Ahhh, Spring . . . the weather has warmed, the sun is shining and winter is officially over because baseball returns with the first day of spring training for the 2011 season getting underway this afternoon. Yes! All that sunshine brought buyers out in droves and our real estate market was sunny and warm, too, with three sales, five new contracts, just two new listings and five price changes. All that pared our inventory back by four, closing at 347, with 138 homes and 209 lots for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market.
For the first of our three sales we’ll head to the south side of the Cape to Jubilation where this bank-owned interior lot listed for a very attractive $50,000 sold on Monday for exactly that. Having last sold in 2004 for $425,000, the owners started trying to flip it the following Spring when they listed it for $650,000. The bank is killing comps with their $50K price tag; the county’s assessed value is $115,000. Not even close.
Our second sale is located next to Salinas Park in the Curve at the Cape mini-subdivision on C-30 just after you turn off of Cape San Blas Road heading east towards Indian Pass. It was attractively priced at $219,000, but not as a short sale which is staggering considering it last sold in early 2005 for $995,000. This is a good-size lot, too, measuring 52′ by 504′, or a little over half an acre. The county currently has it assessed at $200,000, and on Tuesday it sold for just shy of that for $195,000.
Our third and final sale takes us about a half mile east on C-30 over to Treasure Bay to this handsome 3-bedroom, 4-bath, 2,830 square foot bay front home with 100′ of waterfront overlooking the southern end of the bay. The sellers had it listed for exactly what they paid for it in 2000, $395,000, and were able to sell it on Thursday for just $340,000, which is still a good bit above the county’s assessed value of $312,339. This home has been on the market since late 2004 when they originally listed it for $889,500.
Now onto our five new contracts, beginning with this pristine gulf front lot on Avalon Drive on the Cape. It’s a 72′ wide bank-owned property listed for a mere $198,000, well below the county’s assessed value of $250,000. This one has an interesting sales history, having sold in September 2001 for $420,000, then again the following September for $525,000 (a cool 25% return on investment), and those buyers started trying to sell it yet again in early 2005 with a $1.75M price tag (3.33… times the paid price – roll those lucky threes!) but were never able to attract a buyer. This contract enters in the pending file with no contingencies to be met so I imagine it should be going to closing pretty quickly.
We travel down the beach just a few blocks for our next contract, also bank-owned, this one a 2-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 976 square foot first tier duplex in Cape Shoals which went under contract on Thursday with a list price of just $133,000. This gal needs a fair amount of TLC at this point but she has terrific potential. Her previous owners had her fixed up very nicely and hopefully her new owners will return her to her former splendor. She last sold in late 1997 for a modest $80,000, and has been on the market since early 2006 when she debuted in the MLS sporting a $565,000 price tag. Right now the county has her valued at $117,551.
Just another short way down the beach at Seagrass is where we’ll find our third new contract, it, too, bank-owned, this one a 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 2,648 square foot gulf view home built in 2005 and listed for $425,000. That’s not too far off the current assessed value of $399,599, but well less than half of the $895,000 it last sold for in April 2005. Those owners have been trying to sell it since January 2009 when they listed it for $595,000.
Lots of action on the north side of the Cape this week as our next new contract is only a few blocks from Seagrass down in Beach to Bay subdivision, where yet another bank-owned property went under contract. This one’s a gulf view, quarter-acre lot measuring 100′ by 120′ which last sold in early 2005 for $442,000. Those owners tried to sell it later that fall for $589,000 but never found any takers. The bank finally ended up with it and listed it for $110,000 which was enough to attract a buyer. The county has this one pegged at $85,000.
Our fifth and final new contract takes us off the Cape over to Money Bayou where this 50′ wide gulf front lot on Sweetwater Drive went under contract as a short sale with a list price of $250,00. That’s not too far off of the county’s current assessment of $200,000, which is what the last two similar lots along this stretch have sold for in the last three months. The sellers paid $795,000 for it in January ’05, and started trying to sell it two months later when they listed it for $1.13M.
With some of the bargain-priced deals we’ve just looked at I’m not seeing anything competitive among our two new listings or five price changes worthy of Pick of the Week status so we won’t issue that tiara this week. There is no dobut that sales activity has definitely picked up in the past few months and that’s significant being that this has historically always been our slowest period of the year for sales. If you’ve been standing on the sidelines thinking about getting in the game, it may be time to gear up. I was talking with a colleague in Panama City this afternoon and she said sales are rebounding there with their inventory being slim and prices starting to rise again. We’re not far from there overall – with land I think we are there; with houses we still have a bit of a way to go. I’m here to help if you’re thinking of either buying or selling. Just give me a call on my cell at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected] and I’ll be glad to help. I’m enjoying working with and getting to know so many of my readers, and I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great weekend and thanks so much for taking time to stop by today.