Don’t Say That. Really.

For most people that I encounter in real estate transactions, buyers and sellers alike, removing emotion from the process is difficult. It’s easy enough to intellectualize that emotion shouldn’t be a factor but it manages to intrude in a large number of negotiations. An irrational, emotional response from the other party can often drag an otherwise rational person straight into the mud and reduce or kill chances of success.

There are an number of self-defeating trigger phrases that can get that response. I’ve seen the phrases below derail many negotiations over the years that otherwise stood a good chance of reaching agreement. A person hoping to buy or sell property (or most any other thing) would be wise to resist uttering these phrases or adopting these mindsets. At the end of the day, the buyer and the seller decide what they are willing to accept or pay.

“I will not play games.” – I hear buyers say this often, especially in multiple offer situations. Guess what? Negotiating is a game. You can’t win without playing. Offer what you’re willing to pay and take into consideration everything that the other party is telling you. Withdrawing because you “won’t play games” only guarantees that you won’t get that property. Your initial offer may very well be enough.

“I’m not going to give it away.” – Consider that your idea of “giving it away” might be at exact market value. Our robust market is more than willing to give you market value or above. That is never “giving it away” even though it might be less than you paid at the market peak.

“The offer is too low. I’m not going to respond.” – Unless you are firm at your asking price, always respond to an offer. Most buyers can’t help themselves from making a first stab at trying to get the property for less than market value, sometimes with a stupid low offer. I’ve seen crazy low initial offers work their way up to a number that was acceptable to a seller. Respond to lowballs as if they were good offers. You decide how much to counter. Keep the buyer in the game until they have demonstrated that they won’t get near your number. The initial offer is an invitation to begin the negotiations.

“I will not pay full price.” – I’ve been asked many times what percentage of asking price the first offer should be. There is no magic percentage. As I’ve related before, full price at Target may equal exactly the final price at Macy’s after the sticker markdown and additional discount at the register. Know what any property is worth before you offer. Full price can be a good and fair price. While you’re screwing around offering a set percentage off asking price, another buyer may have recognized that it’s priced right and offered the fair full asking price.

“If they won’t include the (fill in the blank) the deal is off.” – If the Sonos sound system wasn’t included in the listing don’t include it in the offer. I’ve seen buyers walk away from a fair price on a property because the seller wouldn’t include furniture that was never intended to be included. Keep your eye on the ball and don’t complicate your offer. You can always get a sofa.

“Not a penny more.” – Really? So if the seller’s mental walk-away number happens to be $100 above your “not a penny more” number, you don’t want this house that is exactly what you’re looking for (your words). This phrase tells the seller to not even try to compromise somewhere between his last number and your take-it-or-leave-it number. Not a smart strategy. Stay in the game until it works or it doesn’t.

“Not a penny less.” – Same as above. It’s a dare that pride will not let many people accept. You can just as easily make your counter without adding the end-of-negotiations phrase.

“I would have paid that.” – This is a good one. You couldn’t have paid that without even offering. This is usually in response to a property going for well less than asking. The seller’s agent probably already told them that their asking was too high but they didn’t listen and clung to the too-high asking price. When the fair offer came in, probably with justifying comps, they accepted reality and the offer. This goes back to knowing what a property is worth. Your buyer’s agent can include comps with your offer to demonstrate to hard-headed sellers that your offer is on the money. Solid comps from the buyer’s agent with the offer will often swing the tide. Note: If there aren’t comps to justify a lowball, don’t try to manufacture a justification with irrelevant comps or the Property Appraiser’s or Zillow’s idea of value. Knowledge and negotiating skills, have them and use them.

How ’bout this weather. Summer came early this year. Back up to 85 again today with light west winds and continued clear blue skies. This has been the busiest March in Cocoa Beach in my memory. I suppose cold weather in the north and low gas prices have contributed. This past weekend, in addition to the usual venues, there was live music in the Juice and Java parking lot and the Mai Tiki complex. The stray spring breakers wandering around downtown Cocoa Beach must have thought they’d found Florida’s Bourbon Street, with live music in over a half dozen places in a one block radius. Monday morning, the streets and parking lots (ours included) downtown looked like there had been a heavy snowfall of trash. We had it all cleaned up and ready for the next onslaught by noon. Three more weeks.

“This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those who never listen to music anyway.”  ___Bob Dylan

 

This Week’s Best New Listings

These are the best or most compelling (in my opinion) new listings in Cocoa Beach in the last seven days. None of these are my listings but I’m happy to show any of them. Contacting a listing agent directly on any listing will have you unrepresented and possibly at risk in the transaction. A buyer’s agent, whether me or someone else, will not cost you anything except in very rare circumstances agreed to in advance and you will have full representation (unless the buyer’s agent is also from the listing agent’s brokerage). There were no new listings in Cape Canaveral that I thought deserved mentioning.

• Big 1st floor bank-owned 2/2 condo, 1432 sf, east of A1A but not direct oceanfront. Asking $147,900.
• Fully furnished 2nd floor 2 bedroom, 1 bath, one block from beach, low monthlies. Asking $129,900.
• Updated 2nd floor 2 bedroom, 1 bath in oceanfront complex that allows short term rentals. Asking $143,500.
• Totally and nicely remodeled 2nd floor, 2 bedroom, 2 bath in oceanfront building with ocean view. Asking $224,900.
• 1st floor 2 bedroom, 2 bath Sand Dollar floor plan, garage, Stonewood D bldg. Asking $259,000.
• Totally remodeled single family 2 blocks from beach 3 BR, 1.5 BA, 1545 sf, tropical landscaping. Asking $225,000.
• Updated Cocoa Isles single family 3 BR, 2 BA, 1240 sf, 2 car. Asking $239,000.
• Single family 3/2 pool home five blocks to beach, 1280 sf, 2 car. Asking $289,000.
• 14 yr. old South Cocoa Beach 2nd floor 3/2 corner in Banana River building with ocean and river views, garage, 2364 sf. Asking $289,900.
• 7 yr. old luxury 4 bedroom, 3 bath canal home, 3025 sf, pool, dock, boat lift, 3 car. Asking $799,900.
• 8 yr. old 5 bedroom, 3 bath single family across the street from the beach 3555 sf, pool, 2 car. Asking $729,000.

It’s the perfect storm for traffic right now. Peak snowbird population, spring break, Bike Week in Daytona and cold weather up north. Be careful on the roads and expect to move more slowly than usual. Have patience. It will all be over in a few weeks.

The cobia are running a little late this year but are starting to show up in small numbers. Meanwhile the tasty tripletail are here en masse for the spring spawn. Look for them close to shore under seaweed or floating debris and present a live or artificial shrimp on their nose. This week I saw leatherback turtles, loggerheads, manta rays and a rare ocean sunfish in addition to cobia and tripletail. I also heard reports of a couple of great whites being spotted. For anyone wanting to fish, now is a great time to book a nearshore charter. The catch of a lifetime might be waiting. Worse case scenario, a great day on the water in the real Sea World.

“I have exactly as much rhythm as you think I have.”  ___John Oliver

 

Lost an Hour

Good morning Daylight Savings Time. More daylight at the end of the day makes most Cocoa Beach folks happy although the later sunrise means before work/school surf sessions are abbreviated if not impossible. Nothing is without its cost.

Thinking about the time change this morning I went back and read a post I did the morning after the time change in 2012. Let’s compare Cocoa Beach market conditions then and now. At that time we had bounced off the bottom in prices but distressed sales were still a large part of the activity in residential real estate sales. We were still doing the time change at the end of March back then so I’ve compared activity from January 1 to March 8 in 2012 and 2015.

These stats are for the period from January 1 through March 8.

Asking price <$100,000

2012 – 19 sold, 42% of them distressed – inventory 53 units, 36% distressed

2015 – 25 sold, 24% of them distressed – inventory 26 units, 19% distressed

Asking price >$400,000

2012 – 7 sold with 0 distressed – inventory 44 units, 0 units distressed

2015 – 8 sold with 0 distressed – inventory 55 units, 1 unit distressed (short sale) 

Sold units in all price ranges

2012, _90 units, 29% of them distressed.

2015, 109 units, 17% of them distressed.

For sale inventory

2012 – 350 units, 16% distressed

2105 – 259 units, _7% distressed

The condo inventory has hovered in the 250 unit range for a couple of years now. It peaked at just under 1200 units in 2006 and stayed at abnormally high levels during the crash years fueled by the high numbers of distressed sales. With the bulk of the troubled properties already flushed through the system, I don’t think there is any reason to expect inventory to get much above the current number in the near future. I think we’ll continue to see the number of distressed sales shrink as the banks dispose of their last remaining beachside properties. Single family home trends are closely mirroring condo trends.

I was fortunate to attend a get-together with my Mom of three lovely members of the 2nd grade class of 1933 this week. Inventory that year of Cocoa Beach condos was holding steady at zero where it would remain for decades. We wouldn’t see a short sale for the next 74 years.

A strange thing happened in Cocoa Beach last week. A Waylon Jennings song was performed live at a local venue. The young country band Radio Romance from Nashville slipped it into their lineup of mainly originals at Juice and Java downtown. They wowed the unsuspecting, raised-on Buffet and Zepplin crowd. They’ll be back for a repeat on March 20. I recommend trying to catch them, no matter your musical comfort zone.

“Is Neil Young the greatest singer in the world? No, he’s not, but he’s Neil Young, ain’t he? And I’ve heard a billion covers of “Like a Rolling Stone,” and they’re all shit. You want to know why? Because Bob Dylan ain’t singing it.” __Noel Gallagher

 

Notice: The Rules Have Changed

Dear owners, 

In light of recent events, the Board of Directors has amended the rules and regulations and added the new rules listed below. Please be advised that we will be enforcing the new rules strictly and violations will be subject to a $100 fine per occurrence after notice of first violation. These rules are added for the benefit of all and are intended to make our life here at Cocoa Beach Cosmopolitan more harmonious. Thank you for your cooperation.

Board of Directors

Cocoa Beach Cosmopolitan Condo Association

• Renters and guests are not allowed to have pets on the premises.
• Pets must weigh less than 20 pounds.
• No more than one pet per unit.
• Maximum four occupants in any unit.
• No unit may be rented more than two times per year.
• Minimum rental period is one month.
• Clubhouse may not be used for children’s birthday parties.
• The south pool is limited to persons age 21 and over.
• No one person may own more than 3 units.
• Owners renting their unit must use on-site management.

Is this legal? Can the Board make new rules restricting my use of my unit without a vote of the association? Luckily, no. They cannot. That fact does not stop many from doing so, however. I have seen several of the rules above adopted by misguided Boards under the assumption that they have the authority to change or restrict owners’ use rights by merely changing or adding rules with a vote of the Directors. The law is very specific about this. If your Association has adopted new rules that change the original use restrictions in the Declaration without a vote of the association, they have probably violated their duty and the changes are not valid. They do have the authority to adopt new rules for things other than use restrictions.  For more info on this read this excellent post by attorney, Jean Winters. 

Ultimately, if people lose their willingness to recognize that there are times in our history when legality becomes distinct from morality, we aren’t just ceding control of our rights to government, but our agency in determining our futures. ___Edward Snowden

 

Under the Hood February 2015

How’s the market doing? I get this question almost daily. I don’t have to look at MLS stats to know that it is on fire. We continue to have more demand than supply and the cold, snowy winter up north is fanning the demand flames.

Since the first of February, 59 units have gone under contract in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral. Total MLS for sale inventory of condos and townhomes in the two cities is 261 units this morning. Considering the current rate of 2.5 units a day going under contract, the supply is likely to remain low.

The Cocoa Beach MLS is showing 69 closed condos and townhomes since January 1 in our two cities and 13 single family homes. Of the 69 sold units, 49 sold without ever dropping the asking price. They closed for an average of 94% of asking and 30 of them sold in a month or less on the market. Compare this to the average 149 days on market for the twenty units that had to reduce their asking price to sell.

An interesting side note is that only one of the six bank-owned units closed at or above asking price. This is reflective of the banks’ recent too-optimistic pricing.

Cash accounted for 72% of all condo purchases so far this year. This trend is likely to persist as underwriting has gotten even more strict for condos with many underwriters now requiring forms of insurance that were rarely mentioned in the past and that many associations do not have. Buyers using a mortgage would be prudent to get the condo questionnaire from their lender to the Board of the condo as early in the process as possible in case the association’s insurance is not up to snuff.

Take-away for buyers: Identify your property type and either search the MLS daily or have your agent set up an email auto-alert directly from the MLS. You are likely not the only one looking for the same type of property. The stats above tell us that the priced-right units will be gone in less than a month. The 94% of asking average also tells us that a lowball offer is not likely to work. If you will be getting a mortgage please consider using a local lender. Your internet loan officer or cousin at First National back home will tell you they can close on a Florida condo but history tells us that they fail to close far more often than the local lenders.

Take-away for sellers: Price it right to start with and it will sell quickly. It is very easy to know what your unit is likely to bring by looking at recently sold comparable properties and adjusting accordingly for condition and other details. What you would like to get is probably more than what the market is willing to deliver. Be realistic. If you don’t trust your agent, get a different one.

The weather the last two days has been wonderful, temps in the 70s with very light winds. The forecast high in Cocoa Beach today is 78 with slightly cloudy skies and a westerly breeze of less than 10 MPH.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white

The bright blessed the day, the dark sacred night

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

_____________________Louis Armstrong

 

Sorry Lady, Forgot The Month

I’m back. Sorry for the long break in posts. Google’s very protective two-step authentication shut my access down during my time in Abaco. My welcome home first sunrise in Cocoa Beach this morning at left.

On my first partial day back in Cocoa Beach yesterday a nice lady snowbird shook her fist at me from her minivan in the Publix parking lot because she apparently thought my driving pace too casual. Whatever. The streets, Post Office, grocery stores and golf course are jammed to the max with winter visitors, some of them, judging from my encounter yesterday, with their back-home attitudes intact. Protect yourselves accordingly.

Sales of properties in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral this January lagged last January’s numbers considerably. There were 46 condos and 11 single family homes closed in the month this year compared to sixty and seven, respectively in 2014. The sold single family homes were skewed to the lower end of the price range with seven of the sales closing for prices below $300,000, all non-waterfront. The four waterfront homes sold closed at prices between $475,000 and $700,000. None of the eleven were short sales and only one was bank-owned.

The 46 closed condos and townhomes were evenly distributed in price with the bottom quarter closing for less than $100,000 and the top quarter closing at prices above $240,000, seven of those between $300,000 and $799,000. Over 70% of all condo sales closed for cash. Three of the condos were short sales and six were bank-owned.

Our current inventory has increased somewhat with the Cocoa Beach MLS reporting 271 units for sale this morning in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral. Five of those are short sales and sixteen are bank-owned. There are 64 single family and half-duplexes for sale. None of them are short sales and four are bank-owned.

The sales in January confirmed the continuing upward trend of selling prices. Barring some unforeseen event, with the robust demand for properties, I think we can expect that to continue. Good luck if you’re looking to purchase and resist the urge to lowball. The current dynamic guarantees that that routine has a very low chance of success.

Winter rules are in place.

• Tee times are absolutely necessary unless golfing after 3 PM.
• Add at least 15 minutes drive time for any drive through the main part of Cocoa Beach.
• Wear protective and/or padded clothing for grocery store trips and under no circumstances approach the free coffee stand at Publix.
• Avoid the “Express Checkout-10 items or less” line
• Tip your servers and be nice to them.
• Be very aware walking if crossing driveways on the sidewalk.
• DO NOT wave waiting cars into traffic ahead of you. It’s not polite. It’s dangerous.

“Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.” __Robert H. Schuller

 

January 2015 Halftime

This is our first halftime report of 2105. Sales are typically slow the first part of January reflecting the reduced numbers of contracts during the year-end holidays and this year is no different. The Cocoa Beach MLS is showing 14 closed condos so far this month and three single family homes. Continuing the established trend, over half of the condos sold in less than a month on the market and all three homes sold in less than 37 days. All but three of the condos closed with cash. Highest price paid so far was for a 3rd floor direct ocean Meridian 3/2 that sold for $700,000 or $338 per square foot. Other sales of note included:

3rd floor furnished south facing 3/2, 2340 square foot Xanadu that closed for $330,000.

3rd floor furnished weekly rental Cocoa Beach Towers 3/2, 1323 sf, carport for $317,500.

3rd floor furnished direct ocean Cape Winds weekly rental 2/2, 934 sf, no garage for $269,500.

2nd floor furnished weekly rental Spanish Main 2/2, 1153 sf, garage for $265,000.

3rd floor south ocean view Conquistador 2/2, 1101 sf, open parking for $190,000.

2nd floor furnished direct ocean 1/1 Triton Arms downtown Cocoa Beach for $130,000.

Condo inventory in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral this morning is at 250 units with short sales and foreclosures representing just 7% of the total. That’s the lowest level since 2007. None of the distressed units is direct ocean. That boat has sailed.

“I need to see a gentle palm tree and I won’t wait too long.” Captain Jim’s Drunken Dream by James Taylor

 

Let’s Get This Party Started

Here’s a ten year snapshot of our condo market that graphically portrays the crash and recovery. It’s been a wild ride. The upward trend in number of units sold should flatten out this year while a graph of prices, if I were able to accurately build one, would continue to rise. Supply and demand firmly in effect right now.

Wispy clouds on blue skies this morning, January 3, 2015, and the temp in Cocoa Beach is forecast to be 78,  with a low of 69 tonight before back up to 80 tomorrow. A cold snap next week will push daytime temps all the way down to the high 50s on Thursday before climbing back to the 70s on Saturday. Not rubbing it in but definitely enjoying it.

There seems to be an unusually high number of snowbirds already in town. Buyer traffic in real estate is likewise brisk. We haven’t seen many new listings since the holidays so those looking are experiencing a little frustration with the few good choices available. Half of the 54 condo units closed in December sold in less than 37 days on the market, fourteen of those in less than two weeks. Expect that trend to continue until the inventory recovers. Of the 251 total condo and townhome units for sale right now, half have been on the market more than 90 days suggesting overpricing.

Golfers, time to get back in the habit of making advance tee times and steeling yourselves for slow play. The greens in Cocoa Beach are playing great and it’s beautiful out there but from now until Easter it’s gonna take a little longer to play a round than most are accustomed to. Do everyone a favor and be aware of your own pace of play. If you’re not waiting on the group ahead of you, you might be holding up the group following you. And, please repair your ball marks and fill your divots. Play well..

Random fact: Cleopatra lived closer in time to the moon landing than she did to the building of the Great Pyramid.

 

That’s a Wrap, Cocoa Beach

2014 was an eventful year in Cocoa Beach. I had forgotten how much had happened until I began listing the significant events of the year. I know I may have missed some but these are the ones I can remember that felt worth mentioning.

The picture at the left was taken from the golf course at the Cocoa Beach Country Club on December 20. Temp was in the high 70s at the time. It was a carbon copy of every day of the entire preceding week. By the way, how about those new greens? It’s been a couple of years since they tore out the old ones and replaced them with new, salt-tolerant Paspalum grass. They were better than the old very quickly but now that they have completely filled in, they are excellent and, according to one old-timer who plays all over Brevard, might be the best in the county. Kudos to the people who made the decision to undertake this disruptive project and who chose the type of grass to use. It has paid off wonderfully.

Some of the Highlights of 2014

Our new fire station complete with chopper pad on the roof is almost finished directly across the street from the old station which is slated for tear-down. Imagine the Chili Cook-off next year.

The Cocoa Beach Pier was sold to Westgate Resorts of Orlando who have begun total renovation of the 52 year old landmark. I expect big things and probably a challenge of the height and density limits for a new structure on the parking lot. That will be highly contentious if it happens.

The Pelican Landings Resort in south Cocoa Beach was sold and torn down to make room for a magnificent new oceanfront home, a rare case of natural density reduction. It was completed late in the year.

We saw the highest price ever paid for a single family home in Cocoa Beach this year. It was for a 13 year old luxurious, three level direct ocean beauty for just shy of $2 million. That record is soon to be more than doubled when the pending Pumpkin Center oceanfront block closes.

And once again, as we’ve done for the last six years running, the number of closed residential sales exceeded the preceding year. The over 670 condo units closed in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral (as of Christmas) exceeded the total for every year since 2005.

The final chapter of the Glass Bank saga was begun late in the year as preps for demo began.

The new oceanfront condos on the site of Crawford’s Cocoa Cabanas in south Cocoa Beach finally broke ground after first being announced back in 2006 just as the housing crash began. I’ve been hearing ever since then that construction was about to begin. They are being offered with “boat slips”. Caveat emptor.

After voters overwhelmingly supported mixed-use zoning in a small area of downtown Cocoa Beach in 2011, we saw our first two new mixed-use buildings completed, residential upstairs over commercial downstairs. I think we can expect many more of these types of buildings downtown. Also downtown, we saw several other commercial buildings remodeled and re-purposed and several new restaurants, offices and watering holes opened. The old Post Office was sold and remodeled and has reopened as retail and offices.

The Port continued it’s blazing pace of growth. The old boat ramps next to Grills were closed to make room for the new Cruise Terminal One which is almost complete. We recreational fishermen scored on this one as we got brand new ramps much closer to the Port entrance adjacent to Jetty Park. The container port appears to be either complete or close to it. The main channel of the Port near the entrance has been widened to allow two cruise ships to pass one another. Next on the agenda there is to turn the area around the Exploration Tower into something like downtown Disney. The conceptual renderings are breath-taking. We’ve come a long way since Captain Ed’s and the scallop plant.

SpaceX completed several successful missions from the Space Center as did the other usual players. The big launch of the year was a massive Delta 4 Heavy in December carrying the Orion space craft. There are a dozen launches scheduled right now for the next eight months from the Cape, seven by SpaceX and five by the United Launch Alliance. The space flight business is firing on all cylinders (nozzles?).

And, while not Cocoa Beach news, the online real estate world experienced a couple of major moves with Zillow buying Trulia and News Corp. buying Point2 and Move, Inc. so that they now own, in addition to Realtor.com, the pipeline for the vast majority of Zillow and Trulia’s listings. This one ain’t over by a long shot. I can’t wait.

We are entering 2015 with an inventory of 257 condo and townhouse units for sale and 60 single family homes.That’s about a 4.5 month supply at 2014’s rate of sales. Considering this, I think it’s reasonable to expect the number of sales to decrease in 2015. There are a total of five short sales and 24 bank-owned properties for sale in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral. That scarcity of distressed sales combined with the low inventory should be a tailwind for continued rising prices. As always, buyers should be aware of market conditions and recent selling prices and be realistic if they hope to purchase. Prices have risen but are still less than the cost to build in many cases. There are gems to be had. Good hunting.

Happy safe holidays to all and a positive and gratifying New Year.

“Your purchase choices are probably fueling slavery. But convenience often trumps ideology, so…whatever.” ___ M.Lapa

 

Robberies Update

Thanks for the feedback from those of you with knowledge of this ripoff. It didn’t take me long to find several more examples of the same local brokerage charging their clients the junk fee. The “Broker Only Commission” is exactly the same as the infamous “Regulatory Compliance Fee” that used to be charged by another local brokerage. It’s a junk fee that has no place on the vast majority of settlement statements. One reader was kind enough to forward me a portion of their contract that showed the fee disclosed and pre-printed on the last page, presumably to make it seem legit. In two other cases that I looked at, that line was omitted from the contract but the fee was inserted on the settlement statement.

People, do not pay a fee to your agent or broker above the commission they are receiving unless it’s a case of reduced or no commission and you want them to be paid an appropriate amount for their work. If you are presented with a contract or settlement statement showing a “Broker Only Commission”, “Regulatory Compliance Fee” or any other fee paid to your broker by you, refuse to pay it unless you previously agreed to and are OK with paying it. No agent or broker is going to let the deal die because you refused to be robbed of $345 at closing.

Agents, don’t be bullied into ripping off your clients. This is a shady practice and it won’t continue without your complicity. There are plenty of good brokerages that don’t encourage you to treat your clients poorly. Do the right thing.

_____________________________________________________

Beautifully Written Breath Hold Diving Techniques from Breathing.com

Release snorkel, pike, raise leg, begin to drop. A few strong slow kicks to get to negative and then, depending on the type/depth of diving, glide down to depth or kick a bit more to get through the top portion of the dive and down to depth. Mentally, as a natural low-level anxiety emerges, the game begins. The relationship towards the fear of air starvation becomes a game. It is “out there” in the consciousness, and I physically smile at it like an old acquaintance, neither friend nor enemy.

Ultimately, my control of, or my relationship to, these feelings begins to erode. It “becomes” time to go up. Small contractions may begin in my gut/diaphragm and throat. I begin to smile and to redouble my relaxing “non-effort efforts”. Anxiety, tension and wasted movement are the tricksters that conspire to rob me of oxygen (and life). I smile at them, search for that relaxation, and rise. Kicking slowly, trailing my gun. Streamlined. I focus on the beauty of the light above and I move towards it.