Condo slowdown trips up bulk buyers [South Florida]
Back when condos were still hot, mom-and-pop investors all over South Florida waited overnight in lines that snaked around the streets just for a chance to buy in.
Not the men behind The Formula, a company that bought condos in bulk directly from developers and flipped them. These three — a paralegal with a taste for fancy cars and the heirs to a Dunkin’ Donuts fortune — made millions until the market turned, and they turned against each other.
The story of The Formula offers a glimpse into the billion-dollar game of large-scale condo speculating that played out from South Florida and the Caribbean to Las Vegas, waged in the shadows of the condo frenzy far from the eyes of ordinary buyers. It also raises questions about how much of the condo market is built on the greed of gamblers — and how deep and long the downturn will go because of it.