How Wealthy Miami Home Owners are Downsizing Without Compromise

Is it time to downsize from your big house (In Miami or elsewhere)?

This will likely be the best condo choice for you!

If you own a big home in South Florida (It could be in Pinecrest, Coral Gables or Coconut Grove) or anywhere else in the world and you are reading this, it is because you are looking to downsize your home and are undecided as what to do and where to go. The need for such a big home is no longer there. Perhaps you want to travel more, but the requirements of maintaining the house does not allow you the luxury of traveling for more than a couple of weeks at a time. Perhaps your kids are grown and you don’t need such a big home. Perhaps you don’t want to carry the costs of yard, pool and an army of housekeepers and service staff to keep the house going. Perhaps and quite possibly it is all of the above.

The idea for this blog came from research that revealed a number of big homes are being sold in Pinecrest and Coral Gables right now. Properties so gorgeous and idyllic it is hard to imagine why anyone would want to sell them. The reason for the sale of these palatial properties comes from the needs I mentioned above, and the owners of these homes had chosen to downsize (but not downgrade) their living to a Condo, with one particular Condo in Mind: ‘Park Grove’ as their next residence.

So I wanted to explore why these home owners have decided to buy in ‘Park Grove’ and what they had to say about moving from a house to condo living. One of the big struggles when downsizing is the feeling of compromise – losing space, privacy and more.

Don’t compromise your interior living space

If you live in a big home you are used to having space. It’s great when you have kids as it’s important to have space for them to run around, to have family BBQ’s and to be able to give the kids the freedom to run in and out when they please. That’s what I am blessed to give my kids now. Hey, I was fortunate enough to grow up in a big house in England too. But now as my parents are retired, myself and my sister grew up and moved away and I see them in a home far too big for them. They migrate between the kitchen, living room and bedroom and simply do not need the rest of the space. But you don’t have to compromise your living space with a condo. Heck, you may even be able to advance it, and claim back some of your freedom.

Park Grove has been designed with big units from 2,300 SqFt to over 5,000 SqFt. The living rooms are as big as any you might find in a single-family home but with 12 ft ceilings and encased in glass walls that allow you to view the ocean, giving you an even greater sense of space.

Don’t compromise your privacy

Park Grove offers private elevators and as few as 46 units per building (there are 3 towers) sitting on 6 acres of private land. You can drive into private parking spaces and take your private elevator to your unit. This is a supremely private building that won’t make you feel compromised. Most of the owners in One Park Grove are permanent residents or snowbirds. Very few to none of the units will be rented which means you won’t see different residents on a monthly basis. The premises of Park Grove are large and the feeling of space is very much present. Imagine 4 pools over a limited amount of residences. You will never see many people near the pool or have to struggle to find that perfect bed next to the pool.

Don’t compromise your exterior lifestyle

If you are looking to come from a large house you have without a doubt gotten used to being able to step outside into your garden and enjoy nature unencumbered and without restriction. The concept of Condo living may conjure imagery of a concrete jungle and life at the exclusion of being within close proximity to nature. I felt this first hand living in a house in England, then in a Condo and then back to a house, but the reality is different if you really study it closely.

If you live in a house now I ask you how often do you actually walk around the grounds of the house? Do you spend most of the time on your outside terrace just enjoying nature from an armchair perspective? Certainly in Florida we tend to do EXACTLY that. My garden is very pretty but there is lots of bugs and mosquitos always flying around and I migrate when outside from the outside covered and fanned terrace to the BBQ area then some times to the Pool and back. All contained in one area.

So this is where the difference lies between this project and others, and why this carries the attributes that make it ideally suited to those looking to consider such a move. When Park Grove is delivered it will have terraces on many units so supremely large that they probably match your existing terrace space or even exceed it. Outside entertainment areas so big enough in many units to have outside dinner parties of 10 or more! The projects 6 acre site encases the Condo towers in natural and highly manicured gardens by Enzo Anea (the same guy who organizes the Chelsea Flower show and creates the look to many royal palace gardens). Right opposite is another park and in front of that the water. The visual canvas is truly one of nature and your views of your terrace will feel like your own private gardens surround you (no weeding required!!)

Enhance your views

Park Grove is directly on the Ocean with nothing but a park in front the views are spectacular. The 6 acres gives significant separation from neighboring  buildings. In truth the neighborhood is far from the urban jungle of Brickell so obscured views are rarely an issue. Top top this all of you have the big terraces to sit and enjoy the views from.

Enhance your freedom

The ability to travel is hard with a house. I constantly speak to clients who travel and every time they do its a big production that means mobilizing cleaners and gardeners and care takers to make sure everything runs smoothly when they are away. To top this off they never go for more than a couple of weeks at a time. As one client said to me: “David, sadly I do not see my grand kids as much as I would like.  There is no way I could leave the house for a couple of months. I would come back and the yard would to a jungle, the swimming pool would be green and not blue and there would be a bunch of repairs to be done to the house – that’s if I am lucky and my house has not been burgled!”.

With Park Grove you simply lock up and leave. The building will take care of everything else from making sure your patio furniture is taken in if a storm hits to having your fridge stocked for when you come home.

Enhance your services

Aside from the ubiquitous valet parking and concierge, Park Grove also offers wine tasting events, professional chef-made dinners for your dinner parties on site, getting your boat prepped for a day out on the water with the nautical concierge, pet walked or any other number of services.

Give yourself more time

With such an array of services and being able to absolve yourself of having to manage service staff – gardens, pool guys etc. Park Grove will give you the one thing you cannot buy – time. As the wise saying goes:, “we spend the first half of our lives spending time to make money and the second half spending money to make time!”

Give yourself more money – Reduce your overhead costs.

A $5 Million dollar home can potentially cost you more in managing than a Condo like Park Grove. With the maintenance, gardens and other factors the costs mount up, and if your home is not brand new there can be considerable costs that add up over the year. Give me a call and we can explore your personal situation to see which one benefits your pocket more. You may be surprised that its not just time and freedom that a move gives you back!