Weve all heard the expression if these walls could talk. But the walls behind me man, would they have some stories. This is 93 palm, better known as al capones mansion. Al capone, commissar of vice and corruption, became a frontpage figure and a millionaire. Capone was americas most notorious gangster, running the prohibitionera chicago mob known for bootlegging, smuggling, prostitution, and guess what murder. In 1927, capone came to miami beach and secretly bought the compound under someone elses name. Now, 93 palm has been renovated and turned into an upscale venue for shooting films and videos. The 6,000squarefoot main house, it sits on a 30,000squarefoot lot overlooking biscayne bay on palm island between miami and miami beach. This is a private beach of the mansion. Every six months, we bring new sand. The new italian owners paid 8 million for the Property Plus a nearly 2 million renovation. We found it in very bad condition. When we bought this property, we decided to save it. But they made sure to maintain many of the original details. Now we are in the bathroom of the cabana. All the structure is original. This is the original window. As many 1920s touches as possible were kept, including the wood multipane windows, some original light fixtures, fireplaces, and art deco features such as goldandblack powder room. We want to show you the al capone bath. This is completely the design from al capone. And its a clear example of the art deco style. And the tiles are amazing. Its everything, its original. The estate is actually a collection of three houses the main villa, a gatehouse, and a twostory cabana. Al capone wanted to be protected from the land and from the sea. The guesthouse, which served as the guardhouse during capones days, has peepholes that would help determine if a visitor could be let in, and its protected by a 7foot wall and a heavy gate. Al capone used his palm Island Estate as a getaway from his life as a bigtime chicago gangster. Its a mediterranean flavor, and this historical building, its a part of the eastern United States and of miami. When capone moved in in 1927, he immediately began over 100,000 worth of upgrades. He built this pool, which at the time was the largest privately owned Swimming Pool in the area, connected to the bay with a filtration system able to handle both sea and freshwater. Capone added a new dock for his speedboats, new garages, a boathouse, and details like rock gardens and fountains. I want to show you the grotto, the bridge, and the lighthouse. The coral and rock grotto lighthouse and bridge is where al and sonny capone would feed their tropical fish. Here we are in the al capone master bedroom with a bath and with a closet. You can see a lot of windows, but the view is amazing. There is a very mediterranean flavor inside this room. Once word got out that it was actually al capone whod bought the house, the miami officials, well, they were outraged. The authorities pledged to do whatever they could to keep capone out and show that he was not welcome to the area. And so there were multiple arrests and raids on the compound. Instead of leaving, he invited people in and threw wild parties right here on these very grounds. February 14, 1929, the saint valentines day massacre. Seven members of chicagos north side gang were assassinated as they waited for a shipment of bootleg whiskey. While it was widely suspected that capone ordered the hit, well, he had an ironclad alibi. He was relaxing right here on palm island in florida. [ jazz playing ] october 17, 1931, capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion. He was first sent to the u. S. Penitentiary in atlanta but later transferred to alcatraz island. He got out early in 1939, but he left alcatraz sick and a broken man. He retreated to 93 palm to live out his final days. This small bedroom above the front entrance is where al capone spent most of his time, especially near the end. From this bedroom, he was able to watch through the window to see those who were coming and going, and it was here that he died in 1947. Up next, how do you know when its time to move from your starter home to your forever home . Ill tell you and introduce you to a couple who have found paradise by doing it the right way. [ woman vocalizing ] when you think about success, what does it look like . Is it becoming a better professor by being a more adventurous student . Is it one day giving your daughter the opportunity she deserves . Is it finally witnessing all the artistic wonders of the Natural World . Whatever your definition of success is, helping you pursue it, is ours. Tiaa. Welcome back. Im bob massi, the property man. Shopping for a home is one of the biggest things well ever do, and you cant take that process lightly. This is critical picking the right realtor could be the important decision andisthe most important decision you make when buying a home. Its important to understand how long the agents been doing this. Have they gone through the ups and the downs of the market . Because many agents leave the realestate industry once times get tough. And what are their sales . Scott and tamlyn are a young couple raising a family in florida. In the past six years, theyve moved five times. And all were rental properties. Why . Because they wanted to make sure that when it was time to make the Huge Investment of buying a house, it would be their forever home. We dont want to buy something thats not where were going to live for the rest of our lives, so we decided to rent, and were so glad that we decided to do that. We tried neighborhoods that we thought were gonna fit for us, and they didnt. Did you ever get to the point, scott, where you felt, geez, maybe im just throwing good money after bad. You know, im appreciating somebody elses home while im paying rent . Absolutely. That gone through my mind every time we wrote a monthly check. But when we did relocate at one point in my career, we bought a house that we liked based on appeal of the house. We didnt know much about the area. We didnt know much about the neighborhood. And after we lived there, we realized that was not the ideal location for us. So, scott and tamlyn turned to a realtor, warren cleveland. A lot of agents, they dont want to take the time to sit down and discuss whats important. You know, i think thats really key cause with the days of the internet, you can go online, you can find all kinds of information, but sending you 300 properties, which may or may not meet your criteria, that doesnt really help you. I dont care if this takes a week, a month, a year, two years. I mean, weve had clients that have lasted two years until they found the perfect home. When i work with buyers, specifically buyers, i want to make sure they know what they want. What are the things that will make the home the best fit for you over the long haul . When we go through a buyer counseling interview, thats what were trying to get to, and thats an evolving target sometimes. I dont want to look at 100 houses. I want you to take what were looking for, whittle it down to what you can find, cause i know the market is competitive, and i know we need to get out there, and if we find the house, we need to jump on it. What must the house have before you say yes . Water. Okay. Culdesac. Good place for the kids to run around. Theres got to be space for them to play. Its all about priorities. The more you can understand whats important to them in the very beginning, really the more successful this outcome becomes. How did you know that warren was the right person for you . I gave him our checklist. He goes, i can do that. I can get you in a house. I promise you i can get you in a house. And at that point and we sat for an hour on the back porch, and we really talked about what our familys needs were and what we were really looking for. This house is our forever house that were getting. Even when we drove up to the front of the house, we were like, enh. And then we walked through the front doors, and we looked at each other, and we were like, okay so lets sign a contract. Because he knew. He found us the house that had everything we were looking for. Because he listened. It was amazing. So, were gonna go look at this new property that i know right now i believe is gutted. Yes. [ chuckles ] and youre gonna make it your own. Yes. Hey, guys. Hey. Whats up, buddy . So, you talked to me about this home and you said, eh, the outside was sort of not sure. But then you said it was the back part of the house. Im gonna go look at the back part of this house. Absolutely. Come on. Lets take a walk. Yeah. Come on. Wow. Absolutely. Wow. No, i get this. You get it . Get why we waited . Oh, boy. This is it. Scott and tamlyn decided that their numberone priority was to be waterside with an amazing view. And who could blame them . Just look behind me. Youre buying location. You cant move it. You can change it, but you cant move it. So location is key. And for this property, this is why i brought them here. Even though the actual house was not what they wanted, well, this location cant be beat. So, they decided to gut the house and remake it to fit their needs. This is gonna be the new den. Therell be a pergolacovered porch off the back that will lead to the pool. Our living room is coming out another 10 feet. Okay. So, and then this used to be the old master bedroom and bathroom, so well have a cabana bath and a den on this side. How many bedrooms is the house going to be . Three bedrooms. Bob, they didnt believe me. I didnt believe they just didnt believe me when i said, weve gotta go see this house. This is this is what youve asked me to find you. If you feel like a realtor is pushing you towards a home just to make the sale, that person is not right for you. Finding a property is less important than finding the right property. Like a doctor. You wouldnt walk into a Doctors Office and just demand a prescription, right . The doctors got to counsel you, talk to you, find out whats wrong. Its the same process, and, you know, not that were doing surgery here, but, you know, if youre gonna invest 200,000, 300,000, 400,000, 500,000, a Million Dollars or more, you should spend some time really understanding what do i really want out of this . Up next, well meet the fatherdaughter team that is building their own city. Yes, you heard that right. Theyre building a city. [ woman vocalizing ] when it comes to Small Business, shes in the know. So strap yourselves in for action flo Small Business edition. Oh, no im up to my neck in operating costs ill save the day for plumbers and bakers and scapers of lawn, shes got customized coverage you can count on. You chipped my birdbath now youre gonna pay not so fast i cover more than just cars and trucks. Action flo did somebody say insurance . Children flo action flo cut can i get a smoothie, please . Ooh they got smoothies . For me. Ooh they got smoothies . It was always just a hobby. Something you did for fun. Until the day it became something much more. And that is why you invest. The best returns arent just measured in dollars. Td ameritrade. Welcome back. Im bob massi, the property man. Im standing in doral, florida, a place with an interesting history and an even more interesting future. In the late 1950s, alfred and doris kaskel paid about 50,000 for 2,400 acres of swampland outside of miami. They built a hotel and country club and combined their first names, doris and alfred, to name it doral. Eventually, their grandson went on to expand the community, building doral estates and doral park. Now another family is completely transforming the area with a massive billiondollar downtown doral project. The fatherdaughter duo of armando and anamarie codina bought 31 buildings in an industrial area. It took us several years, but we have now demolished 27 of the 31. We really wanted to build a community of locals. We want a vibrant place where people want to live, work, play. Condo towers, more than 70 stores and restaurants, over a million square feet of office space, even the new 20 million city hall and Village Green that you see behind me. Armando codina says his plan is all coming together now, but it was 30 years in the making. I was lucky enough that cuba was 90 miles from the United States and that i was able to come here. So, everything that i have, i owe to this country. You couldnt do what ive done anyplace else. You interview my daughter she has an mba from m. I. T. I didnt go to college. I went to support my mama when she got out of cuba, so. It wasnt until 2003, after a sevenyear battle, that residents finally voted to incorporate and doral became an actual city. We want like mixeduse developments like this one, where you can work and learn and play and where you can have more massive transportation and you can have all together in the city. When doral incorporated, it was part of dade county. It was never meant to be a city. Here is an area that doesnt have a downtown, that doesnt have a center, all of a sudden, wants to call themselves a city. A lot of warehouses, office buildings, employment based. The regular population of doral is 45,000 people. During the day, it balloons to over 150,000. So, its a major employment base. Employees used to come here at 8 00 and leave at 5 00. Tremendous traffic problems. The idea was to build something that would address the traffic because you have everything nearby, as opposed to having to drive everywhere, and to give doral a heart. The mixeduse community will feature 2,840 residences and 180,000 square feet of retail space. And they say that its already filling up. This is actually a small portion cause this is a 120acre project, so this is really the core and the main entrance of the project that we have shown in this scale model. Thats our main entrance, the corner of 87th avenue and northwest 53rd street. The Trump National doral is directly across the street. So, these two condo towers, that one over there is 100 sold out. This ones about 65 . We really wanted it to feel like a true town center, not a development. And so that was very intentional. This onestory building you see wrapping around is the first phase of our retail. The retail, we curated it very carefully. We had a number of chain restaurants that were interested. We really werent interested. We wanted local operators who had two or more units, so we wanted people with some experience who had a local flavor. This is our first condo tower. You see we have the pool deck, we have a gym, a party room, amenities, but our true amenity here is the community. Its the retail. You can go downstairs, have dinner. You can walk your child to school. Tell us about the school here. Its a Public School thats privately operated. Usually, Charter Schools and the Public School system are at odds, and this was a partnership. They have created a brandnew main street, which will be the heart of an urban center with more than 50 retailers and restaurants. 80,000 feet of retail. 40,000 feet of restaurants. 40,000 feet of lifestylesupport shops. This is one of the highrises. This is gonna be one of the condominium highrises. Yes, well deliver that in. Third quarter of next year. Now, as it relates to these stores, theyre obviously still working on them. When do you anticipate that theyre all gonna be open . All of it should open by february, and its 90plus percent leased. Look at the sidewalks, the width. So these would all be sidewalk cafes. Parallel parking, not angle parking, so that it doesnt disturb the diners. Does the employment just from very big employment generator. And whats wonderful about this is private funding i mean, theres literally no government funding involved. Not a penny. Not at all. It goes to show you, its way past the american dream. Not even a taxincrement district, where we would take some of that no. Not a penny of government, and all of the realestate taxes go to the city of doral and the county. The school is open. City hall is open. We built and donated a park. This is the heart of downtown doral. You have city hall, so the heart of government; our downtown doral park, which is right in the middle of the whole community; and you have our school right across from the park. And tell us about the history of city hall. We wanted the city to have a very elegant, iconic hall. Again, its consistent with what youre trying to do build a selfcontained city, in this case. We donated the land, bob, and the improvements. For the park. For the park. For the park and built that sculpture. Everythings pretty well selfcontained. I mean, everywhere you look. You have the park in the middle. You have the condominium highrises. You have the retail over here. Youre gonna have the restaurants. Offices. Be a million feet of office when were finished. And are all those offices occupied presently . 90 . Codina has been a great partner for the city, and we have built here a workable city. Our focus is on complex projects. Our attitude really is if somebody else can do it, were not interested. We want to build communities. We dont want to build a building and walk away. Up next, the massi memo with information you cant afford to miss. So, stick around. [ woman vocalizing ] at ally bank, no branches equals great rates. Its a fact. Kind of like bill splitting equals nitpicking. But i only had a salad. It was a buffalo chicken salad. Salad. At ally bank, no branches equals great rates. Its a fact. Kind of like grandkids equals free tech support. Oh, look at you, so great to see you none of this works. Come on in. Time now for the massi memo. Earlier, we met a couple who took their time finding the home that was perfect for them. They did their research, worked with a good realtor, and made sure that it was something they could afford. Here are some tips to make sure that you do it right. Make sure you find the right realtor. This is critical. He or she needs to understand you what is important to you and how much you can afford. Avoid someone whos trying to sell you on property just to make a sale and get a commission. Fully understand your own finances and all of the costs that go into the purchase get prequalified; get a credit check to make sure when you look at the home you want that you actually can afford it. Study all lending changes with a qualified broker. Understand the laws and regulations that are presently on the books at the time of purchase. Now, effective october 3, 2015, there is an entire new regulation before closing with escrow called know before you owe. You will receive a loan estimate, and three days before closing, a closing disclosure form has to be provided by the lender to you, the prospective home buyer. The home buyer compares the estimate received to this new disclosure form. If theyre not the same, such as Interest Rates or payments amount, you have the right to challenge that and extend it another three days, no matter what, until its rectified. It was, in fact, the Consumer Protection finance bureau, an expert, that made these changes to protect the home buyer for full understanding of what theyre buying. Thats it for today. As always, there is much more information on our website at foxnews. Com propertyman. Be sure to send me your questions or property stories at propertyman foxnews. Com. Im bob massi. Ill see you next week. [ woman vocalizing ] ed rollins and Michael Goodwin are among lous guests monday. Have a great weekend wherever you are. For now, good night from new york city. Announcer this show has never been solely about investments. We talk about anything that affect people and their money. From fox business headquarters in new york city, the new wall street week. Welcome to wall street
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