November is here, already. Hopefully everyone had a festive Halloween and is now in the mood to get out and vote if you haven’t already. It was another relatively slow week in our comparative market with only 1 new contract to report along with a few more recorded sales from Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor over the past 7 days. It’s a typical seasonal trend to see real estate sales slow down a bit in the fall, and according to BTIG (a global financial services fund specializing in investment banking, trading, research, and related brokerage services), there is usually a larger drop in home sales in the month leading up to Election Day. The good news is that these sales are postponed, not lost, and history shows that home sales increase 82% of the time in the year following a presidential election (sources HUD & National Association of Realtors). Details on the 4 recorded sales are below, followed by some more weekly updates:
- TBD CR 30-A – The first vacant land sale was a 2 parcel deal which the county purchased to help facilitate an upcoming road and bridge improvement project on Indian Pass Road. The parcels total 15.78 acres of mostly marsh and wetlands, bordering both sides of Indian Pass Road from the CR 30-A intersection to the bridge over the canal on Indian Pass Road. The sellers had the property on the market for 22 days asking $349,000 before selling to the Gulf County Board of County Commissioners for $150,000 cash, which is a gain for the sellers who paid $58,000 in 2018.
- 185 Bent Tree Road – This vacant first tier (one behind Gulf front) lot is located on the north Cape in the Bluffs at Secluded Dunes, just outside of the Secluded Dunes gated community next to the state park. The lot measures 105′ wide and 0.85 acres (including some wetlands) with nice Gulf views and a deeded beach access, and the sale included approved house plans and permit from FL DEP. After 17 days on the market asking $399,000, this property sold for $390,000 with conventional financing, which is up from the $299,000 the sellers paid in summer of 2023.
- 188 Las Palamas Drive – Here’s a relatively new construction home built in 2023 on the south Cape in the Villa Del Sol subdivision and HOA. The fully furnished, turnkey vacation rental has 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 3,195 sq ft of living space, and gross rental income projections of $225K for this year. The 74′ wide, 1 acre beachfront property offers great Gulf views and an elevated private pool on the first level deck, and the HOA also has a community pool and pickelball courts. This listing hit the market at the beginning of October asking $2,699,000 and only lasted 3 days before going under contract and selling for $2,600,000 cash. This seller purchased all 10 of the then vacant Gulf front lots in Villa Del Sol in 2021 for $5,250,000, and proceeded to build spec homes.
- 176 Flamingo Drive – This first tier home is located on the north Cape and features partially unobstructed Gulf views due to the setback location of neighboring Gulf front homes. The home sits on a 105′ wide, 0.35 acre lot and was built in 1984 with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 1,272 sq ft of fully furnished living space with recent improvements. The turnkey vacation rental home also offers a private beach access boardwalk and grossed $100K in rental income last year. It lasted 76 days on the market originally priced at $1,499,900 and reduced down to $1,195,000 before going under contract. The property just sold for $1,075,000 cash, which is up from the $800,000 the sellers paid in 2021.
The one and only new contract from our comparative market this past week was on a vacant bayfront lot in the Ovation HOA on the north Cape. Another recent new contract from a couple of weeks ago was cancelled this week, putting this south Cape condo back on the active market. 10 price reductions were also updated in our relevant market MLS, and a couple of active listings were withdrawn while 14 more expired at the end of October, temporarily trimming our inventory levels a bit more this week.
2 residential listings and 2 vacant lot offerings were added to the relevant inventory counts since our last update. After all the expired listings and limited new activity, our residential inventory is down 7 to 117 homes for sale, while our vacant land inventory is down 4 to 107 lots available on all of Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and the CR/SR 30-A corridor. That’s all for this week, let me know anytime I can help (850-899-8765 or [email protected]), and be sure to enjoy the 61st annual Florida Seafood Festival in Apalachicola this weekend.
