Sizzling

The sales numbers from the first month of 2014 are not going to accurately reflect the level of activity in the Cocoa Beach real estate market. We began the month in a slow steady mode but by the second week every agent I talked to was running ragged writing and negotiating offers. Activity is still frenetic. I get the sense that a lot of people that had been waiting and thinking of purchasing have decided that now is better than later to pursue a purchase. The rising closed prices tend to support that decision. The continuing low inventory is adding friction to the process.

The bread and butter of our market, direct ocean condos, are in short supply. The property type I am most often asked about is an east facing, direct ocean condo above the ground floor with at least two bedrooms. This morning there are 64 total direct ocean, east facing condos for sale in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral. A quarter of those have been for sale for over six months. In this competitive market that screams "overpriced". A third of the remaining units are ground floor which means that a buyer looking for a fairly priced direct ocean unit above the ground floor has a selection of 35 to choose from. Remove the two one bedroom units and we have 33 possibilities for the "at least two bedrooms" buyer. Only five of those are asking less than $300,000 and fully half are above $400,000. Tight supply.

There have been 30 condos closed in the two cities so far in 2014 according to the MLS. Only three of those were direct ocean units. Highest closed price was $548,500 for a direct ocean top floor (5th) Solana Shores 3/2. The last 4/4 Magnolia Bay developer-owned unit closed for $465,000. Not bad for a 3000+ square foot never-lived-in unit with two garages and 10' ceilings. The Mag Bay developer has only one unit of any size left for sale there.

The smoking deal of 2014 so far was a foreclosed ground floor, completely remodeled Windward East direct ocean 2/2 with 1482 square feet. Someone stole it for $205,000.

There are 89 condos under contract this morning with 72 of those having gone under contract since December 1. That will fuel the closed numbers in the weeks to come. As always, if you're looking to buy, have your funds available and/or your mortgage pre-approval process started. You also need to be checking the MLS daily or have your agent set up an auto-alert that will email you directly from the MLS when a property matching your criteria is listed. When a good one hits, it's gone quickly, so be prepared to move. Happy hunting.

"The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed."  __William Gibson