I hope you had a wonderful holiday season as we did here, mostly sunny and mild with clear blue skies. I must admit I’m glad to be back into the normal routine, though. We started off the new year at a good pace, managing two closings, four new contracts, six new listings and three price changes. Real nice dip in our inventory for a change, closing down by a dozen at 375, with 92 homes and 283 lots for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market. Let’s take a look at what caught buyers’ attention.
We’ll head to the north end of the Cape to begin reviewing our two sales, beginning as we frequently do in Barrier Dunes with a 3-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 1,845 square foot interior townhouse. The sellers bought it in May 2004 for $460,000 and started trying to sell it three years later when they listed it for $617,500. By the time it went under contract in mid-November that list price had been whittled all the way down to $369,000, and on Friday the new owners picked up the keys at closing with a check for $305,000. The county has it assessed at $254,723, which is pretty close to what it sold previously for in March 2000, $264,500.
Our second sale is over at Indian Summer on Indian Pass, and it’s a 66′ wide gulf front lot, one of only two such lots in this subdivision eligible for FEMA flood insurance as the CBRA line runs right through the project. This is such a beautiful, peaceful setting. The sellers bought it in January of 2001 for $270,000 and sold it this week as a short sale for their full list price of $190,000. Sobering to note that price is closer to the $156,000 previous owners paid for the lot back in early 1999, and also below the county’s assessment of $205,000.
The first of our four new contracts is a bank-owned gulf front bona fide fixer upper located on the Cape in the vicinity of Scallop Cove. One family had owned this 4-bedroom, 4- bath, 2,400 square foot beach house for about twenty years but sadly lost it to the bank this past fall. She has definitely seen better days; the decks and rails are rotting, the roof needs a lot of work, etc. and the bank has it priced at an “As Is” price of just $289,298, which means they’re putting most of the value in the 50′ waterfront lot. The county’s more generous than that, having it valued at $349,298.
Two of our contracts are located in Boardwalk on the south side of the Cape, the first being this 4-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 2054 gulf view home listed for $329,900. The sellers have owned the property since 1994 when they bought the lot for $27,700, and they built the home in 1995. The county has it assessed for $251,240. There are no contingencies to be met so it should close fairly quickly.
The second Boardwalk contract is on a gulf view 77′ by 103′ gulf view lot listed for $69,900. The sellers purchased it in early 2003 for $125,000, more than twice the $66,500 it sold for just two years prior, and have had it on the market since March 2005 when they listed it for $449,000. Today the county has it assessed well above list at $85,000.
And finally our fourth contract is out along C-30 on Money Bayou where this 2-bedroom, 2-1/2-bath, 1,140 square foot gulf front townhouse at Cape Villas went under contract as a short sale with a list price of $189,000. In mid-1998 it sold for $120,000, and those owners basically doubled their money in just four years, selling it in early 2002 for $230,014 to the current owners. They’ve had it on the market since the summer of ’05 when they initially listed it for $475,000. The county has it valued at $153,609 which is probably pretty close to what I imagine it will likely go for.
That does it for our first review of 2012. Looking forward to a great year, and hope you’ll visit here to keep up with the market as the weeks roll along. If you’re interested in either buying or selling, I’d love to hear from you. Call or text me at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected] . Have a terrific week, and thanks so much for stopping by today.