Grab a cuppa coffee and settle right in for our Saturday morning week in review of real estate happenings in the Cape San Blas market.
About the only noteworthy event this week was the arrival of autumn and with it cool, dry weather. The humidity has been down in the 30’s which is absolutely unheard of in Florida. Very little else happening though. Our inventory remains relatively unchanged at 552, down only 2 from last week, with homes holding steady at 200 and 2 fewer lots at 352.
The buyers must all be up in the mountains checking out the fall foliage because they sure weren’t around here. No new contracts and only the one closed lot sale that we were watching last week when it went under contract.
Our one sold was a lot on Seminole Street over in Indian Pass Beach subdivision which was noted to be a foreclosure sale. Unfortunately, it looks as if this seller needed to bail on an investment that just didn’t work out for him. The lot was listed in February for $175,000 and sold this week for $150,000 cash, with the buyer paying the property taxes of roughly $1,600. This sale was below the property appraisers assessed value of $160,000. Here’s the ouch factor: he bought it in January 2004 for $200,000, so we’re talking about a 25% loss.
Looking back on sales data we can see that the local market peaked in the fall of 2004 and sales turned off as abruptly as if someone had snapped a switch. A quick check of the county clerk’s office records show that the mortgage matured in February of this year at a minimum of 9.25% and was due to adjust again in three months.
There’s an art to knowing when to leave a party.
If you own or are in the market for investment property and would like to explore the probable current market value, shoot me an e-mail to [email protected] or give me a call at 850-227-5197.