Not being content with having crashed this site once, when I finally got it back up and running on the 18th I tried the upgrade once again only to crash it so irretrievably that some of the best tech minds at GoDaddy couldn’t figure out what I’d done. I finally got it straightened out late yesterday and I PROMISE I will quit tweaking it so that we can get back to doing what we love best – dishing the latest in Cape San Blas real estate news.Â
So what’s been going on since we last met? As of this morning there are 199 homes and 350 lots listed for sale in the MLS for the Cape, C-30 and Indian Pass, down 3 from Nov. 17, one less home and two fewer lots.
So has anything been selling? No activity at all during Thanksgiving week, but this past week two contiguous gulf-front lots on Canoe Lane went under contract and yet another townhome at Barrier Dunes sold.
And how did this week’s solo seller make out? Let’s take a look. They bought this townhome brand new from the developer in April of ’02 for $149,500 and have had it on a rental program for several years, so they’ve had some rental income and tax deductions to factor into their overall return on investment. The home was listed at $285,000 and was on the market for 300 days before finally closing yesterday (Friday, Nov. 30) for $220,000, 77% of list. Interestingly, Kesley (Gulf County Property Appraiser) had it assessed at $243,885, so it sold for only 90% of its assessed value. It wasn’t so very long ago that a sure laugh-getter was to offer to buy someone’s property for the assessed value. Wouldn’t happen. The times they are a changing . . . Even so, no crying towels being handed out this week. Even though our seller didn’t get anywhere near his asking price, he still managed to sell it for 47% more than he paid for it after only 5 1/2 years, or an annualized straight average of 8.57% per year increase. I don’t know of any bank instruments offering returns even close to that.
Twelve sellers have tried tweaking their prices in the past two weeks to try to get some action going. Three of them are highly motivated as they each dropped their prices by more than 26%. I tell you, there are getting to be some attractive lures out there.
That’s it for this week. It’s good to be back. If you’re interested in seeing what sort of attractive bargains may be out there, or if you’re wondering what your property might sell for in this changing market, give me a call at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an e-mail to [email protected] .