South Florida report

Oui, Oui: French are invading SF market

First, it was the Brazilians and the Venezuelans. Now, it’s the French and Canadians who are snapping up South Florida’s real estate.

The French took the top spot after they went on a buying spree this spring, according to Lanham and Associates, citing a report from the Miami Association of Realtors.

Lanham attributes the keen interest in the Sunshine State to taxes — Florida doesn’t tax personal income, and France and Canada both have steep rates — as well as the region’s year-round warm weather and solid rental market.

Nearly all foreign buyers, regardless of what country they are from, are doing all-cash deals. Two-thirds of all home sales in Miami close without financing from a lender; six years ago, only a fifth of sales were all-cash.

Elliman taps real estate lawyer to head Florida operations

The new head of Douglas Elliman’s Florida operations is an attorney who started both a title company and a lending firm.

Jay Parker replaces Vanessa Grout, 34, who has returned to the brokerage’s parent company, New Valley LLC, as senior vice president of its realty division.

Parker, 40, helped found the law firm Beloff Parker Jacobs as well as Clear Title LLC and Titan Capital Florida LLC. He began his legal career in the real estate department of Miami law firm Gunster Yoakley and spent a year in New York City as general counsel of LandTel Communications.

Dubai ready to sell back Fontainebleau stake to Turnberry

Dubai is close to unloading its 50 percent stake in Miami Beach’s famed Fontainebleau hotel to Turnberry Associates, its partner in the property.

Turnberry, an Aventura-based developer, needs to raise at least $360 million to reclaim its role as sole owner of the 1,504-room tourist destination.

Dubai, through its global investment arm Istithmar World, forked over $375 million in 2007 when Turnberry needed the cash to finish up a $700 million renovation of the nearly 60-year-old resort.

Drug traffickers launder profits through Miami condo buys

South American drug lords have found an easy way to launder their dirty profits — all-cash real estate deals — and the flow of illegal money is driving up home prices and spurring residential development in Miami.

The federal government is seeking to seize 77 properties in Miami-Dade County over criminal prosecutions with three months left in the year, compared with 59 in calendar 2012 and 41 in all of 2011.

Real estate, according to the South Florida Business Journal, is one of the easiest ways for cocaine traffickers to hide their dealings: They wire the funds to a foreign bank and then form a limited liability corporation to buy property; the LLC supplies a wire transfer or a cashier’s check for an all-cash closing.

Federal regulators are pressuring banks and mortgage brokers to spot money laundering, but looser rules for all-cash sales make it an easy way to cover up illicit funds.