Thursday, July 21, 2016

It's a Mango Year

I dropped off a few towels yesterday to guests from New York who were visiting south Cocoa Beach for the first time. I asked how their stay had been. They said that when they walked out onto the beach the first morning they were concerned that no one else was there. Was something going on they should know about?  By the second morning they realized that very few people on the beach was a normal thing in south Cocoa Beach. Their second comment was that the people in Cocoa Beach were, as a group, the friendliest they had ever encountered in Florida. I'm thinking we'll see them again.

Sales in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral continue at a brisk pace. The 11 year record breaking number of sales in May and June despite record low inventory is evidence of the extraordinary demand for residential properties that we are enjoying. I see no evidence that this has changed. So far 34 units have closed and another 39 have gone under contract since the month began. There are only 237 condos and townhomes for sale at the moment in our two cities and another 25 in planned buildings. We closed more than a third of that existing unit number last month alone.

Of the condo and townhome sales closed so far in July the average selling price was 95% of the last asking price. That "last asking price"qualifier is important. Of the 35% of sales that were on the market less than a month, none had a price drop before accepting a contract. That means they were priced right when listed. Of those who started high and later reduced their asking price, average time on market was 83 days. Sellers take note.

It seems everyone in town is walking around with bulging grocery bags. In most cases they are filled with mangoes like the one pictured. This is one of those years when every mango tree is loaded down and the harvest is so excessive that those with trees are giving mangoes to everyone they know. The locals are forced to eat excessive amounts of mangoes every day or live with the guilt that they are going to waste. We can only make so much salsa and chutney and freezer space eventually runs out. It's a tough problem but we'll see it through. By the way, that mango pictured is as tasty as it is pretty. Juicy, not stringy and as sweet as ice cream.

“If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe and Aloysius in a good temper…”  __Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited