I picked a heck of a week to schedule my vacation here on the Cape, what with Debby blowing into town before I could even get my beach gear dusted off and ready to go. Oh, well. She may have rained on my plans, but she didn’t cast a cloud over our real estate market as in the past two weeks we closed eight sales, penned six new contracts, entered nine new listings and marked down prices on eleven others. Our inventory inched up by three, closing out at 347, with 103 homes and 244 lots listed for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market. Let’s see what buyers have been up to since last we met.
The first of our eight sales is up at the north end of the Cape in Sunset Pointe. The sellers bought this 80′ by 110′ quarter-acre lot with an “X” zone LOMA in late 2009 with plans to build there. They just couldn’t resist the recent super savings at Ovation, though, and they snapped up two adjacent lots on the bay. Now they’re planning to build there so they put this one up for sale with a $44,900 asking price. I had a buyer who had asked me just days before to let him know if any “X” zone lots became available in Sunset Pointe so the day this showed up in the MLS I called him, he submitted an offer, seller accepted, and on Tuesday we closed for $33,000 cash.
Practically next door to Sunset Pointe in Barrier Dunes our second sale is a 2-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, townhouse that went under contract in mid-May with a list price of $165,000. That’s less than half of what it went for in mid-2006 when it sold for $379,000. Even so, it wasn’t listed listed as a short sale, and on Friday it closed for $140,000, well below its assessed value of $178,627.
Ovation’s developer is continuing to move lots off their rolls, and this week they closed on two more, each for full list price, beginning with this bay front lot which sold for $74,500 . . . .
. . . and this bay view lot on the crescent listed and sold for $54,000.
Lot of action along the C-30 Corridor lately beginning with this 1-acre bay front lot over by the St. Joseph Bay Buffer Preserve, (formerly the Treasure Bay Lodge for you old-timers out there). The previous owners bought it in 2000 for $160,000 and started trying to sell it in 2008 when they listed it for $279,000. They weren’t able to attract a buyer, and eventually lost it to the bank at the beginning of 2011, who listed it shortly thereafter for $139,000. They had to finally lower it to $85,000 to generate an offer, and it sold last Friday for $76,000, roughly half of its assessed value of $140,000.
Our next sale is a first tier lot with this lovely gulf view located in a little subdivision on C-30 called Curve at the Cape, which is the first project on your right after leaving the Cape and heading towards the Raw Bar. The sellers bought the lot in late 2002 for $210,000 and have been trying to sell it since mid-2010 when they listed it for $150,000. They’ve had it at $140,000 for a while, and this week they sold it for $125,000. The county has this one way low at $66,000.
Over on the Indian Pass peninsula, our next sale is is a 4-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 3,076 square foot gulf front home which went under contract on May 30 as a short sale with a list price of $599,000. It was originally listed in mid-2007 for $1.395M. I’m not finding meaningful sales history on the property in the county records. The property appraiser has it valued at $495,392, roughly $30,000 below the $525,000 it sold for on Thursday. Thirty days from contract to close is lightning fast for a short sale.
Our next sale takes us just a few blocks down Indian Pass Road to The Reservation, a land-boom development that no one has ever built in. This sale was a bank-owned road-front, gulf-view lot that sold in April 2005 for $370,000. Those owners started trying to sell it the following spring, listing it for $435,000, but no takers. It finally went to the bank who listed it last fall for $49,500. They withdrew the listing in April, and sold it one week later for $12,000. Those buyers put it back on the market in early May with a list price of $37,000, exactly 10-cents on the dollar of that 2005 sale, and they attracted a buyer with that price who took title to the lot for $33,500.
The first of our six new contracts is on a road front lot on the north end of the Cape on Sea Cliffs Drive which is the road you turn left on just past Coneheads Restaurant to head out to Barrier Dunes. It’s a bank-owned third-acre lot with 100′ on the road and 161′ deep, with deeded beach access easement. They’ve listed for $38,000, well below the county’s assessment of $60,000.
We’ll travel about 2 1/2 miles south on Cape San Blas Road to Jamaica Drive, the road beside The Tradin’ Post, to take a look at our next contract. It’s one of several tiny beach cottages built in the late eighties back behind the store. This 2-bedroom, 1-bath, 520 square foot package is listed for $159,900, way above the assessed value of $115,348. The sellers bought it in the summer of 2003 for $145,000.
Down near the rocks at Stumphole the next contract is on a 3-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath, 1,084 gulf front townhouse which went under contract with a list price of $164,500, below the county’s assessment of $188,640, and also less than the $178,000 the sellers paid for it in late 2003. The townhomes at Sunrise Sunset are really nice inside but unfortunately its their location that’s problematic in that this is an area that has experienced extreme erosion just in the 18 years I’ve lived here. Several times high surf has washed under them causing the cement parking pads to collapse, and the north set of buildings started to tilt towards the gulf several summers ago necessitating heavy equipment to be called in to jack them back up. The beach restoration is in place now and hopefully that will buy them some time.
Our fourth contract is out along the C-30 Corridor on Money Bayou. It’s 2-bedroom, 2-1/2-bath, 1,140 square foot gulf front townhouse at Cape Villas that went under contract as a short sale with a list price of $180,000. 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.
Our fifth contract is in Treasure Shores, a home on the north side of C-30. It’s a clasic Florida beach cottage with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, and 1148 square feet of charm. Back in 2000 the sellers purchased the lot for next to nothing and relocated the home onto the property and then did a thorough renovaiton. It goes under contract with a list price of $199,900, considerably above the assessed value of $138,470.
We have been moving some bank-owned properties, and our sixth and final new contract is on yet another one, this one a 1,200 square foot, 2-bedroom, 2-bath waterfront home situated on Indian Pass Lagoon just about a mile or so past the world famous Indian Pass Raw Bar. The home sold in late 2008 for $425,000, apparently as an invesment property, since according to the MLS it has never been occupied. The bank went under contract with a list price of $99,900, which sounds low, but the county has it valued even lower at $88,923.
And that does it for today. Good to see that just like the postal service neither rain nor hail nor even tropical storms is slowing the delivery of great real estate values to buyers here along the Forgotten Coast. If you’re looking for a coastal retreat to call your own, let’s get together and talk. Call or text me on my cell at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected], and I’ll be glad to help. I love hearing from my readers and helping them become neighbors. Have a great week, and thanks so much for stopping by.