(TNS)—More Americans are taking out zero-down loans to buy a home, but not at the rate or with the risk that helped bring on the U.S. recession a decade ago. Experts say zero-down programs, through which people can purchase a house without a down payment, have become more popular since the 2008 housing crisis, creating an easier path to homeownership but posing risks if the market takes an unexpected downturn. “We didn’t have to put $30,000 down on a house, but you still... [read more]

Affordable housing developer Pinnacle sold an affordable housing complex in West Palm Beach for $19.7 million, signaling the growing investor demand for affordable housing in South Florida. San Diego-based Fairfield Residential acquired Abbey Park, a 160-unit community at 1921 Abbey Road, for about $123,000 per unit, records show. –– ADVERTISEMENT ––       The property features 11 two-story buildings with a mix of 112 two-bedroom units and 48... [read more]

KEY POINTS Apartment demand in the second quarter of this year spiked 11% from a year ago. That pushed rents up an average 3% nationally to $1,390 per month, according to RealPage, a real estate software and analytics company. Despite the increase, a record 82% of renters say renting is more affordable than owning, according to a new survey from Freddie Mac, up from 67% just a year ago. In the D.C. suburb of Chevy Chase, Maryland, a massive apartment rental and... [read more]

Shutterstock Unless you've lucked out with a dream subsidized housing scenario or managed to scoop up a beautiful home for $1, you're probably less-than-stoked at the size of the rent check you have to cut every month. That's especially true if you live in a market where real estate prices have skyrocketed in recent years. In fact, the harsh reality is that there's not a single state, county, or city in America where a full-time worker... [read more]

Rendering of Rosemary 360 and Stephen Ross Related Companies has unveiled plans for a new office tower in downtown West Palm Beach. Related expects to go before the West Palm Beach City Commission this summer with its proposal for 360 Rosemary, a 300,000-square-foot, Class A office building at Rosemary Avenue and Evernia Street, according to a spokesperson. The New York-based developer would break ground on the project later this year if approved. The LEED Silver building would... [read more]

Americans are ready to buy houses, but many of the houses just aren’t there. A decade after the housing collapse, home construction per household is near its lowest level in 60 years, according to the Wall Street Journal. This is happening despite a fairly strong economy and a growing desire among millennials to start buying homes. A variety of factors are contributing to the slump, including strict housing regulations, a land shortage, and a lack of construction workers,... [read more]

Rendering of Village at Mangonia Lake Miami-based AHS Development Group started building an apartment complex in West Palm Beach after landing a $27.1 million construction loan. AHS broke ground for a 240-unit apartment complex called Village at Mangonia Lake with construction financing from Bank of America. The Miami-based developer paid $4.5 million in March 2017 for the 7.56-acre development site at 2101 North Australian Avenue, just west of downtown West Palm... [read more]

Elin Nordegren (Credit: Realtor, WIkimedia Commons) Elin Nordegren, the Swedish model once married to golfer Tiger Woods, has listed her mansion in North Palm Beach for $49.5 million. Nordegren built the 23,000-square-foot home at 12520 Seminole Beach Road after paying $12.25 million for the property in 2011 and tearing down its nearly 18,000-square-foot home. She purchased the property following her much-publicized $100 million divorce from the golfer. A... [read more]

250 Collins Avenue (Credit: 250collins) UPDATED March 13, 6:45 p.m.: Fresh from undergoing a multi-year renovation, a 27-unit apartment building in Miami Beach’s South-of-Fifth neighborhood just sold for $14.6 million, property records show. The developer, TwoFifty Collins LLC, managed by Alessandro Renzetti, listed the property at 250 Collins Avenue for $22 millionwith Gary Hennes Realtors in 2016 – meaning the building sold at about a 33 percent discount off... [read more]

Ocean Breeze Golf Club A long-planned $24 million deal to buy a shuttered golf course in Boca Raton has finally closed, property records show. The city of Boca Raton and its Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District bought the former Ocean Breeze Golf Club, a 27-hole golf course at 5801 Northwest Second Avenue. Records show the seller was an entity of Wells Fargo, which seized the property through foreclosure in 2016. Developer Lennar Homes originally was... [read more]

Local regulations regarding short-term rentals are likely to stay in place, as this year’s Florida legislative session comes to an end next week. New rules that would allow the state to take over vacation rental regulations and eliminate local government authority have stalled during the session, according to the Florida Times-Union. Earlier in the month, a bill governing vacation rentals passed the state Senate Community Affairs Committee. Under the proposed bill,... [read more]

830 South County Road (Credit: Google) Kenneth Silverman, who founded the Silverman Group, a New Jersey-based commercial real estate and private equity firm, is boosting his luxury residential portfolio. Property records show Silverman and his wife Claudia just paid $8.9 million for their next door neighbor’s 7,100-square-foot home at 830 South County Road. The family-run company owns a portfolio of office and industrial buildings across the country. The couple bought their... [read more]

12229 Plantation Way and Paul Courchene (Credit: Palm Beach County Property Appraiser and Courchene Development) Luxury home builder Courchene Development Corp. just sold a recently completed home in Palm Beach Gardens for $5.3 million, property records show. Robert and Adele Balemian, listed as trustees of the Balemian Family Trust, are the buyers of the home at 12229 Plantation Way in Old Palm Golf Club. The community spans 651 acres and features a 33-acre golf practice... [read more]

830 South County Road (Credit: Google) Kenneth Silverman, who founded the Silverman Group, a New Jersey-based commercial real estate and private equity firm, is boosting his luxury residential portfolio. Property records show Silverman and his wife Claudia just paid $8.9 million for their next door neighbor’s 7,100-square-foot home at 830 South County Road. The family-run company owns a portfolio of office and industrial buildings across the country. The couple bought their... [read more]

Canadians comprised 9 percent of foreign buyers of South Florida homes last year, up from 6 percent in 2016, according to the Miami Association of Realtors and the National Realtors Association of Realtors. Canadians’ interest in South Florida vacation homes has increased as an especially cold winter continues in their home country. Record-breaking cold weather hit Canada in December and January. During a six-day cold snap in Montreal, temperatures didn’t exceed -17... [read more]

The Topgolf facility in Jacksonville In a major move to revitalize the south end of West Palm Beach, the city has selected developer American Links to renovate a 196-acre golf course. The West Palm Beach municipal golf course at 7001 Parker Avenue will soon be home to Topgolf entertainment sports company, marking the third to pop up in South Florida. The developer also has plans to build an 80 to 100-key hotel or clubhouse. The cost is estimated to total $86 million, according to the... [read more]

High dividends have some investors taking a second look at “class B” shopping centers. Due to falling share prices, mall operators’ dividends have increased dramatically, some well over 15 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported. For example, Tennessee-based CBL & Associates Properties and Ohio-based Washington Prime Group saw dividends spike 19 and 18 percent, respectively, last year, even as shares nosedived Still, the federal tax overhaul, coupled with rising... [read more]

Berkadia managing director Mitch Sinberg A buyer used a Freddie Mac loan to pay $30 million, or about $131,000 per unit, for an apartment complex in Brandon, an unincorporated suburb just east of Tampa. Robbins Property Associates financed the acquisition of the 228-unit property with a $24 million Freddie Mac loan, according to Berkadia, a real estate finance firm that arranged the loan, which was structured with a lofty loan-to-value ratio of 80 percent. Robbins Property,... [read more]

(Credit: Pixabay, Mapswire, Public Domain Images) Despite the residential market’s lackluster year, foreign investors spent $7.1 billion on South Florida homes in 2017, up nearly 15 percent from the previous year’s $6.2 billion. Leading the pack in South Florida was Argentina with 15 percent of all foreign purchases last year, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. Venezuelans spent the second most in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties with 11... [read more]

A streetcar in Kansas City similar to the type planned in Fort Lauderdale The long-delayed Wave streetcar project in downtown Fort Lauderdale could be leaving the station sooner than expected. The Fort Lauderdale City Commission voted to approve a new agreement early Wednesday between Broward County and the Downtown Development Authority to let state transportation officials put the project back out to bid, according to the Sun Sentinel. Under the new agreement, the state, county or... [read more]

  Miami Dade County’s courthouse Private developers interested in building a new Miami-Dade courthouse in downtown Miami will have to make it 26 stories and 600,000 square feet in size. At the request of Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman, county commissioners on Tuesday approved a rule specifying that bids to construct a new courthouse must conform to the terms of an 800-page master plan crafted last year with the input of attorneys and judges. Under that... [read more]

Construction of the first of 63 townhouses at the Pointe Midtown development in Palm Beach Gardens will start in approximately three months. Ascend Properties, the developer, has started taking reservations for the three- and four-bedroom townhouses at prices from the upper $400,000s to the upper $500,000s. The townhouse designs are identical to those at Ascend Properties’ Pointe 100 development in Boca Raton. The townhouse prices at Pointe Midtown are similar to those in... [read more]

910 S Ocean Blvd in Palm Beach (Credit: WoollyMammothPhoto-com) A vacant lot on South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach measuring almost one acre traded for $17.59 million. The buyer was a company with a mailing address in Alexandria, Virginia, matching that of DC Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm. The seller was a company controlled by Lifton Green LLC. The lot at 910 South Ocean Boulevard includes a parcel east of the boulevard with approximately 130... [read more]

(Credit: Luxury Real Estate South Florida Vimeo) Home prices in South Florida keep rising, according to a new report from Attom Data Solutions. The index, which tracks prices in 112 U.S. metros, found that median home prices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach jumped by 8.9 percent year-over-year to $245,000 in the fourth quarter of last year. Ocala, Florida saw the biggest annual increases in home prices with a 14.3 percent jump, followed by Kansas City with 13.4... [read more]

17 Tahiti Beach Island Road and Jonathan Vilma (Credit: Daniel Petroni Photography, Wikimedia Commons) Super Bowl winner Jonathan Vilma just sold his waterfront Tahiti Beach estate for $14.375 million, according to his listing agent’s Instagram account. The former NFL linebacker and ESPN analyst sold the 8,000-square-foot, five-bedroom mansion at 17 Tahiti Beach Island Road in Coral Gables. The home hit the market last year with Douglas Elliman’s Chad Carroll for $18.5... [read more]

Miami, Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago skylines (Credit: Max Pixel, Public Domain Pictures, Pexels) Renters in the nation’s largest cities could save as much as $2,200 a year on rent if they wait for the right time of the year to sign a lease, according to a newly released report. Renthop found that rents during the most expensive and least expensive months last year fluctuated by 4 percent to 5.4 percent for one-bedroom apartments and from 2.3 percent to 5.8 percent for... [read more]

Donald Trump and Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter (Credit: Trump National Jupiter, Wikimedia Commons) President Trump is once again suing the Palm Beach County property appraiser, claiming that the appraised value of Trump National Golf Club is an overestimate. The lawsuit, filed in December, marks the fifth consecutive year that Trump fights the county’s appraised value, according to the Palm Beach Post. Property appraiser Dorothy Jacks set the value of the Jupiter golf club... [read more]

(Credit: MaxPixel) South Florida in 2017 was a tale of two sectors when it came to new commercial and residential construction. On the commercial side, developers were putting shovels in the ground at a rapid pace, with $5.7 billion in new construction. That amounted to a 27-percent increase from 2016, according to Dodge Data & Analytics’ year-end report. The commercial sector, including multifamily and industrial, is thriving as some of the region’s... [read more]

Boca Raton & Miami skylines (Credit: PxHere, Wikimedia Commons) Miami may soon lose its status as the most expensive metro rental market in South Florida. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Boca Raton jumped $80 last month, inching closer to the Magic City. In December, the average rent grew to $1,730 in Boca, only $20 behind Miami, where rent was flat from the previous month and down 2.8 percent from year-over-year, according to a new report from Zumper. Miami... [read more]

Last week’s most expensive condo sales and Continuum South Beach unit 3803 (Credit: Luxhunters for the Jills) Condo sales shot up in Miami-Dade County last week. The county recorded 114 sales for a total of $77.5 million, a big increase from the previous week’s $35 million sales volume for 90 units.  Condos last week sold for an average price of about $680,000, or nearly $365 per square foot. The priciest deal was the $13.75 million sale of unit 3803 at... [read more]

Downtown Miami (Credit: Wikipedia, Max Pixel) From the winter issue: the Commercial real estate is plugging along, neither doing abysmally nor posting much news to write home about. Overall, sales activity has slowed from 2015 highs, but rates in some commercial sectors, like industrial and office leasing, are up. TRD spoke with industry veterans and dug into public records to get a sense of wages earned. With commission-based occupations, income can vary by the size... [read more]

PYT Lending has started closing loans to buyers of about 20% of the condo units at Echo Brickell. A South Florida-based joint venture called PYT Lending has raised a $300 million fund to finance condo purchases by foreign nationals and other investors. For example, PYT has started closing mortgage loans to finance investors under contract to buy about 20 percent of the units at theEcho Brickell condominium development in Miami, a 180-unit project that developer Property Markets... [read more]

2018 CCIM Commercial Real Estate Outlook Conference (Credit: Katherine Kallergis) Population growth, new jobs, and a tight residential market are fueling Florida’s commercial sectors, and that isn’t expected to change anytime soon. That’s how economist Sean Snaith summarized the current market as he kicked off the 2018 CCIM Commercial Outlook conference. One other major factor has contributed to the rising fortunes, he told the crowd at the Coral Gables Country... [read more]

UPDATED: Wednesday, January 17, 2017, 11:35 a.m.: Zillow Group has responded to the suit through a spokesperson: “We believe the claims, in this case, are without merit. The Zestimate is intended to be a starting point for determining a home’s value… [and] we intend to vigorously defend ourselves against this lawsuit.” Zillow is being sued in New Jersey for allegedly concealing its controversial Zestimate figures on residential listings at the request... [read more]

Congress Park Apartments and Starwood’s Barry Sternlicht (Credit: Apartments.com and Wikipedia) Starwood Property Trust just paid $30.7 million for an apartment complex near Lake Worth, property records show. Congress Park Limited Partnership, an affiliate of the Orlando-based Banyan Development Group, sold the 288-unit development at 3000 Congress Park Drive for about $107,000 per apartment. The seller is a joint venture between affordable housing development consulting firm... [read more]

The Weekly Dish is a TRD recurring feature that showcases the latest in South Florida’s restaurant openings, leases, and sales. iLov305 | Miami Beach Pitbull’s new South Beach restaurant is set to open this summer on Ocean Drive. The international rap star and Miami native unveiled new renderings and plans for iLove305,  a restaurant bar and nightlife concept at the former Bon Air Hotel, at 1060 Ocean Drive. Pitbull, whose real name is... [read more]

Jacksonville Beach (Source: Zillow) A resort hotel bearing the Margaritaville brand may be coming to Jacksonville Beach. The city’s planning and development department are reviewing the proposed eight-story, 211-room hotel. The Margaritaville hotel would have an internal parking garage and a ground-floor restaurant and would connect with an oceanfront boardwalk. An Ormond Beach-based developer, Manoj Bhoola of MSB Hotels IVV, LLC, wants to build the hotel on a... [read more]

A Carlyle Group managing director just paid $22.3 million for a waterfront Palm Beach mansion, property records show. Marcel van Poecke, and his wife, Irina Liner, bought the 10,400-square-foot mansion at 726 Hi Mount Road for about $2,135 per square foot. He oversees investments in the oil and gas industry outside of North America for the Carlyle Group. Poecke also founded the Belgian company AtlasInvest, which is also an investor and operator in the energy industry. The sellers of the... [read more]

Downtown Denver (Credit: Larry Johnson via Flickr) To deal with a shortage of affordable housing, Denver is trying out a pay-what-you-can program for some tenants. Under the program, the city will pay the difference between what lower income tenants — like teachers, hotel workers, medical technicians and food service workers — can afford to pay and the market-rate rent, the Wall Street Journal reported. The program, dubbed Lower Income Voucher Equity program, or LIVE... [read more]

  The three office towers that make up The Forum and CBRE’s Christian Lee (Credit: CoStar and CBRE) Triarch Capital Group just paid $22.5 million for two office towers in West Palm Beach. An affiliate of investment management firm Crimson Peak sold the towers, once part of a trio collectively named the Forum, before Houston Astros owner Jim Crane paid $6.5 million for the westernmost building in February, according to property records. In December, Crane scored... [read more]

The holiday week appears to have slowed condo sales in Miami-Dade County. Nearly 100 units sold for about $52 million in the week leading up to the New Year, down from the previous week’s $60.5 million sales volume. Condos sold for an average price of about $537,000, or nearly $330 per square foot. The $13 million sales of unit 6A at Faena House led the pack. Alex Blavatnik, the brother of energy billionaire Len Blavatnik, sold the four-bedroom,... [read more]

The property at 1695 North Ocean Way was the sixth priciest sale in the county since 2011, going for $43.7 million in 2016. Local developers and brokers say the gold-plated bubble of Palm Beach real estate won’t pop anytime soon, as the mega-wealthy continue to park their millions in the area, spurring both new construction and interest in pedigreed homes — or at least, the land they sit on — at the highest end of the market. In this real estate cycle, spanning the... [read more]

Crew razes a 1920s home at 200 S. Ocean Boulevard in 2014. (Credit: Palm Beach Daily News) The government of Palm Beach is likely to make town permits for partial demolition easier to get. The town council has directed the planning and zoning commission rewrite the municipal code to clarify its definition of “50 percent” demolition, a key threshold. A Palm Beach property owner who wants to demolish 50 percent or more of a house or building must ensure the... [read more]

Miami, Los Angeles and New York City skylines (Credit: Wikimedia Commons) The value of the nation’s housing stock grew by 6.5 percent to $31.8 trillion this year — with Los Angeles and New York City far outpacing the rest of the country’s top-valued metro markets and Miami landing at No. 4. The Los Angeles market’s $2.7 trillion valuation topped that any other metro across the country after growing 5.7 percent over the past year. That’s a smidgen... [read more]

Mike Pappas, Ron Shuffield and Dan Kodsi over the Miami skyline (Credit: Pixabay) As the pool of deep-pocketed foreign investors continued to recede over the past year, developers, brokers, and sellers in South Florida’s luxury condo sector have been forced to adjust their pricing, wait longer for units to move and scour the globe for new buyers. But for the folks doing business by moving condos listed at $600,000 or below, as well as single-family homes in every price... [read more]

The former H.D. King power plant site in Fort Pierce (Credit: Eric Hasert Treasure Coast Newspapers) A firm in Pompano Beach is one of three developers that want to redevelop a former power-plant site in downtown Fort Pierce. RMA Redevelopment Management Associates of Pompano Beach has proposed building about 95 apartments, about 40 townhouses, an 84-room hotel and a parking garage with a rooftop pool shared by residents and hotel guests. The 7.1-acre site is the location of... [read more]

2211 South Winds Drive in Naples A newly built house in Naples that appears to float on a lake has been listed for sale for $9.975 million. The 10,300-square-foot house is engineered to cantilever over its own private lake. More than 280 pilings under the house support its structure. The developers are James W. Bates, a sales associate of Naples-based Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, and Lime International Developments. Gerald Yurk of Architecture Artistica... [read more]

Women walk past a mural in the Little Haiti neighborhood (Credit: Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) As the effects of climate change grow stronger, developers are increasingly investing in neighborhoods that sit on higher ground, pushing out people of color and immigrants who have historically been propelled into those areas and away from Miami’s waterfront, a report says. “Across Miami-Dade County, the higher elevation you are, the faster the rate of price appreciation,... [read more]

Condo sales increased slightly last week in Miami-Dade County. The county recorded 130 closings for a combined $48 million, up from the previous week’s $43 million sales volume. Condos sold for an average price of about $370,000, or nearly $300 per square foot. The most expensive deal was the $5.15 million sale of unit 1004/1005 at the St. Regis Bal Harbour. Inga Boutboul listed the four-bedroom, 3,688-square-foot condo for 271 days before it closed. Rena Kliot... [read more]

(Pexels; Pixabay) Here’s where you don’t want to be living in the final Republican tax bill passes; condolences to homeowners in New York, Long Island, and Newark. The list was compiled by Trulia based on metro areas with the highest concentration of homeowners who pay more than $10,000 in annual property taxes. 11. Houston, Texas (Carol M. Highsmith) Effective property tax rate for 2016: 1.7% Household property tax bills above $10,000: 10.2% Home value... [read more]

Illustration by Lexi Pilgrim for The Real Deal Steve Shull, a retired NFL linebacker, has been coaching real estate agents since 1993. He knows from experience that the brokerage business is cyclical: When the market is hot, paychecks are fat. But over the past few years, that simple rule no longer seems to hold true. “This should be high time for agents,” Shull said, “and I don’t think it is.” Home prices in New York are much higher than they were a... [read more]

Stephen Ross, rendering of CityPlace West Palm Beach (Credit: Getty Images, Related Cos.) The Related Companies is proposing a major revamp of its CityPlace West Palm Beach. The New York development firm led by billionaire Stephen Ross plans to knock down the former Macy’s building and replace it with 350 luxury apartments, retail and restaurants, Related Urban President and CEO Kenneth Himmel said at a Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce event on... [read more]

The space industry is propelling the housing market in Titusville. (Credit: Florida Today) A developer wants to build 1,277 houses and rental housing units on about 500 acres in Titusville amid optimism about the space industry’s economic impact on the city. According to the city’s website, the developer of the Willow Creek Estates has proposed an amendment to Titusville’s comprehensive plan to advance the planned development on the city’s west side, at U.S.... [read more]

3055 Northwest 84 Avenue and Longpoint’s Dwight Y. Angelini (Credit: Fairchild Partners and Longpoint Realty Partners) Overseas supplier Topp Investments Inc. just sold its warehouse in Doral for $5.8 million, property records show. Boston-based real estate private equity firm, Longpoint Realty Partners, bought the 39,050-square-foot building at 3055 Northwest 84th Avenue for about $150 per square foot. The deal also includes an adjacent 14,400-square-foot lot. Rubin’s... [read more]

    Palm Beach County’s property (Credit: Google Maps, Max Pixel) Greenway Automotive Group, based in Orlando, is expanding to a new location near Deerfield Beach. Property records show an entity tied to the car dealership paid $6.2 million for a 35,640-square-foot warehouse at 681 South Military Trail. The trade breaks down to about $174 per square foot. The seller is a subsidiary of the real estate investment trust Capital Automotive. Records show... [read more]

Overseas buyers, who purchased a record $153 billion worth of residential real estate across the country between April and March, face more scrutiny than domestic borrowers do when it comes to landing a mortgage. Many lenders require foreign mortgage applicants to put up a 25 percent down-payment, as opposed to 20 percent from Americans, the Wall Street Journal reported. Foreigners in the country on visas were looked at more closely because their temporary status makes them more... [read more]

Charles Fouad Mejjati Alami and the Sunset Islands mansion at 1525 West 24th Street (Credit: LinkedIn, Redfin) A Sunset Islands waterfront mansion that was at the center of a messy divorce between Phil Collins’ ex-wife and her ex-husband, was just listed for $20 million. Charles Fouad Mejjati Alami, the ex-husband of Orianne Collins Mejjati Alami, is the owner of the nearly 10,000-square-foot home at 1525 West 24th Street in Miami Beach, according to property records. The... [read more]

Robert Wennett and his penthouse (Credit: The Jills – Photography by Luxhunters) Selling 1111 Lincoln Road for $283 million wasn’t enough for developer Robert Wennett. Now, he’s listing his penthouse atop the luxury mixed-use garage for $34 million. The condo, with 7,700 square feet of indoor space, 18,000 square feet of outdoor space, seven bedrooms, a separate guest house and landscaping by Raymond Jungles, is being listed by Coldwell Banker’s Jill... [read more]

Birdman cuts price of Miami Beach mansion Millionaire rapper reduced the listing price to $17M By Katherine Kallergis | November 29, 2017, 03:15 PM   70 Palm Avenue and Birdman (Credit: Getty Images, MLS, Trulia) Rapper and producer Bryan “Birdman” Williams is reducing the asking price of his Palm Island mansion. The Cash Money Records co-founder cut the price of the property at70 Palm Avenue in Miami Beach by 15.5 percent to... [read more]

Miami-Dade County recorded fewer sales during Thanksgiving week. More than 60 condos sold for nearly $27 million, a decline from the previous week’s $44 million sales volume. Units sold for an average price of about $424,000 and $305 per square foot. Closing prices in the top 10 deals ranged from $540,000 to $7.1 million. The priciest sale to close was at the St. Regis Bal Harbour. Unit 1600-C sold for $7.1 million after 52 days on the market with listing agent Gabriel... [read more]

1940 South A1A in Vero Beach (Source: ReMax) An oceanfront compound in Vero Beach listed for $45 million will be offered at auction next month without reserve, or a minimum bid. The property is at 1940 South A1A on the barrier island Vero Beach, nestled between the Indian River and the Atlantic Ocean. Concierge Auctions will conduct the Dec. 13 auction of the Vero Beach property, which has a total of 18 bedrooms and spans 40,795 square feet. The compound is composed of a... [read more]

1744 S. Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach The owners of the priciest Palm Beach home listed for sale are asking $69.9 million after trying to sell for $30 million more in 2014. Dr. Norman Traverse, a pulmonologist, and his wife, Nassrine, also offered their seven-bedroom Mediterranean estate with furnishings for $72.5 million. In 2014, the couple listed their sprawling residence for sale through the Corcoran Group brokerage firm with a $99 million asking price before abruptly pulling the... [read more]

1101 Clint Moore Road and Robert G. Fordi, CEO of Realterm Logistics (Credit: Relaterm) Annapolis, Maryland-based Realterm Logistics just purchased a warehouse leased to FedEx Express in Boca Raton for $16 million, property records show. Realterm Logistics, the transportation and logistics acquisition arm of the real estate private equity firm Realterm, bought the 84,380-square-foot warehouse at 1101 Clint Moore Road from an entity of Boca Raton-based L&J Schmier Management... [read more]

(Credit: back photo by U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Joshua R. M. Dewberry; front photo by The White House) Land prices in one of the hottest housing markets have risen so much that developers are struggling to build at all in Toronto — and, when they do, having trouble finding buyers, so some are turning their eyes south to U.S. markets. The push is coming Toronto land prices, which have tripled in the last five years, making the purchase of land about 50 percent of the... [read more]

(United States Department of Defense) From TRD New York: Evacuees from Puerto Rico, fleeing the long-standing power outage caused by Hurricane Maria, are settling in central Florida and finding the tight housing market increasingly strained. With about 160,000 evacuees arriving since early October alone — many of whom landed in Orlando’s metro area — the state has been struggling to find housing for the new arrivals. About 26,000 people frequent the... [read more]

President Donald Trump (Credit: Getty Images) It’s going to be a Palm Beach Thanksgiving for President Trump. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a new advisory for Trump’s visit from Nov. 21 to Nov. 26. He’s expected to spend the holiday at his Mar-a-Lago Club, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. Trump’s seven visits to Mar-a-Lago since taking office and two stays as president-elect, including Thanksgiving 2016, have cost local taxpayers... [read more]

Shutterstock House Republicans released their long-awaited tax bill Thursday. The proposal is a long way from becoming the law of the land, but the draft contains some red flags for the people who build, sell and own homes—as well as for people who want to buy them. Three changes are particularly relevant: a reduction in the amount of mortgage interest that can be deducted, a new cap on property tax deductions and limits to the capital gains exemption used... [read more]

(Credit: Getty Images) Despite Latin American buyers cutting back on home purchases in Florida, the state remains the top destination for foreign buyers purchasing U.S. residential real estate this year, according to a newly released report from Florida Realtors. And by far, most foreign purchases in the state were in South Florida, with Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach representing 53 percent of the total. Florida garnered 22 percent of all foreign purchases in the... [read more]

A new home under construction Mortgage giant Fannie Mae wants to make it easier for prospective homebuyers to build new homes. The company is considering multiple initiatives that would help address the lack of affordable homes in the U.S. real estate market, with its first pilot program consisting of making it easier to get a construction loan, according to Bloomberg. The program would let lenders sell their construction loans to Fannie on the day that construction... [read more]

Rendering of the Shops at Sunset Place The Shops at Sunset Place won’t be redeveloped anytime soon. The South Miami City Commission killed proposed zoning rules that would have allowed the mall’s new owners, Federal Realty Investment Trust, Comras Company, and Grass River Property, to redevelop the aging mall. Commissioners voted 3-2 against the project during a meeting that stretched into Tuesday morning, according to the Miami Herald. Mayor Philip... [read more]

2500 Biscayne (Credit: Golden Dusk Photography) Greystone Development and Alta Developers started leasing units at 2500 Biscayne, a 19-story apartment building in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood. Monthly rents at 2500 Biscayne range from $2,023 to $3,800, according to Apartments.com. The 156-unit building at 2500 Biscayne Boulevard has one- and two-bedroom apartments with open floor plans. The apartment interiors feature floor-to-ceiling windows, quartz countertops and... [read more]

2400 Del Lago Drive An Alaska-based entity just dropped $19.9 million for a waterfront mansion in Fort Lauderdale, property records show. SKL Holdings LLC, led by Shamir and Karim Lalani, bought the nearly 13,000-square-foot home at 2400 Del Lago Drive for about $1,550 per square foot. Records show the seller, Sands Management LLC, was listed as a trustee of the Land Trust No. 1800-1244A. The seller bought the seven-bedroom and nine-and-a-half bathroom home in 2013 for a... [read more]

The Surf Club, Four Seasons and Aldo Bensadoun (Credit: Four Seasons, Getty Images) Albert “Aldo” Bensadoun, the billionaire Montreal-based founder of the Aldo retail shoe empire, just paid $10.25 million for a condo at the Four Seasons Private Residences at The Surf Club. Property records show Bensadoun’s Junior S Cliff LP bought unit 501 in the south tower of the new luxury Surfside development condo development at 9111 Collins Avenue. Forbes currently pegs... [read more]

Lennar Corporation plans to build a 271-unit luxury apartment building in Plantation’s burgeoning Midtown District. Meanwhile, the Miami-based developer’s stock price was buoyed on Tuesday by a rosier-than-expected third-quarter earnings report.     The luxury building, to be developed by the company’s Multifamily Communities division, will occupy a 5.1-acre site at the Lakeside Office Center 600 N. Pine Island Road. The project... [read more]

Rendering of Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach Hurricane Irma delayed the opening of the Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach resort until Oct. 10. The 24-story condo hotel had been scheduled to open by the end of September for its first paying guests. The Conrad, at 551 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard, has 290 units including studios, suites with one to three bedrooms, and three penthouses. The units have galley kitchens with touch-screen stove tops, marble bath tubs and rainfall... [read more]

Tourists are flocking to Airbnb units, and the gleaming condos along the water are among the most desirable. South Florida is a mecca for all kinds of tourists, but local governments extend little hospitality to Airbnb, HomeAway and other online home-sharing companies active in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area. Consider, for example, the low tolerance for home-based competition with hotels in Miami Beach, where ordinances allow short-term rentals only in limited areas and residents... [read more]

7100 and 7026 Fairway Drive, Inset: Fondo Atlas’ Dylan Fonseca A Coral Gables-based company just dropped $25 million for a shopping center in Palm Beach Gardens, property records show. The 106,032-square-foot plaza at 7100 and 7026 Fairway Drive traded for about $236 per square foot. Records show the buyer is Gardens Plaza Venture LLC, tied to Fondo Atlas, which is led by Jose Torbay and Dylan Fonseca. Fondo Atlas is an owner and operator of real estate in Florida and... [read more]

Peloro Miami Beach rendering (Credit: Cervera Real Estate) A subcontractor who worked on Peloro Miami Beach, a condo building being co-developed by the Disney family, is accused of renting more than $600,000 worth of equipment and not paying for it, according to a lawsuit recently filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. Elkridge, Maryland-based PERI Formwork Systems accuses Micon Scaffolding, a Hollywood firm that provides scaffolding materials and installation to construction sites, of... [read more]

  Retired NBA basketball star Scottie Pippen is asking for $40,000 a month for his Harbor Beach waterfront home in Fort Lauderdale, according to the New York Post. Pippen originally listed his 10,484-square-foot mansion at 2571 Del Lago Drive in 2014 for $11.8 million. A little more than three years later, the mansion remains on the market. In November, Pippen knocked down the asking price to $10.9 million, a $600,000 markdown from his previous $11.5 million price.... [read more]

  Updated, Sept. 26,8:45 a.m. — Home furnishings retailer Restoration Hardware will open a new store in downtown West Palm Beach in November. It will be Restoration Hardware’s seventh Florida location. The retailer also has stores in Aventura, Jacksonville, South Miami, Tampa, Vero Beach and Winter Park. The new store, Restoration Hardware’s next-generation design gallery, will span almost 80,000 square feet. The store, called RH West Palm Beach,... [read more]

Colombians were crazy for Miami real estate in June, searching for homes more than an other Country For the top three spots in recent months, Colombia, Brazil and Canada have been competing , according to the Miami Association of Realtors. Last year, Colombian and Brazilian homebuyers made the third-most international purchases in South Florida with a 10 percent share, according to the report. International buyers looked to Los Angeles more than any other U.S. city... [read more]

Bitcoin investor and enthusiast Michael Komaransky just paid $7.55 million for a waterfront spec mansion in Coconut Grove, marking the most expensive home sale to close in Miami-Dade County post Hurricane Irma. Property records show the internet currency advocate bought the 9,800-square-foot, five-bedroom house at 3604 Matheson Avenue. The seller is 3604 Matheson Holdings LLC, led by Mariannie Cordovez and Rene Brillembourg. Silvia Boschetti of BH Realty was the listing agent. The... [read more]

The Keyes Company is continuing its acquisition spending spree. The brokerage just closed on the purchase of Realty Elite The Palm Beaches in Wellington, following a string of deals over the past two years. Realty Elite, founded by David Lopez in 2007, closed on $92 million in sales volume in 2016, according to a press release. It adds 64 agents to Keyes. In recent months, Keyes has closed on the acquisition of Jupiter-based Bluffs Real Estate and Investment Properties, and two South... [read more]

Nusret Gökçe — aka the man behind the meme phenomenon better known as "Salt Bae” is setting his sights on Miami as the location of his first-ever U.S. restaurant. Gökçe is just weeks away from opening a branch of mini Turkish steakhouse chain, Nusr-et, in the former COYA Miami space this October at 999 Brickell Avenue. This will mark the eleventh location for Nusr-et, which has outposts in places like Turkey and... [read more]

A family investment firm formed by Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Technologies, partnered with another firm to buy an apartment complex in Fort Myers for $66 million. In late August, the Dell family’s MSD Capital L.P. and Los Angeles-based TruAmerica Multifamily acquired the 640-unit apartment complex, called Sienna at Vista Lake, for $103,125 per unit. Matthew Ferrari, director of East Coast acquisitions for TruAmerica, told the Business Observer that the $66 million... [read more]

Pro Football Hall of Famer and retired Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor has sold his two-story waterfront mansion in Weston – at a loss. A deed recorded on Aug. 14 shows that Taylor sold the home, located at 2980 Paddock Road, to Alloudin and Rubeena Bhullar for $3.2 million. The price reflects a $400,000 loss from when he purchased the home in 2006. Public business records show Alloudin Bhullar operates multiple gas station businesses, including Hialeah Mobil, Pompano... [read more]

As home prices continue rising in South Florida, so does the minimum salary needed to afford a house. In Miami, the income needed to buy a median-priced home rose to nearly $72,000, according to a report from HSH.com. July marked the 68th consecutive month that single-family home prices have risen in Miami-Dade. The median price of a single-family home in Miami-Dade rose 12 percent annually in July to $335,000, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. HSH, a mortgage and... [read more]

Nearly 16,000 apartments are slated to come online in South Florida this year, but rents are still expected to keep rising, according to a new report. Apartment rents rose annually in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach in June, according to Marcus & Millichap’s multifamily report. In Miami-Dade, rents were up 8.8 percent in the second quarter, year-over-year, to nearly $1,450 a month. In Palm Beach County, rents increased 3.5 percent to just over $1,500. And in... [read more]

More home development in Homestead is in the pipeline. An affiliate of Sunrise-based Centerline Capital Advisors, led by Craig Perry, just paid $21.3 million for an assemblage of lots for single-family homes in Homestead, property records show. Centerline also secured a $7 million loan from Weston-based Florida Community Bank and a nearly $4.4 million loan from NVR Inc., and arm of the Virginia-based homebuilder Ryan Homes. SW 112 Investments, led by Barry M. Brant, sold land on the... [read more]

Miami home prices rose 5 percent in June, year-over-year, marking the fifth lowest increase nationwide, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index. The newly released report, which tracks 20 major metropolitan areas in the country, shows home prices in Miami increased by just 0.4 percent from May to June. From April to May, Miami home prices increased by 0.8 percent, ranking as the 13th highest increase among the top 20 cities. Nationwide, home prices rose 5.7... [read more]

Ready for the big bacon cutting ceremony on Wednesday when Lucky’s Market opens in Oakland Park? The store at 1033 E. Oakland Park Blvd. will be the affordable organic grocery chain’s third South Florida location. Other stores are in Coral Springs and Plantation. The 10 a.m. grand opening ceremony includes cutting of a 10-pound slab of bacon with a ninja knife, samples galore and live music. Lucky’s also will donate more than $10,000 to the nonprofit The Humanity... [read more]

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when homeowners in Palm Beach start looking for snowbirds eager to drop serious cash for a winter vacation mansion. Dr. Oz, known for his lifestyle and health advice on the television series “The Dr. Oz Show,” is listing his oceanfront home for $95,000 a month – marking the one of the most expensive price tags in the tony town, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. That’s in addition to a $90,000 deposit. The... [read more]

Economists have bad news and good news for London’s home sellers: prices will probably be stuck in neutral for some years, courtesy of Brexit and a shaky economy, but a serious crash still looks unlikely. Ten out of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News cited political and economic uncertainty as a reason prices are stalling while seven said tax changes for landlords were at fault. Only six attributed the slowdown to affordability issues in a market where prices have almost... [read more]

A 46-acre development site in Southwest Ranches just hit the market for $15.75 million. The plot of land, on the northwest corner of Sheridan Street and Flamingo Road, is asking for about $342,000 per acre. Records show the owner, Canyon Creek Estates LLC, is led by Ameristar Properties of South Florida, Ernest Caparelli, Shlomo Espstein and Joseph Caparelli. The LLC bought the property in 2004 for $8.9 million. The site is zoned for about 20 homes and estates of up to two acres, said... [read more]

Commercial real estate prices, hovering at record highs in the U.S. following a six-year boom, are sustainable even as Chinese regulators tighten restrictions on overseas investment, according to Brookfield Property Partners LP. There is enough capital pouring into real estate from multiple regions -- including Europe and the Middle East -- to counter any potential slowdown in Chinese investment, Brookfield Property Chief Executive Officer Brian Kingston said in a Bloomberg Television... [read more]

Former NFL linebacker and Super Bowl champ Jonathan Vilma — now an ESPN TV personality — is about to list his modern waterfront home at 17 Tahiti Beach Island Road in Coral Gables, Fla. for $18.5 million. The five-bedroom property measures 8,000 square feet. Recently built, it comes with 161 feet on Biscayne Bay. The home boasts 12-foot ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, an elevator, a chef’s kitchen, a home theater, and a three-car garage that can hold up to... [read more]

The developer of a new subdivision on prime Estate Section land has announced the prices for the four vacant lots being marketed for sale on the former estate of the late billionaire John W. Kluge. The remaining lot is already under contract, the Town Council learned earlier this summer before the landlocked subdivision’s plat won approval in July. The 3.4-acre property is owned by a development company controlled by Sir Peter Wood, a seasonal Palm Beacher. The subdivision is... [read more]

The building boom in Homestead continues with yet another developer announcing plans for a new single-family home community. The Miami-based developer, 360 Builders, will be delivering 64 single-family homes to Homestead with prices ranging from $328,900 to $388,900. The community, called Tropical Villas at 201 Northeast 18th Avenue, has completed its first phase of development, consisting of 26 homes. The houses range from about 1,901 square feet to 2,280 square feet, according to... [read more]

There can never be too many good breweries, and now Wynwood is adding another. Introducing the new kid on the block: Veza Sur Brewing, which is set to open Aug. 19 at 55 NW 25th St. The trio opening the spot, Berny Silberwasser of Bogota Beer Company and Chris and Jeremy Cox of 10 Barrel Brewing Co. in Oregon, absolutely fell in love with the neighborhood. “We toured all around Miami, and there are a lot of great neighborhoods, but we really fell in love with the vibrant... [read more]

Coconut Grove-based Housing Trust Group closed on construction financing for a $36 million affordable housing development in south Miami-Dade. HTG plans to break ground on the 150-unit project at 13105 Southwest 248th Street in Princeton later this month, according to a press release. The developer will build Princeton Park using 9 percent low-income housing tax credits from Florida Housing Financing Corporation, $23.7 million from National Equity Fund and SunTrust, a $3.5 million loan... [read more]

Jay Cutler, who just signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Miami Dolphins, wants a beachy vibe during his stay in South Florida. The quarterback will likely rent a condo on the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood or Hallandale Beach, according to a broker familiar with his search. Cutler is looking for a three-bedroom furnished unit with ample space for his wife, actress and designer Kristin Cavallari, and their three children to visit on the weekends, according to the source,... [read more]

All Aboard Florida’s Brightline passenger train service will start carrying passengers between West Palm Beach and Miami by the end of the year, offering introductory fares and “buy-one-get-one free” offers to entice commuters to ride. Brightline had said the first leg of its service was expected to start service in late summer, with a grand opening ceremony expected to be held in the fall. But during a tour of the company’s sprawling MiamiCentral station on... [read more]

Miami voters may still get the chance to decide on a major redevelopment plan for two public marinas on Virginia Key. Over the weekend, Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado told the Miami Herald he intends to call for a special meeting of the city commission to place a referendum on the November ballot, asking voters to approve a proposal to significantly revamp the Rickenbacker marina near the Rusty Pelican restaurant, as well as the marina next to Miami Marine Stadium. City commissioners are... [read more]

A wealthy Palm Beach couple just sold their 1920s non-waterfront Palm Beach estate for $15 million, property records show. Henry and Susan McIntosh sold the 10,500-square-foot mansion at 124 Via Bethesda to an LLC controlled by West Palm Beach law firm Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs. The home, built in 1928, sold for nearly $1,430 per square foot. Henry McIntosh, a developer, was part of the National Association of Homebuilders’ Business Management Committee and has been... [read more]

A company tied to billionaire Laurene Powell Jobs just spent $8.25 million for land next to her Wellington estate, property records show. Elite Equestrian Estates sold the 7.2-acre plot at 13700 Quarter Horse Trail to Palo Alto, California-based Even Stride LLC, which is tied to Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. The Daily Mail reported last year that Powell Jobs is the true owner of Even Stride, although the company has also been tied to a California venture... [read more]

FORT PIERCE — City officials hope by October to select a developer to redevelop the former H.D King site in downtown into a hotel. The Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency on Monday approved City Manager Nick Mimms' autumn timetable to solicit requests from developers to build a hotel. An informational meeting for prospective bidders is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 16 and all bids are due by Sept. 5, according to a draft copy of the request for proposals/qualifications. The... [read more]

Construction spending was up in South Florida last month, according to a new report from Dodge Data & Analytics. Construction starts were up 58 percent to $1.67 billion in June compared to the previous year thanks to a huge boost in commercial construction. Starts of commercial projects totaled $1.1 billion last month, up 157.4 percent year-over-year. Residential construction fell by 10 percent to $563 million. Year-to-date, the figures are less dramatic. Overall, construction... [read more]

The construction workforce in the U.S. is shrinking – and graying, new data shows. Across the country, the labor force shrank in size to 10.4 million workers in 2015 from 10.6 million at the bottom of the market in 2010, according to a new analysis of Census data. It’s a big contrast from the growth seen from 2000 to 2005, when the workforce expanded from 9.3 million workers to 11.5 million. And now, the average construction worker is older than the average American worker... [read more]

Fort Lauderdale native Bob Swindell remembers the days when retailers and restaurant owners in downtown and the nearby beaches would shut down by 6 p.m. and stores would close up for the summer. “Things would get really quiet,” Swindell said. The only real action the neighborhood experienced was during Fort Lauderdale’s vaunted spring break era, from the late 1960s to early 1990s, when hordes of college students turned downtown and the beaches into party central. The... [read more]

Coral Gables-based CC Homes and two other home builders sold a total of 164 new homes in the first half of the year at Ave Maria, a planned college town in Collier County near Naples. CC Homes, Del Webb and Pulte Homes have a combined total of 22 model homes at Ave Maria with prices starting in the high $100,000s. The builders are constructing new homes with two to six bedrooms and more than 40 floor plans. Amenities at Ave Maria include an on-site water park, a golf club, a shopping... [read more]

When it launched in 2004, online real estate brokerage Redfin blazed a trail for companies such as Findwell, Compass, TripleMint, ZipRealty and LG Fairmont. But while it’s been expanding steadily and increasing revenues — it was involved in the sale of 75,000 homes worth more than $40 billion since its launch through the end of 2016 — the company is still far from profitable. Now, as Redfin gears up to go public, real estate insiders say the success or failure of the... [read more]

Real estate appraisers — the people who value homes before a bank hands out a mortgage — could be in danger of having their jobs wiped out by technological advances. Just as farm workers lost jobs to machinery, and robots killed off factory-based work, automation is creeping into home appraisal. Zillow Group claims it has developed algorithms that can both gather facts about neighborhood values, but also more nuanced price indicators — like whether or not a living room... [read more]

Miami-based Lennar Corp. purchased more than 77 acres of land in Homestead for $10.75 million, property records show. The prominent homebuilder in South Florida picked up four parcels of land bundled together along Southwest 152 Avenue and Mowry Drive, just west of the Ronald Reagan Turnpike. The sale breaks down to $3.19 per square foot. Records show Treo Kingman, led by Otto Boudet-Murias, Rolando Delgado, Eduardo J. Garcia and Carlos A. Ortega of the Treo Group in Miami, sold the... [read more]

Sawgrass Mills, the Sunrise shopping center owned by Simon Property Group, announced it is adding seven new stores, including H&M. New stores include the first South Florida outlets for Etro, Moncler, Breitling and Lulelemon. Etro has leased 2,000 square feet; Moncler, 4,000 square feet; Breitling, 900 square feet; and Lululemon, 4,000 square feet, all at the Colonnade Outlets. Etro, Moncler and Breitling just opened, and Lululemon will open in August, Sawgrass Mill said in a... [read more]

In the housing bubble, just about anyone who could apply for a mortgage was able to get one. A decade after the crash, the largest lenders are loosening their standards again to make housing more accessible to first-time buyers. Fannie Mae, the largest US mortgage lender, is making it a little easier for people with all kinds of existing debt — including student loans — to qualify for mortgages. The change will kick in on July 29 when the debt-to-income ratio (DTI), a... [read more]

Online real estate brokerage Redfin has put the “for sale” sign on its own shares, filing the paperwork for an IPO late on Friday. Redfin is backed by some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names, and plans to begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol “RDFN,” it said in the S-1 filing with the SEC. Redfin pegged the size of the offering at $100 million, though that number is likely just a placeholder that will be updated with the real, larger... [read more]

An affiliate of the publicly traded real estate investment trust DDR Corp. just took out an $18.1 million mortgage on a Palm Beach Gardens shopping center called Northlake Commons. Property records show DDR’s DDRM Northlake Commons LLC closed on the financing from Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Global Markets Realty Corp. Tenants include Arby’s, Five Below, Home Depot, Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores, Ross, Starbucks and Taco Bell. It has four spaces available that range from... [read more]

Miami home prices rose 5.4 percent in April, year-over-year, the 13th highest increase nationwide, according to the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Index. The newly released report, which tracks 20 major metropolitan areas in the country, shows home prices in Miami increased by 0.6 percent from March to April. From February to March, Miami home prices increased by 0.3 percent. Miami ranked in March as the 11th highest increase among the top 20 cities. Nationwide, home prices... [read more]

Faced with flooded roadways and rising seas, Fort Lauderdale is considering charging higher fees to keep the public high and dry. On the table is a proposal that would double what city property owners pay in stormwater fees, from $8.5 million a year now to roughly $16.6 million. In recent years, the city has increasingly suffered from flooding during the highest of tides. Water lapped into driveways and rendered neighborhood streets temporary canals. The threat of coastal flooding is only... [read more]

Minto Communities began construction of six model homes at Westlake, a 3,800-acre master-planned community that became the newest municipality in Palm Beach County about a year ago. Minto expects to finish the fully furnished model homes to coincide with the grand opening of the Westlake sales center in fall. Minto’s models will serve as examples of its Cypress Collection and its Indigo Collection. The Cypress Collection encompasses homes with 14 floor plans ranging in size from... [read more]

  Miami-based Lennar Corp., one of the country’s largest homebuilders, on Tuesday reported lower fiscal second quarter earnings that still exceeded analyst expectations. Earnings including noncontrolling interests fell to $200.7 million, or 91 cents a share, from $224 million, or $1.01 a share, in the second period of 2016. Still, the average estimate among eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for Lennar earnings to reach 78 cents a share. Revenue rose... [read more]

Young money millionaire Lil Wayne sold his Miami Beach mansion for a deeply discounted $10 million, his real estate agent announced on Tuesday. The rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., listed his waterfront home at 94 La Gorce Circle for $18 million more than two years ago, and cut the price three times to $12 million in July, according to Redfin. Ty Forkner of One Sotheby’s International Realty brokered both sides of the deal. “The $18 million price was not... [read more]

Lion Country Safari, which has been operating in western Palm Beach County for half a century, could be sold to an animal conservationist, a spokeswoman for the park said Monday. The owners of the drive-through safari and amusement park are weighing details of the sale — a deal that could be finalized late next month, spokeswoman Jennifer Berthiaume said. “They are working through details,” Berthiaume said. “It is possible that it will be sold …We hope to... [read more]

Readying to leave the state Cabinet at the end of the month, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater said Wednesday that lawmakers need to address an insurance practice that critics argue is driving up homeowners’ rates. Lawmakers this spring could not agree on changes to the practice known as “assignment of benefits.” Insurers contend the practice has become riddled with fraud and abuse — particularly in claims for water damage to homes — and is... [read more]

Amazon’s Alexa will soon be arriving at Lennar’s homes. Miami-based Lennar Corp. just announced it will be adding smart homes to its new home offerings. The nation’s second biggest homebuilder said it will be partnering with Amazon to bring Alexa, Amazon’s smart personal assistant, into its homes’ designs, according to a release. The designs will be powered by Ruckus Wireless, a part of Brocade Communications Systems, to provide coverage throughout its... [read more]

The 1031 exchange, a tax break used extensively in the commercial real estate industry, could disappear if a lower tax rate is passed by Congress. The tax break gives sellers of real estate and other asset types the opportunity to defer capital gains taxes by reinvesting in “like-kind” properties. But lobbyists and Capitol Hill officials working on tax legislation have told the Wall Street Journal that, even if a sweeping federal tax overhaul doesn’t go ahead this year,... [read more]

It’s the No. 1 reason why mortgage applicants nationwide get rejected: They’re carrying too much debt relative to their monthly incomes. It’s especially a deal-killer for millennials early in their careers who have to stretch every month to pay the rent and bills. But here’s some good news: The country’s largest source of mortgage money, Fannie Mae, soon plans to ease its debt-to-income (DTI) requirements, potentially opening the door to home purchase... [read more]

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul G. Hyman Jr. approved the winning bid of $12.23 million for the Inverrary Vacation Resort in Lauderhill on Friday. The winning bidder was GranVita 2 LLC, managed by Luis Navas and Maria Navas in Toronto. In May, GranVita 2 LLC acquired the $6.38 million first mortgage on the property from an affiliate of Miami Beach-based Safe Harbor Equity Managers. Attorney Joe M. Grant, who represents Chapter 11 trustee Maria Yip in the case, said GranVita 2’s $12.225... [read more]

Dueling Chinatowns in Miami-Dade County? After years of false starts by other municipalities, it seems there will be two Chinatowns in the county, one in North Miami and another next door in North Miami Beach. The proposed Chinatowns are fueled by Chinese investors’ appetite for South Florida real estate and commerce, plus, the two cities’ desire to create tourist destinations, among other factors, proponents say. As The Real Deal has reported, the latest version of North... [read more]

  An estimated 3 million new homebuyers over the past decade have been shunned from the market and it could be hindering a housing market recovery, according to a new study by Genworth Mortgage Insurance that will be released Thursday. Factors deterring young people from venturing into buying their first home include shortages in affordable housing, tighter lending standards, looming student loans, and higher rent prices, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Genworth... [read more]

Source: WalletHub   If you wonder how Florida's economy compares with the rest of the U.S., a new WalletHub study sheds some light on how well we're doing. After assessing 27 key economic indicators of strength and performance, Wallethub ranked Florida’s economy No. 22 compared to the rest of the United States and the District of Columbia. WalletHub analyzed data ranging from economic activity and economic health, to innovation potential. Here's how Florida... [read more]

Rendering of Sales Center Current aerial photo of Sales Center Minto Communities has started building the sales center for Westlake, a master-planned community in central Palm Beach County where the company plans to build 4,600 homes and 2.2 million square feet of commercial properties. Minto expects to finish the 9,378-square-foot sales center by fall, which would coincide with the launch of Westlake home sales. The Westlake sales center will feature interactive displays of... [read more]

Rapper and producer Bryan “Birdman” Williams is looking to cash out on his Palm Island mansion. The Cash Money Records co-founder is listing his waterfront Miami Beach home at 70 Palm Avenue for $20 million, The Real Deal has learned. His record label is home to artists like Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne, who’s been listing his La Gorce mansion for two years. Bankrate pegs Williams’ net worth at about $180 million. Williams bought the house in 2011 from... [read more]

The former home of the late Lennar Corp. founder Leonard Miller and his wife Susan Miller, a prominent Miami philanthropist, was just listed for sale for $49 million, the Jills announced on Wednesday. The homebuilder, who died in 2002, and his wife, who died late last year, built the waterfront estate at 23 Star Island Drive in 1973. The seven-bedroom, 10,211-square-foot mansion sits on a 1.85-acre lot with 327 feet of water frontage, a pool, lighted tennis court, dock and boat lift,... [read more]

Céline Dion finally sold her oceanfront estate on Jupiter Island for $28 million, more than 60 percent less than its original $72.5 million price tag. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter sold the 5.7-acre compound to a domestic buyer who will use it as a vacation home, the Palm Beach Daily News reported. Jupiter Island Trust, with Paul Friedman as a trustee, is the buyer, property records show. Dion and her late husband, René Angélil, spent nearly $20... [read more]

Tampa-based apartment investment firm Avesta paid $32 million for two Orlando-area rental apartment properties with a total of 354 units. Avesta merged the operations of the two properties in the Altamonte Springs suburb of Orlando, Altamonte Villas and Palms at Altamonte, and rebranded them as East Pointe at Altamonte. The Tampa firm also has started a $5 million renovation of the merged rental property, located near Uptown Altamonte and an outdoor event venue called Cranes Roost... [read more]

Pompano Beach will seek approval from the city next month for new rules limiting short-term rentals, to deter partiers in the wake of complaints from residents about traffic, trash, and noise. The regulations would require city permits for homes, duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes seeking renters for six months or less, and would affect an estimated 7,000 properties, the Sun-Sentinel reported. Those looking to put up their property for rent short-term would have to register with an... [read more]

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former presidential candidate Ben Carson sold his West Palm Beach home for $920,000 — just short of a million dollars. Mansion Global first reported the sale of the home at 10942 Egret Point Lane. The 7,792-square-foot house sold for $118 per square foot. Carson and his wife, Lacena Carson, bought the five-bedroom, four-and-half-bathroom home for $775,000 in 2013 from the late John Rooney, whose family owns the Pittsburgh... [read more]

The son of former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon just sold his Coconut Grove home for $5.08 million, marking a total price and a per-square-foot record for non-waterfront properties in Coconut Grove, The Real Deal has learned. The custom-made “Hammock House” sold to a wealthy South American businessman, Douglas Elliman’s Michael Light said. Light, of the Miami Luxury Homes Group, along with Rafael Montejo, also of Elliman, represented the seller.... [read more]

Mainland Chinese buyers disappeared after China’s new capital controls were rolled out. Despite the lack of capital being exported, anecdotal evidence has been appearing in US media to the contrary. This “evidence” often quotes Juwai inquiries from 2016, before the new controls. Now we finally have a 2017 data point, from a much larger organization, the National Association of Realtors (NAR). NAR March 2017 data from Realtor.com show Chinese buyers were absent from the... [read more]

Penn-Florida Companies is working on the finishing touches of its $3.5 million sales center for the Mandarin Oriental Residences in Boca Raton as it gets closer to officially launching sales. The 8,100-square-foot sales gallery, at 10 East Boca Raton Road, was designed by SB Architects and San Francisco-based Hirsch Bedner Associates, and features a kitchen, bathroom, nine-screen video wall and a MO Bar. Potential buyers are greeted by a doorman and then by a butler, Al Piazza, senior... [read more]

Spirit Airlines Inc.'s pilot problems seem to have ended. The Miramar-based airline (Nasdaq: SAVE) said its abnormal wave of flight cancellations has come to a halt, with fewer than 1 percent of its flights cancelled since Mother's Day and no cancellations since the start of the week. Earlier in the month, the airline was reporting as many as 50-60 flights cancelled a day across its system, stranding thousands of passengers. “The wave of cancelled Spirit flights is behind... [read more]

  Home resale numbers and prices across the country jumped in the first three months of the year, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales of existing homes jumped 1.4 percent from the previous quarter to hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.6 million, the highest rate since the first quarter of 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing NAR figures. The national median home price hit $232,100, a 7 percent jump from the same period last year and the... [read more]

Tesla and Apple are the businesses of the future. At The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, mall leaders hope these companies, along with the world’s hottest brands, can be the tenants of the future, too. Tesla plans to open a retail showroom at the mall next to Saks Fifth Avenue. The Apple Store is undergoing an expansion that will make it the largest store in Palm Beach County. Meanwhile, athletic apparel maker Lululemon will move into an expanded, flagship location where Cache... [read more]

  It was bound to happen: A homeowner has filed suit against online realty giant Zillow, claiming the company’s controversial “Zestimate” tool repeatedly undervalued her house, creating a “tremendous road block” to its sale. The suit, which may be the first of its kind, was filed in Cook County Circuit Court by a Glenview, Ill., real estate lawyer, Barbara Andersen. The suit alleges that despite Zillow’s denial that Zestimates constitute... [read more]

Miami’s Major League Soccer stadium may finally become a reality. David Beckham is ready to close on the 3 acres of Miami-Dade County-owned land needed to build the stadium, and he now has an investor to pay for it, the Miami Herald reported. While the county has been ready to negotiate a deal for the Overtown land, Beckham held off, until Los Angeles Dodgers owner Todd Boehly came on board to help back the stadium. The Miami-Dade County Commission could vote on the deal during... [read more]

Developers of the American Dream Miami mall and a neighboring mixed-use project by the Graham Cos. have pushed their approval hearing before Miami-Dade County to October so they can present information about their projects at the same time, especially the roadway improvements to handle traffic. Under the previous timeline, the developers were looking to change the land use for the property, most likely in July, and then forge ahead with a development plan that would detail roadway and... [read more]

  While millennials in the U.S. are often known as perennial renters, their counterparts in China are snapping up overseas homes on their smartphones. Apps like Uoolu, which helps buyers open bank accounts and apply for mortgages in other countries, enable Chinese millennials to easily purchase foreign properties, the Wall Street Journal reported. These young buyers are driven by a weakening yuan and increasingly strict controls on the amount of capital permitted to leave the... [read more]

  An office building in Palm Beach that previously housed a branch of TD Bank sold for $7.35 million. A company controlled by Regine Taulsen, wife of former town councilman Bill Diamond, sold the vacant office building for $1,242 per square foot. Located at 380 South County Road, the building has slightly less than 6,000 square feet. Traulsen had had owned the building through Traulsen Realty LLC since 2010, when it changed ownership at a recorded price of $6 million. The... [read more]

  Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger paid up to $34 million on an oceanfront estate in Palm Beach. Hilfiger and his wife, Dee Ocleppo, bought the house at 100 Casa Bendita from the estate of the late English businessman Lord Anthony Jacobs and his late wife, Lady Evelyn, sources told the Palm Beach Daily News. The couple built the Mediterranean-style house in 1998. It was last listed for $39.5 million with Palm Beach broker Lawrence Moens. Linda Gary of Linda A. Gary Real Estate... [read more]

  The Florida Senate unanimously approved a bill that would impose sweeping changes to condominium violations. Senate bill 1682 imposes criminal punishments on violations that include fraud, falsifying information, failing to provide financial information, stealing, manipulating records and more. It was sponsored by Hialeah Republican Sen. René Garca and Miami Democrat José Javier Rodríguez, El Nuevo Herald reported. The bill is now headed to Gov. Rick... [read more]

  A joint resolution proposing to increase the state homestead exemption passed the Senate and the House in the Florida Legislature on Monday. House Joint Resolution 7105 has to go before voters in next year's election and get enough votes to amend the Florida Constitution. House Joint Resolution 7105 proposes to increase the exemption on the assessed value greater than $50,000 and up to $100,000. Right now, property owners can claim $25,000 in homestead exemption. That means... [read more]

Miami-based Lennar Corp. broke ground last week for a master-planned development of single-family homes in Parkland, the only part of Broward County with enough vacant land for major home-building projects. Lennar began construction and sales of the 552-home development, called Parkland Bay, located near the intersection of West Hillsboro Boulevard and Nob Hill Road. The mayor of Parkland, Christine Hunschofsky, said the 400-acre Parkland Bay project is one of the last large-scale... [read more]

  An investment group has stepped forward to acquire the stalled H3 Hollywood Condominium project out of foreclosure and aims to resume construction. Vivian Dimond said she is the managing partner of a group of investors that purchased the $7 million first mortgage on the property and has also struck a deal with LB Construction to take title to the partially-completed building at 2165 Van Buren Street. Dimond, who is also a broker with Brown Harris Stevens Avatar in Miami, said... [read more]

United Airlines today said it will implement 10 changes to its operational rules. The changes are being made in the wake of the forcible eviction of David Dao from United Express Flight 3411 on April 9. The specific changes and their expected implementation date are listed below:   United will limit use of law enforcement to safety and security issues only. (Implemented on April 12) United will not require customers already seated on the plane to give up their seats... [read more]

U.S. mortgage rates fell below 4 percent last week, which may encourage a rush of home buyers. Last week, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 3.9 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing data released by Freddie Mac. It’s the first time rates have dropped below 4 percent since November. A week earlier, the rate was 4.08 percent and in mid-March it was 4.3 percent, according to the Journal. Mortgage rates jumped following Donald Trump’s... [read more]

Developer 13th Floor Homes has launched sales and construction of its third single-family home community in Tamarac. The homebuilding arm of Miami-based 13th Floor Investments previously launched Central Parc and Manor Parc in the city. Now it’s getting started on Hidden Trails, which will be southeast of Florida’s Turnpike near Commercial Boulevard. The official address is 4893 N.W. 55th Place. The 214 homes will range from 1,580 to 2,086 square feet. They are priced from... [read more]

  K Hovnanian Homes wants to rezone part of its residential development site in Royal Palm Beach for commercial project and sell it to a local firm. The village’s Local Planning Agency will hold a meeting on April 25 to consider a comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning for the mixed-use project at 11925 Southern Blvd. It’s called Cypress Key. Hovnanian (Nasdaq: HOV) is currently building 147 townhouses on part of the 35.2-acre site. It would sell the commercial... [read more]

  It’s a real estate question that historically has had an easy answer: Do single-family detached homes appreciate in value faster than condominiums? The standard answer has been: Of course single-family homes appreciate faster. They are what most Americans prefer to live in, so there’s stronger demand. They come with their own piece of land — and we all know that land is a crucial driver of value. Condos, on the other hand, tend to be smaller on average in... [read more]

Though the residential slowdown continues in South Florida, sellers may finally be adjusting to market conditions by lowering their prices. Residential properties sold for bigger discounts during the first quarter compared to the same period of last year in Miami Beach, continuing a trend from the fourth quarter of 2016, according to newly released reports from Douglas Elliman. And in Miami, inventory fell by nearly 20 percent. “Sellers being more connected to market... [read more]

A Florida company paid $9.3 million for a condo at the newly completed Four Seasons Residences at The Surf Club in Surfside, property records show. Nikki Investment Corp., a company that lists an Aventura address, bought unit 521 in the north tower of the Four Seasons, which is the first of the project’s two residential towers to receive its temporary certificate of occupancy. The Aventura address is tied to Francesca and Glenn Halpryn. Francesca Halpryn, an agent with One... [read more]

Miami is still the most expensive South Florida city to rent a one-bedroom apartment, according to a new report from Zumper. In March, a one-bedroom cost the average renter $1,800 a month in the city of Miami, followed by Miami Beach at $1,700 and Boca Raton at $1,630. Miami has consistently ranked as the ninth-most expensive city for renters, according to the online apartment search platform. Just last week, Florida East Coast Realty topped off Panorama Tower, an 821-unit mixed-use... [read more]

  Former Miami Marlins shortstop Alex Gonzalez is no longer guarding his Weston home. The baseball player sold the waterfront mansion for $3 million, property records show. Gonzalez, who played a big role in the Marlins win against the Yankees in the 2003 World Series, and his wife Johanna Gonzalez sold their home at 2760 Stirrup Lane to Govindarajan and Meeta Narayanan, both doctors. It traded hands for $304 per square foot. The seven-bedroom, 9,859-square-foot... [read more]

  Real Estate developer Jeff Greene scored the city’s approval to build micro units at his proposed West Palm Beach development. The Downtown Action Committee gave the green light for units sized between 300 square feet and 549 square feet, smaller than the city’s 550-square-foot minimum for apartments, the Palm Beach Post reported. Greene’s project, a 348-unit building, will have one parking space for every two micro apartments. The board’s approval... [read more]

  Homebuyers sitting on the sidelines may want to think about getting in the game, with U.S. mortgage rates falling for the fourth week in a row and reaching a new low for the year. The benchmark 30-year rate dropped to 4.08 percent this week from 4.10 percent, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. The rate is below the prior low of 4.09 percent during the week of January 19, the Associated Press reported. It’s still higher than last year, which averaged 3.65 percent,... [read more]

The city of Delray Beach and the developer of the Atlantic Crossing project have settled a $40 million lawsuit, allowing it to finally move forward. The Delray Beach City Commission unanimously approved the settlement agreement on Tuesday, which includes plans to reduce traffic near the proposed complex, the Palm Beach Post reported. Ohio-based Edwards Cos. accused the city of intentionally stalling the mixed-use project, which would include 82 luxury condos, 261 apartments, 83,000... [read more]

  ATTOM Data Solutions, curator of the nation's largest fused property database, today released its Q1 and March 2017 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows first quarter foreclosure activity was below pre-recession levels nationwide and in 102 out of 216 metropolitan statistical areas (47 percent) analyzed in the report. Nationwide the report shows foreclosure filings - default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions - were reported on 234,508 U.S. properties... [read more]

The head of an independent copier company just closed on a Palm Beach home for $18.7 million, property records show. Kevin and Lisa McGovern sold the 8,722-square-foot mansion at 224 South Ocean Boulevard to Armen A. Manoogian, CEO of United Business Technologies. Kevin McGovern is chairman and CEO of New York and Boca Raton-based McGovern Capital, according to Bloomberg. His firm provides business and investment strategy. Manoogian, whose nearly four decades of experience includes... [read more]

        The Hyperloop at first sounds like one of Elon Musk's crackpot ideas. Musk, America's premier huckster polymath, claims his Hyperloop can get travelers the 380 miles from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 30 minutes by shooting passengers at 780 mph through frictionless pneumatic tubes.   But the idea allegedly isn't that far-fetched anymore: One of the two companies working to create real Hyperloops is now planning lines... [read more]

  In a bustling downtown with sleek new apartments and condominiums built for well-to-do millennials and empty nesters, Jean Francois Roy is trying to appeal to a different demographic. The Canadian developer wants to build a 42-story rental along the Fort Lauderdale Riverwalk for seniors — some in need of assisted-living and memory-care services. Roy insists it would be the perfect use for the prime property at 333 N. New River Drive East, two blocks south of Las Olas... [read more]

A mixed-use project in west Boca Raton would have apartments, retail, restaurants and a theater. The Palm Beach County Zoning Commission will consider the application of Glades 95th LLC, an affiliate of Deerfield Beach-based Rosemurgy Properties, Giles Capital Group and Schmier & Feurring Properties, on April 6. The company has the 38-acre agricultural site at the southwest corner of Glades Road and 95th Avenue South under contract from multiple owners. The county approved a land... [read more]

Expect to see plenty of grand openings at apartment communities across South Florida this year. Thousands of units under construction for the past two years are scheduled to hit the market in the coming months, giving weary renters more choices, though landlords are still likely to be calling the shots on price, analysts say. Developers this year are due to complete 15,551 units in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties — a 48 percent jump from 2016 and a 62 percent hike from... [read more]

South Florida’s housing market may not be as frenzied as it was a few years ago, but the February figures show that sellers are still winning the price fight. Median prices for existing, single-family homes increased last month in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties, nudged higher by a shortage of homes for sale that limits the leverage of buyers. Palm Beach County’s median price was $315,000, up 7 percent from February 2016, the Realtors Association of the Palm... [read more]

Victory Equestrian Sports sold the 5.63-acre property at 3674 Grand Prix Farms Drive to an entity called the Candy Trust for 12.75 million dollars The Grand Prix Village is one of many equestrian lifestyle neighborhoods in Wellington. The property has a 15,930-square-foot building that’s mostly a barn. It has 20 horse stables and an Equi spa and water treadmill (both for horses). For human occupants, the property has 2,240-square-feet of living quarters with two bedrooms, two... [read more]

Thanks to steadily increasing home prices, fewer South Florida owners are weighed down by “underwater” mortgages, two recent reports show. At the end of last year, 30,442 Palm Beach County homeowners with a mortgage, or 10.6 percent, owed more than the property is worth, down from 41,046 people, or 14.2 percent in the same period of 2015, according to the CoreLogic research firm. In Broward County, 46,443 homeowners, or 12.6 percent, were under water, compared with 63,782,... [read more]

  Source: WalletHub We all know that a good chunk of our income goes to Uncle Sam and the state, but how much return are we getting on our tax investment? That's the subject of a new WalletHub report, which breaks down the "Taxpayer ROI" for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. And for those of us living in Florida, the outlook on returns is pretty sunny. The state ranks close to the top of the list overall for taxpayer ROI. To compile the report, the Washington,... [read more]

  Kolter Group held the ground breaking for 100 Las Olas, a mixed-use tower that would be the tallest building in Fort Lauderdale. The building will rise 499 feet in 46 stories. It will have 121 condos and 238 rooms in a Hyatt Centric hotel. Condo prices start in the $800,000s to over $2 million with sizes from 1,501 to 2,964 square feet. The project at 100 E. Las Olas Blvd. will also have 8,500 square feet of restaurants and retail on the ground floor, plus separate pool decks... [read more]

  Forty-three states added construction jobs year-over-year in February, with Florida leading the pack, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department data.   Florida added 34,700 jobs, a 7.5% increase year-over-year in February, followed by California (16,500 jobs, 2.2%); Texas (14,200 jobs, 2%); and Louisiana (13,500 jobs, 9.6%). Rhode Island added the highest percentage of new construction jobs during the past year... [read more]

Low interest rates, strong job growth and a dearth of construction have combined to create a prolific market for office building investments in South Florida over the past five years. But some real estate analysts predict the frenzy will fade in 2017, derailed by economics and a sense of inevitability. Since the commercial sector started to rebound in 2012, institutional investors have made close to 300 deals for “Class A” office buildings in Palm Beach, Broward and... [read more]

Nearly 90 percent of South Florida's small- to mid-sized business feel confident about the overall strength of their companies, according to SunTrust's annual Business Pulse Survey released this week. The survey, in which more than 500 small and mid-sized business participated, shows that South Florida's small businesses are overall bullish on growth and the local economy. The findings come as nationally nearly two-thirds of business leaders expect the global and U.S.... [read more]

  SobelCo., a South Florida developer, will build part of the residential component at the new Banyan Cay Resort & Golf Club in West Palm Beach. An affiliate of Boca Raton-based SobelCo. completed a $10 million land deal Tuesday for 94 lots at the club off Congress Avenue and north of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard. Tirso San Jose, a SobelCo. executive, said the single-family homes will be priced from the $500,000s to the $800,000s, likely attracting “empty... [read more]

  Tax season can be a sharp reminder to identify opportunities to minimize exposure and maximize deductions. As the filing deadline approaches, consider these four ways that charitable giving can supercharge your tax plan in 2017.   1. Look beyond cash People often overlook appreciated, non-cash assets in their charitable plans. The assets you have built as a business owner or entrepreneur could be among the best to give to charity. These may include publicly-traded... [read more]

Miami developer Sam F. Sami of Saba Group has proposed his second condo building in Bay Harbor Islands. The pair of islands between Miami and Bal Harbour has attracted many mid-rise condo projects. According to CraneSpotters.com, there are 36 condo projects with a combined 1,663 units in the pipeline in the Bay Harbor Islands/Bal Harbour/Surfside market. In November 2015, Sami’s company received approval for the 45-unit ParisA at 1145, 1155 and 1167 100th Street. That project has... [read more]

  One of the biggest decisions you'll make as a landlord is whether you should hire a property management company. Many landlords manage properties on their own or with the help of an employee, such as a resident manager. However, sometimes landlords need more help, and that's when a property management company might make sense. Property management companies can be a huge asset to your business, but they don't come cheap. There are other reasons why you might not want... [read more]

  Boynton Beach officials will consider plans for the mixed-use Ocean One project along Federal Highway/U.S. 1. Ocean One Boynton LLC, an affiliate of Washington, D.C.-based Washington Real Estate Partners, wants to rezone the 3.63-acre site at 114 N. Federal Highway to allow 358 apartments, 12,075 square feet of commercial/retail, a 120-room hotel and 439 parking spaces. The property runs along the highway from Boynton Beach Boulevard to Ocean Avenue. It is not along the water,... [read more]

With April 18th a month away, now’s as good a time as any to start thinking about filing your taxes if you haven't already. You're not alone if you haven't gotten around to it yet — Americans are filing taxes slower this year, according to the IRS. The average U.S. household pays more than $5,700 in federal taxes, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but state tax burdens vary greatly. Taxpayers in states that are the most tax-expensive pay three times... [read more]

  The former American Express office building in Plantation could be redeveloped into a mixed-use project called Plantation Midtown Square. The financial firm moved into a $200 million operations center in Sunrise in January, leaving the 650,211-square-foot building at 777 American Express Way mostly empty. On March 14, the Plantation Review Committee will consider plans to rezone the 25-acre site for 598 apartments, 11,540 square feet of restaurants, and 10,000 square feet of... [read more]

As we continue to learn more about the new president, one thing is certain — change is on the horizon. While the exact form and impact of these changes remains widely speculated, it is almost certain that significant tax reform is coming for the real estate industry. It’s expected that certain cuts will have to be made in order to avoid increasing the deficit. The question remains: what compromises will take place as Congress wrestles with how to pay for these changes? For... [read more]

According to a recent survey conducted by ClosingCorp, over half of all homebuyers are surprised by the closing costs required to obtain their mortgage. After surveying 1,000 first-time and repeat homebuyers, the results revealed that 17% of homebuyers were surprised that closing costs were required at all, while another 35% were stunned by how much higher the fees were than expected.   “Homebuyers reported being most surprised by mortgage insurance, followed by bank fees... [read more]

  Lennar Homes acquired the long-stalled Silver Palms Southwest project in southern Miami-Dade County for $10.3 million. Madeira Investors, managed by Juan Carlos Rodriguez in St. Augustine, sold the 106 home lots at the southwest corner of Southwest 240th Street and Southwest 117th Avenue to Lennar Homes, an affiliate of Miami-based Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN). The property was platted into home lots in 2007, but no construction took place as the recession set in. The property... [read more]

  Real estate insiders expect 2016 to be a strong year for South Florida despite slowing sales and price gains in the condo market, according to a survey conducted by Berger Singerman. The law firm polled about 100 top developers, Realtors, investors, lenders and contractors for their take on the new year. “The overall consensus is that things are going to continue in a similar direction,” said Jeffrey Margolis, a partner at the firm. “2016’s going to look... [read more]

At 27.5 million dollars, the sale of 5 Harborage Isle is the largest sale in Broward County Florida. Most people know this area as Ft. Lauderdale which is a city located in Broward County. S. Donald Sussman, the founder of Paloma Funds and New China Capital Management, bought 5 Harborage Isle from David Stern, who once headed Florida's largest foreclosure law practice. The Florida Bar disbarred Stern in 2014, accusing him of not supervising employees who improperly filed foreclosures... [read more]