Sellers 'Dumping' Units Due To Florida's 2025 Condo Association Financial Cliff
Florida Rep. Vicki Lopez (R - District 113) said an increasing number of condo owners are unloading their units at almost "fire sale" prices.
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An increasing number of South Florida condo sellers are “dumping” their units at almost “fire sale” prices in anticipation of the rapidly approaching 2025 Condo Association Financial Cliff in Florida.
Florida Rep. Vicki Lopez (R - District 113) said she is aware of unit owners who have slashed their asking prices in order to unload their units before the state mandated Structural Integrity Reserves Studies (SIRS) - and the related funding plans that will likely be paid for with new special assessments - are required to be completed by 2025.
“People are trying to dump their condos because they can't afford the assessments,” Lopez told WLRN’s “Florida Roundup” host Tom Hudson during the June 28, 2024 episode. “They're trying to sell them. It's almost like a very quick response to ‘I'm getting this assessment. I cannot pay it. Let's put the put the condominium on the market.’”
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Lopez said the situation is being exasperated by lenders that are refusing to finance unit transactions in South Florida condo associations that do not have “adequate reserves” to pay for future upkeep of their respective communities.
“They started to put the condos on the market for $434,000 and one of them sold for $187,000,” Lopez said. “A big discount. A big discount and it's almost like a fire sale, right? Because owners are also asking the question because now the law is that you have to give the Structural Integrity Reserve (study) assessments to any prospective buyer.
“Imagine if you're a prospective buyer of a condominium and you're told it's gonna be $134,000 (in special assessments), chances are you're not gonna purchase that condo.”
Condominiums have been a way of life in the Sunshine State since the Florida Condominium Act of 1963.
In the more than 60 years since being enacted, condominiums have evolved from resort-style communities exclusively for the wealthy to a relatively affordable form of homeownership for the working class.
The outlook for condominium ownership in the foreseeable future is unclear as a lot of changes are underway.
The catalyst for the disruption of the Florida condominium market occurred three years ago on June 24, 2021, when the Champlain Towers South collapsed on the barrier island in Miami-Dade County.
Nearly 100 people died and a $1 billion settlement was reached with the families of the victims.
A federal investigation is currently underway but the preliminary reports suggest a flawed design coupled with a lack of upkeep by the condominium’s association contributed to the disaster.
The Florida legislature has taken a number of steps - prompted by insurance companies threatening to withdraw coverage in the state - to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again by bringing more clarity to condo associations that have a reputation for being shrouded in secrecy, intimidation and corruption.
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The state’s measures are being implemented slowly but that all changes in 2025.
As part of the changes, condo boards are preparing for a recently passed Florida law that goes into effect in January that requires associations to hire experts to conduct structural integrity studies of their respective buildings and then begin funding the necessary work in or before 2025.
People are dubbing this moment as the 2025 Condo Association Financial Cliff.
Some industry watchers have compared it to an inflection point on par with the Category 5 Hurricane Andrew that devastated South Miami-Dade County in August 1992.
Given that it is about six months out from the Condo Association Financial Cliff, we at the Condo Ratings Agency™ plan to spend the next five weeks doing a deep dive into the South Florida stats, state laws and outlook for condo towers in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
In the first part of our five-part series, we determined that the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach has about 12,925 condo associations with nearly 610,000 units as of December 2023, according to statistics compiled from public records and proprietary research.
Miami-Dade is the largest with about 5,530 associations representing about 274,335 units. Miami-Dade accounts for about 45 percent of the total number of condo units in South Florida.
Broward is second with about 4,012 condo associations representing nearly 199,200 units for about a 32.7 percent share.
Palm Beach is third with about 3,383 condo associations with more than 136,130 units, representing about 22.3 percent of the South Florida total.
Our list of the nearly 13,000 South Florida condo associations is available for review.
The list, however, is too large to publish as one report on this platform. Therefore, we divided the list into blocks of 1,000 associations each and have posted a total of 13 lists. The lists are alphabetized based on the names of the South Florida condo associations.
To view the lists, you have to be a member of the Miami Condo Market Investing Club™. If you are not yet a member, you can join the Club on a monthly basis for $34.99 or annually at $374.99 with this link.
(It is worth noting, digital copies of the list are available for purchase. Please call 305-865-5859.)
Here are the links for the 13 lists of South Florida’s 12,925 condo associations:
#1-1000 (1 Ocean Boulevard to Bagattelle)
#1,001-2,000 (Bahama House North to Carmel Lakes Condo)
#2,001-3,000 (Carmel Lakes Condo to Courtyard Condo Of Coral Gate)
#3,001-4,000 (Courtyard Condo to Fairways)
#4,001-5,000 (Falcon Apartments to Harborside At The Waterways)
#5,001-6,000 (Harborview At Fisher Island to Laguna Club West)
#6,001-7,000 (Laguna Del Rey to Marina Cove At Harbor Village)
#7,001-8,000 (Marina Del Mar to Ocean View Plaza)
#8,001-9,000 (Ocean View Towers to Plymouth Condo)
#9,001-10,000 (Plymouth Condo to Seventy Four Thirty Four Avenue Condo)
#10,001-11,000 (Seventy Seven Hundred Eleven Dickens Avenue Condo to Thirteen Hundred Fifteen Seventeen Condo)
#11,001-12,000 (Thirteen Hundred Forty Five Condo to Villas At Lakeview)
#12,001-13,000 (Villas At Mangrove Bay to 16700 Condo)
We crunch a lot of statistics each week and then publish the results byway of a series of reports posted on CondoVultures.com.
If you want the reports emailed to you, just sign up for the Miami Condo Market Intelligence Report With Peter Zalewski™ newsletter at: PeterZalewski.substack.com
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The objective of the Club is to create a community that shares realtime, actionable information on the latest real estate trends, opportunities and service providers in South Florida.
The Club is also ideally situated for Do-It-Yourself (DIY) condo buyers who can rely on our latest statistics, expert opinions and access to consulting services.
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