There are currently 285 condo and townhome units and 50 single family homes for sale in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral as reported by our MLS. Inventory has pulled back from it's recent highs and has been more or less static since the beginning of summer. Fourteen condo units and two homes have found a buyer in the first 13 days of July which is a noticeable slowdown from our pace of sales earlier this spring. Median time on the market for the remaining 50 single family homes is 64 days and for the condos, 79 days.
There seems to be a sense of increased caution about condos among buyers. The uncertainty about condo fees for the condos that have not yet completed their structural reserve studies and determined the funding necessary to comply is adding friction to the offering process. After seeing some of the fee increases among the buildings who have done their inspections and begun funding the new reserves I understand the reticence.
Buyers are quickly finding themselves in a conflicting position with incentive to wait for reserve studies before offering and another incentive to hurry to get under contract before they find themselves responsible for paying their agent because of the new buyer's broker compensation requirements slated to go into effect on August 17. On one hand I might contract a condo before August 17 only to find myself staring at a healthy increase in fees by the end of the year. On the other hand I might wait for the new fees to become known and, if after August 17, find myself owing my agent out of my own pocket. I think it's safe to expect many sellers to continue offering buyer's broker co-broke but I also think it's reasonable to expect quite a few to refuse to offer anything. After all, real estate commissions are loathed by pretty much everyone except agents and their families. Having to possibly pay or even discuss agent commission is not going to be embraced by buyers but that discussion is going to be required come August 17. Remember my previous appeals to reject junk fees? Now all buyers are going to get to reject them before they ever see the first property. Keep in mind that what you agree to pay your agent is entirely negotiable and there is zero reason to pay your agent a junk fee on top of a percentage of the purchase price. I shouldn't have to say this but don't let a real estate agent rip you off with a made-up junk fee.
There are several new houses in a riverfront development in south Cocoa Beach that have been under construction for over three years. Construction has started and stopped several times during those three years and appears to have stopped again. None are completed although three of them look to be close. They've been at that "close to complete" stage for over a year. Several of these sluggish builds already closed in the MLS two and three years ago, several of them before the first block had been laid. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. Reckon how long these buyers are going to wait for their keys? Meanwhile buyers at The Surf oceanfront downtown should begin closing on their new units by the end of the month.
Lots of things happening downtown with the old Yen Yens building torn down and construction beginning on the new brew pub/food court at the same site. The new Cocoa Beach City Hall one block away is coming along nicely. The old International Palms has been reduced to piles of rubble and construction on the new Westin resort complex there is supposed to begin in August, hurricane season allowing. There are several other projects being discussed and construction is under way on a few.
Cocoa Beach is changing but the population holds steady at the 12,000 number as it has for fifty years. It's hard to increase population when there is no vacant land. Something has to come down for something to go up. We didn't always realize how fortunate we were that we ran out of land long ago. I can relate to John Cougar's "I'll probably die in a small town." Take care out there in the heat. Seek shade and stay hydrated.
"I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot understand as a fraud." _Carl Jung
