Foreclosures ????

I am sure you have all seen all the foreclosure web sites with all the foreclosed properties. The problem with these sites is that they are for the great majority not foreclosed properties. If you want to see the details of these properties you have to join with a fee. When you do this you will find that most are people that have missed 2 mortgage payments or some type of lien has been filed on their property. These properties are far, far away from foreclosure. There has been fantastic money made by techies who just access public records and sell membership to the public. Banks and lenders are very reluctant to foreclose on properties in today’s market, when they foreclose it comes off their income sheet and goes on the bad debts. If we only knew how many people were behind in payments, we would be amazed!

The lure of the deal!

We are rather predictable in our behavior. You would not believe how many shirts I have bought that 50% were off only to bring them home and not to ever wear them. I totally felt good when I left Macy’s, in your face I got the deal! Don’t even get me started on how many shoes my wife has bought on sale, we are totally getting over on Macy’s. If I want a lot of looks at a property, then put sold as is, short sale, preforeclosure, etc. Anything that makes the buyer think the seller is at a disadvantage. Truth is all sellers are at a disadvantage in today’s market however some don’t realize it but are slowly catching on to the truth.

I have shown all sorts of short sales and foreclosed properties. For the most part all these properties are in extreme disrepair. When you think of it, if you find a property that is priced well and is not in a short sale or foreclosure situation you will get a much better deal than the foreclosed property since you will have to put much less into the property to make it livable. My wife recently put in an offer on a foreclosed property for $200,000, the property closed for $320,000. In my humble opinion this property would have required $100,000 in repairs so who won? The bank won this battle since the foreclosure contained the lure of the deal.

Win Win

The best real estate deal is the one that is a win win situation for the buyer and seller. There are many sellers out there who just need to be out of the property for various reasons. These sellers are willing to take a loss and who are still taking care of their property, this is much better than buying a property at a distressed price but is a distressed property. A lot of these properties are such that the power and water has been off for sometimes a year. Know what you are getting into before you buy.

Ocean front

We now have a condo on a 2nd floor in beautiful south Cocoa Beach. It has been totally redone by a prominent designer with over 2400 sq ft. It is now priced at $489,000.

Have a good day!

Jim Bagwell

Do you know what site you are on???

Real Estate Deception

If you have been searching for property at a distressed price and find yourself inundated with emails from RE agents that are unsolicited on your part, there is an explanation.

Almost all RE agents in our area are members of Space Association of Realtors, we pay significant dues for the right to be part of this group. Part of our dues go to supporting the web site with public MLS access, this feature allows the public to view all listings that all realtors have on the market in our area. We also get ethics training from SCAR, Hmmmmm!

With the market being how it is, I am sad to say it has brought out the worst in a lot of our peers. If you search www.brevardmls.com you will get the Innovia site which is the official site of our board to allow the public to search all listings. However if you google brevardmls you will find that you are on a brokerage site or an agent site that is funneling inquiries to their personal site and they will commence to inundate you with emails for business.

Is this right? Absolutely not, can it be corrected, only with a willing board to step on toes and hold people liable to following the few rules that we have to serve the public. I have faith in our board and the situation has been brought to their attention. I hope this will not become a legal or ethical problem but we will see what shakes out of the bushes.

In the meantime find a buyer’s agent you can trust and go with it. There are good deals out there!

Example:
A brand new home on a canal in Cocoa Beach priced at $599,900. It appears that the original price was $629,000 however if you do the research the original listing price was $799,900. This home sold in 2005 for $400,000, it was then taken down and rebuilt. It is now a beautiful 2 story home 3250 sq ft 5 bedrooms 3 ½ baths 2 car garage, dock and all the upgrades. Is there a downside, yes the street will take years to catch up to this house. Upside, if you plan on making this your home you have time to wait and meanwhile enjoy this wonderful home on the water.

Enjoy

Jim Bagwell

Cocoa Beach Confusion

I can only say that we are seeing some positives and some negatives in the market as of late. Yes there have been some excellent choices made by property buyers and they are very happy with their investments. There are also some property owners who are trying to sell their property but are still priced out of the market. I totally understand to feel that you are losing money on a transaction is a bitter pill to swallow especially when your neighbor sold the same house 3 years ago for $100,000 more than what you are listed right now. Look to your motivation and your carrying costs and the fact that the market price may slip again before we see the light. Now if you sell your property today and then the market slips again, you would be the winner.

1st quarter sold stats

Brevard county residential Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral
Jan 341 units sold Jan 34 units sold
Feb 474 units sold Feb 40 units sold
Mar 537 units sold Mar 30 units sold


The other shoe?

Interestingly enough, we were talking about auctions in last week’s sales meeting and the fact that they weren’t working because of the minimum bid requirement. Today we received a card advertising an absolute auction with no minimum bid or reserve. This complex is new construction and some units have ocean views. All the units are large modern units, most have 3 bedrooms 2 baths and the complex appears to be well built. We have talked before about what will happen to the large complexes that are built and not sold out, this could be a preview. I plan on attending the auction and I will let you know how it went down.

We have also talked about the large developer in town who never lowers prices but offers incentives, well today that just changed with the developer lowering prices for the 1st time that I know of in the Cocoa Beach area.

The sound you hear is the other shoe dropping or maybe opportunity!

Next week we will explore Real Estate deceptions. You may think you are on a public site but in reality you are on a brokerage or agent site and you wonder where those emails come from.

Jim Bagwell
321-213-0615
walkerbagwell@aol.com