’m a Midwestern guy so I don’t agree with or respect the the Miami (Latin Standard Time) that is tolerated in South Florida. I’ve been working 9am-11pm hours lately but honestly I miss taking part in this site the most. This website has always been my pride and joy.

However, yesterday I hired an assistant and recently brought in another Realtor to help facilitate the leads with me. This added help should now allow me the needed time to adhere to this site. Please allow me until the end of the month, however, because it does take a lot of time on a daily basis to train new help. I was a one-man show until this point, so I hope you understand.

It has been very difficult to create new content because I used to have a lot of free time to go out and explore new buildings on my own when I had the time in between showings. Now, showings are back-to-back each day with running back to the office to write up offers and respond to emails that require property searches, that I’m no longer afforded that time. I think it’s completely unprofessional to walk around and take pictures of a condo while your clients are touring it and the building with you and requesting information and your guidance from you at the same time.

I’m also in the process of hiring a “personal” assistant, however, who would accompany me on each showing to take those pictures while I’m with clients so I can “walk and talk” throughout the tour but not need to feel like I’m taking time away from them, to create content for the site. I can then use those pictures in the evenings to once again allow myself to provide you content. I would honestly love to return to that point. Writing has always been very therapeutic for me ever since I was a kid . These last 3 months haven’t afforded me the time to enjoy that feeling, however, but I’m moving up to that. I have HUGE plans for this website.

On top of it all, I’ve been working on the BIG project that is expected to launch around the middle of September. What I have planned is going to be HUGE! And then a month after that I’m planning something else that is really big. Then, 6 months later I’m planning for another launch. I’m always thinking and planning AJ. So, please don’t feel like I’m not responding to you or others commenting. My plan is to create a team that will allow me the time to answer every phone call without hitting a voicemail, respond to every email within 2 minutes and respond to every question or email within minutes as well. The Internet age has made it business-wise to respond to everyone within one hour or else they’ll move onto someone else. I don’t want to afford those clients the time to even think about emailing or calling someone else. I’m a whore for market share so I won’t continue to allow my competition the opportunity to get my spillovers. I’m also going directly after those Realtors that don’t believe I’m their direct competition. They’ll believe it soon. 2010 will make them believers!

Now, I’m going to finally follow my nightly ritual of watching “Wall Street” and falling asleep to it. My favorite line in the movie is “The most valuable commodity that I know of is information”. I agree 100%. My dream is to provide everyone on this planet within means to buy a condo with information pertaining to South Florida condos (Not only Miami). It’s going to happen, just a matter of time. Good night everyone.

Agreed – Wild Bill,

There are risks involved in real estate. There always has been. Unfortunately, over the past 3 years there weren’t any foreseen rewards. It was always just downside for those educated enough to foresee it. We’re near the bottom, however. In some condo buildings, we are at the bottom. This is it. This is the reason why I allowed myself to be fired from a former brokerage because of writing the truth at the time. I told everyone to not buy and everyone to sell. My broker at the time, fired me because he felt that my blog was losing him more business than I brought in. I tried to explain to him that eventually the market would shift and that clients would trust those Realtors that weren’t trying to sugar-coat the market when it was obviously bad to everyone. He felt that our job as Realtors was to sell in ANY market. I didn’t agree. I’m an advocate of free speech. He also felt that I should censor the negative comments everyone was leaving about the market. I was like “Are you kidding me?”. That would have been a horrible idea. I’m now glad that I listened to my gut instinct and allowed free speech to reign on this blog.

Wild Bill – Of course there’s risks…but finally there’s opportunity!

Odd & Son’s. You are missing two important concept’s. first, The market has already under-written into real estate prices the lousy real wage/GDP/un-employment statistics, and with each new month we are seeing greater evidence that we have seen the worst and although it is really crummy out there, it’s not as bad as what has been under-written into real estate values (at least at the lower end). second, the lousy statistics cannot account for the massive federal stimulus that includes a huge tax credit for 1st time home buyers, that is clearly boosting the sub-$250K prices. My opinion is that homes $500K + will continue to suffer for the next 12-24 months, but for those under $250K we have found a bottom.

Tex,

Just read your comment. I agree with you 100%. Are you a trader? Most people don’t understand the concept that the “new”s really isn’t new at all. Seems that you do though. You must be some kind of Wall Street person.

Lucas, I know it’s your blog, but it might be a good idea not to express such strong political beliefs. You might alientate some potential clients. Just my 2 cents.

Lucas,
Haven’t heard from you in a while! Maybe we heard a little too much 🙂 Just kidding. Everybody has a right to voice their opinion-that’s what makes this country so great. But the Obama bashing is a bit much. Remember, he is only reacting to problems which were created under his predecessor, Bush. If Bush had done even a half assed job at overseeing the country and regulations, we would not be in this mess to begin with. And Obama would not have a reason to spend our futures into oblivion. He was really in a no win situation-let the economy collapse or indebt our future generations with the current leadership’s stupidity. Personally I think we should vote all the monkeys out of office and put a different animal in its place. Just to shake things up a bit 🙂

been trying to keep updated on this blog while exploring this beautiful country.
Was that really Lucas? Wow, sounds more like hatred than dislike. “horrific job”,”I really think this nation is going downhill with him as pres”. Relax Lucas, you might burst a cornary. You are letting your religion get the best of you, besides you are giving the man too much credit. He is not God and George Bush and the repubs couldn’t distroy this great Nation after 8 years of complete incompentency Obama won’t after 6months. You should Stick to selling real estate instead of giving stock tips and suggesting people short stocks. If you are such a great stock picker what are you doing selling real estate? I think your recent (3 months) success is starting to get to your head. When we want to hear your opinion on the stock market and Politics we will ask someone esle for it in the mean time stfu and post something useful about MIAMI CONDOs.

gables,
I disagree. We have enough assholes on here expressing their opinion about everything they know nothing about. If anything we need Lucas to curtail some of that not add his 2 cents into the mix. People just got on his ass about not posting relevant info on the blog then he goes off on this tangent about real estate and politics.

I noticed that the Blue Condominum listing above #1701 states in the disclosure that “CHINESE DRYWALL DISCLOSURE REQUIRED”.

Does anyone know if this building has had problems with their drywall to require this? Is this part of the reasons why the prices in this building has come down so low?

I think this is causing a lot of heart ache. Lucas, If one of us makes a controversial post, we cannot edit it or erase it. In fact I was going to ask you about that, some blogs allow you to edit your own post within a certain time frame. What does your web guy think about that?

But as you have the control to edit and erase , why don’t you consider removing #8 as it seems to be rubbing a few people the wrong way. Personally I don’t care and I think we should not dwell too much on this.

But please chip in regarding the bathroom leak issue. I think some time in the future one of you may find yourself in the same situation and this might be of help.

AJ, if there is one thing that people do get irrational and bent out of shape about it’s politics….well politics and religion actually. I’m of the opinion that it’s best not to inject either into any business deal, because you never wanna turn off your partners/clients/customers who may feel strongly to the contrary.

Don’t get me wrong, Lucas is more entitled than anyone else to say whatever he wants on here, but I could imagine some posters or even casual lurkers might get turned off by anti-obama rants like that and may chose to look elsewhere when it’s time for them to retain an agent.

My guess is self-made millionaires who buy expensive condos MUCH prefer anti-Obama rants.

JL, you are probably right but the man is still wildly popular and most people still give him the benefits of a doubt. It does not make sense to potientally alienate a certain segment of your client base (even if it’s only 10%) especailly after posting about how he is trying to take his business to the next level. I’m sure most people don’t care about a realtor’s political views when buying RE but why risk it.

AJ – I take the back flow came up into your unit and the water seeped down to the unit below. That is, no broken pipe that could be a common element pipe? There was water from your unit that caused damage…do the right thing and just pay the $200 or whatever as a final settlement for the damage, get it writing, and move on. If you were the unit below that had sewer water (even if relatively clean) draining into your unit you’d expect the guy above to fix it. Just feel lucky that the guy below will go through the hassle to have it fixed and you don’t have to. It is part of being a floplord. Not worth the technical dispute or drama.

With respect to some of the economics. Lucas, you are right in that the markets – the collective judgments and best guesses and speculation of the future – are forward looking and many things are priced in, unless of course the numbers differ than expected. Hence, the market is no crystal ball that tells the future, it is just the collective opinion. That collective opinion can be very wrong at times…hence bubbles and irrational exuberances. That is why I love behavior economics and Shiller is so fun to listen to. I see the current administration as trying to build “confidence” to influence the collective wisdom and prevent unnecessary doom and glum becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy. However they have been using fear to push things like socialized health care…..give me a break, since when is that going to get us out of the CURRENT recession…..what a joke of an argument since it is a huge outlay now with the “hope” of lessor costs in maybe 10 years. Oh well.

With respect to debt. We had an enormous run up in credit/debt. The credit bubble burst in a potentially systemic meltdown that was averted at the time. The start of the burst was primarily in housing (although there were cracks everywhere that were being temporarily being sealed through debt hot potatoes such as trading one credit card balance to a new credit card, HELOC’s, etc.) as prices did not appreciate, the music stopped, and the absurd housing financing was exposed starting in the most absurd markets. Debt is used primarily for two things: (1) in a business, when debt is cheaper (usually by a reasonably large spread) than equity, debt financing is used and leverages the return on equity but comes with a risk that the debt service must always be met (or at least refinanced) even in the worst of time. When there are no real “worst times” for a prolonged period of time some businesses push the level of debt higher resulting in higher stock prices causing some businesses to be at the margin of being over leveraged….people can make a quick return and exit leaving others with the inevitable mess. (2) debt is also used to pull future demand and consumption into the present. We have seen consumer debt get out of control through credit cards, HELOC’s, auto loans, education loans, etc. Consumers are in the multi-year process of reversing this run up in debt. However, the fed govt has stepped in and has tried to substitute new debt for economic activity based on capital and wealth. The recent debt spending is huge and incredible beyond comprehension….when the govt BORROWS BILLIONS for the cash for clunkers program (note again, it has to borrow the money) to create demand, how is that different from consumer debt? Basically, it has created new socialized debt where the consumer was not willing to go in debt for the purchase individually. That is financial insanity. It also misallocates consumption and capital away from perhaps savings or purchases of other durable goods made entirely in the USA. We will see a spike in demand for autos as people scramble for the freebee which was perceived as limited in supply. So, you have 250,000 clunkers traded in one month when in a usual month people on their own trade in 70,000 autos that would count as clunkers anyway. Future months will show less sales since as the supply of clunkers was diminished sooner than the market would on its own. Oh well, bad economics. The bottom line is the enormous debt of the credit bubble did NOT go away….in fact, the socialized debt is exploding and now we have a fed govt credit bubble. It could seriously end in a very ugly way as the new tax burdens will inevitably put a burden on our future economy. The biggest concern is that there is no real end in sight to the expansion of fed govt debt….only the market can put a constraint on borrowing and when it does step in we will already be in a pickle.

Higher taxes, lower incomes, less after tax spending power will lower home prices. Unless we see real wage and wealth growth, home prices will continue to decline in real dollar terms for years and years. Forget the nominal dollar numbers, they are meaningless except with respect to nominal dollar debt.

Drew & MMT tks.
Drew mentioned a renters liability insurance and MMT mentioned a landlord insurance policy. Are they one and the same or different? Any recommendations as to which company I should go with? Does it include liability issues such as this and how much they usually cost (I heard $300/year?)

AJ,

The building needs to check out the pipes with a camera make sure there is no blockage. If you renovated the bathroom or it was previously renovated w/o permits you should run to the bank and pay everybody off.
My building also has several units which get back flows.

AJ – You need to have a the appropriate insurance in place as an owner and a landlord, also, the renter MUST have a renter’s policy….I have one and would NEVER lease to someone that does not. Also, the tenant below can decorate anyway they want….tile on the ceiling although is not my taste, is perfectly acceptable and you’d be liable for the damage of whatever is damaged whether the ceiling is just drywall, decorative paint, wall papered or tiled.. You ARE most probably negligent…when was the last time you had a plumber out to inspect and clean the drains??? Probably never. Moreover, there were probably indications of drain problems that you or your tenant failed to investigate. So, you failed to do proper repairs and maintenance to make sure your drains were flowing freely. It wasn’t an act of God.

AJ renters insurance is not the same as a lanlord policy. You should definately encourage your renters to buy renters insurance but a lanlord policy is meant to protect the lanlord. Not sure how it works in condos. Sounds like you may have a continuing problem with those tiles downstairs. See if you can get a backflow preventer installed somewhere on that line. don’t know if it is possible.

RT,
Your last post is way to long and booring for me to finish reading. Again you don’t base your arguments on fact. Fact is that healthcare cost is rising at an unsustainable rate that is why many who were once opposed to it are now for it. Anothe fact is that we are paying way more for healthcare and getting much less outcomes. Fact, the opponents of healthcare are the ones using FEAR of socialized medicine in their arguments. Fact, it is the consertives who oppose healthcare reform that are hell bent on disrupting the Democratic process at townhall meetings. Fact, all your prediction about the economy getting worst and the USA becoming a third world country has been wrong and thus far the president and his supporters has been mostly right. Fact, the economy is doing better. Fact, the housing numbers are much improved. Fact, stock market is up at records highs from it lows. Fact, the job market has improved.Fact, many people are still buying Condo despite your predictions. Fact, thus far I am prospering under this administration as are many americans, have 401K and brokerage statements to prove it and Lucas himself has proclaimed as much on this blog. Seems moronic to proclaim otherwise in his post #10. Fact, you guys have been wrong so your only argument left is to ignore FACTS and resort to name calling and yell socialist. I would hope you guys could come up with something better than that for college grads. Please provide some Facts to support your position.

Just the FACTS, please!

MMT in CR – Sorry, but you are wrong. Fact, the real dollar cost of things like an appendectomy are way way down. Basic surgeries are now out patient and minimally invasive resulting in tons of savings and quicker recoveries. The high costs are related to NEW and AMAZING healthcare breakthroughs. Imagine no hip replacements, bypass surgery, brain surgery…..yeah, it would be a heck of a lot cheaper not to do these things but we are on the cutting edge of amazing things…..that costs money. The other issue is end of life care management … what is appropriate for someone who has six months to live. That is a tough one and judgments are made but more often then not a lot of money is thrown at it to no avail but hard to predict.

Also, FACT, any economic activity is the result of debt spending. Heck, give me a few trillion and I will cause economic activity to expand, but it is not sustainable. Fact.

“Also, FACT, any economic activity is the result of debt spending. Heck, give me a few trillion and I will cause economic activity to expand, but it is not sustainable. Fact.”

Tell me how it is not sustainable Mr. Obama? You sound just like him. The only way it is not sustainable is politically because of the ingrained fear of running deficits.

MMT, good points. People ignore facts that contradict their core beliefs. Its called cognitive dissonance.

Thank all for chipping in. Very informative. Appreciate it.

Lucas great to hear from you. Hope we see more updates as your free time expands!

As far as your comments, be careful one of these bleeding hearts may report you to the White House policy police!

It is funny how we are called right wing religious zealots or worse when we voice our frustration on what is going on with this administration. Why shouldn’t we be frustrated; higher taxes, lower wages, increased debt , 10% unemployment when we were promised 8% max, etc. A punish the middle class mentality! Of course let’s just keep blaming Bush. Where was Congress for the last 8 years?

Whoever thinks things are getting better is nuts. Several major corporations are just announcing layoffs and more will come later in the year. The healthcare sector has been hit hard and is very concerned about this so-called reform.

All you bleeding heart guys are mandated to sleep with Nancy P.! YUK!!!

Miami2009 — You’re exactly right. I think about 75% of the people in the U.S. — including even a lot of the so-called right-wing zealots — are still in denial about the new American reality. Most people seem to think that all they need to do is keep their head down for another year and things will be back to normal. These people are nuts.

Almost none of the good-paying jobs being eliminated will be replaced with a similar-paying job when the economy improves. The days of easy credit and McMansions-for-everyone are over. Meanwhile, the federal, state and local governments are still spending like there’s no tomorrow, Social Security is projected to be underwater as soon as 2013, and idiotic tax-and-spend politicians keep sending good jobs offshore with increasingly anti-business policies (high corporate taxes, “cap and trade,” etc.). When the government-spending gravy train stops, and surely it will, that will make the current recession seem like a walk in the park.

Bottom line, the massive de-leveraging that’s underway in the U.S. will bring with it a lowered standard of living. All this “we’ve reached the bottom” nonsense, when there are 30,000 condos in Miami still for sale, is just wishful thinking by people who haven’t faced up to reality. I don’t live in a bunker and I don’t believe black helicopters are following me, but I know simple economics, and America’s economics remain a huge mess.