'Miami Renters Fuel Boomlet'

By now you dont need anybody to tell you that real estate is in the pooper. About 28% of mortgages are now underwater (homes worth less than what people owe). Foreclosures are flooding the market with houses selling for less than what it costs to build them. One of the greatest of these real estate bubbles (atomic bombs) was in south Florida. I remember reading that, during the boom times in south Florida, around 30,000 units of condos were being built simultaneously. I remember a ULI meeting in 2006 wherein Hank Fishkind used the word "disaster" several times to describe the situation; and the 'bubble' hadnt even popped yet. Who would have guessed that one year later the RE 'bubble' was going to, not pop, but explode with atomic force.
So I was surprised (not really) by an article in the Wall Street Journal (6/2/11) about how Miami renters are fueling a boom in this radio-active ground zero area. When I say that I am surprised, I mean that I am surprised that there is some positive news in the real estate department. When I say that I am not really surprised, I mean to say that, as a planner, I expect that people would be gravitated towards a place where there is actually a "place."
Take a look at downtown Miami, with all of its shopping, night spots, cool buildings, and public transit. Its a 'place'. Now look at suburban development circa 2004-2006. What is 'cool' about these developments? For the most part, absolutely nothing. Some of them dont even have parks or open space, forget about schools, ball fields, and other supporting infrastructure.
See James Howard Kunstler's 'Geography of Nowhere' (1993) which declared that suburbia has ceased to be a credible human habitat.
While houses are sitting vacant and growing weeds in suburbia, condos in Miami are being converted into rental properties by foriegn investors for pennies on the dollar. To quote the WSJ, "a February report by the Miami Downtown Development Authority found that 85% of new condo units, those built since 2003, were occupied, up from 62% in 2009." It goes on to say that the residential population of downtown has gone from 40,000 a decade ago to 70,000 people today. Developers are, believe it or not, currently planning new projects in downtown Miami including firms from Hong Kong and Malaysia. Massive development projects with millions of square feet consisting of 'place' making mixes of hotel, residences, offices, retail outlets, and entertainment.
And in the suburbs? In Nassau County, FL there are (conservatively) 10,000 units of single family housing in new subdivisions that is entitled and ready to be built. The land is now growing weeds. Needless to say, there are no new subdivisions being planned in Nassau when there is so much unbuilt product already out there. One could argue that the condo comparison is unfair since the condo units are already built. Ok, chew on this: the recenlty published 2010 census states that 21% of housing units in Nassau are vacant. Northeast Florida, generally, is losing population. But that's because there are no jobs right? At 13%, Miami has an unemployment rate worse than Northeast Florida's 9%, yet the downtown Miami population is surging.
Maybe, just maybe, somebody will be paying attention to all this.

Buy My Water

Hey guys, here's an idea. Lets say you have a piece of property that fronts on the water. Problem is, its not big enough to meet the minimum lot size requirements for a buildable lot in the city the property is located in. No problem, just have your surveyor split it into ten pieces showing the lot lines going 300 feet into the water. PRESTO! now instead of one undersized lot, you now have ten full sized lots!
and you can make a killing selling them all individually Right? WRONG. Folks, you cant sell something that you dont own. You cant own a waterway. Its not yours. Its the property of the United States of America(or the individual state you live in). There are some exceptions to this rule. For example, if your rights were granted to you by the king of England back before there was a USA, you might have something. How many people have that kind of grant...really? This poor guy bought all ten of these lots thinking he could flip them to somebody else, and now he has title to something that the previous investor had no right to sell in the first place. And here's the kicker...since the previous investor recorded these "lots" with the county clerk's office, the property appraiser considers them all individual lots, and he pays taxes on every single individual "lot". Now what?? well, as I talk about in my book, there's always civil and (sometimes) criminal remedies in siutations like this. So hopefully he has an extra five figures to blow on legal representation while he pays taxes and debt service on these properties. What's that old saying about water front property in Florida?