What a wet and soggy week we’ve had with over eight inches of rain recorded out here on the Cape. Try as she might, though, Mother Nature simply could not dampen our market as we turned in a banner week recording eight sales, and nine new contracts, added four new listings, and changed the prices on four others. All those new contracts helped to trim our inventory, closing down seven from last week at 273, with 78 homes and 195 lots listed for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and C-30 Corridor MLS market.
We begin our review of this week’s crop of eight sales at the north end of the Cape, stopping in at this gulf front home up in Secluded Dunes; it’s a 3-bedroom, 4 1/2 bath, 1,800 square foot, nicely furnished home built in 1987. The sellers bought it in February 2011 for $500,000, and have put a lot of work into it since then. The top floor now has an open living/dining/kitchen area covered in commercial grade bamboo flooring that opens onto a large screened porch with gas grill and a separate bar and sink, perfect for entertaining. They’ve added new furnishings throughout. That hard work paid off this week when they sold it for $748,900, essentially their full list price of $749,900, since the buyers paid $3,800 for title insurance at closing, an expense typically borne by the seller.
Next door to Secluded Dunes is Sunset Pointe, and that is where our second sale was recorded, this one a quarter-acre lot that the seller purchased the tax deed for in August last year for $10,900. The previous owner paid $335,000 for it in December 2004. Sunset Pointe has a community pool and all owners enjoy deeded gulf access.
A little over a mile down the beach, our third sale was this 70′ by 250′, half-acre gulf front lot in Avalon just south of Rish Park that went under contract April 12 with a list price of $325,000. The seller bought it as a bank-owned fire sale in the summer of 2012 for $121,000, a far cry from the $1.125M it sold for in early 2005.
Down on the south side of the Cape in the area of the Old Saltworks tucked back behind the trees is this 1-bedroom, 1-bath, 447 square foot bay view cottage that went under contract in early March with an asking price of $149,900. It sits one lot back off the bay. Happy buyers picked up the keys at closing for $130,000.
A little further east along the south side of the Cape, our next stop is on Florida Avenue in Boardwalk where a quarter-acre “X” zone corner lot went under contract the first week of April with a list price of $64,000, pretty close to the county’s assessed value of $60,000. The sellers bought it in late 2007 for $230,000 and sold it on Wednesday for $52,000.
Our next sale was on a lagoon front lot that went under contract and closed within four days. It was listed for $39,900, and sold Monday for $27,500 cash. This is located on C-30 about two miles past the Indian Pass Raw Bar.
Our eighth and final sale takes us over to Indian Pass to a lovely 58′ wide gulf front beauty that was listed as a short sale for $195,000. This property has an interesting sales history, having sold twice in 2004, first in June for $589,000 and then again in October for $825,000. It went under contract in mid-December and a few days later customers I was working with called me up and said they had decided that was the one they wanted. I always hate telling someone “you just missed it”, especially when they’ve been searching for so long, so I suggested they submit a back-up offer, just in case things didn’t work out with the primary contract. They did just that, and in late February the seller’s agent notified me that we were now the primary contract. The bank approved the sale, and on Monday the buyers delivered a check for $191,000 and became the proud and happy owners of their own little piece of waterfront paradise.
Now onto our nine new contracts with the first one out of the chute being a very shallow, 62′ wide gulf front lot on White Sands Drive in San Blas Shores adjacent to the north side of Ovation. In August 2004 it sold for $650,000. Our seller today bought it in February 2011 for $115, and has it on the market for $179,000. When I moved to the Cape in 1994 it had a little slab on grade cinder block home on it, but that was destroyed the following year when Hurricane Opal blew through in October ’95.
Next door in Ovation, buyers penned an offer on a second tier gulf view lot listed as a short sale for $99,000. The owners bought it in the summer of ’05 and tried to sell it two years later when they listed it for $599,500. They had two contracts on it last year, but neither one worked out. The views from this property when a house is built on it will be amazing. The lot is entirely in an “X” zone.
We’ll head about a mile further south down the beach to Jamaica . . . Drive, that is – not the island. If you wander down the road next to the Tradin’ Post you’ll come to this cozy little 2-bedroom, single-bath, 520 square foot beach bungalow listed for $189,000. The sellers picked it up in June 2007 for $201,000.
Just past Scallop Cove we have a bank-owned, half-acre bay view lot under contract with a list price of $40,500. It last sold in the summer of 2004 for $275,000.
We’re over near the rocks at Stumphole for our next sale, a 100′ wide gulf front lot listed as a short sale for $199,000. Quite a sales history on this one. It sold back in February 2004 for $305,000, then again just five months later in July ’04 for $450,000. Those folks turned it yet again just seven months later in February 2005 for $650,000 to the current owners. They went to closing on Friday after the bank approved the sale at $188,000.
A couple hundred yards down the beach our next contract is on a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,647 square-foot townhouse at Sunrise Sunset listed for $238,900 that the sellers bought in 2001 for $170,000. These are very nice townhouses but they have been fighting back the gulf for years and have had surf up under them a number of times, finally necessitating the construction of the seawall you see in the photo.
We have one new contract back down on the south side of the Cape, a 60′-wide gulf front lot in Pine Bluff subdivision. The sellers bought it in July 2002 for $350,000 and listed it just last week for $269,900 and had it under contract two days later.
Our next contract is on a spec home in Shallow Reed subdivision, a neighborhood over on C-30 in the Simmons Bayou area. The developer put the finishing touches on this handsome 4-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 2,030 bay front home a few months ago, and has it listed for $374,500. It is situated on a quarter-acre lot in an area eligible for FEMA coverage.
From Shallow Reed, we’ll head back in the direction of the Cape but continue on C-30 a few hundred yards past the turn off on to Cape San Blas Road until we reach the little gated community of Curve at the Cape. Here we have a first tier, quarter-acre lot measuring 65′ by 162′ in a FEMA eligible area listed for $135,000. The views from these lots are fantastic. The sellers bought it back in late 2002 for $125,000.
Our ninth and final new contract is in nearby Gulf Pines, where this quarter-acre first tier lot went under contract Wednesday with a list price of $95,000. The first tier lots in Gulf Pines have terrific water views and FEMA flood insurance eligibility. The sellers bought it from a bank in December 2012 for $78,500, quite a change from the $435,000 it sold for in early 2005.
That’s a wrap for this week. As you can see, sales activity is continuing along at a good brisk pace, so if you’re considering finding a good value here along the coast for yourself, I’d love to help you. Please call or text me at 850-227-5197 or send me an email to [email protected] and we’ll get started. As I’ve said before, I love turning readers into neighbors. Have a great week, and thanks so much for taking time to stop by today.