"When one door closes another door opens"

"but we often look so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us." Alexander Graham Bell 

Picture is of the 1000 island section of Cocoa Beach

Wednesday was a great day at the office, we received 3 lender approvals for short sale closings.  All 3 were released from any future defiecency judgment.  We hope this is a trend for the future.  Our very own Joanne Schuster is a great transaction agent of short sales.  A lot of short sales go back and forth between the buyers, sellers and banks for quite a few months.  It seems to be getting quicker.

I showed a short sale in the Snug Harbor section of Cocoa Beach the other day that could turn out to be a good buy.  This home sits on .36 acre with canal waterfront.  The home does need quite a bit of work and updating but if you look at it as a blank canvas, I believe it would be worth your efforts.

Keep looking at those other doors.

Jim Bagwell 

Merritt Island to the beach

Picture is from the Florida Biplane and looking east SR520 to the ocean.

The short sale we are talking about is at the upper left of the photo on the Banana river.
This home is in Cape Canaveral and features 5 bedrooms and 4 baths, home has 3697 square feet and beautiful views of the Banana River with incredible sunsets.  Home is priced at $599,000 and is a short sale.

Bank of America is laying off 30,000 people and we can only hope that none of these jobs come from the short sale department at a time when they should be adding jobs to keep up with short sales.

Jim Bagwell  

Short sale too good to be true?

River course 3rd tee box.

Have you found a short sale that is priced right?  It seems like it is too good to be true.  It may be too good to be true.  A lot of agents are pricing short sales at a point that will be sure to get an offer or maybe several offers then they will submit the package to the bank and wait for a counter offer.  Now the counter will be deduced by the bank by having a Broker Price Opinion completed which is really the same thing as an appraisal but can’t be called that.  They will then counter at the market value.

What should happen is the listing agent performs a Broker Price Opinion before putting the home on the market.  They should then list the property at or a little below the market value of the properties that they used for their BPO.  That is fair to both potential buyers and their seller.  That way buyers know they are going into the transaction with a fair chance to actually get the home to the closing table.

At Walker Bagwell Properties all our agents do a BPO when calculating their offer then the buyer of course has the option to offer less or more. 

I would never discourage anyone from a short sale; you just have to have a clear understanding of what may happen when making an offer.  We have closed too many for me to question the concept. 

Some of the short sales in the beach area that I think could be bought are as follows:

A townhome close to downtown Cocoa Beach, this property has 2 bedrooms 2 ½ baths with 1834 sq. ft.  The list price is $115,000 and should be bank approved.  The home has a large deck off the master bedroom.

We have a ground floor unit in Harbor Isles that has been totally renovated with 2 bedrooms 2 baths and the complex features 3 pools, exercise room, tennis courts, a 3 block long river boardwalk and you can walk to the beach.  List price is $179,900.

A direct ocean condo that features 2 bedrooms 2 baths on the 4^th floor.  Listed at $250,000, I would probably offer $210,000.

Hope this at least clarifies a bit.

Jim Bagwell

"Well I have never been to England"

"but I kinda like the Beatles"  Three Dog Night  When I came back from Nam, my guitar buddies made fun of me for liking this band.  Being in Nam I was supposed to like Hendrix and The Stones which I did but what are you going to do.

Picture is of a short sale on Tortise Island. 
Priced at $649,000 with 4280 sq ft on the canal with a pool, that is a lot of house for the money and Tortise Island is a great place to live.

File a lawsuit on your bank?  That is exactly what the federal goverment is doing to the large banks.  These are the very same banks that the federal government bailed out.  The suit involves that the banks didn't use due diligence in income verification for mortgages made in the boom.  Now I understand that there was no other reasonable option other than to bail them out but it is rather strange.  Call me crazy but it does seem that with the collapse of property values that it would be prudent for the banks to have all their properties appraised and reduce the amount of the mortgages to the appraised values.  They would save millions on the cost of foreclosures and also keep people in their homes and start receiving mortgage payments.  Call me crazy!

Jim Bagwell 

"There are three kinds of men"

"The ones that learn by reading.  the few who learn by observation.  The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves."  Will Rogers

To show you some of the frustrations that comes with short sales.  The picture above is of a home that we just closed after 3 years.  We went through 6 different buyers and many offers.  The bank finally got sick of losing money and gave us a counter that was realistic.  It was worth it in the end.

There were also 6 other short sales that closed last week including a riverfront condo with 2055 sq. ft. and sold for $203,000.

A couple of new short sales listings that perked up my interest are a home on Merritt Island on Two Oaks drive listed for $249,900.  This home has 2635 sq. ft., 5 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 half baths, pool and a .35 acre lot.  Nice home on a nice street!

The other short sale is an oceanfront condo in Cocoa Beach.  The condo is on the 4^th floor with great views.  Unit has 2 bedrooms 2 baths and 1353 sq. ft. with amenities’ like garage, pool and clubhouse.  The condo fees are $428 monthly.

Thank you

Jim Bagwell  

"I was a child prodigy"

"because a child prodigy is a child who knows as much when it is a child as it does when it grows up."     Will Rogers

Picture is of a pool at a short sale home on Merritt Island
If you only look at the Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral area, there have been 94 homes sold in 2011.  Of these sales 17 were short sales or 18%, if you don't consider short sales as something that will be with us for a long time it may be time to reconsider.  It is a very powerful tool for buyers and sellers and beneficial to both.

There are 2 new listings on Merritt Island that caught my eye.  Both homes are 4 bedroom 2 bath pool homes.

The first is in Villa De Palmas and features 1811 sq. ft. and 2 car garage.  The price is $139,000 or $77 per sq ft.

The second is off N. Banana River dr.  and has 1436 sq. ft.  It would be possible to remove one wall and have a big master.  The price is $119,000 or $83 per sq ft.

Both are very good buys!

Jim Bagwell 

"Good judgement comes from experience"

"and a lot of that comes from bad judgement"  Will Rogers

The picture is of a short sale on Merritt Island that just closed.
This home is in a prime location for views,fisherman and boaters.  No bridges all the way to the locks. 

Another short sale in Cocoa Beach that is in prime location is on the market for $899,000.  This home is in south Cocoa Beach on the Banana River with 3549 sq. ft. and 4 bedrooms 3 1/2 baths and a pool.  Unfortunately there is only one picture but the home was built in 1996.

If you are looking at oceanfront condos there is a listing in The Michelina listed at $430,000.  This unit was built in 2006 and features 2008 sq. ft. with 3 bedrooms and 3 baths.

Call and I will send you a list.

Jim Bagwell