Fisher Island Real Estate Market Report – July 2010

There are currently 120 Fisher Island Condos for sale: (5 more than last month)

• Highest priced listing: $30,000,000 for an exclusive Oceanside 5/5.5 home with artwork and all!
• Lowest priced listing: $190,000 for a studio at Marina Village
• Pending Sales: 7 (3 less than last month)
• Closed sales in July : 2 (2 less than last month)

The 2 Fisher Island condo sales in the month of July were the following:

• Palazzo Del Mare – 7183 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $3,900,000 and selling for $3,200,000
• Palazzo Del Mare – 7182 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $3,200,000 and selling for $2,750,000

Here we are seeing, once again, a huge disparity between listing and sales price – with a $700k reduction in one and $450k in the other.  Most don’t realize that Fisher Island makes the perfect second home for those that like and need privacy…selling at a loss is not a problem as long as both parties are reasonable with terms and conditions.  There are deals to be found and incredible opportunities out there, but you need to know how to handle them and cannot be arrogant about the transaction (absurd to think that arrogance can kill a real estate deal no?).

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Fisher Island Real Estate Market Report – June 2010

There are currently 115 Fisher Island Condos for sale: (2 less than last month)

• Highest priced listing: $30,000,000 for an exclusive Oceanside 5/5.5 home with artwork and all!
• Lowest priced listing: $190,000 for a studio at Marina Village
• Pending Sales: 10 (same as last month)
• Closed sales in June : 4 (1 more than last month)

The 4 Fisher Island condo sales in the month of June were the following:

• Bayview at Fisher Island– 4931 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $3,200,000 and selling for $2,600,000
• 5000 Bayview at Fisher Island – 5044 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $2,890,000 and selling for $2,500,000
• Oceanside – 8031 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $2,498,000 and selling for $1,800,000
• Seaside Villas – 15923 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $820,000 and selling for $750,000

We are seeing a huge disparity between Fisher Island listing and sales prices.  It seems that owners are being flexible and realizing that they most sell at a loss rather than keep the inventory.  We have seen 19 Fisher Island condo sales this year which is not bad considering that there were 25 total sales in 2008 and 32 in 2009.

Not all Miami Beach Waterfront homes are created equal

Miami Beach locals seem to understand that not all Miami Beach waterfront real estate is the same, but instead of assuming, I decided to do a brief synopsis of the different types of waterfront homes in Miami Beach. Many relocating to South Florida think waterfront means “beach-front” – you have no idea how many calls we get from Europeans wanting a beachfront home when they really mean canal-front. It has to do with knowing the local landscape and also language idiosyncrasies – the type of waterfront has obvious implications on the price.

Miami Beach ocean-front homes

There are not many oceanfront Miami Beach homes – it is PRIME real estate! This type of waterfront real estate is the most exclusive and most expensive for obvious reasons (nothing like the Atlantic Ocean as your backyard)- A few beachfront homes can be found in a very small residential pocket South of Surfside called Altos del Mar and also Golden Beach – where the oceanfront homes will be everything but modest- talk about Miami Beach Luxury Real Estate! Otherwise, all other beach-front or ocean-front real estate will be condos.

Miami Beach Bay-front homes

The next best thing from beachfront is bay-front since you will have open bay views and more privacy (literally no rear neighbor and open bay views from your backyard). Miami Beach Bay-front homes are also not all created equal. The only down side is the lack of protection from the elements, but that’s what insurance, good construction and proper weather preventive methods are for.

Miami Beach Canal front homes

There are many types of canal-front homes in Miami Beach. Pricing of these will take into consideration many factors including: location of canal, type of canal, size of canal, location of home within the canal, etc.

• Wide canals

This is when the home is located on a canal but the the canal is wide and homes still have privacy – examples of these are homes on the South side of Hibiscus Island or North side of Palm Island, The Venetian Islands or Surprise Lake in Miami Beach.

• Narrow canals

The word says it – you can see your neighbor across the canal, privacy is limited since you usually would have a fence and landscaping separating a backyard neighbor – in this case, you would have the canal and in many instances could see right in their backyard or home. This does not mean that canal-front homes are bad by any means, it just explains that there are many considerations when buying waterfront properties.  Other factors to consider with regards to canal-front properties are:

• navigable – if you have a boat, this is a good question to ask – some canals do not allow boats, others don’t have access to the ocean

• no fixed bridges – canal-front properties with direct ocean access and no fixed bridges are more expensive.  If you are contemplating buying a property and you know there are fixed bridges and you have a boat, make sure you know what the clearance of those bridges are in high tide to make sure your boat will be able to go through.

• deep canals – many canals are deep and can accommodate sail boats – if you are a sailor and want to purchase a canal-front home, you need to make sure the canal is deep enough for the draft of the boat.

• debris – some canals have dead ends and they have a tendency to collect debris which can often be an eyesore or even worse, bring a horrible smell.

More food for thought:

Location of the property – If you are a boater and hate idling in the no-wake zones for an extended period of time, consider where, within the intricate canal infrastructure of Miami and Miami Beach, the property will be located. Golden Beach and Eastern Shores for example has a long trajectory from their waterfront homes to the open bay and ocean where you can really crank up the engines and go at a descent speed – the same thing happens at Coral Gables. If you are a true boater, it would be a good idea for you to navigate those canals first.

Seawall and Condition – knowing a seawall can cost up to $1000 per linear foot – you should inspect the seawall with a good professional and possibly structural engineer.  Don’t discard Natural Coral Seawalls, they are known to have very strong structural qualities – but don’t take my word for it, ask any Structural Engineer.

Type of dock DERM will allow – looking at the adjacent neighbors’ docks usually gives you a good idea, but don’t always trust that – their dock may be “grandfathered in” or have some special circumstances that you don’t know about. Rule of thumb is that you can usually build a dock out 20% of the width of the canal, bay-fronts all have different requirements. A DERM inspector will sometimes be willing to visit the property prior to you buying the property, to assess it.

If you thought the Miami Beach Waterfront real estate market was not intricate, think again!

*original article posted February 28th, 2009*

Fisher Island Condos – May 2010 Real Estate Market Report

There are currently 117 Fisher Island Condos for sale: (2 less than last month)

• Highest priced listing: $30,000,000 for an exclusive Oceanside 5/5.5 home with artwork and all!
• Lowest priced listing: $190,000 for a studio at Marina Village
• Pending Sales: 10 (2 more than last month)
• Closed sales in May : 3 (1 more than last month)

The 3 Fisher Island condo sales in the month of May were the following:

• Seaside Villas – 15913 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $4,900,000 and selling for $2,650,000 (This unit had been listed since 07 for $5.6 million with several price reductions and brokerage changes – owners had bought it for $1,55 in 2002, so the 46% price reduction looks worse than it really is)
• Oceanside Fisher Island – 7823 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $3,100,000 and selling for $2,500,000 (this condo had been listed since May of 09 with a starting price of $4.6 million)
• Bayview at Fisher Island – 4153 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $2,750,000 and selling for $2,100,000 (listed on and off since 06 starting at $3.85 million)

Fisher Island’s Luxury market has definitely gotten hit, but the truth is that most of the residents are second home owners who can deal with the loss.  15% of the current Fisher Island Condo inventory is distressed with 15 short sales and 3 bank owned foreclosures.  The impressive number is the percentage of distressed properties from the pending sales – 30% of the current contracts in Fisher Island are short sales ranging between $525,000 to $1,095,000.  I suspect we will see the same projections in Fisher Island as the rest of the county – a decrease in short sales and foreclosures.

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Fisher Island Condo Sales in April 2010

There are currently 119 Fisher Island Condos for sale: (7 less than last month)

• Highest priced listing: $30,000,000 for an exclusive Oceanside 5/5.5 home with artwork and all!
• Lowest priced listing: $190,000 for a studio at Marina Village
• Pending Sales: 8 (same as previous month)
• Closed sales in April : 2 (2 less than last month)

The 2 Fisher Island condo sales in the month of April were the following:

• Seaside Village – 19145 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $2,399,000 and selling for $2,100,000 (The seller had bought this Seaside Village hotel unit for $2,375,000 in May of 05 and listed it for $2.8M in November of 09, suffering a small loss after 5 years)
• Bayside Village – 2012 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $699,000 and selling for $680,000 (the owners of this unit bought in 2004 for $699,000 and listed it on and off since 2007, with a starting price of $1,800,000)

There have been 11 Fisher Island Condo sales in the first 4 months of the year compared to the 32 sales in 2009 and 25 sales in 2008.  I was asked if the Fisher Island real estate market is suffering like the rest of the South Florida Real Estate Market.  The answer, in my opinion, is yes and no.  We saw Fisher Island drop in rank from first in Forbes Most Expensive Zip Codes to thirty-something in just one year.  We started seeing distressed sales in this exclusive island, and we started seeing speculators getting hit as well as multiple property owners.

But the real truth is that Fisher Island, mostly as a vacation spot, secluded get-away and second home, affords its owners a little loss without it really hurting the pocket.  We see sellers loosing a couple of hundred thousand dollars and they don’t necessarily have to short sale and can walk away without pain.  Those that really need to sell, will drop their guard, others will just wait for the right buyer.

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Fisher Island Condos – March 2010 Market Report

There are currently 126 Fisher Island Condos for sale: (3 less than last month)

• Highest priced listing: $30,000,000 for an exclusive Oceanside 5/5.5 home with artwork and all!
• Lowest priced listing: $190,000 for a studio at Marina Village
• Pending Sales: 8 (1 more than previous month)
• Closed sales in March : 5 (3 more than last month)

The 5 Fisher Island condo sale in the month of March were the following:

• Villa de Mare – 7223 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $8,000,000 and selling for $6,750,000
• Bayview at Fisher Island– 5033 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $2,350,000 and selling for $1,850,000
• Bayside Village East – 2111 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $2,150,000 and selling for $1,800,000
• Bayview at Fisher Island – 5345 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $1,095,000 and selling for $1,089,000
• Bayview at Fisher Island – 5344 Fisher Island Dr – listed for $1,050,000 and selling for $625,000

There were 32 Fisher Island Condo sales in 2008 ranging in price between $700,000 and $5,457,000 compared to 25 sales in 2008.  We are starting to see higher priced listings selling in Fisher Island… not just the Condo-Hotel opportunities from Seaside Villas.  We’re also seeing a huge price disparity from listing to selling prices – Fisher Island Condos are suffering just as much as the Miami Beach Luxury Condo Market.

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Fisher Island Condos – January 2010 real estate market report

There are currently 132 Fisher Island Condos for sale:

• Highest priced listing: $30,000,000 for an exclusive Oceanside 5/5.5 home with artwork and all!
• Lowest priced listing: $190,000 for a studio at Marina Village
• Pending Sales: 8 (3 of these are short sales)
• Closed sales in January: 1

The one single Fisher Island condo sale in the month of January was for the residence at Oceanside at Fisher Island Condo, unit 7241 – a 3 bedroom / 3 bathroom / 1 half-bath, 3,140 square feet listed for $3,100,000 and selling for $2,100,000 (A one million dollar reduction … OUCH!)

There were 32 Fisher Island Condo sales in 2008 ranging in price between $700,000 and $5,457,000 compared to 25 sales in 2008.

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Fisher Island Real Estate Market Reports – November 2009

There are currently 139 listings in Fisher Island: (same as last month)

* Highest priced listing: $30,000,000 for an exclusive Oceanside 5/5.5 home with artwork and all!
* Lowest priced listing: $190,000 for a studio at Marina Village
* Pending Sales: 3 (same as last month)
* Closed sales in November: 2 (2 less than last month)

Fisher Island Real Estate’s November closings were the following:

* Oceanside at Fisher Island – 7222 Fisher Island Drive – listed at $4,200,000 and selling at $3,200,000 (originally listed for $6,000,000 in December of 2006, then $5,490,000 in February 2008 and selling at almost 50% of original price – OUCH!)
* Bayview at Fisher Island – 4924 Fisher Island Drive – listed at $1,495,000 and selling at $1,275,000 (this unit had been originally priced in November 2005 for $3,050,000, taken off the market and relisted in April of 2009 for $1,495,000) – glad to see the sellers came to their senses.

The great thing about buying at Fisher Island is the fact that so many are vacation homes or 2nd or 3rd homes. When sellers are ready to sell, they usually will do so quickly, so make offers….you will be surprised what gets accepted now in the island for those that want out.

Blog Action Day at Prime Miami Beach

This year over 9,000 blogs across the world have registered to write about Climate Change because there is power in numbers and together we can make a difference.

So how does Miami Beach Luxury Real Estate relate to Climate Change? easy, think of green products, how real estate is built, what waste is produced, what appliances are used, the “walkable” factor of your real estate to shopping and business. No matter the industry, there is something you can do to help our planet.

I have talked about Green Urbanism because it’s a topic dear to my heart and somehow it seems like Miami is distant from many of the walkable communities concept because of Urban Sprawl. I’ve even talked about Green Designer Finisher for your kitchen, identifying recycled glass counter tops. My favorite is Miami Green Houses from the past where I identify 3 Green Mid-century architects and their masterpieces. And lastly, 5 Green conscious moves for your home (anyone can do these).

Take a look at who else is participating in this year’s Blog Action Day:

• Six Eco Realtors to Watch- Blog Action Day 2009 (Agent Genius)
• Bloggers of all stripes grab a piece of the climate pie for Blog Action Day 2009 (Grist)
• Who’s participating at Blog Action Day

Fisher Island Real Estate Market Reports – September 2009

photo by:  linksmanjd

There are currently 139 listings in Fisher Island: (one more than last month)

• Highest priced listing: $30,000,000 for an exclusive Oceanside 5/5.5 home with artwork and all!
• Lowest priced listing: $295,000 for a 1/1 at Marina Village
• Pending Sales: 9 (2 more than last month)
• Closed sales in September: 1 (1 more than last month)

Fisher Island Real Estate’s single September closing was for the Oceanside Residence at 7945 Fisher Island – listed for $2,750,000 and selling for $1,749,950 (I love when I see crazy numbers like this – reminds me of pulling numbers out of a hat – maybe they are superstitious)

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