Jon Zolsky, your Daytona Beach, Florida connection

It is the first weekend of September, and Sunday on the Beach in Ponce Inlet - FL, which is a Labor Day, is not as hot as just a week ago. Of course, we got used to high temperature during the summer and 84F in the later afternoon, when we go to the beach, is just perfect.

With water at 82F, we are getting into the best season in East Central Florida, and in our small and quaint town of Ponce Inlet in particular.

The school has started and for already 2 weeks Daytona Beach arealooks more deserted, and it is going back to "between seasons" hibernation, interrupted only by Biketoberfest in October, Turkey Rod Run on Thanksgiving, and a few smaller events that pump some adrenaline into local economy, but the area does not really get out of the dormant state until the roar of engine at NASCAR sends the signal that Daytona 500 is coming, but it is not until February, and the best weather and the best water is just for spoiled locals and a few vacationers, who get the best of the weather and at a greatly reduced prices for hotels.

Labor Day is a busy Holiday in Daytona Beach, but you should not really notice it in our Ponce Inlet, a small town of about 3,000 residents. A bit more cars on the roads, a bit fuller parking at the restaurants, more cars in our circular garage at the Links at Harbour Village, where we live, but other than that it is the same relaxed and laid back unhurried lifestyle.

Decade from now it will be more for rich and famous, but with the market where it is today, it is very democratic, affordable, and informal... Plenty of signs for sale is a sure sign that one can find good deals, which 4-5 years ago would simply be unimaginable. It is the pendulum. It always comes back and the prices would skyrocket again, and beat any imagination. People do not have money? I do not know. For the last 18 months of all the transactions we closed, there were only 2 with financing, actually one has not closed yet. Everything else was cash.

It does not surprise me much as for a 2 bdr / 2 bath condo in direct oceanfront building in Daytona Beach Shores, that we got a contract accepted just a few days ago, where units in 2005 reached $452,000, now is going for only 32.5 cents on a dollar, what the buyer is paying for it in cash now for a full price, would have practically been their down payment before. So, nothing has changed, same money being transferred, just no mortgage. Sweet. 

So, let's look at the offerings in Ponce Inlet.

Today there are 140 condo for sale in Ponce Inlet with the prices starting from $138,900 for a 2 bdr / 2 bath to $1,800,000 for a 5 bdr / 4 bath. Of course, Ponce Inlet is an  exclusive area, and even though there are prices for under $200,000, there are only 10 units at these prices.

There are 69 single family homes for sale in Ponce Inlet. Prices start from $149,900 for a small unpretentious 2 bdr. home to a whopping $3,959,000 for a 4 bdr / 4 bath Intracoastal home on deep water with 3 docks. Same as with condos, there are only 2 homes for under $200,000, and only 7 under $300,000, including 2 that are less than $200,000.

Presently there are 57 lots suitable for single family homes. Prices start from $119,500 for a 75' x 112' lot to $1,395,000 for a bit over an acre direct oceanfront lot. 16 lots are priced under $200,000.

As you can see, these condos, homes and land priced on the lower end is such a small portion of the market, that a slight change in the market condition would render them obsolete in a matter of weeks. It is not thousands and thousands of properties for sale. These are just 28 properties in all type of real estate priced under $200,000.

If you are looking for a great place to live or just for a quality vacation property, and Ponce Inlet or any other part of greater Daytona Beach could be of interest, let me know. My mobile phone: 386-405-4408. Or drop me a line in the e-mail.

Oceans Five is ... just a building #5 in the row of Oceans condominiums in Daytona Beach Shores. It was built in 1975, when the majority of the Oceans grew up like white mushrooms in the rainy Florida summer.

It is not Le Corbusier, but by the standards of  the 70s, it is a modest high-rise direct oceanfront condominium building with 113 units on 21 floors. Oceans One, Three, Five & Seven are the same design and layout. 6 units on the floor, and they are zig-zagged, so that the balcony always has direct oceanfront. Technically all units there are direct oceanfront but all of them also enjoy a great view of the Intracoastal. Units are not really large, range from 1,028 SF inside to just over 1,120 SF. Need to mention good size balconies.

One of the nicest areas. An over a mile-long stretch of the Oceans enjoys a clean residential character. No hotels and motels. Shopping Center anchored by Publix Supermarkets is across the street from the ocean. Public tennis courts are next to it. And behind is a 9-hole golf course, the only one in Daytona Beach Shores. To  the south of the golf course, there is a pet park.

There are not many places in Daytona Beach area, where you have a feel that you are in the city. Small, friendly, but still a city, You do not need a car there, everything is close. And there are actually people in the streets, which is not common for Daytona Beach area.

All units are 2 bdr/ 2 baths, with laundry on each floor. Underground parking with one reserved space per unit, some unreserved spaces on a first come first serve basis, plus ample parking on the ground level outside for visitors and guests. Minimum rental restriction is 2 months, pets are allowed, one pet up to 25 lb (if I remember this correctly) per unit. Maintenance is from $375 per month. Taxes vary, use 2.1%-2.3% of the value as an approximate number.

There is a social room with full kitchen on the first floor where you can run parties. You have to request it from the on-site manager. $50 cleaning fee is refundable if it is left clean. The pool is outside, it is heated, but when it gets colder, the heater may be turned off. Floridians are spoiled and do not swims in colder weather anyway, but the electric bill is quite substantial. There is also a small gym on the first floor, and there is additional storage on the garage level, but there are fewer storage spaces than owners, so it is not guaranteed that buying a unit there, you get the storage space.

The building and the property are well maintained, in 2007 they have completed fixing concrete on balconies, and they have approximately 10 years before concrete restoration comes back on the agenda. They have requested the extension from the State to replace elevators, and the fate of the request is not yet known, so yes, it is possible that they will see a Special Assessment to replace old and slow elevators with new and fast ones. That may run up to $2,500 per unit owner.

Presently there are 4 units for sale ranging from $194,900 to $199,900. In 2009 until today 4 units were sold ranging in price from $150,000 to $190,900. Considering that there is another unit under contract today, and it should close within 3 weeks, it will bring the number of sales inthe building to 5. For the same period last year there were two sales for $220,000 and $225,000. For the same period in 2007 there were 3 sales from $257,000 to $300,000. As you can see, the number of sales went up, but the prices went down. At the same time, listing prices today are higher than they were 6 months ago.

Peak prices reached $452,000 in 2005, just 4 years ago.

If you are looking for a very affordable vacation unit on the ocean, which is reasonable to expect to more than double in a Seller's market, call me at 386-405-4408 or send me an e-Mail. It is a good time to buy. Why? Because fewer people buy. It is simple. Buy when the prices are low, and sell when everybody else is buying. Not when the new president is elected or impeached, because it has little relevance to investing in real estate, but I digress...

Anyway, this post is ot about Presidnet, it is about Oceans Five in Daytona Beach Shores, a terrific place to have a vacation condo on the beach, or a great place to live full time. So, if you are looking for a direct oceanfront in this area, or want to rent a condo for vacation, call me at 386-405-4408.

Ocean Jewels Resort, a Daytona Beach Oceanfront Condo-Hotel is not the same jewel it used to be just 10 years ago, when it was converted to condo-hotel.

Reviews on Trip Advisor range from "The Jewel is a Jewel" to "Horrible, unprofessional,filthy, not fit for pigs!!!!", which is not really surprising. It is often not about the hotel/condo-hotel, it is about the expectations, and we are used to see guests making reservations for less than $50 a nights and expecting the service of Ritz Carlton. We are used to people walking in our office in the Fountain Beach Resort, also a condo-hotel, after seeing a sign offering a condo for $50K, and I love when they say that they need a 2 bdr/2 bath oceanfront. Yes, for $50K. No, a stufio with oceanview is not gonna cut it...

"Ocean Jewels Resort is located directly on the oceanfront with 400 feet of beach. Individually appointed condo/hotel units are complimented with a fully equipped kitchen. Two oceanfront pools (1 heated seasonal) and a kiddie pool. Picnic tables and Bar-B-Que grills on the promenade and a grassy play area for the youngsters. *Exercise Room *Guest Laundry *Guest Vending *Group Meeting Facilities *Complimentary Guest Parking *Fax & Copy Service *Night Security *Front Desk Hours of Operation: 7am to 11pm Daily *Emergency After Hours Telephone Number: (386)290-0699"

You can still read it if you 'Google Ocean Jewels Resort', but if you are in Daytona and try to walk in, you will find the front door closed and a hand written sign saying that Front Desk is closed until further notice. It is already a couple of months since the management company, who owns the commercial space, simply walked away. That was the end of a story, which started quite promising...

Ocean Jewels Resort was not the first condo-hotel conversion in Daytona, but it sure was one of the nicest when it was converted. Small but clean and nice rooms, equipped with 2 burner stoves, many rooms with a view of the ocean, 400' of premium beachfront real estate, good management company, who owned the commercial space. Occupancy was good, service and maintenance were good. Maintenance fees were low. A lot of happy owners still remember those times.

About 5 years ago the owner sold the management company and the commercial space. The new owner, who had no hotel experience whatsoever, thought that this would be half vacation and easy work. The owner was not a great manager. You could see him serving at the Tiki Bar, leaving the operations to a hired GM.

Increasingly unhappy owners started taking their units off the rental program. It became inevitable that the business was running into the ground. Eventually, there were not enough rooms in the rental pool to sustain the operations, and the management company stopped paying owners their part of the rental income. And then they closed the doors.

Association is hurting. They can't foreclose on the property (they are owed Association fees for quite some time), but to foreclose on this property, they would have to pay off existing mortgages, and I heard that there were several of them. The Lender finally filed the foreclosure, but it happened just few days ago, and this could take 6 to 12 months. Meanwhile owners are left with the choice wither to enjoy it themselves, or rent themselves, or through other rental management companies.

Meanwhile, the association manager, a nice and friendly Marisa Rains, said that the association is OK and there are no Special Assessments being discussed at this time. So, sales theoretically should not be affected, but in reality they sure will. Condo-hotels attract usually those who wants to rent the unit when not using themselves. And it makes a lot of sense. If you do not plan to rent, do not buy a condo-hotel, but a residential condo.

The story started with a glory, and ended in ... Actually, it has not ended yet.

If you are thinking of buying (or selling) a condo or condo-hotel in Daytona Beach area, or want us to rent your unit in Ocean Jewels Resort, call me, Jon Zolsky, at 386-405-4408, or e-mail

Magic of the Atlantic - Sunday in Ponce Inlet. 

We live in The Links at Harbour Village, just across the street from the Ocean, so getting to the Beach is a matter of several minutes. Cross the golf course, surrounding the Links and take a path, which goes along the southern border of Harbour Village, and it takes you to Atlantic Ave. Cross it and you are at our Oceanfront clubhouse, one of 3 in the complex. The Clubhouse is on a dune, with the first level as parking. The elevator takes you upstairs, where there is a social room, full kitchen (and parties are common here on weekends), well equipped gym, steam room, sauna, lockers, bathrooms, small outdoor pool.

We always come later in the day, when the heat subsides, and you do not need a sunscreen. The breeze brings a welcome cool. This Sunday weather was perfect. I took a camera with me, as I am trying to catch the ever changing colors, which are especially beautiful in the evening when sinking sun adds pink to the white foams of the waves, paints the sky and the beach in incredible unimaginable colors.

I tried it many times, but the photos really don't do justice to the beauty of the Atlantic.

And then we come back to the Clubhouse, wash off the sand of our feet, and then it is either a tiny bit of workout in the gym, or a round of ping-pong, and it all ends up with the sauna.

Time to go home. A new week is ahead... .

We will be back. On Monday, and then on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday...

When I was young and ambitious and lived and worked above the Arctic Circle, I was very proud that my vacation was 42 days. My uncle lived on t he Black Sea, and I visited him often. He asked me why I lived in the Arctic. My answer puzzled him. He thought about it for a minute, and then he said that he had 12-month vacation.

Now I understand him. Now I also enjoy a 52-week vacation.

If the idea of a 52-week vacation warms you up even better than our warm Florida weather, e-mail us or call me at 386-405-4408. You will be glad you did.

There is nothing better than experience the Magic of the Atlantic - Sunday in Ponce Inlet

Just Days Before Going Crazy... Memories of the Future...  Fountain Beach Resort

January 20, 2004. Twelve units in the Fountain Beach Resort in the hear of Daytona Beach, which belonged to a corporation and were seized by the Feds, were auctioned in Plaza Resort and prices were from $27K (plus 10% auctioneer premium) to $45K per studio for direct oceanfront, which was very expensive.

I remember that on that day there were 52 condo-hotel units for sale out of 149-room Fountain Beach Resort, including units both on MLS and pocket listing that I had plus the 12 units offered at auction. Wasn't a great sign.

After the auction I spoke to two condo-hotel unit owners and they were very pessimistic about the future values at Fountain Beach Resort. I did not have any units here, and I was the most optimistic, sort of childishly optimistic, and they looked at me with a smile. Not only I was saying that there would be the time when the units would be selling in the $40K range, and that it would be not in 25 years, but maybe within 5 years from then (and it was a heretical statement right there), but I also insisted that we would also see prices in $50Ks, and they were laughing at my fantasies...

In March o fthat year we were lucky to get a couple of deals going, then another deal, than another couple of deals, than another 3, until by May we raised our heads, looked around... geez, it has started, the hot market has quietly arrived unannounced to our sleepy Daytona Beach. It took us a couple of months to figure it out; just by the time the locomotive was roaring at full throttle.

The next few months were like in the dream. We did not have time to show the units, people waited in the office, and we were writing contracts late in the evening. Inventory fell from 52 units to 6, and there were more buyers than units on the market. Inventory of condo-hotel units in the whole Daytona Beach area reached 26, an all time low... Our Buyer, noticing that by the time they close, the prices gone up another $10K-$20K started putting units back on the market the day they closed on the unit... It was hectic, it was hot, and buyers were writing offers without even looking at units. What I could not sell half a year before even if I would have offered to pay them to buy, I was selling at the price, higher than the listing... Angry agents were competing for any listing the minute it hit MLS.

We had our own condocoming out of the construction in Harbour Village in Ponce Inlet, and we closed July 3, 2004, but we did not move there until February 2005. We simply did not have time for replacing the carpet, and repainting the unit, and kept living in the rental condo closer to the office.

Since March to August, when we were hit by Hurricane Charley, the prices went up 2 - 2.5 times and kept going up. Charley did not stop it. I was writing an offer right after I got to the office the morning after Charley hit the area. 3 more Hurricanes came within 2 weeks of each other, before they were able to slow it down a little. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 passed us and did not do any damage on our coast. It flooded New Orleans, caused a horrendous destruction in Mississippi, brought insurance companies to their knees, and somehow marked the end of hot real estate in Florida.

5 years later...

There are again 262 condo-hotel units for sale in greater Daytona Beach area, there are dozens of units for sale in every resort, and the prices are sometimes lower than they even were in January 2004, when we all thought the sunrise was so far away. I look out the window and it feels the beginning of 2004, just days before going crazy...

Remembering the future

Oh, well