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Commercial Property News Online , June 15, 2005
Swerdlow Team Launches Condo Listing Site
By Suzann D. Silverman, Editor-in-Chief
In the heat of Florida's condominium market, the principals of developer Swerdlow Group and New York City merchant banker James Haft have launched an online marketing service to bring the investment community together. Through USCONDEX, U.S. Condo Exchange L.L.C. provides developers, investors, individuals, lenders and others seeking to be involved in the condo market with information on available properties, along with the potential for brokerage services.
"We're trying to create a larger marketplace," explained CEO Richard Swerdlow, He noted that the national Multiple-Listing Service cannot be searched more broadly than by county, with individuals unable to enter listings without working through a broker. In addition, he described the USCONDEX venue as more transparent than what is now available, because a user--an individual as well as a broker--can easily find all the details they need there.
The site includes three components:
- a listing engine that allows developers to list large or multiple buildings and individuals to list independently
- licensing of its technology to condo developers to ease their management processes
- and a commission-based brokerage aspect with representation possible for both buyers and sellers.
Swerdlow said the site is more cost effective than many other marketing means. The listing of an entire building costing $2,500 per month, could equate to $7 per unit for a 350-unit property.
Swerdlow is starting with South Florida because of the company's own presence there, with both its headquarters and 8,000 to 10,000 of condo units currently under development in the area. What's more, the region is "setting the pace in terms of the way properties are marketed, the way properties are financed," Swerdlow said.
But it then plans to expand into Las Vegas and then possibly New York City or San Diego, with ultimate plans to be in 10 or 12 of the top U.S. condo markets. With multiple sources of income--including advertising by lenders, furniture vendors and others--the company's principals are not concerned about future cooling of the condo market, though Swerdlow claimed he is "very bullish" on the sector.
He is not the only one. Among the plethora of investors, developers and lenders rushing to make the most of opportunities in the condo business is Carlton Advisory Services Inc., which added to its roster of debt and equity capitalizations of condo conversions the listing of three Class A apartment communities in the hottest U.S. condo market.
Carlton brokers Michael Campbell and Steven Fenster have been hired to arrange $245 million in floating-rate debt and preferred-equity financing for the acquisition and conversion of the 1,400 units in two properties in Orlando and one in Coconut Creek. "Florida is one of the strongest condo conversion markets in the country," said Fenster, although he also pointed out that the properties, being acquired by an experienced developer, are of market-rate housing, not higher-end product. "In certain areas, investors are coming in and buying a large percentage of the units and people are concerned that it's going to blow up," he added. "(This is) not that market."
http://www.cpnonline.com/cpn/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000962667
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