Insider Report from Newsmax.com
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):

1. Seven of 10 Richest Members of Congress Are Democrats
2. National Review and The Nation Join Forces for Ad Sales
3. EPA Rejects Governors’ Plea Over Ethanol
4. Warren Buffett Tax Plan Called ‘Fiscal Joke’
5. Black Friday Gun Sales Set New Record
6. Miami Becoming the ‘Russian Riviera’


6. Miami Becoming the ‘Russian Riviera’

A new wave of buyers is flooding Miami and buying up super-pricey real estate — wealthy Russians.

“Russian millionaires are an increasingly common sight inside the giant homes for sale along the Miami Coast,” CNBC reported in a story headlined “Why Miami Is Becoming the ‘Russian Riviera.’”

“It’s the rich Russians who are dominating the market for mega-mansions. They’re spending hundreds of millions on waterfront palaces and launching the next big land grab by the world’s super-rich.”

The most expensive home ever sold in Miami, a 30,000-square-foot mansion on exclusive Indian Creek Island, was bought in August by an anonymous Russian buyer. Price tag: $47 million.

Russian vodka mogul Roustam Tariko recently bought a $25.5 million, 9-bedroom home on Star Island, The New York Times reported. Present and past homeowners on the island include Rosie O’Donnell, Gloria Estevan, and Shaquille O’Neal. Gangster Al Capone is often cited as a former resident, but in fact he lived on neighboring Palm Island.
A millionaire from Ukraine has paid $20 million for an entire floor of the St. Regis Bal Harbour.

Russians spent more than $12 billion on overseas real estate last year, including more than $1 billion in the United States, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Russians have a “particular attraction” to large Miami mansions and condos, CNBC observed.

“The weather is a welcome escape from Moscow winters. Russian millionaires and billionaires are also obsessed with security and protection, which they can easily find in Miami’s large collection of gated communities, private islands with private police forces, and protected condo towers.”

The Russians “are paranoid about security,” said Jorge Uribe of Sotheby’s International Realty in Miami.

The Miami real estate market is so hot for Russians that some brokers are opening business offices in Russia.

And Uribe is translating his website into Russian.