Cape San Blas Real Estate Blog

Lots going on this week in addition to all the visiting spring breakers.  We had another three sales and three new contracts, but the big action was in new listings, with thirty five in all, most of which are a slew of lots re-released by the developer at Ovation with price reductions you won’t believe.  There was even a bumper crop of seventeen price changes. All those new lot listings brought a swift halt to the nice steady decline we’ve been following in our inventory shooting it back up to 390 compared with must 359 last week, with 140 homes and 250 lots listed for sale in in the MLS in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 market.

All three of our sales this week were lots on the Cape, the first being this interior lot  up in Sunset Pointe just outside the state park. This third-acre property last sold in 2006 for $359,000 and was listed as a short sale at$69,000, well below the county’s assessed value of $78,500. Even so it sold on Wednesday for $55,000 cash, just 15 cents on the dollar.

Our second sale was a bank-owned first tier corner lot in the Seagrass subdivision listed for $235,000, very close to the county’s assessed value of $227,500. It last sold in February 2005 for $325,000 and was put back on the market about eighteen months later for $650,000.  On Friday the bank agreed to take $200,000 even for it, 85% of list.

About two miles south our final sale was this bank-owned quarter-acre first tier lot on Tobago just past the Tradin’ Post. This one sold in early 2005 for $605,000 and was placed back on the market just three months later for $769,000. The bank eventually ended up taking it back, listed it for $139,000, and sold it on Friday for $135,000 cash.  The county had this one at $203,000. 

The first of our three new contracts is a beauty, a bay front parcel, 100′ wide, in Peninsula Estates, about one half mile south of the state park entrance. The sellers have owned it since 1984 when they picked it up for just $31,400. They listed it just recently for a very attractive $199,000 and they already have a contract due to close by April 14.

Just south of Ovation in Cape Breezes we have our second new contract, and this one’s a bay first tier lot on Leeward Street listed as a short sale for $76,000, not far off from the $60,000 it sold for in 1999. It subsequently resold to the current owners in July 2004 for $275,000, and they put it back on the market in early 2007 with a $499,000 price tag. The county has this one pegged at $126,500.

After looking at five lots, we finally get a house, and it’s a lovely 2,100 square foot, 5-bedroom, 4 1/2 bath gulf view home in Seagrass listed for $409,000, just a little above the assessed value of $341,396.  The lot alone sold in early 2004 for $225,000. When the house was completed in June  of ’05 it was put on the market for $849,000 but no takers.

My Picks of the Week for New Listings and Price Changes are all rolled into one package and that’s the new listings and price changes released this week on a large number of lots at Ovation on the Cape. There are now good bay and gulf view lots starting as low as $50,000, bay front for $199,000 and gulf front for just $299,000. Ovation has exquisite amenities such as the bay club house with infinity pool over looking the bay,

Club House at Ovation

two docks,

owners club with bar and full kitchen for social events,

weight room and viewing tower.   On the Gulf side is an additional pool with pool house for showering and changing.

Some of the prices we’re seeing are getting back down into price ranges where they’re beginning to go under contract much more quickly, so if you see one of these bargain-priced properties you’d really like to have you don’t want to dawdle. I have constant access to my email at sherri@sherridodsworth.com or on my cell at 850-227-5197 and I’ll be glad to help you with any purchase you want to make.

Have a great weekend - especially if your weather is as gorgeous as what we’re having here on the Cape, and I hope to hear from you soon.  Thanks so much for stopping by today.

FINALLY – Spring is here, arriving officially today at 1:32 p.m., marking the end of what seemed like the Winter That Never Would End.  We may also be witnessing the end of our local real estate slump as sales activity continues to grow, with another closing this week,  three new contracts, eleven new listings and nine price changes. Year-to-date in this first quarter the number of sales is up an impressive 66% over the same period last year.  Our current inventory remains unchanged from last week, holding steady at 359, with 141 homes and 218 lots isted for sale in the MLS in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 market. 

Our solo sale debuted just last week and it sparked a feeding frenzy with its list price of just $129,000.  The listing agent received a number of offers almost immediately but $140,000 cash was fine with the bank and this puppy closed on Friday.   I can’t remember the last time I saw a sale close above list price. It’s been a while.  This lot last sold in 2005 for $725,000, and is currently assessed at $174,000.

Another harbinger of hope is that all three of our new contracts are on lots.  Demand for land is very encouraging.  All three are on the Cape, starting with this bank-owned gulf view quarter-acre lot in San Blas Shores, just north of Ovation.  It last sold in 2005 for $500,000, and goes under contract with a list price of $150,000, way above the assessed value of $38,700.

Next door at Ovation this first tier lot went under contract as a short sale with a list price of $185,000, well below its assessed value of $252,000. Hard to believe now but this sold for $775,000 in 2005.

Our third and final new contract is on yet another bank-owned lot, this one on Tobago Drive just a little north of the Tradin’ Post. It’s a quarter acre first tier lot listed for $139,000, also below its assessed value of $203,000.  Back in 2005 it sold for $605,000 and went back on the market just three months later with a list price of $769,000, a 27% increase. That game of musical chairs had already come to an end and it has languished on the market ever since, finally going back to the bank.

I have an easy choice for my Pick of the Week from our eleven new listings.  How would you like to have a gulf front townhome for just $269,900?  Here’s a 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,276 square foot fun in the sun beach getaway located on Sea Oats Drive out on C-30 so it also has FEMA flood insurance. Sweet!  How’s this for a view from your front deck?

I’m not seeing anything hugely exciting among our nine price changes so that’ll do it for this week. If you’re interested in learning more about what’s available just give me a call on my cell, 850-227-5197, or send me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . Have a wonderful weekend and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Warm weather is returning bringing with it spring breakers and buyers. Another busy week with lots to report so let’s get right to it.  We had two sales this week, three new contracts, a whopping seventeen new listings and just one price change.  All those new listings helped swell our inventory of MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 market to 359, up nine from last week, with 140 houses and 219 lots for sale.

The first of our two sales is  this 4-bedroom, 3-bath, 3,633 square foot gulf front home up in Secluded Dunes, just outside the state park. Isn’t that a gorgeous natural setting? The home last sold in 2002 for $1.2M and is currently assessed by the county for $937,957.   This past September the motivated owners  listed it below that at $875,000, and went to closing this week with a final sale price of just $660,000.

We head a few blocks south to Barrier Dunes  where our second sale is this 3-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath townhouse with a gulf view from the decks which was listed for $287,500 and closed on Friday for $255,000,  just a bit below the county’s assessed value of $276,945. The sellers did just fine here as they have owned it since 1999 when they bought it for $150,000.

I’m encouraged by the fact that all three of our new contracts this week are on lots; increased demand for land is a good sign. The first of the three is a just a bit further south on the Cape in Peninsula Estates where this bank-owned first tier lot went under contract with a list price of $160,000. If you recall, another first tier lot on this street sold just last week for $115,000 so it will be interesting to see what the bank accepts for this one.   This property last sold in 2002 for $200,000, and is currently assessed by the county for $135,000.

Our second lot is platted as a second tier lot in Seagrass subdivision and is also bank-owned. It last sold in 2005 for $325,000 and goes under contract with a list price of $235,000 which is real close to the county’s assessment of $227,500.

Our third and final new contract is something a little out of the ordinary. It’s a 6.65 acre  parcel out on C-30 past the Raw Bar listed just recently for $79,000, well below the $111,229 value the county’s calculating taxes on. The seller has owned this piece since 1988 when he gave $16,000 for it.

I have a no-doubt-about-it Pick of the Week from our seventeen new listings.  The winner is a bank-owned fist tier lot on the Cape about a quarter mile north of Scallop Cove BP which enters the market with a mind-blowing list price of just $89,000. Unbelievable. This property last sold in 2004 for $350,000 and went back on the market in mid 2006 with a list price of $750,000 but never sold. The lot is currently assessed by the county for $199,500, although they list its estimated market value at just half that at $99,000. With an asking price of just $89,000, it’s a steal.

Are you interested in buying or selling? I’ll be glad to help you either way. Just give me a call on my cell at 850-227-5197  or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . I’m loving hearing from so many of you. Have a great weekend – it’s shaping up to be a gorgeous one here on the Cape, and there’s a shrimp and oyster cookout in my future. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, too. Thanks for stopping by today.

It may still be cold outside but it’s been a smokin’ hot week for our company, Boardwalk Realty. There were three sales and three new contracts this week, and we participated in all three of those sales and two out of three of the new contracts. Not bad at all!  I could handle that becoming the new norm. In other action there were eight new listings and seven price changes, leaving us at week’s end with an inventory of 350 active MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 market, down seven from last week, with 132 homes and 218 lots.  Let’s start our review by seeing what changed hands at the closing table.

The first of our three sales is at Ovation on the Cape where this second tier gulf view corner lot with a list price of $199,000 sold on Friday for $130,000 cash, well below the county’s assessed value of $175,000. Even though the property last sold in late 2005 for $500,000, this was not a short sale.  Ovation is a lovely setting and the buyers plan to build a vacation home which should perform very well for them with all the amenities Ovation has to offer.

Just a couple hundred yards northward up the beach at Peninsula Estates, our second sale was a first tier gulf view half acre lot listed for $145,000 which sold for $115,000, once again below the county’s asessed value of $135,000.  The seller did just fine having owned it since 1982 when she bought it for $19,500, which adjusted for inflation equals $43,786 in today’s dollars. Nice return.

Our third and final sale is a real steal; it’s a short sale on a first tier lot at Indian Pass  listed for an amazingly low $74,500.  My savvy shopper offered $50,000 cash, refused to budge, and on Thursday the bank said oh, all right, and to closing we went.

On to our three new contracts.  Speaking of eye-popping deals . . . this foreclosed gulf front lot on the Cape at Sunset Pointe which RBC Bank tossed on the market last week for $250,000 was like tossing fresh meat to a pack of pit bulls. I had a lot of calls on this after featuring it in my blog, and the listing agent told me he had numerous offers on it from the moment it appeared in the MLS. The bank finally decided to accept one and went under contract on Wednesday. There are no contingencies to be met and it is scheduled to close by March 25.  I am really curious to see what this actually goes for. The agent cannot disclose the price prior to closing, but indicated it is above list.

Our second contract is at Barrier Dunes which has been pretty quiet lately.  This is a nice 2-bedroom end unit in a serene setting overlooking the park.  It’s one of the newer townhomes built in 2003.  The seller paid $185,000 for it that year, and has been trying to sell it since August of 2007 when he originally listed it for $285,000. It wasn’t until he got it down to its current list price of $159,900 that he was able to attract a buyer, and on Wednesday it went under contract. My buyers are getting a real good deal here as even the county thinks it should fetch something more like $222,000.

Our third and final new contract is on this palatial gulf front home at Jubilation on the southside of the Cape which went under contract on Friday with a list price of $995,000.  This is a 5-bedroom, 5-bath, 3,248 square foot home built in 2006 on a 1.15 acre gulf front lot.   The lot alone sold in 2004 for $700,000, which is about what the county has the house and lot assessed for today, $705,047.  The sellers have been trying to move it since May 2006 when they first put it on the market with an ambitious asking price of $1.95M.

Among our eight new listings there is nothing that can compete with last week’s $250K gulf front New Listing Pick of the Week, but I have a clear winner within our seven price changes to take the crown of Price Change Pick of the Week, and it’s yet another waterfront RBC Bank offering.

This one’s a lagoon front lot in the Mystic Palms subdivision on Indian Pass just south of the boat launch which is reduced from $145,000 to $79,000. It last sold in 2004 for $450,000 and is currently assesssed at $160,000.  If you’re in the market for affordable waterfront get in touch with me pronto because this one will probably go under contract pretty quick with a price like this.

That’s a wrap for this week. As you can see there’s a lot going on. If you’re interested in buying or seling, give me a call. My cell is 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com. If you’re considering selling, let’s talk about getting your property ready to sell and on the market before the start of the season.  Property managers I’ve been talking with tell me the reservation numbers are really strong so it looks as if we’re shaping up for a banner year.  I hope you have a terrific weekend, and thanks so much for stopping by today.