It’s officially summer now and we just keep on sizzling here along the Forgotten Coast with buyers continuing to snap up properties at a brisk pace. This week we did everything in sixes: we had six closings, wrote contracts on six others, added six new listings to the mix, and marked down prices on six others, We end the week with the inventory at 265, down only three from last week, with 90 homes and 175 lots in the MLS in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market. Once again we have a fair amount of territory to cover so let’s get right to it.
We’ll travel about a quarter mile down the road for our third sale, an interior “X” zone lot on the bay side of Ovation. This is a re-sale of one of the lots deep discounted by the developer last May when they sold it for $19,000, which is what the county now has it assessed for. Those buyers did a little profit taking this week, reselling it for their full list price of $31,900.
The subdivision adjacent to the south side of Ovation is Cape Breezes, one of the original subdivisions on the Cape, platted in 1982. There on the gulf side of Cape San Blas Road we find our next sale, a 0.48-acre gulf view lot measuring 124′ by 185′ and listed for $115,000, roughly double the county’s assessed value of $60,000. In 2000 it sold for $52,500, then in October 2002 it went for $169,000, and on Friday it sold for $87,500. All of the lots in Cape Breezes include deeded gulf and bay access.
Down in the vicinity of Scallop Cove, this next sale is in Clifton Place, and it only went under contract last week. It’s a 50′-wide gulf front lot with a buildable footprint in the “X zone. Another interesting sales history with this one, too. 2001 – $256,00; 2003 – $575,000; 2004 – $995,000; and on Friday, for $215,000 which, in inflation-adjusted dollars, is less than what it sold for in 2001. The sellers had it listed for $239,000, and the county has it valued at $175,000.
We’ll head back up to the north end of the Cape to begin our review of this week’s crop of six new contracts, stopping first in Park Point, where someone snapped up this quarter acre lot measuring 68′ by 169′ that came on the market just three weeks ago. It’s listed for $29,900, but isn’t a short sale, even though the seller paid $205,000 for it in mid-2004. The county has it valued at $27,500.
In nearby Seacliffs our second contract is on a gulf front condo dating back to 1986. This is a 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, 1,518 square foot layout listed for $329,900. There are condos and townhouses at Seacliffs, each with their own independent HOA’s. For the condos, which are located on the gulf in the front of the project, the monthly HOA fees are $685. The county’s assessed value on this home is $249,634.
Now we’re back down on the south side of the Cape for these next two, both of which are gulf front lots within a few hundred feet of each other, starting with this 55′ by 600′, three-quarters of an acre beauty on Sail Away Drive in Pine Bluff, a little subdivision tucked away between Two Palms and Crescent Palms. In the summer of 2001 this one sold for $345,000, then re-sold to the current sellers in October 2003 for $428,000. Today they’re asking $270,000, which is a more realistic market value than the county’s assessed value of $175,000.
In the subdivision just next door, Two Palms, someone penned a contract on this50′ wide by 564′ deep, 0.59-acre gem listed for $209,900. There is no “X” zone on this lot so it will require private flood when someone builds on it. The county also has this one pegged at $175,000, which is more in line with the $152,500 the sellers paid for it in December 1999.
We’re leaving the Cape for the first time today heading over to Indian Pass for these last two contracts. This photo clearly shows this gulf front lot’s location right at the first curve as you drive on to the peninsula. It’s on Painted Pony Road, not in a subdivision, listed as a short sale for $198,000, with the sellers having paid $750,000 for it in October 2004. The county has it valued really low at $160,000.
