I can’t believe it’s Saturday again already – this week flew by – but it is, and each Saturday I take a look at what went on in the Cape San Blas real estate market.
We’re seeing yet another slight reduction in inventory this week, coming in at 539, five fewer than last week’s 544, so we’re liking this trend. There are 193 homes and 346 lots currently listed for sale.
More good news. Two solds this week, ironically both classic beach cottages. One was at Barrier Dunes, and the other was a on White Sands Drive. OK. That’s the good news. Here’s the rest of the story.
Let’s take a look at list price vs. selling price. First the Barrier Dunes sale. It was originally listed in September of 2004, for $499,000. When it expired unsold after 6 months, the seller relisted it with a new agent who priced it even higher at $595,000. Another 6 months went by and it still hadn’t sold, so in October of 2005, he listed it with yet another agent who priced it at $545,000. They’ve been tweaking the price downward ever since and when it finally went under contract in July, the list price was down to $350,000.
It closed this week for $265,000. Before we start screaming ouch, let’s take a look at the tax rolls, and we’ll feel a little less sorry for this seller. Turns out he bought it in 1995 for $73,000, so he still had over a 250% return on investment over 12 years. Not bad.
Let’s see how our other seller did. He listed it in January of 2006 for $625,000 and has been incrementally reducing the price ever since. When it went under contract in September the list price was down to $399,000; it closed Friday for $331,500. According to the county tax rolls the seller purchased it in May of 2002 for $325,000, so he’s basically breaking even. Another way to look at it? He’s had access to a very cool cottage at the beach for five years almost rent-free. I’m not breaking out my crying towel for this guy either.
It seems that the market is playing by the rules and sellers are just going to have to keep tweaking to find out what it will bear. As always, price it right and they will buy.