Preconstruction Developers Make All The Difference

The foremost and pre-eminent condominium developing company in Myrtle Beach is hands-down, Strand Capital Group LLC, of North Myrtle Beach.

Loyd Daniel, Patrick Lowe, and the other partners in this company are consumate gentlemen, impeccable businessmen, and have impressed me as the smartest men in the area... And Myrtle Beach is not lacking in brilliant executives, believe me.

I ran across this story in the Miami Herald today about a condo project gone bust because of poor planning on the part of the developer, and it brought to mind how impressed I had been with this group that New Resorts markets preconstruction Myrtle Beach condos for sale.

Surprisingly, the developers for this Miami project were not fly-by-nights, and in fact had been without tarnish for 25 years of business. What I DON'T understand, is why any project would be pre-sold before the zoning and construction had been approved and licensed. There's always a possibility of unforeseen circumstances that can delay a project's ground breaking...but this was on the ridiculous side to me. I cannot imagine our guys doing this. Maybe they just do things differently in Miami than they do in the Myrtle Beach condos market.

Here's part of the article with a link for more...

Posted on Fri, Dec. 30, 2005
Codina Group pulls plug on project

Well known developer Armando Codina is returning deposits on a Kendall condominium after some permitting snafus.

BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA AND MATTHEW HAGGMAN

Prominent Miami developer Armando Codina has pulled the plug on a much anticipated luxury condominium project in East Kendall, because his company didn't obtain all the necessary construction approvals from the county by a Dec. 31 deadline.

Mission Bell Park was slated to be built on 9 acres of vacant land just west of Baptist Hospital at 9100 N. Kendall Dr. About 75 percent of the units in the planned 318-unit complex had been sold.

But for the first time in the Codina Group's 25-year history, company executives say, it sent letters Wednesday notifying buyers their deposits -- plus 7.5-percent interest -- will be returned.

Esslinger Wooten Maxwell, which represented the Codina Group in marketing and selling the project, also has never been involved in a project that returned deposits, according to Ronald A. Shuffield, president of EWM, the second-largest real estate broker in South Florida.

''This project is halted indefinitely,'' said Rafael Rodon, executive vice president of the Codina Group. "That's not to say that something couldn't come back to life.''

In part, Codina's move amounts to another cautionary tale about buying preconstruction condo units, which generally are marketed and sold to the public before regulatory approvals are completed.

But typically, troubled condo projects in the current boom have run aground -- forcing developers to return deposits -- because of developers' inexperience, difficulty in getting financing, or rising construction costs.

In this instance, the developer is an accomplished veteran ready to start construction.
MORE...

Myrtle Beach Web Design

Preconstruction in Las Vegas Cooling Down?

The doom and gloom of bubble predicting still plods on...with the less than hopeful prophets trying their best to create that which isn't yet happening. I think that if enough of them say it enough times it will convince many investors that it's true, and unfortunately become true just from the negative publicity.

Thank goodness Myrtle Beach condos have a longer way to go before they price themselves out of existence. I won't believe in any of it until I see it happen in Miami, Vegas or one of the other hot-spots. Here's another little blurb I ran across today...

Signs Condo Craze in Las Vegas Cooling Off
Dec 19, 2005, 07:13 PM EST KLASTV.com

The condo craze in Las Vegas may be in a cooling down period. The advertising blitz for high-end condos is aggressive. But some projects, like the well publicized "Ivana Trump Las Vegas" are failing to just break ground.

The Ivana promised to tower over the Las Vegas skyline. But, experts say that if a high end project fails at first, that doesn't spell it's doom. There is a good chance that another developer will pick it up and be successful with it.

Linda Rheinberger, with the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors says rising construction costs, poor planning, and just bad timing are some of the reasons why some hi-end condo projects are not making it. But, Rheinberger says that more of these projects are making it than what was initially thought.

At first, experts thought only 20-percent would be successful. Rheinberger says "It's closer to 30-percent or 40-percent, so I think it's fairly normal." Some realtors are confident the trend to build upwards will continue and be successful.

Jeannine Cutter with Spanish View Towers says she's been experiencing successful sales, where the starting price for a condo is around $800,000.

Cutter says: "My thinking is there is no bubble."
**********************

There's no slow down of condos for sale in Myrtle Beach or North Myrtle.

Myrtle Beach Web Design

A Shoreline (Increasingly) Edged in Condos

Living In Spencer Estates, the Bronx









Robert Caplin/The New York Times
Condos being built at the Sunset Cove complex in the Spencer Estates section of the Bronx.

By CLAIRE WILSON
Published: October 23, 2005

DAN HENDERSON loves sitting on the patio of his new waterfront condominium in the Spencer Estates neighborhood of the Bronx. When guests come, he points out all the landmarks around Eastchester Bay, from Pelham Bay Park and City Island down around to the Throgs Neck Bridge.

When he is alone gazing out over the bay, he isn't wondering how this "big Throgs Neck boy," as he describes himself, landed in such a beautiful spot. He's wondering, he said, "where are the striped bass hiding so when I go out tomorrow I will be able to find them?"

The life-long fisherman and boat owner, who is a retired carpenter, and his wife, Judith, a retired school secretary, are among many newcomers to a cluster of condo complexes dotting the shore in Spencer Estates, a small enclave dominated by one- and two-family homes nestled between Pelham Bay Park and the Country Club section.
More on this article...
More on Preconstruction Condos in Myrtle Beach
More on Condos - Investing in Real Estate - 1031 Tax Exchange

Myrtle Beach Web Design

Myrtle Beach Condo Market Steers Clear of Lawsuits Like These

As prices go up, sellers back out, suits say

Lawsuits by would-be home buyers allege that South Florida developers are wiggling out of sales contracts to capitalize on price increases.

BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN
mhaggman@herald.com

Zoilo C. Nieto plunked down a $209,000 deposit in May for a $1.04 million condo unit at Trump Palace with visions of a sleek new residence to go with his plans to expand his language school business into South Florida.

But weeks later, after assurances the unit was his, the 42-year-old from New Jersey claims he was told the Sunny Isles Beach condo was sold to someone else for more money.

Last month, he sued the developer, Dezer Development, charging fraud and unfair trade practices, among several allegations. He is seeking either to get the condo or to get back his money with interest -- and whatever profit the developer reaped by selling to another buyer.

Amid South Florida's red-hot real estate boom, fueled by speculative investors, a growing chorus of complaints are arising from home buyers who are accusing developers of playing fast and loose with contracts for preconstruction condominiums and single-family homes.
MORE...

Myrtle Beach Web Design