While large portions of the rest of the country are dealing with drought, we had another rainy week here along the coast, but not so much so as to dampen our real estate market as we continue to see strong interest and activity. We managed to close another four sales, write three new contracts, list five new properties, and four new price tags. Unfortunately, the inventory inched upward again, adding five to close at 345, with 99 homes and 246 lots listed for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market. Let’s take a look at what’s catching buyers’ interests.
We’ll begin our review of our four sales in Cape Shoals, a community of townhouses and single family homes adjacent to Cape Palms Park on the Cape. Buyers closed on this 2-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, 976 square foot gulf front townhouse listed for $274,900. These are nice townhomes built in 1986 which have been doing battle with the shoreline for about twenty years now. The beach restoration program has quieted life down for the owners for awhile, and hopefully will continue to give them some protection from the surf. The sellers picked it up in late 2005 for $280,000, and started trying to sell it two years later, listing it in December 2007 for $325,000, essentially double the county’s current assessed value of $161,785. On Wednesday the new owners picked up the keys for $262,500.
Our next sale takes us a mile or so south to this 4-bedroom, 5-bath, 2,340 square foot gulf front home not far from Scallop Cove. The sellers have only owned it since November 2010 when they purchased it for $650,000. They put in on the market in late May asking $699,000, and sold it this week for $645,000 significantly above the county’s assessed value of $509,295.
Down near the rocks at Stumphole the next sale was a 3-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath, 1,084 gulf front townhouse which went under contract just on the 3rd of July with a list price of $174,900, again well above the county’s assessed value of $138,640. The sellers paid $280,000 for it in October 2004, and sold it on Wednesday for $175,000. 
We have been moving some bank-owned properties lately, and our fourth and final sale is on yet another one, a 1,200 square foot, 2-bedroom, 2-bath waterfront home situated on Indian Pass Lagoon just about a mile or so past the world famous Indian Pass Raw Bar. The home sold in late 2008 for $425,000, apparently as an investment property, since according to the MLS it has never been occupied. The bank went under contract with a list price of $99,900, which sounds low, but the county has it valued even lower at $88,923. This week they got full list with it closing right at $99,900.
Three new contracts this week, two of which are on the north end of the Cape, so we’ll be starting as we frequently do in Barrier Dunes, where this 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,172 townhouse circa 2001 went under contract with a list price of $192,500, a good bit above the county’s assessed value of $149,719, and yet significantly below the $300,000 the sellers paid for it as recently as January 2008.
The action continues at Ovation as the developers put yet another lot under contract, this time a bay view one along the crescent which they had recently put back on the market asking $59,000, below the assessed value of $71,500.
Our third and final new contract takes us off the Cape and out along the C-30 Corridor to Gulf Pines where this 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, 1,700 square foot first tier home went under contract as a short sale with a list price of $299,990. In 2000 it sold for $185,000. The sellers bought it in April 2005 for $711,000 and put it back up for sale less than a year later asking $875,000. Today the county has it valued at $232,612.
That does it for this week. When the rains keep people off the beach it seems they’re going to look at property. But don’t wait for a rainy day to start looking at some of the great values currently on the market. Call or text me at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected] and let’s start looking. I’ll be glad to help you find your very own parcel of paradise here along Florida’s Forgotten Coast. Until then, have a great week, and thanks so much for taking time out of your hectic schedule to stop by today.