Had a great vacation in Savannah with a group of girl friends but glad to be back home to my beautiful Cape beaches. Our real estate market hasn’t taken any time off, though, as this week we closed five sales, wrote up six new contracts, added eleven new listings, and three properties that had either been under contract or expired came back on the market. In what I believe is a first in the six years I’ve been writing this blog, not a single seller changed their listing price this week which may well be yet another indicator of a recovering market. Even with all that, no move at all in our inventory, closing exactly where we were when last we met at 264, with 84 homes and 180 lots listed for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor markets. Let’s take a look at what buyers are snapping up along the Forgotten Coast.
The first of our five sales is in Seacliffs on the north end of the Cape where this 4-bedroom, 5-bath, 2,007 square foot townhouse went under contract in late March with a list price of $225,000. The sellers bought it in the summer of 2002 for $336,900, listed it in early 2010 for $355,000, and turned over the keys at closing on Friday for $205,000.
Next up is another lot, this one on Cape San Blas Road in Paradise Bay, one of the older subdivisions on the Cape, located near Cape Palms Park. It’s an “X” zone property measuring 96′ by 199′. This is a lot still owned by one of the developers and they had it listed for $32,900, and this week they let it go for $31,000.
Next up is a unique offering, a 21-acre subdivision on the south side of the Cape, Villa del Sol, which spans from the gulf to the bay, and had 51 of its 58-total lots up for sale. The sellers offered the project for $2.19M, but accepted $1,837,500 for it on Wednesday.
This week’s fifth and final sale takes us out along the C-30 Corridor to Gulf Pines where on Wednesday this beautiful 100′ wide, three-quarter-acre bank-owned gulf front lot listed for $400,000 sold for $365,000. In February 2005 it sold for $1,225,000, and today the county has it assessed a bit low at $300,000.
Now for a look at this week’s crop of six new contracts, beginning up on the north end of the Cape at Seacliffs, where this 3-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, 1,647 square foot circa 1986 condo went under contract on Friday as a short sale with a list price of $299,000. In late 2002 it sold for $412,000, and the current sellers picked it up two years later in December 2004 for $565,000. Today the county has it assessed at $251,257.
Next door in Barrier Dunes, our next contract is on a bank-owned 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 1,344-square foot townhouse listed for $199,000. This home is located in the back of Barrier Dunes by the park, so it’s a peaceful and private setting. It was built in 2005 and sold in November of that year for $307,600. It’s one of the relatively few homes in this planned community with a FEMA LOMA, a federal document which effectively removes the property from a flood plain.
We’re back out along the C-30 Corridor for our next three contracts, verdant lots owned by Centennial Bank on Indian Pass lagoon that went under contract this week with list prices ranging from $24,500 t0 $29,900. The $24,500 offering is less than 10 cents on the dollar from when it sold in January 2005 for $259,000.
Our sixth and final contract was on a gulf view quarter-acre lot on Indian Pass in the small subdivision known as The Reservation. In December of last year it was a bank-owned property which the current sellers picked up for $32,000. The county has it valued at $15,000.
That does it for this week. There are still some great deals to be had on coastal properties but competition for them is definitely heating up, so if you’re considering getting in now is the time to do so. Call or text me at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to [email protected] and we’ll get started.