La Via Units Sell for $55,000 Each [South Florida]

La Via Units Sell for $55,000 Each [South Florida]

A foreign investor has purchased 26 units at the La Via Condominium complex in Pembroke Pines for just over $1.4 million, or $55,000 per unit, in an all-cash transaction. Atlanta-based Apartment Realty Advisors Inc., which arranged the sale, expects to see more such fractured condo purchases throughout Florida in the coming year.

“We will see more all-cash deals from both local and foreign investors,” Avery Klann, senior vice president of ARA’s Florida division office in Boca Raton, tells GlobeSt.com. He says offshore investors are seeking opportunities within the US multifamily sector while domestic buyers are having difficulty arranging financing during the ongoing credit freeze.

Shaoul Mishal, president of Israel-based Gamla-Cedron Group, bought the remaining units at La Via, which amount to roughly 10% of the 250 total units on site. The former Green Key apartment complex was converted to condos in 2005 and all other units were sold over the past three years, at $230,000 each, to owner-occupants, buyers renting out their units and absentee investors.

Con artists take advantage of homeowners in trouble

Con artists take advantage of homeowners in trouble

As tens of thousands of Los Angeles County residents lost their homes to foreclosures in recent years, a Van Nuys businessman and his associate knocked on doors and mailed out fliers offering “Foreclosure Relief Services” to desperate homeowners.

The two men, ages 59 and 71, allegedly told homeowners they could stop foreclosure proceedings if they paid them a $500 monthly fee.

But prosecutors say instead they swindled victims out of the equity in their homes in North Hollywood, Glendale and other communities around Los Angeles.

Accused of 71 felony counts of foreclosure-consulting fraud and other charges, they are now awaiting trial for what prosecutors describe as a “foreclosure rescue scheme.”

Joe Adams: Pooled reserves ensure there’s cash when needed

Joe Adams: Pooled reserves ensure there’s cash when needed

Q: Our board of directors has been talking about switching over to “pooled” reserves. Can you explain what this means? L.A. (via e-mail)
Advertisement

A: The concept of funding condominium reserves through the “pooling” method, sometimes also known as the “cash flow” method, came into vogue about seven years ago.

The Florida Condominium Act requires an association to include as part of the annual budget, a reserve schedule. Reserves must be set aside for roof replacement, pavement resurfacing, building painting, and any other item of association responsibility with a replacement cost or deferred maintenance expense of $10,000 or more.

Traditionally, the reserve schedule accompanying the proposed budget has used the “straight line” method of calculating required reserves. For example, assume that the roof on a condominium building has a 20-year useful life, it is 10 years old, and will cost $100,000 to replace. Further assume that the current amount of money in the roof reserve is $50,000. The association will need to collect $5,000 per year, over the next 10 years, to accumulate another $50,000 so as to “fully fund” the roof reserve. This is traditional, “straight line” funding of reserves.

New rules raise the bar for condo mortgages in Florida – Business – MiamiHerald.com

New rules raise the bar for condo mortgages in Florida

Lending giant Fannie Mae is slapping tough new requirements on mortgages for Florida condos, moves that analysts believe will make it even more difficult to sell units in buildings already starved for residents and struggling financially.

The standards, which took effect last week and apply only to Florida, include requiring that no more than 15 percent of a building’s unit owners be delinquent on association fees as a condition of funding home loans to new buyers.

Fannie Mae buys the majority of home loans from lenders, so it wields significant power in the making of mortgages. Fannie-backed loans generally offer the best rates and lowest down payments for borrowers.

Future retirees buying homes in Southwest Florida now to enjoy later

Future retirees buying homes in Southwest Florida now to enjoy later

Flexible work schedules and the lowest home prices in years are attracting a new type of buyer to Southwest Florida — future retirees. These buyers are planning ahead for retirement, purchasing now to enjoy later. In the meantime, many are testing the Florida waters, so to speak, by working winters and spending long vacations here.

That’s exactly why Laurie and Tom Owens, of Syracuse, N.Y., purchased a pre-retirement home in Sandoval in 2005. “We always knew we would buy a home in Florida some day,” said Laurie. “We were visiting friends in North Port, took a ride and ended up at Sandoval. We decided to take the opportunity and bought a Pulte Homes villa in the Greendale neighborhood that same week.”

When their home was completed in 2006, both Laurie and Tom were still working, with no real retirement plans in sight. Then, Tom, who was in the corporate communications field, accepted an early buyout option and spent four months last winter enjoying Southwest Florida. “He loved it,” said Laurie, the IT manager for National Grid, an electric and gas energy-delivery company. “After all those years working in the corporate world, he did everything he wanted to. He drove his Corvette down and while here, he would ride his bike and enjoy the pool and the fitness center. I’d visit him every chance I could.”

Where are the hidden values?

Where are the hidden values? [South Florida]

While Florida as a whole has taken the heat (no pun intended!) for being one of the hardest hit real estate markets, there are still segments of the market and certain neighborhoods that have held their values more than others and where investing now makes sense, since these area are also poised to be the first to come back. With location obviously of great importance, we asked local experts where they think today’s best real estate opportunities exist:

Sun-Sentinel: To what degree are you starting to see investors reenter the market?

Carl Van Eyssen (Realtor®, Campbell & Rosemurgy, Broward): We have investors out looking, but they’re holding on to their money. They’re all worried about the economy. There’s also going to be an additional three million REOs to hit the market nationwide in the first quarter, with lots of investors wondering if they’ll get a better deal if they wait a little longer. The bottom line is that we could be in a buyer’s market for the next seven years or longer. And, if you’re not in the business as a foreclosure agent, you may not be in this business soon.