Questions For Frustrated Sellers

Following are ten questions that every property seller whose listing is aging without selling should be asking themselves.

10: What is the best estimate of actual current market value of my property based strictly on recently sold, comparable properties close in size, condition and location to my property? What that number was last summer when you first listed is likely to have changed.

9: Am I asking close to that number and am I willing to sell for close to that estimate or am I praying for a miracle? Like the Florida skunk ape pictured above, the existence of the wealthy uninformed buyer with no internet connection who is willing to pay your price without looking at your competition is still in doubt.

8: What is the supply of similar properties and do I think it's going to increase or decrease? This is especially relevant right now as historically we get a bump of new listings in late spring of properties that were rented to snowbirds during the January through mid-April season.

7: Are there any possible events looming that could affect the value of my property like impending fee or insurance increases or possible expensive repairs or assessments?

6: Does my property show well? Does it smell inviting? You might be surprised at the smells that sellers have become accustomed to that are off-putting to others. Your shy tabby is mighty cute but we could smell her litter box before we came in the door.

5: Is it easy to show my property? You may not realize that your tenant has become difficult or that it is difficult for buyer's agents to get showing instructions or that your listing agent keeps the keys in her office rather than using a lockbox. If your listing agent doesn't answer his phone or his office is closed on weekends, you're missing showings to prospective buyers.

4: Am I offering buyer’s brokers compensation? (Offers to pay buyers’ brokers’ compensation are no longer allowed on the MLS but most sellers in our area are still offering to pay a reasonable buyer’s broker’s commission. Refuse to offer a competitive rate and risk fewer showings and lower offers.) A seller doesn’t have to like or agree with this practice but if the competition is paying it, it is probably prudent to pinch your nose and join the party.

3: Is your listing agent offering suggestions to effect a sale or is she making excuses about the time it’s taking to sell your property? If the comps suggest the listing is over-priced and the agent is not suggesting reconsidering the price, it might be time for a talk with them. You’re not looking for someone to agree with you about your asking price. You’re looking for a sale.

2: How much is it costing me every month that the property isn't sold? In addition to taxes, fees, repairs and interest you have to figure opportunity cost on the equity (if any).

1: And number one; In which direction do I think (based on facts) my property value is headed? If I stick to my pricing guns will I eventually get my price or will I have to settle for less than I might get now if priced competitively?

Activity has been brisk among all price ranges from $120,000 to over a million with 46 condo sellers finding a buyer since March 1st. Would your unit not have been a perfect fit for one of the 46 buyers? Why aren’t you among those who received an acceptable offer?

“Someone had to run the harvesters in the rice and sugarcane fields, check the irrigation canals and robots, install things, fix things. Humans were still not only the cheapest robots around, but also, for many tasks, the only robots that could do the job. They were self-reproducing robots too. They showed up and worked, generation after generation; give them three thousand calories a day and a few amenities, a little time off, and a strong jolt of fear, and you could work them at almost anything. Give them some ameliorative drugs and you had a working class, reified and coglike.” _Kim Stanley Robinson from 2312 

Peak Snowbird Season Update

Peak occupancy, peak traffic, peak logjams at the golf course, March maxes all the measures. Two more weeks until we catch a breather and get to enjoy a slow wind-down before the school year ends and we reaccelerate into summer vacation season. 

Sales the first half of March continued at the accelerated pace from February. In the first two weeks of March, twenty seven condo units and three single-family homes closed in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral. The sold homes ranged from $425,000 to $605,000, none of them waterfront. The closed condos ranged from $152,000 for a tiny one bedroom unit in Cape Canaveral two blocks from the beach to a luxurious 3/4 riverfront unit with 2540 square feet in south Cocoa Beach across the street from the beach that closed for $979,000. That unit had been on the market for over two years originally asking $1,200,000. It’s common to be optimistic about pricing but foolish absent other factors to not react to the market’s indifference for over two years. The median time on market for all the closed condos was a surprisingly low 50 days. The units that priced competitively and sold quickly contributed to that number falling from recent much higher levels. 

There were other examples of pricing stubbornness. A unit in an oceanfront building in Cocoa Beach was originally listed for $750,000 and finally closed this month for $555,000, almost two years since first hitting the market. A Cape Canaveral unit that took over a year to sell was first listed for $555,000 and just closed for $393,000. A beautiful oceanfront corner that took six months to sell was first asking $595,000 but settled for $475,000 in the end. Sellers take note. Sales activity is strong but they’re not overpaying. Anyone who has been on the market for three months or longer has received a message from the market. Ignore the message if selling the unit soon isn’t a priority. If it is, compare the asking price to the selling prices of recently closed comparable units and adjust accordingly. It is probably overpriced. 

In response to the positive feedback from the recent post about real life for agents on the ground, here’s another tale about a weird transaction from 2017 to whet the appetite. 

This is the true account of an interesting and perplexing transaction last month with a mysterious buyer and his communication-impaired buyer’s agent from another city. 

November 3, 2017: A buyer’s agent calls the listing agent of a condo in Cocoa Beach asking to show. The unit is vacant and available to show anytime, but, being from Orlando, the buyer’s agent doesn’t have access to the local electronic lockbox system so he asks if listing agent can unlock the unit for him. No problem. 

November 8: After no contact for five days after showing, the buyer’s agent delivers a very low offer contingent upon a mortgage. The listing agent presents the offer to the seller who doesn’t want to counter as the unit is in a condotel complex where a mortgage is impossible to acquire unless it is from an unconventional source. The listing agent suggests countering without a financing contingency. Done. 

November 9: Buyer counters at a lower number, cash, close in 30 days. 

November 10: Negotiations ensue and buyer and seller verbally agree upon a higher number, cash purchase with a 30 day close and buyer’s agent asks listing agent to write it up and he’ll get buyer to sign. Written, signed by seller and delivered to buyer’s agent same day. 

November 11: Buyer’s agent sends a lender’s condo questionnaire but no signed contract. What? This was a cash offer. Buyer’s agent says don’t worry, buyer is just exploring his options. OK, management company completes the questionnaire three days later and listing agent forwards it to buyer’s agent. Buyer’s agent goes radio silent. 

December 7: The buyer’s agent hasn’t responded to any emails, texts or phone calls from listing agent for three weeks. Suddenly, 26 days after last contact, he emails listing agent to say that buyer is moving forward if the property is still available and is sending the signed contract shortly. Listing agent informs seller that the dead have arisen but neither holds their breath. 

December 8: Signed contract is received from the buyer’s agent with escrow deposit due in three days and a ten day inspection period with a close date of Dec. 30. Buyer’s agent returns to his Faraday cage and relights the “Do Not Disturb” sign. Listing agent marks the MLS listing as “Backups” rather than “Contingent” and notes in the narrative that the contract is “shaky” and encourages backup offers. Fingers are crossed but seller’s and listing agent’s expectations remain minimal. 

December 14: Escrow deposit is received, three days late. Buyer’s agent surfaces briefly to acknowledge receipt and reenters suspension chamber blithely letting the inspection period expire four days later with zero contact.

December 26: After a two week disappearance buyer’s agent notifies listing agent that inspections will be done Dec. 27 three days before closing. Inspection period expired on Dec. 18. 

December 27: late night: Buyer’s agent emails inspection report with a demand for all items to be repaired prior to closing on the 30th. 

December 28: Seller refuses to do repairs but offers $300 credit at closing for the small items found. and buyer responds that he is willing to delay closing to give seller time to repair. Seller says, no dice, and closing will still happen on Dec. 30 or he will keep the deposit which became non-refundable ten days earlier at the expiration of the inspection period. 

December 29: Buyer wisely agrees to the $300 repair credit, signs closing documents and initiates wire of funds late in the day which does not arrive until Jan. 3 for unknown reasons. 

January 3: Buyer’s agent who has been absent since demanding repairs the previous week sends his last text to the listing agent “Did you receive commission yet?” While frustrating, this all-too-common level of incompetence from some of my fellow practitioners does provide entertainment and makes for lively discussions when the used house salesmen gather round the table for refreshments. I’d like to thank this buyer’s agent and his peers for making the rest of us look better than we would sans the contrast. A hearty toast merry fellows. 

“First of all, we must internalize the “flatulation” of the matter by transmitting the effervescence of the “Indianisian” proximity in order to further segregate the crux of my venereal infection. Now, if I may retain my liquids here for one moment. I’d like to continue the “redundance” of my quote, unquote “intestinal tract”, you see because to preclude on the issue of world domination would only circumvent - excuse me, circumcise the revelation that reflects the “Afro-disiatic” symptoms which now perpetrates the jheri curis activation.” __Oswald Bates - In Living Color

February Condo Surprise

14th St. surf wax graffiti in the 90s

In addition to the graffiti above on the wooden barrier at the 14th St. oceanfront dead-end, there was more wisdom inscribed on the seawall. My favorites were "Chad Can't Surf" and "Eric Shreds". The latter was later appended with "Lettuce". 14th St. was THE surf and gathering spot for the south Cocoa Beach crew throughout the 90s.

Condo and townhome inventory in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral remains more or less static with 310 units for sale this morning according to the MLS. After a strong December for condo sales we saw a brief slowdown in January followed by sales taking off in February with 52 closed unit sales. That means we have a six month supply which isn’t great but is an improvement in the supply/sales rate during the second half of 2025. Sales so far this year point towards an improving condo market despite the headwinds of escalating ownership expenses. The current inventory is still choked with over-priced listings but many of the new listings hitting the market are priced realistically and are selling.

Single family home supply has increased slightly with 70 MLS-listed houses available today. There were just four single family home sales closed in February at prices between $775,000 and $1,200,000, all four in Cocoa Beach. At that pace we have an almost eighteen month supply. Like condos, over-pricing among the current inventory is rife.

Median monthly fee of the closed condos was $725 with a median selling price of $365,000. The MLS tells us that the median time on market for the closed condos was 62 days but a look behind the MLS curtain reveals that 18 of the sold units had inaccurate combined days on market (CDOM) displayed, many of those listings deliberately manipulated by listing agents hoping to deceive and attract potential buyers to an old listing by giving it a “new” appearance. Entirely OK within the MLS rules but in the grey zone of ethical behavior. The actual time on market looks like it was much closer to 100 days than the 62 days the MLS is showing. A couple of units showing as zero days on market actually had been on the market for 285 and 172 days. Among the sold units, nine of them sold for less than the sellers paid, all of them purchased in the last five years.

There were eight direct ocean units closed in the month. Selling prices per square foot ranged from a low of $317/sq.ft. for a 2/2 unit in south Cocoa Beach without a garage that sold in a private sale to $487/sq.ft. for a beautiful and spacious corner at Solana Shores in Cape Canaveral. A side unit (not direct ocean) at The Surf in downtown Cocoa Beach changed hands for $1,062,000 or $600/sq.ft. It sold brand new last year for $1,000,000.

It’s still too early to tell what plants and trees will recover from the freeze but it’s obvious that many tropicals are not coming back. We are probably looking at a no-mango year in Cocoa Beach this year considering the condition of the trees I’ve seen. Same for younger coconut trees. Those who were exposed to the wind during the freeze are struggling if not already dead. We went through this about fifteen years ago and recovered nicely but it took a while. Life goes on.

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” _George Orwell, 1984 These slogans were prominently displayed at the Ministry of Truth.