"Lie to me"

"I promise to believe" Strong enough by Cheryl Crow she does appear to be a strong woman.

Some beautification at the end of Minuteman Cswy, beware of the rangers.


Still only 9 active listings in our 4 complexes. 3 in Windward East, 5 in Windrush and 1 in 2100 Tower. The average days on the market for these is 297 days. This is really due to price or ease of showing.

In 2012 there have been 29 condos in oceanfront complexes sold with a average sq. ft. price of $166.65. Price is still the most important aspect if you really want to sell a condo.

Good day to fly a kite.

Jim Bagwell

"In my many years I have come to a conclusion"

"that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress" John Adams via Steve Donnelly It is hard to argue with John Adams

Cocoa Beach from the air, what a great winter.

Still not much movement in our complexes. There is a new listing in The Diplomat that is following the trend with a list price of $99,900 and recently renovated.

There is a good buy at The Constellation with 3 bedrooms 2 baths and 2126 sq.ft. priced at $375,000. I personally like this complex, you have great ocean views and from the back bedrooms you have river views. The association allows one pet with no size limitation so great if you have a bigger dog.

January numbers from our MLS shows there have been 78 sales for condos down from January 2011 by 16.7%. Listings were up by 7.1%. The number of desirable listings are the reason that sales are down. The number of condos listed in our area is down by 44.7%.

Enjoy the winter afternoon!

Jim Bagwell

"A man is successful if he gets up in the morning"

"and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do" Bob Dylan

Osprey overlooking the 9th hole on the Lakes course

We have 2 new listings in our complexes. The 1st is a 2100 unit that is a 2/2 1600 sq. ft. and priced at $189,500. The 2nd is a NE corner unit in Windrush on the 2nd floor. This unit has been updated and shows well. 3 bedrooms 2 baths and priced at $249,000. We hope to get a buyer quickly.

We have had 4 units sold this year with 3 in The Diplomat and 1 in Windrush. That means there are no units on the market in The Diplomat. In the same time period last year there was 1 unit sold and that was in Windrush. The difference is the inventory, there was so much more to choose from last year.

At the present time there are 11 units on the market in our 4 complexes with 1 pending and 3 contingent. Last year there were 27 available units in our 4 complexes.

2012 will be the opportunity for the seller as far as oceanfront complexes go.

Jim Bagwell

Could be, might be a one time opportunity

Nothing new in our complexes to report, we need a good listing before the season passes us by.

The picture is of the community pool at Bayport Condos in Cape Canaveral. This complex is on the Banana River side. Some views are good some are limited. There have been 23 units come on the market as short sales. These units all have over 2000 square feet and are priced according to floor, view and if they are end units. These units are priced from $139,900 to $219,900. The majority are priced at $139,900.

Now for the indivdual that means that you could have a condo with 2000 square feet for $139,900. For the investor or group of investors that means you could have 23 condos with over 2000 square feet each for a total of between 3-4 million depending on negotiation.

These are currently rented by the developer for between $1100 and $1500 depending on the unit. The leases are long term and non-furnished. The condo fees are $410 monthly which has became standard for our area depending on amenities.

I believe with the right deal, the return on investment would be acceptable for a few years awaiting on the cash out. I have never seen a block of units come out like this as short sales. They usually come out by the lender like Mystic Vistas as foreclosed offerings. This could be genius or insanity.

Just food for thought!

Jim Bagwell

Real Estate misinformation

Picture is of our son Jason who is contracting in Afghanistan. He will be home next week for 2 weeks for a wedding and back for 2 more months. After that we hope he will be home for good and studying for the bar.

As far as our title goes it is only natural to think that most information that is false comes from Realtors but actually it comes from web sites that you would think are accurate. Web sites like Brevard County Property Appraiser and Zillow.

We were helping a buyer with a short sale the other day and she went to the Brevard County Property Appraiser site and looked at the assessed value which of course was considerably lower than the list price. She then made a offer based on that information and of course the bank would not look at the offer. To give you a idea of what this information is based on The Diplomat short sale that recently closed assessed value was $70,500 in reality the list price on this unit was $88,500 and sold for $80,000. A unit in The Meridian which is a high end complex on the ocean recently closed for $599,000 with an assessed value of $484,020, this unit was sold with a conventional mortgage and was appraised at the sold price. Please keep in mind that assessed value has nothing to do with the actual appraised value. Brevard County does not do an appraisal on your property and as a property owner you don't want them to do that or your taxes would go up.

Zillow is a very popular site that sellers like to go on to find the value of their home. This site makes their money mainly from Realtors who advertise with them. A few states have ongoing law suits with Zillow because of their misinformation. There are no Zillow employees in Cocoa Beach and they know nothing of the area. To give you an example, there is a unit in the Highland house that is listed at $56,000 with no offers so far. This is a well kept small complex with a community pool. The unit is a 2 bedroom 1 1/2 bath and 945 square feet and needs restoration. Zillow has a value of $97,400 and if the seller had looked at this they would have no chance of finding a buyer.

Nothing new in our complexes.

Enjoy the day!

Jim Bagwell

"and I don't want the world to see me"

"cause I don't think they'd understand"
"when everythiing's made to be broken."
"I just want you to know who I am" The Goo Goo dolls
This is a beautiful song regardless of the artist or the genre.

This is a picture of ducks in a window of London's China town. Ada and I ended up there on Christmas day and the lines were so long that we didn't get into a restaurant.

Well 2 more front units in The Diplomat have closed. One was a short sale listed at $88,500 and closed at $80,000, the other was a upgraded unit listed at $114,900 and closed for $102,500. The only other front listing is under contract with a list price of $94,900.

A interesting unit on the market is a Stonewood on the 10th floor, great views and over 1300 sq. ft. This unit is priced at $255,000 now that will hurt your feelings and won't last long.

New statistics are out from our MLS system and they show that the number of months inventory we had in Brevard County in 2010 was 11.9 months, it is now at 5.2 months. Average sold price is slightly up and with the inventory so low especially on beachside it is a very good time for realistic sellers and it has been a long time since I have been able to say that with a bit of confidence.

Have a good one!

Jim Bagwell

"How many seas must a white dove sail"

"before she sleeps in the sand?" Blowing in the Wind Bob Dylan

Please forgive my absence in the blog world! Ada and I spent Christmas in London and what an exciting time. Pictures are of the occupy wall street people in the garden of St. Pauls Cathredal, the other is of St. Pauls cathredal.

So far in 2012 there have been 27 new listings of condos in the beach area. Of these 17 are under $200,000 but of course not oceanfront.

There have also been 8 condos closed this year. One of these was a front building in Windrush, this unit was listed and closed in no time. Listed at $159,900 and sold for $151,000, this was a win for the seller.

A lot of people are ready to call the bottom. I tend to think that there will be a final wave of foreclosures this year and then I think we will see a stabilization of the market at the end of this year or early next year. I totally understand why Real Estate people want to call the bottom but I am not ready to give that advice. Look for prices to be steady on the beachside and maybe next year you will see the prices inch forward but never to the point of where they once were, denial serves nobody.

Have a happy and prosperous New Year!

Jim Bagwell