We are starting our 2025 property journey in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral with a full tank of listings. There are a total of 390 residential properties for sale in the two cities this morning, 340 of those condos or townhomes. At our current thirty day average pace of sales that is enough supply to last until after Halloween.
The flood of new listings since the beginning of the year has pulled our median time on market for all listings down to 78 days but do not be fooled. One hundred of current listings have been languishing on the market without finding a buyer since last July or longer. It’s a good time for those frustrated sellers to reevaluate their strategy.
We are coming into our historically strongest season for sales which usually peaks in March and April. With a higher rate of new listings than sales, existing listings have more competition with each sunrise. New listings have the benefit of knowing which existing listings aren’t moving and at what price and have the opportunity to offer a better price their first day on the market. Those sellers with existing stale listings who really want to sell need to decide whether they want to continue risking no sale or face reality and price accordingly to get in front of the new listings. The comps that justified an asking price last summer have been replaced by more recent sales. Sellers and agents of older listings need to forget their comps from last year and do a brand new CMA based on more recent sales to determine what asking price is likely to attract a buyer now. For most of these old listings the right price will be less than their current asking price.
As I looked through the older listings one stood out for its unorthodox history of up and down price changes. It is an oceanfront condo and has been for sale since July of 2022. The unit has been tastefully remodeled and should appeal to most buyers looking for a 1/1 unit on the ocean. If anyone can figure out the reason for this pricing strategy I’m all ears.
- July 2022 - $360,000
- Nov 2022 - $350,000
- Jan 2023 - $340,000
- Feb 2023 - $315,000
- Aug 2023 - $319,000
- Sep 2023 - $317,000
- Oct 2023 - $312,000
- July 2024 - $320,000
- Aug 2024 - $310,000
- Sep 2024 - $305,000
- Dec 2024 - $350,000
Based on the fact that this unit is still for sale after two and a half years of trying, the up and down pricing strategy isn’t working. Logic tells me that if $350,000 didn’t attract a buyer two years ago, it’s not going to now. Here’s another;
- Jun 2023 - $525,000
- Aug 2023 - $515,000
- Sep 2023 - $499,999
- Sep 2023 - $515,000
- Nov 2023 - $480,000
- Dec 2023 - $490,000
- Apr 2024 - $480,000
- May 2024 - $460,000
- Jun 2024 - $450,000
- Dec 2024 - $420,000
And there it sits, still on the market after a year and a half with no sale even at $105,000 below the original asking price. The unit itself has been totally and beautifully remodeled and would appeal to most buyers looking for a unit in an oceanfront building. The problem is that there are no comparable sales to support the asking price of $420,000. Had the price been $420,000 in 2023 maybe it would have sold. We’ll never know but we do know that during the time it’s been on the market, taxes and condo fees alone have cost the seller over $27,000.
Hopeful sellers should take note of these examples and price their listings attractively from the beginning. Starting high “just in case” didn’t work for these two sellers and many others and it probably won’t work for anyone else in this market. The market has softened for condos during the time that these units have been for sale.
I would also encourage sellers to examine their listings in the MLS. Heaven forbid your unit that’s been listed since last year has been missing the condo name, like 27 of the current listings. There are buyers looking for a unit in specific buildings with auto-searches in the MLS that alert them to listings in the condos specified in their search. Your listing that has the subdivision name instead of the condo name will not trigger an alert to those people, the very ones you are marketing to. We also have listings with incorrect number of bedrooms, missing garages or incorrect condo fee information. Those mistakes could eliminate a listing from MLS searches using any of those criteria. Your agent might have made an honest mistake or maybe she doesn’t understand the MLS entry fields but, no matter the reason, in this market a seller cannot afford to exclude their listing from search results because of incorrect listing info.
See you at the new site. Link here.
“When you choose your behavior, you choose the consequences.” _unknown
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