Approaching Deadline - December 31

Inventory has remained in the same tight band for several months now with a total of 279 condo and townhome units and 54 single family homes offered for sale this morning in the Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral MLS. Median time on market for the houses is 92 days and for condos, 86 days. For properties closed within the most recently reported one month period, selling price to original list price was 88.8 % and time on market before selling was 130 days.

Monthly condo fees have been creeping up as we approach the end of year deadline for the new Structural Integrity Reserve Study and more associations come into compliance. I have no idea what percentage of local condo associations are still not in compliance but I saw a recent news story that over half of affected Volusia County condos have yet to do the study. That study looks at the results of the milestone structural inspection and calculates the monthly contribution required to completely fund each item of structural maintenance at the time the inspection estimates they'll be needed. For instance, if the study estimates that a one million dollar concrete restoration project is going to be needed in five years, the association must start collecting an additional $200,000 per year from owners. With most condos not reserving for concrete maintenance prior to the new law, the additional contributions necessary to comply are pushing monthly fees higher. Forty five of the currently for sale condo units have monthly fees of $900 or higher. By January we could see quite a few more in that range.

Sales are slow as is usually the case this time of year. Only twelve condo and townhome units have closed in our two cities in the month of November so far at a median selling price of $400,000 and a median time on market of about 120 days. Just two single family homes have closed, one of them within eight days on market and the other after 139 days.

Sales activity should remain slow until after the first of the year if we stick to historical trends. From what I'm seeing rental prices for the upcoming snowbird season look to be as high as they've ever been. The destruction of thousands of Gulf Coast beach properties during the storm surge events of this hurricane season has pushed a lot of snowbirds to our coast in search of rentals putting additional pressure on our limited supply. Any snowbirds looking for a rental for the upcoming season would be well-advised to get on the search immediately if they haven't already secured a property. Be prepared to pay up but, silver lining here, possibly less than you payed on the more-expensive Gulf Coast beaches.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all. Should be an interesting time around the dinner table this year. Uncle Larry may be invited to sit at the kid's table.

"You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses."_Ziggy