News About Properties

Sanibel and Captiva become paradise for buyers

For Sale: Two world-renowned islands in Lee County.

The price? Dirt cheap.

Prices on houses and condominiums on Sanibel and Captiva have dropped to their lowest levels in almost a decade.

And there are many for sale: more than 16 percent of properties on Captiva and 8 percent on Sanibel.

Miami Beach mansion sells for $16 million

A German businessman has paid $16 million for a Miami Beach mansion completed just weeks into the global financial crisis.

The 17,200-square-foot residence at 88 La Gorce Circle comes with two docks, a staff house, a five-car garage. marble staircase and an elevator. Seller Todd Glaser, a developer, built the 10-bedroom mansion “on spec,'’ hoping he could find a deep-pocketed buyer once the project finished. Construction began in January 2008, and finished in November 2008, just as a credit crisis was throwing financial markets into turmoil.

Nearly 18 months later, the house sold furnished for well less than the listing price of $25 million (reduced in 2009 to $19.5 million). But it’s still believed to be the priciest residential deal in Miami-Dade since Shaquille O’Neal’s Star Island mansion sold for $16 million last year.

Glaser’s partner in the venture was Armin Mattli, owner of Clinique La Prairie spa and a real estate investor, according to the sellers’ law firm, Waserstein Nunez & Foodman.

Boynton Beach condo closes two sales, vows to hang in

This past weekend, officials with the Promenade condominium had reason to celebrate. Nine months after the Boynton Beach condo was completed, they finally closed two condo sales.

“Kids were swimming in the pool this weekend,” said Promenade official Pryse Elam.

It’s been a long time coming, and it was a big source of relief. The mammoth complex was finished last summer - in the midst of the worst real estate market in decades.

In an interview this week, a Promenade official acknowledged the real estate crash prompted the condo’s backers to consider canceling sales in the empty building. They toyed with other options.

Many South Florida home sellers still asking too much

Despite months of declining home prices, new data shows that South Florida sellers are still asking too much for their homes, then slashing prices when they don’t sell — a sign that buyers and sellers are still struggling to define fair market value in the aftermath of a boom-and-bust market.

Nineteen percent of the homes on the market nationwide experienced at least one price cut in the last year, selling at an average of 11 percent lower than their original asking prices. The trend is even stronger in South Florida where the price cuts are more drastic, according to data compiled by Trulia.com , a real estate search database.

In the past year, 23 percent of the Miami-Dade homes on the market had to undergo price reductions to sell. Seventeen percent of the homes in Broward County and 18 percent in Monroe County had at least one price cut.

In some cases, local sellers needed to slash tens of thousands — even hundreds of thousands — of dollars off their asking prices.

Dezer Properties takes stake in Sunny Isles Beach Trump Towers

As the Related Group unwinds projects, Dezer Properties has taken over the Miami mega-condo developer’s ownership stake at Trump Towers in Sunny Isles Beach and is assuming the remaining debt on the property.

Condominium prices are being cut by at least 30 percent at the newly built skyscrapers, said Dezer Properties President Gil Dezer, as the company tries to unload hundreds of unsold units amid a troubled real-estate market.

Real-estate experts say the prices now rank below competing new oceanfront properties countywide.

The three-tower, 813-unit oceanfront condominium project at 16001 Collins Ave. was co-developed by Related and Dezer — with Related responsible for construction and financing and Dezer in charge of sales and marketing, Dezer said. The towers derived their name through a licensing deal with New York real-estate mogul Donald Trump.

Lakewood Ranch firm buys lots … $81 million worth [Central Florida]

Starwood Land Ventures, a Lakewood Ranch firm formed three years ago to acquire distressed real estate, has scored one of the largest land purchases in Florida in the past year.

Starwood Land officials say the company’s $81 million acquisition of nearly 5,500 lots from the bankrupt Tousa Homes Inc. will allow it to re-energize communities from Jacksonville to Miami and generate sales to builders.

“This is really the culmination of Starwood Land’s efforts in regards to searching and bidding on residential assets,” said Mike Moser, the local company’s east regional president.

As part of the acquisition, Miami-based Lennar Corp. has committed to buy 1,400 of the Starwood lots, and has options to buy another 1,350.