Miami Real Estate Investing Podcast With Peter Zalewski

In this episode of The Peter Zalewski Show™ podcast, Jose Pazos—founder of A-Smart CAM property management—discusses the dire financial situation that South Florida condo owners will face next year.

The weekly podcast The Peter Zalewski Show features interviews with South Florida business leaders focused on real estate, finance and the economy.

The program - hosted by Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ - is broadcast live every Wednesday at 4 pm (Miami time) at MiamiCondo.Club and on Peter Zalewski’s social media accounts to watch the free live broadcasts.

The objective of the show is to deliver straight talk, share institutional knowledge and provide data-driven analysis on the macro and micro economic forces shaping the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

Episode Overview

In the Dec. 3, 2025, episode of The Peter Zalewski Show™ podcast, host Peter Zalewski interviews Jose Pazos, the founder of A-Smart CAM property management in Miami, about the seismic shifts in the South Florida condo market resulting from the 2025 Florida Condo Association Financial Cliff.

This discussion revealed that the combination of new structural integrity reporting mandates, rising maintenance fees and massive special assessments is driving a market correction in South Florida, especially in Vintage projects that are at least 30 years old.

The rising cost of condo living in the tricounty region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach is leading to increased tension at association meetings and potentially creating a substantial buying opportunity for experienced investors focused on Vintage projects.

The market turmoil, which is fundamentally altering investment calculus and pushing long-time residents to the brink, is the result of a perfect storm where post-Surfside legislation, stubbornly high interest rates and decades of deferred maintenance have collided.

Pazos called this current period a “bloodbath,” noting it is unfolding precisely as he and others anticipated when the new reserve funding law passed in the aftermath of the Surfside condo collapse in June 2021.

The emotional and financial stress has boiled over at condo association board meetings.

Pazos described a recent budget meeting in the Miami suburb of Sweetwater where two individuals nearly got involved into a physical altercation.

The encounter involved yelling and vulgarities with threats of violence, demonstrating the visceral reactions now common at these meetings.

These friction points are a direct result of the financial shock brought on by a combination of state-mandated repairs coupled with softening market conditions where resale supply is rising, transactions are falling and buyers are holding out for deep discounts.

As an example, Pazos referenced a 97-unit, low-rise project that has had to take out a $5 million loan at a 9.0 percent interest rate to play catch up on 50 years worth of deferred maintenance.

This cost translates to more than $51,500 per unit.

The Florida legislature has attempted to provide some relief for cash-strapped unit owners facing this Condo Cliff.

Pazos explained that associations can temporarily waive some reserve funding for 2026 and 2027.

In this episode of Miami Condo Mondays™, we discuss the disappointing condo sales in the first month of the important South Florida Winter Buying Season that runs from November through April.

Miami Condo Mondays™ is a live podcast hosted by Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ and veteran broker Jenny Huertas of CVRRealty.com providing an in-depth look at the latest residential real estate trends in South Florida.

Recorded weekly in Greater Downtown Miami, the podcast offers a one-hour discussion on various real estate topics, including preconstruction condos, market trends and investment strategies.

The hosts share their expertise, with Zalewski focusing on macro perspectives and Huertas offering micro insights from her on-the-ground experience.

Tune in every Monday at 4 PM (EST) on the social media accounts of Peter Zalewski and Jenny Huertas for insights on the latest trends in the South Florida condo market.

Episode Overview

The South Florida condo market is struggling to find its footing, kicking off the traditionally robust Winter Buying Season—which stretches from November through April—with a notable contraction in sales.

South Florida condo sales dropped by 7.2 percent to about 1,550 transactions on a Year-over-Year (YoY) basis in November 2025 compared with less than 1,675 transactions during the same 30-day period in November 2024, according to preliminary data released by CVRRealty.com on Dec. 1, 2025.

This marks the fourth straight November that condo sales have fallen on a Year-over-Year basis.

During the latest episode of the Miami Condo Mondays™ podcast on Dec. 1, 2025, co-hosts Jenny Huertas‚ the broker-owner of CVR Realty, and Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ discussed the reasons for the sales dip in the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

This sales slump coincides with the start of Art Basel—a festival that typically draws international collectors with significant capital— to Miami Beach and Greater Downtown Miami for a week of events.

Historically, the Winter Buying Season has been a key time for condo developers and sellers as visitors come to town from around the globe seeking the attractive weather, numerous events and Carnival-like atmosphere.

Many visitors find their experiences often lead them to begin searching for a condo as a second home.

Typically, these visitors end up closing on their transactions sometime during the subsequent Summer Buying Season.

As a result, the Winter Buying Season has become an important time—or pipeline—for prospective buyers to condo shop while the Summer Buying Season is when a significant number of those transactions are completed.

Huertas, a former financier, noted that condo owners and developers are aware of the importance of the Winter Buying Season, and seem particularly willing this year to listen to offers, terms and down payments proposals.

Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ took viewers on a tour of the Miami Worldcenter neighborhood in this final installment of a three-part Black Friday condo shopping weekend series.

The Miami Worldcenter neighborhood—a densely developing segment of Greater Downtown Miami’s Central Business District (CBD) submarket—is transforming from an area of vacant lots to what feels like a massive construction site as a series of new towers are planned, under construction or recently completed.

In this final installment of a three-part Black Friday condo shopping weekend video series, Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ took viewers on a video tour of the Miami Worldcenter neighborhood on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025.

The Miami Worldcenter video followed tours of the Brickell Avenue Area on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, and Flagler Street in the Central Business District (CBD) on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.

The Miami Worldcenter neighborhood is a portion of the larger CBD that stretches from the Miami River north to the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Causeway, and Biscayne Bay west to I-95.

For this tour, the Miami Worldcenter is defined as Sixth Street north to the MacArthur Causeway, and Biscayne Bay west to the Metrorail tracks.

Greater Downtown Miami’s CBD currently has more than 800 condo units listed for resale at an average asking price of $1.7 million per unit or $999 per square foot.

The condo listings have been on the resale market for an average of 175 days without selling as of Nov. 30, 2025.

In the previous 12 months between November 2024 and October 2025, tenants paid a median rent of less than $3,500 per month to lease a unit in Miami’s CBD.

It took 48 days to lease out these units on a median basis.

Check out this tour of the street improvements that were scheduled to take up to four years and costs $13 million. Nearly five later, the unfinished project is estimated to cost at least $33 million.

A deep examination of the Flagler Street improvement project in the Central Business District of Greater Downtown Miami reveals an effort crippled by soaring costs and significant delays, creating a challenging environment for local retailers.

The reconstruction, intended to revitalize Miami’s tired CBD, has reportedly devolved into a multi-year debacle, prompting Peter Zalewski, founder of the Miami Condo Investing Club™, to conduct a walking tour and broadcast his findings.

This broadcast occurred on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, the second day of Zalewski’s three-day Black Friday condo shopping excursion in Greater Downtown Miami.

On Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, Zalewski toured the Brickell Avenue Area, while the focus today was the Central Business District.

On Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, Zalewski is scheduled to tour the Miami Worldcenter neighborhood.

The initiative, which focuses on a five-block stretch of Flagler Street and aims to replace street curbs with a flat, festival-style surface for events and a farmers market, broke ground in May 2021.

It was initially planned to cost $13 million and be completed within four years.

Zalewski noted on his tour that the estimated cost is now at least $33 million, a near triple of the original budget, with the best-case completion date extended to June 2026.

He noted that this development reinforces a general rule he gives people regarding construction: plan on it taking three times as long and costing twice as much, though this specific case might be one of the rare exceptions where the cost triples.

The dire situation for businesses was documented in a PoliticalCortadito.com article, which stated that merchants are experiencing “slow, painful deaths” behind barricades that have not moved in nearly a year.

Welcome to Buy, Sell, Hold Miami™ weekly podcast for a no-nonsense perspective on South Florida real estate from a pair of locals with differing opinions.

Each week, real estate advisor Daniel Hernandez of Compass Real Estate and longtime analyst Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ break down the housing market headlines, unpack policy changes and provide unfiltered analysis on everything from condo terminations to Vintage unit fire sales, luxury speculative homes to developer strategies.

Whether you are a homeowner, investor or real estate professional, Hernandez and Zalewski will give a local perspective on what is really happening across the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach with no fluff, no hype and plenty of data-backed opinions.

We call balls and strikes on when to buy, sell and hold.

Episode Topics

For the Nov. 28, 2025, podcast, Hernandez and Zalewski give their take on the following five topics:

1. Miami Dade College Plays Its Trump Card

2. What Happens When Constituents Throw Fits?

3. Mana Gets Emoishetional About Miami

4. Edgewater Getting More Resil-Units

5. Miami-Dade County = Wetland Slumlord

6. Thanksgiving Bonus: Miami New Times Ranks Local Chickens

This podcast is broadcast live at 4 pm (EST) on the social media accounts of Daniel Hernandez and Peter Zalewski.

Episode Overview

In this Nov. 28, 2025, episode of Buy, Sell, Hold Miami™ podcast, Hernandez and Zalewski cut through the local rhetoric, delivering straight talk on six pivotal market topics of critical importance to South Florida investors.

The hosts discuss each topic and then announce whether each of them is a Buy, a Sell or a Hold on the issue. Their verdicts often differ, leading to sharp debate on the issue before moving on to the next topic.

The 64-minute episode—recorded on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, in anticipation of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend—offered a vigorous debate between real estate advisor Daniel Hernandez of Compass Real Estate in Coconut Grove and longtime condo analyst Peter Zalewski.

The conversation kicked off with an examination of the Miami-Dade College Board of Trustees’ controversial decision to offer a prime downtown parcel, valued by Zalewski at $368 million, to the Trump Library Foundation at no cost.

This issue continues to vex investors, given the site’s generous zoning, which allows for 1,000 units per acre and zero required parking spaces, potentially allowing a sellout north of $5 billion.

Both hosts heavily criticized the decision, citing the land’s original purpose—to fund the college’s mission—and the political optics of placing a non-immigration-friendly library across from the historic Freedom Tower.

Zalewski opposed the transfer at zero cost, arguing the college must receive the cash value, while Hernandez strongly opposed the free transfer, suggesting a minimum $400 million valuation.

This is a live video from expert Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ recorded in the Brickell Avenue Area of Greater Downtown Miami on Nov. 28, 2025.

Real estate consultant and expert witness Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ spent his Black Friday—the day after Thanksgiving when retailers slash prices to spur holiday purchases—traversing the Greater Downtown Miami streets, not for discounted consumer goods, but for distressed condominium deals.

Zalewski broadcasted live from the glamorous Brickell Avenue Area neighborhood of Greater Downtown Miami, standing on Southwest 8th Street.

This location lies just east of the gritty Little Havana neighborhood, where the same thoroughfare is known as Calle Ocho.

Zalewski asserted that Southwest 8th Street represents a tale of two cities in Miami’s real estate narrative.

This divide is stark: Brickell Avenue Area rents commence at more than $3,000 per month, yet rentals in Little Havana are available for about $2,000 per month, despite the two areas being separated by only a few blocks.

Zalewski offered a straightforward assessment of the South Florida condo market as the symbolic start of the critical 2025-26 Winter Buying Season, which runs from November through April.

He noted that the resale inventory is growing, while transactions are shrinking, a troubling divergence that suggests a significant market adjustment may be brewing.

“This Summer Buying Season—May through October—we are effectively parallel to where we were in 2007,” said Zalewski, referencing the first year after the 2006 peak of the Great South Florida Condo Boom and Bust of 2002 to 2011 when sales fell and prices, surprisingly, rose. “We saw that again in the summer of 2025.”

Amid the concrete canyons of Brickell Avenue, Zalewski noted a proliferation of “for rent” signs, suggesting that many pandemic-era buyers—who had been told they could work from home but have since been ordered back to their New York or Silicon Valley offices—are struggling to offload their units or even cover their carrying costs with rental income.

For these owners, the Black Friday discounts are effectively being offered by sellers themselves in the form of deep cuts, or “haircuts,” they will soon have to take.

In this episode of The Peter Zalewski Show™ podcast, we interview Boston Technologist John Moura of BuildReach.com about how AI will change the South Florida real estate industry.

The weekly podcast The Peter Zalewski Show features interviews with South Florida business leaders focused on real estate, finance and the economy.

The program - hosted by Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ - is broadcast live every Wednesday at 4 pm (Miami time) at MiamiCondo.Club and on social media sites.

The objective of the show is to deliver straight talk, share institutional knowledge and provide data-driven analysis on the macro and micro economic forces shaping the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

Episode Overview

In the Nov. 26, 2025, episode of The Peter Zalewski Show™ podcast, host Peter Zalewski interviews Boston Technologist John Moura of BuildReach.com about the changes coming to the South Florida condo market as a result of AI.

This discussion revealed that the relentless advance of artificial intelligence could soon sideline many South Florida real estate brokers and obliterate the high-spending preconstruction condominium sales model.

The technology veteran—who has worked for firms including the ride-sharing service Lyft—detailed how AI is rapidly creating new tools that hasten property sales and threaten to replace the human element, much as digital platforms once displaced travel agents and the taxi sector.

Zalewski noted that developers frequently burn up to a $1 million on elaborate launch parties—and similar sums on temporary sales centers—to sell the “dream” of preconstruction condos, a practice Moura swiftly labeled a “reckless spend.”

The technologist suggested that developers will inevitably abandon these parties and sales centers in favor of using AI to directly profile and target high-likelihood buyers with surgical precision, shifting millions toward data-mining operations.

Moura confirmed that the in-house salespeople, who are paid to sell a concept or vision, could be the first layer of the industry to be replaced by these data-driven methods.

This acceleration of data access and analysis will push preconstruction pricing toward standardization, eliminating, what Zalewski said, was the arbitrage opportunities that once existed in Miami and turning the process into something akin to the standardized pricing for a Cuban sandwich after the arrival of food delivery services such as Uber Eats.

While Moura granted that seasoned local brokers may hold a temporary advantage over a pure computer system—as AI cannot yet drive the confidence needed for a major purchase—he cautioned that this reprieve may be short-lived.

He estimated that AI will be “really, really, really rocking” by 2027 or 2028, rapidly enabling consumers to use AI agents to search the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for previously unindexed details like terracotta tile or Vintage condo building characteristics, rendering human filters less necessary.

The window for brokers to adapt to this accelerating, AI-powered sales environment is closing quickly, with Moura’s core advice being simple: do not wait to embrace the technology, as any idea not acted upon will be rapidly developed by another competitor.

In this episode of the Miami Condo Mondays™ podcast, we discuss why South Florida has nearly an eight year of supply of ultra luxury condos—minimum price of $20 million—listed for resale.

Miami Condo Mondays™ is a live podcast hosted by Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ and veteran broker Jenny Huertas of CVRRealty.com providing an in-depth look at the latest residential real estate trends in South Florida.

Recorded weekly in Greater Downtown Miami, the podcast offers a one-hour discussion on various real estate topics, including preconstruction condos, market trends and investment strategies.

The hosts share their expertise, with Zalewski focusing on macro perspectives and Huertas offering micro insights from her on-the-ground experience.

Tune in every Monday at 4 PM (EST) on the social media accounts of Peter Zalewski and Jenny Huertas for insights on the latest trends in the South Florida condo market.

Episode Overview

The South Florida ultra-luxury condo market—defined as units with prices of at least $20 million—is confronting a significant inventory glut at the start of the critical 2025 Winter Buying Season that began this month.

This was the central topic of the latest Miami Condo Mondays™ podcast, recorded in Greater Downtown Miami on Nov. 24, 2025.

Veteran consultant Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ and co-host Jenny Huertas, the broker-owner of CVR Realty™, detailed the market dynamics, noting that despite the constant media buzz and the perception of scarcity, the data reveals a substantial imbalance between supply and demand in the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

The most recent data indicates that 59 ultra-luxury condos are currently on the market, carrying an average asking price of about $30.6 million or $4,720 per square foot.

For context, about 90 percent of South Florida’s ultra-luxury condo listings are located in Miami-Dade County.

In contrast, the tricounty’s wider condo market remains relatively accessible, with 57 percent of all available condos priced below $400,000.

Huertas—who has been a real estate broker for nearly two decades—highlighted the specialized nature of the ultra-luxury unit, noting that maintenance fees are high.

The median maintenance fee for a South Florida ultra-luxury condo is about $1.71 per square foot per month, roughly a 49 percent premium over the Miami-Dade County average of $1.15.

During the 12 months ending Oct. 31, 2025, only nine ultra-luxury units traded, equating to a mere 0.8 sales per month.

This slow pace has resulted in an alarming supply figure of nearly 79 months, representing over seven years needed to absorb the existing inventory if no new units were to come online and sales continued at their current pace.

Welcome to Buy, Sell, Hold Miami™ weekly podcast for a no-nonsense perspective on South Florida real estate from a pair of locals with differing opinions.

Each week, real estate advisor Daniel Hernandez of Compass Real Estate and longtime analyst Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ break down the housing market headlines, unpack policy changes and provide unfiltered analysis on everything from condo terminations to Vintage unit fire sales, luxury speculative homes to developer strategies.

Whether you are a homeowner, investor or real estate professional, Hernandez and Zalewski will give a local perspective on what is really happening across the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach with no fluff, no hype and plenty of data-backed opinions.

We call balls and strikes on when to buy, sell and hold.

If you are looking for more information on the South Florida condo market, Peter Zalewski hosts a daily 4 pm (Miami time) podcast during the workweek on MiamiCondo.Club.

The program schedule is: Mondays - Miami Condo Mondays™ (market update), Tuesdays - Miami Condo Exchange™ (data analysis), Wednesdays - The Peter Zalewski Show™ (business leader interview), Thursdays - Condo Capitalism™ (distressed real estate) and Fridays - Buy, Sell, Hold Miami™ (broker debate).

Episode Topics

For the Nov. 21, 2025, podcast, Hernandez and Zalewski give their take on the following five topics:

1. FEMA Numbers Flooded With Discrepancies

2. Why So Blue (Martini)?

3. Courting Developers

4. Worried About Watson Island

5. Billboard Blow Up

This podcast is broadcast live at 4 pm (EST) on the social media accounts of Daniel Hernandez and Peter Zalewski.

Episode Overview

In this Nov. 21, 2025, episode of Buy, Sell, Hold Miami™ real estate podcast, Hernandez and Zalewski cut through the local rhetoric, delivering straight talk on five pivotal market topics of critical importance to South Florida investors.

The hosts discuss each topic and then announce whether each of them is a Buy, a Sell, or a Hold on the issue. Their verdicts often differ, leading to sharp debate on the issue before moving on to the next topic.

The program began by rigorously examining discrepancies in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood zone maps, a systemic failure that threatens the integrity of local insurance valuations, according to an investigation by the Miami Herald.

The conversation noted that current maps often fail to reflect actual flooding incidents, which endangers the insurance system that bases premiums on those inaccurate numbers.

This critical lapse in data means property owners cannot necessarily make an informed financial decision regarding their long-term risk exposure.

The hosts both agreed with the investigative reporting on this issue, giving a verdict of Buy on its critical importance to property ownership.

The discussion quickly shifted to the unexpected financial fragility of the Blue Martini bar, which was recently forced to file for bankruptcy protection, according to the Miami New Times.

The popular venue’s meager $77,000 profit against $3 million in revenue demonstrated extremely poor financial performance.

This meager operating margin showed that the economics of highend South Florida nightlife are proving immensely challenging.

Zalewski noted the bar’s thin margins, questioning the financial viability of the underlying business model.

He compared the marginal performance to purchasing a rental property that is simply unable to generate any significant return for the owner.

The upcoming auction of the historic Miami-Dade County Courthouse at a $52.3 million reserve price was viewed as an important test of developer appetite for expensive rehabilitation projects.

The 1928 structure sits at a premier location in Greater Downtown Miami, at the confluence of the Metrorail station, Government Center, and Brightline rail hub.

In this episode of the Condo Capitalism™ podcast, Kevin Tacher of Independence Title warns that AI-driven property theft and deep-fake scams are targeting South Florida property owners.

Condo Capitalism™ is the weekly podcast hosted by Peter Zalewski of the Miami Condo Investing Club™ that provides data-driven analysis on distressed real estate—foreclosures, shortsales and bank-owned REOs—in the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

The program dissects players and trends, focusing on the escalating Florida Condo Association Financial Cliff, which is now fully underway as cash-strapped unit owners face rising maintenance fees, hefty special assessments and pricey insurance.

On the show, experts analyze how the national “two-sided risk”—rising inflation and falling employment—magnifies the growing crisis in Florida, revealing where high post-Surfside condo fees clash with a softening resale market to expose the potential for a capitulation by unit owners who can no longer afford condo living.

Episode Overview

In the Nov. 20, 2025, episode of Condo Capitalism - A Miami Distressed Real Estate Market Podcast, host Peter Zalewski interviewed Kevin Tacher, the founder and CEO of Independence Title in Fort Lauderdale, about the growing threats of property fraud in South Florida as a result of technological advancements being embraced by scammers.

A surge in illicit activity is now pressuring the industry throughout the tricounty region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

Criminals have dramatically evolved their tactics, moving away from simple physical forgery toward modern digital interception.

Tacher said that fraud is a constant, escalating threat with hundreds of scams occurring each day.

While deed fraud involving vacant lots remains a threat, the more lucrative enterprise is wire fraud.

Tacher detailed a specific phishing technique where hackers compromise email accounts and monitor correspondence between realtors, buyers and title agents.

At the critical moment before closing, the perpetrators send modified wiring instructions from a spoofed address, often changing a single letter in the domain name.

Even Tacher’s own firm was targeted, suffering a $275,000 loss due to a sophisticated email compromise, though most of the funds were eventually recovered through aggressive intervention.

This alarming incident is chronicled in Tacher’s book, Intercepted: A True Story of Wire Fraud And The Race to Recover, which details the relentless, multi-agency race involving the FBI and Secret Service to freeze the fraudulent account.

In one cited case, a buyer named Patricia Verlino lost about $63,000 to scammers after sending funds to a fraudulent account.

Ultimately, Verlino was made whole with donations to an online fund raising website and money that was clawed back by law enfocement.

The executive emphasized that federal agencies, including the FBI and Secret Service, often move too slowly to intercept stolen funds once wire transfers are executed.

The next frontier of illicit activity involves deep-fake technology.

Remote Online Notarization (RON), a digital closing process popularized during the pandemic, is now vulnerable to AI-generated impersonations.

Criminals can potentially use voice cloning and video synthesis to mimic a seller, bypassing traditional identity verification protocols.

Independence Title has countered this by requiring its own vetted notaries to physically or digitally oversee transactions, refusing to accept outside acknowledgments which are often the weak link in the chain of custody.

For owners of mortgage-free property, particularly vacant land or Vintage condos that are at least 30 years old, the risk of title theft is acute.

Tacher recommended a low-cost, high-efficacy defense strategy: recording a small lien against the property.