November 2011: Boca Raton Condo "Mizner Grand" Real Estate Market Update

On October 30, 2011, these are the current Condos for Sale in the Mizner Grand in Boca Raton, FL:

[one_half] [/one_half]This condo actually is not oceanfront.  It is situated on the Intracoastal, right in the heart of Lake Boca Raton.  And If you are on a high enough floor, I believe from 6 and up, you will definitely see the ocean.  The higher the condo floor, the better your view of the ocean.  The Mizner Grand is also located on grounds of the Boca Raton Resort which has it's own perks.    If you are in the luxury condo market in South Florida, I believe this building has the best value out there.  It's a full service building with some of the highest standards out there.  I know because I have family that lives there and they remind me of it all the time.  And since I have multiple family members in there, I get all the best gossip of who is going to list and why people are selling....aka knowing the "motivational sellers"
In the Mizner Grand, there are 2 main floor plans that I have seen, the 3 bedroom + media room/den (approx 4200 sq ft)  and the 4 bedroom + media room (approx 5200 sq ft).  And if you are looking the list above, you will see there is a monstrous +8400 sq ft condo which is actually a double apartment.  And to boot, it's the penthouse.  My family members all have the larger 4 bedroom + media room condos.  Whenever they entertain, people fall in love with the floorplan and the view.  If you reference the list above, there are only 2 current on the market;  400 SE 5th Ave #504 and 550 SE 5th Ave #504S.  All of the other listings, with the exception of the penthouse, are the smaller floor plan.  That floor plan does not give the same feeling as the larger floor plan, not just because of the missing extra bedroom and 1000 sq ft of a/c living space, but the kitchen and family room are located in the back of the condo overlooking the parking lot versus the larger model where the kitchen/family room, living room and master bedroom all overlook the Intracoastal, Lake Boca Raton and the Ocean if you are on a high enough floor.
Besides the floor plans, which building you are located in tends to play a big role in the overall feel people get in the condos.  There are several buildings that make up the Mizner Grand.  I would avoid the building closest to the Resort because for a few reasons.  The obvious being privacy, but the hidden reason is the noise from the trucks pulling up to the back of the hotel as well as the garbage trucks at the break of dawn.  If you are light sleeper, choose a different building.  I like the central buildings because they give you the best view of Lake Boca Raton and Intracoastal with no obstructions.
[one_half]

Click to Enlarge

[/one_half]As of today, there are no condos under contract for sale.  Year to date there have been 7 sales.  If you click the image to the left "Click to Enlarge," it will show you the details of the sales.  Sales have been in the high $1 million to low $2 million range, with the exception of a custom Shuster Design Associates condo selling around $3.2 million.  Even though the Mizner Grand is a top notch development, it is not prone to the real estate bubble.  A few years back, the condos were easily selling in the high $2 to $3 million range.

October 2011: Manalapan - Oceanfront Real Estate Market Update

Current Oceanfront Homes for Sale in Manalapan:

As of October 18, 2011, there were 8 oceanfront homes for sale in Manalapan ranging in price from $6 million all the way up to $35,900,000.  From the chart above, we can see that most of the homes have been on the market for several months, if not longer in terms of years.  The newest listings appear to be 860 S Ocean Blvd and 1555 S Ocean Blvd, both on the market for approximately 3.5 months.
There are currently no homes under contract for sale, but when we look at recent sales, those over the last 90 days, there were two closings in Manalapan:

This time we’ll do something different when looking at the closed sales in the neighborhood.  Let’s take a look at the property’s history on the MLS.  First let’s start with 860 S Ocean:

The home is described as “This unique property offers a premier direct ocean-to-intracoastal setting situated 20+/- feet above sea level, consisting of 2+/- acres with 225+/- feet of beachfront and intracoastal splendor.” From the above, we can see the property has been on and off the market since 2007.  So from the first look, it looks like this home sold in 291 days (we can tell this by looking at the DOM).  But in reality, it took 4 years and 8 months to sell (closer to 1780 DOM).  From looking at the property’s history, looks like the buyer definitely made out nicely by purchasing a luxury home in a buyer’s market.  If we reference the graph above, the home was listed right at the end of the Seller’s market in 2007 for almost $37 million.  The property ended up closing for $25.5 million.
Next let’s look at 1110 S Ocean Blvd‘s recent history:

1110 S Ocean is a pretty large home with over 21,000 sq ft under air.  A total of 7 bedrooms, 11 full baths, 3 half baths, and a 12 car garage.  It’s a new construction home started from what looks like in 2009 from the MLS records.  Here we see another buyer taking advantage of weaker prices in the luxury real estate market.  The home originally was listed in 2009 for $25 million, and ended up closing in September 2011 for $15 million.  Another $10 million discount.  Maybe there is a theme developing.

October 2011: Boca Raton - Oceanfront Real Estate Market Update

Current Oceanfront Homes for Sale in Boca Raton:

On October 16, 2011, there are two homes in Boca Raton listed as Oceanfront.  Here is a pure violation as Boca Harbour is not located on the ocean or near the ocean, but rather on the West side of the Intracoastal Waterway.  I think if 838 NE 70th Street were a true oceanfront home in Boca Raton, we are missing a digit in the price.  Since this home is not on the Ocean, it should be disrerded as oceanfront, but it's up to the listing agent/broker to take care of this violation.
Now 2601 N Ocean Blvd is a real oceanfront home in Boca Raton.  If you ever drive along A1A in Boca, you will notice the lack of homes along the ocean.  There are plenty of condos for sale, but homes are scarce.  Just like Manhattan where there is only so much space, so the best way to develop real estate is in high rises.  This holds true in Boca.  2601 N Ocean is listed for $22 million.  It is decribed as "Clean, Modern, Elegant, Beachfront Smart House.  Priced Fully Turnkey with the latest and greatest technology."
If you are looking for an oceanfront condo in Boca, there is more of a selection.  There are 36 oceanfront condos on the market in Boca that are priced over $1 million.  They range in price from $1,049,250 at the 5 Palms on Palmetto Park Rd all the way up to $15,250,000 for the penthouse apartment at One Thousand Ocean.
There are no oceanfront homes in Boca that have sold over the last six months or are under contract, but there are 3 oceanfront condos in Boca under contract (2 in Addison and 1 in Luxuria) for sale and 18 others have closed during the year.

October 2011: Highland Beach – Oceanfront Real Estate Market Update

Current Oceanfront Homes for Sale in Highland Beach

As of October 16, 2011, there are 11 oceanfront homes for sale in Highland Beach, Florida ranging in price from $4.5 million to $15,650,000.  The newest home on the market is 4215 S Ocean Blvd listed for $9.995 million.  It’s part of a development called Ocean Places Villas right on the ocean.  The home sold back in 2007 for $9.5 million, so there is definitely room to play with on it’s current list price.  Let the home sit on the market a little bit (few months) before we see the owner’s real motivation for selling.
Currently there are no homes under contract for sale.  During the last six months, there were two homes sales:

4121 S Ocean Blvd was on the market for almost one year.  But if one does a little bit more research, the home actually came on the market back in 2009 listed for$5.25 million and was sold a few months later for $4 million.  Then the home was relisted for sale one year later (June 2010) for $4.995 million.  We can all guess at the motivation of relisting the home for sale one year later (almost one million dollars higher than was paid for), but eventually the list price had been lowered to $4.249 million within a few months.  So there must have been something more to this sale.  The home eventually sold for $3.4 million in May 2011.

4201 S Ocean Blvd was on the market for 532 days before selling.  The home had actually been listed on and off since 2006.  That would actually be closer to 1500 days on the market (DOM).  The home had a roller coaster ride with it’s list price since 2006.  It started at $9.95 million in 2006 and made it’s way upward towards $13 million in October 2007m but eventually was relsited for sale in 2009 at $9.45 million and sold 532 days later for $7.7 million.