Median market value down 49.7 percent from 2006 peak in Boynton Beach’s Boynton Isles

With just 50 houses, all of which have direct access to the Intracoastal Waterway, Boynton Isles is the subject of this week’s installment of our real estate profile series. The neighborhood is situated between South Federal Highway and the Intracoastal in Boynton Beach.

None of the homes in Boynton Isles are currently in foreclosure, according to data from financial and property information company CoreLogic. The interactive map below highlights 2010 market values as set by the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser. Dark green represents lower values, bright red reflects higher amounts. Click on any house for more information about it.

via Median market value down 49.7 percent from 2006 peak in Boynton Beach’s Boynton Isles.

Hotel investment: South Florida’s Insite Group buys South Beach oceanfront hotel for $61 million

The Weston-based investment group that bought the former Holiday Inn on Fort Lauderdale beach and developed it into the chic B Ocean Fort Lauderdale resort is expanding its buy-and-renovate business to Miami Beach.

Insite Group and its London-based partner Cube Capital said they purchased the 251-room Continental Oceanfront South Beach Hotel for $61 million in cash. They plan to invest millions more to upgrade the property on Collins Ave. and 18th Street and re-open it late next year.

Plans call for a 3.5 to 4-star resort with rates less expensive than the more upscale Shore Club, Delano or other oceanfront resorts on South Beach – much as B Ocean offers a more affordable option to the Ritz-Carlton and other luxury resorts on Fort Lauderdale beach, said Ronald Tencer, Insite’s vice president of acquisitions and development.

via Hotel investment: South Florida’s Insite Group buys South Beach oceanfront hotel for $61 million.

High rise, high stakes

Special report: High rise, high stakes.

They’ve lost $8.65 million of their own money, but the developers of Greenbridge say they have five investors willing to help save the $56 million condominium towers from foreclosure.

Three people have offered to assume the project’s loan debt and two others are willing to put up between $2 million and $4 million each to cover remaining costs the bank won’t cover, developer Tim Toben said in an interview Thursday.

Bank of America, which financed Greenbridge with a $43.5 million, three-year construction loan, started foreclosure proceedings earlier this month.

South Florida home sales hit 6-year high in volume but not price

Celebrity name-dropping, Twitter contests, skywriting planes and free grub are all strategies home sellers and real estate agents are using to entice buyers to the closing table in South Florida’s oversupplied and uncertain housing market.

The list of marketing gimmicks used to sell houses and condos has grown longer and more eccentric as the real estate market has struggled toward an awkward rebound, characterized by high sales volume and deeply discounted prices.

In terms of selling properties, the sellers’ strategies—which include catering to the ever-important international buyer—have helped push sales numbers to boom-time levels, although prices in parts of the market continue to sputter.

via South Florida home sales hit 6-year high in volume but not price.

Condo hurricane insurance: Hurricane season should prompt insurance check

When it comes to protecting condominiums and homeowners communities from hurricanes, Florida law may not require as much property insurance as you may think – or need.

These are tough times for shared communities across the state, and the notion of "going bare" — without insurance — to save on costs may sound appealing, but it could leave owners and communities in dire straits should the worst happen.

“Casualty insurance coverage protects property owners from damage to their property caused by acts of God, like hurricanes,” said Ken Direktor, with the firm Becker & Poliakoff, which specializes in community association law. “But there are a lot of things that insurance won’t cover, like what’s inside an owners home.”

via Condo hurricane insurance: Hurricane season should prompt insurance check.

Venice’s historic El Patio Hotel is sold

The historic El Patio Hotel in downtown Venice has been sold for $2.195 million to longtime real estate investor and restaurateur David McRae.

The 16-room business at 229 W. Venice Ave. is the only remaining operational hotel in downtown Venice and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

It was built in 1927 and has been owned and operated by the Miles family since 1948.

via Venice’s historic El Patio Hotel is sold.