Posted on 08/09/2024 6:57:44 AM PDT by Red Badger
Condo listings in Florida have skyrocketed as desperate owners attempt to dodge a costly new law requiring increased safety checks.
The legislation was brought in following the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Tower South in Surfside, which killed 98 people.
It later emerged that the condo association had postponed crucial repairs to avoid increasing costs, prompting lawmakers to introduced new regulations which take effect at the end of the year.
As a result, the number of condos on the market has soared, especially in southern Florida, prompting warnings of a 'mass exodus.'
There were 20,293 condo listings in the Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties in the second quarter of 2024, ISG World reports.
The figure is an 143 percent leap from the 8,353 in the same period last year. Almost 90 percent of those for sale are in buildings more than 30 years old.
Under the new guidelines, condos older than 30 years or more than three stories will require increased inspections from December 31.
Read More REVEALED: The cities offering the most apartment space on a $1,500 budget article image The cost of insurance and Homeowners' Association fees to cover the special assessment requirements has also jumped.
'Condo costs are shocking,' said Juan Castro, a Redfin Premier agent in Orlando. 'Condos that used to have a $400 monthly maintenance fee may now have a $700 fee. It's causing buyers to rethink their plans.'
Arkadiy Kats, 71, already pays $340 a month for a special assessment and $897 a month for monthly condo HOA fees.
Starting next year, he is expected to contribute an additional $731 toward reserves.
He has taken the decision to return to work as a real estate agent to help cover the costs.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
It might be cheaper to rebuild.
A few units might be added to generate money for residents who can’t financially participate otherwise.
Most of the value is often in the land.
The terms Catastrophic and, especially Bankrupt, should not be in quotes. These possibilities are real ... and DeSantis must know this.
I thought about buying a condo until that one collapsed.
Unless the engineers can come up with a new method of construction to negate the effects of salt water intrusion, the beachside condo may become history as they all eventually are torn down..................
Florida real estate is grossly overpriced in certain areas, and there are too many people moving here. A market correction was due, and the structural integrity of far too many structures in South Florida is questionable and needed to be addressed. Personally, I would never live anywhere with a HOA, too many horror stories of “Hitlers and Capones” heading them up. One of the biggest problems in some areas is the members don’t pay enough attention to what’s happening with the money. If the folks running the HOA balk at complete transparency there’s a reason why, and it’s usually not a good one.
My cousin was just telling me the other day that his brother my other cousin is fixing up his condo in Redmond Beach for sale due to this stuff.
“Arkadiy Kats, 71, already pays $340 a month for a special assessment and $897 a month for monthly condo HOA fees”
That’s as much as my mortgage 😯
Hard cases make bad laws.
This is a perfect example........
Do you know why condos are more expensive than houses? Does not make sense.
You pay and pay some more to live on the beach...I was looking at buying a small vacation house on the Gulf in Mississippi or Louisiana off the beaten path well away from Florida where prices are insane and way too many Yankees.
The increased listings could merely be a sign of a softening property market.
Palm Beach, Miami, Broward, and particularly on the high-end, are much more speculative markets relative to most of the country - during Covid, condo prices crashed, only to spike much higher in the following years.
More real estate professionals now expect a recession in the USA, and places like Palm Beach will show the signs first.
It will soon make the condo market collapse instead of the buildings...............
I generally agree.
BUT, in this case, history says these 30-year-old buildings call for these changes.
Choose your poison. Die in a building collapse or pay up.
Buy anywhere near people and your faith in humanity will be challenged. People suck!
Our experience was that the HOA "regime" was putting off maintenance in the years before we bought in order to keep the fees low. (I bought sight-unseen and have only myself to blame for not doing more due diligence). Given that this is the Land of Slackers, I am confident ours is not a unique experience.
So part of the sticker shock is that rates were artificially suppressed by mismanagement of the assets. In that environment of willful neglect, the Nanny will step in and make everyone go clean their rooms.
My wife put one of ours on the market before the dust had settled at Surfside.
She was so shaken up. We both lost friends.
They would probably work well, and last much longer. But the labor costs................
That’s a slight oversimplification combined with a tad of sensationalism.
Dude. It’s collapsing.
Well, it’s not really an HOA as you are thinking of it in a high-rise. Obviously, someone has to be in charge of running the building. Even if you are hiring a management company for day-to-day operations, a governing body has to raise and allocate money for building maintenance.
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