July 05, 2007

I don't remember those slick new Miami condo marketing brochures showing the bums, sex offenders and crack whores. Oh well...

Where's my wine!


Where's my cheese!

Where's my supermodels by the pool!

Where's my neighbors?

Waaaaa!!!!

Vagrants are tough reality for Edgewater condo owners

Denizens of the new condo tower Blue were shocked to find out what neighbors have known for years: the highly touted Edgewater area has a lot of panhandlers.

When Lily Azel and her husband forked over nearly $750,000 for a condo at Blue, a swanky new tower on 36th Street just east of Biscayne Boulevard, they weren't just sold a luxury home with turquoise-tinted windows and a gleaming stainless steel kitchen.

They were sold a vision of a fabulous new midtown Miami. But that doesn't quite gel with what they see when they leave their home.

Welcome to Edgewater, where die-hard old grit collides with new flash every day.

''We knew there was some of that element,'' Azel said, referring to the squads of vagrants and panhandlers who populate the area near the condo. She moved to Blue last year from Weston.

``But we were led to believe the whole area would be revamped into this great midtown.''

To make matters worse, Azel and her neighbors were shocked to recently learn that the state was stashing a quintet of convicted sex offenders a few hundred yards to the east, under the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

Victor McGlone, an educator who has lived at the Charter Club for nine years, said folks in his building have often found homeless people bathing in the fountain in front of their building's lobby.

Peter Megler, a Realtor and vice president of the Blue's board of directors, said the condo's developers extolled the transformation expected for Edgewater when pitching to buyers.

''I moved here from New York because I could feel the energy in this town,'' said Megler, whose condo cost $396,489. ``But many of us don't feel like we're getting our money's worth.''

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

By looking the public records, it seems that many condo "owners" at Blue will have interest rates for their ARMs resetting this year, while some already did. Let's see how many condo "owners" will be able to hold on to those units. Tax property on a 2 bed unit at that building is on average around $8,700 / year alone! Add to that condo fees, insurance, expensive mortgage, resetting ARMs. From now on, every time you pass by that building at night, count how many lighted units you see.

Anonymous said...

By the way, that building is sandwiched between two freeways, almost on top of it. Ahhh, ocean views, while breathing the great air coming out of thousands of car exhausts. Nevermind the noise!

Anonymous said...

High taxes, bums, whores and homeless people combined with high crime and low paying jobs. That is and has always been Miami. Yeah go spend a weekend but my God actually living there and paying 750k--for the opportunity to live in "paradise". Talk about morons, what did they really expect? They wanted to flip em thats what. Wait till they discover that as the most uneducated city in the U.S with one of the highest crime rates Miami will get a lot worse. What a shithole, I have a bridge to sell these twits.....I bet they also told them ath brits and south americans were lining up with suitcases of money to live in this "international hub of culture and business" Ha, ha, ha, ha,.......

Anonymous said...

I smell a casino/hotel conversion circa 2012.

Thats all they are missing is gambling and bada bing=atlantic city/vegas type of scum.

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't that piece of land have been used for a dump, or maybe an industrial project?

$750,000 seems $650,000 too much

Anonymous said...

Actually the panhandlers *ARE* the tenants, they had the ARM reset.

Anonymous said...

Victor McGlone, an educator who has lived at the Charter Club for nine years, said folks in his building have often found homeless people bathing in the fountain in front of their building's lobby.

WTF? An educator is buying $750K condos. Yet every chance we get we hear how underpaid "educators" are. I can't wait for the next sales tax increase so that these precious "educators" get a pay raise.

Anonymous said...

This really should not be a big deal. The people that bought here sight unseen are retards anyway. They should be able to socialize well with the bums. I don't see a problem. Hell, the bums are probably more intelligent and these people are jealous.

Anonymous said...

At least they are in a real city. Same $h!t is happening in Wilmington Delawhere Riverfront. A small, little backwater cesspool of human criminality. Droves of homeless bums roam the streets panhandling everyone, drug crime everywhere, socio-economic & racial segregation that sharply delineates the haves and have nots with the most rotten old school ghettos the North East has ever produced and where the handful of shops and eateries shut down after five or six and do not serve dinner!! In the midst of it all, upscale luxury town homes & condos that no one can afford that sit on a brown field with a toxic waste of a river that trickles through the ghetto that is Wilmington. The sales pitch was slick, the buyers mostly from out of town & state looking for luxury housing at value prices, not realizing that part of the package was homeless people sleeping on their lawns, crack whores roaming their neighborhoods and transacting business just down the street, clearing off malt liquor cans & bottles from the front stoop, being constantly panhandled and menaced by thugs and having to step over the sleeping homeless as they walk to work. The story might be from Miami, but The Riverfront of Wilmington Dela$h!th0le takes this scandalous aspect of the housing bubble to an artform!!

Anonymous said...

"Tax property on a 2 bed unit at that building is on average around $8,700 / year alone!"

Living on the east coast, that sounds like a bargain compared to what I pay, given no FL state tax.

I wonder how much of the Fl boom was driven by people "moving" to FL to avoid 10% state taxes in NY/ CA, etc. As dumb an investment as one of these condos is, it might not matter if you could finance it with state tax savings.

Anonymous said...

Bathing in the fountain? Just wait until they start having sex in the fountain...

Anonymous said...

Who wants to bet the majority of these people buying these overpriced condos where more interested in flipping them, than living in them. And only now bitching because Miami prices are tanking.

I heard Miami will have over 10000 new condo's coming on the market over the next year with its recent Dubai like building spree of large condo towers everywhere. This doesn't take into account the growing number of units already on the market by panicing flippers.
When those units start coming on the market with no buyers, thats when the crap will really hit the fan for all those idiots who bought recently.

I'm sure that fountian is going to become very popular as all the broke flippers start bathing in it as well.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how much of the Fl boom was driven by people "moving" to FL to avoid 10% state taxes in NY/ CA, etc.

You see, what you don't understand is that in FLA, you basically take your yearly taxes and multiply by .75 - 1.25 to determine how much insurance you have to pay too! So, if these geniuses are paying $8700 in property taxes, they're probably paying another $8700 in insurance too. Doesn't sound too appealing anymore, does it?

Anonymous said...

I love it. $750k for a condo. Give me a flipping break. Talk about opportunity cost. What a bunch of shitheads some consumers are. What marketing competency the RE developers have.

Anonymous said...

Is that picture real, or a photoshop? Reason I ask is: Is that hotel really directly in the middle of two freeways like that? Noise must be unbearable, $750K for something like that in any other place than Cannes is too much!!!!

The Thinker said...

The moral of this story is before you pay three-quarters of a million dollars for an apartment, you should at least look to see if there are bums bathing in the fountain.

If a Sales Troll (Realtor) tells you that the neighborhood will get better, then perhaps you should search for corroborating evidence from an impartial source before you buy on faith.

You must always assume that those who have an interest are giving you biased advice.

Anonymous said...

But those flippers were planning on selling those homes to people that were homeless at a profit...opps, i forgot those were not homes.. they were ponszi investment schemes., with tax and spend govt schemes and maintence skim job,rake-off shakedowns included

Anonymous said...

to think that the average full time wage in Oaklahoma is 27,000 aND ITS AN OIL STATE

Anonymous said...

Buyer: So is this car a good reliable car?

Used Car Salesman: Yes it is a very reliable car and it will only get more reliable over time.

Buyer: Good enough for me. Where do I sign?


The above of couuse would never happen when the item in question is a $10K used car. Yet on a $750K condo, the same buyer who will negotiate for 5 hours to get the $10K down to $9500 will blindly sign on the dotted line no questions asked for the condo.

Anonymous said...

The Thinker said...
The moral of this story is before you pay three-quarters of a million dollars for an apartment, you should at least look to see if there are bums bathing in the fountain.

If a Sales Troll (Realtor) tells you that the neighborhood will get better, then perhaps you should search for corroborating evidence from an impartial source before you buy on faith.

You must always assume that those who have an interest are giving you biased advice.

July 05, 2007 4:37 PM
---------------
BINGO THINKER.

The realtwhore is no different than the used car salesman, whether its the seller or the buyers agent, they both have a vested self interest that is contrary to the buyer's interests. I take you're rule of thumb one step further. When the sales agent give you a slick brochure, animated presentation, landscape architecture renditions of the entire community upon completion etc, I.e. a huge dog & pony show, and you turn to your buyers agent and they just giveyou the bobble head you must do two things:

1-Demand that the entire content of the dog and pony show be made a part of the contract as either a contingency upon delivery of your home and/or if the grand plan is to come post delivery then to serve as the basis of a purchase buy back to the developer if not performed in accordance with the disclosed timetable. 100% of the time the will refuse, that being the case then go to #2.

2-Say to yourself "Can I live with this home surrounded by this ________ (Fill in the blank e.g. crime/drug/crack whore/homeless panhandler infested ghetto; manure pit, landfill etc/whatever) at all and/or at this price? If you can live with it but want a discount because of the risk & uncertainty then make an offer; remember just because the developer has presented you with his menu of pricing (base + upgrades) does not mean you have to pay it. If they refuse then you either say Hey, you're not giving me any written assurances that this cesspool my home is in the middle of is going to be cleaned up, so I have to have a price reduction. If they continue to refuse then WALK.

If on the other hand you just cannot live with it at any price, even with something they may be willing to put in the contract or they offer you a price break then WALK. A house is more than just an investment, it s a home, a place where you will live in as part of a greater community. If its going to be next to a crack house for a decade, it can never be a neighborhood nor a home. Leave it some other GF to dream of making an uncertain profit upon if they do not get knifed by a junkie and the developer does not fold and actually goes through with the grand plan!! Nuff said!!

Frank R said...

Reminds me of all those "luxury" condos that went up off the strip in Vegas, surrounded by hookers and crack dealers.

Anonymous said...

$8700 insurance AND another $8700 in taxes. That can't be right.

Anonymous said...

''We knew there was some of that element,'' Azel said, referring to the squads of vagrants and panhandlers who populate the area near the condo. She moved to Blue last year from Weston.




I love these dump white soft liberal yuppies types.

THEY ARE BUMS!

Anonymous said...

Victor McGlone, an educator who has lived at the Charter Club for nine years, said folks in his building have often found homeless people bathing in the fountain in front of their building's lobby.



AAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

I love it!

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of downtown seattle

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Victor McGlone, an educator who has lived at the Charter Club for nine years, said folks in his building have often found homeless people bathing in the fountain in front of their building's lobby.

WTF? An educator is buying $750K condos. Yet every chance we get we hear how underpaid "educators" are. I can't wait for the next sales tax increase so that these precious "educators" get a pay raise.

July 05, 2007 12:19 PM

--------------------

Duh. I don't think they cost $750K NINE YEARS AGO.

Anonymous said...

I was recently brow-beat that I told of a home in Destin area of Florida was being sold for half it's original asking price!

I was told to stop the Bullshit if it wasn't true!

Well, I guess the article just made the newswire. The owner slashed the price from 2.79mil to 1.79!!!!!!!

He did it for shock value, for atttention!

So to the assh**e who said to stop the B.S., all i can say is F**K U

Anonymous said...

http://www.stansberryonline.com/PRO/0706TRWFBO99/ETRWH623/200706REN-FBO-99.html

I don't even know what to say

This just blew my mind. Anybody who knows anything about the credit markits will understand this in he context of what has been happening overtly since Feb. This is a last ditch feeble effort to unload worthless bonds on the American people who will unwittingly buy into these sensationalized gains hahaha

If this were a real viable thing, and anyone who knows anything about the debt markets would be scared white as a ghost if they held on to bonds yielding 180% haha not a misprint 180%

Poor bag holders


BTW here is a chart related to the value of these 180% yield bonds........wow this pig is done, but probably will have one more facial with xtra lipstick
"Quality Debt" BS
http://www.markit.com/information/affiliations/abx

"Second highest quality debt"
http://www.markit.com/information/affiliations/abx

Poor poor bag holders

http://www.stansberryonline.

Anonymous said...

The first big casualty in the bubble is the hastily slapped up swank condos/townhomes in the downtown area of every major city in the U.S.

Not only are they ridicuolously unaffordable, the majority will either be sold for a fraction of what they are asking for now....or more likely....will be rented out. Either scenario does not bode well for "gentrification of da hood"....

It is gonna get worse....much worse.

Anonymous said...

"Living on the east coast, that sounds like a bargain compared to what I pay, given no FL state tax."

That's for condo owners eligible for 'homestead exemption'. Otherwise, if you have it as a second home like many New Yorkers, that tax figure jumps to $15K. Don't forget that home insurance in Florida is a rip-off because of the floods and infinite hurricanes.

I don't know where you live but if paying $2k / month in property taxes and home insurance alone for a tiny 2 bed condo, in the middle of crackland, seems cheap to you...Add to that $600 / month in condo fees, utilities, PMI, ARMs, etc. You must live in Manhattan then.

Frank R said...

Duh. I don't think they cost $750K NINE YEARS AGO.

Duh. These condos weren't built NINE YEARS AGO.

Dumbass.

EconE said...

WTF? An educator is buying $750K condos. Yet every chance we get we hear how underpaid "educators" are. I can't wait for the next sales tax increase so that these precious "educators" get a pay raise.

Duh. I don't think they cost $750K NINE YEARS AGO.

Duh. These condos weren't built NINE YEARS AGO.

Dumbass.


let me clear this up for whoever has even poorer reading comprehension skills. The Charter club is over 30 years old. Hence...being that it is in bumville...it was probably always a "low rent" waterfront area. So...9 years ago this "educator"...who knows...maybe a teacher/professor or someone who teaches realtors how to blog. So...9 years ago this "educator" probably spent JACK on his 70's condo and doesn't live in the freeway encrusted shiny turquoise testament to greed.

so...yes...we do need to pay the teachers more because people seem to argue about something in a link that Keith has provided that is just plain wrong.

Read a little closer guys. Keith posts some gems. It's similar here in Seattle in some ways. Maybe it'll be the next Florida here also. Plennnnty of condo's and apartments coming on line over the next couple years and the P/E ratio is pretty close to the guy in the old post regarding renting a place in Florida.

Anonymous said...

I visited Miami in late May and could not believe the number of high rises under construction. I did a quick perusal of the RE section in the local paper and noticed many condos listed for $400 /sq ft.

I live in Boston and prices have yet to reach that level-although, we do have fewer high rises but that is another story. In fact, when I mentioned the situation in Miami to the local rah rah real estate crowd they did not believe me. It seems that denial is an effective coping mechanism for the uninformed.

Check out Zillow for current transactions for these units- 601 Ne 36 Th St, Miami FL. 250 properties are listed and only four were (Z)estimated >750K (3 of 4 were 2048 sq ft, no sq ft data available for the 4th). Several recent transactions were for less than $350 /sq ft!

Anonymous said...

Don't kill me I am in the south fla market. i am a re broker and a re appaiser. i read almost every comment and i am seeing this happen 1st hand. the comment "What marketing competency the RE developers have" is true indeed. they market these shitholes like they are going to be best place to live in the world and greedy people with a couple dimes to spare or equity out of their house rush to buy which drives prices even higher. almost all of the people are "so called investors" there is a rumor of a building in rivera beach, fl which is the "hood" of palm beach county has only 23 people living inside. there has to be at least 600-700 units! just like miami west palm beach is loaded with "glass houses"