South Beach Condos Blog

This one takes the cake.  Buyers of units at Trump Towers I, II, and III in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla are suing the developers, the Related Group and Dezer Development because, according to the Daily Business Review

…used the celebrated Trump name to attract buyers. But according to the suit, the billionaire’s name can only be used temporarily and for promotional purposes and may be changed once the units are sold out, the buildings are completed and the developers are no longer associated with the project. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

The buyers are seeking cancellation of sales contracts for units with prices totaling more than $100 million and the return of about $20 million in deposits.

Trump who was reached in Scotland…said he was “honored” by the lawsuit and the fight over his name.

Honored?  Read the rest of the story and you’ll want to do a little bit more to Trump other than “honoring” him.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently,  but the reality is that I am a real estate agent first, and a blogger second

Anyway, I don’t know how this little nugget (h/t to Chelsea Handler) slipped by me (probably because May 6th was MY birthday).  WSJ had an interesting article prophesizing that we are somewhere near the bottom of the real estate crisis, and one sentence, in particular, jumped out at me:

Most people forget that the current housing bust is nearly three years old.

Not me.

The article is a very good read and adds balance to all the over-simplified analysis that has come our way over the YEARS.

My ARDELL over at RainCityGuide.com is in a competition for The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World.

The contest consists of seeing who can use their web-savvy skills to market properties in this new internet-empowered era.

My vote goes to ARDELL at Rain City Guide as The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World.

Also, check out Trulia.

It was a truly spectacular day here in Miami Beach.  I’d guess it was about 74 degrees, no humidity –perfect. I had just dropped my Italian clients off at the Delano Hotel and I hear fire sirens –lots of them.  I turn and look up and I see flames shooting from the roof of the newly opened Gansevoort South Beach.  I have no idea what caused the fire, but I do know that it was on the roof.  The Gansevoort has a pretty sexy roof “thing” going on; pool, bar, and members only, of course.  The fire looked more like it was coming from mechanical area of the roof.  I’ll watch the 11 o’clock news and see what happened.

The Gansevoort Hotel and Residences South Beach opened a few weeks ago and is located at 2301 Collins Avenue.  The hotel has 334 rooms and 259 residential condos.  The finished resort will have an outpost of the Meatpacking district’s STK steakhouse, and a David Barton Gym.

UPDATE:  I just received an e-mail from, I believe, the PR firm for the Gansevoort:

Hi Kevin, I saw your blog posting and wanted to update you on the fire at Gansevoort South Hotel, Spa and Residences yesterday. Here is the official statement from Robert Van Eerde, Managing Director of the hotel:“There was a small, contained fire on the unoccupied terrace at the penthouse level at Gansevoort South yesterday afternoon. The Fire Department responded immediately and extinguished the fire within 15 minutes. No one was injured and damages were minimal. The hotel is fully operational.