So glad to be back! Had a great Realtor conference in Orlando gathering lots of valuable information on the current state of the Florida real estate market along with updates on Federal issues such as the flood insurance changes I shared with you last week. I skipped the Mickey Mouse souvenirs and returned home instead with the flu, arriving back to the coldest weather in the 20 years I’ve been here, with snowy white ice crystals dusting everything in sight. Luckily, our taste of winter only lasted a few days and we’re already back to warm Florida weather in the 70’s. Yes!!!! Much more like it. Our market never skipped a beat, though, and since we last met, we’ve closed five sales, written nine new contracts, added eleven new listings, and posted seven price changes. Even with all that, our inventory remains virtually unchanged, up by only one at 269, with 78 homes and 191 lots listed for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor MLS. Let’s take a look at what our unflappable market has been up to.
Our review of this week’s five sales takes us first to the north end of the Cape, to Park Pointe where this quarter-acre interior lot went under contract at the beginning of December as a short sale with a list price of $32,000. Interesting sales history on this one. In February 2004 it sold for $170,000 and then again just five months later in July 2004 to the current owners for $242,500. This week the bank agreed to $26,000 and went to closing.
Our second sale took place practically next door Seacliffs, where this 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, 1,647 square foot circa 1986 condo has been under contract since last April as a short sale with a list price of $299,000. In late 2002 it sold for $412,000, and the current sellers picked it up two years later in December 2004 for $565,000. The buyers picked up the keys on Friday for $275,000.
Our third sale was this 1040 square foot, 2-bedroom, 2-bath bay view home that went under contract within a week of it being listed on December 6 for $250,000, not far off from the $260,000 the sellers paid for it in 2008. Built in 2002, the home is situated on a half-acre lot (104′ x 205) only a few hundred feet south of the state park behind Coneheads Restaurant. On Friday they closed for $238,000.
Next up is this handsome little 1,225 square foot, 2-bedroom, 2-bath beach cottage on Sandlewood Blvd. in Peninsula Estates that went under contract in mid-December for an even $200,000, not too far above the $184,000 the seller paid for it in the summer of 2009. This is one of the early subdivisions on the Cape, and each of the properties includes deeded gulf and bay access. Last Thursday it sold for $192,000.
We’re leaving the Cape and heading over to Waters Edge on C-30 for our fifth and final sale, a lot near the back of the subdivision listed as a short sale for $23,900. The owners bought the property in June of 2004 for $149,000 and first put it back on the market at the beginning of 2006 asking $195,000. The county has it assessed at $20,000, which is exactly what it sold for last Wednesday.
Now on to our review of our nine new contracts starting off on the Cape up in Barrier Dunes with this 1,670 two-bedroom townhouse with a loft on Sabal Drive listed for $279,000. You can glimpse the gulf from its decks. The sellers bought it in August 2007 for $332,500, and today the county has it valued at $149,380.
About two miles down the beach is the Cape’s newest subdivision, Rosemary Dunes, located just off Hartley Lane, not far from the south end of Hibiscus Beach. Here, that last of three gulf front lots in this community went under contract with a list price of $298,000. Someone was smitten by this 55′ by 27′ , 0.6-acre X-zone beauty and wrote up an offer last Friday.
Paradise Bay is one of the original subdivisions on the Cape located in the same vicinity of as Rosemary Dunes, but on the bay side of the road. At the entrance on the corner of Cape San Blas Road and Eastwind Drive, a lot listed at the beginning of January went under contract with a list price of $44,900. The sellers have owned it since 1994.
Our next two contracts are down on the south end of Cape, beginning with this 50′ wide gulf front lot just south of the blue townhouses of Sunrise Sunset. The owners bought it in 1999 for $26,650, and now have it listed for $149,000.
A few blocks further south by the rocks at Stumphole our next contract is on another 50′ wide gulf front lot, this one with pilings and concrete driveway and pad in place. It’s listed “As Is” for $99,000.
Next stop is down on the south side of the Cape for our next contract, on two bank-owned adjoining lots on McCosh Mill Road in Piney Woods subdivision. They’re irregularly shaped 0.20 acre X-zone lots three lots off Cape San Blas Road listed for $45,900, County records don’t record what the previous owner paid for them in 2005.
Our next two contracts are located in Cape Dunes on the south side of the Cape. We’ll start with this 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, 1,780 square foot gulf view home listed for $249,000. This little gulf front neighborhood was built in the early 1980’s and some of the building permits were pulled early enough for the structures to be grandfathered for FEMA flood insurance coverage. The sellers have owned this home since early 1994 when they bought it for $68,900, and they have it under contract with a list price of $249,000.
The next Cape Dunes home is this 3-bedroom, 4-bath, 2,324 gulf front home listed as a short sale for $395,000. The sellers bought it in mid-2004 for $650,000 and have done a very nice job restoring it. The gulf views from this home are simply amazing.
We’ll travel east on C-30 over to Sweetwater Shores in the Money Bayou area for our next contract, a 68′ by 195′, third-acre second tier lot listed for $39,000, less than 10-cents-on-the-dollar of its December 2004 sale price of $225,000. As was not uncommon in that time period, it sold the year prior in early 2003 for $100,000. The current sellers picked it up just last March for $21,000.
That does it for today. Property’s continuing to move at a brisk clip so if you’re thinking of selling give me a call – I’d love to be your listing agent and put you together with my readers who are calling me looking for coastal properties. Reach me on my cell at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected]. In most of the country it’s too cold to be outside this weekend anyway, so let’s get together and talk real estate. Stay warm – and thanks so much for stopping by.