MV Group magnifies luxury home values for clients in South Florida
Pictured: Manny Angelo Varas, President and CEO of MV Group
Award-winning luxury home builder MV Group USA delivers dream homes along with a proven ability to elevate the design and market value of the finished product.
“What really sets us apart is our ability to analyze the design process being done by the architects and the interior designers to calculate what that budget will be and understand what the terminal value of that property will be once it’s complete,” says Manny Angelo Varas, president and CEO of Florida-based MV Group. Effectively, MV Group reverse engineers a project versus the traditional design-build model. “During the process we want people to understand how much they can invest in the property and how much that investment will impact the future value of the property, whether they plan to live in the home or sell that property once a project is completed,” adds Varas.
MV Group is a licensed general contractor and construction manager with more than 16 years of experience building luxury and ultra-luxury homes in marquis neighborhoods in Miami and South Florida. Varas also holds a LEED AP certification with knowledge and expertise in working with sustainable designs and materials. MV Group specializes in delivering intricate, complex projects. For example, the firm is currently the general contractor on the largest home construction project in Miami Dade County with a 26,000-square-foot home set on 7 acres on Old Cutler Road. When complete, the home will be a $50 million residence with features that include a 170-foot long Olympic style infinity pool, bowling alley and wine cellar.
Elite home builder
The Florida firm has been ranked among the top five best home builders and top three general contractors of homes for over $6 million dollars in Florida by GC Builders magazine. Its homes are consistently a top choice for the elite market, including Fortune 500 CEOs, real estate developers, celebrities and athletes. MV Group projects also have been featured in Architectural Digest twice in the past year.
In many cases, MV Group is coordinating a design team that includes a prestigious roster of architects and designers, such as Kobi Karp and Piero Lissoni. In addition, the company was Giorgio Armani’s owners’ representative and builder for Residences by Armani/Casa, the first ever residence designed by Giorgio Armani and Armani / Casa. “MV Group is a great company to work with, from the administration to the construction people to the trades. They were just a pleasure to work with,” says Kobi Karp, an award-winning Miami-based architect.
The firm has a consistent track record of delivering significant outsized returns for clients. For example, the company was the general contractor and construction advisor on a project in Cocoplum, the exclusive gated community in Coral Gables. The waterfront property was purchased for $3.5 million; the existing home was torn down and the owner invested $5 million to build a new 7,000 square foot home – the first flat roof home in the neighborhood. That home sold at $16 million – nearly double the cost of the acquisition and construction – and set a new record high per square foot price for Cocoplum at $2,300.
In the traditional design-build model, a client goes to the architect to design a house, and then takes that design to the builder. Oftentimes, what happens is that the client has to backtrack and value engineer the design to adjust the budget, which adds time, expense and can affect the final outcome of the design. “What we do at MV Group is really understand what that future value is going to be and make sure that the design team and the design components effectively work with that property,” says Varas. “Where will investment in certain components or features deliver results, and where is it prudent to pull back on certain costs?”
For example, MV Group built a Kobi Karp designed home in Miami’s exclusive Bay Point neighborhood. The owner bought the land for $4.6 million and spent $6 million on construction “We had to be selective on some of the design components as we wanted to make sure we didn’t overinvest because the neighborhood hadn’t yet seen ultra-high values,” says Varas. Ultimately, the finished home sold for $16 million. That advice helped the owner realize $7.4 million in value, and the project also has helped to transform the neighborhood and contributed to higher property values for all neighbors.
Robust pipeline of projects
Whereas some segments of the housing market have been impacted by higher interest rates, the luxury and ultra luxury sector has seen more of a reverse effect. MV Group has an active pipeline with roughly $150 million in projects scheduled to begin over the next 24 months that span new ground-up construction, teardowns and extensive renovations.
“Some of our clients have pulled out of the stock market and instead are investing more in their homes and their properties in Florida. So we’ve seen a lot of both relocation buyers, as well as existing owners, that instead of just having their money in the public market are investing more in their homes with the understanding that there is a terminal value to that property,” says Varas. “They recognize that the investment they are making is not an expense, but it is truly an investment that is creating value.”
Regardless of whether the client’s objective is to build a home to live in for the next 30 years, or an investment to sell, MV Group works to educate its client on the fact that every dollar they’re spending has a terminal value. If a client buys a property for $5 million, spends $2 million on a renovation and realizes $10 million in future value, the client doesn’t need to sell the property to see that gain. For example, an owner could use that value gain to refinance a home and pull equity out, or use the home as collateral on a loan, which translates to an unrealized gain that is a nontaxable event.
“We’re excited that we are creating these values for owners, as well as the collaboration that we have with the brokerage community. Regardless of the designer or architect that they choose or the style of home they are choosing, MV Group helps the client to understand what the right investment amount or cost is actually going to be, and what items they can invest in that are going to yield the most value. “As the construction advisor, we are working with the realtor and the architectural and design team as a collaborative force,” says Varas.
To view more on MV Group’s “Magnifying Value” campaign, click here.