Top 5 Miami Distressed Condo Sales Closed in February 2009
March 8, 2009 by Lucas Lechuga
- The Club at Brickell Bay - unit 2214 - 1 bedroom/1 bath (818 square feet) - This unit sold for $100,000, or $122 per square foot, on February 20, 2009. Short Sale
- Skyline on Brickell - unit 1911 - 1 bedroom/1 bath (791 square feet) - This unit sold for $155,000, or $196 per square foot, on February 20, 2009. Foreclosure
- Emerald at Brickell - unit 1205 - 2 bedroom/2.5 bath (1,264 square feet) - This unit sold for $267,000, or $211 per square foot, on February 5, 2009. Foreclosure
- Jade at Brickell Bay - unit 4507 - 3 bedroom/3 bath (2,130 square feet) - This unit sold for $869,900, or $408 per square foot, on February 6, 2009. Foreclosure
- Parc Lofts - unit 207 - 1 bedroom/1 bath (1,267 square feet) - This unit sold for $210,000, or $166 per square foot, on February 24, 2009. Short Sale
Unit 2214 at The Club at Brickell Bay sold for $100,000. It's worth mentioning that this is the lowest that a 1 bedroom (and even studio) has ever sold for in the building through the MLS. It also works out to be the lowest price per square foot. At the time of contract, the condo was listed for $149,222.
The buyers of these 5 units just overpaid by 40% – 82%. $75/ft is what any of these units are worth and no more. They will be plucking their feathers out in depression when they see their “investments” plummet gradually over the next 5 years.
The Beak has Spoken
$75
We The Smart Money profusely apologize for overstating the value of Miami Condo’s at $125.00 per square foot owing to the fact that Unit 2214 at The Club at Brickell Bay sold for $122.00 per square foot.
The Smart Money.
Thank GOD …..I held off buying at Christmas…and my all cash offer was rejected on a condo in Aventura…………..I hate to admit it…but THE SMART MONEY is right again.
i’m a little surprised by the jade price…especially in this market. seems a bit high. lucas – know anything about the unit.
if someone remembers…did jade start off in preconstruction at 500sq ft?
When Lucas mentioned the Parc Loft deal a few weeks (months?) back, I said it was a good deal. Some guys rubbished it. Well it sold for full LIST Price of $210,000.
The No Penny Boys Club can keep flocking a dead horse and excellent deals will all go by while they are watching.
As I reapeat once again, I do not know what will happen to entire buildings in jeopardy such as Icon, Infinity, Wind, Mint etc where closings are so meagre. But as far as the other buildings go, foreclosures – short sales are the way to go. It is universally acknowledged that once these things dry up, which is expected to happen in the next 6-12 months, then deals will be hard to come by. Sure the market will be depressed for some time, you can always snag a place in the next couple of years for a decent price but killer deals will be hard to come by.
No wonder the bird gives a new meaning to birds brain when declaring that the Club on Brickell needs another 40-80% off. Yeah, I will buy 5 of those if it ever happens, my depreciating cars will be worth more than that! In your dreams!
Jade is the worst deal of all. With an obscene HOA of $1500+ it is a no go. Only partial bay view too.
Let me mention this again to all those who are on the side lines and read this blog.
In the real World, out of prospective Miami flat buyers waiting on the sidelines, only a small percentage read this blog (and it is a shame) and are even influenced by the NPBC (No Penny Boys Club). When they see a good deal like that of Brickell Bay or Skyline or Parc Lofts, they will buy it.
The stated goal of NPBC is to discourage anyone from buying a condo in Miami so that they can beat down the prices in the absense of any competetion to secure a pad for themselves (no kidding, as stated in Mo’s blog). But the market is too big to be influenced by rantings of a few Birds with matching brains.
Every economy will turn around including this one. And when it does, it will roar like a lion. Why, I have complete and utter confidence that the Green tech and the Nano tech will be the new industrial revolution that is going to change the face of the Earth, our way of life and fortunes. And I am not talking 20 years down the road, more like 5 to 10.
We owned an 07 line at JADE and paid 1.150 million for it in 2003 pre-con……really loved living there and these are 3 bedroom flow through units with full bay view out the front and full city view out the back and have double balconies as well with private elevator access to the apartment…..was a great group of people living there (Lot’s of sports and TV folks, restauant owners, artists, models, business execs, etc), and wonderful staff on site too……..Then a tsunami of greed took over and we saw trouble on the horizon so sold out in 2006……..that 4507 unit for 869K sold very quickly…. we did not even have a chance to view it…..Would consider going back if the right deal presented itself…..JADE should be priced higher than Marina Blue which bulked at 200+ so 300-450 psf seems fair…..Now those folks who currently have the same units on lower floors listed for over a mil, well “Houston we have a problem”………..
Lucas, you are again misleading readers. Unit 908 at jade sold for $269/sf (2 and 2). In january a 1 and 1 sold for $240/sf.
Aj, your 6 to 12 month prediction is absurd. 1 out of 5 floridians aren’t paying their mortgage. The banks won’t get around to foreclosing these units for 1 to 3 years.
AJ – You are sooo silly. Green tech only adds cost at this point. We could all be green right now you silly dodo but energy costs would be 4-10x’s what they are right now and that would crush the world economy. Think about all the complainers of $4/gallon gas complaining at $20/gallon. We use oil for one reason…it is CHEAP! Cheap compared to other energy alternatives. Energy is fungible. We could go solar now but your light bill would be $1,000 – $2,000 per month and people would not stand for that. If I can charge everyone even just twice as much for electricity, I could create a million new jobs….but that wouldn’t help the economy one bit. On the other hand, Nano tech holds promise….. You need to stop reading headlines and actually do some research.
Why do you stress about the No Penny Boys Club and then state that these few people can have no effect on the market? Why worry then? I guess it is like your rant on insurance companies but weren’t smart enough to by their stock if you think they made unjust and excessive profit.
AJ,
After months I have you figured out.
I remember when you said that Jorge Perez was reading this forum and was worried about what I wrote.
I remember that RT replied that you were delusional at the time for thinking Jorge Perez would be reading this forum.
It took a while but now I see it.
You think that you’re job as an investor is to lead a cheerleading crowd.
You honestly and sincerely believe that through your efforts and others you can change this market by staying positive and on message.
You believe that you are defending your investments/ego by speaking up.
All this is delusional.
The market will do what it will do and doesn’t care about you or me or RT. In fact it doesn’t even care about the President or Helicopter Ben.
You lost.
You will lose a lot more.
It’s not personal.
RT ,
I said in 5 to 10 years. Not right now. Of course alternate energy is too expensive right now. But all that will change, sooner than you think. In 5 years there will be only hybrids or all electric vehicles on the road. There will be no more pure petrol driven vehicles except for some sports cars or specialty cars, and I bet they will be taxed out of anyone’s brains who insist on wanting them.
re#8, OK instead of 6-12 months, let’s say 12-18 months. Happy?
NY TIMES
Looking for Bottom in N.Y. Real Estate
“Some industry observers foresee market drops of 40 percent, while others think that is too extreme and suggest that price reductions of 25 percent will more be likely the new norm… Large drops in prices are not new in the city. The last decade-long increase in prices was followed by about seven years of falling prices starting in the early 1990s, said Ingrid Gould Ellen, the co-director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University School of Law. Prices fell about 29 percent.”
Of course the loses were much steeper when you look at inflation during the 90s.
Also rentals are dropping.
Finally, this isn’t the 90s. No more rate drops to stimulate the economy.
Anybody here own in Manhatten?
How could you have figured me out, when until yesterday you were not even sure if I was Candela ot GT or doctor or 300K to blow or the many other names you thought I was. C’mon now!
AJ,
“OK instead of 6-12 months, let’s say 12-18 months. Happy?”
Try 6-8 years in nominal terms.
Inflation adjusted dollars —-> YOU WILL NEVER SEE 2005-2007 PRICES IN YOUR LIFETIME. EVER.
Take your meds and get over it.
AJ,
You are real. Nobody could fake being this stupid.
It’s not possible.
How many aliases you have here in your pitiful attempt to prop up this market by being a cheerleader?
That I do not know.
BMW M3 (Mo),
You obviously have no clue about the units at Jade. Unit 908 faces the street and an empty lot while unit 4507 has a direct water view. Do me a favor and stay on your own blog so you can continue to pretend to be an expert about condos. I find it humorous that you are paying people to write a review about each condo building. You should get off your lazy ass and actually visit the condo buildings in Miami if you’re going to write and pretend to be an expert about them.
Now THATS a smack down!!
AJ,
green energy and nano offer promise, but you are a decade away at least. the problem is we have not had any corporate or government leadership in the past to push these industries-which are vehemently being opposed by existing energy and construction companies. as RT said, green is still an excessive cost which will not be overcome during a severe recession.
nanotech holds promise, but again is mostly in the domain of academic researchers and a few high tech companies. its mass impact on society at large is a decade off. the recent push by the administration for additional spending by nsf and nih will help-but most of that money will go to older established researchers who will fund obsolete research areas and not up and coming ideas and research groups.
IF by chance we get some inspired government and corporate leadership, these technologies could transform the world. but most of the leadership i see, such as pickens on energy, is just an incremental change towards new energy technologies and not a paradigm shift. this requires an entire new energy infrastructure-and i am yet to see this country accept the cost of such a shift. hopefully it will before its too late.
AJ,
As for the short sale deals you talked about, in the past i did agree with you that you should pick them off now if you want a shot at a deal. now i feel over the next year we will see even better units (location in building, etc) become available as the more well to do investors collapse under the financial catastrophe we are experiencing. keep an eye out on whether this trend develops. up until now, many of the foreclosures have been on the “cheaper” units that amateur investors bought and immediately fell underwater. if the better view units begin to appear on the mls, you know the sickness is spreading up the food chain. if this occurs, prices will truly collapse in many of these buildings. certainly is interesting times we are living in.
gables – My point is Green tech IS here, right now. But the economics makes it a non-starter. That is how it has been for decades. Everyone bellyaches about using oil but UNTIL the economics makes green tech feasible (and not just silly tax credit stuff but the REAL economics) we will keep using what is cheaper…oil. I do think, a very focused research system on making solar economically feasible is our best path…….non silicon thin film with nano tube multi-angle lens film is getting us closer. And once battery tech catches up, which is close, it’ll make internal combustion engine vehicles economically obsolete.
Here is a “must read” on iceland……. that hotel with the decor reminds me of something. ICONic. LOL
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/04/iceland200904
Lucas goes Pimp Slappin BMW M3 (Mo)
The Smart Money is on Lucas.
RT,
i certainly dont disagree with you. the only way oil disappears from our energy policy is if we develop an alternative portable energy infrastructure. one major improvement would be significantly upgraded electrical grid. the other, more likely needed for overall change, will be the introduction of hydrogen infrastructure. energy requires portability and/or transmission which oil provides with our current infrastructure.
the best future green energy approach will be to develop power plants which create hydrogen, which may then be transported, stored and converted to energy on demand. reliance on hybrid/batteries may not work because of environmental effects associated with battery power. this may become nothing more than a niche market. all of the green efforts in building construction will be made obsolete once cheap sources of hydrogen are commercialized-and we are not far from that point.
The Ace
“Lucas goes Pimp Slappin BMW M3 (Mo)
The Smart Money is on Lucas.”
Of course 🙂
Muir, did you have a Sunday Epiphany?
oops. I presumed Jade did not have full Bayview. My bad. Even then $1600 HOA is a killer. I don’t even want to think about the taxes. For that kind of bread, I would prefer Continuum II.
Hey gables – I have to quash the hydrogen concept as the future. It isn’t. Battery tech is….that includes newly developed nano anode lithium ion batteries and further research on instant charge capacitor batteries. The advantage to batteries is simple, pull into any place…..a McDonald’s parking lot for example and swap out a few 20 lb. battery packs for a newly charged set. It is quick and easy. One concept is to have a battery trailer that you load in hundreds of battery packs and the trailer is driven to the power supply source (no need for all the smart grid to implement plus no transmission energy loss……no need either to plug in at home) and the batteries are charged right in the trailer, then the trailer is parked just about anywhere for battery swaps. Basically, you pay a battery deposit fee up front, then can exchange them for charged ones as you go (and obviously you pay for the charge). Another advantage is if you ran out of juice, any car could pull up and swap out a pack so you can get to the next battery exchange station. It would be faster then filling up gas or hydrogen and without all the EPA crap associated with the old technologies for a particular location (think of all the gas station EPA stuff that would be eliminated). That is the future and you would have a lot less maintenance then for gas or hydro cars. Basically, this system bypasses 98% of the infrastructure investment that smart grid and hydrogen requires….it SOLVES the chicken and the egg problem. It is the future. I have spoken.
RT, your idea is fine but we do not have the electric infrastructure in place to keep a new fleet of batteries charged in that manner. hydrogen will allow the country to produce a small economical electric plant anywhere it is needed. each house and building will be able to create its own power through hydrogen conversion. this will introduce resiliency into the electrical grid as well. not saying batteries are not part of the solution, but the new energy infrastructure will be hydrogen based because it is cheap, plentiful, clean and safe. batteries will form just one component of this new energy complex. homes and condos will use, say solar, to store energy in the form of hydrogen and then convert and use as needed. batteries are extremely inefficient compared to this handling of energy.
AJ,
I agree that the HOA fees are high for the unit at Jade. However, you have to realize that the HOA fees are based on the square footage of the unit. Unit 4507 has 2,130 square feet. It’s a big boy!
Muir –
I own a 1,800 sq. ft. loft on Broome Street in SoHo. Last I knew, they were worth roughly $1,000K/sf. There are less than 10 units. One of us is trying to sell now. I’ll let you know what he gets.
As for Miami and Miami Beach, having been looking for a year in SoFi and finding nothing of interest for less than $1MM, I am making an offer on a 1,500 sq 2-3/2 unit at Icon Brickell for roughly $400/sf. Obviously, I think it is the best value out there. Let’s see.
gables – Not to stay off topic here … and get people mad, but hydrogen fuel is produced by electricity and would REQUIRE upgrading to a smart grid system for widespread adoption in the way you propose (like at each gas station). Estimates for a smart grid system top a $1 Trillion (10 years to build out….and to drive you need it built!)f. Even today’s batteries are efficient enough with the Tesla sports car getting 200-250 miles on a charge….with nano anode tech the same size and weight of batteries would give you a 2000-2500 range. So you could reduce the cost, size and weight of the batteries by 70% and reduce the range to 500 miles. Hydrogen requires a much larger infrastructure investment and is hobbled by the chicken and the egg problem…..esp with having to set up sooo many fueling stations…..swappable batteries solves that problem with nearly zero investment compared to the alternatives. Moreover, batteries could be charged by solar, wind, etc. too AND even integrated solar cells on the roofn (of your car and house) so if your car sits in the sun while you work all day you’ll leave with charged batteries …. FOR FREE, there is NO WAY hydrogen cars can do that. Battery cars are the future and hybrids are simply a stepping stone as range extenders. Mark my words…..it is the future! LOL
Ace is a fraud! Ace is a fraud! Ace is a fraud! Ace is a fraud! I know him personally and he lives with his mom, he couldn’t even afford $1.25 per square ft!
Did anyone just watch Squawk Box? I think Warren Buffett sounded like an idiot. He was asked some tough questions but I would have thought that someone as seasoned as him would have been able to answer them.
RT, hydrogen can be created on site with solar cells-you have your electric power source right there, and off the grid if desired. both hydrogen and batteries serve as storage and transport of energy-hydrogen is just much more efficient at this point. it also allows flexibility of moving the energy to a factory, auto, house, etc without compatibility issues related to batteries. at the end of the day we are arguing for the same thing. you are focused a bit more on end product details and i am focused more on the overall energy system. but we agree a new system of energy creation, storage and transit will occur in the next advancement in the energy infrastructure.
sorry for straying off topic, will return back to condos. the emerald deal is the interesting one for me. this is an upscale building and shows the direction prices may go for such units. the effects of HOA and taxes are apparent on such a unit. if emerald begins to sell for $200 sf, then the average unit in miami will sell for a 25% discount, my estimate for what the luxury premium should be.
Enough about the energy- this is not an energy blog.
Lucas, Yes, it is the size of a 4 or 5 BR apt. and hence a steep HOA. I Guess it is not for a regular Joe but only for a GWM (guy with money).
I read the Warren rantings and he is all over the place. The poor guy is old and all that bridge with Bill Gates is taking its toll.
Muir,
Just saw your comment from last week. FYI… I’m definitely not AJ, but I’m glad to see what I’m saying is resonating enough for someone to remember.
Lucas,
Thanks for the new data. Also, if Buffett sounded like an idiot I think its because he wanted to, for some reason.
Doc
Samson,
I’m sure you’ll do great.
However, with patience on the buying side, you’ll do phenomenally well.
It’s not like prices will jump tomorrow in Miami is it?
Global recession could last til end 2010 or longer: Report
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Global-recession-could-last-til-end-2010-or-longer-Report/articleshow/4238518.cms
I think that $100,000 condo is a great buy for investors. Again do not mix up investor’s mentality and end buyer’s one.
Also about NY real estate market. Historically overall for the past 30 years prices in Manhattan did not fall more than 10-12%. There were some extreme cases but in general that’ what it was. The situation now is unique. So we cannot predict exactly what will happen.
In Miami we should watch for new buyers from Latin America. Political situation there is very troublesome. The majority of people over there are very poor. But in case of relatively wealthy people particularly in Venezuela I would pack my suitcases and leave ASAP. Some other countries in this region are facing trouble as well. So things can turn out to be unexpectedly different than the normal course of economic development.
doctor,
My bad.
I’ve come to the conclusion that AJ is a real person and only one person and not someone’s alter-ego.
However unlikely that is.
lara – I would say the same thing about America right now…..pack your bags and your portfolio and head to Canada! LOL
Lara,
re: “Historically overall for the past 30 years prices in Manhattan did not fall more than 10-12%.”
_____
NY TIMES
Looking for Bottom in N.Y. Real Estate
“….starting in the early 1990s, said Ingrid Gould Ellen, the co-director of the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University School of Law. Prices fell about 29 percent.”
Some glimmer of hope
http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/106700/Signs-of-Life-From-the-Real-Estate-Market
Lara,
Historically, Real Estate only rises 3% a year, and that’s on average, many times it has declined.
RT and I have posted a number of links.
There is even a long term (400 year study of the SAME houses) in the Netherlands.
Case-Schiller in the US for the past 100 years are also there for viewing.
It SOUNDS reasonable and intelligent to say “The situation now is unique. So we cannot predict exactly what will happen.” but is wrong on both counts.
First, if anything was unique, it was the scale of the bubble(s) and, what we are now seeing is a reversion to a means, nothing unique in that.
Second, it is very easy to predict what will happen in the immediate future, prices will continue to go down, and in inflation-adjusted terms it is also easy to see where prices will be in 5 years; down. What none can see is the nominal price in 2 or 3 years.
RT,
Staying tight with CDs?
It’s disconcerting to see Sheila Bair reassuring us that everything is ok.
If S&P approaches 4000 I start buying in $50K blocks until I’m all in.
Stock Market will rebound many years before Real Estate.
lara
many rich folks in venezuela invested in stanford…there’s nothing for them to invest in now – their money is gone.
I thought someone will give an update on the Walmart project but looks like no one is making an effort.
The deal between McClatchy and Terra should have been done by the end of 2008. As there was no news, I thought the deal is dead. But looks like Terra got an extention till end mid 2009 and then again till end 2009 to close the deal or lose the $10 Million deposit:
http://www.reuters.com/article/mnaNewsTechMediaTelco/idUSN3035478820081231
also
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/12/29/daily26.html
I still think it is a non starter. Bayview Market 7.32 acres sold for 3-4 mil in 2004. How can 10 acre Miami Herald parking lot (not even water front, mind you, just a couple of blocks south east of Bayview Market) be worth $19 Mil per acre at 2006 prices and expected to hold up its value in 2009? Absurd. Even Walmart cannot save this dumb stupid deal.
Muir – CD’s a couple high yield savings accounts. That will be my March review since have CD’s expiring in the coming months……staggered over the next 12 with a few beyond that. Who thought 4.25% would be good! LOL I guess in a deflationary environment, the real rate is better. As I had posted long about about the demand curve shifting down with the dual challenges of the lowered demand curve and slack burn off….the fed govt keeps making mistakes and is simply a political power grab through money that we’ll be paying back for 50 years! There are some things the fed govt could do to assist, such as buying up the excess vehicles from US makers to update state, local, and federal govt fleets with vehicles under warranty and more fuel efficient. But alas, they only care about union jobs….. Meanwhile, there is little that they can do about housing except allow EVERYONE to refi up to $500K of existing mortgages into 4%-5% 30-40 year fixed. Oh well, politics at its worse…… I spoke to a realtor today…it is bad and there is no light from anywhere. Even Roubini just stated that he sees recession through the end of 2010 with unemployment well above 10%…gee, didn’t I say something like that last year? LOL
But but but, jcrimes…..can’t they invest in Cargill venezuela? Oppps, my bad.
Why some people think (Post #39) that buyers from South America will save the day. The fact is that there is not one single country in South America that is not a third world country and since when did poor starving peasants from the third world start purchasing over priced luxury Miami Condos. Do you not realize that for the cost of a single month’s HOA dues of a Miami Condo would feed and cloth a South American family of 15 for a year and seven months.
And if you thought our economy is in the tank those South American countries that are supposed to save the day can’t even afford a tank to fall into. Perhaps the Smart Money is wrong on this one and Miami Condos are priced differently to accommodate worthless peso’s and if that’s the case then perhaps Lucas can give them a discount on the proposed $900.00 bus ride, better be very large buses.
The Smart Money