The week before the season’s busiest travel week turned out to be a slow real estate week locally as we turned in only one sale, two new contracts, seven new listings and eleven price changes. With more new listings than sales or contracts, our inventory inched up by six to 357, with 138 homes and 219 lots listed in the MLS in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 markets. Let’s see what’s selling.
Our one and only sale is this gulf front, bank-owned, 3-bedroom, 4 bath, 1,702 square foot home at Brighton by the Sea out on C-30 just east of Cape San Blas Road. Last sold in 2004 for $689,000, it went to closing this week with a list price of $325,900 with the buyers picking up the keys for just $305,112, well above the county’s assessed value of $219,987. That’s pretty impressive to pick up a decent gulf front detached single family home for less than the price of a 25-year old gulf view townhouse at Barrier Dunes.
Looks as if folks are shopping waterfront, as the first of our two new contracts is also a gulf front home, this one on Rachel Beach Lane on the Cape. It’s a 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 1,395 square foot home built in 2000. The sales history on this property is illustrative of the local housing boom. In October 2003 it sold for $660,000; exactly one year later in October 2004 it resold for $1.1M. Those buyers put it back on the market just eighteen months later for $1.549M but by then the market had ground to a halt and they have been trying to sell it ever since. It goes under contract this week as a short sale with a list price of $499,000.
Our second contract is up by the state park at Sunset Pointe where this first tier quarter-acre lot goes under contract also as a short sale with a list price of $129,900, having sold in early 2005 for $700,000. The list price is below the county’s assessment of $140,000. This is where the assessments seem to be all over the place because I don’t see how you value a first tier lot at $140K and a gulf front home for $219K.
There are several attractive new listings this week among our seven new offerings, one of which the couple I was working with today have already submitted an offer on, so the one I’m going with is a beautiful large gulf front lot in Piney Woods subdivision on the southside of the Cape. Measuring rougly 45′ by 770′, or just shy of an acre, its $275,000 price tag catches my eye. It’s not listed as a short sale even though the sellers paid $850,000 for it in August 2004. The list is not too far from the county’s assessed value of $200,000. Piney Woods is a well maintained subdivision with large rolling dunes, preserved natural indignnous vegetation, a wide, stable beach, and a community pool and pool house. The lot itself is “X” zone so no flood insurance worries when you build.
I’m having a hard time choosing just one winner from among our eleven price changes so I invite you take a look for yourself. There are some tempting tidbits among the offerings.
I apologize for this being posted so late today as I really do try to have it ready to roll out before noon each Saturday. Luckily business has been really good lately and I was showing property all day today and writing up an offer so it’s all good. I’ll be glad to help you find some property on the coast to call your own if you’re thinking of buying, or if you’re considering selling, let me know and I’ll get with you to help provide you with a market analysis. Call me on my cell at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected]. Thanks so much for stopping by today and also sincere thanks to those of you who sent notes of concern today as to my being AWOL. Thanks for keeping me honest and holding me accountable. Have a terrific Thanksgiving week.