The Other Side of Tampa Renting

What kills me about Tommy Duncan is he runs brain dead posts that are so far off base. Case in point is his latest blockquote opus on how great the renters market is in downtown. He links to a Forbes article as proof. It's always good to take Forbes with a grain of salt.

"Take South Florida. Miami and Tampa are vastly oversupplied in the condo market and both are seeing significant price declines," Matt Woolsey of Forbes writes. "As a result, luxury condos built to be sold are instead being rented, and damaging luxury rents."

The condominium projects downtown went bust. The Trump Tower Tampa project has to either acquire $300 million in financing or the project is history. The reason there are so condo many vacancies is potential renters are staying away.

SkyPoint's developers forged ahead and already plan two more developments, one of which is under construction. But the market tanked, and now Blank, who is asking $1,500 a month in rent for her approximately 800-square-foot condo, can't find any takers. She blames the lack of services downtown, such as dry cleaners and a grocery store.

Part of the reason for Blank's trouble may be that many buyers had the same idea. There are 286 condominiums in 15 buildings in downtown Tampa listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service, a database used by real estate professionals. An additional 127 downtown condos are advertised for rent on craigslist, a popular online bulletin board of items for sale or lease. Some of the units listed for sale are by developers or real estate agents, but many are owned by individuals trying to resell.

People that have bought condos have regretted their decision.

Buyer's remorse is also causing problems for some developers. Cindy Cicala plunked down a 10% deposit on a $370,000 two-bedroom condo in a new project in Tampa, Fla., in August 2004 -- a time when investors were elbowing each other aside to sign contracts. The site was particularly attractive to Ms. Cicala because, in addition to superb views, her unit was to be finished by August 2006, making it one of the first high-rise residences to be built in the city's reviving downtown.

But in April, 2005, the developer asked for an extension. "It was just one delay after another," says Ms. Cicala, a 51-year-old residential-mortgage broker. She decided she didn't want to close on the condo, claiming the developer hadn't held up its end of the contract. Ms. Cicala says she asked for her deposit back but hasn't received it, so she sued under a federal law that guarantees condos must be delivered within two years unless the developer can prove certain extenuating circumstances.

Her attorney, Harry Lee Coe IV, says Ms. Cicala and other clients "are seeing their investing potential has dwindled, and they are now no longer at the front of the pack -- and you don't want to be in the middle of the pack in a bad or down market."

Condo renting and owning has become a nightname for Tampa residents. Many condo projects have gone belly up because of a lack of demand and financing. Tommy Duncan says otherwise because he spent 30 seconds reading an article.