Vero Beach Florida Homes

Most real estate agents will tell you that the best time to sell a home in the Vero Beach, Hutchinson Island, Indian River Shores Florida areas is during the late spring and early summer months. When the weather turns warm, the vibrant growing season commences, and children can be seen playing happily in the yard, potential homebuyers really begin to connect with a house – even before they set foot across the threshold.

In real estate lingo, this is known as curb appeal.

Most potential homebuyers make a decision about a house within the first 30 seconds. For example, simply driving by a well-kept single family home for sale in the Vero Beach, Hutchinson Island, Indian River Shores Florida areas is often enough to cause people to pull over and make an immediate call to their realtor. That’s because an inviting exterior promises an inviting interior.

To get the kind of curb appeal that really gets noticed, you have to be able to detach yourself from your home. You may have lived there for months or years, and have probably learned to overlook the overgrown shrubbery next to the sidewalk or the mailbox in need of repair. However, these are the first things potential homebuyers will see. You have to view your home as objectively as possible in order to begin making the necessary repairs to get noticed.

Look out for:

• Visible mold or mildew on the house, roof, or sidewalks
• Outdated exteriors
• Yard clutter
• Dirty gutters, siding, or windows
• Chipped paint
• How your home appears at dusk or even at night
• Overgrowth in the yard or on the sidewalks
• Dead plants or leaf piles
• Overly personalized doormats

Of course, if you’re really motivated to sell your home in the Vero Beach, Hutchinson Island, Indian River Shores Florida areas, you may also want to consider upgrading your landscaping. Like staging your home or making repairs, restorative landscaping can give your house just enough polish to entice a higher level of buyers. In fact, in a recent study, it was determined that good landscaping can actually add 6 to 11 percent to your home’s sale price.

We all know that selling a home can be hard work. Increase your chances of success by making sure your potential buyers are impressed before they even get out of the car.

In a personal phone interview with author David Vokac today, April 11, 2009, he suggested that we promote his conclusion that Vero Beach ranks as the 3rd most affordable town with the best weather as described in his recently published 2009 edition “100 Great Towns of America - a New Guide to the Best Getaways for a Vacation or a Lifetime.”  David and his co-author wife, Joan travel the United States from coast to coast looking for outstanding small towns.  The Vokacs purposefully choose small towns as opposed to the large cities that already enjoy plenty of coverage.  They forego the obvious urban centers in favor of small towns in America that offer exceptional amenities with unique livability.  For more information, visit www.GreatTowns.com

Vero Beach, Florida area home sales are increasing. However, prices are still dropping, and local inventory has only dropped 1.3%. There are 3894 living units for sale in Indian River County and Hutchinson Island. In March there were 167 sales. This means there is a 24.3 month supply of homes on the market at present absorption rate. In 2003, 2004 and the first half of 2005, there was less than a 2 month supply on the market most of the time.

Island Home Sales held steady and were pretty normal for this time of year based on the last 4 years. There were 5 homes that sold over $1,000,000 including 3 oceanfront homes for $2,800,000, $3,300,000 and $4,200,000. At the other end, there were 3 homes that sold for under $300,000 including a bank-owned home in Silver Shores. Time on the market averaged 23 months (an increase from last month) and the sale-to-list-ratio was 68% (same as last month.)

Island Condo Sales increased month to month from 8 to 12 units but were still substantially under March of last year. Prices ranged from $149,000 in Vero Towers to just over a million in Orchid Isle. Time on the market ranged from 3 months to 38 months but over all time on the market is decreasing. The sales-price-to-list-price ratio stayed more or less the same at just under 70%.

Home Sales County-wide continued to increase and are ahead of last year’’s pace.  Prices continue to fall as the median sales price was $137,000. Distressed sales again were high with Corporate REO and bank-owned properties producing 27% of the sales. On the mainland prices ranged from under $50,000 in the south county and Vero Lake Estates to $770,000 in Grand Harbor.

Indian River County Townhomes:  There was a very nice jump sales from last month and March 2009 was one of the highest sales month in the last 3 years On the mainland there were 24 sales-10 sold in Vista Royale between $25,000 for a 1 bedroom unit to $66,000 for a 2 bedroom unit. The high sale for the month on the mainland was only $150,000 in River Run.

North Hutchinson Island:  Sales increased this month to 6 total units -4 condos and 2 single family homes were sold.  Sands Lakeside #105 sold for $86,000 (this was a distressed sale), Hibiscus 3  # 701 sold for $275,000, Tiara # 1102  sold for $355,000 and Ocean Harbour Tower # 601 sold for $302,500.  The homes that sold were a canal front home in Queens Cove for $480,000 and a lakefront home in Riverpoint at Sands for $500,000.  All these were good sales at reasonable prices.