Florida's fastest dying suburb (Miami, Hialeah: real estate market, condo, loans)

[Cougar Beach]

What will become of all the empty glass condos dotting the downtown Miami area, from Brickell to the the Design District, and even further up Biscayne Blvd.?

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On the topic of the endless debate, Chelsa, as I said, you are discounting the value of living in NYC. There are a lot of amenities, such as cultural events, parks, free services from the city, the availability of a world-class transit systems, and not least, a lot of very high-paying jobs. You are judging your economic class based on how much stuff you can buy. That is the flaw in your reasoning. And yes, you are making far more than the median in the U.S., including NYC. I'm not sure why you wouldn't count the people on public relief. As I said, I don't know where you live, but there certainly are cheaper places to live in the NYC metro area than Manhattan. There are an awful large number of people commuting from New Jersey into the city. (This I know because my mother worked as a manager in a New York State unemplyment office in the city, serving New Jersey residents.)

In Miami, on your salary, you could live in a very nice house in a nice area, and you could get big flat screen TVs in every room. You couldn't hop on the Subway to Midtown Manhattan, but you could feel very wealthy.

[Chelsa1075]

I'll take a yard for my kids and them being able ride a bike down the block over feeling wealthy. I think that you would have to live in my shoes to know what I mean. I think that I got my point accrossed somewhat at this point however, I think it is a dead subject, because you will always think your way and I have my own opinion, so i feel it is better for us to move past this. No one is budging on this particular subject.

[fnord]

THE END OF SUBURBIA

The docu used to be available online - I don't see it now. Well worth a watch if you can find it.

[Cougar Beach]

Originally Posted by Chelsa1075

I'll take a yard for my kids and them being able ride a bike down the block over feeling wealthy. I think that you would have to live in my shoes to know what I mean. I think that I got my point accrossed somewhat at this point however, I think it is a dead subject, because you will always think your way and I have my own opinion, so i feel it is better for us to move past this. No one is budging on this particular subject.

Is there something compelling you to stay where you're living? It sounds like the issue's not your affluence, but that you don't like where you are.

It's the same question that keeps getting asked of Miami folks who don't like Miami, but it appears that a lot of them have already moved away.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by Cougar Beach

What will become of all the empty glass condos dotting the downtown Miami area, from Brickell to the the Design District, and even further up Biscayne Blvd.?

In my opinion that depends on a few factors.

1. Will the state of Florida change condo association laws? Will they make Banks who now own these foreclosed on Condos pay their share of the HOA fees? It is absurd to think that they shouldn't pay those fees. To divide those fees among the rest of the owners is absolutely ludicrous in my opinion. Part of owning a place, whether you live in it or not is to pay for the up keep and part of that up keep, when it comes to HOA is the fees. I think if they pass such a law, this will make living in a condo a bit more attractive for some, like those who don't care about back yards (like me)

2. How will these buildings fair as they sit empty? I mean structurly. For example, in many of the empty units you don't have the A/C running and in the summer months with our ridiculous humidity that menas MOLD. If mold is introduced into these buildings you then run the risk of sever health problems and money to get rid of this mold. This could detract from the allure of urban condo living. So, my point is, will things be done to assure these condos don't suffer structural degredation while they wait for buyers to jump in?

3. How protracted will this downturn be and will Miami do enough to retain educated professionals (singles and families). For example, will Miami make sure to attract more business down there that will be viable in this new economy? Right now many of the business are F.I.R.E. economy based and thats not going to cut it. Also, what about amenities. My wife, brothers and I took a trip through downtown Miami a few months back. While I am impressed with what they have done, they still need to do more to make it family friendly. I saw one family walking down the street with their kid on their big wheel and it looked so akward to me. I mean its not like NYC where at least you have community parks all over the place. There were NO parks downtown that I saw. They need to build up the parks, they need to also build a grand park like a central park (in NYC). They need to make that area far more family friendly. They have enough clubs and cafes to appease many singles, but the family aspect of that area sucks, big time. So they need to fix that. With this i would say they need to offer more free events as well, and more geared toward family activities. Miami does have some (far more than corny broward, but it needs even more).

4. Mass transit, will they fix the mass transit in the urban core? If they can create a mass transit system in the urban core of the city of Miami, I think that will make that place far more attractive than the rest of the city. You should be able to take BRT, LRT or heavy rail to any major intersection in the city core. Everything else should be within walking distance of these drop off/pick up areas. If they get that right, then that would be another feather in the hat.

5. Top notch grade schools in the city core and magnet schools should be a must as well. Make the rival the best schools in the world. Do that and that will attract more people as well.


I am sure there are other things I am missing but Miami/Florida needs to start to take care of these things. If they do, then I think over time those condos will fill up. But, they need to do things to make it more attractive. Can't worry about the prices to much, those are going to continue to fall for a LONG time until prices come back in line with local incomes. I think one thing up until recently miami suffered from was this idea that they had to be the jet set playboy city of the world. Very stupid, because jetset, playboys(girls) don't not help a city run. They don't work your 9 to 5s. They don't program your software, they don't do you sanitation work and they don't educate your children. You need a good mix of people in these areas to make the viable. But Diaz seems to have started to amend this. Just look at the Bike Miami initiative, very impressive. Also equally impressive is the Miami 21 zoning blueprints. I hope whoever comes in after him can build on his momemtem (without the curruption of course).

[Cougar Beach]

Wild Style, you make a lot of good observations. I hope everyone reads your post.

Miami-Dade has never benefited from good planning. Compared to most urban areas, there is a terrible dearth of parks and green spaces, and we are certainly lacking in anything like Central Park or the Charles River Reservation in Boston. Miami-Dade lacks in green space in general; it's egregiously bad in the downtown area.

[somebodymiami]

chelsa so why dont you go live in jersey i mean i dont understand your reasoning please excuse me because ive only been once and my sister lives there. You can easily take the path from many parts of jersey to manhattan and be pretty much anywhere in the city within 40 minutes. Jersey city has some cheap places, thats where my sister lives and she makes around 90k a year including her husbands salary. 170k is far from middle class it is certainly upperclass even in new york. what i think couger is trying to say is that you choose to live a upperclass lifestyle so you may feel lower class to your fellow upperclass neighbors. As someone may not feel as smart as another classmate in harvard but compared to miami dade community they may be much smarter(not saying that this is true just making a statement) You want lower or lower middle class we can trade my mother is a single mother raising myself and my brother on only 30k a year in Miami. Not a personal attack on you but please just dont go saying 170k a year is lower middle class. Im sure if you are having trouble paying things you can surely adjust your lifestyle in many ways to cut cost.

[Cougar Beach]

Re: the empty glass condo towers from Brickell to the North End....

Fannie Mae just twisted the knife in the chest of the Florida condo market.

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/870083-p2.html

"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

. . .

"The new conditions include:
• No more than 15 percent of unit owners can be 30 days or more past due on association fees.
• For new condo buildings and condo conversions, at least 70 percent of units must have been sold or put under contract. That's up from 49 percent previously.
• Fannie will have to review condo buildings itself to make sure they meet Fannie requirements -- at the lender's expense. Before, Fannie relied on the lenders to perform these reviews."

[Wild Style]

couger

Those condo prices are going to fall like bricks with this.

[Cougar Beach]

Originally Posted by Wild Style

couger

Those condo prices are going to fall like bricks with this.

This is very depressing -- or a great opportunity. Mostly depressing.