High-End South Florida Homes+$285mm Estate
1-19-25
Opening Comments
My last note was about my love of padel and all the gear. The most opened links were the berry that promotes weight loss and the video of the best padel points of 2024. nteresting to note: I’ve been hearing from more readers across the country who are feeling under the weather lately.
More of my readers have bought Eight Sleep products. The Pod is a high-tech mattress cover, and readers love it. The Pod uses precision temperature control to regulate your body's sleep cycles. It can cool down to 55°F or warm up to 110°F, and it does this separately for each side of the bed. One engineer from NY said, “I am enjoying the Eight Sleep Pod. My wife sleeps warmer and at different times than I do, and the dual control adds a luxury-like dimension to temp control before and during sleep. She and I feel it’s adding a lot of quality to our sleep throughout the evening. It’s a luxury purchase with the benefits of great sleep. Importantly, I do enjoy the text messages with the sleep reports. Thank you again for writing about the product and catching my attention!“ I sleep so well with it that I hate to travel. My recent sleep reports show I’m getting 1.5 hours more sleep each night since using the Eight Sleep pod. Lastly, I also use the Oura Ring and find that the sleep summaries are far more accurate with Eight Sleep. Reminder, my readers get a discount when using code ROSEN. A handful of readers purchased this weekend alone.
Video of the Day-Warren Buffett Story About an Amazing Woman
Markets
Bill Gates “BIG” Mistake
MBA Hiring Down
CA Insurance Woes
Alien Spacecraft
Biden Farewell Speech
NYC Apartment Values Rising
Deficiency Judgements in CA
Home Purchase Deals Falling Through At Record Rate
Starter Homes in the US
Video of the Day-Warren Buffett Story About An Amazing Woman
Buffett tells the story of a woman who sold used clothes for 20 years to save $2,500 by 1937 to start a furniture store. A woman who couldn’t read or write built a thriving business through sheer determination. Without formal education or English skills, she sold her furniture store, Nebraska Furniture Mart, to Warren Buffett in 1983 for $60 million. Today, it’s still part of Berkshire Hathaway, generating over $1.5 billion in annual sales.
High-End South Florida Homes+$285mm Estate
South Florida’s high-end real estate has exploded in value, especially since the pandemic. In today’s note, I thought I would put some of this into perspective given a friend of mine has a $285mm listing in Manalapan, Florida.
For many reasons, wealth has steadily migrated to the Sunshine State over the past few decades. Internationally, we’ve seen an influx of people from Latin America, Europe, Russia, and Asia, while domestically, COVID accelerated a significant flow from the Northeast, Midwest, and California. The reasons are many. I left NYC in 2017, and my biggest issues were quality of life, cost of living, weather, and taxes in that order. Sadly, in many once-great cities, things have deteriorated since my departure and made the move more interesting for many. People moving today cite crime/safety, taxes, quality of life, taxes, and overly woke policies as key factors. There is a massive cold front across the country with frigid conditions, while South Florida will see temperatures between 66-81 degrees this week.
The big downsides today are the cost of housing in Florida has skyrocketed, getting into schools is challenging, and joining a golf club that is not part of a community is nearly impossible. We cannot forget the price of hurricane/flood insurance has skyrocketed and it is difficult to get coverage. Despite this, wealthy people continue to move down, and there are a great many transactions above $25mm for homes and condos in the most desirable places e.g., (Miami, Boca, Delray, Highland Beach, Manalapan, Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Jupiter, and Naples). My Douglas Elliman colleague, Devin Kay said, “Pre-pandemic, a $20mm transaction was large. Today, that is the entry point in many buildings or neighborhoods. We are seeing more transactions over $50mm in any given year than South Florida saw in history.”
In my community in Boca Raton, one home sold for over $10mm in 2017. From 2020-2024, 60 homes sold for over $10mm and over a dozen over $20mm. There is one under construction that rumors suggest may ask as much as $70mm.
South Florida has completed a shocking number of transactions approaching and exceeding $100mm as well. There was a recent WSJ article outlining the nine-figure housing market and I wrote about it in this blog post.
The Miami market for ultra-luxury has gone parabolic in recent years. The Surf Club in Surfside sold for $1,700-1,900/ft in 2016/2017. Now, recent transactions have gone for $6,000/ft with some units under construction, as the developers continue to build new buildings given the demand. A recent transaction at the Surf Club involved a hedge fund titan purchasing a unit for $45 million, or roughly $6,000 per square foot – placing it at the high end of Miami condo prices. However, the new Shore Club in Miami Beach is being delivered in 2026, and the last I heard had averaged just under $6,000/ft for the completed sales. The PH in the Shore Club reportedly sold for more than $120mm or over $11,000/ft in 2024. A buyer paid well over $100mm for two Fisher Island penthouses in 2024. The lower penthouse of the Perigon on 53d and Collins went for $7,800/ft or $54mm. Those are in line with the top end of Manhattan (220 CPS). Other buildings such as the Perigon, Apogee, and Continuum have also sold at high prices as well. In Steve Witkoff’s Shell Bay in Hallandale, just this week, a buyer combined SIX apartments to create a 12k/ft condo for $24mm. That has to be the most expensive condo sale in the history of Hallandale by 100%.
When you look at waterfront homes from Miami Beach to Fisher Island to Coconut Grove or Coral Gables, we have seen prices over $50mm. There is a recent rumored sale on Indian Creek for $175mm to a hedge fund titan. Just a couple of months ago, David and Victoria Beckham bought for $72mm on North Bay Road. Barry Diller spent $45mm on a lot on North Bay Road last year as well. On La Gorce Island, a billionaire paid $122mm for 2.9 acres and is building a mansion on it. It is rumored that he bought a place for $55mm to on North Bay Road until his mega mansion is complete. Several new condo buildings have seen sales over $100mm that are yet to be disclosed as the units have not yet been delivered.
Even Jupiter, Florida is in the mix with a sale last week over $50mm in the Bear’s Club.
This article, “One of America’s Priciest Home Listings Hits the Market for $285 Million,” shows an amazing house in Manalapan, Florida, just south of Palm Beach Island. The proposed 50,000-foot main house has a massive garage for car collectors, a bowling alley, a shooting range, a huge wine cellar, gym, and a total of 700 feet of water frontage. The four-acre property is adjacent to Larry Ellison’s compound and spans from the Intracoastal to the Atlantic Ocean. The land was purchased by the developer for $27mm, but the house is yet to be built.
The potential buyer can use the existing plans and build with the developer or create their own plans based on their needs. The listing broker, Nick Malinosky, is a friend who sent me the renderings below from Gladstone Media Inc. Last year, Nick covered for me when I caught COVID and needed to show houses to a client in Boynton Beach. Nick said, “the builder, Stewart Satter, will give the buyer the ability to customize the home.” Nick has four showings of the property this week alone. Yes, demand for high-end South Florida properties is real.
The power of the Rosen Report is real. On Saturday, I was playing padel with my son and a reader. The reader the brought up the fact that he knew the developer of the house, Satter, and connected me. He said, “It is a one-of-a-kind lot that cannot be found anywhere. My passion and hobby is building extraordinary homes and plan to do that again here.”
South Florida is attracting many of the wealthiest and most successful people in the world for good reason. I believe the tragic fires in LA will push more California residents to South Florida as well.
Remember, I am with Douglas Elliman and can help you on your housing needs. I am focused on high-end homes from Miami to Jupiter and bring in partners when and where needed.
Quick Bites
The markets have been on a wild ride as conflicting inflation data caused big sell offs and rallies recently. For the week, the Dow and S&P 500 advanced 3.7% and 2.9%, respectively. Both indexes posted their biggest weekly advance since the week of the U.S. presidential election in November. The Nasdaq climbed 2.5% week to date for its best one-week performance since early December. The VIX closed sub 16 after hitting 28 one month ago. The 10-Year Treasury yield rallied 15bps on the week to close at 4.62% after hitting 4.8% on 1/13. The big move lower in yield was driven by better than expected core inflation data. Oil gained over 1% on the week largely due to broader sanctions on Russian oil producers and tankers and closed at $78/barrel. Bitcoin rallied back on the Trump trade and closed over $104k after falling as low as $91k earlier in the week.
I thought this was an interesting story about Bill Gates and his “BIG Mistake.” "Sorry, Bill": Android co-founder says Bill Gates is responsible for "the greatest mistake of all time," costing Microsoft $400 billion. During an interview with Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates revealed his greatest mistake while running the software giant, indicating: “The greatest mistake of all time is the mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is.” As a result, Google ended up developing Android before Microsoft, arguably the most popular operating system, majorly due to its versatility and high level of customization. While the billionaire claims developing a similar operating system would be "a natural thing for Microsoft to win," he admits mismanagement on his part and an array of antitrust-related issues prevented the company from seizing the opportunity. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates added that if he had seized the opportunity when it presented itself, Microsoft would be the company.
During my Wall Street career, I had many MBA students work on my team. However, with few exceptions, I felt that the best young professionals were the ones hired out of undergrad who developed under our watch. When I brought on MBA students, they came in with an attitude and rarely could deliver. This WSJ article shows substantial growth in the number of MBA students who are not getting jobs after graduation. Twenty-three percent of job-seeking Harvard M.B.A.s who graduated last spring were still looking for work three months after leaving campus. That share is up from 20% the prior year, during a cooling white-collar labor market; the figure was 10% in 2022, according to the school. Harvard isn’t the only elite business school where recent grads seem to be stumbling on their way into the job market. More than a dozen top-tier M.B.A. programs, including those at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and New York University’s Stern School of Business, had worse job-placement outcomes last year than any other in recent memory. Amazon, Google and Microsoft have reduced M.B.A. recruiting, as have consulting firms, recent graduates and business school staff said. McKinsey, for example, cut its M.B.A. hires at Booth to 33, down from 71 the prior year, the school said. I would rarely recommend that a young professional get an MBA–and I have one from the University of Chicago, a place I would NEVER consider going again.
The Treasury Department issued a report on “Climate Related” natural disasters driving up insurance costs. In a voluminous study covering 2018-22 and including some data beyond that, the department found that there were 84 disasters costing $1 billion or more, excluding floods, and that they caused a combined $609 billion in damages. Floods are not covered under homeowner policies. “Homeowners insurance is becoming more costly and less accessible for consumers as the costs of climate-related events pose growing challenges to both homeowners and insurers alike,” said Nellie Liang, undersecretary of the Treasury for domestic finance. In a separate article from the WSJ, a proposed rule change by California’s insurance regulator could shift a significant portion of wildfire losses to the state. The new policy affects the backstop for California’s Fair Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort, which sells fire-damage policies to homeowners who can’t get coverage elsewhere. The worry is that the Fair Plan lacks the resources to pay for the quickly escalating cost of the fires, which have destroyed tens of thousands of structures. The Fair Plan’s business ballooned after private insurers pulled back from the state, gearing up for a disaster by not renewing policies as their risk models warned of likely conflagrations. As the blazes spread, estimates of the financial toll keep rising. Analysts at Morningstar DBRS now forecast insured losses of up to $30 billion—the highest for any fire in the world in recent times. If the Fair Plan breaches its financial resources, the state can call on commercial home insurers to pay the rest of the claims, by imposing what’s called an assessment on the companies. This sounds like a mess.
Readers know about my belief in aliens and UFOs. In my view we not alone. the universe is too vast to have earth be the only inhabitable planet. New information is coming out about the recovery of alien spacecraft. I am mesmerized. Roos Coulthart: New whistleblower is about to reveal the FIRST-ever video of a UFO/UAP crash retrieval Air Force veteran Jacob Barber has known the truth for 10 years. “We are not alone.” “People at the highest levels of the intelligence community are telling me it’s time that America knew this secret.” “I’ve been talking now for 2+ years to people who work inside this program, and they’re really frustrated. They want America to know about this, because they’re very excited about these discoveries.” Coulthart shared a segment of his interview with whistleblower and Air Force veteran Jacob Barber. Coulthart remarked that Barber is a highly credible, elite military serviceman: “The man is a former tier 1, elite military serviceman. He’s worked at the highest levels of the US military.” Here is the NY Post story on the matter. This is a longer form video on the subject with multiple credible witnesses. Aliens, feel free to beam me up… just let me record the whole thing! This video goes into more detail about the extraction.
CA Fires
BlackRock billionaire Larry Fink issues dire warning about future of LA after fires
Fink warned it could take 10 years to rebuild, and I agree. The time to get permits, find contractors, get insurance settlements, rebuild-schools, stores, homes, infrastructure, roads, and everything else will take many years. I think people will relocate to other areas of LA and out of the state as well.
A realtor in LA claims that over a dozen homes in Brentwood and Belair over $20mm went under contract in the last week after sitting on the market for ages.
What threats lurk in the smoke and ash of L.A. area fires? New health warnings
New motto of State Farm: Like a Good Neighbor State Farm is NOT There.”
Politics
I listened to Biden’s 17-minute farewell speech and found it a bit dark. I also do not feel he was articulating the speech all that well in yet another sign he is unfit for office for an additional four years. He started by taking full credit for the Israel/Hamas ceasefire and reiterated that in the press conference. I am not convinced that is a fair description, as my intel suggests Trump’s team was very actively involved and Trump’s threats were clear. Biden’s insiders admit Trump impacted the deal. Biden complained about billionaire titans taking over the world and disinformation. I thought that Biden just handed out the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros and David Rubenstein, both billionaires. Soros has donated massive amounts of money to influence outcomes in countless elections weakening major cities across the country. Remember the Twitter Files and Facebook being forced to censor stories due to the Biden Administration’s demands? Zuckerberg said Biden officials would “scream and curse” when seeking removal of Facebook content. Talk about censorship. Lastly, he complained about the wealthy paying their fair share of taxes. I could have sworn he pardoned his son for evading millions in taxes. I had hoped for a more uplifting and less condescending speech but felt his closing about his story was pretty good. I appreciate Biden and his 50-plus years of service to the country. I don’t think his administration will be remembered fondly, and he is going out at his lowest approval ratings. Just like I did with Biden, I will pull for the pilot and hope Trump is effective in his role as President. Here is the take by various media on the speech: Fox, Reuters, AP, NBC News, NYPost/CNN.
There’s been a ‘meaningful shift’ in CEO confidence since Trump’s election, says Goldman’s Solomon
“Additionally, there is a significant backlog from sponsors and an overall increased appetite for dealmaking supported by an improving regulatory backdrop,” he continued.
Treasury Secretary Pick Scott Bessent Says Trump Could Bring ‘New Economic Golden Age’
I don’t understand the constant vilification of successful business-people from the Left. I loved Bessent’s response about these billionaires being self-made. Good video between Bessent and Sanders (VT).
Trump’s Treasury pick Bessent says heavier Russia sanctions coming, no reason for digital currency
I have been pushing for a border wall for years. The biggest mistake of the Biden Administration was the open border policy.
Trump’s first immigration raid to target 300 people in Chicago on Tuesday
Jeffries: With narrow margin, House GOP can’t ‘pass anything close’ to bill Johnson floating
These five Republicans are ready to derail Trump’s tax cuts over the SALT cap
Thousands Gather in Washington to Protest Trump Inauguration
‘We Were Friends for 50 Years’: Jill Biden Reflects Bitterly on Nancy Pelosi’s Betrayal
Pelosi was 100% right in her call. However, it was too late, and Harris was not the right candidate to beat Trump.
Few think Trump's FBI and Justice Department will act fairly: AP-NORC poll
I do not see how it could be worse that it was during the last four years.
The Left is more unpopular than any time since the Cold War – except in Starmer’s Britain
Right-wing groups emerged as global winners after more than 1.5bn voted in over 70 countries last year.
‘Clown Show Alert’: Donald Trump’s ‘Special Envoys’ Announcement Leaves Critics Stunned
Sorry, Donald, Mel Gibson is a Jew-Hating dirtball. He would not be on any commission of mine.
Sweden plans to remove citizenship from people seen as threat to state
America needs to do a better job of this.
Middle East
Israeli security cabinet approves ceasefire and hostage deal
I hope once the hostages are released, a new round of incursions take place into Gaza and every last terrorist is eliminated. Israel must crush Iran, as the funding of terror must end. Here are the names of hostages to be released on Sunday.
Arab officials: Trump envoy swayed Netanyahu more in one meeting than Biden did all year
How Trump’s ‘salty’ envoy may have forced Israel’s hand on hostage deal
‘Aggressive businessman’ Steven Witkoff shook up year-long negotiations and put pressure on Netanyahu to agree ceasefire with Hamas
Other Headlines
DoubleLine’s Gundlach says the Fed looks like Mr. Magoo, focuses too much on ‘short-termism’
Hong Kong Weighs Hiking Taxes on Top Earners for Second Year
Saudi Arabia vows to be ‘fast and furious’ in mining as it reveals $100 billion investment
Hindenburg Research founder says he’s closing short-seller research shop
Tesla is offering Cybertruck discounts as EV market gets crowded
Multiple readers have bought EVs at steep discounts in recent months.
EV, hybrid sales reached a record 20% of U.S. vehicle sales in 2024
Apple has worst day since August following reports of China, AI struggles
TSMC net profit hits record high as fourth-quarter results top expectations on robust AI chip demand
Goldman Sachs Gives Solomon $80 Million to Stay
A year ago, I thought Solomon would be fired. I was wrong.
Target says its holiday sales were better than expected — but its profits weren’t
December Sees Decline in New-Vehicle Affordability, Monthly Payments Hit Six-Month High-Average payment of $756.
TikTok’s U.S. operations could be worth as much as $50 billion if ByteDance decides to sell
Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline
I want it banned. It is dangerous for kids and China is collecting too much data on US citizens. Remember, China does not allow US apps like this in China. CNBC suggests TikTok may go dark Sunday.
NY spends $89bn on school districts this year despite plummeting enrollment and test scores. Per capita spending is +21% since 2020-21. This article suggests lavish teacher benefits are partially to blame.
Florida jury says CNN defamed Navy veteran in story about endangered Afghans
Eating just a quarter serving of these 5 foods every day increases your dementia risk by 13%
US Bans Red Food Dye Over Possible Cancer Risk
Great news. Sadly, it does not go into effect until Jan 2027 for food products and Jan 2028 for ingested drugs.
NYC makes the cut on new 50 best cities in the world list
Bundle up, it’s going to feel like minus 40
Real Estate
I thought this was an interesting article regarding NYC real estate, “NYC Apartment Values Expected to Jump 7.3%.” Residential real estate is poised to lead a comeback in New York City property values amid a housing shortage and still high interest rates capping sales. The market value of the city’s more than 1 million properties is projected to rise 5.7% to $1.6 trillion, in the upcoming fiscal year that begins on July 1, according to a tentative assessment roll released by the Department of Finance Wednesday. Last year, values rose just 0.7%, reflecting the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes. The picture is even better for coops, condos and rental apartment buildings where market values are projected to rise 7.3%. Rents surged after the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by a dearth of inventory. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in New York City rose 21% from Feb. 2020 to September 2024, according to the city comptroller’s office.
I was surprised by this article about deficiency judgements in California. If your home in California sells at a foreclosure sale for less than you owe on your mortgage loan, you might still be on the hook to pay more. That's because, under specific circumstances, California law allows the foreclosing bank to get a deficiency judgment for the difference between the sale price and the total mortgage debt. Under most circumstances, however, California law prohibits deficiency judgments. Fortunately, the majority of foreclosed homeowners in California won't have to pay this kind of judgment. As I understand it, if you bought the home with a mortgage and there is a deficiency, the owner/borrower is not on the hook for the deficiency. If you refinanced, the owner/borrower is on the hook. If this is correct, many banks will take losses.
16.2% of Home Purchase Deals were cancelled last month, the highest cancellation rate in history
© 2025 The Rosen Report LLC. All rights reserved. Does not constitute investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult with your lawyers and professional financial advisers. Rosen Report™ #754 ©Copyright 2025 Written By Eric Rosen.
