Well, summer is officially over here on the Forgotten Coast as Friday was the final day of Scallop Season. A good number of the business calls I made yesterday were to mobile phones of colleagues “working” from their off shore offices. Scallop Season may be over, but the real estate shopping spree isn’t, as we had another good week with one closing and an impressive four new contracts, eight new listings and six price changes. Our inventory seems to have finally broken through that 400 barrier it had been stalled at for so long, and it continued the healthy trending downward, closing down two at 389, with 144 homes and 245 lots in the MLS for the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market. Let’s see what kind of bargains buyers landed.
Our solo sale was a lot on Indian Pass Road in the Indian Pass Beach Subdivision which is a fun and funky old Florida neighborhood not far from the boat launch. If it looks familiar maybe that’s because we looked at it just last Saturday when it was one of our new contracts. The little lot measures just 75′ by 105′ and carried a small price tag of just $64,900, roughly half of the $120,000 the county thinks it’s worth. Our savvy shopper thought both of those were too high, offered $59,000 cash and picked up the title at closing on Friday. That sale price is interesting in that it is so very close to what the property last sold for in late 1997, $50,000.
All four of our new contracts this week are on Cape properties, starting with this six-bedroom, 5-bath, 2,659 square foot gulf front home about half a mile north of Scallop Cove. It’s a beautifully furnished home and it along with the other two homes on Cabo San Lucas has beome a popular spot for wedding parties staying on the Cape for beach weddings. It was built in 2006 and sold in early 2008 for $1.26M, but is currently listed for a far more modest $699,000. The county has this one pegged at $492,096 so it will be interesting to see it closes for.
Our second contract is on a bank-owned gulf front condo at Dunes Club on the south side of the Cape, and it’s going to be a comp killer since it went under contract almost immediately when the bank dropped the price this week from its already ridiculously low price of $205,000 to $185,000, way below the county’s assessment of $218,892. That generated a pile of offers, and my buyer made a good, clean offer and emerged victorious on Thursday. Dunes Club was built in 2004, and this particular condo sold that year for $438,800. It’s a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,171 square foot home overlooking the pool and the gulf.
We’re heading up to Barrier Dunes for our second contract to this 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1172 square foot furnished townhouse located along side the state park in a very private and peaceful setting. The seller put this on the market with the serious intention of selling it soon and he did just that with an asking price too low to resist, just $159,900. It was exactly what my young buyers were looking for and they snapped it up just three days after it hit the MLS. It was built in 2003 when it sold for $180,000, almost exactly what the county has it assessed for today, $178,929.
Our fourth and final new contract is on a 4-bedroom, 3-bath, 2100 square foot bay front beauty with a bonus guest house included. It’s a great place for fun on the water with its easy access from its large dock overlooking the channel running past Pig Island. The place last sold in late 2004 for $690,000, and the owners put it back on the market the following spring with an asking price of $995,000. It’s been on the market ever since with the price whittling downward, and it went under contract this week with a list price of just $437,000. The county thinks that’s too high, as they have it assessed way low at $300,285. This is another comp I’m curious to see as there haven’t been many bay front sales this year and this is a particularly nice property.
There’s an interesting gulf front lot among our eight new listings I’ll go with for my New Listing Pick of the Week. It’s a bank-owned 50′ wide lot on the south side of the Cape for just $159,000. It lies entirely seaward of the CCCL so you’ll have to go through DEP for permitting, but there is a recently built home on the same street so apparently its doable. I don’t imagine this one will stay on the market long at this price so if you’re interested I’d advise acting quickly.
There are some attractive properties among our six price changes, but two in particular caught my eye.
The first one is this bank-owned 70′ wide gulf front lot in Sunset Pointe on the Cape which goes from $449,900 to $399,900. This is a gorgeous stretch of beach front up by the state park in one of the nicest subdivisions on the Cape. Have we seen lower-priced gulf front lots? Yes, but not for waterfront this pristine, and in a gated upscale community, near the state park, and with the western-facing exposure for enjoying those picture-perfect sunsets over the gulf.
My second price pick is at the other end of the scale, a bay view first tier lot in the Treasure Bay subdivision out on C-30 which goes from $64,900 to $29,900, less than half of the county’s assessment of $60,000. What a great value on a quality building site. All the properties in Treasure Bay incuded deeded bay access, and because it’s on the mainland and outside the CBRA zone, Federal flood insurance is available. You’ll have terrific views of sunsets over they bay when you build.
That’s a wrap for this week. If you’re interested in seeing what you might be able to find along the coast foryourself while prices are so low, or if you’re thining of selling, I’d love to hear from you. I’ll be glad to help you either way. Try me on my cell at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected] . Have a terrific weekend and thanks for taking a few minutes to stop by today.