News About Properties

Bulk buyer’s condo coup busts small-time investors

In early 2008, with the real estate market well into meltdown, a deal to sell more than 100 condominium units in Royal Palm Beach was struck.

Considered one of South Florida’s first bulk condo buys, it was called “savvy” by market analysts and heralded as a sweetheart deal for Miami-based purchaser Kensington Trust LLC.

The high-priced flips that the trust subsequently made to individuals, sometimes for 75 percent more than it paid, was optimistically thought to be a sign of a real estate upturn.

Two years later, 70 percent of the units at the Kensington at Royal Palm Beach are in foreclosure or were recently repossessed by lenders.

After the craze: Condo conversions leave fractured communities

Michael Jacob was living at the Monterra apartments in Bonita Springs in 2006 when the wave of condo conversions came through.

Jacob, and everyone else in the 244-unit complex, was told by management to leave if they didn’t want to pay the sky-high price to buy - it was the very top of the wave to turn rental apartments into more lucrative condo sales.

Luckily for Jacobs, he and his wife didn’t buy their one-bedroom apartment for owner Tarragon Corp.’s asking price of about $200,000. Prices crashed almost immediately and Tarragon hastily canceled its plans even before the last tenants left.

“Poetic justice,” said Jacobs, who works as an assistant Lee County attorney. “It was just such an outrageous price.”

Professional investors move into flipping foreclosed homes

Hoping there are big profits to be made in the aftermath of California’s housing collapse, professional investors are flocking to the business of buying foreclosed homes at distressed prices.

The investors, primarily private equity funds and groups of wealthy individuals, purchase the homes at public auctions, which are held daily on the steps of local courthouses. They refurbish the properties and try to sell them for quick profits.

Not long ago, the typical home flipper was an amateur tapping a home equity line or savings for an investment property. But professionals have rushed in, partly because of sparse investment opportunities elsewhere.

Property tax appeals: South Florida property tax appeals on a blistering pace

The annual tax notices going out this month will bring a double whammy of bad news for many Florida property owners — lower values and higher taxes.

But a small minority will get a break by challenging the county’s value of their homes, businesses and land.

Tax appeals have been pouring into government offices throughout Florida, fueled by the real estate boom and crash and a highly profitable cottage industry of tax representatives. So far this year, Broward and Palm Beach counties have reduced property values by more than $2.5 billion as a result of appeals.

Condo Buying Checklist

A condominium is not homeownership in the truest sense. When you buy a condo, you own only what is inside the walls of your unit. Outside of those walls, the residents of the complex share ownership in a cooperative bound by a contract. That cooperative can be an advantage of buying into a condo. But, there are areas you must explore to your satisfaction before you make your purchase.

When you buy a condo, you buy into an investment shared by all of the residents of the complex. That relationship is cemented by the CC&R–the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions. The CC&R governs just about everything in the complex, including whether you can have pets, whether you can paint your condo different colors and when you can have parties. Every condo complex has a group that enforces the CC&Rs, so it’s a good idea to review the document thoroughly before signing it. Once you do, there’s no turning back. You’re bound by that document.

The new vulture investors

These are the glory days of the residential real estate investor. Low prices, rock-bottom interest rates and stable rental markets have created huge buying opportunities.

“It’s awesome right now. I don’t think we’ll ever see another time like this,” said Tanya Marchiol of Team Investments, which has operations in about 10 states but focuses mostly on the Phoenix market.

These investors are known to many as vultures because they swoop in and buy “distressed properties” — foreclosures and short sales — cheap. Places like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami are popular because home prices there have dropped as much as 70%.