Melbourne Real Estate News, Brevard County FL Real Estate by Sandy Shores REALTOR®

We are still hearing that International Buyers favor Florida's location, climate and low prices to other locales in the United States.

International Buyers are actively purchasing Florida real estate. And others are keeping an eye on the market to determine when they feel the time is right to jump in.  Many buyers are purchasing their second/vacation/investment homes for cash.  Some are staying in the property for several months, and then renting their furnished units for the period of time they go back home.

The National Association of Realtors indicates that 25 percent of these international buyers are Canadian, 21 percent are Europeans, and just over 20 percent are British.

This article is authored by

Sandy Shores REALTOR®, Melbourne/Palm Bay FL Real Estate

Brevard County Real Estate & Investing

I also buy, sell, rent, own and manage Investment Property.

In the Lake Washington Area of Melbourne:

There are currently 122 homes for sale. These include single family, as well as mobile homes.

There are currently 41 properties under contract. Some of these have been under contract for several months, as they are short sales, pending lender approval.

There have been 72 homes that have sold in 2009.

$            1  - $  250,000      58 properties       11 of these were foreclosures    14 of these were short sales

$  251,000 - $  500,000       12 properties         1 of these was a foreclosure     4 of these were short sales

$  501,000 - $  750,000       1 property

$  750,001 - $1,000,000      0

$1,000,000+                      1 property

Some of these sold properties remained on the market for as many as 462 days, 673 days, 722 days, 938 days.

Our Lake Washington market has become quite active. And, we are seeing many homes selling, with multiple offers.

This article is authored by

Sandy Shores REALTOR®, Melbourne/Palm Bay FL Real Estate

Brevard County Real Estate & Investing

I also buy, sell, rent, own and manage Investment Property.

Brevard County foreclosure filings were down for May 2009.  There were 770 filings last month. April had 851 and in March there were 963. To date 2009 has seen 4297 foreclosure filings.  In 2008 we had 9228 for the year. These numbers are for filings only.  They don't indicate the total number of foreclosures.

Are the numbers down because more owners have been able to short sale their properties?  A short sale is when a bank or mortgage company agrees to take a lesser amount than the outstanding balance of the mortgage.  The property is sold because of a financial or economic hardship.  We are finding that many lenders are receptive to a short sale as it costs them considerably less than a property that goes into foreclosure. Some are even opting for a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

According to the Melbourne Association of REALTORS here in Brevard County Florida,  Real Estate Statistics for May 2009 are as follows:

For single family residential units:

There were 531 new listings.

This is a decrease of 26.96% from May 2008 of 727 new listings.

Year to date in 2009 there have been 2952 new listings.

Year to date in 2008 there were 4118 new listings.

There were 298 sold listings.

This is a 1.32% decrease from May 2008 of 302 sold listings.

Year to date in 2009 there are 1409 listings sold.

Year to date in 2008 there were 1282 listings sold.

The average sale price in May 2009 was $169,939.

This is a 10.44% decrease from May 2008 of $189,750.

Average days on the market for May 2009 were 123 days.

This is a 9.82% increase from May 2008 of 112 days.

For all properties, including single family residential, condo and townhouse:

There were 781 new listings.

There were 373 sold listings.

Average sales price was $162,940.

Average days on the market = 137

Types of financing used:

103 conventional financing

148 cash

 88 FHA

 26 VA

  7 Owner financing

This article is authored by

Sandy Shores REALTOR®  , Melbourne FL Real Estate

Brevard County Real Estate & Investing

Palm Bay Florida Real Estate News

My daughter, Sam Shores broke 4 more World's Records this weekend at the RAW United Powerlifting National Championships held in Melbourne Florida. Thus far she had broken 17 World's Records and she currently holds 12 World's Records.

Preparing for the deadlift...

Sam deadlifted 252 lbs.

Sam benched 92 lbs.

Sam squatted 190 lbs.

Sam lifted almost four times her body weight in all three lifts combined.

So, she walked away with Best Female Weightlifter of the Meet and she pulled in 4 world's records for the meet. 

This meet qualifies her to go to the RAW Unity World's Meet in January 2010 in Tampa, Florida. 

As a 14 year old powerlifter, Sam is the youngest powerlifter in the world to ever qualify to compete in this meet. 

She will be competing with some of the strongest powerlifters in the world.

Her sister Stephanie will be there to cheer her on.

This article is authored by

Sandy Shores Realtor, Melbourne FL Real Estate

Brevard County Real Estate & Investing

Palm Bay Florida Real Estate News

I buy, sell, rent, own and manage Brevard County real estate.

With rainy season here, now is a great time to be sure that the gutters on your house are clean and free of debris.

You want to be sure that your gutters are pulling the rain off of your roof, and taking the water out away from your house.  When they are working efficiently they can help prevent flooding issues and unnecessary damage to your home.

When your gutters are clogged with leaves and debris they can overflow and become detached from the house.  Often times this causes other issues such as water and wood rot issues in doors, windows, on various sections of the home. 

When cleaning your gutters you may use a yard blower to get the excess debris removed or use a regular small garden shovel.  You may be able to use a garden hose to free up the debris in the bottom of the gutters.  Be sure that the water is running freely through the gutters when you are finished.

If you are uncomfortable with the thought of getting up on a ladder or getting on your roof, it may be best to hire someone else to clean those gutters out for you.

This article is authored by

Sandy Shores Realtor, Melbourne FL Real Estate

Brevard County Real Estate & Investing

Palm Bay Florida Real Estate News

I buy, sell, rent, own and manage Brevard County real estate.

When buyers are out looking at homes they always ask how long a house has been on the market. This question can often provide some valuable insight. How motivated is the seller?  How flexible is he on price?

Currently there are 981 single family, condos and townhouses for sale in Melbourne Florida in the MLS, Multiple Listing Service.  Over 100 of these properties have been on the market for at least a year and many much longer. Three properties have been on the market for over 1000 days. These 100 properties are stale.  These sellers are in a precarious position. They may appear unwilling to budge, or unmotivated, perhaps unrealistic in the eyes of a buyer.  Perhaps they truly can't budge on their price, based on what they owe on their mortgage.

Are the houses continuing to be shown or have buyers and agents lost interest in them after all this time? Did they have consistent showings when they first went on the market?  Is a serious buyer going to make an offer close to the asking price on one of these homes? Or, are they going to make a low ball offer, if they make any offer at all?

The question from the buyer then becomes, 'what's wrong with this home since it's been on the market so long?' 'Well, I'm not sure I want it, because apparently no one else wants it either.'

Price drives the real estate market today, and the longer a home sits on the market, typically the less a seller is going to get for his property.

This article is authored by

Sandy Shores Realtor, Melbourne FL Real Estate

Brevard County Real Estate & Investing

Palm Bay Florida Real Estate News

I buy, sell, rent, own and manage Brevard County real estate.

Today, MIMA Orthopedics and Sports Medicine here in Melbourne Florida performed school physicals on students that needed one to be able to play a sport this upcoming year.  MIMA took no money in from these physicals.  A donation of $10 was requested to the sport club of the student's choice at their school.

I understand they were performing physicals for 5 area schools, free of charge. Each physical took about 15 minutes from start to finish. They were run like an assembly line, with no snags.

On their way out the door, each student was given a free MIMA T shirt.

Thank you MIMA for your great generosity in performing hundreds of free physicals today for these student athletes.

This article is authored by

Sandy Shores Realtor, Melbourne FL Real Estate

Brevard County Real Estate & Investing

Palm Bay Florida Real Estate News

I buy, sell, rent, own and manage Brevard County real estate.

Hurricane season started on June 1.  FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency may fill foreclosed houses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Texas, if need be.

If there is a large storm that puts owners and/or tenants out of their homes, FEMA, is contemplating using specified vacant properties as temporary shelters, in the case of an extreme emergency.

FEMA will determine ahead of time which foreclosures would be used.  And, they have indicated that the owners/banks would be paid for the use of the properties.

We will have to wait to hear the details of how a plan like this would or could actually work.

Or, I suppose the question is...should a plan like this be considered?

Oh, so many questions and concerns...

This article is authored by

Sandy Shores Realtor, Melbourne FL Real Estate

Brevard County Real Estate & Investing

Palm Bay Florida Real Estate News

I buy, sell, rent, own and manage Brevard County real estate.