Fay has dominated the scene for more than a week now as she’s made her agonizingly slow and meandering path to the panhandle. We’re all just ready for her to be gone. As I’m writing this on Saturday morning we’ve only had about 3 inches of rain, but the heavy stuff is supposed to hit us late this afternoon or this evening. Fay didn’t slow down the real estate market all that much as we managed to come up with one sale and one new contract. We end the week with our inventory down by six to 450, with two fewer homes than last week (177 vs. 179), and four fewer lots (273 vs. 277). In other activity we have seven new listings, fourteen new price tags, almost half of which are price increases, and twelve expired unsold.
Our one sale is the lot we saw go under contract only last week, the roughly half-acre one over on Country Club Road near the golf course. It was listed for $109,000 and closed on Monday for $66,500. Don’t rush for those crying towels, though; the sellers only paid $23,500 for it in 2000 so they came real close to almost tripling their return in just 8 years. Works for me.
Our one new contract this week is not surprisingly yet another Barrier Dunes townhouse, this one a 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,197 square foot model built in 1995. This photo shows the view from the main deck. Regular readers may well recall this lovely home was my pick of the week back on July 19 when the price was slashed to well below market value to $275,000. There are contingencies to be met so no word in the MLS as to when this will close and we get to see just how sweet a deal some savvy buyer snapped up.
Out of this week’s seven new listings I have to say my fave is this bay front lot about 1 1/4 miles north of Scallop Cove BP which enters the competition at $495,000. According to the MLS notes
100′ X 742′ Bay Front lot located 6.2 miles after turning on Cape San Blas Road, Dock that extends into St Joe Bay is shared with property owners to the North. The access road is shared with property owners to the South
I like its location, just north of Pig Island, which you can clearly see in this aerial photo showing the lot’s location and the channel leading out past the sandbars:
Among our fourteen price changes this week is something we haven’t seen before up until now, and that is the fact that six, or nearly half, of these price changes were price increases, and they’re all on lots at Ovation. The listing agent roughly doubled each of their list prices. I’m curious as to what prompted this so I left a message for her on her voice mail but haven’t heard back from her yet. I’ll let you know what I find out.
My pick of the week from the properties with new price tags this week goes to this cute little Cape San Blas beach cottage over on Cancun now listed for only $459,900.
This home has charm to spare, good location and a really nice view of the gulf. Check it out.
OK – I know you’re looking at those power lines – but, hey, this is the beach we’re talking about and after a few rounds of blender sports all you’ll see is that beautiful emerald green water. This place has a lot going for it; here’s what the MLS notes have to say:
Open Floor Plan, Unique beach cottage, X Flood Zone. Living room, Separate Family Room, Office Area. Large screened back porch with hot tub. Great Views of the Water. New Roof in October, 2006. Recent Exterior Paint. Selling Below Appraised Value. Workshop and Cedar lined closet downstairs. Short walk to our beautiful beach. Good rental income.
That about wraps it up for this week. If you’d like info on these or any other properties or if you’re thinking about selling, give me a call on my cell at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected] . I’m out of here for now. Going to head back over to the beach and take a look at what the surf’s up to. I’ll have some photos posted for you later today.