Peter Miller properties sold for $14.7M

The Peter Miller Hotel, the Miller Apartments and Peter Miller Apartments, have been sold by M1 Hospitality Group, a division of Metro 1 Properties, for $14.7 million. The three buildings were designed by architect Russell Pancoast and are located in the Historic District of Miami Beach. M1 Hospitality represented both the buyer and the seller in the deal. The 24,463-square-foot Peter Miller Hotel, at 1900 Collins Avenue, has 62 rooms, three floors, retail space on the ground floor and a small restaurant in the lobby. The 7,656-square-foot property known as Miller Apartments, at 229 19th Street, is a two-story, 12-unit building. The Peter Miller Apartments, at 1915 Liberty Avenue, sits on a 6,850 square foot lot and is a two story, 10 to 12-unit building. "This sale represents the hard work and collaborative efforts of the M1 Hospitality Team and demonstrates the increasing demand specifically from foreign investors for hospitality related product in South Florida," said Tony Cho, president of Metro 1 Properties, based in Wynwood. TRD

As Tony Cho says, this sales confirms the interest in Foreign Buyers to acquire Miami Real Estate, this is a great piece of Miami Real Estate in the heart if Miami Beach.

Analou Manent

Miami Magic City: "Ville Magique"... son histoire

Miami mérite bien son titre de "Ville Magique". La région fut tout d'abord habitée il y a plus de mille ans pas les indiens Tequesta. Elle fut ensuite annexée a l'Espagne en 1566. Quand la ville de Miami fut fondée en 1896, ça n'était encore qu'un poste avancé avec 300 habitants. Aujourd'hui, la ville de Miami a une population de plus de 5 millions d'habitants. La région de Miami est composée de nombreux quartiers et villes, tous compris dans le conte de Miami-Dade. L’endroit le plus célèbre est Miami Beach: La "Cote d'Azur Américaine", qui comprend la vibrante South Beach, avec son quartier Art Déco historique. Miami est un vraie mélange des cultures, avec la plus nombreuse population d'Amérique Latine en dehors de l'Amérique Latine elle-même.

Miami Beach, Art Déco District:

Le style décoratif et architectural de l’Art Déco a attire le monde entier entre 1925 et 1940. La version de South Beach était le Déco Tropicale, qui comprend des palmes, panthères, flamants roses, rayons de soleil et fleurs. Il existe trois styles : traditionnel, futuriste et méditerranéen. En 1976, L’Association de "Miami Design Preservation" fut fondée pour protéger et promouvoir cet endroit magnifique.

Par Analou Manent

C'est le moment d'Investir à Miami Beach...!

Vibrante et extravagante, chargée d'énergie, Miami est une ville sophistiquée qui vie au rythme de ses fantaisies et de ses plages séduisantes....

Que ce soit pour un investissement ou une résidence secondaire, Miami reste une des destinations les plus prisées dans le monde et ce n'est pas un hasard. Sa magie, son shopping international, ses attractions et la beauté de son environnement ont contribué largement à son developpement.

Florida Prestige est l’agence immobilière de Miami spécialisée depuis 10 ans dans la vente de biens immobiliers de prestige : Propriétés de luxe aux vues panoramiques et waterfront, appartements de grand standing, promotions de biens immobiliers neufs, immeubles d'investissement, etc...

Mais pas seulement. Nous vous accompagnerons pendant toute la durée de vos investissements et nous nous chargerons de rentabiliser vos investissements par des services locatifs que nous sommes les seuls à offrir. Locations saisonnières, mensuelles ou hebdomadaires. Nos secteurs géographiques d’activités sont principalement: South Miami Beach avec son centre d'interêt principal et historique, South Beach. Et North Miami Beach, avec ses quartiers de luxe comme Aventura, Sunny Isles et Bal Harbour.

Nous vous invitons à decouvrir notre site internet . Investissements, résidences principales ou secondaires, opportunités commerciales: Florida Prestige vous informe sur tout.

Miami Beach Makes Forbes List Of America's Most Expensive ZIp Codes in the US

Fisher Island just ranked by Forbes as #37 of America's most expensive zip codes in the United States, with a median home price of $2,295,291. Forbes list also included: Key Biscayne, Coral Gables, Indian Creek and Bal Harbour.

About 35% of the ZIP codes in our index saw median prices increase or stay flat, but that's likely because more high-priced homes are coming on the market, while more affordable housing continues to falter.

Miami where housing prices have plummeted and foreclosures continue to mount, still contains some of the most expensive homes in the country, with four ZIPs on the list, including Fisher Island, in the No. 37 spot. This ZIP code, for celebrity enclave Fisher Island, boasts a median home sale price of $2,295,291.

"We have yet to see mortgage defaults climb aggressively into higher-priced homes, but there are some signs that those could hit in next twelve months," says Simonsen. "If those mortgage resets drive inventory at the higher end, that would cause major problems."

6 Reasons why is smart to Buy Vacation Rental Home Now...

RISMEDIA, October 22, 2010— Lately, you’ve been thinking a lot about investing strategies. You have a small nest egg that needs to grow, but frankly you don’t trust the stock market. And while real estate has been somewhat of a rocky road in recent years, it’s still a solid long-term investment strategy—and clearly we’re in a buyer’s market. But you aren’t really interested in being a landlord. So what can you do?

Christine Karpinski has a suggestion: Purchase a vacation home and rent it out to travelers.

“Vacation homes are almost always a good investment,” says Karpinski, director of Owner Community for HomeAway—one of the world’s leading vacation rental marketplaces—and author of How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner, 2nd Edition: The Complete Guide to Buy, Manage, Furnish, Rent, Maintain and Advertise Your Vacation Rental Investment.

“First, if you’re looking for a good long-term investment, real estate tends to be a good bet,” she adds. “Second, vacation properties have the ability to pay for themselves, and owners often earn a profit in rental income. Third, the investment comes with the desirable perk of having a place at the beach or in the mountains to call your own. And finally, there has never been a better time to buy a vacation home—it’s like the planets have all lined up perfectly.”

If you are interested in purchasing a vacation home, Karpinski describes why there’s never been a better time to go vacation rental house hunting:

There have never been so many properties on the market. For potential home buyers, there is a silver lining to the slow economy and the housing crisis: Most vacation markets are chock-full of buying opportunities. Once you’ve pinpointed the vacation rental market that is right for you—The coast? The mountains? A ski resort area?—you will likely have a lot of properties to choose from.

Prices aren’t going to get much better. In fact, they’re the lowest they’ve been in five to ten years. If you’re pretty sure you want to buy a vacation home “someday,” you might want to quit procrastinating and pull the trigger, says Karpinski.

Interest rates are very favorable for purchasing. Today, mortgage interest rates are low. Bottom line: Take advantage of them while they last.

It’s never been easier to rent your vacation home. As mentioned earlier, vacation home rentals have never been more popular. More and more consumers are choosing to stay in cozy condos, cabins, and chalets instead of cramped, impersonal hotel rooms when they travel. And as market demand has surged, organizations have sprung up to help connect vacation homeowners with these potential renters.

If you buy now, you can be ready for the 2011 peak season. It’s true that the longer you wait to buy, the likelier it is that interest rates could rise. But there’s another reason not to procrastinate: If you buy now, you’ll have time to get your property ready for peak rental season. Experienced vacation homeowners often find that the rental fees generated during the twelve weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day pay their mortgages for an entire year—and most inquiries come in between January and March.

“Even turnkey properties aren’t really turnkey,” notes Karpinski. “To get your property up to your standards, there will very likely be things you will want to spruce up. Rooms might need repainting. Decorating will need to be done. And the yard might need some work. Buying now will provide you with a cushion of time to get the home ready for your guests, take great photos for your property listing, and start marketing it to potential renters.”

Contact Analou Manent to find your vacation home of your Dreams: analou.manent@earthlink.net

Foreign buyers are buying Miami condos again

Miami Condos are popular again
and investors are snatching up distressed ocean front condos in Miami like never before. Here is The Miami Herald article by Mimi Whitefield:

Nearly 800 Canadians will jam a hotel ballroom near the Toronto airport Sunday to hear the gospel of Florida real estate.
High-end Brazilian buyers prefer to be wooed more intimately — perhaps at a cocktail party or a small private dinner — but they are just as pumped.

Lured by rock-bottom prices, international buyers are now flocking to buy Florida properties. It’s especially true in countries where the currency is strong against the dollar.

“We’re telling Canadians this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — the perfect storm,” said Brian Ellis, who heads Toronto-based Florida Home Finders of Canada.” The prices are just incredible and the Canadian dollar has been so strong.”

At least three of five buyers in the Greater Downtown Miami condo market are coming from abroad, estimates Jenny Huertas, international sales director for Condo Vultures, a real estate advisory and research firm.

The stampede from overseas is “kind of like a foreign subsidy helping us resolve our real estate problems,” said Peter Zalewski, a Condo Vultures principal. “This time the assistance isn’t coming from Washington. It’s coming from Caracas, London, Milan, Bogotá.”

The buying frenzy was set off by developers lowering prices on new units to below what it cost to build in today’s market, Huertas said.

“There were many people on the sidelines watching for the floor. In the last three or four months there’s the perception that we’re there,” said developer Edgardo Defortuna, president and chief executive of Fortune International and the developer of some of the most sought after ocean front condominiums in Miami like Jade Ocean Sunny Isles and Jade Beach Sunny Isles.

CASH CUSTOMERS

Most of the foreigners are cash buyers like Leroy Jean Francois, who has snapped up 47 properties since January for the two real estate firms he works for in France and Switzerland. The plan, he said, is to buy, fix up if necessary, rent out for the next five years, then sell — for a profit.

The Frenchman has already made a paper profit on a unit he closed on in January at Marquis Residences, a 67-story luxury tower in downtown Miami where prices for a one-bedroom apartment start at $375,000. His unit cost $317 per square foot — “a great price, incredible,” he said.

A recent plunge in the euro — it’s now worth $1.23, down from its high of more than $1.60 in 2008 — could cool things off a little. To buy a $1 million condo, it now takes around 814,000 euros compared to 625,000 euros under the old exchange rate.

Meantime, prices for brand new condos on the ocean in Miami also have came down to around $400 per square foot.

But even the declining euro has barely given Francois pause.

“I think the euro will weaken more. But even if the exchange rate is $1 to 1 euro, Miami real estate is still a great bargain for us,” said Francois, who is president of The Bridge, a real estate fund consultancy.

AVERAGE JOES

Luxury Miami condos
are once again popular among Latin America buyers who purchase them as investments but also as a home base while their children attend school here, they attend to business interests or escape strife at home.

But for his Canadian buyers, Ellis scours South Florida for condo units at around the $150,000 price point. “We’re basically the Wal-Mart. We’re for the average Joe.”

And these days average Joe Canadian can afford much more. For decades the U.S. dollar was worth more than the Canadian dollar and buying in the U.S. was always more expensive for Canadians. But in September 2007, the Canadian dollar reached parity with the greenback for the first time in 31 years. It fell back again, but now the Canadian loonie, which takes its name from the loon pictured on the one-dollar coin, is near parity at around 95 cents.

So Ellis has been offering his Florida real estate seminars to packed houses in Ontario and is thinking about taking the show on the road to Montreal. There was so much interest in the latest seminar that he had to schedule two sessions for 400 people each this Sunday.

Most of his Canadian buyers are what Ellis calls “end-vestors,” meaning they plan on renting a unit out for now with an eye toward using it themselves down the road.

Since Home Finders is licensed as a brokerage only in Canada, it works with Florida brokers who complete the sales and pay the Canadian firm referral fees. By year’s end, Ellis said he expects to have facilitated 500 Florida closings.

Setai PH sells for $ 15 Million - Luxury Real Estate Sales are Back

This is a good indication of the return of luxury buying and that the market is coming back. The Setai's PH-B closed this week for $15,000,000, just over $2,400/sq ft. This now tops the highest condo sales in Miami Beach in the past 5 years. Other recent Luxury Penthouses sales are the Fontainebleau Penthouse at $9,000,000 and One Bal Harbour Penthouse at $ 8,700.000, both closed in May 2010.

Read the article in the Wall Street Journal:

Luxury Sales Bounce Back
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704717004575268573660359734.html

The Wall Street Journal released last week the results of a study by MDA DataQuick, a real-estate provider, suggesting that the Luxury real estate market is aggressively rebounding. Markets such as San Francisco, Manhattan, The Hamptons, Menlo Park and Beverly Hills are seeing numbers reminiscent of 2005. The report also lists Las Vegas and Miami as showing great promise.