Captiva

Picture from a trip Ada and I took to Captiva Island for a couple of days. This is the 5th highest rated par 3 course in the world. I have never had a ocean wave break on the golf cart before, if you get a chance give it a try.


Not much activity in our complexes since the last post.

There are 2 new listings in Windward East with both being direct ocean. The first is a 2/2 with 1394 sq ft. It is a second floor unit fully furnished and priced at $329,000.

The next one is a 2/2 on the 4th floor with 1394 sq ft and priced at $425,000 unfurnished.

For those of you who have been in Cocoa beach for awhile, one of our agents just listed a Palmas De Majorca. This was the site of the old Desperado's Mexican Restaurant. At the time Ada and I lived at Stonewood and loved to walk down to Desperado's for dinner and listen to the entertainment, they had the hottest jalapenos I have ever tried in the area. This unit is a 3/2 with 1800 sq ft direct and priced at $438,888.

Thanks
Jim Bagwell

Baby Boomers

picture from a listing at the Wavecrest in South Cocoa Beach.


Let’s face it our music was the best. Ada and I went to the “Classic Concert” over at the Hard Rock and it was a group covering Beatle music with the Orlando orchestra. I could not believe how many young people were there and knew all the words to all the songs. If you get a chance, check out this series. They actually did 4 encores until they ran out of songs.

2009 update

For those of you are following this is the update for the 1st half of 2009.

Active listings:

The Diplomat front buildings, there are still 9 active priced from $125,000 to $164,900.
The Diplomat ocean front building there is one unit on the 3rd floor priced at $274,900.

Windrush has 2 side view units, 1 is a 2/2 priced at $269,900 and 1 3/2 priced at $299,900. 1 direct view is a 3/2 priced at $329,000

Windward East has 1 townhome priced at $215,000 fully furnished and 1 side unit on the 6th floor 2/2 priced at $329,900.

Sold in 2009

The Diplomat, 1 front unit has sold listed at $149,900 and sold for $139,900 and 2 ocean units sold 1 listed at $259,900 and sold for $215,000 on the 1st floor and 1 listed at $289,800 and sold for $259,000.

Windward East has had 1 sale side unit listed at $299,900 and sold for $285,000, this unit was on the 3rd floor and was a 2/2.

Hope this helps to keep you informed and if you ever need info on the rest of Cocoa Beach just drop an email.

Jim Bagwell

"The times they are a changing"

Photo courtesy of Don Hoover since my camera failed. This may have been the last shuttle piggyback we get the chance to see.

The market is still busy since the prices are still falling. The 1st quarter of 2009was the biggest drop since the downturn began, this has in turn made Brevard County property undervalued by 19.2%. Condo financing is still a challenge but can still be accomplished. I think we have seen the last of mortgages on complexes without reserves.

I think all of our complexes still look fantastic especially with the palm tree trimming. We are fortunate to live where we live.

In The Diplomat the oceanfront on the 3rd floor has been reduced to $274,900, this unit will probably sell now.

In Windrush there are 2 side view units that are good buys. The 1st is a 2 bedroom 2 bath unit on the second floor and remodeled for $269,900 and the 2nd is a 3 bedroom 2 bath unit on the 3rd floor, furnished and priced at $299,900.

The market will come back so don't panic just enjoy the beach!

Jim Bagwell

"For every season"

"there is a reason" The Byrds

Well we have reached the end of snowbird season and a lot of our friends have headed back north. The green fees have again been reduced, especially in Cocoa Beach since they are reconstructing greens which doesn’t affect my game much because I can’t putt. When next season rolls around the greens should be in great shape so give Cocoa Beach country club another try next year. I do like to support local entities. Recently a lot of landscape people, painters, handymen and even auto detailers from Orlando have been showing up in the office but I have to tell them I use local businesses.

The Real Estate market has shown signs of stabilizing as activity increase’s although prices are still falling. The condo market is still very challenging with financing being the way it is as far as underwriting goes. We have a closing scheduled for this Friday in a very nice complex; the problem is that this complex doesn’t keep reserves. We had to switch lenders at the last moment because of no reserves, good news is we got it done through Space Coast Credit Union and saved the buyers a point. We also found out that USAA, which is a favorite lender for military personnel, will not write mortgages on Florida Condos period.

Our 3 complexes have not seen a lot of activity in the last 2 weeks but we have had some news in Windward East.

There is a new listing on the 7th floor of the side building that is listed at $320,000. This is a 2 bedroom 2 bath unit with 1316 sq ft. I would expect this unit to be shown and sold, I only wish they could have gotten it on the market during the season.

The Windward unit 308 that was listed at $299,900 closed at a purchase price of $285,000. This also was a side unit but was in very good shape.

Keep it in the fairway!

Jim Bagwell

"Eight days a week"

It has seemed like that lately. We have been as busy in the last month as we have ever been. I know that jobs are still being lost and Brevard County is still around 10% in unemployment, foreclosure rates are still climbing especially in areas such as Palm Bay. Despite all this bleak news we are seeing buyers of Real Estate coming back to our beautiful area.

Properties

Some buyers are naturally looking for foreclosures and short sales and we are selling those. We have sold 2 HUD homes this year 1 for $38,000 and 1 for $18,000. What is really exciting is that we are seeing buyers of condos finally breaking loose.

Financing, despite the new fannie mae regulations we have been successful in getting a lot of approved condo mortgages. I have a friend who is a large builder and developer of condo complexes. He is trying to sell out one of his largest complexes and he has said that so far this year they have written 11 contract and 6 of these have closed. Keep in mind that the hardest mortgage to obtain is new construction condos so this is encouraging.

Our complexes

There are several new listings that have shown in the past month.

Windrush
There is a new direct ocean that is a 3 bedroom 2 bath unit with 1495 sq ft on the 3rd floor with very good views. This unit even has new hurricane glass sliders. Listed at $349,000, this should be getting a lot of showings.

Windward East
Another side view on the 6th floor, this unit has 2 bedrooms 2 baths and priced at $329,900. This unit is on the 6th floor and the price is in the ballpark. The other side unit is on the 3rd floor with the same plan as the 6th floor unit. It is now priced at $299,900 and I can't believe it is not under contract. One of our agents showed it yesterday and her clients loved it so I hope it sells very soon.

The Diplomat
There are 2 more front units on the market 1 priced at $139,000 and 1 at $144,900. It seems almost to the point where enough units in The Diplomat have changed hands both on the ocean and the small front units that they may be at the bottom and start to rise in value in another 6 months to a year.

Have a pleasant Sunday afternoon.

Jim Bagwell

Beautiful Friends

Our good friends from Auburn NY were here this past week. We had a fun lunch at Coconuts and when I said it was chilly they informed me it was 11 degrees at home. I hope they are not still waiting on a plane in the Orlando airport. Thank goodness for Florida.

Some good activity in our complexes!

There are now 3 ocean front units in The Diplomat that are under contract. I think this is because regardless of how low the prices have dropped on condos there are still very few direct ocean units priced under $300,000.

The 3 that are under contract are as follows:

All the units are 2 bedroom 2 bath units with 900 sq ft.
Unit listed at $259,900 under contract and is a 1st floor unit.
Unit listed at $219,900 under contract and is another 1st floor unit.
Unit listed at $289,900 under contract and is a 2nd floor unit. This unit has been undated.

It really does surprise me that the unit in Windward East hasn’t gone under contract as yet. This unit is on the 3rd floor with 2 bedrooms 2 baths. The unit has been updated and offers 1316 sq ft. It is a side view of the ocean but it is still a good view and buy.

Fannie Mae

We are currently working on 3 contracts that are being underwritten by Fannie Mae. These are contracts on Cocoa Beach condos so the process has been rather time consuming. One contract is in the Xanadu and has been extended twice for insurance certificate. It can still be accomplished but requires tenacity.

Jim Bagwell

Fannie Mae in Florida

Well we are finally thawing out and we are definitely spoiled living in Florida. Our great friends in upstate NY gives us a weather update and I don't see how they survive.

There is yet another new listing in the oceanfront Diplomat that is priced at $289,800. This unit is fully furnished but I feel the competition of larger oceanfront units on the market is hurting The Diplomat.

There is also a short sale in the front building of Windrush that is under contract. This unit was priced at $139,900 and we will have to see what the unit closes for after bank approval.

FYI

Fannie Mae has singled out Florida for their new requirements for mortgages. Most of you know that Fannie Mae is the biggest underwriter in the business followed by Freddie Mac, Freddie Mac usually always follows Fannie Mae's lead. Miami Real Estate experts say this is the nail in the coffin for their condo market.

Some of the requirements are as follows:

2nd homes or investment condos will require at least 25% down payment and could move to 30%.

New construction is almost impossible to finance thru Fannie Mae. No entity can own over 10% of the units. At least 70% of the units must be closed or under contract. Fannie Mae will do their own review of the condo associations as in the past lenders were allowed to do their own review. This is an expensive process that can run as high as $1500 for the 1st unit under contract, paid by the buyer.

In all associations there can be no more than 15% of owners behind in their dues. This will kill a lot of smaller associations ( it may be better to try to get the review later in the month ).

I would hope that our state government will fight to change these requirements as we have to save the condo market as it is so large.

In the meantime we are gearing up to meet these requirements and it is imperative that the managers gear up on knowledge of their association. The Fannie Mae form of application is now intense as far as number of renters, foreclosures and etc.

Jim Bagwell