Melbourne Florida Homes for Sale

Lifestyle Homes was recently featured on ABC’s Extreme Home Makeover for rebuilding a home in Cocoa, Florida. But that is not their only claim to fame in Brevard County. Lifestyle Homes has built their first Net-Zero Energy Home and it is showcased as a furnished model in the beautiful Capron Ridge community in Melbourne, Florida.

This breakthrough is part of Lifestyle Homes new SunSmart energy initiative. They have partnered with the Florida Solar Energy Center to produce a home that uses photovoltaic technology. These panels are placed in the roof system and absorb the power of the sun to produce enough electricity that would supply the needs of a family of five. This virtually eliminates the need for costly bills from the power company. This is just the start of a goal to build homes that can supply their own power and re-charge two electric vehicles on a daily basis.

Lifestyle Homes have been building homes in Brevard County Florida since 1984. They have established a reputation for building homes with solid construction and great aesthetics at a reasonable price. They currently build in 10 communities within Brevard County. Visit their St. Croix model featuring the Net-Zero Energy Plan in Capron Ridge and see what the future of residential construction holds.

For the 6th year, professional women’s tennis will visit Brevard County and tennis lovers can watch tournament matches between May 1-8 at Kiwi Tennis Club in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida.

The MIMA Foundation sponsors this professional tennis classic. World-class athletes will compete for ranking points and $50,000 in prize money. Players ranked as high as #25 usually play on the WTA Pro Circuit Tournaments.

There are plenty of free days where guests can stop in and watch matches for no cost. The tournament organizers have planned a variety of activities for different days during the tournament. There will be a kids day, a USTA league member day and a Mother’s Day brunch.

Audi of Melbourne is also in on the fun by offering a 2011 Audi A4 2.0 Turbo Sedan. Audi of Melbourne is selling tickets to win the vehicle and all proceeds are to benefit the MIMA Foundation of Brevard. Tickets sell for $150 each. If you test drive an Audi at the dealership you will receive a $50 discount on your ticket to win. There are only 750 tickets being sold.

The Melbourne Art Festival is back! It is a nationally recognized event that draws tourists and artists to historic downtown Melbourne every year. The event is host to over 250 artists who are exhibiting their work and competing for $38,000 in patron purchase awards and $27,500 in cash prizes.

The festival always draws plenty of local food vendors that set up and offer their goodies. They are going to be collectively set up as a Food Court this year off Depot Drive which will be convenient for the guests and vendors. Their is always live music and events for the kids. The festival planners will set up an entire Kids World where there are art workshops and activities to keep the little ones busy.

This event will draw approximately 80,000 attendees this year and you should be one of them. Join the city of Melbourne for their annual Art Festival and have a great time.

The new Da Vinci Robotic Surgical System at Holmes Regional Medical Center captures the power of high-level robotics and matches it to the most state-of-the-art health care. Holmes Regional is one of the main hospitals in Melbourne, Florida that serves the residents with their health care needs.

The Da Vinci Surgical System can be used to treat a variety of health conditions in a minimally invasive fashion. It is currently being used to treat a variety of cancer removal procedures, coronary artery disease, kidney disorders and uterine bleeding and fibroids. This technology is currently available at Holmes Regional but there are also plans to install another unit in the future at Viera Hospital which just opened their doors in April 2011.

The Health First Foundation is hosting their 29th Annual Ball aimed at raising funds for the Surgical System’s “Dual Console”. The event will be held April 16 at the Clemente Center at the Florida Institute of Technology at 6:30 pm. Tickets to the black-tie event are $225 and company sponsorships are still available. The theme of the evening is “An Evening of Modern Art & Da Vinci Robotics: Where Art and Medicine Meet” and guests will enjoy dinner, dancing and entertainment.

For those that like to crunch numbers, here are the home sales statistics for Brevard County, Florida for March 2011. The trends at the end of last year and into the beginning of this year continue to be on a slow rise. It is still early to be deemed a victory but the housing market in Brevard County is showing early signs of improvement.

Homes that sold in March 2011 versus March 2010 are up more than 13%. The average sales price is down just under 10%. Condos are flat at holding their average price while single family homes were down almost 13%. Watch the condo market this year, it could mean that there are going to be a lot of good bargains.

*New Listings are down from March 2010 – (27.00%)

*Sold Listings are up from March 2010 – +13.12%

*Volume Sold is up from March 2010 – +1.91%

*Average Sale Price is down from March 2010 – (9.91%)

Here is what is selling in Brevard County, Florida in average sales price:

$0-$49,999 – 187 units sold (22.3%)

$50K-$79,999 – 187 units sold (22.3%)

$80K-$99,999 – 86 units sold (10.3%)

$100K-$159,999 – 169 units sold (20.2%)

$160K-$199,999 – 69 units sold (8.2%)

$200K-$249,999 – 51 units sold (6.1%)

$250K-$299,999 – 36 units sold (4.3%)

$300K-$399,999 – 27 units sold (3.2%)

$400K-$499,999 – 10 units sold (1.2%)

$500K+ – 15 units sold (1.8%)

55.0% of all homes sold in Brevard County were priced between $0 and $99,999. 28.4% of homes were priced between $100,000-$199,999. The average median sales price in Brevard County for March 2011 was $124,056 which is up from February by 3.43%. 59.3% of all homes sold in March 2011 were paid for with cash which continues to be much higher than the national average.

Current inventory on the market is broken down like this:

Residential Homes 3,768 on the market – 1,013 are short sales – 395 are bank owned

Condos 1,037 on the market – 150 are short sales – 111 are bank owned

Townhomes 301 on the market – 65 are short sales – 46 are bank owned

Total 5,106 homes on the market – 1,228 are short sales – 552 are bank owned

Just over 24% of homes on the market in Brevard County are listed as a short sale. Almost 11% listed on the market are bank owned properties. There are concerns that as the overall listings are dropping that there is the prospect of a lot of shadow inventory in the pipeline. Shadow Inventory refers to homes that are in the foreclosure process or the banks have taken back that are not on the market. Those numbers are hard to speculate but they are out there. However, if inventory continues to drop, expect more homes back on the market from banks needing to unload or prices starting to creep back up.

That is how Brevard County, Florida looks in March 2011.