"Mountain Mama"

"Take me Home, country roads"  John Denver

Picture is of the Sphinx rock on Grandfather mountain.  Ada and I took a little road trip to Blowing Rock, NC.  It was a great time.  I decided to try new things for dinner so one night I had SC flash fried oysters and the next night I tried my first bison.  They both were delicious.   If you find yourself in Blowing rock try the Gamekeeper restaurant, I give it 5 stars.

In the complexes we have talked about, the inventory is now next to nothing.

Windrush;  no active listings.

2100 Towers; One active listing and that is the penthouse that started out at $1,200,000 and is now at $899,000.  More realistic but may not be low enough.

The Diplomat;  One active listing in the front buildings priced at $129,900.  This one is priced correctly.

Windward East;  3 active listings remain, the 1/1 on the 3rd floor priced at $189,000, this is direct ocean so the price is not far off or is at least worth a offer.  1st floor that is a foreclosure and priced at $249,900.  This unit has 1482 sq ft and features 2 bedrooms 2 baths with the extra room.  The townhome in the front is still priced at $230,000, this unit is still not priced competitively compared to the ocean view buildings.

Jim Bagwell

"It's just he gambles so much"

"And you know that it's wrong" 
"Waiting for an alibi"  Thin Lizzy

This picture is of a listing one of our agents has in South Cocoa Beach.  Truly one of a kind property.  The property features an oceanfront home with 3 bedrooms 3 baths and has been totally renovated with granite, gas range and storm rated doors and windows.  At the roadside of the property are five 1 bedroom 1 bath apartments with long term tenants and one 2 bedroom 1 bath with all the upgrades with deck and ocean views.  Listed at $1,295,000 it presents all types of possibilities.

It is a busy time in Windward East!

There is a foreclosure on the 1st floor listed at $249,900 and has been upgraded with a office/family room.  There is also a 6th floor listing that is a 2/2 needs a little updating and a list price of $269,900.  Also now there is a front townhome listed at $230,000.  This unit features 2 bedrooms 2 1/2 baths with square footage of 1450', this is going to be a hard one to comp since ocean view units have closed for less.

Jim Bagwell 

"Things just couldn't be the same"

"Cause I'm as free as a bird now"  Lynyrd Skynyrd Free Bird

Ada got this picture on the golf course at Cocoa Beach on Sunday.

NAR has reported that the condo market may be booming again despite the lack of inventory.  For the month of July the sales of condos were up 23% from a year ago.  Midwest and Southeast lead the way but all regions are up at least 20%.  This is really good news for Cocoa Beach.  Our inventory is still at a all time low.

The National Association of Home Builders report that optimism has skyrocketed in the second quarter.  In the Miami area a flood of Latin America money has started a new high rise condo start ups.  This area a couple of years ago had totally bottomed out.

Financing is still a challenge but can be achieved if you stay with it.  Please try to use a local lender,  we have to be able to get our hands on them.

Speaking of condos there is a foreclosure in Windward East with 2 bedrooms 2 baths, upgraded priced at $249,000.  This is a 1st floor but convenient to the ocean.

Jim Bagwell

YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO BE ON THE BEACH

Just another September afternoon in Cocoa Beach!

I just did an extensive search for truly oceanfront condos in Cocoa Beach & Cape Canaveral.  As of 8/31 there were 32 truly oceanfront condos on the market.  Now back in the day I have showed buyers that many condos in a 2 day period that they were interested in that were in their price range.

So far this year there have been 325 residential listings sold in Cocoa Beach, this includes all types of homes.  At the present time there are 183 active residential listings of all types on the market.

The interesting part of all this is the average days on the market is down to 152 days and that includes the new buildings yet to be built.

It is a great time to be a seller of oceanfront condos.

Jim Bagwell 

"Red sky in the morning"

"Sailors take warning"

Unusual sunrise this morning in South Cocoa Beach.  right now though there is not a cloud in the sky.

Mortgages

I have noticed a lot of home sellers becoming increasingly frustrated with the time it is taking on approval of mortgages especially FHA and VA loans.  Unfortunately this is a time consuming process and I don't see it getting quicker any time soon.  The buyer picks the lender if asked I will offer several lenders to choose from but do not make the final decision.  When I find some mortgage brokers don't answer their phone or do not return calls then I don't recommend them anymore.  Nothing is quite as frustrating as a professional not taking calls or not returning calls.  It may be bad news but it has to be addressed.  We have had a couple of agents who were very bad about communication and needless to say they are no longer with us.

I have a contract on a home in Melbourne in which the buyers are very well qualified for a purchase.  They wanted to go VA since they wanted to save their cash and finance 100% of the price.  This is a very common practice but a lot of sellers are hesitant about accepting VA.  VA is an excellent tool and we still did the contract as is with no additional fees for VA.  Inspections are set for this week so I hope for the best.

Jim Bagwell  

"When written in Chinese,"

" the word "crisis" is composed of two characters.  One represents danger and the other represents opportunity."  John F. Kennedy

These are some pictures of the new listing I have been referring to in previous blogs.  This property is a triplex that was converted from a quadplex.  The owners have been using the 2nd floor as a 2nd home.  The property can easily be converted back to a quadplex for rental purposes.  Being in the county the best use may be to make this into a weekly rental.  The property consists 100.35' on the ocean and 160' deep.  Even with the building being on the north edge of property there is room to add another structure.  The property is priced at $965,000.

Click below to see visual tour;


 http://www.visualtour.com/show.asp?t=3145083&prt=10003
Jim Bagwell

"And I can still hear my old hound dog barking"

"Chasin' down a hoodoo there."  CCR

This is becoming a common sight on the canals of Cocoa Beach with the older homes being totally taken down or gutted.
The listing we talked about last blog is still not official but should be soon, I will keep you posted.

We talk about CMA's quite a bit but I don't think people know what we are really talking about.  Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), to have a meaningful CMA the agent should try to compare apples to apples.  I always try to stay within a 6 month time frame since last year is last year and the market changes daily.  You should try your best to keep within 10% of square footage and within 5 year period of the date built.  Don't compare waterfront to non-waterfront even though we have had appraisers try to do this and then we have to appeal.  Don't compare riverfront to oceanfront even though we have had appraisers try to use this. 

In the end CMA's when done the right way are one of our most important tools and I try to use this for both buyers and sellers.  In fact it works better when used for your buyer because it gives the buyer a feeling of what other buyers have paid for similar listings.

Bottom line is like one of our clients told me the other day "as we both know the market value is what someone will pay"  Sound advice!

Jim Bagwell