Ryan & Ana On MIA
Ryan and Ana cover all things Miami development and real estate, the good, the bad the drama.
Ryan & Ana On MIA
Miami's Evolution: Luxury Homes, Education Policies, and Urban Growth + Fontainebleau Las Vegas
Ever wondered what's behind Miami's dramatic surge in luxury home sales and construction? Brace yourself for an enlightening ride as we navigate the real estate and education trends shaping the captivating landscapes of Miami and other cities. We kickstart our journey by unveiling the ongoing wealth and talent migration, manifested in an increasing demand for opulent homes and a blossoming construction boom. Moreover, we delve into the controversy ignited by Chicago's new mayor's decision to eradicate selective student programs — a vivid illustration of how shifting economies can ripple through city life.
We then whisk you away to the dazzling Fountain Blue Las Vegas, a grand resort deeply embedded in Miami's heritage. Despite its rocky start due to the Great Recession, the resort has finally thrown open its doors in 2023, with an array of modern niceties that will leave you in awe. Drawing parallels between Miami and Las Vegas, we reflect on the stark contrasts in air quality, lifestyle, and urban sprawl. We wrap up this segment by focusing on Miami's exhilarating transit and business growth, shedding light on everything from a novel transit solution to the transformation of a humble church parking lot into a majestic 42-story edifice.
In our final act, we pull back the curtain on upcoming developments and airport improvements that are poised to reshape the city's accessibility. Enriching our discussion are our personal experiences, shedding light on Miami's convenience in comparison to other major cities. We then pivot to the skyrocketing Miami real estate market and its implications for the urban core's land value. Don't forget to join the conversation as we share our thoughts on Miami's future prospects and how the city continues to set itself apart from the rest. So, plug in your headphones and prepare for an engaging and informative discussion that will surely reshape your perception of Miami.
Hello everyone, welcome to episode number 11. Wow, we've crossed to, like you know, your kid and your counting hands, yeah, Now we crossed two hands around the third. That's exciting.
Speaker 2:We're almost a preteen.
Speaker 1:I love it. Oh, that's going to get extra spicy now, I know.
Speaker 2:It's crazy, we are up episode 10 already, that's why I've been oh 11.
Speaker 1:Track, track track.
Speaker 2:You know, you know what it is. It's this, it's the stupid weather I have been like, just been like two weeks, not too easy. Feel like it feels like two weeks. It's like a week of rain. I'm just like it's going to Seattle PTSD.
Speaker 1:Well, I was in Vegas and then Albuquerque, and no offense to Las Vegas, but the air made me ill. It's just dry. My skin felt dry. So there's a thing Miami keeps you young.
Speaker 2:They should be good for one skin One's lack of wrinkles. I don't. I don't even wear moisturizer here.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly Over there my skin was getting like dry your lips, dry out, and then I throw her, which felt dusty every day until I was breathing in dust. I just I couldn't. Albuquerque was much better as far as dry, but it was less dusty, and I always go back to the thought that people aren't meant to live in Las Vegas. It was a mob creation designed to extract money. They had to import water.
Speaker 2:It never supported life, so that's something interesting that we'll get to this later. We actually have a lot of Vegas things to talk about. I it's interesting that Miami and Vegas are kind of like sister cities because they're both based on tourism and they're both in places that people really shouldn't be.
Speaker 1:Miami supports life.
Speaker 2:No, yes, but what I'm saying is like, naturally, like, this is a swamp, that's the desert.
Speaker 1:Correct, correct, correct.
Speaker 2:So it's like people really shouldn't, shouldn't be right. So I feel, I feel they're like sister cities in that and that sort of way.
Speaker 1:True, true, although I breathe much better here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I was just saying, I don't wear a crappy weather.
Speaker 1:I come back and it's like I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't wear moisturizer in Miami. You don't need to, exactly. If you do, you're just like a slimy mess.
Speaker 1:Exactly. It's good for your lungs, it's good for your sinuses, it's good for everything. Yeah, it's just healthy. Miami is the healthy goal. Keep to eat.
Speaker 2:So do you want to talk about the some data and trends?
Speaker 1:Oh, yes, yes, yes. So you know, here we keep talking about the ongoing wealth and talent migration that we believe is still in its early days. And one way that I like to partition the market, to quantify this and you kind of the wealth and talent migration, is looking at sales past certain thresholds per square foot. Something can be big and large and old and expensive nominally, but when you drill down on a price per square foot basis, you really filter down for new and private locations, because older product was even built to that standard and what we're seeing here is that, for example, in Miami-Dade County, past $2,000 a square foot for single family homes. This is the total of data from number of sales from January through November which is closed out of this year versus 2019, our most recent pre-COVID year.
Speaker 1:We have 65 this year, 10 in 2019. There's a 550% increase, wow, and we haven't slowed down year over year. That's the other important thing to take into account. For condos, we had 135 versus 30, up 350%. It's important to note that this pattern holds tri-county. Tri-county were up 410%, single family past 2000 a square foot and condos up 343%. And it's not a baiting, it's actually leveling around the levels that we had last year.
Speaker 1:That's really fantastic yeah so it's a creation of basically a whole new product class residential real estate. It's a whole new sort of benchmark of demand that's coming in largely domestically. Okay, wow.
Speaker 2:I think it's interesting that that also really shows that's why we keep seeing these products. Yes, correct, because there's a man for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and again, older product was just not built to the same standards. Yeah, so we're all very happy. Miami's building and I mean that across spectrum. Right, we have the largest percentage of apartments under construction as a percentage of existing inventory. I just checked it today it's 15.1% under construction. That's more than any city of America and that will hopefully address an array of price points. And then we also have, as you were saying, uber luxury and new condos under construction, and that is tapping into that wealth migration that's coming from our feeder jurisdictions as the country's economics and our gravity shifts.
Speaker 2:I love it. Yeah, you know it's. I think I think the economy has really shifted permanently Exactly. I mean it may not be super dramatic, but like even a small shift in sort of the fabric and of the economy has made a huge difference here.
Speaker 1:Yes, it makes a huge difference here and it makes a huge difference at the points of departure also, because of people account for an outsized percentage of tax revenue. Yeah, that's from the places that they leave.
Speaker 2:And I mean we've covered this extensively in our group. You can look at any of our previous podcasts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of our themes.
Speaker 2:And we've covered a lot of the major cities New York, chicago and you had some information about Chicago.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, the new mayor of Chicago has announced he will do something he promised he would not do while running for election. Shockingly. Hold on to your hats, everyone. Woof, woof. So the politician will change course.
Speaker 2:Let me clutch my pearls, clutch the pearls, clutch the pearls.
Speaker 1:He said that he wants to eliminate these selective student programs in Chicago. It's basically it allows lower income students, I believe it's to place to place in advanced programs in public schools and he believes in the name of equality. These things cannot exist. So we all have to be equally underachieving, it seems, but this to me is just pouring more gasoline and exodus fires. It means that the productive and those who can will leave and, at the overall level, will continue to drop. California did something similar, with terrible results, obviously, and I think it's just so fundamentally wrong to take away this option for young kids who, just parents don't have resources. These types of programs are their way out.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And like the Stuyvesant School, for example, in New York City. Are you familiar with Stuyvesant? Stuyvesant was set up a private charter at the beginning of the 20th century and it's a blind admissions process, just a test. They don't know your name, they don't know your gender or nothing. That's cool.
Speaker 2:It's just a test correct.
Speaker 1:But this school is attacked pretty consistently Everyone is welcome to Google it by various forces in New York City because they deem that it's not inclusive and it's racist Because the school is today, heavily Asian. Okay, heavily heavily Asian. Now, mind you, these are not rich Asian kids, okay, they. These are kids who are studying their butts off, whose parents don't have money for tutors, anything else, and, according to forces that be, it is somehow unjust and racist that they're taking up the majority of Stuyvesant School, but no one is stopping anyone else from studying either.
Speaker 1:Okay, and in the kind of demographics of Stuyvesant shift along with the shifting of the city, whatever, but it is what it is. It's a blind admissions process and it's a great thing and it's always under attack. Okay, and I have the mayor of Chicago taking away the public schools advanced programs. It's just part of that same pattern. Meanwhile, elon Musk announced he's going to build schools in Austin which I think I would imagine will be in a similar Stuyvesant type mandate, because they would have STEM focus. Okay, so hopefully we get that here in my attitude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting. I've read a lot of stories recently about how schools here private schools are overwhelmed because of the influx Exactly, and I've seen stories like this over the past couple of months just overwhelmed people and like people are buying spots for the kids as like part of the parents' compensation package, Yep Companies are yes, they are Exactly right.
Speaker 1:Exactly right Because it's a real. It's a real scarcity, but hopefully we see this kind of revamp and people like Elon will make more schools. I've always thought there should be more schools like Stuyvesant that have charters. They don't all have to be STEM focused or math focused, but different things. Where allows an opportunity for kids whose parents cannot pay for these increasingly scarce spots to test in? I think it's a great thing.
Speaker 2:I love it Cool. I want to talk about these totally pretty subjects. We're going to talk about subjects, so I want to talk a little off topic, but also something that is on topic. So this week the Fontainebleau Las Vegas opened. Back to Vegas, yes, back to Vegas. It opened after approximately 20 years of gestation and I want to cover it because it has the most insane story and it also has they also say, everything has a Miami connection. Mm-hmm, always, they all do. If you look at any story, clinical or otherwise, and go like two or three levels down, there's my connection. Always, it always happens. But anyway, fountain.
Speaker 1:Blue Las.
Speaker 2:Vegas. Where'd you stay when you were in Vegas?
Speaker 1:Oh, actually we stayed at a house, we stayed at a friend's house already.
Speaker 2:So if you're staying with a strip, on the north end of the strip you have Circus, circus Wind and Encore, but it's kind of it's been a death slip for a while. It's not like the same spot as like Caesars and like it's sort of out there. So, people from Fountain Blue, miami, this is Stoffer, is that how you say it? Stoffer, Stoffer the. Fountain Blue. They decided back in the early 2000s that they wanted it to do a Fountain Blue Las.
Speaker 1:Vegas.
Speaker 2:And it was going to be very grand because I did not know this, but the original Fountain Blue here in Miami was actually one of the country's first totally integrated resorts, Meaning it had all the stuff Like it had all the things it was a big old destination back then. Yeah, because usually hotels were just like a restaurant and rooms, even nice ones. So the Fountain Blue Miami did like the whole thing. They did like I think they had a casino at one point and they had, they had like a showroom and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:And all sorts of famous performers coming through.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they did all of that. And then, anyway, this is 1960.
Speaker 2:So fast forward to 2000,. They decided they were going to do it and they launched like two years before the great recession, and they got to about 75% built and then the banks put financing during the crash and so the Fountain Blue people lost it in the recession and then it sat for a couple years and they actually auctioned off the interiors. Oh wow, it's like back in 2000,. Something they said the interior is off to some other hotel in Vegas. So then after that, carl, I can't buy it. You know he's a corporate raider?
Speaker 1:I'm not sure. Anyways, he's a corporate raider.
Speaker 2:He bought it for like $10 and just sat with it for like 10 years Just rotting theirs. And this this is the tallest occupied building in Nevada. The stratosphere is taller, but this is the tallest actual building. So, anyways, he had it and just sat it and then, right in 2018, 19, he sold it to Wickelf and Wickelf had great plans to redo it and launch the whole resort, and this, of course, is about two years before the pandemic, so they great timing again, so they got started in like December 2018.
Speaker 2:And so then obviously, obviously they got derailed. There's a mini recession again, so they they stopped building. And then 2021, the original Fountain Blue people bought it back.
Speaker 1:Wow, full circle yeah.
Speaker 2:Along with another real estate partner and it just opened this Wednesday and it looks absolutely beautiful. They did a beautiful, modern job of translating this 1950s, 60s Fountain Blue to the modern day. It's interesting and their views have been stellar and they have things that are like poppy steak.
Speaker 1:I stopped it, but posted. Pictures.
Speaker 2:Okay, that makes sense now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw Poppa Stake Vegas all over in the room they have live live clubs.
Speaker 2:They basically took all the Miami things to Vegas.
Speaker 1:Right, this is the Miami connection here now, which is fabulous.
Speaker 2:I love all that, so I know it's over the long run, out of story, but to me I think that's just great all the way around, full circle.
Speaker 1:Came full circle and with a strong Miami connection. Yeah, I mean literally.
Speaker 2:And they also do it hunting with Dave Kruppman. So it's pretty cool. Check it out next time. On the Vegas, I know, and the spa looks ridiculous. Oh nice, I'm a spa junkie and the is called Lapis here, fountain Blue, and it's all Lapis. It's beautiful, but in Vegas it looks like just absolutely next level, so excited.
Speaker 1:We'll check that out next time. And not go on the street and breathe in the dust while just staying indoors and stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, it's funny People. Both Miami and Vegas are hot, but like they are totally opposite 100%.
Speaker 1:Miami air feels good. It's good for you. Vegas air does not. It feels terrible. It took me days to get over it and we're so spoiled here also, this is what it is. I felt like, oh, I know there are training centers there, there's boxers and people, but how do they live and train there? I don't understand. The air quality is like terrible.
Speaker 2:I remember going there and I went outside. It's like in July. I went outside at like 11 pm and it was like the heat was like radiating at like 11 pm.
Speaker 1:It was like 110 degrees at 11. And it was like just. It's indoor life really, yeah this, and you drive through the suburbs. There's no one on the street. It's like, yeah, it kind of creeps you out a little bit, the lack of people on the street and in the supermarket. It's like there are a version of Publix. I've got what it's called, what I'm there is just empty. I don't understand.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean that's because Vegas is the strip Right. Okay, that's it really. Yeah, that's really it. And then you know you have these and talk. This is interesting fact. I think Vegas has insane sprawl. Yes, because it can sprawl.
Speaker 1:It can, it does.
Speaker 2:That is something very interesting. We may have other urban problems here in Miami, but we really do not have sprawl. We can't, we're constrained, we don't have sprawl. I'll tell you this I went to Texas one time and all my word, the sprawl there broke my brain.
Speaker 1:I know I spent a few months in Dallas at one point many years ago. I know I was Dallas yeah.
Speaker 2:And like I drove for like an hour and a half and I was still in Dallas, yes, and then there's Plano and it's all like just connected all of the same.
Speaker 1:It's all I'm never quite sure where I am.
Speaker 2:It's just strip malls like infinity. And so I always think about that because it's like we only have about 13 miles, 30, 15 miles in the ocean and the weather In the Everglades yeah, like it's wide, this point. Yeah, I did this one time I drove. It was late at night and I drove from my house to somewhere out by Doral and I crossed the entirety of the Louisville Florida Peninsula in like 15 minutes.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's it. I don't know if someone has traffic it's a different story, but sure, that's the distance, it's just like right there. Yep, that's the real history. We can't sprawl, we can't, we can, we can, we can, we can, we can see lots.
Speaker 2:So I just whatever people talk about sprawl, I mean like kind of.
Speaker 1:It can't.
Speaker 2:I'm like I'm like you have no idea what sprawl is no, they don't. They don't Correct Kendall is not sprawl.
Speaker 1:No, it's right there. It's right there and it can't go any further either. Exactly.
Speaker 2:So, but I think that all goes back to what I was saying is that both Miami and Vegas are sort of sister cities, because they really are places where weren't livable before Vegas had no water.
Speaker 1:And Miami had all the water. We did have local tribes living here. On modern days I'm talking about oh well, I'm saying, but I don't think Vegas didn't even have tribes living there, I don't think it just supports life at all. Okay, that's come.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, humans were not all of it correct because part of it, but like this general area, did have Indian tribes living. Okay, and like the, the, the, the local ecosystem did support life, whereas the local ecosystem in Vegas I don't think ever supported life because I don't think there were any tribes living there. Yeah, there's no water, there's no food, like they weren't living there.
Speaker 2:I think it was. It wasn't until they built the Hooper Dam and had water, correct, correct.
Speaker 1:So there was no indigenous life there. Yeah, here there was.
Speaker 2:So, in the modern day and age, in the modern day and age, las Vegas was a desert, miami was mangrove Right, Right, and so human ingenuity figured out how to tame for the most part, those two areas Correct, and I find that fascinating. Yes, I like when humans say this place is inhospitable. How do you make it hospitable?
Speaker 1:Exactly, we have all these man-made islands, like the villages, man-made. You know, the palm and hibiscus are man-made islands. They're all these houses there now, people living there, and they didn't exist a hundred years ago. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:I know I've mentioned this before, but I really like to point out just how young, obviously, miami is in all relative ways. It's only 127 years old in total and the modern iteration of it is super young, like 40 years. And then the, the near modern version, is even newer. I was looking at it. I sent you a meme or a picture of it. It was a photo of Brickle on 8th Street, facing east. You know where the Starry Hotel is. The Perrette Farm Hotel is there in.
Speaker 2:Brickle, you know the power lunch place, but anyways, it was a picture of 2007. Versus today, it was shocking, that's less than 20 years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, correct, it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2:I think we lose 7 because we live here. It's basically brand new.
Speaker 1:It is, it really is. It's early days.
Speaker 2:It keeps saying it, it's 100%. You can't have early days. You were talking about transit earlier.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, we had some news of approval for environmental approval for some new train lines, train stations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's here.
Speaker 1:I guess it has it right there, that's correct.
Speaker 2:It's the Miami-Dade Northeast Commuter Rail service. This is interesting because it's on the same track as Brightline, but they have not yet decided if Brightline is going to be the operator on that Right. It might be Tri-Rail, it might be someone else, but it will run here on the station.
Speaker 1:Yeah it ran Miami Central Windwood Design District, Little Haiti, North Miami FIU Campus, Aventura, using the existing station Every 30 minutes to the day, Every 60 minutes a weekend.
Speaker 2:I'm excited about this one More than I think other things, because that section of the scheme I'm going to call it upper Biscayne has no transit and it's some of the most clogged car-based stuff In rush hour. That section of Biscayne is unusable and also on that section there are a ton of developer places Ton Exactly. This unlocks from here to Aventura.
Speaker 1:Yes, it offers a transit solution, which is why it's unlocking it. It's perfect, correct.
Speaker 2:And also I think this may, if it all works, it may also add to the rapid transit zoning in the county. Yes, correct, so now they can do whatever they want.
Speaker 1:In terms of parking spaces.
Speaker 2:I think that's one of those things, any other news you saw you liked?
Speaker 1:What else did I like? What else did I like?
Speaker 2:Oh, here's a fun one. Actually, in our neighborhood here this neighborhood it is the other church that's over here, the old church they are redeveloping the parking lot and turning it into a 42-story tower. That's cool, and they're going to use the money to restore the church and also build housing and other sites that that church organization owns. That's exciting so that's cool Right.
Speaker 2:Like you know, it's going from a dirt lot that's been there for since forever. Fantastic With housing. I love it, so fantastic. I really like that project as well. Oh right, thinking of trains, brightline made some announcements.
Speaker 1:Oh, Brightline ridership you have to sell those numbers? Yeah, those were great numbers. You have Brightline ridership, surgeon November and trains that started to travel faster. We had 93,184 passengers riding to and from Orlando in November. This is up from 79,686 in October. That's a huge increase. It's like a 30% increase.
Speaker 2:And they literally thought no one would ride Brightline.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. This is the opposite than the fact that California's mansion tax, which brought in 10 times less money than they thought it would just sing yeah, that is.
Speaker 2:And then they're also. They're going full steam, no pun intended. They're going full steam on the Tampa extension. Fantastic, fantastic and also Brightline and Vegas, which is all just connecting here. They got three billion last week in grant. Three billion, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:What's the money? What's the?
Speaker 2:zero between France, they get to Brightline West. Oh wow, and Brightline West is going to go from Los Angeles to Las Vegas electric and actually high speed.
Speaker 1:Wow, this is so optimistic Right. I love it. We're building and connecting at the same time.
Speaker 2:This wonderful and not just us, thankfully. No, no correct.
Speaker 1:That's something connecting these other places. We're trying to the south. We're going to point out too it's a part that shifted economic focus, I think.
Speaker 2:I think people just like the sun. That too. That too, although it's not cooperating this week Not this week, joe, I know, I know.
Speaker 1:Then we had that. What was it? It was from Redfin the data showing that New Yorkers are continuing to pile into Miami.
Speaker 2:Awesome, that's great Correct Yep.
Speaker 1:And this is all part of the corroboration of thesis.
Speaker 2:And that was interesting to me because it wasn't just Miami, it was Tampa and Orlando, correct, and I think that is as much as I am a Miami booster. It really is the whole state.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yep, and because Miami isn't for everyone? No, no, it's not for everyone, and so if someone's quieter or less drama, they can go to Orlando or Tampa.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's going to get the weather. The taxes, the lower taxes. Yeah, the weather, it's lower taxes and weather quality of life. That's what it's coming down to.
Speaker 2:I know people like that's like the two default reasons to Miami and they are important. I think people overlook how important those are.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because I think people are realizing in general that a quality of life is so important.
Speaker 1:Correct, but it used to be. We talked a bunch about this departure away from 20th century habits like how we live and work, all these constructs we have, office buildings, habits, schedules we're all made before we. Internet and people are creatures of habit. They were never broken. And now it used to be that if you wanted to do a certain thing in finance, whatever it was, you had to be in New York City, you had to be in a certain place or something, so you went where you had to be and now a sizable percentage of people can live where they want to be and this is a big, big shift in the workforce. And again, if just 10% of people change their habits, it's huge. And that 10% tends to be the tax thing 10% and that's what's happening and it's really nice. I think it's very exciting.
Speaker 1:There's an article also on this topic. It was an MSN, a New York finance CEO. He was explaining why his firm was moving to Miami and there's a great quote. He said we don't have office space in New York anymore. No long-term lease of any kind For business like ours, nimble and Agile. We go where it's easiest for us to do business and that's part of the whole thesis too, where it's that human ingenuity and creation are always a force and they will flow to the path of lease, along the path of lease, resistance.
Speaker 2:I love that line about where it's easier to do business. Yep, yep, because it's one of those, especially with COVID and all those things. It's like, once something like that happens, once people realize that it could happen again, yep, that too, I mean. Obviously, covid, hopefully, is a once, a generation thing, but the point is, once it happens, it could happen again.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:And so they realize that, oh wow, the government can just step in and do whatever the hell they want.
Speaker 1:Correct.
Speaker 2:Correct, so I'm just going to hedge against that.
Speaker 1:Yep Exactly, get ahead of it.
Speaker 2:Get ahead of it, even if it never happens again. Exactly.
Speaker 1:And then, meanwhile, this creates no-ball effects, because really, what is it to do? Business? It means to create.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so people who want to create are the ones that are moving here and that will attract other people who want to create and be part of growth. And it's the whole transformation of why people are coming here. It's not just to park money in your attire. Yeah, it's fantastic.
Speaker 2:Speaking of growth. So you know my friend Rosa, she plays paddle and I was just realizing it. I was seeing my balcony yesterday and there are. I can see three path courts from my balcony.
Speaker 1:They're spreading. Yeah, I've never played.
Speaker 2:Well, really have you no.
Speaker 1:I don't.
Speaker 2:Does it look like I had to do sports Right? I don't know, but anyway she loves it and she's like a total paddle fanatic. Paddle was invented, I think.
Speaker 1:Probably, I think.
Speaker 2:Or she'll come in. It's either Mexico or Spain one of them, but it's really taking off and it's actually becoming more popular than tennis.
Speaker 1:Yes, because it's more accessible, it's easier I don't mean in a bad way. More people could just jump in and play with their friends and have fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a social aspect of it. Yeah, and it has like walls.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So the ball doesn't go places, it's just easier to play socially. Yeah, but no she.
Speaker 2:Speaking of Rosa, I'm very proud of her. She went to Brazil and played in the something international seniors team for the US Amazing. And she plays fit. I believe, Wow, that's fantastic and I'm really proud of her. It was really good.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. How fun. Yeah, it's good. Competing and traveling is so great.
Speaker 2:It's always good to see your friends winning at things.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's super fun. Yeah, and you know it's great.
Speaker 2:I have two friends this week that got new jobs and it just I feel like the energy is good.
Speaker 1:I do too. Yeah, I'm like it was a Sagittarius full moon on the 12th.
Speaker 2:Oh, but what it?
Speaker 1:was, and for both Sagittarius, it's naturally it's a big one.
Speaker 2:How was your birthday?
Speaker 1:You know it was pretty low key. It's like true, I was traveling, doing all these things and it was kind of low key. We know we're older every day, it's just official once a year. So I had one friend take me on a belated birthday dinner when I got back two days ago and that was nice, yeah, and then yeah.
Speaker 2:After 30, I stopped coming.
Speaker 1:Well, go for it. I'm older than Ryan, everyone Significantly, almost You're well-preserved. That's why I had to get back to the band with humanity. I can't stay here longer, god forbid, I start looking my age.
Speaker 2:You're like that sponge-butted meme, like that dried out.
Speaker 1:I'll be like no, where's my humidity?
Speaker 2:That's what I have to go with. This is the meme of a sponge-butted bob. It's like this sort of skeleton thing, like dried out That'd be me. After being out.
Speaker 1:I was feeling it. After five, six days I had to Well.
Speaker 2:I went to visit my family at South Dakota 12 months ago and I literally had to start wearing chapstick and like, yeah, that was an album for through my family, exactly.
Speaker 1:I started to Albuquerque the air is much better than Las Vegas.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 1:Much, much better, but still it's drier than here. And I already got kind of hit by Vegas. And then I was there and I was recovering, but not fully. I was still like, wow, this air is dry, makes you itchy. Yeah, yeah. But I stopped by Jackson Week and the May Academy down there and I met Holly Holm, which is pretty awesome. So Holly Holm was women's UFC champion and she was really cool and it's a great vibe. They're going to go back there and train and do some wrestling there. That was super fun.
Speaker 2:That was a good trip.
Speaker 1:And then, oh, I had a drama today.
Speaker 2:Oh drama.
Speaker 1:Yes, I called someone a pathetic little man. What? Why did you do that? I come in peace, normally every one.
Speaker 2:But I heard a surreal estate story.
Speaker 1:So I had a showing at Frank's property, I listed and it has 10. And today it's horrible weather in Miami. Today, as I said, it's like gusting wind and raining. This is as bad as Miami gets weather-wise, literally.
Speaker 2:Except for hurricanes.
Speaker 1:Correct.
Speaker 1:This is it. This is nasty, nasty Miami and the tenants are super cool people. A young couple from Israel are great people and they have two little babies. I mean babies, there's like a five-month-old and like a one-and-a-half like little kids, right, and they're usually not there, but it's like gusting rain and when the weather works through home or whatever it is, but everyone is chill, they're super chill. There's no problem, right, yeah, and anyway, walk in and the buyers are very nice people from Finland and this agent is kind of like, has this weird attitude Like an American white guy and you could tell he has this weird attitude the whole time and his poor client probably barely know if they speak English.
Speaker 1:Well, probably found him somehow, god knows how. And I'm walking there and he walks in and the lady's in the phone the mom with the baby's there and they walk in and look at something. The master takes a phone call and he starts speaking really unnecessarily loud. The guy like shouts when he talks about something unrelated to the room he was in. So she turns to him and she says could you please discuss in another room? This is not an unreasonable request. He wasn't even talking about the room and there's other places in this property and he turns to her and she's a little fight to two very nice lady's there and he also he shouts I have an appointment.
Speaker 1:I said, excuse me, sir, and I just turned. I said don't shout at her. That was the first thing I said. I feel responsible. He's not my client or my friend, he's the other agent.
Speaker 1:But I feel like I brought him into the house and she says, well, I'm like what, how could he shout at her? I was like don't shout at her. And I kind of put my finger at him and he turns to me and he goes well, I have an appointment. And I said, well, this is their house. And who shouts in their room? With the little baby in it? And the mom like are you crazy? And then the dad said, listen, you got to leave. And he goes oh well, do it or not.
Speaker 1:We tried to open things. I have an appointment. I thought I look at him. I get very calm with idiots, like I'm very good with this. Listen, I train with like enemy fighters all day, like I compete. I'm super calm and chill, which is what you handle, psycho, it doesn't even raise blood pressure. And this guy's just like no, no. And I looked right at him and said you need to get out right now. And he's like oh, he's shouting at me, whatever, whatever he gets out and we're in the hallway, he's just shouting at me. He's like oh, leave me the problem. I said what do you want me to do? It was raining, they couldn't take the baby out. And he goes what do I care, that's not my problem. And I said wow, I told him I'm really embarrassed for you. That's really disgusting behavior. I said if you have a problem with this, take that with me later. I said I have the appointment. Why are you shouting at people in their house? What is this, a chief, like? What have you done this?
Speaker 2:world.
Speaker 1:It's horrible. And then he's shouting at me somewhere. Now my brother would get in the elevator. I don't care, I get in the elevator with him, right? So I'm sitting there and he goes to me and I'm going to talk and he's shouting, he goes. You just don't have talking to you and listen.
Speaker 1:If I feel like I'm being threatened, a switch goes off of it. I'm like listen first of all. He doesn't know like I would kill him. This is how I would. He leaves, he leaves, he's gone. Please touch me. This is like what I think. And I get in the very calm and I look right at him and when he said like don't worry, you know what I'm saying, so I'm like no, I said what are you going to do about it, or what? Literally? I said to him and he just can't let go of the content and I said you know what I said, sir? I said sir, very calm. I said, sir, you're a pathetic little man. Yes, and I said to him what kind of a man yells at a woman with a baby in a room? I'm embarrassed for you. You're a pathetic little man.
Speaker 2:Wow, yes, I would have loved it been there, like I would have been, like this.
Speaker 1:You hear me, I used this elevator and I was like, touch me, like in my head. I'm like just touch me. Look at my Instagram. I had a grappling match in the cage. Ok, I've trained a whole lot what to do with wall situations Like touch me, please touch me from the camera.
Speaker 1:This is all that I would say and then like whatever I'll do, whatever I do to him, and then the guards will come, they'll laugh at him and they'll be like what a pathetic little man, which is exactly what he is. Oh, gross, anyway, not appropriate behavior, man. You stretch All kidding aside.
Speaker 1:I'm very good in these situations because I do know like I could kill him in the elevator. I don't care and I'm very good at this, but the guy is a bully. He tried to intimidate me and I'm a woman. He tried to intimidate me. He's a piece of shit, to be completely honest, and he probably would have intimidated most of the women, and he's a horrible individual. So I told him that I'm reporting him. I'm a governor of the Association of Real Tourists and I will report him.
Speaker 2:Wow, so that's our little taste of tea and drama Switching a little bit.
Speaker 1:No, that was my little intro right there.
Speaker 2:So, switching from that, I have two news stories I think we should have touched on that are newsworthy. The first is they got construction permits from the Mandarin Oriental. That's exciting, humphry cookie, and they're going to replace it with two towers one that's like 800 feet, another smaller one, and yeah, so they're going to do that and that's pretty cool because Swire owns the whole island technically, because they can do what they want.
Speaker 2:It's causing a big uproar amongst people because everyone's like that's a park. Swire is very smart. They are very smart Since they own the island. They have put signs there they say this is a temporary park, future development for like 20 years. Right, and everybody right, they can do whatever they want. People are complaining about the block of views or shadow and they're like sorry guys, they warned you for 20 years it wasn't a secret.
Speaker 1:It wasn't a secret.
Speaker 2:And it's actually a really beautiful tower. It is.
Speaker 1:It's going to have a big condo hotel in the blue, yeah.
Speaker 2:There's the hotel, hotel, and then there's condos and then condo hotels.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, yeah. So All three.
Speaker 2:Yep. The other interesting note is they're doing expansion of the design district. I mean West, ok, because I don't know if you've been to the design district you have. If you walk a little bit west, it's like kind of a little grimy, just like two blocks away from your.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know the chicken on the street. Yeah, so it gets kind of grainy quick. But they it gets quick with it to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but the cool thing is they are doing a whole master plan of it. It's going to have hotels and condos for the first time. I'm sure it'll be someone crazy like Fendi or someone will do it, but yeah, they're. They're hiring David Chipperfield, who is apparently a start protect. Very cool, yep. And then, lastly, I am excited about this one. So my MIA, the airport is great and also not great. I like it because it's centrally located, very easy to get to, transit, connected, but it does have some issues. Yep, a lot of things have been broken escalators, elevators, the Sky train. It was closed because of some structural issues. So there's been some issues. And also there are people who are still at TSA and like there's some issues with the airport. So the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority, who has actually run by my friend, or partly run by my friend, leanne. They just launched a competition to improve accessibility, navigation and sustainability at the airport buildings and three companies will be selected and they'll be each provided $100,000 to test their ideas at MIA.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic.
Speaker 2:So $300,000 to start ups, hopefully local start up and yeah they'll get to try out things that may will improve the airport.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful, great Listen. It's already the airport. This will get better.
Speaker 2:So if you are a startup that deals with travel and security and such things, you can go and oh, I'll put the link in here, but there's a link you can go to and you can sign up and pitch.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic, yeah, wow.
Speaker 2:I applaud the Miami-Dade government for looking at the box.
Speaker 1:Yes and for seeking an innovative solution. This is how you get creative answers.
Speaker 2:And so, a side note to this, I am in a group chat that's called Miami Tech Life and in that group both mayors are there Daniela and Francis and a lot of people put comments in there if they have trouble with their traveling. Daniela has personally responded to some people in that group chat and so it's like they do care. That's fantastic. You know, that's paying attention. Politicians aren't perfect. No, it could be far worse. Could be far worse.
Speaker 1:We could have them here at Chicago.
Speaker 2:Or we could have LaGuardia in the airport.
Speaker 1:Oh cool, we still have PTSD from all the New York City airports that have grown up there.
Speaker 2:Is it taking really far away too?
Speaker 1:Yes, With no traffic. It's far away, so you have to allocate just two hours for the drive. Every time I go to Miami I'm like, oh my god, it was so fast. I have PTSD. I live in New York.
Speaker 2:I mean Miami is one of the most accessible airports. You can get there in the traffic in 15 minutes.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Or you can take Metro Rail there for $2. That's amazing. That takes you to the.
Speaker 1:If you want to take back in the day, the subway to JFK was like going through the pits of hell in like maybe two hours. And then people criticize Miami doesn't have this, miami doesn't have that. Come on people, new York was considered the capital of the world. With all these issues.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, the only sort of downside about the airport being where it is is that it limits how much we can build as far as height, because the yes, that's where you get clearance for the airplanes.
Speaker 1:That's right, which is funny.
Speaker 2:My new building is literally directly on the flight path for for my, so I can sit in my balcony and just like, almost like reach out and like touch. It's kind of fun.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's another thing I want to talk about.
Speaker 2:I was sitting in my in my new apartment and I was looking out at like 395 and the port and I was just thinking that area so 395, nation causeway, downtown and Brickle, the amount of people that transit that area in all the ways and boats, planes, cars, automobiles, walking, whatever just must be absolutely insane.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Like it all, it's all in like a 10 or 15 block radius that people transit through Right. It must just be like the off the charts because, because Port Miami turns about 20 to 30,000 passengers on a daily basis, that there's 100 the flights in 10. My A is there 395.
Speaker 1:I just think it's a nexus of so much.
Speaker 2:It's a nexus right there.
Speaker 1:That's so cool yeah.
Speaker 2:It's right there. So, anyways, I just I had a realization, had a realization, I was like that's a real flow of people in commerce right there.
Speaker 1:A lot of it, huge, yes in like one, and I don't.
Speaker 2:there's not many, I think New York is like sort of all over the place, like it's not particularly centralized. Miami isn't that big, so it is kind of centralized as far as that flow goes and for all of our problems we handle that pretty well. That would agree. It works. I mean so listen, we just had our Basel and Art Week and all those fun things. It was a mess it always is.
Speaker 2:It always is a mess, but at the same time there aren't many cities in Vegas that can handle that amount of influx into like a very small location all at once At all, let alone with the difficulties that we have correct.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's like. I mean, there was one day during our Basel that they had a heat gain at the same time, and so it was bad, like the roads were blocked, but the fact that we can even get people through that in, like it was all at the same time too, it was like from like three to like eight PM there had to be hundreds of thousands of people that transited that small area in now and under time, that's amazing. We need to prove our transit, but I'm, we are but the story we just talked about, but I'm grateful for the fact that we can at least try and handle that Correct and we do it works out.
Speaker 1:Each time it's a bit of a mess, but it's a unique event and it works out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cool, anything you wanted to cover this week.
Speaker 1:No, that's it. It's just the year wrapping up.
Speaker 2:I know I think it's the last one for the year, right 15th. Oh, I'm not sure. I think it might land on like New Year's Day or something.
Speaker 1:Let me see let me see Cause. We do this every two weeks on Friday everyone. No, the 29th is the next one. Okay, yeah, almost the wrapping up, and I think that this year, as far as again, as far as the residential markets, I think it's showing this leveling off around this new reality.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it'll be a good benchmark. I have seen the story continue just to show that rents are coming down. Yep, I'm just like, yes, it's a good thing, it's a good thing and there is so much inventory about to pop.
Speaker 1:Correct. It's great, so much.
Speaker 2:Correct Both condo and multi-family Correct. So I'm excited for that, yep.
Speaker 1:And along this topic, though, one of the things I keep saying is that single family home purchases within proximity of the urban core really lock your land value if you buy it to the long Miami thesis. And then they do. And now we're actually seeing at the single family home market at all price points below 500,000. Cause at the lower price points, that's where the volume was Is actually up year over year, or the condo market is not, and I believe that, as it becomes very obvious to everyone over time that Miami is still in its early days, that this realization will become clear that those single family home purchases lock in land value. I think it's like a scarcity thing, cause we think about just the number of prime lots. We can't build more of them, yes, whereas you can build more condos heat over the core, which you can't for single family. I think we're starting to see this realization reflected in the market.
Speaker 2:I love it, so always a good thing. I think the new year is gonna bring in some good stuff, and I think we're seeing a lot of cool announcements around the new year.
Speaker 1:I think, it's all, I agree, I agree. I think it's still early days, as we keep saying, and I think that that's just a period of the country that we're in and the reality that we have here in Miami and some other places that are on the receiving end of the wealth and talent migration. That reality will be seen to diverge from others. Yeah, cool.
Speaker 2:All right, guys. Well, thank you for watching and if you ever want us to cover anything or talk about anything, please, leave them in the comments or. Dm us, DM either of us. We have any tea you want spilled. We are happy to help with that.
Speaker 1:But once again, thank you, guys, and have a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Thank you.
