Cape San Blas Real Estate Blog

 As veteran slugger and baseball philosopher Yogi Berra once said, this week it’s “deja vu all over again”. For the thrid week in a row our inventory remains steady at 480, with a few more homes (181 vs. 178) and a few fewer lots (299 vs. 302).  Just like last week, too, we had two new sales but no new contracts. Eight new listings joined the mix, nine expired unsold, and only six sellers tried tweaking their prices to stir up some action. As always, we’ll start by taking a look at what people bought this week.

Both closings were on Tuesday, one a gulf-front, end-unit townhome at Sunrise Sunset on the Cape, and the other a single family home in Indian Pass.

The 1500 square foot, 3-bedroom, 2-bath townhome was listed on February 7 for $350,000 and went under contract almost immediately, closing on Tuesday for 87% of list at $305,000.  The Sellers bought the place in September 2001 for $189,000, so the’y're looking at a nice 60% return on investment. I just love a story with a happy ending.

But what about our Indian Pass sale? Any smiley faces there? This was a 1300 square foot, 4-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath home built in 1991 which was listed in November for $479,000. The Sellers bought it in September of 2004 for, ouch, $550,000 so they took a pretty good hit since it closed at $459,000 for about a 16% loss. Not good.

Anything tasty in this week’s price changes?  My pick of the week would have to be this 8% price reduction on this 2- bedroom, 2 1/2 bath end unit townhome in Barrier Dunes which was dropped from $379,000 to $349,000. Is this the lowest price in Barrier Dunes? No, but it is the lowest price unit there located in the coveted “X” flood zone so that you can finance this without having to carry private flood. Huge savings right off the bat. Here’s a view from the deck off of the living area:

That’s like sitting in a Florida post card right on your own private deck. Throw in a respectable rental history ($10K+ in 2007) and we’re talking total package. This should move quickly at this price with everything it has going for it.

That about wraps it up for this week’s review. As always, if you’d like additional info on these or any other properties, or if you’d like to know what your own property might bring in the current market, shoot me an e-mail to sherri@sherridodsworth.com or give me a call at 850-227-5197. Thanks for stopping by today

Spring arrived right on schedule this week with warm, breezy days and clear blue skies. The azaleas and wisteria are in full blloom, and even the crepe myrtle are starting to show signs of color. Let’s take a look to see if there were any signs of new life in our real estate market.

Here’s a first: our inventory remains unchanged at a total of 480 active listings in the MLS, with 178 homes and 302 lots, same as last week. Even so, we had 21 listings expire unsold, 9 were put back on the market, 2 were withdrawn, 11 new listings were addded, 2 sold (yea!) and 9 changed their prices. Funny how the inventory numbers worked out.

 I always like to start with dessert, so we’ll begin by taking a look at our two sales, both single family homes in Indian Pass.

The first sale was this 1475 square foot, 2-bedroom, 1-bath home on a 0.18 acre lot Seminole Street in Indian Pass that went under contract two weeks ago on the first of March. Listed in November for $365,000, the Seller got full price, cash, on Monday. That’s the kind of wearin’ of the green on St. Patrick’s Day I could really get into! Here’s a detailed description of the home:

(Enjoy) sitting on the expansive screened-in front porch overlooking Indian Pass Beach and St. Vincents Island in this first tier beach cottage. Completely remodeled with granite kitchen, KitchenAid stainless appliances, tile floor, new carpet in bedrooms. Excellent rental history inluding 3 websites. Home is situated on an ‘X’ flood zone and qualifies for FEMA flood insurance.

 Our second sale of the week, this gulf-front home near Indian Summer, isn’t as pretty. The Seller, who is also the builder, originally put this home on the market back in May of 2006 for $1.495M. After five price reductions down to $999,999, it finally closed on Friday for $875,000, or just 58% of the original asking price. The contract price of $875k turned this into a short sale which was approved by the lender and allowed to close. Sometimes it’s simply best to cut your losses and move on.

We had nine listings change their prices this week, but six of those were price increases. Talk about contrarian pricing. Of our three price reductions, one clearly stands out above the others, as it’s the bay-front house with a dock that we saw reduced two weeks ago to $699,000, and they have dropped the price again this week another hundred grand down to $599,000!

  In case you missed it last time, here’s the Seller’s description:

Nice 2 bedroom, 2 bath Bay front home. 100 ft. Bay Front, dock and plenty of screened porches to enjoy the views of St. Joe Bay and the cool breezes. Large great room and dining area. Complete kitchen with all the extras. Pantry and separate laundy room. Double doors in great room and bedroom lead to huge screened porch. Approx. 1.25 Acres of beautiful old Flordia. Secluded site. A great rental. Some owner financing available.

These people are begging you to make them an offer, so call me. My cell is 850-227-5197 and my email is sherri@sherridodsworth.com .

That about does it for this week.  I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend, and I appreciate your stopping by today.

 Beware the Ides of March. This week’s market meltdown on Wall Street, especially Friday’s free fall of Bear Sterns, has been a sobering experience and will, I fear, not bode well for our local struggling real estate market as investors and families alike are likely to turn to cash positions until there is some clear indication of just how bad this is going to get. Even though we had two sales this week, there were no new contracts, and a 4.35% increase in inventory, which means at that rate we’re sitting on 4 1/2 years worth of inventory. There are now 480 active listings in the MLS, up from 460 last week, with 178 homes (vs. 167) and 302 lots (vs. 293).

Let’s take a look at what sold. Both our sales were single family homes, one a brand new road-front home in the San Dunes subdivision on the Cape, and the other a 26-year-old gulf front home in Gulf Pines along C-30.

 The home in San Dunes is a beautiful place, built in 2006 and on the market ever since, never occupied, and sold by the builder/developer. With a final list price of $525,000 and a sale price of $500,000, he got 95% of current list which is not bad, but only 85% of his original list price of $588,000.

 It’s our second sale this week which is going to blow your mind. Some savvy buyer just snapped up a gulf-front home in Gulf Pines for, get this, only $580,000! Whoa. This comp is going to haunt us for some time. Even though the MLS notes that the buyer paid the closing costs and there was deferred maintenance (no details as to what extent) still, this is a 100-foot-wide, half-acre gulf front lot in a very nice subdivision. $5800 a waterfront foot alone is an amazing price; it’s like getting the house thrown in for free.  (You gulf-front owners out there are excused to go fix yourself a steadying adult beverage about now.  I feel your pain). As for you buyers, this should be your wake-up call to step up to the plate and get yourself some seriously good coastal gems. One man’s pain is another man’s gain.

To see what kind of bargains are out there this week let’s look first in the new listings, and there’s a slew of them, 26 in all. 

 My pick of the week is a short sale on a first tier home in Money Bayou that really gets my attention, as it’s listed for only $399,900 even though the buyer paid $630,000 for it back in July of 2005. Similar homes on that same street are in the $480K to $530K price range.  Also, take a look at this lot in Ovation - that’s a great project and the bay access, gulf & bay club houses and tennis courts alone almost justify purchasing a lot just for these privileges. The Seller’s listing it for what he paid for it in September ‘05.

Only seven price changes this week, mostly modest, with no drastic slashing.

That about wraps it up for another week. I hope the coming week is kind to your wallet and brings us signs that we may have weathered the worst. If you’d like additonal info on these or other properties, feel free to shoot me an e-mail to sherri@sherrridodsworth.com or call me on my cell at 850-227-5197. Thanks for stopping by.

March has certainly come in like a lion this week, with over three inches of rain and strong winds, gusting to 35 mph as I write. Let’s see if there’s any chance our real estate market is showing any sign of possibly roaring back into action.

Still no significant change in our inventory, seemingly stalled at 460, down only 1 from last week. The allocation has shifted, though, with 5 fewer homes (167 vs. 172) and 4 additonal lots (293 vs. 289). The good news is we have one new contract and one sold. There are 7 new listings, 13 which expired unsold, and 11 sellers trying to shake something up by dropping their prices.

Our sale was a foreclosure on a gulf front townhouse which the owner seems to have just walked away from. I took a close look at this place a few weeks ago for an interested prospect and it was in pretty rough shape just from being neglected for so long. Anyhow, the bank took it back, listed it for $235,000, and took $207,000 for it on Friday. Back in March of 2005 this unit sold for $450,000, so we’re looking at it reselling (in admittedly worse shape) for 46 cents on the dollar.

Our one new contract is on this 2 bedroom, 2 bath interior home located at Boardwalk on Cape San Blas. Originally listed for $399,000 in March of last year, the Seller dropped his asking price 25% in January to $299,900, and now he has a contract.  There are contingencies to be met so no word yet on when they are scheduled to close. Our Seller has owned the place since 2001 so he should come out ok.

Next we’ll scan our eleven price changes to see if there are some bargain properties worth closer scrutiny.  There are two in particular that really stand out.

 The first one that catches my attention is this bay front home with a dock located at Old Saltworks on the Cape which has been reduced from $799,000 down to $699,000. That would be an attractive price for the lot alone, but with a nice home and a dock it’s very appealing. Here’s a detailed description from the Seller:

Nice 2 bedroom, 2 bath Bay front home. 100 ft. Bay Front, dock and plenty of screened porches to enjoy the views of St. Joe Bay and the cool breezes. Large great room and dining area. Complete kitchen with all the extras. Pantry and separate laundy room. Double doors in great room and bedroom lead to huge screened porch. Approx. 1.25 Acres of beautiful old Flordia. Secluded site. A great rental. Some owner financing available.

 Next one that gets my attention is this 1 acre lagoon front lot on Indian Pass reduced from $279,000 to $199,000, even though the Sellers paid $290,000 for it in February 2004. That’s 69 cents on the dollar. This has 127 feet of water front and is only minutes down the road from the Indian Pass boat launch. Sweet!

That about does it for this week’s wrap up. If you’d like further info on these or any other properties, shoot me an e-mail to Sherri@SherriDodsworth.com or give me a call at 850-22-7-5197. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check back often for the latest from the Cape.

 I’ve heard a few things this week from friends and colleagues that caught my attention and have me wondering if they might be the early glimmering of daylight at the end of the tunnel for our real estate market here on the Cape. Two bankers told me that the lower interest rates seem to be starting to do the trick as they’ve picked up a noticable increase in loans, and two handymen I know who do renovations, room additions, etc. said they have jobs lined up for the next several months. So let’s take a look at this week’s numbers and see what’s been going on in the sales department.

For the first time in six months our inventory increased, albeit only by 3, up to 461, with 172 homes (vs. 170) and 289 lots (vs. 288). No closings this week, but at least we have one more property under contract. Fourteen new listings entered the fray, six owners gave up and pulled their properties off the market, seven sellers tried tweaking their prices, and thirteen expired unsold.  

 Let’s start with dessert and savor the sweetest news of the week, our one new contract. This one’s a 4-bedroom, 2-bath, 1292 square foot gulf view home on Palm St. out on Indian Pass.  The Sellers originally listed it back in November for $549k, dropped it a few weeks later to $499k, and then again to $479k on the 2nd of January. They paid $550,000 for it in July, 2004, so somebody’s going to be getting a good deal, it just won’t be our sellers. The contract has contingencies to be met, so we don’t know when it’s scheduled to close.

Bargains abound among our fourteen new listings, but the steal of the week is one someone ought to jump on fast: a 70 by 80 gulf front lot near the tip of Indian Pass for an unbelievably low list of only $389,000.

That’s only $5,557 per waterfront foot which is back-to-the-late-1990’s type pricing.  Attention boaters: this is just a few hundred feet before the boat launch at Indian Pass. Can you say living in paradise for a bargain price? Call me.

How would you like to have a place on the gulf for only $379,000? Check out this new listing for a gulf front townhouse at Cape Villas on C-30.

 Here’s a brief description from the MLS:

Beach Front corner unit townhouse in a 12-unit community, just steps from the pool and a wide, white sandy beach. This 2 BR, 2 1/2 BA offers great views of the Gulf from the upper and lower screened porches. Home Owner’s Association dues INCLUDE FEMA flood insurance, trash pick up, and maintenance (which covers grounds, pool, and pest treatment once a month). Kitchen and floors updated. Ready to move in or keep on rental program.

Another new one I like is this bay view first tier corner lot inside Treasure Bay which at $199,900 is 11% below the $225k the sellers paid for it in October 2004. Treasure Bay is a nicely settled subdivision over off C-30 with nice, well-maintained homes and deeded bay access for all owners.

That’s a lot of bargains; let’s take a look now at our seven price reductions to see if there are any deals or steals.  Here’s one:

 If you’d like a lagoon front lot with great views, here’s a bank repo reduced this week from $126,900 to only $102,600 which, since the previous owners paid $259,000 for it in December 2004, is only 40 cents on the dollar.

One other price reduction is enough to make you sit up straight in your chair and pay attention. Here’s a shot of the breathtaking views from the upper deck of this gulf front home on Indian Pass originally listed in March 2006 for $1,275,000, reduced several times since, and finally down to $849,000 this week.

  That’s the tip of St. Vincent Island in the upper left-hand corner of the photo.  Here’s what the MLS notes say:

Beautiful open plan 3BR 3BA gulf front home with additional spacious sleeping loft. Home has sleeping accomodations for 10 with 4 bunks in loft. Just 1/4 mile from the Indian Pass boat ramp — doorway to world class fishing in the bay, the gulf or the many inland waterways of the area. Or take the shuttle to St. Vincent Island for a day of wildlife watching and exploring. This home is right on the beach but nicely elevated for spectacular views of the gulf and St. Vincent Island. Beautifully furnished and included in sale. New rental management company as of Jan 2008 and $35,000 GRI booked as of 2nd Feb 2008.

That about does it for this week’s wrap up. We’re starting to see some genuinely attractive pricing so now’s the time for investors to start adding some valuable properties to their real estate portfolios for literally pennies on the dollar.  If you’d like addtional info on these or any other Cape San Blas area properties, please give me a call at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to Sherri@SherriDodsworth.com . Thanks for stopping by.