Why These East Coast Florida Homes Aren’t Selling… But Others Are

So, in Vero Beach, cash buyers are dominating. Up in Palm Coast, however, there's so many finished houses that builders are competing against each other with incentives to attract buyers. The same coast, but very different dynamics. What's up with that? I'm Sally Daley from the Daley Group at Douglas Elliman. Today, we're going to break down the five coldest markets, the five hottest markets, so you can govern yourself accordingly based on where you want to go and what kind of deal you're looking for. Let's dive right into it. First thing that I want to talk about is what defines hot or cold market.

It kind of depends on where you are. Months of inventory, what that means is how many months of sales would it take to gobble up the available homes for sale down to zero if there were no new listings coming on. And so, where you are depends on how much sales activity is going on and how much inventory there is. First of all, let's talk about the cold markets. Number five, the coldest market is Palm Coast, north of Vero. There's a lot of master-planned communities in there. Build, build, build, build, build to the point where builders are competing against each other.

How do they attract a buyer? Things incentive, tile instead of carpet, or let me buy down your interest rate, or give you money for your closing costs. If you remember, the instant the house is done, they're losing money. So, if you're looking for a deal, the play is don't pick your lot and build. You're always going to do better if you buy a house that is nearly done or done. As long as you like what they've done, the cost savings could be terrific. The other thing that's important for you to understand is where are they in the selling cycle?

How many homes are left? If they have a lot of homes left, you need to understand they're going to want to support their pricing, and they'd rather give you stuff than money, like a rate buy down. However, if there's only a handful of homes left and it's preventing them from folding up the tent and moving on, they may be willing to shave on price as well. So, where they are in their sellout cycle makes a difference as well. Number four, Fort Pierce and Port Saint Lucie and Jensen Beach high-rises. It's a tough market for condos right now.

There's been a lot of bad publicity because of the tragedy that occurred down in Surfside. If you understand what the new rules and regulations are, which are designed to protect owners and buyers, you don't have to be afraid of a condo if you know the right questions to ask. If condo is more than four stories and older than I think 25 years and closer than 5 miles to the ocean, the new state statutes require you to have accomplished what's called a reserve study and a milestone study. So, engineers come in, they assess the building, the structure, as well as they take a look at the finances and say, "Did we find anything?

Is the concrete spalling? Is the roof okay? What lies underneath and how do we pay to fix it and maintain it in the future?" So, it's the cost of anything that is discovered and then the cost to properly fund those repairs and then make sure you've got proper reserves in the future. You can make a good decision. Some associations are not funded properly and it's resulted in not insignificant assessments. But if you know, you can negotiate it. But it's scaring a lot of people. They see old condo, and this is just a truism, it's just human nature.

The older the building, the more expensive the insurance is going to be. If you're paying an association fee 1,800 a month or 1,000 a month, whatever the number is, and if the lion's share of that pays for insurance, that's not a very sexy spend. So, it's just been a rough market for older condos, and it's really causing them to be supply not supply constrained. There's more supply than there is demand. So, if you're a buyer, you can oftentimes get a very good deal and be flexible on which unit, which floor, and who's willing to play ball with you in terms of negotiating both price and any assessments going forward if they're levied.

So, Fort Pierce, Jensen Beach, Hutchinson Island, those condos are definitely what I would consider a cold part of our market in Florida. Number three, Sebastian, older homes that need renovation that are over 600,000. Sebastian is the north part of Indian River County. It's just north of Vero. It originated as a fishing village, charming, really fun restaurants, beautiful art scene. What I will say is human nature is new, new, new. And if there's land that's available, and there is in parts of western Vero and parts of Sebastian, new product is coming on that is making it hard for older homes to compete with that are not renovated.

So, if you have a basket of $600,000 to spend and you're interested in Sebastian, what do you do if you're one of those sellers? Think about a minimal investment. Talk to your trusted real estate advisor. What can we do to make the house appear more move-in ready? Paint, landscape, declutter. Don't do big reno, it's too buyer specific, but there are things that you can do. And as we talked about before, take a look at your roof. Make sure your roof has life left in it, and if it doesn't, really think about putting the roof on because the penalty that you will pay for having a roof that is four, Indian River Shores.

Indian River Shores is part of Vero Beach on our barrier island. There is a section of the barrier island right in the middle that has its own governance named Indian River Shores. It has its own city council. It has its own government buildings. It has its own building code, more rigorous than the rest of the state of Florida. So, Indian River Shores, why why is that so hot? Well, it's considered very desirable because you're in the core part of the barrier island. People like that it has its own governance. They have a more rigorous building code, and it has just, shall I say, certain panache to it, and it's meaningful to people.

And so, the same house in Vero on the barrier island within Indian River Shores, I would venture to say, it might sell a little bit more. So, Indian River Shores is just home to where a lot of people want to be, and as a result, it is hot. So, our number four hot community. Number three hot community, Stuart. Stuart is a fisherman's paradise. Fisherman and beautiful clubhouse and communities like Sailfish Point, darling little downtown area called Confusion Corner. There's a really cool barrier island known as Sewall's Point that has a real old Florida vibe to it.

So, for people that say Palm Beach maybe is too, you know, too much for me, but I don't want to be as far north as Vero or Palm Bay, Stuart is worthy of your consideration. And a lot of people are saying, "I want deep water. I'm a boater. I want a beautiful golf course community like they have along Martin County and in and in Palm City." It's worthy of your consideration, and it's understandable why it's hot. Number two, Jupiter and Palm Beach. Boy, are they having a moment. It's not just the fact that a lot of Wall Street is coming down and relocating and and West Palm is having redevelopment and beautiful luxury condos and having its own areas of interest and neighborhoods and shopping and beautiful farmers market.

Palm Beach and Jupiter just are having a moment because of the unprecedented lifestyle that they both afford. And people are saying it is worth it to me, even though the cost is much more than it used to be. Beautiful golf course club communities can be 32 million. We've seen, you know, 50 million, 100 million in Palm Beach. Palm Beach, North Palm Beach, Juno, Jupiter, hotter than a pistol. It's becoming Wall Street of the South and increasingly people that say, "I want to come to Florida for a lot of reasons, but I don't know if Miami is my jam." are finding this region is hotter than a pistol and it's where they want to be.

And it's where a lot of people are saying yes to Florida. Drum roll, wait for it. What's the number one hot community right now? Vero Beach Barrier Island. Houses a million and a half and below. What's up with that, Sally? Well, all of a sudden buyers are back. Starting around January 3rd, a light switch went off. Everyone can only put off life for so long, right? In the past couple of years, it's been very muted everywhere across Florida and all of a sudden people are saying, "Wait a minute. Vero Beach, it's a barrier island.

There's low density. There's not a high ri- not a lot of high rises. A beautiful estuary lagoon where there's hardly ever alligators, but there are going to be manatees and dolphins. Some of the communities I can be car optional and take my golf cart to the farmers market and the darling downtown. No drawbridges. And gosh, this house is a million five and down in Jupiter Palm Beach, which I love. This is not a wrap on them. That would be two x or three x the price there, so it's more affordable.

You get more bang for your buck, less crowds, vibrant art scene. Count me in. For all those reasons, the hot market right now is a million and a half and under. So, the market has heated up. People are back and they're saying value, location, quality of life. So, Vero Beach under a million and a half, barrier island, insurable roof, perceived to be move-in ready, maybe a little paint and paper cosmetics, that's where I want to be. So, that's it. Those are our top five cold markets and our top five hot markets.

So, what does that really mean for you if you're a buyer or a seller, really? If you're a buyer, you need to know which market you're in. And cuz it will affect how you pursue properties and your negotiation strategy. What to ask for and what you can reasonably expect in terms of discount, how much is for sale, how quickly houses are going under market, and what the dealio is in terms of what kind of a deal you can get. If you want to go into a hot market, you need to understand that, too.

Because you need to understand when you have leverage and where you don't and how you can box out other buyers if you think there's going to be a lot of people interested in the property that's of interest to you. So, whether you're a buyer looking for a hot market or a cold market, strategy matters. Hitch your wagon to a trusted advisor. And if you're a seller in one of those markets, you need to understand are you a hot market? Are you a slow market? So, understanding which markets are cold and hot, whether you're a buyer or a seller, is critical to inform your strategy as you come to market on the East Coast of Florida.

I hope you found this helpful. If you say, "I I don't know where to begin, Sally." DM me or text me, call me, write to me through our contact form and we can sort it out together. I'm Sally Daley. Until next time, thanks for watching.