President of Fortune International Group edgardo defaultuna The Cordoba native has lived in Miami for 40 years. Current South Florida Real Estate Market and Opportunities.
In a conversation with Mr. Punto a Punto, he also reflected on the economic situation in Argentina and the role of trust in business, and predicted that he would be looking for investors in Córdoba and the region with more than USD 1 million.
–I came back to Cordoba after a long time. What kind of panorama did you encounter?
– I came recently, so I haven’t seen it much, but it’s very beautiful from a weather perspective, and it’s divine at this time. And the people are very friendly, reminding me of my childhood. I see people who are more optimistic and want to do something. So that’s always nice.
– Why doesn’t Fortune have any more projects in Cordoba or Buenos Aires?
– There’s been so much movement in the real estate market in South Florida and especially Miami over the past 10 years, and we’ve been so busy that it doesn’t make much sense to put effort or capital into anything else, and we know how best to do it. We partnered with a group in Paraguay to implement a three-major tower project in Paraguay called Jay Park in Asuncion, but this is the only one we have done outside the region. We have seven projects in development and 28 projects sold exclusively by our brokers and sales team.
– How big are these projects?
-Currently, the total revenue of a typical project is between 500 million and 1 billion. Sanrilson (St. Regis Sunny Isles) sells for 2.3 billion or 2.4 billion. 1.2 billion jobs. Casa Tua is 1.1 billion.
– What is it like to compete in a dynamic market like Miami?
-What we have done very well is to maintain marketing and sales in a very successful manner. And because of our reach and marketing, even our competitors hire us to sell their products.
I always say that when I go into sales or marketing meetings with competitors, I think like a developer, not a marketer. Because we are very close. Because marketers want the lowest price, best product, and best location, and that’s not always possible.
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– What is the Miami buyer profile like?
It is hard to say that there is an average Fortune product. Miami is divided into areas. There’s the Brickell Financial District and downtown Miami, where the product is smaller. On the other hand, on the beach, people look for a second, third or primary home with a different character. Buyers are very demanding of healthy living and are very concerned about nutrition, health and longevity. So the Brickell project also has great gyms, very important spas, people coming to talk about nutrition and art and things like that. Because that’s what today’s buyers are looking for.
– Will overseas buyers continue to be the mainstream?
Yes, but many buyers are from the US mainland, people moving from New York to Miami, California, and even Texas. The governments in these states are very passive and heavily penalize high-income earners. So there’s been very significant intrastate migration, and that’s been magnified by COVID-19. People moved to escape life in the 40th floor prison. They couldn’t get off the train or ride the elevator. They came to Miami and at least walked outside or went out on a boat. At the time, they intended to flee, but many stayed and mobilized some of their companies after realizing how great the South Florida lifestyle was.
– Has Miami become a true business hub?
– Before promoting Miami, people preferred Miami as a beach, but now there is a real business ecosystem. It’s much more permanent, due to the same factors that caused people from the United States to move to Miami. There were always people coming from Latin America to do business, such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia, but it wasn’t permanent. In this case, everyone is concentrating, and it feels like people are bringing people.
– Why did this concentration occur?
-Meanwhile, other states impose taxes. Quality of life, on the other hand, was previously seasonal but is now distributed throughout the year. There is a communication and transportation system that facilitates everything. Many people spend a few days in New York and the rest of the week in Miami, or vice versa. Even in California, it’s a 5-6 hour trip, but the ease of travel has changed dramatically. Millionaires feel very comfortable in Miami and can run their companies just as they would in New York or California.
Powney cuts operations in cities where Millais wins
– What do you think about the current market profitability?
-Both price appreciation and investment returns are much more attractive today than in the past. It used to be a pipe dream to talk about a billion dollar project, but now most people are talking about projects that cost $500 to $1000 or even more. We’re pretty competitive with New York on price right now because New York has gone down and up. What makes all of this even more certain is that it is no longer temporary. Miami has previously been highly cyclical during times of economic downturns in Latin America and dollar imbalances. Nowadays, that doesn’t happen because there is demand from almost all over the world.
– What is the purpose of visiting Argentina? Are you looking for new investors?
-absolutely. There are a growing number of investors, many of whom are farmers. There was a lack of knowledge about how easy it is to invest in capital, not necessarily to buy units. We are inviting investors to become shareholders in the project and provide capital, purchase the land and carry out all development. They own part of the project. Many of the people who have invested in us recently are farmers here in the region. They had no expectations and no information. They needed to diversify, so they bought an apartment in their city, and now they find out they can participate in projects worth more than $1 million and be part of a development in Miami.
– How do you view the economic situation in Argentina?
-Miley attended the American Business Forum in Miami and basically said, “We are an example of capitalism properly understood.” Government needs to be involved as little as possible. Governments must try to regulate things, help entrepreneurs succeed, and remove obstacles for both investors and local businessmen. You have to understand that if you have clarity on where money goes in and out, and where the labor and tax parts are clear, you can do some really great things. Having clear rules makes decision-making much easier.
– They are developing new investment models linked to Globant and blockchain. What is it about?
– My son said to me, “Dad, why do you only bring in investors over 1 million?” We worked with the folks at Global to create a blockchain-based platform that tokenized assets and was much easier to manage. Investors have their own wallets and tokens and can make investments of $1,000, $10,000, or $100,000. At first it seemed unrealistic to me, but when you want diversification and dollarization and the flexibility of knowing if it’s on your phone and it’s worth $1000 or $1100 today, it’s like Robinhood of stocks. I think it’s coming, and it’s going to be important to be the first mover to be able to tokenize some assets.
– Finally, can Fortune develop again in Cordoba?
– I hope that in the near future we will be able to do something similar to what we did in Paraguay. Today I was with a client who bought an apartment in Paraguay, and he said to me: “Why don’t Cordoba or Buenos Aires have buildings like Paraguay or Miami?” If Paraguay can do it, it could totally happen here.
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