Is this the future for Miami? "Luxury" condo nightmares. (middle-class, sales)

[jbravo]

Unbelievable!

Must reading to all on this forum.

Condo bust draws scams and squatters - 06/19/2008 - MiamiHerald.com (broken link)

I was going to ask the folks in this forum for their opinions regarding the long term future of condos in the Biscayne area and the Miami river.
The herald beat me to it.
If this is Brickell, I guess my question was answered.


The comments following the article are also fascinating.

Thought Tallrick would really be interested in this article.
Surprising the Herald actually did not lie.

Must reading for those in Miami or thinking of moving to a new "luxury" condos.
_

[Sir_Knight]

Oh my god, you had taken the words out of my mouth. I had finished reading this article a few hours ago, it had caught my eye due to the pretty young lady on the foto, looking at the floor full of black paint. The ridiculous part, it was comical when she had opened up the door-- where she had saw the squatters clothes on the washing machine. Do they have running electricity-- when no one even lives at the condo?

Why would you have hundreds of activated cards floating around? Also, the squatters must be middle-class, where the newspapers made it seem as if they were bums from outside the street. Come on, they must be local realtors that may have a suit or two, just to stay over night with a mistress at the condo. Why would you let a bum walk into a condo, unless he or she may dress the part of living at the site?

It is ashame, I was actually searching for a place to live in that area. After, I had crashed at my buddy's pad on Bay Side with miraculous views of the bay and miami beach. Ay Caramba!!!

What is the world coming to?? I do already see, a severe downside to the condo and housing market for at least the next five years or so. (My expertise as an investment banker and private equity consultant in the NY and DC area).

Moderator cut: ..

Sir_Knight (Boriquen).

[doggiebus]

Its going to be a rough 3-5 years here in Miami especially in all those new condos downtown. And unfortunately, all those new condos downtown are near where the homeless hangout, and a quiet, dry, place with a private bathroom is very enticing. Like the article said its happening in single family homes to. People need to start watching out for though neighbors.

[Lost in Translation]

Like most things Miami, this story is much hype. I live in a condo, as do most of my friends, peers and work colleagues, and none of us have any 'squatter issues' in our buildings. A few select newer buildings may have problems of this nature, but it is not the norm, especially with the older, more established HOAs. The Herald reporters, like many on this forum, are constantly on the lookout for the next negative story that has readership traction.

I'm sure the recent announcment that the Herald is laying off workers make them work even more harder to find that 'story'.

You can mostly ignore this type of hyperbole.

[tallrick]

Funny, I was predicting this way back in 2003 when the suckers were camping out to buy pre-construction condos. The condos are way too expensive and will be empty till the prices fall to reasonable levels. Hate to say "I told you so".

[kevinkagy]

This is not the future of condos in Miami. If you read today's Miami Herald, there's an article on the condo situation in Miami and it says that 73% of the units have closed as of last month and it's very apparent the blossoming Brickell, Downtown and Midtown have seen.

The area is now cleaner, nicer, busier, safer, more stores, more restaurants, everything, it's an urban area that's maturing into a really cool place.

Here's the article by the way:
Miami condo building frenzy not as big as thought - 06/19/2008 - MiamiHerald.com (broken link)

[burgler09]

As the world becomes more and more dense you are going to be seeing a lot more condos - not only in Miami - but throughout the world.

[Endeavor305]

Originally Posted by jbravo

Unbelievable!

Must reading to all on this forum.

Condo bust draws scams and squatters - 06/19/2008 - MiamiHerald.com (broken link)

I was going to ask the folks in this forum for their opinions regarding the long term future of condos in the Biscayne area and the Miami river.
The herald beat me to it.
If this is Brickell, I guess my question was answered.


The comments following the article are also fascinating.

Thought Tallrick would really be interested in this article.
Surprising the Herald actually did not lie.

Must reading for those in Miami or thinking of moving to a new "luxury" condos.
_

Your entire thread title is a gross exagerration. Downtown Miami although not near full capacity, is very very healthy and thriving. I recommend to anyone wanting to live in a luxorious tropical urban lifestyle to move to Miami.

Also, the building the Herald reported the squatting incident in is called "Brickell on the Bay". Anyone familiar with this area would know that this building is below average compared to the real upscale high-rises. It was also one of the buildings with the highest reported mortgage fraud cases. Apparently, some bad apples got involved with this project and manipulated sales prices throughout the project. In conclussion, to say this one particular building is a reflection of luxurious high-rise condo living in Miami is completely inaccurate.

Originally Posted by tallrick

Funny, I was predicting this way back in 2003 when the suckers were camping out to buy pre-construction condos. The condos are way too expensive and will be empty till the prices fall to reasonable levels. Hate to say "I told you so".

I don't know what suckers you told so, but I think it was pretty obvious prices would drop. Anyone who didn't believe that was dillusion or retarded, for lack of a better word. Had prices continued to rise at the rate they were between 2003-2005, almost every condo would be $1 million+. That's absurd, especially when the equities economy was already in decline as of 2001. So again, I don't know what retards you spoke to, but to me anyone with half a brain should have seen this coming. So congratulations...you have at least half a brain.

[rogerbacon]

Originally Posted by burgler09

As the world becomes more and more dense you are going to be seeing a lot more condos - not only in Miami - but throughout the world.

What a sad situation that would be. The American dream is to own your own home. To think people might have to settle for condos instead makes me think America's standard is dropping down to the levels of the Soviet Union, where workers lived in drab monolithic condo buildings near the factory they worked in. It's like some dark sci-fi future where all the drones move throughout their daily lives from work cubicles to condo cubicles and back again. If it was a music video I could almost hear Queen's "Pressure" playing in the backgfround.

[doggiebus]

...says that 73% of the units have closed...

Just because 73% of the condos have closed doesn't mean that people are living in all 73% of those condos. Many speculators are still sitting on their condos. Its going to take a few years for these condos to fully sell out and people to move in (with the exception of some being second homes).