Happy New Year! Wow, it's started off with a bang! Almost a $million in new contracts since Christmas. I can't remember my business ever picking up this fast after the holidays. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.
I've mentioned The Villas at North Beach in my last couple of newsletters. The official release of the pre-construction phase is set for January 15. This is when marketing efforts will officially begin. I expect this to sell out very quickly. As I mentioned before, if you are interested in this project, please contact me absolutely as soon as possible (check out the grid below). Here's a link to general information on the development.
Here is a link to the current sales/availability grid (as of today). Please note the high activity level - the reason I stress that you should contact me immediately if interested.
OK, on to other business. There's an interesting follow-up to last month's article regarding seasonal oceanfront condo purchasing patterns. The graph below, which was featured in last month's article, shows monthly oceanfront condo SALES (by contract date) for 2013 through October 2015.
Now take a look at the following graph, which shows monthly oceanfront condo LISTINGS for the same time period.
Notice anything? The patterns are almost identical - a huge jump in activity in January followed by a busy spring followed by a relatively flat summer and early fall followed by a big drop-off in late November and December. It's not surprising that condo purchasers are more likely to choose to buy in the spring - either because of "beach fever" (emotional reasons) or seasonal rental income (investment reasons) and for sales to decline in the fall and winter as the weather turns colder and the rental incomes decrease. However, I can't think of any similar logical "reasoning" to explain the seasonal listing pattern - which would be expected to be the opposite.
I'll resist the urge to attempt to attribute this to any complex strategies by sellers and, instead, just chalk it up to human nature. I think most people put off making any big decisions during the long holiday season and then play catch-up during the first few months of the next year. Or maybe it's just a matter of focus. For instance, most people (myself included) are most productive in the morning and then kind of coast into the afternoon and then slow down even more in the evening. Maybe there is a similar year-long cycle of productivity. Anyway, I thought it was an interesting - and unexpected - result.
It did explain one phenomenon which I have noticed through the years. Regardless of the season of the year, the number of active oceanfront condo listings seems to remain almost constant. If people bought more in the spring and sold more in the fall, as common sense might predict, there would be a corresponding fluctuation in listing inventory - less listings in the spring and more listings in the fall. Now I know why I have never observed this - most people buy and sell in the same seasonal patterns, the result being little change in the number of oceanfront condos for sale regardless of the time of year.
One more thing - GO TIGERS!!! I'm a Clemson grad and I was at the Orange Bowl when they won the championship in 1981. I couldn't make the game tonight but I hope they can pull it off again.
That's it for now. Be sure to check out the market reports and my Best Buys.
See you at the beach!
This monthly newsletter feature shares press releases that caught my eye in the previous month. 