Florida Court Orders Auction Of 10 Miami-Dade County Residential Projects

MIAMI, FL -- Investment groups are preparing for a busy first quarter of the new year as 10 separate residential projects in Miami-Dade County are scheduled to be auctioned off within the first 45 days of 2012, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

The court-ordered auctions are scheduled to be held to settle more than $260 million in final judgments of foreclosure against the respective borrowers, according to Miami-Dade County records.

The projects slated for auction range from several dozen unsold developer units in the oceanfront Sole condominium tower (top left photo)in Sunny Isles Beach to the unfinished Filling Station condo tower (top right photo) in Greater Downtown Miami to an oceanfront highrise development site in Sunny Isles Beach.

The lenders forcing the auctions range from South Florida-based banks such as Mercantil Commercebank and TotalBank to national institutions such as Iberiabank and MB Financial Bank to investment funds such as ST Residential’s Corus Construction Venture LLC and Chateau Beach LLC.

The final judgment of foreclosure amounts range from nearly $14 million to more than $41 million, according to Miami-Dade Circuit Court records.

The court-ordered auctions kicked off the week of Jan. 3, 2012 with four projects available for purchase through Miami-Dade County.

An additional four projects are scheduled for auction the week of Jan. 9, 2012, according to government records.

The other two residential projects slated for auction are scheduled to go up for bid the week of Jan. 23 and Feb. 13, respectively.

The 10 Miami-Dade residential projects are scheduled for auction at a time when various well-capitalized funds are searching for deals just as some South Florida housing submarkets experience signs of improvement, industry watchers said.

As of Sept. 30, 2011, less than 10 percent of the 49,000 units created during the boom in South Florida's seven largest coastal markets were unsold, according to a recent CondoVultures.com report.

Despite the unsold inventory, developers are now proposing to construct a combined 20 towers with more than 4,200 units east of Interstate 95 in the tricounty region of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, according to the CondoVultures.com Preconstruction Condo Projects list.

Fueled by a surge in cash buyers from overseas, developers are proposing 10 Greater Downtown Miami, four projects in Sunny Isles Beach, two towers in Miami Beach, two towers in Downtown West Palm Beach, one tower in Aventura, and one condo project in the Southeast Broward County city of Hollywood, according to the report.  

It is unclear how many of the proposed towers could get developed in the short term as construction financing is challenging - and expensive - to secure, industry watchers said.

To overcome the financing hurdle, most of the newly proposed projects are requiring prospective buyers to commit to deposits - to be paid in phases - of as much as 80 percent of the preconstruction contract price, industry watchers said.

During the most recent South Florida condo boom, preconstruction buyers were generally asked for deposits of about 20 percent, industry watchers said. 

Despite the larger deposits being required, presales for new towers have topped 530 units as of Dec. 20, 2011, according to a recent CondoVultures.com report. 

Condo Vultures® LLC is a real estate consultancy and marketing company based at 1005 Kane Concourse, Suite 205, Bal Harbour, Florida, 33154. You can reach Condo Vultures® LLC at 800-750-0517.