"And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun"

"The near and the dear ones, the old and the young"
late great John lennon

I feel rather sad that the shuttle is coming to an end and even Bernards Surf has closed.  I can remember in elementary school, they used to let us out to see the missle launchs.  It was always exciting since there were a lot of failures.  Thank God at that time they were unmaned, not even a monkey.

It naturally has been a slow week in our complexes; the biggest happening is the foreclosure in Windward East located on the 7th floor with good side views. The unit has 2 bedrooms 2 baths and a 1 car garage. Now priced at $199,900!


For most of you who have been in the Real Estate business for a while remember that it used to be imperative to act quickly to get that ocean front condo. It has now became the norm to wait for the price reduction to make an offer and then think it is someone else who is at fault because they didn’t get the property because of multiple offers. The latest thing we are seeing in the business is for the buyer to make an offer on a foreclosed property and get their offer accepted by the lender. The buyer then will assume they could have got the property at a lower price. They then will withdraw the offer and wait for it to come back on the market. What is not understood is that the property will come back on the market but at a higher price because of the activity.



We also still have the ridiculous law in place that lenders and sellers have to use the appraiser on the list regardless of where they are located, we still have appraisers from Orlando and Tampa appraising Brevard County property. We have had appraisers using river front condos to comp ocean front condos, river front homes to comp canal front homes. We even have an appraiser comp a south Merritt Island home to a West Melbourne home. This accounts for the price reductions you will see on foreclosed properties.



The moral of the story is if you want to buy a property then ask your agent to give you comps on the property of interest and give you an opinion on what the property’s market value is in today’s market. We always write a cover letter with offers with the comps and ask the listing agent to submit this info to the seller. This usually will carry some weight in acquiring the property.



We hope you have a Happy Holiday season!



Jim Bagwell

"Say it loud, say it clear"

"You can listen as well as you hear"
"Its too late when we die"
"To admit we didn't see eye to eye"
Mike & The Mechanics 

This is one of my favorite pools.  It is at Crescent Palms in South Cocoa Beach on the Banana river.

Nothing new in our complexes since last post, I am surprised that the foreclosure in Windward East is still available.  I believe you have to consider that similar units in Windrush are priced the same or lower than the foreclosure.  Windward and Windrush are similar complexes by the same builder and still are well kept complexes.  Windward will go to $330 next year in monthly dues and Windrush is at $390 and I haven't heard of a increase at Windrush.  These are still some of the best values in monthlies as far as dues.  Consider that Stonewood is up to $400 and Royale Towers is up to $405.  Ada and I have lived in both and enjoyed living there.

I am sorry to say that it is becoming increasingly difficult to sell a 1st floor unit since our unit is on the 1st floor, it has to be a very nice unit indeed to break $300,000.

One of the more interesting sales in the last part of 2010 was a unit in Michelina.  It was on the market for about 2 years and finally went the short sale route.  listed as a short sale for $299,900 and sold for $299,900, the unit has 3 bedrooms 3 baths with 2411 sq ft and built in 2006.  The view is nothing special.  This unit was purchased in 2006 pre-construction for $468,000. 

NOTE FOR OWNERS
New rules for IRS in 2011, if you collect more than $600 in rent on a property in a year and if you pay a vendor (electrician, carpenter, contractor, etc.) more than $600 then it is the owners' responsibilty to issue a 1099 to the vendor.  Don't shoot the messenger!

Lets hope tis the season to sell some Real Estate!

Jim Bagwell

You're as cold as ice

You're willing to sacrifice our love    Foreigner

Somehow the picture doesn't fit the temperature but we are blessed in Cocoa Beach.

Not a lot of changes going on in our complexes.  Windward East has the most changes.

The short sale closed for $265,000.  Direct ocean,sandollar plan, listed at $279,000 and closed at $265,000.

The foreclosure on the top floor with side views is now on the 3rd realtor,  I don't know what is going on with the lender.  Listed at $224,900, this is a good buy!

There is a unit in Windrush with side views listed at $219,900, this is a good buy as well.

Stay warm!

Jim Bagwell