I hope everyone had a nice St. Patrick’s Day this past week – here’s to the official start of spring and end of New Year’s resolutions. More local rain has resulted in the burn ban being lifted for Gulf County, as the nearby wildfires are now mostly contained and our formerly dry conditions have been relieved. No drought in recent estate activity lately, let’s take a closer look at the eight recorded sales from our Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and CR/SR 30-A corridor market from the past 7 days:
- 112 Rosemary Court – Starting on the south Cape, this 16 year old home is located in the Jubilation gated community/HOA with a community pool, clubhouse and boardwalk to the beach. With 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms and 2574 square feet living space, this fully furnished Gulf view home generated $65,000 in rental income last year. The property hit the market in mid-January with an asking price of $929,000 and lasted 13 days before going under contract and selling for $951,000 with conventional financing (higher sales price resulting from competing offers). A nice gain for the sellers who purchased this home in 2019 for $590,000.
- 413 Rhonda Del Sol Circle – The Villa Del Sol community/HOA is also located on the south Cape, and this is one of several new-construction houses built by Truland Homes in this recently revitalized neighborhood. This 5 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom home has 2383 square feet living space with some bay views, and the neighborhood will feature a community pool and clubhouse, along with Gulf and bay access once improvements are complete. This spec-home came on the market in early October 2021 asking $744,900 and went under contract after 2 days, and just sold this month for the full asking price with assumed financing. This is one of many formerly vacant lots in Villa Del Sol which Truland Homes purchased in bulk from the new developer in spring of 2021.
- 166 Cape Dunes Drive – One more on the south Cape, this home is located in the Cape Dunes neighborhood with Gulf views in the X flood zone, has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and 1840 square feet living space. The fully furnished home was built in 1984 with some nice recent upgrades, and hit the market in late February asking $619,000, lasted only 2 days on the market, and ended up selling for $629,000 cash with competing offers. The sellers purchased this property less than one year ago for $485,000.
- 372 Indian Pass Road – Let’s go east to Indian Pass, where this 45′ wide vacant first tier (one behind Gulf front) lot just sold for $250,000 cash. The property included some non-buildable lagoon frontage across Indian Pass Rd, along with a 5′ wide beach access strip from the first tier lot. The selling family originally purchased this property back in 2005 for $425,000, and after 131 days on the market with an asking price of $250,000 they were able to sell the property for full price.
- TBD CR 30-A – Heading to the north side of Indian Lagoon on the CR 30-A corridor, this 75′ wide lagoon-front vacant lot has been surveyed, cleared and leveled and was on the market for 120 days asking $92,500. The property just sold for $85,000 cash, which is quite a jump from the $34,000 the sellers paid for the property in 2020.
- Lot 10 Seascape Drive – Here’s a beachfront lot in the Two Palms subdivision on the south Cape which measures ~53′ in width and had an asking price of $594,900. This is one of the last vacant lots in the established Two Palms community, and it was on the market for only 11 days before going under contract in early February and selling for $575,000 cash this week. The sellers purchased this property just over 4 years ago for $293,500.
- Lot 24 Ovation Drive – On to the north Cape to the Ovation gated community/HOA with high-end amenities including pools, tennis court, beach/bay clubhouses, dock, and deeded beach and bay accesses. Lot 24 is a Gulf view, X zone lot which was asking $229,900 when it hit the market in late January. It only lasted 6 days before going under contract, and recently sold for $229,900 cash. The sellers purchased this property for $500,000 back in 2005.
- 3861 Cape San Blas Road – One final sale on the north Cape this week, this Gulf front condo in the Sunrise Sunset building just past the rock wall came on the market in late December asking $675,000. After a $10,000 price reduction and 35 days on the market, the 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, 1692 square foot, fully furnished, end-unit condo sold for $645,000 with conventional financing. This 22 year-old condo was last purchased by the sellers just over one year ago for $575,000.
Following the eight recorded sales from our MLS, there are eight new contracts to report on properties in the last 7 days. Four of these new contracts are for residential properties, and four are for vacant lots. There were also two cancelled contracts this past week, but one of these properties is already under contract again and included with the new residential contracts. Four price changes were updated in our MLS this week, with two reductions and two increases. We also welcomed back five vacant lot listings on Indian Pass which were previously taken off the market a few weeks ago; three of these came back on the market with lower asking prices.
This brings us to our inventory update for the week, as there were four new residential listings and three new vacant land listings added to our MLS in the past seven days (one of the new residential listings is already under contract). Our current active residential inventory count now sits at 19 improved properties on the market, while our vacant land inventory count is now 76 lots on the market.
That sums up our weekly activity update on Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and the CR/SR 30-A corridor. This week also marks the official confirmation from the Federal Reserve that it would make its first of several expected interest rate hikes, effective Thursday, March 17th. This quarter percentage point raise is the first rate increase since 2018, and while most experts don’t expect mortgage rates to spike as a result of this announcement, we should continue to see a gradual increase in mortgage rates in the coming months. It’s important to remember that while mortgage rates have already and will continue to go up this year, they are still very friendly on a relative and historic scale. Here’s an informative article shared by Deborah McClellan, VP of Hancock Whitney Bank in Tallahassee, about understanding what drives the rate increases. Meanwhile, the Salt Air Farmer’s Market is back in Port St. Joe this weekend, as our beaches and restaurants are experiencing quite an increase of visitors with spring break season in full effect. Thanks for reading the weekly Cape San Blas Real Estate Blog, let me know anytime I can assist with any of your real estate needs, (850) 899-8765 or [email protected]. Have a good one, and enjoy March Madness!