11 Jul The Ultimate Flip on Hibiscus Island

Now is the time to cash in on South Florida real estate investments, says Tara Baptiste, a Realtor with Brown Harris Stevens Miami: She recently helped one client earn a whopping $3.1 million profit from the sale of a home he purchased 14 months prior. “I’m seeing a lot of people buying and selling and taking advantage of the market,” she says. “It’s been crazy the last year.” The 4,170-square-foot house, which Miami-based architect Choeff Levy Fischman designed on Miami Beach’s exclusive, manmade Hibiscus Island, has many desirable features, ranging from its modern-yet-neutral finishes to its seamless indoor/outdoor elements. When she saw the fully furnished five-bedroom, 5.5-bathroom home listed in 2021 for $12.5 million, Baptiste immediately pitched it to her client as a potential secondary residence. “The listing agent had already shown it several times that day,” she recalls. “I told him he’d have to make a full-price offer.” However, she adds, “I felt we got a great deal. It could’ve gone for more.” The property is positioned enviably in a gated community, features a complete Crestron smart home system and boasts a heated saltwater pool and wading area. But Baptiste says the highlight of the home, built in 2017, is its location: “Waterfront is so hot. And very hard to come by. There’s no inventory. Typically, the homes with views need complete gut renovations, and a very small percentage of my clients want to renovate, especially now that the cost of building supplies has risen up exponentially.”