Cape San Blas Real Estate Blog

Summer arrived right on time after a rain-soaked and windy Memorial Day weekend. The weather ever since has been sunny and hot and happily so is local real estate. No change in our inventory of active MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market since last week, holding steady at 412, with 161 homes and 252 lots. No closings, but we do have three new contracts, along with nine new listings, eight new price tags, and six expired unsold.

Our three new contracts are all on the Cape, two homes and one lot. We’ll start at the northern part of the Cape and work our way southward, which means first stop is Barrier Dunes at this 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 1,312 square foot lake view townhome.  Last sold in August 2004 for $370,000, the sellers put it back on the market less than a year later in July ’05 with a 31% markup to $485,000 and have been reducing the price ever since trying to entice a buyer. It wasn’t until April 29 this year when they hit $220,000 (under the county’s assessed value of $227,748) that anyone was willing to step up and make an offer.  No one is getting full price offers in this climate, but even at a full list price we’re talking best case scenario of recapturing only 59 cents on the dollar.  

Next stop is just a little bit south of Barrier Dunes to Deepwater Drive where this 0.46 acre gulf view lot with a list price of $99,000 (a smidgen under the county’s assessed value of $110K) went under contract on Tuesday with no contingencies and is looking to close by June 25. Best I can tell from the county records, this lot last sold in February 2004 for $265,000 and was put back on the market in May 2006 with a list price of $450,000. Once again, even with a contract price at full list we’re looking at 37 cents on the dollar. Let’s move on.

Our third and final contract of the week takes us all the way down to the south-facing beach at Cape Dunes, where this 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 2066 square foot furnished gulf view home also went under contract on Tuesday with a list price of $299,000. This home last sold in 2003 before the market peak for $265,000 so hopefully both parties will do well here. There are contingencies to be met so no known closing date yet.

  On to my pick of the week from our nine new listings which goes out to this bay view lot on Cape San Blas just south of Scallop Cove which enters the fray at an attractive $99,900.   Here’s an aerial showing its location:

According to the MLS notes it is in the coveted “X” flood zone and includes bay access and dock. Sweet!

We’re going gulf front on the Cape for our pick of the week from our eight new price tags where this home on Haven Road catches my attention. Check out this view from the front deck:

Here are the MLS details:

Great home, with 30 feet of gulf front. Home is entirely in the X flood zone so no flood insurance is required. Structure is totally landward of the revised CCCL and 30 year erosion line. There may be room for a small pool in front which would maximize the rental potential. Nice protective vegetated dunes and newly restored beach in front. Beach faces due west for spectacular sunsets over the gulf. All furnishings included. Vaulted ceilings in main living area with second floor overlooking main living area. Beach views and deck/porch access from two master bedrooms. Screened porch and direct walkway to the beach. Currently sleeps 9 and could be increased with the addition of a sofa bed. Could use a decorating refresh to make it a great home. This is a lender approved short sale.

That does it for this week. Sorry about the late posting – lately I’ve been having to write this on Saturdays between showing property and talking with/emailing buyers which is ALWAYS a good thing! Not complaining. Let me know if you’re ready to sell or buy – email me at sherri@sherridodsworth.com or give me a call on my cell at 850-227-5197. I love hearing from readers, and I hope you’ll keep stopping by.

The question I’m hearing from nearly everyone I come in contact with lately is, “Well, is anything selling?” and I tell them absolutely, things are picking up again noticeably, as evidenced by the fact that this is the second week in a row we’ve had four new contracts.  In other activity we added only four new listings, nine price changes, two properties were withdrawn, and eleven expired unsold. There were no closings. After all that, we end the week with three fewer active listings in our MLS inventory for Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and the C-30 Corridor, coming in at 412, with 159 homes and 253 lots. We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get started.

Houses dominate three-to-one in our four new contracts, with two on Cape San Blas Road and one in the C-30 Corridor in Treasure Shores; our lone lot is the lagoon front lot on C-30 listed for $49,900, and that is where we’ll start. (All four of our contracts have contingencies to be met so we don’t know the projected closing dates on any of them).

This ought to look familiar since we last saw it just two weeks ago when it was my pick of the week for best priced new listing.  It is the 83′ wide lagoon front lot on C-30 for only $49,900, which is a bank-owned sale with Suntrust having foreclosed on it in January. The lot last sold in June 2004 for $220,000, exactly twice the $110,000 it had sold for just ten months earlier in August 2003.  

This pretty gulf view 2,052 square-foot, 3-bedroom, 3-bath home at 4747 Cape San Blas Road has been on the market since March 2007 when it was originally listed for $589,000. It finally got down to $464,000 and on Friday it went under contract.  The seller purchased the lot alone in October 2004 for $265,000 and then built and furnished the house and put it on a rental program.   The property appraiser’s office has its assessed value as $326,135.

Next up is a bank-owned 2,957 square-foot, 4-bedroom, 3-bath gulf and bay view spec home located at 5447 Cape San Blas Road in Ocean Haven, just south of Seagrass. The developer first put this home on the market in January 2007 with a list price of $1.25M, but by April 2008 even at an eventual list of $745,000 it just wasn’t selling, and it was withdrawn. According to county records, it was turned over to Capital City Bank in December 2008, and they put it back on the market in March for $540,000, which is still well above the county’s assessed value of $461,691. It will be interesting to see what it actually goes for.

  Let’s head on over to Treasure Shores out along the C-30 Corridor for our fourth and final new contract of the week, which is this modest 1,468 square foot, 3-bedroom, 2-bath, first tier home listed for $398,775, a bit above the county’s assessed value of $308,500.  According to the MLS notes, this is a short sale, even though the county records indicate the seller paid just $275,000 for it in May 2001. This is a nice home with an attractively landscaped yard.

My pick of the week from our four new listings is easily this first tier lot in Jubilaton which comes out of the gate at a very attractive $150,ooo, below the county’s assessed value of $157,000. This lot last sold in October 2004 for $525,000. I love its location; here’s an aerial view:

  You would have awesome views from this property when you build, and the homes aready in Jubilation are some of the nicest on the Cape. I also love their gulf front community pool which has just an unbelievable view.  Check this out:

Another easy choice from among our nine new price changes; how about a gulf front lot for $224,900? 

  This 59′ wide gulf front beauty is located at Curve at the Cape, off C-30 just east of the turn off onto Cape San Blas Road. Curve at the Cape is a small gated community of just eleven lots, with a landscaped entrance with pavers. Please note that although this is not on the actual Cape, it is none the less still in the COBRA zone, and therefore ineligible for FEMA flood insurance when you build.  At this type of a deep discount, though, you’re saving enough money to cover years and years of private flood insurance.  According to the MLS notes, this is a short sale so offers will have to be approved by the lender. The county has it assessed at $356,700, and it last sold in April 2004 for $640,000.

That’s a wrap for this week. I’m hearing from  more and more of you each week and I just love meeting you, so please keep those cards and emails coming. Whether you’re interested in buying or selling I’ll be glad to help you with any questions you may have so don’t hesitate to contact me. My cell phone number is 850-227-5197, toll free office number is 877-512-9366 and of course you can always shoot me an email to Sherri@SherriDodsworth.com .  Have a terrific holiday weekend, and as you’re out and about with family and friends, I hope you’ll take a moment to reflect on the brave men and women all the way from Valley Forge to the Kabul Gorge who have given their all to give us the freedoms we enjoy every day. God Bless them all.

Good News! The MLS Links Gremlin is gone. Turns out it was an Internet Explorer 8 issue so I uninstalled IE8, and everything’s working much better, including my computer in general. My good deed for the week is to caution you against installing this system nightmare on your computer. Stick with IE7. OK – enough tech talk. Time to talk real estate and there is a lot to talk about today. Been another busy week around here, with two closings, four new contracts (one of which has already closed),  nine new listings and eleven price changes.  All that activity brings our total number of active MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and C-30 Corridor to 415, up seven from last week, with 160 homes and 255 lots.

We had a house and a lot sell this week; let’s start with the house, which was my price change pick of the week back on March 28th for this bay front home in Cape Breezes which had been $599,000 and was then reduced to the number that did it, $499,000.

That’s like buying a bayfront lot and having the home and dock thrown in for free. This is a nice home, perfect for the boater, fisherman, and photographer!. This spacious waterfront home is move-in or rental ready. Situated on a large lot with 100 feet of frontage on pristine St. Joseph Bay, this fully furnished home comes complete with everything you are looking for in a vacation get-a-way including, a dock, all furnishings, kayaks, bicycles, & an aluminium skiff to catch “the big one.” Large decks to enjoy beautiful sunsets and seabreeze, fireplace, and two spacious living areas make this home perfect for entertaining. Also comes with deeded gulf access with a walkover to the beach just a short stroll away.

The sellers bought it in November 2004 for $800,000 and put it back on the market in June 2006 for $1.15M where it has sat ever since, slowly coming down with the market to its sale price on Friday for $425,000 cash.  I’m very familiar with this home as it is on my street and the buyer has really stuck a great deal with this purchase.

Our other sale was a roadfront lot on Cape San Blas Road which was listed for $121,700 and sold on Thursday for an even $110,000, also cash.  This sale is encouraging not just because it’s land for which there has been so little demand during this correction, but also because it was on the market such a relatively short period of time, a mere 84 days, which for this market is lightning fast. This lot was carved from a larger parcel which sold only recently so no property appraiser’s assessed value had yet been established.

Onto our multitude of new contracts, of which there are four including the above-mentioned bay front home, all single family detached homes, three on the Cape and one in Gulf Pines along the C-30 Corridor. Let’s start in Gulf Pines.

This is a gulf first tier 1,634 square-foot, 3-bedroom, 3-bath home with an in-ground pool. The home is being sold furnished and is a good rental property, with a gross rental income last year of over $60,000. At its list price of $585,000 that would cash flow with a cap rate over 6%. Not too shabby. The sellers paid $760,000 for it in early 2005, past the market peak, so they’re going to take a bit of a hit at closing.

Our other two new contracts are both in Seagrass on the Cape, at 220 and 205 Seagrass Circle respectively; we’ll look at 220 first, which is a bank-owned, foreclosed property. It is a 3,049 square-foot, 4-bedroom, 3-bath gulf view home with an in-ground pool built in 2006 as a spec home and has never been occupied. The bank took title to it in December and had it listed at $450,900.

Not quite so sad a story over at 205 Seagrass where this lovely 3,200 square foot, 4-bedroom, 3-bath gulf view home is listed at $629,000 and under contract scheduled to close by June 15. It’s a very nice home, with a private pool, handscraped dark maple hardwood floors, granite countertops in flip flop kitchen , corian countertops in bathrooms, bonus room, loft plan, the works. X-Flood Zone. Has a great rental history and income. According to the MLS it has a strong rental history though no actual GRI was noted.

  No problem selecting a pick of the week from our crop of nine new listings. What’s not to like about a gulf front place at Seacliffs up by the state park for only $450,000? The views from these homes are truly outstanding. Want proof? Check this out:

I don’t know about you but I could easily get used to that! Here’s the scoop from the MLS notes:

Sunsets are amazing from this gulf front location. Nice wide white sand beach on America’s top rated beach. Living Room, one guest bedroom and master bedroom each have decks overlooking the gulf. You can watch dophins playing in the surf and enjoy the sound of the waves crashing into shore. Master bedroom has large bathroom and walk-in closet. Two bedrooms are on the second level. Fully furnished and ready for you. Great rental potential.

Equally easy selecting a price change pick of the week from our eleven price changes and it’s one of my faves which you’ve already seen here.  I love this 1,724 square foot, 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath gulf first tier classic beach cottage over in Money Bayou which goes from an already sweet $449,000 down to $429,000.  If you like cottage style you’ve got to see this place.  Although it was built in 2004 it has the comfy look and feel inside of a beautifully cared for cottage from the 40′s: white beadboarding, quality period fixtures, built in fireplace, hardwood floors, white windowpane kitchen cabinets, beach views you have to see to believe and a huge covered front porch overlooking the beach. I would live here in a heartbeat. Bonus: it’s furnished fabulously and it’s all  yours at closing.

There’s another price change so sweet I’m going to give you a twofer this week. Sorry you missed out on getting in on the ground floor at beautifully appointed, upscale Ovation on the Cape? Here’s your second chance to cure those “woulda, coulda, shoulda” blues.

This lot last sold in late 2005 for $235,000, has been listed for $149,900 and seller says “Move It” this week, slashing the price to $114,900.  Look at the location. You’re going to have great gulf and bay views when you build, not to mention access to the gulf front and bay front clubs complete with pools, exercise room and community center.  The bike path goes right through Ovation and you’re less than a mile from the state park.   The price includes architectural plans by Donofro Architects who designed those Ovation Clubhouses so that’s a huge added value. This is truly a lot of bang for your buck.

We covered a lot of territory today and I like having so much going on. If you want to get in on the action now’s the time to do it before inflation kicks in. Call me direct on my cell, 850-227-5197 or send me an email, sherri@sherridodsworth.com to explore the available opportunities. Glad we got the links back so you can check out all the details! Thanks for stopping by – I look forward to hearing from you.  

Unfortunately, the MLS links gremlin is back – the work-around solution I had figured out last week is no longer working. I think it may be an Internet Explorer 8 issue. I apologize for the inconvenience; it will let me email links but not post them online. Go figure. I have people looking into it and hope to have it resolved ASAP. 

Our mini market rally continues along the Forgotten Coast with prospective buyers slowly but steadily making inquiries and looking at property. Our inventory dipped ever so slightly this week, which is a good thing, ending with 408 active MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, and C-30 Corridor market, down 2 from last week, with 158 homes and 250 lots. We had one sale, two new contracts, and we welcome six new listings (one of which is already umder contract) and six new price tags.

Our one sale was a bank-owned 3400 square foot, 4-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath home on Cape San Blas Road just north of the old Anchor office not listed in the MLS prior to sale, but entered for comp purposes on Monday after it closed last Friday.  According to the property appraiser’s info, the prior owner purchased the home in 2004 for $757,300.  They put it back on the market in March 2006 with a list price of $1.295M but had no takers and lowered the price incrementally down to $950,000 which is where it was when the county records indicate the Clerk of the Court issued a certificate of title deed to the bank. It sold on Friday for  $545,000, 28% less than it’s 2004 selling price, but still slightly above the county’s assessed value of $506,756.  This is a beautiful home; here is an apt description from the MLS notes:

4 BR 3 1/2BA, Spacious Entertainment Home. 3rd level great room/DR/ kitchen has heart pine floors, custom beadboard trim, spectacular gulf/bay views.  Level 2 master suite and 2 bedrooms have private entrances and decks. Ground level includes tile entrance, office, elevator and master suite with private outside entrance. Home has finished garage, in-ground pool, fully irrigated/landscaped/fenced 1/3 acre in the ‘X’ flood zone.

This is a lot of home for the money. Somebody just got themselves a very good deal.

 Buyers were looking for a variety of things, and we ended up with contracts on both a gulf front lot on Indian Pass and a gulf front home on the Cape under constructon. We’ll start with the lot which was a short sale listed for only $199,000. If you’re familiar with Indian Pass, it’s located shortly past where you make the big left curve on the main road.  According to the county records, the seller purchased the propety in March 2005 for $725,000. Since there had been a minor replat done to the parent parcel I checked the clerk’s records to see if maybe this was the price paid for the entire parent parcel, but apparently not as the warranty deed describes just this lot.  So the list price alone is only 27 cents on the dollar of what it last sold for, and even that is above the $174,000 at which the county has it assessed. Amazing. The contract has contingencies so we’ll have to wait and see what the closing date will be and what it actually goes for.

Next up is a mammoth 3,295 square foot,  6-bedroom, 4-bath gulf front bank-owned home under construction on the Cape on Louisiana Lane, in Beachside, the gulf front subdivision seaward of Surfside Estates (next to Loggerhead Grill/Beachcombers Pizza). The tax rolls say the 50′ wide lot itself sold in May 2007 for $867,000; even with the new construction the bank put it up for sale this week with a $449,900 asking price and it went under contract Friday, no contingencies, scheduled to close by the end of the month.  The county has the land valued at an even $300,000.

My pick of the week for best priced new listing is a no-brainer; how can you not go for an 83′ wide lagoon front lot on C-30 for only $49,900? We’re being consistent today in that this, too, is a bank-owned sale with Suntrust having foreclosed on it in January. The lot last sold in June 2004 for $220,000, exactly twice the $110,000 it had sold for just ten months earlier in August 2003.  That was so typical of what the market was doing during that period. Demand was that strong.

I’m not finding anything that can compete with that among our six new price tags. so I’ll hold onto our pick of the week for best new price tag blue ribbon until next week.

The market is definitely starting to move again and I’m hearing it from all areas of the local housing food chain. I had both an insurance agent and home inspector tell me this week they’ve done more business in the past month alone than they have in the previous six.  And it makes sense; when you have gulf front lots back down to $199,000 and lagoon front at $49,900, it’s bound to cause a stir. Now is a good time to buy because the clock is ticking away for inflation to kick into gear with the Treasury presses burning up printing all that money Washington is flooding the market with.  I will be glad to help you locate property that will work well for your particular situation. If you’re interested in an income-producing property, ask me for a cash flow analysis. My direct line to my cell phone is 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . I sure appreciate your stopping by today, and look forward to hearing from you.

This I hated to see. Gracie O’Malley’s, a restaurant in Simmons Bayou open less than a year, showed up in the MLS for sale after posting a closed sign on the marquee earlier in the week.  This place has unbelievable views overlooking the bay from its more than 300 square feet of quality decks off the dining area. The owner, Doc McKay, who has also owned and run the Tradin’ Post out on the Cape since the ’80s, pulled out all the stops when he built this and it was a lovely place to relax after work, especially just now as the weather’s warming up a bit and the days are getting longer.

The food was great, too, with the chef team in the kitchen from Beachcombers days, Mark and Bill. The seafood platter was easily enough for two, and their she crab soup was reason enough alone to justify stopping in.

According to the MLS, the real estate (roughly 2 1/2 acres on 122 feet of waterfront), business, equipment and licenses are all included for the $895,000 price tag.

Local real estate is moving again as shoppers return; I showed more property in April than I have in the previous six months.  Although our inventory remains basically unchanged at 410 (158 homes and 252 lots), up only one from last week, we had two sales and two new contracts, along with thirteen new listings and nine price changes in the active MLS listings for Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and the C-30 Corridor.

We had a Cape San Blas lot and an Indian Pass house close this week. 

We’ll start with the house, which is a four-bedroom, three-bath, 2400 square foot gulf front home on Canoe Lane in the Indian Pass area which last sold in August 2004 for $1.5M.  The sellers put it back on the market in January ’06 for $1.39M and it has been on and off the market since then with the list price working its way downward to a final list of $899,000 with the bonus of seller financing. Someone stepped up to the plate this week, offered $825,000 cash and they closed on Friday.

Our second sale is this third tier Cape San Blas lot in Piney Woods Subdivision on McCosh Mill Road which we last saw when it went under contract the first week of April with a list price of $125,000. It sold this week for $88,000, probably cash, though the MLS notes are confusing in that they state there was a conventional mortgage, then it says it was a cash deal. There aren’t many banks lending on land right now. At any rate, the price is well below the county’s assessed value of $100,800.  No notes in the property appraiser’s site as to what the sellers may have paid for it.

One of our two new contracts is the Indian Pass house which closed, so we only have one new one to look at, and it should look real familiar since I featured this gulf front Barrier Dunes townhouse as a pick of the week only two weeks ago when the price dropped to just $449,900 and I wrote:

First up is a gulf front townhome at Barrier Dunes, which was $525,000, coming in this week at $449,900. This 1,716 square foot, 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath unit (number 172 for those of you familiar with Barrier Dunes) comes fully furnished. She was built in 1985 and needs a little fresh makeup, but put a little lipstick on her (some fresh paint, updated linens, and a few other such cosmetic touches) and she’ll be a dazzler and a real money maker on a vacation rental program. The potential of this home is amazing.

I can’t wait to see what this finally closes for. Prices are getting back to where shoppers are missing out by holding off on making offers, as I had several people say they were genuinely interested in this but they felt they could wait as long as they wanted to and it would still be there. The contract has contingencies to be met so no projected closing date noted.

My pick of the week from our thirteen new listings goes to this 51′ wide gulf front lot located in the quiet residential neighborhood of Two Palms on Cape San Blas shortly after you turn onto Cape San Blas Road. This on the stable south-facing beach and is surrounded by lovely, quality built homes.

Among our nine price changes is a gulf front home at Brighton by the Sea on C-30 which goes from $499,00 to $475,000 earning it my pick of the week award. This 1700 square foot, three-bedroom, four-bath home is described very nicely in the MLS notes:

BEACHFRONT at a BARGAIN! Why buy a condo or townhome, when you can get a single family gulf front home for the same price? Beautiful 3 Bedroom/4 Bathroom Gulf Front Home is situated between Cape San Blas and Indian Pass along the Forgotten Coast where “Old Florida” still exists. Great area to enjoy abundant wildlife, hiking, kayaking and fishing. Gulf front Pool, boardwalk to the Beach and three decks to relax and enjoy the views. X Flood Zone. FEMA Flood Insurance Available. Master suite at top floor with deck. Plenty of boat ramps nearby.

That’s a wrap for this week. You can follow me now on Twitter for instant late breaking news – I’ve added a Twitter feed to the sidebar in the left column here to make it super easy or if you’re on Twitter my user name is sherridodsworth. If you’d like to talk about any of these real estate opportunities call me on my cell at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to hearing from you.