tdottsx

I live in Toronto and i was thinking of buying a condo in the U.S. mainly miami. i was looking into prices of condo's and they are fairly cheap. any 1 have any insight or reasons why i should or shouldnt?

TzarChasm

Well the bottom is falling out of the Miami condo market, so if you dont mind watching people pay less than you paid for the same thing, then its fine. Just plan on keeping the thing several years before its worth what you paid for it.

moeronn

What would you do with the condo? As mentioned above, the markets still haven't stablized in many areas, so it doesn't seem like the best time to be buying something you won't use/make money on. If you're planning on moving out here or renting it out, then maybe. Still, if you're looking for an investment, now doesn't seem to be the time, especially in Miami where the prices soared for several years and are now falling even faster.

tdottsx

ic ic but i was thinking of renting it out and only staying there for 1 month out of the year...my plan is to keep it for a while and let sum 1 rent it out and pay off the mortgage than use it as my vacation home when im older.

MR1

Suggest a little more research. There are too many houses for sale and not enough qualified buyers. Lots of folks already own houses there that are sitting empty. Can't get enough rent to cover expenses. Can't sell for what they owe. Probably one of these someone is trying to sell to you. Need to understand a market before you throw money into it.

TzarChasm

If you go this route you are setting yourself up for failure bigtime. It would be almost impossible to rent this thing for as much as the morgage, so unless you are expecting to lose money on it every month for the next few years thats not going to work.
Second, and even worse, it looks like your considering using it like a time share, that is going to have an even smaller return, because there are thousands of these things sitting empty already. People who bought a hell of a lot cheaper than you are going to be able to rent these things for much less and at this point, many people are just hoping to break even. Real estate renting can be a risky business at the best of times, it makes NO sence at all to be trying to get into it when times are bad.

SakiGT

Check out property taxes in the area. Can be upwards of a mortgage in some areas.

TzarChasm

Should have mentioned this before, but right now Miami is the WORST place to be getting into the condo business. Not that there are really any good places right now, but if you buy in Miami, come back on here in 5 years when your in forclosure, and I'll buy it from you for 1/2 of what you paid. Maybe if you bought in Arizona, you might be able to start showing a profit after a couple years, but Miami? Not bloody likely.

Your better off taking your money, converting it into $1 bills, rolling it into fire logs and selling them out of your trunk. You'll still burn through all your money, but at least when you run out, your credit wont be shot too.

tdottsx

alright all good points, but the realtor i am dealing with says that they can havet he place rented every month. thats apparently what they speacialize in. and people coming from canada or other countries pay big bucks to rent out a place for 1 month.

phil2

I myself have also been looking...


http://www.miamiforeclosuregroup.com/

A good resource!

TzarChasm

No, kidding, the realtor paints a rosey picture? Do anything he says then. Oh, and while you are at it I have this check from my time as a prince of Nigeria, all I need you to do is cash it and keep half. Wire the rest to me through western union as soon as possible.

Ask this guy if he guarantees he will be able to rent it every month. When he says no, ask him how many properties they manage and have him send info on how often they are rented and how often they are empty. I'll bet you my nigerian check he won't be willing to share that kind of information either.

Look, do whatever you want, it's your money, maybe you will get lucky. But if you have watched ANY news at all, you will see that there is a downturn in the housing market, even more of one in the condo market, and Miami tops the list of unsellable/unrentable condos. Maybe this guy has some secret formula that allows him to make money in this kind of situation and no one else in the world has figured it out yet, and he has already made his millions and works as a realtor to help people make millions like he did.

Man, you get rich quick guys kill me.

Will Y.

Some very good advice hidden in the sarcasm!

OP tdottsx: you'd be an absentee owner of a rental place- see if the broker will give you names of some absentee owners so you can interview them before jumping in.

tdottsx

TzarChasm i am aware of all the risk, if i wer to purchase it i would see if there is any contarct that could be signed that ensures that the condo will be rented out every month.

agranado

Lotsa foreclosures everywhere here. Find yourself a good deal, but you'll probably be paying something pretty high depending on what part of miami you're looking at. Where exactly?

Ritzy places include Miami Beach, Coral Gables, and nice smaller communities can be found in Miami Lakes, Doral just to name a couple.

All pretty expensive though. Those are some real nice areas. Post the area you're looking at and I'll give you a heads up as to what that area is like as far as traffic, crime, whats around it, etc. (If I know the area well enough.)

Good luck

Doom878

Miami taxes and insurance (especially east of I-95) are extremely expensive. Your insurance will be built in to your assocation which has to cover the huge windstorm coverage cost. Also the tax structure for 2nd homes and investment propery here is still extremely expensive. For a time only owner occupied properties were capped on their taxes and they base your taxes on your purchase price. If you are very well off and want a place just to have it and expect to lose money on it, then go for it. As an investment, now is not that time.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Yeah BAD IDEA! Stay out!

1StGenCL

My building on the beach was sold out but 66% vacant. Most of the people bought them to flip or rent but no luck at all not to mention they are TRYING to rent these 700k plus places out for 1300 a month and not having any luck. Obviously unless you put a huge downpayment down on these places (and being a mortgage broker and doing lots of loans in this building i can tell you they did not put anything down really) you are not covering your mortgage and your HOA fees are huge

phil2

I am a mortgage broker as well and I find that a lot of my wholesalers now are no longer loaning over 60%ltv for non owner occupied in FL since it is now considered to be a declining market. Are you seeing the same thing?

yunginTL

what kinda HOA fees can u expect for a condo? Do they eat up a good chunk of monthly expenses relative to your mortgage payment?

Will Y.

The HOA fees depend on the type of condo building and services provided.

In West Los Angeles, you can have a $500,000 condo with everything from $200/mo. in HOA fees in a basic building with minimal landscaping, no earthquake insurance, etc. to $2,000+/mo. in HOA fees for a full service building with valet parking, security patrol, concierge, pool, jacuzzi, etc.
The HOA fees for some smaller full service condos can almost equal the mortgage payment, esp. if the owner put little down.

Doom878

I used to work for Countrywide on the wholesale side as an underwriter. For anything south FL, you had to order a LARA to "support" value (meaning shoot down value). Also we knocked off 5% LTV off of the guideline LTV. They closed our branch last year and Broward last week.

zine1

Best time to buy then rent it out.

TzarChasm

Based on what data? The fact that places are difficult to rent right now because of all the units speculators have dumped, or because they are still dropping in value like a middle aged prostitute?

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

17 years old and giving real estate advice. Kinda sums it all up.

phil2

zine1

I actually purchased two properties in Miami 3 monhts ago with help of my brother and currently renting out as furnished units

So all 3 of you 30s years OLD FARTS has just being

Chr8808

iTrader: (1)

We looked into buying a condo in Miami/FTL about 2 years ago right before the market turned. Taxes were pretty sky high for non residents and doing some research, i read a RE guide that there would be around 50k new available condos in miami alone in the next 2-5 years and it would oversaturate the market. The majority of buyers at teh time were from out of the country due to the stronger currencies against the dollar. Of course, they predicted that there would be a tremendous glut (just like vegas).

phil2

Anachostic

We're condo shopping in Orlando. Two things are surprising me. One, the mortgage lenders are not that eager for money. About half I've talked to are disinterested or argumentative. Second, I'm bummed that supposedly the interest rates are at or near bottom and I can't get a rate lower than the mortgage I got three years ago. It must be because the mortgage is for a secondary residence.

phil2

No one wants to lend in a declining market and rates are around 6.125%.

TzarChasm

Uh huh, suuuuure you did. You might be more believeable if you actually knew how to use english.