It’s Labor Day Weekend and that means we’re counting down our final five days of Scallop Season 2009 as it draws to an end on Thursday, September 10. This upcoming week should be pretty busy as people hurry to stock their freezers with several last bags of the succulent little bivalves. No sign this past week that we’re drawing to the end of our recent resurgent real estate bargain-hunting season, as we had four closings and two new contracts. We also had nine new listings and eleven price changes. Our inventory of active MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor remains unchanged at 393, with 139 homes and 254 lots.
Our four sales were all on the Cape: two lots, a town house and a single-family house, two bank-owned, two short sales. Let’s start with one of the short sales which is one of only a few single family homes to have been built up at Barrier Dunes just outside the state park entrance.
This 3-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath 2,325 square foot house is a spec home built in 2006 that never sold. The builder bought the lot in early 2005 for $495,000. In October last year it was put in the MLS for $599,000, was down to $399,00 when it went under contract, and closed on Tuesday for $375,000, substantially below the county’s assessed value of $404,211.
Our second sale was also a short sale at Barrier Dunes, this one a custom-built 5-bedroom, 3-bath, 2600 square foot model currently assessed by the county at $334,895. The sellers bought it in October 2007 for $382,500 and flipped it back on the market just six months later for $499,000. When it went under contract it was down to $315,000 and sold on Friday for $290,000. That’s a lot of house for the money.
A little further south on the Cape our third sale was a bank-owned bay front lot measuring 108′ by 529′, or roughly 1.3 acres, overlooking Pig Island. This is another example of someone getting a really sweet deal. This lot last sold in October 2006 for $850,000 after having sold just a year and a half before in May 2005 for $595,000. The bank foreclosed on it earlier this year, put it on the market for $199,000, and some savvy shopper snapped it up on Monday for merely $152,500. Nicely done. The county was way off on this one, overshooting the mark at $216,000. These banks are just killing waterfront values with comps like this and the ripple effect across the local economy is going to continue to be huge.
Our fourth and final sale of the week was in nearby Ocean Haven where this bank-owned lot is all about the views, both of the gulf and the bay. Located on Cape San Blas Road, it measures 66′ by 215, or roughly a third of an acre, and was a developer-owned property which never sold and foreclosed on last December. It debuted in the MLS in August 2005 with a hefty $649,000 price tag, but after languishing on the shelf unsold for four years by the time it went under contract it had been marked down to $155,000. Somebody went to closing this week and picked it up for $117,500; I want to hire that guy to negotiate my next auto purchase. I’ve got to give Kes some credit here as he almost nailed this one. He had it at $112,000.
We travel just a couple blocks further south on the Cape for the next property we’re going to take a look at, and it’s really a “two-fer” as I had pegged it as my Price Change Pick of the Week before it went under contract on Thursday. This is the 2-bedroom gulf view duplex in Cape Sands Landing which was a New Listing Pick of the Week when it entered our hit parade at only $199,000 not too long ago and it was a shoe-in for price change pick when they dropped the price at the beginning of the week to an eye-popping $174,900. I figured it would go fast at that price, but admit I didn’t think it would be that fast. These sellers should be in good shape having purchased it in 1998 for $95,000.
It was all Cape all week, as our second new contract was just a little up the road on Seahorse Lane, where this beautiful, high, gulf view lot with great vegetation and awesome views went under contract just 15 days after entering the MLS with a real-world list price of $135,000, well below the county’s estimate of $180,000. Price it right and they will buy. I showed this lot just a few days ago and the couple remarked the area reminded them of their native Cape Cod from years ago. It’s a gorgeous setting. No contingencies and the projected closing date is just a week away on September 11.
My Pick of the Week from among our nine new listings is a no brainer, in fact it’s two no brainers. Check out these two bank-owned lots near the point of Indian Pass overlooking the beautiful wildlife preserve of St. Vincent Island. 
They make a grand entrance into the MLS with list prices of $299,000 each, but with one of the other gulf front lots in this same tiny subdivision having sold at the end of June for just $135,000 I don’t know how they expect theirs to comp at over twice that price. At prices like this why not buy one to keep and one to share? Christmas is just around the corner . . .
It’s hard to beat the $174,900 duplex on Aruba I had planned to go with as our Pick of the Week from our eleven price changes, but there is one lot in Ocean Haven subdivision on the Cape which goes from $195,000 to $125,000 as a short sale, and I think is worthy of the title.
This is an area of the Cape which has filled in with very nice homes, and with its nature-filled views and easy access to the beach there’s a lot to like. Ocean Haven is about 4 miles south of the state park entrance so you’re not far from the boat launch at Eagle Harbor. This lot last sold in January 2004 for $235,000 and has been on the market since January ’08 with an original list price of $250,000. The county has it assessed for $112,000 and I think that’s a realistic price range based on what we’ve been seeing. Again, this is listed as a short sale so ultimate arbiter will be the bank.
That’s a wrap for this week. If you saw something today you’d like more info on I hope you’ll give me a call at 877-512-9366 or send me an email to [email protected]. Things have started to move again so if you’re considering selling, I’d love to work with you and will be glad to provide you with a comparative market analysis to help you get an idea of what your property might bring in the current market.
Have a safe and fun-filled Labor Day weekend. Hope to see you back here soon. Thanks so much for stopping by.