Tag: Miami Real Estate

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If You Love Downtown Coconut Grove, Thank the Commercial Property Owners

Popular Spill Over Restaurant
Ritz Carlton and Grove at Grand Bay

 

Coconut Grove has been experiencing yet another revitalization.  It has been through at least three cycles of boom to gloom since I moved here in the early 1990’s but, thanks to the commercial property owners, who formed the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District and agreed to tax themselves, this boom feels different.  Why?  Because the Coconut Grove BID has worked hard to create a community by taking on projects and neighborhood improvements that the City of Miami was not able or was unwilling to.  From fixing sidewalks, trimming trees, and sponsoring three free community yoga classes a week through Dharma Studio, the BID has made the Grove a hangout for locals and tourists alike.

Popular Spill Over Restaurant

Since the BID formed in 2009, new restaurants such as Lokal and Spill Over, both by Matthew Kushner, Glass and Vine by Giorgio Rapicavoli, Strada, and Atchana’s to mention a few have moved in and prospered.  SapientRazorfish, one of the largest interactive advertising companies in the world, moved into the Shops at Mayfair and Cocowalk is getting a much needed redesign and tenant mix.   Any evening or weekend you can stroll through the shops, parks and restaurants and see the vibrant diversity of this popular neighborhood.  If you like what you see, thank the commercial property owners and their BID!

 

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Commercial Real Estate Investment Real Estate

Signing New Commercial Leases in 2018? Remember To Drop The Sales Tax To 5.8%

Publix on Miami Beach FL
Publix on Miami Beach FL

If you are a landlord signing new leases in 2018, remember that the state sales tax on commercial leases has dropped from 6% to 5.8%.  As a result, the sales tax rate in Miami-Dade County will drop to 6.8% and in Broward it will drop to 5.8%.  Although the drop in rate may not sound like much, it amounts to an estimated $60 million a year savings to businesses.

Florida is the only state in the nation that charges a sales tax on all commercial leases and Florida Realtors, Florida Chamber, International Council of Shopping Centers, Florida Ports Council, and many others have been working diligently to get the tax reduced in order to keep Florida competitive with other states.  The sales tax is levied on all businesses leases, large and small, regardless of profitability and therefore disproportionally affects small businesses and start ups.  Florida Realtors will continue to work with legislators to get the tax on leases reduced further.

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Brickell/Downtown Miami Commercial Real Estate Investment Real Estate Neighborhood News Selling

Self-Contained Amenities and Neighborhood Key in The Conrad Brickell Hotel Sale

The Brickell Arch - photo credit Rusty Diaz Photography
The Brickell Arch – photo credit Rusty Diaz Photography

Though the pace of commercial real estate transactions in South Florida has slowed down a bit, Miami continues to rack up big sales with the recent purchase of The Conrad Brickell Hotel for $72 million by Mast Capital and Angelo, Gordon and Company.  The 203-room hotel will be managed by HEI Hotels & Resorts, it’s first property in Miami.  At a time when the number of hotel rooms has outpaced demand, this purchase shows that experienced investors believe in the long term viability of Miami as an investment.  Both Mast Capital and Angelo, Gordon, and Company like to purchase value-add properties and it will be interesting to see if they hold onto it or sell it once the planned renovation is completed.

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Brickell/Downtown Miami Commercial Real Estate

Collaboration Is Key In Commercial Real Estate

Wells Fargo Center - Gold LEED Certified
Wells Fargo Center – Gold LEED Certified

I just completed another successful lease transaction with Andrew Trench and Ryan Holtzman of Cushman and Wakefield.  It is the second office lease we have done together and they are wonderful to work with.  In addition to being the consummate professionals you would expect when dealing with Cushman, they are extremely responsive and readily available.    Collaborating with Andrew and Ryan created a smooth transition for the tenant I represented and is why I look forward to working with them again in the near future.

 

 

 

 

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Buying Selling

What Do The Election Results Mean For Real Estate?

 

langer-front

The long election  is finally over and the question I am getting asked a lot is, “What does it all mean for the real estate market?”  A recent video put out by the National Association of Realtors sums up the election as follows:

  • In Congress, not much has changed.  Republicans controlled the House and the Senate before the election and they control the House and the Senate after the election.  This will help NAR moving forward on flood insurance, tax reform, and the re-invention of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, since Realtors® had been working on these issues with the previous Congress, thereby providing continuity.
  • Flood Insurance:  The National Flood Insurance Program is $24 Billion in debt, which needs to be addressed.  States vary on the importance they give this program and how flood insurance should be covered.  Nevada has a different view than New Orleans and Florida and NAR is active in trying to negotiate a solution so that insurance is available and real estate transactions can continue taking place.
  • Tax Reform:  The mortgage interest deduction, property tax deduction, capital gains exemption and 1031 Like Kind Exchanges are all under consideration for reform.  No bills have been filed yet, but there are different proposals that have been floated by a variety of legislators.
  • Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:  Their future is totally up in the air and NAR will keep an eye on any new proposals that are put forth.
  • Dodd Frank and the Consumer Protection Bureau:  These will be revisited.  Under Dodd Frank, regulations that affect smaller banks will probably be relaxed.  Since approximately half of current mortgage lending is being done by non-bank banks (on-line lenders), regulations may start addressing them.  Overall, the view is that federal regulations will be loosened and state and local regulations will increase.

Another topic that will be looked at is refinancing student loans, which would help get young people with a lot of student debt into mortgages and homeownership.  This is obviously a national overview.  I will go into more detail as to what the elections mean for us locally and for commercial real estate in future blogs.  Stay tuned!

 

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Commercial Real Estate Investment Real Estate Restaurants

Top 3 Retail ‘Buy’ Markets Are In South Florida

ceviche-105

Ten-X’s U.S. Retail Market Outlook listed the top five markets for investors to consider buying retail real estate.  Three out of those five were Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach.  Robust employment and increasing population in all three cities are pushing the demand for retail space in all of their respective counties.

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Commercial Real Estate

Miami Office Space In Top Demand

IMG_1045

Bisnow’s list of the 10 cities with the highest office vacancy rates does not include Miami, which is one of the most in-demand office markets in the country.  With the exception of some office space at Brickell City Center, there isn’t any new construction of office space due to the high cost of land and construction.  According to JLL’s Office Insight Report for the fourth quarter of 2015, Miami’s vacancy rate was 12.3% in 2015.

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Buying

Florida Home Prices Projected to Increase 9.3% in 2016

CoreLogic, is projecting overall U.S. housing prices to rise 5.2% next year.  Florida is projected to increase by 9.3%, which is the second highest increase in the nation, just behind California at 10.8%.

Prices-KCM

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Buying Coral Gables

Inventory In Many South Florida Markets Still Tight

Coral Gables Home under contract in 4 days
Coral Gables Home under contract in 4 days
Coral Gables Home under contract in 4 days

Some newspaper headlines and news stations have been asking if Miami is getting ready to experience another housing downturn, due largely to the rapid increase in prices and the return of building cranes to the Miami skyline.  While there has been an increase in inventory in the Brickell corridor, there are still many areas in Miami where inventory is tight.  This leads to headlines such as RIS Media’s, “Existing Home Sales Increase but Overall Market Continues to Underperform“.

If you were a buyer just cruising through headlines, it could give you pause thinking that after years of headlines talking about how sales are increasing, in the double digits in many areas, that it is now slowing.  The truth is that if you continue reading, the reason the sales are increasing at a slow rate is because in many areas there is still a lack of inventory.  Some of the reasons given by economists in the article:

Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Economist “Insufficient supply seems to be hampering prospective buyers…”

Mark Fleming, First American Chief Economist “Existing-home sales are currently below expectations because existing homeowners lack sufficient equity or remain under water”

Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan, “We continue to expect the economy to drag housing  upward”

Another economist, Ted C. Jones, Chief Economist Stewart Title Guaranty Company said that one of the reasons the overall South Florida housing inventory is tight is that  “The Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Palm Beach MSA added 91,000 net new jobs and only 17,000 new housing units”.

If you are currently in the market to purchase a home, know what the inventory is in your area and your price range so that you will be prepared to make an offer when the right house comes on the market.  Chances are if you are looking in an area with tight supply, you won’t have much time to decide whether or not to make an offer.  In many areas in Miami-Dade county, we are back to multi-offer situation.

Categories
Buying Commercial Real Estate

Flood Insurance Rates Heading Up – Time To Call Your Insurance Provider

flood insuranceRemember all of the outcry in late 2013 &  early 2014 about flood rates increasing due to changes approved in the federal 2012 Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act?  Well, once it was amended with the “Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act,” people in coastal zones and flood prone areas seem to have forgotten about how flood insurance can affect their homes and businesses.

Miami-Dade county has more subsidized flood policies than any other county in Florida, other than Pinellas County.  If you own property in Miami-Dade county that isn’t in zone X, B, or C, and have a mortgage, contact your insurance provider to see what you can do to reduce your flood premium.  Notices will start going out the first week in April.

 

 

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article1960090.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/article1962053.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/article1962053.html#storylink=cpy