Don’t want to hand over the cash for a 50 percent deposit on a multimillion-dollar condo in the middle of a pandemic? The developer of a boutique condo project in Coral Gables is launching a new financing program to appeal to buyers who may have their money tied up elsewhere, or don’t want to pony up a hefty cash deposit.
Location Ventures, led by Rishi Kapoor, is offering zero-interest loans for 50-percent deposits on units at Villa Valencia, a 39-unit project under construction at 515 Valencia Avenue. Kapoor said the offer is available for the next five contracts.
Buyers would likely put up their primary homes as collateral, and face a due date of 90 days after closing to pay back the loan. The building is expected to be delivered at the of August 2021. “Many of our buyers have little or no mortgage debt,” he said.
The partners behind Location Ventures are financing the program, Kapoor said, adding that the program is meant to appeal to “people unsure of what to do with their money” right now.
“They don’t touch their credit lines, they don’t touch their savings,” he added.
Location Ventures has sold seven units so far, or 18 percent of the project, to six local buyers and one buyer from Mexico. Sales launched in early 2019 with Jorge Uribe of One Sotheby’s International Realty.
Units are priced from $1.65 million to $14.9 million, with a median price of about $3 million. They will range from 2,800 square feet to 3,276 square feet with three to four bedrooms, excluding penthouses.
Kapoor said the sales team is hosting virtual presentations and is in talks with prospective buyers from the Northeast.
The developer is self-financing the project. Construction has not been impacted by the pandemic, Kapoor said.
Villa Valencia will have a lobby lounge, garden, valet, and more than 19,000 square feet of amenities, including a drawing room, kitchen, boardroom and conference center, library, entertainment areas, pool deck with summer kitchens, a fitness center, and dog park.
Condo sales in Coral Gables – excluding new development – increased slightly in the first quarter of this year, according to the recently released Elliman Reports. Sixty-five units sold, a 3.2 percent increase from the same period last year. The luxury condo market, defined as the upper 10 percent of the market, remained stagnant, with 7 sales in the first quarter.