I had a productive week in Orlando at the Florida Realtors’ Convention, and met Realtors from all over the state, all reporting the same thing: their markets are going strong, with year over year sales up. It’s great to be home and back to work. Our market shows no sign of slowing, this week closing eight sales and penning nine new contracts. Eighteen properties were added to the inventory, and eleven others adjusted their prices. Since last we met, our inventory inched up by three, closing at 278, with 85 homes and 193 lots listed for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor MLS. Let’s catch up on what’s been going on for the past two weeks.
The first of our eight sales is at the Cape on Bayou Drive, with this 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,800 square foot bay front home that went under contract in mid-June with a list price of $349,000. The sellers bought it in January of 2004 for $300,000 and put a lot of work into upgrading it, reconfiguring the original layout, and landscaping. The offering includes shared access to a very fine dock and an easement from Cape San Blas Road. On Wednesday they turned over the keys to the new owners for $325,000.
Our next sale is in Turtle Dunes, a small subdivision on the Cape about a half mile north of Scallop Cove. In mid-2005 this first tier lot sold for $675,000. Last summer the sellers bought it as a short sale for $106,440, put it under contract the first week of July with a list price of $160,000, and closed last week for $155,000 cash.
A short distance south of Scallop Cove Convenience Store our third sale is an 80′ by 179′, one-third-acre first tier lot with deeded gulf access that went under contract August 4 with a list price of $69,900. The seller bought it in 2005 for $425,000, and sold it for $70,000 cash.
On the south side of the Cape in Piney Woods, our next sale is a 55′ by 75′ interior lot that the sellers purchased as a foreclosure last June for $18,300. Eight years earlier in June of 2005 it sold for $409,900. They put it under contract last week with a list price of $36,900, and closed last Friday for $31,500.
For our fifth and sixth sales, we’ll mosey a few blocks down the beach from Piney Woods to a micro-subdivision called Lantana by the Sea, where we have two contiguous first tier lots totaling half-an acre, that went under contract the first week of July with list prices each of $50,000. The seller obtained these in July 2013 by transfer of a deed in lieu of foreclosure for $10,000 each and turned a nice little profit on Monday when he sold them for $35,000 cash each.
We’ll head out along the C-30 Corridor for our seventh sale, a 76′ by 218′, 0.37-acre bay view lot in Treasure Bay on the east side of C-30, not far from the St. Joe Bay Buffer Preserve center. The owners bought it in early 2005 for $195,000, had it listed as a short sale for $21,900, (well below the $35,000 it sold for back even in 2001), and sold it on Friday for $21,000 cash.
Our final sale takes us all the way out to near the tip of the Indian Pass Peninsula to the gated community of Mystic Palms where this irregularly shaped quarter-acre lagoon view lot went under contract on the 31st of July with a list price of $29,500. The seller is the developer and sold this property on Friday for $28,000 with the buyer paying all of the closing costs including the broker’s commission.
Now onto our nine new contracts, returning to the Cape this time heading to Ovation where this handsome 4-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 2,278 square foot recently completed home overlooking St. Joe Bay went under contract last Monday with a list price of $729,000. At that price, the furnishings are negotiable. The sellers purchased the first tier lot in August of 2011 for $95,000.
About a mile futher south of Ovation this next contract is located in Cape Shoals, one of the older communities on the Cape developed back in 1986. Buyers penned a contract on a 2-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, 1,120 square foot end unit listed for $235,000. A group of owners have had this since the mid-90’s so I couldn’t find any significant sales history.
We’re back in Turtle Dunes again where this 4-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath, 2,948 square foot home on 52′ of gulf front went under contract on the 12th with a list price of $899,900. The sellers bought this “X” zone home in early 2010 for $800,000. Last year it generated over $63,000 in gross rental income.
Just a few blocks further south, we have a 50′ wide gulf front lot under contract with a list price of $259,900. This is another one I’m not finding any county sales history on.
On the south side of the Cape in Boardwalk we have a short sale contract on a 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,296 square foot interior “X” zone home listed for $279,000. The sellers bought it in 1998 for $109,000. Boardwalk is one of the original subdivisions on the Cape; it’s a quiet little neighborhood developed in the early 80’s, features deeded gulf access for all properties, and an inviting community pool overlooking the Gulf.
Contracts five and six are way out on C-30, almost to the Franklin County line in the little community of Stillwater. They’re on 2 one-third acre lots, each listed for $12,000. They aren’t listed as a short sale even though the sellers paid $110,000 each for them in 2004.
We’ll go back out onto the Indian Pass Peninsula for our last two contracts, stopping first in Indian Pass Beach Subdivision where this 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,008-square foot interior home built in 1990 went under contract on Tuesday with a list price of $199,000. The sellers bought it in early 2007 for $315,000 and have used it as a long-term rental since them.
We’ll end our review today in Mystic Palms, a tranquil little gated community on Indian Pass lagoon not far from the boat launch on the east end of the peninsula. This bank-owned lagoon front lot that sold in April 2004 for $350,000 went under contract last week with a list price of just $59,900.
That’s a wrap for this week. Now is the time to get in the game if you’re hoping to take advantage of today’s bottomed-out prices on prime coastal real estate. There are more and more buyers shopping for fewer and fewer properties and that trend is pushing prices back up again. So if you’ve been thinking of buying or selling, call or text me at 850-227-5197 or shoot an email to [email protected] and we’ll get to work. Have a great week, and I really appreciate your taking time out to stop by today