Archive for September, 2007

Notable E-Mail Of The Week

September 28th, 2007 categories: Tampa Condos, New Projects (Condos)

Message: Lenny not for nothing but it should say stupid investor instead of desperate.

This was a message sent by a user of our Tampa home search site recently. I guess he was referring to this excerpt from the remarks on a particular listing (not ours):

Desperate Investor, Bring all offers.

Well, that’s his opinion. Stupid is such harsh word. I think risk seeking or risk loving might be less harsh. Maybe this is a better way to put it: Risk loving investor wishes to pass risk along to someone else, bring all offers.

Promising to buy a condominium that has yet to be built at a set price 2.5 years ago certainly has its risks. Betting on continued appreciation in an already over-heated condo market is (was) risky investing for sure. But there were some big winners in this game. Timing is everything.

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | No Comments »

Plaza At Harbour Island Nearing Completion

September 28th, 2007 categories: Tampa Real Estate, Tampa Condos, Tampa Waterfront Homes, Tampa MLS, New Projects (Condos), Downtown Tampa, Tampa Neighborhoods

Now closing in and around downtown Tampa:

• Skypoint Condominiums
• The Place at Channelside Condominiums
• Grand Central at Kennedy Condominiums
• Towers at (of) Channelside Condominiums
• Ventana Condominiums

All of these projects are in the process of transferring ownership to the many pre-construction buyers who were in the market back in 2004–2005. I’ve had the chance to visit most of the new buildings. Some are meeting pre-construction expectations, while others are not. I’m referring to my expectations as well as the expectations of many others with whom I’ve spoken recently.

And now Harbour Island’s newest project, the Plaza at Harbour Island, should begin closings within the next 4–6 weeks. I’m representing some buyers at The Plaza, and yesterday I attended the initial pre-closing walk-thru of their unit with them. The Plaza certainly meets, and maybe exceeds my expectations based on what we saw and what we were told in the sales center back in 2005.

The Plaza is situated at the north end of Harbour Island, a small residential island adjacent to downtown Tampa and the Channel District. Views on the north side are of downtown and Channelside, etc., while on the south side, views are of Harbour Island, Tampa Bay, the Interbay Peninsula, etc. Check out The Plaza Harbour Island’s location on Google Earth (if you don’t have it, get it!).

The Patrinely Group is the developer and I can tell you that everything they have done has been first class. The sales process, the sales team, the cocktail parties, the walk-thru process, all very professional and first class.

So what about the building? The Plaza is 21 stories with about 138 units total. The common elements, especially the zero edge pool and clubhouse areas, are impressive, similar to what I’ve seen at The Bellamy on Bayshore. The floor plans are designed with respect to the location of the building, and offer large terraces that wrap around the corners of the building providing 180 degree views.

But Harbour Island’s neighbor the the east is Hooker’s Point, a very industrial peninsula, home to the Port of Tampa. Palm trees and beaches are not part of the plan there. But hey, this is urban Tampa. Storage elevators are what you’ll see here, along with the occasional cruise ship heading up or down the channel.

Other amenities include a large fitness center, full-time concierge, and valet parking for residences. There are also 4 guest suites, 3 of which will be sold to members of the association (condo owners).

All in all The Plaza at Harbour Island has certainly met or exceeded my expectations as well as those of my clients. If you’re considering a condo near downtown Tampa, and are looking for luxury, The Plaza is definitely worth a good look.

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | 2 Comments »

Trump Tower Buyer Wins Suit

September 27th, 2007 categories: Tampa Real Estate, Tampa Condos, New Projects (Condos), Tampa Market Conditions

“After entering the agreements, it has become clear that the construction of Trump Tower Tampa is significantly delayed, if not altogether abandoned”.

That sums up the court’s reasoning in siding with buyers who sued the Trump Tower Tampa developer to get their deposits  on 2 units refunded to them. So the precedent has been set. How many would be buyers now follow this lead and file suit themselves? Not good news for anyone hoping Trump Tower has any life left.

Read the article in the Tampa Bay Business Journal:

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | No Comments »

Super Exemption Put Out Of Its Misery

September 25th, 2007 categories: Tampa Real Estate, Hillsborough Property Tax

It was going to fail anyway. Polls showed that way less than than the 60% of voters needed were actually in favor of this thing. But there was plenty of time left to convince them, right? The vote wasn’t scheduled until late January. I believe that the opposition to the Super Exemption was just beginning to mount.

This morning’s news in The Tampa Tribune is that a circuit court decision has removed the amendment from the January ballot citing lack of clarity. This thing was dying a slow death anyway. When you looked at the results that it would produce, it did little to fix one of the major problems of Save Our Homes, the inequities of taxes paid by long time homeowners as compared to newer homeowners.

Like Save Our Homes, the Super Exemption had a cap component, albeit a lesser one. Anytime there is a cap involved, there will be inequities down the road. I’m a prime example. Capped at a 3% maximum annual increase for the last 11 years that I’ve owned my home, I pay very little property taxes as compared to the neighbor down the street with a similar home who bought 2 years ago. Is that fair?

Newer homeowners are, in effect, subsidizing those that have had a longer protective period. Is it fair for me to pay 25% of what someone else with a similar property pays? Make no mistake, I enjoy the protection, but is it fair?

The challenge of creating new property tax rules is in getting rid of the inequities in the tax amounts. But how can you get people like me to vote for something that raises my taxes? You’ll have a hard time getting long time homeowners with low taxes to agree to pay more, all in the name of fairness. It’s going to be tough to please the two sides, those with low taxes and those with high taxes.

So back to the drawing board go the property tax reform folks. And in the meantime it seems Florida property tax reform, much like lower homeowners’ insurance rates, will have to wait.

The circuit court’s ruling could be appealed, but my gut tells me it would be upheld. It was not clear.

Trib’s article.

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | No Comments »

Option ARMs Are The Optimal Loans

September 21st, 2007 categories: Tampa Real Estate, News on Interest Rates

Are you kidding me? For whom? Well according to some professors at NYU and Columbia, the option ARM really is the best kind of mortgage for both lenders and borrowers. (This of course in a perfect world.) From a Business Week article I just read:

The main points are as follows:

1. The option to pay less than owed is good for people with self-control and especially good for folks with fluctuating incomes (sounds familiar). Pay less when income is in the tank and then catch up when sales are good. And lenders like it because they don’t have to foreclose as much on people who do fall behind, a costly process.
2. The floating rate is best for lenders because they’d prefer to have the defaults during periods of higher rates, when they have better options of re-investing the monies obtained through disposing of foreclosed properties. Defaults on ARMs are more likely when rates go up.
3. The optimal loan would not allow re-financing because lenders provide borrowers a much better rate knowing that they will profit on the loan through its term.

But the good professors note that the optimal loan assumes borrowers are rational and will do what is in their best interest. Therein lies the problem. While I’m sure there are many borrowers who have used these things wisely and to their advantage, most borrowers who use option ARMs are irrational and don’t care about their best interest. They need that home now, no matter the cost down the road. They get hooked on the low rate, make the below minimum payment, pile on the debt, wait for the reset, and blame someone else for their problems when they see the new payment.

So the professors recommend education. Says one of the professors:

“Obviously people are to some extent irrational. But if you want to ban this type of contract, you should really weigh the benefits and the costs. How much could you educate people? Make people understand them. Provide them with software. Make a federal law that requires the lender to reveal what this contract is about.”

Never underestimate the irrationality of someone borrowing money. Through education, you may be able to make option ARMs work for more people, but you’ll always have plenty of irrational borrowers. Maybe an IQ test is in order? Hit a certain number and you qualify for an option ARM? Just a thought.

Posted by Lenny Gurvich | 5 Comments »

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