In the past it was so simple. You needed a loan you went to a Bank. You needed to buy property you went to the Developer. Nowadays this line has been totally obscured. Last week, Stephen Ross of The Related Companies applied to form a bank. Here the Developer has now decided to become the Bank. Then you have several banks that have foreclosed on projects and are now selling them at discounted rates to Bulk Buyers and other investors. There the Banks have become the Developers/
Honestly, being in Real Estate has never been more tricky or confusing. Last Friday evening the FDIC closed the doors of Chicago Bank, Corus Bank. Corus Bank like so many of the other 92 banks that have failed this year invested heavily in Condo Construction Loans. In fact in just our area of South Florida they financed over $3,000,000,000 Yes that is THREE BILLION DOLLARS of construction loans. Notable projects include:
$288,115,000 for the construction of Jade Ocean in Sunny Isles Beach..
$216,000,000 for the downtown Paramount Bay
$191,800,000 for The Mint Downtown
$130,400,000 for The Ivy Downtown
$139,000,000 for Trump International Hotel and Tower in Fort Lauderdale
$135,000,000 for Phase II at the Continuum in South Beach
$130,000,000 for Artech in Aventura
$124,700,000 for the Caribbean in Miami Beach (note the outstanding balance of this loan was just settled for $50m by a NY investor)
$86,000,000 for Hampton South in Aventura
$83,175,000 for The Akoya in Miami Beach
$42,272,000 for The Solis in Sunny Isles Beach
$30,298,000 for The Peninsula in Aventura
Currently the FDIC is deciding whether to divide the bank’s assets and liabilities into Real Estate holdings and Bank holdings. Whichever way it goes, I guarantee you are going to see a feeding frenzy of Developers or Deep Pocket investors who will prance on the chance of buying these loans at a few cents on the Dollar. If this happens one can only ask how it will affect the pricing of this units still to come on the market. If you remember an earlier blog we did on the state of affairs in the Brickell area we discussed the construction of 23,000+ units in the last five years. Already almost 50% of these units are available for sale or resale (through the Developers or through the Multiple Listing Services) and we have seen Bulk Deals going for as low as $150/ft.
As a seasoned Real Estate team we can definitely say the opportunities out there are like nothing you have ever seen before. You need patience, education but there are definitely opportunities for the taking.
If you are interested in discussing your Real Estate needs further, call us at 786-333-6200, post a comment or email us confidentially at info@golanteam.com
