"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

"I don't need satin to sleep"

Cheryl Crow

Sunset at Harbor Isles

Luxury Market

We have a client who owns a Real Estate franchise in Boston.  They bought a million plus home on the Indian River about 5 years ago.  In Boston they deal exclusively with high end properties, they made the observation that the high end market was more or less impervious to the market trends.
For those of you who saw the paper today, there are 10 high end short sales in Brevard.  There are actually 11 priced from $900,000 to $1,900,000.  All of these are on the ocean or the river,  there is one in Satellite Beach priced at $1,750,000 on the ocean with 9800 sq ft and about 1.25 acre.  No guarantees on getting the banks to accept the offer but they are responding more quickly and sometimes countering.

News in our complexes

Windrush
There are 2 new listings with side views.  Both are 2 bedrooms 2 baths, 1 on the 5th floor priced at $265,000 and 1 on the 3 floor priced at $219,900.  As you can see the foreclosure in Windward East has affected the comparable pricing.

Windward East
The short sale direct ocean, 1394 sq ft on the 4th floor is under contract.  The HUD appraisers are now using short sales and foreclosures in preparing their appraisals.

The Diplomat
The short sale in the front bulding priced at $80,000 closed at $74,900.  Another new comp!

Get to the art show this afternoon, it brings out the unique!

Jim Bagwell

 

"Well I hope Neil Young will remember"

"a southern man don't need him around anyhow"
Lynrd Skynard,  I saw these guys in the Tiger Den under the Cocoa water tower in the dark ages

This is the way to watch the air show

Not a lot has changed in our complexes over the week. This is where we stand at the present time.

2100 Towers

There are 6 active listings priced from $175,000 up to $395,900

There are 2 under contract. 1 is a foreclosure priced at $169,900 and 1 is a flip priced at $257,900.

The Diplomat

There are 2 active listings both in the front buildings priced from $110,000 to $135,000. This is the lowest number of listings all year.

There is still the short sale under contract listed at $80,000.


Windrush

There are 5 active listings priced from $119,000 in the front to $485,000 on the ocean OMG.

One of the listings is a short sale side view back on the market $209,900.


Windward East


There are 5 active listings priced from $199,000 to $350,000. The side view top floor is reduced to $224,900, foreclosure.

The short sale townhome is still under contract, list price $150,000.


News


We are seeing lenders sell off blocks of new condos to investors who in turn put them on the market. Mystic Vistas which is in Cape Canaveral behind the villages of seaport with ocean view is one of these. There have been 9 of these sold this year priced from $130,000 to $225,000 price varies with view. These units were built in 2005 and square footage goes from 1686 to 2010.



A different situation in the foreclosure

An Ocean Oasis foreclosure with 3293 sq ft, 4 bedrooms 3 ½ baths sold for $535,000. This condo even has one of them bidets.



Have a good one



Jim Bagwell

"You don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows"

Bob Dylan

I believe the wind didn't help the Geico skytypers this weekend.  It is interest ing to note that these planes are SNJ's, a WWII trainer.  There are only 11 left and Geico has 6 of these in their show.  Almost all the pilots are commercial airline pilots who do what they love in their spare time.  I know there are a lot of dogs in theraphy this week and the ferrel cats may be gone forever but this is what Cocoa Beach needs in our present economic envirionment.  With our job losses and more to come we have to promote Cocoa Beach, I know we don't like the traffic, parking and other issues but we have to do what we have to do to keep our paradise.  Please remember that special interest starts in local elections so get out and vote on 11/2.  Lets keep an equal footing for all business's in obtaining permits and keeping our voice.

Nothing new in  our complexes

When Ada and I got married a long time ago we lived in Stonewood in the C building.  We had our reception in the clubhouse.  It was one of our favorite places we have lived in Cocoa Beach.  Recently a unit C302 closed for $280,000.  The unit has good views and 3 bedrooms 2 baths and 1588 sq ft.  We lived in C401 which is a corner unit and almost 2000 sq ft.  We may have missed the boat on this one.

Hope you enjoyed the show and take care of your dogs!

Jim Bagwell    

"Got a dream to take them there"

"They're coming to America"  Neil Diamond

Picture courtesy of Steve Donnelly of Auburn NY. 
Support our troops, sometimes in a long war, we tend to forget the sacrifice of others.

Happenings in our complexes

Windward East

A new short sale on the 4th floor direct ocean featuring 2 bedrooms 2 baths, sand dollar floor plan listed at $279,000.  No guarantees the bank will accept this price but the banks are much more cooperative these days avoiding foreclosure.  This makes the foreclosure with side view with less sq ft seem overpriced. 

I was going through my records the other day and found a closing that Ada and I closed in the townhomes.  It closed in Mar of 2008 for $184,000, we were depressed that we couldn't get more for the owner, who we became friends but now it was a fortunate sale.  The short sale now is listed at $150,000 with the exact floor plan.

The Diplomat

The short sale in the front buildings which is listed at $80,000 is under contract.  We will have to wait to see what it closes for in price.

2100 

The unit on the 4th floor which started at $224,900 as a foreclosure is now listed at $169,900 and under contract.

Enjoy the Air Show.

Jim Bagwell