The week of Sunday, January 29 to Sunday, February 5 saw a welcome increase in new listings from the previous weeks of 2017. We had 40 new MLS listings of residential properties in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral. Seven of those were older listings that were relisted, all but one at lower, more reasonable asking prices. [Note to sellers: In this tight market, if it isn't selling it is most likely overpriced unless it's a special property with no appeal to the many prospective buyers who are actively looking to purchase. It's always worth taking a brief shot at landing a lottery winner who is willing to pay a crazy price but if that hasn't happened after a few weeks it might be time for a de-orbital burn to get the price back in Earth's atmosphere.]
Thirty three of this week's new listings were condos or townhomes and seven were single-family homes. Three were under contract by this morning. During the same week another 18 properties that had been listed prior to last Sunday went under contract. Thirteen properties were reported closed during the week, eight condos and five single families.
The busy week of new listings helped to increase our existing condo inventory to 229 units in our two cities and another 27 units in yet-to-be-built buildings. Nothing has changed with the tendency to over-price with still more than a third of the total on the market for over six months. The single family home inventory is little changed with 59 homes on offer, 29 of them waterfront.
Those of you hoping to purchase, and there are quite a few, understand that over half of all listings are optimistically priced. It is your and/or your agent's job to try to educate the seller when making a fair offer. The seller's mental number, no matter how crazy high, is usually very real to her but a well-thought out and well-supported argument for a fair price sometimes works. A low offer that can't be justified with sold comps is, in this market, a snowball in a Waffle House kitchen.
Drivers, please be careful on our streets. Every crosswalk this time of year is crowded with snowbirds and the frustration we all feel having to wait through an entire traffic light cycle to turn onto A1A does not justify some of the aggressive driving I'm seeing. Snowbirds, likewise, look behind and beside yourselves when on those crosswalks. There are less-than-reasonable people driving some of the cars waiting for you and it is prudent to stroll defensively. Let's all enjoy this beautiful "winter" weather.
...the plane brought me farther.
I'm surrounded by water
And I'm not going back again
I got my toes in the water, ass in the sand
Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand
Life is good today. Life is good today.
_________________________Zac Brown Band
