Real Estate Blog

Land is scarce throughout Florida’s Tampa Bay area, and that combined with it being a popular place to live during an era when owning your own home is popular, and fairly easy to do with interest rates at all-time lows are some of the reasons for the rising rondo, or condo-conversion trend. Rondos are created by converting an apartment into a condo, which is deeded then sold by a developer. Because the overall cost of converting an apartment building or apartment complex into condos is less expensive than developing fresh, new condos, condo-conversions have become both popular and profitable for developers. In fact, a developer contacted me just last week about doing a condo-conversion and an associate and I are currently working to secure a site for his project. This article from RISMedia’s Real Estate News, courtesy the St. Petersburg Times, may give you more of an idea as to why rondos are so popular. Here’s a snippet:

Five percent of Tampa’s apartment stock and 11 percent of Pinellas’ have or are expected to “go rondo.” That’s about 10,300 conversions since 2003.

Like a single family home, a rondo’s pull comes down to location, price, amenities and quality. That’s why Atlantic American Realty Group snagged the Cloisters apartments (now Fountains at Countryside), just north of Westfield Shoppingtown Countryside. Built in the 1980s, the 168-unit complex has concrete firewalls between some units.

Each unit is gutted. All pipes, flooring, air conditioning and kitchen equipment are replaced. A butterfly garden, Pilates room and 11-person jacuzzi are planned.

Prices range from $101,500 to $157,000 — far lower than $167,000, the median single family home price for Tampa Bay. Forty-one units sold in three weeks.

Villa Sonoma, near Tampa’s International Plaza, doesn’t offer golf lessons or wine cellars. The location and construction is enough.

“We’ve sold 60 percent in just eight weeks,” said Michael Caggiano, sales manager.

Yes, converting apartments into condos is both profitable and popular for developers, and in most cases it makes upscale living more easily attainable at lower prices. We’re not making our developer-client’s project public yet, as we have yet to secure the site for it, but you can still contact me now to get more information on a luxurious new rondo at below luxury prices (usually under $200,000 - depending on location), or ask to receive information on our client-developer’s project when information is available. Some of the nicer condo-conversion projects around Tampa Bay are Itopia, the Waterford, the Audubon at Feather Sound, the Fountains at Countryside and The Beacon in downtown St. Petersburg. For more condo-conversion news, check out this recent article from the Tampa Bay Business Journal. As more apartments are converted to condos, experts expect rents to rise. However, with apartments being sold to developers for condo-conversion purposes in large numbers and with apartment companies converting their own apartments into condos, you just have to wonder if the days of profitting from renting property to tenants are over here in Tampa Bay.

Around the Web:

The Home Blog: Rondos, Condos, and Bears, oh my!

St. Petersburg Times: Tampa Bay Times: A home that’s not a house

St. Petersburg Times: Tampa Bay Times: As rentals go rondo, renters may face hikes

St. Petersburg Times: Tampa Bay Times: Rent vs. Buy

-John Mudd

“Mr. Real Estate”