Lucky college students or those graduating from the university may soon find themselves first time condominium owners. Luxury condo developers are eyeing wealthy parents looking to gift their children with a real estate property as their new target market.
According to South Florida's The Real Deal, a few parents have opted to invest in a condominium property as a future present for their children who are graduating from college . Bruce Namin, a builder, architect and president of Namin Construction, is one of those parents since he purchased a pre-construction condo unit for his son at the Paramount Miami Worldcenter. Namin plans to gift the apartment to his son once he graduates from the Nova Southeastern University in a few years. The builder and architect also revealed that he bought a similar property for his daughter while she was still in medical school.
Namin told the Real Deal how he believed it was a "good investment" and that he "liked the design and the building." He shared that the condo property will be ready by 2019, so it will be graduation gift for his son.
Sheri Pasqual, president of Strategy Media Services in New York, also told the publication how the developers' strategy has worked well in cities such as Boston or Chapel Hill. Luxury condo builders are reportedly hoping that the trend will pay off in South Florida as well. These developers are said to be eyeing wealthy parents of foreign students.
Pasqual said, "There are some colleges that have a large international student base. For example, Boston University has a huge international student population." She added that there is also a "huge opportunity" in the area given the number of Chinese students in the University of Miami.
Meanwhile, a few parents have also opted to acquire apartments or condo units for their children who are going off to college, reports the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). These parents are looking to have their kids stay in their own apartment instead of a college dorm. Aside from having a residence for their children during college, the real estate property can also serve as possible retirement location for the parents or a future rental property.
Michele Gradin, a Corcocan real estate agent, told the WSJ that a lot of people are already embracing this strategy. She said that it's a smart way of "taking their money and making it go to work, with their children in mind."
