There have been fireworks galore all along the beaches this week as folks celebrated Independence Day, and there was no shortage of fireworks in our real estate market, either, with buyers snapping up lots of sizzling hot deals. We closed seven sales, penned a whopping ten new contracts, stocked the inventory with eight new listings (one of which has already gone under contract), and changed price tags on four others, including one price increase. Even with all that activity, our inventory sure didn’t budge much, closing down only two, at 268, with 80 homes and 188 lots listed for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market. Lots to review today, so let’s wade right in.
Although Barrier Dunes is best known for its popular town home community, less well known is that there is an area set aside for single family homes lining either side of Lakeshore Drive just south of the main entrance to the community. This week the first two of our seven sales are located there, beginning with this 4-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 1,984 square foot single family home built in 2006. The current owners bought it in December 2010 for $350,000. The seller they bought it from got it earlier that summer from a bank for $116,000. It’s being sold unfurnished with some appliances. They put it under contract at the end of May with a list price of $484,900 and sold it on Monday for $450,000 cash, a trend lately, with six of this week’s seven sales all being cash deals.
Also on Lakeshore Drive, this bank-owned, 40′ by 40′ lot listed and sold for $42,000.
Half a mile or so down the road in Ovation our third sale is a second tier lot overlooking the bay that went under contract just last week with a list price of $78,000. It’s a corner lot, slightly larger than most other interior lots, and is located completely in the “X” zone. The sellers bought it in September of 2011 for $50,000, and sold it on Thursday for $65,000
In Seagrass, our next sale is a gulf view first tier home that for all intent and purposes except for strictly legal reasons could be considered a gulf front property since the DEP has denied permitting for some of the existing actual gulf front lots here. This seller bought the undeveloped lot in September 2005 for $885,000 and then built this home. Between then and now, the market tanked, and in early April he put the house under contract with a list price of $849,000. The happy new owners picked up the keys at closing on Tuesday for $815,000.
We’re on Tobago Lane next door to The Tradin’ Post for our next sale, a third of an acre “X” zone lot measuring 102′ by 130′ listed for $89,000. I couldn’t find any meaningful sales data on record; it sold for $70,000.
Our seventh and final sale is a 4-bedroom, 3-bath, 1,817 square foot gulf front home on Cozumel Drive built in 1998 that last sold in 2004 for $818,800. The sellers have had it on and off the market a number of times since then, but didn’t currently have it actively listed. In early May a Realtor scouring properties looking for the perfect house for her buyers remembered that these owners were interested in selling, contacted them and negotiated a contract. The agent entered it into the MLS in Pending status with a list price of $560,000, and the parties closed on Monday for $530,000.
Our seventh and final sale is a 66′ wide bay front lot that went under contract the first week of April as a short sale with a list price of $64,900. It’s located between Villa del Sol and Cape Dunes, and has quite a sales history. In mid-2001 it sold for $81,500, and a little over a year later in September 2002 it went for $149.000. Two years later in July 2004 it sold again for more than twice that, $395,000. Today the county has it assessed at $113,569. This week it sold for full list price of $64,900.
We’re back at Barrier Dunes for the first of our ten new contracts, with a 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 1,377 square foot townhouse circa 1985 listed for $209,000. The sellers have owned it since 1999 when they bought it for $79,900.
Here’s an exceedingly rare gem – a 5+ acre tract of land on the Cape with 433′ of frontage on the bay. BONUS – it’s also adjacent to St. Joe Peninsula State Park, has a sandy white beach, and decent water depth. My friends who own it decided to put it back on the market this week, and a couple I’ve been working with have been eying it as the perfect idyllic setting for their home. Thursday afternoon we were able to come to an agreement and have it under contract with a list price of $415,000.
On the corner of Cape San Blas Road across the street from the gulf side pool at Ovation, our third contract is on new construction of a 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 1,920 square foot home for which the builder, Big Fish Construction, is asking $389,000. They bought the lot last September for $72,500.
We’re back at Ovation for our fourth contract, this one on a bay front lot listed for $79,500 that the sellers snapped up during the developer’s clearing house sale in May 2012 for $67,000.
These next two contracts are in Rosemary Dunes, a relatively new micro-subdivision just south of Rish Park. It’s a quarter-acre first tier “X” zone lot listed for $149,000.
The other property is a second tier gulf view “X” zone lot listed for $129,000.
On Sea Dunes Drive, a road near The Tradin’ Post, this next contract is on a 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,248-square foot gulf-view cottage, “X” zone, listed for $260,000. The sellers bought the vacant lot in 1995 for $13,500. If it looks familiar, it may be because it went under contract in April but that one didn’t work out and it came back on the market in mid-May.
Seahorse Lane is two streets north of The Tradin’ Post in a laid-back classic old-school Florida beach neighborhood. No HOA or hassles, just a dusty dolomite lane leading down to the beach. Buyers were charmed by that notion on Tuesday, and penned a contract on this 102′ by 154′, third of an acre first tier lot listed for $156,000. The sellers have owned the property since early 1995 when they purchased it for $30,900.
We’ll travel to the south side of the Cape for contract number nine, turning onto McCosh Mill Road in Piney Woods to find a 57′ by 82′, 0.11-acre “X” zone lot under contract with a list price of $59,000. It’s located directly across from the neighborhood pool, so the scene in the photo above is not the view from the lot itself, but rather of the beach from up on the circle at the south end of McCosh Mill Rd. The sellers appear to be taking a bit of a hit on this one, having purchased it in 2009 for $88,000.
Every bit of the action so far has been on the Cape and we’re all the way to our tenth and final new contract before leaving there for the first time today. Heading east along C-30 over to Gulf Pines, where we have a 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, 2,000 square foot home circa 1984 under contract with a list price of $389,000. This neat and trim first tier home with awesome gulf views, is situated on a spacious corner lot. The sellers bought it in December 2012 for $260,000 and have remodeled it nicely.
That’ll do it for this week. We’ve covered a wide variety of properties today and, as you can see, there are still a lot of good values to be had. If you’re interested in seeing what you might be able to pick up for yourself, please call or text me at 850-227-5197 or send an email to [email protected]. Have a terrific week, and thanks so much for taking time out to stop by today.