Return of the Sight-Unseen Market

One real estate developer hired a drone; another displayed life-size sculptures of polar bears. A third charged potential buyers $100,000 just to take a peek at the floor plans. The common goal: selling something that doesn’t exist.

Spurred by tight inventory and plenty of interest from foreign buyers, real-estate developers in cities such as New York and Miami are reviving the boom-era practice of pitching new buildings months—and even years—ahead of completion. Miami’s Faena House, a planned 18-story tower, is still pouring concrete at the condo’s basement level. Yet the project, part of a newly developed strip that will include a five-star hotel and an arts center by Rem Koolhaas’s OMA design firm, already has 50% of its 47 units under contract, according to Alicia Goldstein of Faena Group.

Buyers are required to put down a 50% cash deposit on the apartments, which range from $2.5 million for a one-bedroom to $50 million for the full-floor duplex penthouse.

via Return of the Sight-Unseen Market.

Big lenders bidding to keep homes

As home prices in the region climb and inventory dries up, the nation’s largest mortgage lenders are gambling on the future of the housing recovery, a Herald-Tribune analysis shows.

Banking giants from Wells Fargo to Fannie Mae are routinely paying top dollar on the auction steps to hold onto their own distressed properties, outbidding cash offers and paying well above assessed value, according to a review of thousands of Southwest Florida auction purchases.

They are speculating that the properties will appreciate even more in the next couple of years.

via Big lenders bidding to keep homes.

Can Toronto survive if its real estate boom goes bust?

This summer, the first residents are expected to move into Cinema Tower, a 44-storey condominium building under construction at Adelaide and John streets.

Adam Vaughan, local city councillor for Ward 20 (Trinity-Spadina), takes pride in the amenities he managed to negotiate on behalf of the city and local residents.

“It has a huge cultural space at grade, it’s got a new park on Adelaide Street and it’s got affordable housing through Habitat for Humanity. It’s got three-bedroom units for families, because families are starting downtown and we’ve got to find ways to retain them,” said Mr. Vaughan, who has made mandates for family-sized condo units a personal crusade.

via Can Toronto survive if its real estate boom goes bust? | Posted Toronto | National Post.

Longboat property makes $710,000

A Holmes Beach real estate investor bought an acre of waterfront land on this barrier island for $1.68 million, divided it into three lots and sold them at a $710,000 profit.

Richard S. Eason bought the property at 3454 Gulf of Mexico Drive earlier this month through a company he controls — The Enclave at Longboat Key — at a deep discount, court records show.

via Longboat property makes $710,000.

Techniques We Used to Pay Off Our Mortgage Early

 There are all kinds of advantages that can come with paying off a mortgage. From the obvious savings on a monthly mortgage payment and the interest associated with such a loan, to the reduction in stress at having this financial obligation gone and the freedom to apply the funds that would have gone to a mortgage elsewhere, there are plenty of positives to being mortgage free. For many people though, the process involved in wanting to be mortgage free and actually getting there can be a long and winding road. 

The following are the techniques we used to ditch our mortgage payment in less than five years.

via First Person: Techniques We Used to Pay Off Our Mortgage Early.

New Home Owner Association law approved; Sen. Hays fulfills promise

Some advocates for expanded homeowners’ rights are heartened by a new law that seeks to rein in some questionable, if not outright bad, practices by developers and homeowners associations.

Gov. Rick Scott on June 14 signed a wide-ranging reform bill affecting how HOAs operate, including new provisions covering record keeping, elections, on-site management and homeowners’ control of the community.The reforms are designed to address complaints, as have been voiced by local activists for years, that developers are often unaccountable.

via New Home Owner Association law approved; Sen. Hays fulfills promise.