Frustrating Time To Be A Distressed Condo Buyer Focused On Miami's Coconut Grove Area

Zero Distressed Condos Traded In Miami's Coconut Grove Neighborhood In Q1 2020

(This Report Is Powered By The Condo Vultures® Podcast Series Featuring Expert Peter Zalewski

DOWNTOWN MIAMI (June 26, 2020) - No distressed condo units - shortsales and real estate owned (REO) by lenders - are formally listed for sale in Miami's Coconut Grove neighborhood in South Florida amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from Condo Vultures® Realty LLC.

Additionally, zero distressed condo units are currently under contract - or pending - and waiting to transact in Coconut Grove, according to the report based on data from the Southeast Florida MLS Matrix.  

It is worth noting that zero distressed units were purchased in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach between January and March of 2020, according to the statistics.

In this new COVID-19 pandemic era, numerous questions exist about how the South Florida residential real estate market will perform going forward, both in the short- and medium-term periods. After a typical start to the new year, the South Florida residential real estate market began to change dramatically at the end of the first quarter of 2020. 

When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a "state of emergency to create a pathway to obtain funding and resources to stop the spread of COVID-19" on March 9, 2020, the South Florida residential real estate market continued to function, albeit with changes for safety that included social distancing and a push for virtual tours instead of buyer actually visiting properties.  

Nearly a month later on April 3, 2020, DeSantis instituted a 30-day "statewide stay-at-home order" that effectively shut down the Florida economy but in doing so deemed residential and commercial real estate businesses "essential services," according to an industry press report.

Despite the ability to transact real estate during the "stay-at-home order," it is unclear how many buyers have been willing to view properties - either in person or virtually - in hopes of purchasing residences. It is also unclear how many sellers have opened their properties to potential buyers given the contagiousness of the COVID-19 virus. 

Once the "stay-at-home order" was finally lifted on May 4, 2020 for nearly all of the state - excluding the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach - the Florida economy was thought to be in recession like much of the United States. Palm Beach County eventually opened its economy on May 11, 2020, and a week later both Miami-Dade and Broward counties opened for business on a limited basis on May 18, 2020.

A month later during the week of June 22, 2020, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties instituted mandatory mask wearing in public areas in response to a "spike" in the number of COVID-19 cases in the South Florida region, according to the Palm Beach Post. 

Broward County - located between Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties - was expected to follow suit and mandate masks in public areas in near term.   

CondoVulturesRealty.com is a licensed Florida brokerage that specializes in assisting buyers and tenants in value-oriented condo acquisitions and leases in the tricounty region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

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