Less than two months before the Coral Gables election this Tuesday, commission candidate Alex Bucelo signed a $990,000 mortgage for the purchase of a 4-bedroom, 3-bath home at 1432 Venetia Avenue, valued at $1.4 million — quite an upgrade from his 2-bedroom, 2-bath, $300K apartment on Biltmore Way.
Is he expecting some kind of windfall?
County property records also show that just one month prior to signing this mortgage with his wife, which Bucelo did on Feb. 22, the house transferred for free from Philip C. Black to an entity called Erudite Acquisitions USA, LCC, that lists Black and his wife as principals, on Jan. 24.
Did Bucelo subsequently buy the home from Erudite? Why not directly from the Blacks? And why $990K? The Miami-Dade Property Appraiser records show the house is valued at $806,197 but Zillow estimates the true market value is $1.4 million. So Bucelo got a deal!
Bucelo did not return calls and texts over several days. The witness and notary on the mortgage filed with the county is Rachel Peraza, another attorney at Bucelo’s family’s boutique firm.
On the same day that Bucelo signed that mortgage, he filed his campaign’s financial disclosure form. There’s no mention of the new house in the “real property” section of the statement of financial interests. In fact, there is no mention of the unit at 625 Biltmore Way, which Bucelo and his wife Cristina Garcia bought in 2021 for $346,000. He may not have to list his homestead property, but if he has two properties, he has to list one of them. Or is that why he signed the mortgage on the same day?
Read related: Coral Gables race heats up with more attacks, ‘paid’ magazine endorsement
Bucelo — who is getting a lot of campaign contributions from development interests, out of town donors, lobbyists and political action committees — graduated from St. Thomas law school in 2017 and joined the Florida Bar in 2018. He became a partner at Bucelo Law Group in 2019 and specializes in civil litigation, property claims and real estate closings, among other things. If he were to be elected on Tuesday, he would get an extra salary of $36,488 a year as a commissioner.
And the 29-year-old already owns two homes in the Gables? He’s paying two mortgages?
That’s a success story, even when he’s not elected.
Alex Bucelo mortgage document by Political Cortadito on Scribd
Coral Gables commission candidate Alex Bucelo buys $1.4 mil home added by Ladra on
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Congrats to Ariel. Well done.
Chief Hudak, thank you for inadvertently assuring Ariel’s win.
Jack Thompson
If you ask me, everyone who is on here talking about what someone drives or what house they purchase is ridiculous. Why don’t we talk about what they stand for, what they are going to do and have done for the community. Someone purchasing a nice house actually shows me they are a hard working individual which is what I want representing my city. Second of all, buying a 1 million house these days in the market we are in is not uncommon at all and definitely doesn’t mean you’re rich. You all who are here to start rumors and instigate issues on either one of these gentlemen running for this position should be better. Let’s stay classy Coral Gables.
I’m not voting for Bucelo, but I don’t think it’s a big deal he bought a house. Maybe he’s gonna have a kid soon, maybe he just wants more space. Maybe zillow overvalues properties; Maybe houses are crazy expensive right now.
Ms. Castro, don’t worry about “Berta.” She won’t meet you. She is a political operative. The same IP address has only commented on Political Cortadito twice before this election — about the previous election and against Javier Baños. In those comments, “Berta” — who also posted against Ariel as “Saul” — called herself “Marc” and “Cathy”. Talk about dishonest.
Love, Ladra
Hello Berta,
I’m sorry you feel so negatively about me. However, it is important for residents to remain vigilant and hold their soon-to-be-elected officials accountable for their actions. It’s hard to believe, but there are still some honest people here in Coral Gables, and to clear the air… I didn’t pay another Candidate or get anything for free. I would love to meet you. Maybe, you would change your mind about me. I would love to chat about the importance I place on high standards of ethical conduct and the way I act with integrity and transparency in any role or position.
Freebies that you get from coffee shops and restaurants in exchange for coverage in a newsletter is called “Bartering”. It is perfectly legal and not corrupt. There is even a place to declare it in your tax return. FYI
And Berta just jumped on the greasy Lago/Bucelo bandwagon too! How do you know Ariel’s Escalade is brand new? Did you know that you can drive a $100,000-car through a lease with a $10,000 down payment? Now going from a $346K, 2/2 condo unit to a $1.4M house on Venetia Avenue requires some serious dough. I guess you are the type of people who don’t let facts get in the way of a good story… Good for you. Again: hopefully, CG residents are going to wake up and do the right thing for once: stop Lago’s cronies from overtaking our City Beautiful and kill its essence.
Albertico here seems to be on the greasy Lago/Bucelo bandwagon… You can throw all the shade you want at Ariel, it everyone can see it for what it is: just a desperate attempt to avoid defeat. If you guys weren’t so scared of Ariel and Melissa, you wouldn’t need to resort to the negative campaigning. Your boy Alex is bought and paid for by developers and that’s a fact. Hopefully, CG residents are going to wake up and do the right thing for once: stop Lago’s cronies from overtaking our City Beautiful and its essence.
Where is the similar coverage about Ariel Fernandez’s financials? He runs a blog but drives a brand new Escalade (they run over $100,000 these days), a brand new golf cart, and has homes in Coral Gables and Tennessee. Where is the cheap article about how he funds his personal life? Where is the article about how much of his personal income has been as a political consultant working on the very type of political campaigns that received funds from developers? Rather than developer money going into a campaign account, it went into Ariel’s personal bank account because he was a vendor for the political campaigns. Where is the article about one candidate – Melissa Castro – presumably paying another candidate – Ariel Fernandez – to advertise on his blog? Or did he give her a free ad? Hmmm. You’re better than this completely one-sided coverage Elaine. At least, you used to be.
Do you know who else has mortgages that exceed his means? Bucelo’s biggest campaign supporter – Miami Dade’s second greasiest mayor VINCE LAGO. Do you know who Lago’s lender is for his THREE current mortgages? City National Bank. Do you know who is a lead attorney at City National? Bucelo’s father. Do you know who received a PPP loan? Bucelo Law Group. Do you know who the PPP lender was? City National Bank
Become A POLITICIAN and Get Rich ! The Miami Dade Syndrome XXXXX
Hello Ladra. Thousands of Coral Gables residents structure their real estate transactions the way Bucelo did. You are just trying to discredit him.
On the other hand, I see silence in your writing about Ariel Fernandez and the freebies he gets from coffee shops ( eg Bachour ) and restaurants ( eg: Graziano) in exchange of coverage in his newsletter ( in content articles, and not necessarily ads ). Ariel is corrupt in a subtle way. The hardest to catch, and worst for democracy: voting in exchange of personal favors.
And we used to criticize Hialeah and its corrupt politicians!!! Welcome to Coral Gables or, should we say, South Hialeah……….