News about properties and real estate
Maybe the smart way to play the real-estate crash is to come down here and rent.
You can live in an amazing, brand-new condo, high above Biscayne Bay, for about $2,000 a month.
And there are plenty of desperate owners who need the income. The cash doesn’t come close to covering all their costs.
For this money, you can get a two-bedroom home on the 20th floor with a wraparound balcony and stunning views of the bay.
Southwest Florida: Garage sale economy | news-press.com | The News-Press
Garage sales have morphed in Southwest Florida from a means to purge the flotsam and jetsam in people’s lives to simply helping them survive.
A plunging economy, soaring gas prices, the highest unemployment rate in 15 years and skyrocketing foreclosures are forcing Southwest Florida residents to hold garage sales not to downsize or de-clutter, but to make ends meet.
People being foreclosed upon are moving out of state and lightening the load by selling possessions. Real estate and personal property auctions of household items also are rising.
“Southwest Florida has always kind of been the garage sale capital of the world,” said Bruce Scott of Bruce Scott Auctions in Fort Myers.
Guess this buyer saw a golden opportunity
On Monday, Realtor Kim Ogilvie closed a deal with a very interesting twist.
A golden one to be exact.
The buyer of a downtown Sarasota residence that sold for more than $1 million brought a briefcase filled with $400,000 worth of South African Krugerrands to the closing — that is about 444 of the gold coins. A foreign coin expert was at the closing and verified the coins’ authenticity and weight.
“I represented the seller and were happy to complete the transaction in whatever form they wished to use.”
Strip’s vaunted condo-hotels losing their luster [Las Vegas]
Like some Vegas act that landed with big expectations but is struggling to gain traction, condo-hotels are having a tough time on the Strip.
When they made their appearance here, these hotel-affiliated condominiums that can be rented by their owners as hotel rooms were pitched as a way for mom and pop investors to own a piece of the Strip and for developers to use those purchases to help finance their high-rises.
Everyone was going to be a winner as the value of Strip real estate soared.
But the bloom is off. The market has chilled, buyers are largely evaporating, banks are reluctant to finance the purchases or lend money for new projects because of slackening demand, and developers are questioning the wisdom of the condo hotel concept.
Restaurant properties: Are they still in demand? [South Florida]
What’s the outlook for restaurant properties? Two brokers, Richard Ruvo of Port St. Lucie-based All Florida GMAC and Jim Traina of Americas Realty in Stuart, offered their perspective.
Q. Are restaurant listings up?
Ruvo. There are a lot more restaurants on the market now. I’d say listings are up about 20 percent. Sales are up too.
Traina. I wouldn’t say listings are up. We’re hearing more complaints about the economy. Business (restaurant revenue) is down. They’re saying season dropped off early.
Condo crunch in S. Florida good news for bargain hunters
The glut of condominiums for sale in South Florida is attracting a legion of bargain hunters.
Out-of-state and international buyers are descending on the area in search of deep discounts as prices continue to crater. They want to get in now and wait out the housing slump because they think the region remains a powerful long-term draw.
With the lingering real estate downturn, now in its third year, some condos are selling at 25 to 60 percent less than during the boom times, when investors hoping to “flip” units bid up prices.
At the end of April, almost 41,000 condos were listed for sale in Palm Beach and Broward counties, according to data from Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate. Based on the current monthly sales pace, it would take roughly five years to sell all those condos if no new units came onto the market. Experts point to a huge number of still-unfinished condos that will keep a lid on prices for at least a year.
