$1 Million - Champagne Wishes & Caviar Dreams? Look What It Can Get Today!

When we relocated to the Tampa Bay area from Atlanta in 2002, we were at the early stage of the amazing journey that would take hold of property value along the beaches of Tampa Bay! At that time, there was no such thing as a condo for a million dollars. That was a price threshold that no one dared to break through. We had listings in the $900,000 range that sat on the market for months... no one was even easily stepping up to that amount.

Then, in late 2004, two things seemed to happen at once. The $1 million threshold was broken through with a vengence AND all of the sudden there were builder's cranes on every corner. Driving down Gulf Boulevard, we often laughed that the new state bird of Florida was the crane! Developers were rushing to create slick promotional packages for new developments and buyers were lined up to take advantage of the early entry deals. It was then that the idea of "flipping" took hold and sometimes a property could be sold and resold several times before it was even built! The buyer that finally closed on the unit upon completion might have paid substantially more than his next door neighbor who was an original buyer.

Over 1000 people were moving to Florida a day, and property values were moving up at such a rate that investors were flocking to buy multiple properties. Add to that the interest only low rate mortgages and 'drive by' appraisals and quickly people got in over their heads... literally without knowing it. In 2006, you could not find any new property on water for under $700,000! And there seemed an endless appetite for those properties at any price. Yet underlying this euphoria was a stream of devastating hurricanes that sent a shock wave through those considering living along the coastline. Simultaneously, property insurance skyrocketed as did property tax. Now those carrying costs grew! Density laws were forcing larger and larger residences and price points continued to climb... $2 million, $3 million. Where was the ceiling?

By the beginning of 2007, the dam was bursting! New complexes that could see the writing on the wall were rushing to get their units closed... and being sure their corporate entities were secure that they would not face the final liability. Complexes that were still under construction found that many of their buyers elected to 'walk' and leave their deposits behind. In some cases, they were the lucky ones.

The buildings built after 2004 all fell under the newer, stronger building codes and after 2005, almost all new construction was block construction rather than frame. The point is that going forward there will be very little inventory that was built in 2008 or 2009... no one was building any more. The savvy buyer today will look for waterfront buildings built in 2005-2007 at 30-40% off their original appraised values!

The Purtee Team knows which buildings should be considered (and which ones have issues)... and can help determine the best opportunity within those buildings. Contact us today to learn more! www.floridagulfproperty.com