Wow! I don’t know what strange alignment the planets shifted into this week but real estate sales just sky-rocketed. I can’t remember when if ever we had this much activity in one week in the three years I’ve been writing this blog: we had six sales and five new contracts, four new listings and eleven price changes. With all that activity you’d expect a little bit of a change in our inventory, and you’d be right, as we end the week down three from last week to 386, with 143 homes and 243 lots listed in the MLS in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market. We have a lot of territory to cover today so let’s get started.
All but one of our six sales were on the Cape so we’ll start at the north end and work our way southward to our final destination of Indian Pass. First up is this gulf front lot up in Secluded Dunes, the northernmost subdivision on the Cape and which adjoins the state park. It’s a beautiful area, and one of the earliest subdivisions out here having been a project of Langdon Flowers (of the Flowers Bakeries family fame) who also developed Barrier Dunes, both projects done in the early ’80’s. This lot has 58′ feet on the water and is just shy of half an acre. It was listed for just $289,900, well below the county’s assessment of $350,000, and some lucky buyer claimed it this week for an even$250,000.
Next door to Secluded Dunes is the site of our second sale, this one in Sunset Pointe, a very nice gated-community done about five years ago by a local investor/developer. The dunes and beach here are just gorgeous. This sale’s a 71′ wide gulf front lot entered as a comp into the MLS with a list and sale price of $300,000, that being well above the county’s assessed value of $248,500. This wasn’t a resale, so no pertinent previous sales data for comparison purposes.
Here we are at Seagrass, a subdivision about three miles south of Sunset Pointe where our third sale is a first tier lot with gorgeous gulf view with an equally gorgeous price tag of just $140,000. This is a bank-owned, 90′ by 121′, quarter-acre lot which last sold in January 2004 for $225,000. The county thought at this point it is was worth at least $170,000 but our savvy buyer thought otherwise, and picked it up for a mere $125,000.
Our fourth sale is also our first home, and for a change of pace we’re heading to the bay side of the Cape to this bay front home with a dock overlooking Pig Island. This is a nicely tucked away 4-bedroom, 3-bath home with both the dock and a small guest house built in 2000, and all of which last sold in late 2004 for $690,000. This time around it was down to a list price of $437,000, WAY above the county’s assessed value of $300,285, but we had a buyer step up to the plate this week who basically split the difference with an offer of $395,000 which was enough to pick up the keys at closing.
Another house, this one a gulf front 6-bedroom, 4-bath, spacious 3,888 square foot home on the south side of the Cape with a list price of $849,000. In June of 2009, it sold as a bank-owned home in mid-construction for just $303,000. When the bank took possession in October 2008 the mortgage recorded was listed by the county as $1.094M. Anywho, the current sellers finished the home off very nicely, furnished it equally well, and sold it for a tidy price of $700,000. I’d say this was a win/win situation for both buyer and seller.
Our sixth and final sale is yet another gulf front lot, this one over on Indian Pass, a 50′ wide lot sold as part of an estate from a family which has owned the property for quite some time. This is a very ineresting comp in that the county had it assessed at $350,000, the list price was well below that at $289,900, and yet it closed for $156,000. That’s noteworthy.
OK – let’s take a look at what caught buyers’ attention this week, and the first of our five new contracts is up at Barrier Dunes, back at the north end of the Cape, where this 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 1,856 square foot gulf view townhouse goes under contract with a list price of $299,000. This is one of the newer units having been built in 1999, and it last sold in September 2004 for $499,000. Values have obviously shifted since then and the county currently has it peggged at $263,831.
Our second contract finds us back at Seagrass, looking at what is technically a first tier lot but there is some question whether permitting could be obtained for the platted gulf front lots seaward of it. It’s another bank-owned property which last sold in early 2005 for $875,000 and today the bank is trying to move it off their books with a low list price of just $214,000, still a good bit above the county’s assessment of $150,000.
Seems buyers were house shopping this week as our next contract is on yet another home, this one a quaint gulf view 2-bedroom 2-bath, 1,840 square foot bank-owned property on Cancun Drive, about half a mile south of Scallop Cove. The bank was in the process of listing this at $235,000 when they accepted an offer already in negotiations. Last sold in May of 2002 for $240,500, it is currently assessed by the county at $201,015.
Here’s yet another bay-front home, one we’ve seen a number of times in this blog as both a Price Change Pick of the Week and as a new contract, though never as a Sold. Maybe this time will be the charmer, as it’s a lovely circa 2004 bank-owned 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,095 square foot home with dock and in-ground pool on the bay on the the south side of the Cape listed as a short sale for just $425,000, having last sold in late 2005 for $980,000.
Our fifth and final new contract is on a gulf front lot on Louisiana just a few lots away from the 6-bedroom house we looked at earlier that sold this week. This lot’s a short sale listed for $229,000 pretty much on target with the county’s assessment of $235,000. Interesting sales history in that it sold in April of 2007 for $400,000 and then again just four months later in August 2007 for $650,000. The bank has had it on the market since last November when they listed it for $299,000, and at even less than half the price it sold for just three years ago it still couldn’t attract a buyer, and so they had to lower it even further.
Well, I don’t know about you but I think eleven properties is enough for one week so I’m going to hold off til next week for Picks. There are only four new listings this week so they’re easy enough to scan through, and there are actually several interesting price changes and picking just one would be hard so take a look at what there is to choose from. I appreciate your hanging in there today for our marathon review. If you’d like info on either buying or selling, please give me a call on my cell at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected] . I’m loving hearing from so many of my readers and helping a lot of them realize their real estate goals. Have a great weekend, and thanks so much for stopping by today.