Chugging Right Along

April 2014 was another busy month for real estate in our beach communities. There were 50 closed MLS-listed condos and townhomes in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral in the month. Over 60% of all sales closed for cash. Activity was particularly heavy in the lower price range with over half of all sales closing for $150,000 or less. It's still amazing to me that a condo with two or more bedrooms, a short walk from the beach can be had that cheaply. Sixteen of the under $150,000 sales had multiple bedrooms. The highest priced condo sale of the month was a resale Magnolia Bay fully furnished corner 3/3 that closed for $550,000 after only six days on the market. Second highest sale was a northeast corner top floor Ocean Oaks 3/3 in Cape Canaveral that also sold fully furnished. It brought $525,000. Speaking of Magnolia Bay, a milestone was reached last week when the last developer-owned unit went under contract. This marks the end of a long and grueling process. Or does it? There is still the site of the fourth building that has rested vacant since the market crashed. Can units be built there and sold for enough to make a profit? I can't predict. I will try to put together a history of this project from my first involvement up to this point as best I remember it and post it in the near future. It was drama from the very beginning and there was a lot of collateral damage, unintended consequences and hard feelings along the way. Congrats to the residents and the developer for hanging in there and seeing it to the end.. Other condo sales of note included; 5th floor SE corner Xanadu of Cocoa Beach 3 BR, 2.5 BA for $450,000 in 39 days Xanadu direct ocean 15th floor nicely remodeled 2 BR, 2 BA for $397,500 in 30 days 2nd floor Cocoa Beach direct ocean southeast corner Windrush 3/2 for $317,000 Ground floor direct ocean Marko Villas south Cocoa Beach 2/2 for $200,000 South ocean view 3rd floor Majestic Seas 3 BR, 2 BA. Sold for $390,000 in 16 days. 1st floor Stonewood D bldg. 3 BR, 2 BA for $340,000 4th floor direct ocean Las Palmas 3/2 for $300,000 4th floor D building Mystic Vistas corner 3/2 with a peak of the ocean for $280,000 And, my favorite, a 2nd floor canalfront 2 BR, 2 BA Lookout Point downtown Cocoa Beach with garage and boat slip that went for $163,875. Single family home sales were brisk in April as well with nine closed in Cocoa Beach and two in Cape Canaveral. Over half were over $400,000 including the highest recorded price ever for a single family home in Cocoa Beach of $1.9 MM for a beautiful oceanfront home in south Cocoa Beach. Distressed sales represented 14% of the total closed sales compared to 6% of the current for sale inventory. There was but one short sale out of the 60 closed sales in the month. There are 70 single family homes offered this morning and 285 condos. Over 20% of the current condo inventory has been offered for over a year, quite a few for multiple years. Some of those are yet-to-be-built, others are developer owned units that have been for sale at outrageous prices for years, and the others are just over-priced. If a unit has to be asking within 15% of current market value to be "really" for sale, I'd put the "real" for sale condo inventory in our two cities at less than 225 units. It's tough to find the good ones. Tough but not impossible. I can help if you're looking. Hope everyone has been enjoying the recent beautiful weather. If this week is any indication, we might be in for a hot summer. The ocean water temp is already in the high 70s and offers a welcome dip for beachgoers. The beach re-nourishment project finished up just as turtle season began on May 1. If one knows where to look, there is an abundance of beautiful olive shells that were apparently transported to the beach with the new sand. Due to their cylindrical shape, they tend to accumulate at a certain place on the beach at a certain time. Speaking of turtle season; no lights are allowed to be visible from the beach after 9 PM. Turn em off and close the blinds or risk a $350 fine. "I don’t stop eating when I’m full. The meal isn’t over when I’m full. It’s over when I hate myself." ___Louis C.K.