Short Sale of the Day

6184 SW 149th Avenue, Miami FL

Real estate websites like Trulia have recently added distressed properties to their advanced filter selection, so HousingBath will begin to highlight a different Florida short sale opportunity of the day. Bonus points will be awarded for homes with dramatic price reductions from neighboring comps and/or visual evidence of being neglected or abandoned. Today's property delivers both. This 4br/2ba Miami home was built in 1990 and is currently listed for $150,000. A comparable sized home was listed for $439,000 only two years ago. The interior has been vandalized and, according to the listing agent, needs new drywall and painting.

Foreclosure Auction for MIA Hotel

Growing Weakness in South Florida Commercial Sector

In only two years, a high-profile Miami Airport hotel has been reflagged from a Radisson to a Sheraton to a Doubletree to a Foreclosure. According to the Daily Business Review, the 334-room hotel will be sold at a auction on July 30, but analysts doubt interested parties will pay anything close to the $59 million currently owed in principal, interest and fees. According to Real Capital Analytics, South Florida is currently home to $3.3 billion in troubled commercial real estate loans and $1.8 billion in delinquent loans.

Downtown Miami Sales Update

Price Cuts, Sales Pace Slows, Banks Award More Aggressive Pricing

The latest Condo Vultures report on Downtown Miami condo activity shows sales slowed to an average of 2.7 a day in the second quarter compared to 5.2 sales/day in the first quarter. Three projects accounted for the majority of those sales: 1060 Brickell, Marina Blue and Brickell on the River's South Tower. Sales were so strong at 1060 Brickell (thanks to aggressive pricing cuts), the developer was granted a loan extension to April 2010. Of the 83 new projects downtown, Condo Vultures says 61 have sold 51% of their units while 36 have sold 90%.

Oh Those "Wacky" Property Taxes

Spotlight on Florida's "Dysfunctional Property Tax System"

Serial Florida basher and withering print publication Time Magazine says South Florida foreclosure buyers are celebrating their bargains and increasingly waking up the next morning with unanticipated property tax hangovers. Picking up a $400,000 home for $100,000 at auction sounds great until you realize that insolvent local governments are going to keep your taxable value at or near $400,000. Since fire-sale purchases now account for 40% of home sales in Florida, realtors fear uncompromising county appraisers could scare away the diminished pool of interested buyers.

What's a "Friendly Foreclosure?"

Massive Related Group Project in West Palm Handed Over

Better Living Through Better Thinking. That's what the website for CityPlace South promised future residents, but today it seems Better Unit Pricing might be in order. Apparently the Bank of Nova Scotia filed a foreclosure lawsuit earlier today in Palm Beach County against Related Group's CityPlace South Tower. At issue is the $135 million mortgage on the 420-unit project located in West Palm Beach. While 367 units were under contract during the housing boom, only 39 units have actually closed since the building was completed last summer. The transaction is being described as a "friendly foreclosure"...whatever that means.

Crack House

Almost 20% of Homes Built in 2006 Have 2 Major Defects

Cracks in the stucco. Cracks in the foundation. Homeowners simply cracking up. The Wall Street Journal says a higher percentage of homes with construction defects are a legacy of the housing boom. When over 2 million homes were being built at the peak in 2006, there was a nationwide shortage of skilled labor and quality materials. Compounding matters today, "owners of defective properties say they’re finding it even harder to get repairs now because of rising builder bankruptcies." (Slide show)

Abandoned Homes Chock Full of Surprises

Bitter Homeowners Taking Everything Including The Kitchen Sink

The Orlando Sentinel's Mary Shanklin says dirty pools and uncut grass were the biggest problems associated with Central Florida abandoned homes just a year ago. Today, Shanklin says the problems run deeper than just unsightly exteriors. Peering in the windows of some abandoned Orlando area homes today is like watching a horror movie. Thousands of dead bees, smeared feces on the walls and dying rodents in the attics are a few of the treats foreclosure clean-up crews are finding. Some proactive homeowners are even hiring contractors to strip their homes down to the baseboards prior to bank reposession. Shanklin describes the increasingly familiar scene inside a million-dollar Windermere home: "Inside the house, the custom-made kitchen cabinets, granite counter tops, appliances, switch plates, toilets, crown molding — everything of value — has been stripped from the floors, ceilings and walls. There's a gaping hole in the former kitchen where the counter-top island had been. The master tub with burnished bronze faucet has been ripped from its casing." (Photo Gallery)

Florida Headlines To Make Your Eyes Bleed

Florida Politicians, New Construction, Sales Gimmicks & Rising Rates

Having blogged about the Florida HousingBath for over a year and waited patiently for signs of a recovery, there are four types of news headlines that make blood stream from my eyes like LeChiffre in Casino Royale: 1.) Florida property taxes and insurance rates aren't falling...They're still RISING. Translation: Your "leaders" in Tallahassee reneged on their promises of two years ago, and simply don't care about the added financial strain on average Floridians. 2.) Certain Florida homebuilders are suddenly bullish again and moving forward with new developments. Translation: Plummeting median prices, existing homeowners and tens of thousands of pending foreclosures be damned...we think now is a great time to ramp up Florida's excess home and condo inventory.  3.) Yet another chance to "win" a Florida home for $50. Translation: Suckers Wanted. Some loser can't unload his bad investment, so he's going to make the current Florida housing situation look even more gimmicky and pathetic with another online raffle pricing a tiny townhouse significantly higher than market value four years ago. 4.) Mortgage rates are rising thanks to Fed policy and rising uncertainty. "Translation: Higher rates may deepen the two-year slump which helped trigger the recession and sideline consumers planning to refinance or buy their first home." (Bloomberg)

Florida Hurricane Victims, Old & New

Hurricane Wilma Homeowners & Citizens Policyholders

The 2009 Hurricane Season is only three days old, and local news teams are already stoking the old fears of Cat-5 devastation statewide. But according to Law.com, residents of several South Florida condos are still dealing with unresolved claims from Hurricane Wilma nearly four years ago. Australian insurance giant QBE has amassed a large legal defense team forcing some HOA's to settle, but attorneys for the associations say "QBE hopes to force their clients into unfair settlements to avoid court costs." Meanwhile, Florida politicians promised meaningful homeowners insurance reform back in 2007. So it's interesting that, despite the growing recession and no major storms in three years, Governor Charlie Crist just signed a bill allowing Citizens Property Insurance to raise hundreds of thousands of South Florida home and condo premiums "by up to 10%." Citizens, in turn, says they will likely raise rates the full 10% per year for the next five years for most South Florida homeowners. 

Surging And Spiraling Statewide

South Florida Sales Improve; Central Florida Prices Tank 

The Miami Herald headline trumpets nine straight months of improving home and condo sales in Miami-Dade and Broward, while the Orlando Sentinel declares Central Florida "Existing-Home Sales Continue Rising." The other common denominator uniting these three markets is less cause for celebration for existing homeowners: prices keep falling with no bottom in sight. The Miami Herald describes the "super bargain" scenario: "The median condo price in Miami-Dade fell to $133,500 from $275,000 last year. In Broward, the median price fell to $79,900 from $150,000." And in Central Florida, median condo prices could soon be down 80% from the record highs of 2006. According to the Sentinel, "The median condo price in Metro Orlando was $52,700 last month -- less than half the statewide median of $106,900. " If he wants to assuage the fears of existing homeowners, the president of the Central Florida Real Estate Council maybe needs to tweak his talking points: "I think it's not going to plummet a lot further."

New Florida Maps Chart Misery, Losses

Focus Turns to Foreclosures, Economic Stress, Madoff Victims

There was a time when Florida maps were useful navigation tools for residents of and visitors to the Sunshine State. With the rapid population growth in decades past, cartographers often had a hard time keeping up with all of the expanding highways, new housing developments and tourist attractions. With the advent of Google maps and interactive mash-ups, today's Florida map tells a more sobering side of life in the HousingBath. The Sun-Sentinel publishes a colorful breakdown by zip code of foreclosures and subprime loans throughout Palm Beach and Broward Counties. The AP also has a new national map that aggregates unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy data by county. According to the Economic Stress Index, life in Florida is currently most stressful in Lee, Flagler and St. Lucie Counties. And perhaps the most original visual barometer of lost fortunes is the new MadoffMap which charts victims of Bernie Madoff's $65 billion Ponzi scheme. Along with New York and California, Florida has one of the highest densities of Madoff victims; many of them located around Jupiter, Palm Beach and Boca Raton. 

Florida HOA's Take Desperate Measures

Car Washes, Bake Sales & Public Humilation Are All On The Table

The St. Pete Times' Marlene Sokol says many condo associations in the Tampa Bay area are "dying" and resorting to desperate measures as payments from members fall to 50% of normal collections. One association attorney, Robert Tankel, puts it this way, "I haven't seen bake sales yet or car washes, but I have suggested that people who don't pay need to consider doing that. Sell their flat-screen TVs." Another drastic alternative, public humiliation, is being kicked around at some local association meetings. Posting or circulating letters to all HOA members with the names of delinquent members is increasingly embraced as a last resort. Knocking on doors and face-to-face confrontations are less common because, as Tankel eloquently puts it, "You never know when you are going to meet Mister Doberman, or Mister 9-millimeter."