The calendar may say the season is autumn, but around here it’s contract writing season again. I’ve only been a few days late posting my Saturday a couple of times since I started in 2007, and as I explained on Thursday, my clock simply ran out of hours last week with everything that has been going on. The strong pace continued this week and we scored four sales, five new contracts, seven new listings, and five price changes. (Our MLS is quirky this morning and for some reason it won’t let me pull the links for new listings and price changes – I’ll try it again later to see if they’ve fixed it.) Our inventory continues its healthy downsizing, trimming three more from its ranks since our last look, closing the week with 317 active MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market, with 88 houses and 229 lots. We have a fair amount of properties to look at today so let’s jump right in.
The first of our four sales is one of the interior lots at Sunset Pointe on the north end of the Cape by the state park. This lot on Hemmingway Circle went under contract as a short sale with a list price of $29,000. Interesting history here too, in that it sold in March 2004 for $190,000 and then flipped 15 months later in June 2005 for $440,000. Today the county has it at $30,000, and on Thursday it sold for $29,000 cash.
Our next stop is just next door in Sea Cliffs where this bank-owned, one-of-a-kind townhouse went under contract in July with a list price of $424,500. Sea Cliffs’ developer customized this hybrid unit, basically combining two townhomes into one, resulting in a whopping 4,284 square foot, 6-bedroom, 8-bath beachside behemoth. He started trying to sell it in late 2009 asking $895,000, but wasn’t able to find any takers, and eventually lost it to the bank. The list price is close to the $438,253 value the county has it pegged at, but well above the $355,000 it sold for on Friday.
We’ll head about a mile south down Cape San Blas Road for our next two sales, both located in Peninsula Estates. The first is an interior lot that went under contract as a short sale in early September with a list price of $46,000. The sellers paid $85,000 for it in late 2003, more than double its current assessed value of $35,000, and it sold on Tuesday for $20,500.
The second Peninsula Estates sale fronts Cape San Blas Road on the gulf side. It’s an 81′ by 171′ third-acre lot listed as a short sale for $52,000, having last sold in early 2002 for $87,5000. The county currently has it valued at $60,000, and on Tuesday it went for $45,000.
We’ll begin our review of our five new contracts where we so frequently do, up by the state park in Barrier Dunes where this 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,216 square foot townhome went under contract Thursday with a list price of $199,000. The owners bought it in mid-2003 for $242,500 and put it on the market three years later in early 2006 asking $395,000 but weren’t able to attract a buyer at that price.
Our next new contract is on a beautiful 1.28 acre gulf front lot about a half-mile south of the state park entrance. It measures 74′ wide and 756′ deep pending completion of a minor replat to remove it from the parent property. The seller has it listed for $339,000.
About a mile further south down Cape San Blas Road our second contract is on this lovely 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 2,260 square foot gulf front home on Acklins Drive. The sellers bought the lot in 2004 for $700,000 then built the home in 2009, which makes the current list price of $599,000 for the home today really attractive. In 2005, the undeveloped lot alone was listed for $975,000.
Less than a mile down the road our next contract is in the Seagrass subdivision. Someone just couldn’t resist the $69,500 price tag on this quarter-acre gulf view corner lot. The sellers purchased it in December 2003 for $215,000, and today the county has it assessed at $40,000. There are no contingencies to be met, so this one should close pretty quickly.
We’re heading down to the south side of the Cape for our next new contract, which is on a 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,176-square foot gulf front condo in the Dunes Club listed for $239,000. This is one with an interesting sales history having sold by the developer in January 2004 for $325,000, then again the following January for $515,000, and then again in late 2010 for $250,000. The county currently has it assessed at $215,989.
That does it for this week. Good to see so much activity going into the early autumn when things typically slow down a bit. Hope to see it continue. If you’d like to get in on the real estate action, let’s talk. Call or text me at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected] and we’ll get started. Thanks for taking time to stop by today and I hope to hear from you soon.