Miami condo market auction..Weak bid.

Discussion in 'Economics' started by TheDudeofLife, Sep 21, 2007.

  1. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/245102.html


    and they are still building more.....


    Newly built Miami condominiums were auctioned Thursday night, an event that many observers expect to see repeated as more under-construction condo buildings are completed amid the struggling the housing market.

    More than 300 people packed a Marriott hotel ballroom to bid on 20 units at Platinum Condominium, a 22-story, 199-unit tower in Miami's Edgewater neighborhood. Buyers had to be pre-approved and prepared to put down 10 percent.

    The audience ranged from investors looking for a steal, a Miami renter looking to buy her new home and the simply curious.

    ''I want to see how high prices go,'' said developer Daren Schwartz, who said he's trying to sell 12 townhomes in a 34-unit Normandy Isle project.

    The auction is the first since Miami's latest condo boom soured and it drew plenty of attention. Cable business channel CNBC covered the event, which came with echoes of Miami's 1980s condo bust when developers turned to full-throated auctioneers to unload units.

    Eight of 20 units Thursday were offered with no minimum-bid requirement and prices ranged from $181,500 for a one-bedroom to $357,500 for a three-bedroom. Some observers like Peter Zalewksi of condovultures.com, an advisory and realty firm that looks for condo deals, said prices were too steep for investors looking to score a bargain. But others noted that figures were significantly below what previous buyers paid for Platinum units.

    In May, for instance, a one-bedroom on the 14th floor closed for $360,000. But Thursday night, two one-bedroom condos on the tower's 16th and 18th floors couldn't crack $220,000.

    ''Next week or the week after, look for the lawsuits on this building,'' said Jack McCabe, a Deerfield Beach real estate analyst who warned that people who bought previously will not be happy about Thursday night's auction. ``Many people who bought are now upside down. The place isn't worth what they borrowed, suddenly, thanks to this auction.''

    Real estate analyst Michael Cannon said the Thursday prices are around what they were in 1999 to 2000. Meanwhile, analyst Lew Goodkin said better bargains should come in 2008 when the market is even softer.

    ''Going, going, gone,'' said Goodkin. ``Sold to the schlemiel who should have waited. I think it's too early in the game.''
     
  2. One important thing. This building is in a crappy (but changing) neighborhood. This isn't downtown Miami let alone the Beach. If you're a Chicagoan it would be the equivalent of South Shore or Hyde Park. Even still those are good deals.

    I'm neutral on SoFla condo prices (although the good ones sell quickly) but I'm very bullish on homes here.
     
  3. Florida should secede from the Union.
     
  4. future Section 8 Housing.
     
  5. maxpi

    maxpi

    the builders never give up until they are bankrupt
     
  6. Toro KMA

    Toro KMA

    Its too early.

    25,000 condos will have been built over the past five and next five years, as many as had been built over the entire 1980s and 1990s.
     
  7. I think it is way way too early to consider real estate investments as a bargain at the current time. A lot more downside pressure on prices to come. I'll wait patiently as prices continue to come down in the next 12-18-24+? MONTHS. A condo selling for $500K today that looks like a deal(because it was $625K at the peak) will very likely be selling for less in the months to come. A stock that was selling for $100 looks cheap at $60 and tempts the impatient,,,,then the stock falls further to$40> $30 and that $60 doesn't looks so good anymore.
    Condo prices in FLA will decline. Be patient and wait.
     
  8. vectors101

    vectors101 Guest

    shill bidding when it was sold for 360K for freaking 1 bedroom 'apartment'

    why don't you just rent for a freaking 1 bedroom only single people buy 1 bedroom.

    it's worth 220K

     
  9. vectors101

    vectors101 Guest

    the bankers and brokers always gets their commission on these deals.

     
  10. 77,000 are scheduled to come on line in Miami-Dade in the next 24 months.

    I can't find the cite right now.
     
    #10     Sep 22, 2007