Jorge Perez joined Donald Trump Jr. Friday for a familiar task: selling a posh and pricey condominium high-rise on the ocean.

How hard has that become lately? Perez says he is directing most of his sales energy toward people who have already signed sales contracts to buy units.

``We are going to concentrate our efforts on the existing buyers first,'' Perez said in the glass-walled ``cigar room'' of the Trump Hollywood, a 41-story oceanfront condo where the cheapest unit sells for about $1 million. ``What can we do to get you to close?''

Some buyers who once felt fortunate to get in early with a luxe condo like the Trump Hollywood now are regretting their decisions, in some cases suing to break contracts. Others are simply walking away from deposits that can top $200,000.

The extreme buyer's remorse is remaking South Florida's condo market, as embattled developers try to replace the lost contracts with new ones -- almost always at a lower price. That has sparked a new wave of speculators scooping up luxury condominiums at middle-market prices, all trying to guess the bottom of a historic real estate crash.

``People are thinking they need to buy this summer so they can flip them this winter,'' said Peter Zalewski, founder of the Condo Vultures brokerage and a top analyst of South Florida's condo market.

Perez is chairman of Florida's Related Group, the most prolific condo developer in the state. He thrived when investors scooped up preconstruction contracts with a vengeance -- many in hopes of flipping them once the project was finished. But as the market collapsed, Related hit hard times, particularly at the sprawling Icon off Miami's Brickell Avenue.

With nearly 1,700 units finished at the same time, Perez didn't have enough buyers to pay off the $700 million in construction loans. That left him to negotiate with the Icon lenders to gain more time for the market to recover and find buyers for the posh apartments.

The Trump Hollywood project, launched in 2007, was a pairing of two giants of the previous condo-flipping era. Related has a following among Latin American real estate investors, while Donald Trump, who licensed his name to the Hollywood project, was seen as adding a premium to a condo's sales price just from the celebrity developer's appeal.

On Friday, Related invited local reporters, lenders and sales staff for a lunchtime reception at the recently completed Trump Hollywood.

As waiters passed canapés and wine on the lobby's polished marble floor, the 31-year-old Trump -- an occasional star in his father's reality show, The Apprentice -- and Perez touted the project's amenities amid the empty humidors reserved for future owners.

The tower's elevators open into individual units, which have as much as 3,000 square feet of interior space. Residents can dine in a private bistro downstairs or receive massage treatments at the spa.

Zalewski sees the ``over-the-top'' elements as a mixed bag in this condo market. The extras help the Trump Hollywood stand out from other ``cookie-cutter'' condos, where the lowest price tends to win out in an extreme buyer's market.

But with prices averaging around $700 a foot, Trump Hollywood's large floor plans mean the units can only get so cheap; Perez is asking $7 million for the biggest apartments.

``It's a daunting task,'' Zalewski said of selling out the Trump Hollywood.

The younger Trump lamented that condo buyers nationwide, realizing they've made a bad investment, are suing to undo their purchases -- often by claiming a defect in a sales contract.

``These are the people who are now going into a 400-page document trying to find the missing comma,'' he said. ``The developer is always made out to be the bad guy.''

With more than 60 percent of Trump Hollywood's 200 units under contract, Perez hopes the Trump brand and the building's sprawling interiors will persuade enough original owners to stick with him.

``We have a lot of people who are very interested in closing,'' Perez said. ``We're hoping we will have to discount very little to sell to the buyers we have.''

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@