Condo Blog - A Non-Corporate Blog From CondoDomain HQ

WorldQuest Resort, a condominium-hotel in Orlando, opened its first 100 units for occupancy on August 28th. The 612-unit, Mediterranean property, which includes two- and three-bedroom units, will have a variety of amenities, including a 10,000 square-foot pool, and a spa and fitness center. Dallas-based Remington Hotels, a hotel management firm, will manage the development.

There have been a number of condo-hotels in Orlando, Bob Ostrander, an independent broker for WorldQuest Resort and vice president of the Condo Hotel Center, who is based in Orlando, told CPN. “But this is the first one we really like, because of the way it has been built and because it will actually be run by a hotel company, not an apartment management company without a track record in managing hotels,” he said.

Remington runs hotels around the country and will operate WorldQuest Resort as a four star hotel,” said Ostrander. “It won’t be a five star hotel, because it doesn’t have a golf course on the premises or one which is contiguous to the property,” he said.

The units at WorldQuest Resort are priced from $400,000 to $500,000 and may go higher “as the market matures,” said Ostrander. The first three phases are sold out, although only the first phase is already built, he said. There are three buildings in each phase. So far, 300 to 350 units have been sold, said Ostrander. Continued…

Source: CPNONline.com

The all new 111 Central Park North website is now live.  The long awaited (and rumored) 111 Central Park North personal “& digital” concierge comes to life.  A one of a kind must see website - www.111CentralParkNorth.com has a personal assistant walk and talk you through this entire site (if you want her to).  Visit the website to see what we are raving about…above and beyond the concierge  the site has a great design…representing the unique & exciting new condominiums at 111 Central Park North!

Coming soon - 111 Central Park North The Movie 

For more information on 111 Central Park North click here. 

Source:  Athena Group | Halstead Marketing

From Montecito —

As a valued member of our VIP Club, you are eligible to receive early notice about this exceptional investment opportunity being offered by CRDG Marketing. Having just returned from this beautiful location, we can attest to the dynamic growth going on in Costa Rica right now. If you’re interested in foreign investments, you might want to give this serious consideration.  Where:  Coco Bay Estates, Guanacaste, Coasta Rica.

We are seeing more of these Fly & Buy scenarios popping up, mostly (actually all) in 2nd home or vacation home scenarios.  In speaking with some of the major marketing players who do this most noted that they make financial sense…having a more serious buyer & the ability to show them the actual property than to try and visually represent the property from abroad (with the extra time & energy).  More to come on this Fly & Buy subject.

Not real real estate related at this point…but since google plays a bit enough roll in everyone’s life right now…thought it would be worth while to mention.  Also, I am a personal fan of Apple after switching from 15 years of using a PC…now to my MacBook Pro - its awesome…I could write a book on it!

Resulting from in-depth analysis by NAHB, builders and remodelers in suburban locations can now provide their customers with a fairly precise estimate of how much bathrooms add to the value of their homes.

Based on data from the American Housing Survey (AHS) and updated several times over the years, the NAHB model used to estimate the price effects of bathrooms “has consistently shown that an added bathroom has one of the strongest impacts of any home feature on single-family detached home values,” said NAHB economist Paul Emrath.

Looking at recently released data from last year’s AHS, the bottom-line results of the NAHB study reveal that a half-bath adds approximately 10.5% to a suburban home’s value and a full bath adds about 20%. Continued…

Source: NAHB

We can only assume that these percentages increase in an urban setting or high-rise condo where space is limited. 

The new luxury loft condominiums on Broad Street in Boston are flying along. The 44 units is comprised of mostly condo conversion of the lower floors, with the addition of two new penthouse levels. Pricing is starting in the $400’s which makes it a bargain to get into new construction in downtown boston.

For more information on Broadluxe please visit their sales center at 105 Broad or click here.

(Banner design by Kevin Lewis of Kevin Lewis Deisgn)

Source: Marketing Group of Boston | Broadluxe Condominiums

We have talked about this product before. New York Mortgage Company launched it back in late July branding it the Homeowners Protection ARM. Currently this is the best mortgage product out there today…especially for our condo buyers! Today you can lock in your rate for 3 months @ 6.25% (interest only if you want).

Here is how it works:

Lock in your rate.

3 Months passes.

Now you are tied to LIBOR for the life of the loan.

Your rate will adjust with LIBOR every month.

Your rate is capped at 6.99% for the 1st 10 YEARS!

Bacially…if rates climb…your capped at 6.99% which is a great rate today…however if they decline you get all the benefits of the lower rate (yes your payment drops) and you never have to refi!!!

For more information visit www.CondoMortgageGroup.com or call Christina @ 800-203-9816

Source: Condo Mortgage Group | NYMC

Choose your unit, amenities & axis speed!

A new tower is planned for Jumeirah Village South in Dubai. The Dh175million Rotating tower features 72 residential units in total including four rotating penthouses and a rotating villa with its own car lift. Five of the tower’s 15 storeys will rotate through 360 degrees at speeds which can be selected by the resident once in either three, six, 12 or 24 hours.

Source: BornRich.org

We saw this link via Craigslist San Diego today.  It had us going in the office for a while and we thought we would pass it on.
Watch Steve’s Real Estate Marketing Video. 

We all know of the mega branded sky-scraping condo hotels in Miami, LA, New York….what you may not no is that they also are in smaller markets such as Austin…and happen to be extremelly succesful real estate investments.
Five Fifty Five in Austin is one of these new condo hotel residences. There are 99 luxury condos atop the Hilton Austin Condo Hotel. Units are selling from the upper $300,000s to more than $2 million.

More often though, hotel-condos are proliferating in midsize and smaller cities across the nation and, in some cases, transforming the places where they’re being built.

Hotel-condo projects can be found in different stages of development in cities such as Berkeley, Calif.; Provo, Utah; Pittsburgh; and Little Rock, Ark. And they’ve been proposed for towns as varied as Yankeetown, Fla.; Asheville, N.C.; and West Wendover, Nev.

See Five Fifty Five

1) Zip Realty adds ability for home shoppers to comment on listings online. Homebuyers and sellers can add their own reviews and ratings on most of the 900,000 homes listed on the MLS in ZipRealty’s 19 active markets.  ZipRealty has added a new “Client Ratings” feature to its Web site. It lets consumers shopping for a home view reviews and comments posted by peers about properties.  Continued…

2)  Zillow closes Prudential…

Source:  Real Estate & Technology News

Kimpton Hotels continues the expansion of their flagship hotel, the Palomar, by announcing plans for a condo-hotel property in Atlanta.
Designed by the architecture firm of Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates, the Palomar will house 38 condos — four per floor — beginning on the 17th floor. In addition to “sweeping views” and “a lot of glass,” Palomar condos will have 10-foot ceilings, two-piece crown molding, top-of-the-line appliances and hardwood floors.

A signature restaurant will also open in the hotel which is expected to be completed in 2009. Continued…

Source: Hotel Chatter

Lenders have begun offering a half-century home loan as incentive in face of record-high home prices, rising interest rates, report says.

Most banks already offer 40-year mortgages, which account for about 5 percent of all home loans, the report said.

“One of the biggest things in California is the high costs of homes. With rates going up, there’s demand from customers (for) longer loans,” Alex Diaz Jr., with Statewide Bancorp in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., was quoted in the report as saying.

Statewide, which introduced its 50-year loan in March, has already received about 220 applications, Diaz said, according to the report.

The 50-year mortgage also signals that the cooling real estate market is heating up competition among lenders, the newspaper said. Continued…

Source: CNN Money

More to come, we are researching these products through our investors at CondoMortgageGroup.com

Kent Reliance launches never-ending mortgage (Sorry in the U.K….not in the U.S., yet atleast).

A building society has launched what could quite literarily be termed the next generation in mortgages – a mortgage designed to be passed from generation to generation.

The ‘intergenerational’ mortgage, has been launched by Kent Reliance building society, based in Chatham.

The building society explains: “The concept is very simple. A person can pay their mortgage on an interest-only basis for their lifetime. When they die the mortgage and the property pass to the ‘beneficiary’ who can continue the mortgage or pay it off.

“The mortgage works like any mortgage and is subject to the same principles of ability to repay, affordability and on-going ability to repay through retirement.

“The loan can be any of the mortgage range but it may be that the borrower will take a long-term fix - we currently offer a long-term fix at 5.15 per cent for 25 years.”

At the point where the mortgage transfer is not wanted, the loan can be paid off as normal.

However, if the mortgage is accepted, it can pass on from generation to generation indefinitely.

Kent Reliance said: “As house prices tend to rise, there is a benefit that the proportion of the loan relative to the value of the property will decrease over time.”

The building society added: “It is possible that inheritance tax may be reduced by this arrangement.”

Source: AboutProperty.co.uk

Mona Lisa Development and the Related Group of Florida are teaming up on a 450-room condo hotel.

Celebration, the community Walt Disney Co. created in Osceola County, is getting its third hotel — the largest one so far.

Mona Lisa Development, the U.S. affiliate of Mona Lisa Hotels and Residences of France, is partnering with the Related Group of Florida, one of the state’s biggest condo builders, to build a 450-room condo hotel in the southern part of the community.

The French company’s affiliate is already building a 240-suite Mona Lisa at Celebration condo hotel at the north end of Celebration, near U.S. Highway 192.

That project, the French company’s first U.S. venture, is 90 percent sold, according to Bill Haberman, principal and chief operating officer of the U.S. affiliate.

The Celebration Co. sold 14 acres on Celebration Boulevard near World Drive for the new condo hotel, which is scheduled to be under construction next year. The hotel’s buildings will range from nine to 16 stories. The complex will include one- and two-bedroom suites, a restaurant and a conference center. Continued…

Source: Orlando Sentinel