Villa Regina Condo Amenities Video
June 3, 2008 by Lucas Lechuga
Villa Regina Amenities and Common Areas:
Here's the video, with a narrative voiceover, of the 5 bedroom/5 bath condo with 4,100 interior square feet listed for $1,499,900 at Villa Regina:
Nonlocal buyers represent a large share of the percentage of people buying in Miami right now. My hope is that these videos will help these types of buyers to familiarize themselves with the various condo buildings throughout Miami.
Wow, amazing job as always!
The video shot should use a wider angle lens and the panning shots should slow down a bit. Can the video shots make more sharp?
Lucas,
Great “Out of the Box” thinking. Pictures AND VIDEO. What’s next… buying real estate with the click of a mouse!? Keep up the great work!
David
I had never been inside Villa Regina, but this video makes it look really nice.
I would much rather buy/rent a new building. This one looks a little dilapidated.
Bubba, I would much rather be in a solid building with the quality and care that older construction entails, rather than the shoddy work of new construction where “what’s the cheapest way we can build it” is the bottomline-spoken with an insider’s voice. Plus the default rate and no condo association established yet…VR is a gem that is well maintained.
Yes, I’d rather be with an established building that has gone through its “hiccups” rather than a shoddy new construction that has yet to show it’s “hiccups.” Did that in Chicago with River East, it hurt. Never again.
LA LA,
Wait till you get blasted with assessments in these older buildings …………
i am being blasted actually, price per square foot, it evens out. i plan to get on the board in december and see what the real deal is and how my money is being spent. i’m still happier in an older, solid, spacious building.
La La, You dont have to get on board to see how your money is being spent. I go to my condo management office when ever I am in Miami and demand to see each and every bid, contract, expenditure sheet etc.
If anyone does not comply or co-operate, I take them to task, including the management and the board. I am a tough ass MOFO, so it comes easy to me. I dont know if you can push your board/management to reaveal all, if you are a softy and dont know what you are talking about.
Well put AJ, and that’s what I’m afraid of, I’m not a “tough ass MOFO” – wish I was! Any advice will be duly noted and appreciated. I’ve read with interest when you’ve wrote about this in the past- at least I think it was you. But yes, I do need to be educated first, maybe I’ll get that “education” by being on the board.
la la – I had looked in the Chicago area too. Which building did you say you had problems with? River East??? Couldn’t find that exact name right away. Also, just curious as to what the problems were. Thanks.
I’m with Bubba. I’d buy a smaller space in a newer building. This building looks old. The special assessment will be huge (I just paid $170,000 in my 40 year old building).
And from the “video directors’ peanut gallery”, as good as these videos are, many potential buyers won’t have the patience to sit through them- these last too long- and the soft porn audio should be updated.
JMHO
Bill – What about the sexy voice? LOL
Renter Tom! Where’ve you been? Haven’t heard from you in awhile! I own at River East on the corner of McClurg and Grand. It’s the same old sorry story, we were promised the moon and the stars and the sun too(!) including an indoor tennis court!
The realtor said anything to get us to sign on the line, lied through her teeth on quality of finishes, amenities, square footage, percentage sold- if we didn’t sign right that minute we would lose the deal of a lifetime! Turns out it was about 60% sold, not the 99% she said.
Once we moved in, there were just a myriad of little things, our punch list was 2 pages long…this was 8 years ago- the details fade. It was just so cheaply constructed. Shall I go on? Bottomline, I will never buy something without seeing it first again.
And I will tolerate the special assessments. I’ll bitch up a storm, but I’ll pay ’em.
Folks, we are probably looking at 6% headline inflation in a matter of months. What is that going to do to the miami real-estate market? Assuming mortgage rates hit 10% in this inflation cycle, what is going to happen to real estate values then my friends?
Actually, inflation is real estate best friend…Hard assets will rise in value as purchasing power decreases…Your fixed monthly payments will be effectively reduced..
folks. take it easy. You have the ring side view of the blood spewing out of south florida real estate and you have Lechuga religiously showing it to you…chill, have a martini. The bottom in miami is far far away.
I hear that Alt-A/Prime foreclosures are now spiking up…So far we have had US bust…But the water in Thames (UK) is churning fast…Spain/Ireland are rushing to catch up..and those emerging BRICs are metling up fast…
…. and also an asteroid is heading our way to obliterate every form of life on Earth too.
CA, that is exactly what I have been trying to tell everyone. When inflation makes your money worthless, your real estate becomes a valueble asset. Inflation is a bigger threat than recession.
I don’t think inflation is running even close to the rate of South Florida real estate price declines. There are other places to store wealth such as midwest farm land. Also, typically, with higher inflation comes higher interest rates (usually). Don’t put your money into a declining asset since that will just compound the effects of inflation since the sale price will be in dollars eroded by inflation too. So, AJ, you may want to revisit your analysis. Don’t want to pick on you about that post but the analysis is incorrect. Other than that, I do enjoy reading your posts.
You borrow in todays dollars and interest…if there is 20% inflation in 1 year you have just reduce 20% of your loan in a year (incrase your principal by 20%) and made 20% in interest each month (assuming interest rate spikes up 20%) on your fixed locked -in interest payments for whatever their term is (5, 10 years…). Does it make sense ?
CA – I understand. But inflation will most probably not be anywhere near 20%. Moreover, one of the top rules in financial well being is to not borrow money on a declining asset. You do so at your own peril. Moreover, why not buy a piece of land that isn’t declining in value versus a condo in South Florida that will. The bottom line is there are so many better places to put your money that a condo in South Florida isn’t one of them.
Renter Tom,
Where is a good place to buy a piece of land ?
This is a great article — I learned alot, and am interested in what the tech-experts (e.g., Lucas, Jcrimes, Renter Tom, BFG, CarbonBlackCab, AJ, et. al) think of the practice of direct buyers of mortgages on an institutional and individual level. Is this where the vultures have been moving on lately, while they let the bulk-condo market sit idle? Apologies to Samir in advance for being off-topic, but regardless of the byline, we end up talking about the same issues anyway…
Kim
You’ll see it happen at the instituional level . Lenders are packaging loan portfolios to aggressive investors who will then do the dirty work, i.e., foreclose.
However, on the residential side, banks’ policies are generally that they will not sell you a specific loan. They’ll give you the loan as part of a portfolio but never on its own.
after today’s crappy employment number (would’ve been much worse if the gvmt doesn’t massage the numbers by handing out the most jobs every month to offset job losses in almost every sector) and the past 2 days of incomprehensible oil spikes -($5/gallon gas for super is here), our country is now officially right in the dumpster!
can’t have 8 years of TOTAL mismanagement at almost every single level of the government/economy and think we were going to cheat the beating we are all about to feel.
…i guess we’ll go hat in hand again and kiss every other country’s butt to see if they can help us even more. this HAS to be the most pathetic state this country has been in for probably close to 30 years. such a shame….
Maybe the poor employment numbers is due to all the condo HOA’s laying off workers….I knew they were pretty bloated and wasteful but wow…. LOL 🙂
I think the key quote in the article Kim posted is this one:
“Just because somebody’s debt is selling at 60 or 70 cents on the dollar doesn’t necessarily make it a good deal,” Benaroya said. “For instance, if you had a $200,000 mortgage on a house that’s now worth $100,000 and you go buy that debt for 70 cents [on the dollar], you’ve just lost money.”
If it was such a good deal buying debt at a discount, foreclosing, and flipping the property, then why don’t the companies who currently own the debt do that very thing themselves rather than letting someone else profit from it?
I’m not saying there isn’t money to be made buying defaulted mortgages. Just that it is, as a potential investor, important to ask yourself that question. In this market, buying debt at 50% of face value when the underlying collateral may only be worth 50% of face value is a big money-loser. Especially considering that it will likely take you a year to get possession of the property. Meanwhile, you will be responsible for all the holding costs until then (HOA, taxes, legal fees, etc).
At an institutional level, this practice may make some sense, since they can absorb or offset some of the risk. At the individual level, it sounds too risky. And as the article stated, regulation may limit it to institutional investors, anyways.
Fidelity Investments is starting a new round of layoffs. This is a major employer in Massachusetts.
Cyrus…I think it’s more like 16 years of mismanagement.
I have been weaiting for 3+ years to buy a place in Miami and will definately purchase if the prices come down to reality. There are not enough wealthy people in the world to fill all those Condos. Prices need to reflect what most people can afford. I still see people holding on to these way over-inflated asking prices. Take for example, Ten Museum Park, someone is asking 560K for a 900sqft 1 bedroom with barely any view…
When will reality set in down there?
Kim: I agree with BFG about buying defaulting mortgages. You dont really know what the true worth of these mortgages really is. Besides, there is a carrying cost to this investment (HOA, taxes, etc) and the big unknown is the liability. As you know, a house that sits vacant for a few months with AC turned off will probably get mould build up quickly. One mould gets in, you have to strip the place and redo it from the concrete up.
There are better ways of making money with less risk than housing in miami.
People dont realize the magnitude of the overbuilding in miami until you drive in the areas where these buildings are. There are so many shiny new buildings and many that are still under construction. I cant imagine any scenario under which these buildings get occupied anytime soon.
If I had money to invest, I would put it in the bank and get 5.0+% interest. It may not be a great return, but key right now is to “not lose”. Check out this blog for good bank deals: http://bankdeals.blogspot.com/
On a slightly different note, I moved my 401K last week from various fidelity overseas funds to the fidelity money market fund. I am concerned that stock market is going to take a huge dive now that oil prices are out of control and all other signs of economic slowdown are becoming more obvious. I was heavily invested in funds that invest in india/china/latin america. It has been a good run….time to lock in the gains and not lose when markets go down.
IS THERE ANYBOBY OUT THERE???
Lucas we get it you’re a fan of Villa Regina.
hey “looking to buy”…there are other blogs to keep you occupied when no one is actively commenting here. 🙂 i recommend globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com or calculatedrisk.blogspot.com
Thank you carbonblackcab this site is usually very active….lately I’ve noticed it seem’s to be FADING a bit???
We are getting there folks. A great bellweather building is an old fav on this board, the Vue.
Every time I visit the listings there, a few more 2 bdrm units have fallen under the 200/sq ft barrier. Slowly, surely, we’re getting there.
In a year you’ll see 125-150 sq. foot in more than one new building. And that’s good news, for (just about) everyone.
Thank you MOORETROOPS for keeping updated.Price’s are dropping like a lead balloon.
Ya just about everybody……EXCEPT REALESTATE AGENT’S????
New term used on Saturday by Financial Times in London to describe what is happening in the US. Inflation happens first, then people stop buying cars, homes, stereos, etc. People stop going to restaurants, car washes, etc. Eventually as people stop buying, prices continue to go down but still no buyers. This is what is happening now and will continue for the next few years. Best situation is to rent and be in all cash until the inflationary depression is over in 3-5 years. Lot’s of people are going to be hurt and lose their jobs, not happy about this but it is a fact of life.
Autos are now being sold for 15 percent less than blue book, first time in history. SUV are even worse 22-28 percent off kelly blue book. Now you have upside down car loans, on top of upside down mortgages.
The middle class will be squeezed to death with these higher costs until they can no longer buy out of fear and needs.
No, looking to buy, it IS good for real estate agents. They make their living off of sales, and sales wont happen until prices come back down to earth.
The only people this correction directly hurts are (1) those who “invested” in overvalued real estate that has depreciated by as much as 40% in the past year or so; and (2) investors in mortgage-backed securities who were duped by the big investment banks and ratings agencies.
Lower housing prices are good for America.
uhh…isn’t that just stagflation you described?
What has happened here?Is everyone asleep? Let’s have some predictions – up, down or sideways. Everyone’s thoughtful views are interesting. Don’t quit now – we are only just getting started.
Welcome to the summer in Miami. Seriously, we have more down to go. Not sure why it has not happened faster!
RDR…i think we need new stories to get the comments going again. Besides, summer is starting…it is hot and humid…people have less energy in this type of weather. lol
I would like to make an observation. Today I was at the car wash on US1 & Bird Rd. Around 7 pm, it is usually packed. Today, there were about 6 cars. They hardly have any staff there and it took forever to get my car washed and cleaned from inside. I asked the car wash guy whats up and he told me that people are not getting their cars washed like before. He said thing stating slowign down a few months ago, but the slowness has become painful in the last few weeks. The car wash is up for sale and they are going to layoff a bunch of people. 🙁 I hope they dont go out of business…..it is the only touchless car wash around the grove. I would hate to drive to coral gables or some other area to get my car washed.
Generalmagis…you are right..there is a lot more downside to the RE market here. check out this story about the ARM resets coming in the next 2 years.
http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/06/option-arms-moving-from-negam-to-fully.html
Some banks will choose to not reset the loans as they know people cant pay…but how long can they do it before they themselves go bankrupt.
The effects of recession and high gas prices are just starting to be felt. Things are going to get a lot worse. Tourism is not as big a part of Miami’s economy today as it was many years ago, but drop in tourism will have a bad effect. High gas prices means, people wont be driving to miami or flying to miami. Vacations are “optional’ and not necessary. When the choice is food on the table or vacation, food always wins.
It is possible that oil is in a bubble and prices may come down in a few months, but I think the damage is already done.
Carbonblackcab, I would like to add another local change in business, not a slowdown but a gain. About two weeks ago I moved some excess “stuff” into Public Storage on Biscayn. When I got there the attendant looked overwhelmed. I asked if it was a busy day and she replied “it’s been busy day for the last three months, for three years we have operated at 72% occupancy but for the last three months occupancy is up over 90%.” Thinking everyone was like me I commented “O right, with all these new condo recently completed I bet a lot of people are storing the extra STUFF so they don’t clutter up their new condo.” She looked at me and said “Honey, people are having hard times, they are losing their jobs, their homes, moving in with roommates and they are moving out of state”. She went on further to say that they recently had a few incedents of people trying to sleep in their storge units. It’ good to know some bussiness are doing well in the downturn.
I just took at look at Public Storage stock (PSA), since early March the stack has been up.
I know where I am moving some money tomorrow.
Mr Waverly – I always enjoy your posts. The economic downturn is different in that it isn’t really yet a recession nor have that many people actually lost their jobs (except Realtors® and mortgage people), rather, the non-job/non-wage incomes have dried up. What am I talking about? Credit. It was the “Refi Madness” that is playing out where people can only use their actual income and can’t juggle things with credit so those that were living beyond their means now have to live within it. By the way, yes it is I that coined that term and wrote in many months ago to CNBC why that was a better term than “Subprime Tsunami” to explain what was going on and how we got here. Erin Burnett even read it on Street Signs with my real name and all…..later Jim Cramer picked up the term and got a Bob Marley theme going (Refi Madness is a play on Reefer Madness …since the mortgage and home equity loan business is coming off its “high” and now has to deal with the reality of the situation after hitting the bottom just like an addict and now many people and institutions need to refinance their debts to get out of the madness….).
The lack of easy credit not only exposed those that lived beyond their means, it also removed a safety net for those near the edge. No doubt, this has been a hard landing for some but it was inevitable for them. Just hope they don’t bring the rest of us down any further with them. Had people not tried to live beyond their means, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. America is not poor, it just has a spending problem…
America has more than a “spending problem” it has misplaced values on what’s important and brings happiness, or at least contentment, in life.
I blame the media for a lot of it, but it also starts in the home and what you are taught to value. We are in a sad state, but even with all the crap our economy is going through, I look for and I’m thankful for my blessings everyday. Everything is cyclical, and I look forward to better days.
We need a cultural backlash to our gluttony in all its forms.
La La, I am exposed to as much as the next guy. Core values kept me from living beyond my means. If there is blame here let’s put it on the Lenders with easy credit, who knowingly allowed FRAUD and Merchants pushing ZERO % & no payments for two years. Fill your house with furniture, buy all the electronics you want, remodel while your at it an you don’t have to even think about a payment for 2-3 years.
Just wait to see the defaults on those accounts offered by Home Depot, BrandsMart and Rooms To Go.
Not to inject too much politics into anything on this board but spending beyond one’s means was rampant….and today Obama made some silly statement about people not being able to afford health insurance especially among young people…doesn’t he know many (not all) have cell phone bills or cable TV bills that are EACH larger than the cost of a decent health insurance policy? Live large and push the costs onto the rest of us… The debt pushers have created quite the mess…