Cape San Blas Real Estate Blog

Apparently I was right in suspecting we had a real-estate-buying spring break crowd this year as the breakers have all gone home now and our sales for the week have finally slowed down a bit compared to what we’ve been seeing lately. Nobody went to closing this week but we did manage three new contracts. A slew of new listings, twelve in all, and eight price changes. So our inventory takes a big leap, up eleven from last week, to 402, with 153 houses and 249 lots listed for sale in the MLS in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 market.  Let’s start our review by seeing what buyers put under contract.

It turns out lots were the big attraction as all three of our contracts were for Cape San Blas lots, two of which are in Ovation. I’m surprised more of these haven’t gone under contact already since Ashwood announced those astounding price reductions back on March 23rd. The first  is one of the gulf front lots reduced to $299,000 which is just a smidgen above the county’s assessed value of $282,000.  By contrast, one of these gulf front lots sold in 2005 for $1.275M. This one’s scheduled to close by August 22.

The other Ovation contract is on this 57′ by 100′  one-third-acre bay view lot marked down to $50,000. Just amazing. This one’s in the “X” zone so no need for flood insurance. Very nice. The developer is also waiving the build out time so you can buy these and hold them now until you’re good and ready to build. This one’s also slated for an August closing.

Our third and final new contract is on another gulf front lot, this one about two miles south of Ovation on Cabana Lane in the San Dunes subdivision. This is a short sale on a 50′ by 431′ half acre property assessed at $350,000 and listed for $599,000. The sellers paid $750,000 for it in June 2004.  San Dunes is a nicely done little community with some very attractive homes.

On to our twelve new listings and for my New Listing Pick of the Week I’m going to confess to non-impartiality in that I just love this first tier home on Cape San Blas that I listed on Wednesday. It’s a gorgeous 3,124 square foot, 4-bedroom, 4-bath show home built in 2005 by Charles House who did just the highest quality work. The gulf views are really good.  Here’s a detailed description:

This first tier gulf view home is one of the most beautiful on Cape San Blas! The first level features the living area & kitchen w/quartz counters. 10′ ceilings add to the feeling of spaciousness. The living area opens to a 10′ by 28′ screened porch. Off this porch is an open sun deck w/a straight on water view. The 2nd floor features a 546 sf gulf front master suite & bath which opens onto another large gulf view covered deck. There is a bedroom w/private bath. The top floor also has a gulf front master suite w/bath. Being sold furnished – custom decorated w/premiere furnishings. Elevator. Ample parking & storage space for all your vehicles & water toys, including your boat & trailer. NO HOA fees to pay & in the X zone so flood insurance is NOT req. It’s one off the beach so you’ll save by not having to pay the higher gulf front tax level.

Finding a price change pick of the week is hard to do with those gulf and bay view Ovation lots ranging from $50,000 to $125,000 and figuring maybe $120 per square foot in average construction costs.  With those numbers you could theoretically have a 2,000 square foot brand new home on a lot with gulf and bay views plus world class amenities for under $300,000. I’m not seeing anything that can beat that.

It’s been another full weekend here for me in the real estate biz which is why this is being posted on Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday morning. I enjoy hearing from so many of you, both buyers and sellers.  I’ll be listing some more fine properties here in the coming week so be sure to check back. If you are considering selling, give me a call if you’d like a pricing report for your property and to learn about my marketing plan for your home or lot.

I hope you have a terrific week and look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for stopping by this afternoon.

With all the sales activity we’ve had during spring break I’m beginning to think Savvy Real Estate Investing 101 must be a popular new course on campuses this year. We’ve had another great week, with three sales and four new contracts, six new listings and nine price changes. Very little change in our inventory, nudging upward by only three to 391, with 147 houses and 244 lots listed in the MLS in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and Co-Corridor market. Let’s see what caught buyers’ eyes.

Once again, all three of  our sales are lots which is so good to see as demand for land is key to recovery. The cream of the crop is this fabulous 100′ wide bay front lot in Peninsula Estates which sold for full list price of just $199,000, which is dead on the money for the county has it assessed at $200,000.  The sellers should be fine with this as they’ve owned it since 1984 when they purchased it for $31,400 which is the equivalent of $64,000 in today’s dollars. I just love it when both parties end up getting a really good deal.

Another good deal in Peninsula Estates was this first tier gulf view lot over on Shoreline which Capital City Bank had listed for $160,000 and which they agreed to take $131,000 for, again, almost on the dollar with the county’s assessment of $135,000. This one-third acre lot last sold in April 2002 for $200,000.

Our third and final sale is a unique piece, a 6+-acre parcel out on C-30 past the Indian Pass Raw Bar.  Measuring an impressive 606′ by 532′,  the seller had it listed for $79,000, but took $60,000 for it on Thursday. Kesley was doing real well today up to this point but he’s off by a mile on this one having it assessed at almost twice that at $111,229. Once again, though, the seller should be in good shape having given just $16,000 for it in 1988.

Onto our four new contracts, starting in Cape Breezes about a mile south of the state park entrance where this 100′ wide gulf front lot with a list price of only $279,500 found a taker. This is just amazing as this same lot sold in April 2005 for $1.2M.  Ouch ouch ouch and ouch. Kes blew this one, too, having it assessed at $640,000. We’re looking at a real comp killer with this one.

Our second contract is a really sweet deal, too, a bank-owned first tier lot just south of Scallop Cove with a list price of only $89,000, compared to an assessed value of $199,500.  It’s one-third of an acre and has deeded gulf access and terrific gulf views. It last sold the month the music died out here, September 2004, for $350,000.   I say that because that’s the month the inventory began its long march upward as fewer and fewer buyers were waiting in the wings willing to play anymore.

When was the last time you saw a lot for less than $15,000 around here? Probably circa 1996 or so. But our third contract is on a half-acre interior lot out on C-30 in Stillwater near the Franklin County line and it has a list price of just $14,900.  Yes, it’s bank-owned, and they can’t be any too happy about this one as they’re letting it go for less than 10 cents on the dollar having last sold in August 2005 for, $174,000. That’s about 8 cents on the dollar.

It has been another busy week here for real estate and this week it was all about Cape San Blas lots, where one lot sold and four others went under contract. Our inventory of active MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass, C-30 Corridor area inched down by four, coming in at 388, with 144 houses and 244 lots. We had an equal number of new listings and price changes with six of each.

Our solo sale is actually two adjacent bank-owned, 25′ by 100′ gulf view lots in San Blas Shores next door to Ovation. They last sold in August 2004 as part of a package deal of five adjacent lots  for a total of $500,000.   The bank listed them in February for $150,000, and they sold on Friday for $105,000 cash, which is still above the county’s assessed value of $77,400.

We head just next door to Ovation to begin our tour of this week’s four new contracts. First to go is this interior lot which is one the group of lots the developer recently listed for an amazingly low $50,000. I’m not surprised to see them starting to get snatched up.  There are no contingencies to be met and it’s scheduled to close by August 1.  I’ve had a lot of inquiries about these Ovation lots so I fully expect to start seeing more and more go under contract soon.

We head about a mile and a half south for our second new contract, and it’s located on Cape San Blas Road at Ocean Haven. These second tier lots have both bay and gulf views.   This one’s a third of an acre, measuring 66′ by 215′ and is listed as a short sale for $119,000 having last sold in January 2008 for $250,000, more than twice its current assessed value of $112,000.

Our third contract is on a 51′ wide gulf front lot on Clipper Way at Feather Sound.  This is a pretty lot nestled between two nice homes. It is listed as a short sale with a list price of $220,000, having last sold in mid-2004 for $550,000. The sellers put it back on the market in December of that year for $795,000, and have been trying to sell it ever since.  It took them five and a half years, but they finally have a contract. The county has this one valued at $300,000. 

Our fourth and final contract is on another gulf view lot, this one at Turtle Dunes about half a mile north of Scallop Cove. The sellers bought also bought this one in mid-2004 when they paid $390,000 for it. Today it’s listed as a short sale for $150,000, well below the county’s assessment of $218,000.  They’ve been trying to sell this one for five years as well, having listed it in March 2005 with an opening asking price of $625,000.

No show stoppers among the new listings or price changes so we”ll wait until next week to see if there are any worthy of my Picks of the Week status.  I hope you’re enjoying similarly gorgeous Spring weather in your  part of the world as we are here on the the Cape this week. I have some serious Spring fever and anxious to head out and enjoy some of this warm sunshine. I’ll have my cell phone with me, so if you want more info on these or any other property, or if you want to talk about what your property might bring today if you’re an owner, by all means give me a call at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . Always happy to talk real estate.  I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for stopping by.

Business continues to rock right along – I have back-to-back-to-back showing appointments today (Saturday) so I will be posting this week’s review on Sunday.  I don’t want to skimp on the info I provide you, so I’d rather post it late than incomplete.  I do hope you’ll check back – there’s lots going on.

I am very much liking what seems to be the new norm, which is a lot of sales activity going on. We had another banner week with a whopping five sales and two new contracts.  Our inventory of MLS properties for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-Corridor market stands at 392, up 2 from last week, with 141 houses and 251 lots.  In other activity we have fourteen new listings and eight price changes.

Let’s start with the first of our five sales up by the state park at Barrier Dunes where this 3-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 1,172-square foot unfurnished townhouse listed for $159,900 sold on Wednesday for $140,000, way below the county’s assessed value of $22,007.  This wasn’t sold as a short sale even though it last sold in August 2003 for $185,000. 

Our second sale is a lovely bank-owned, 3-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath gulf view home in Seagrass which last sold in mid-2005 for $980,000.  This is interesting in that it was listed for $345,000 and sold above list on Monday for $390,000; this typically happens when a property is aggressivley priced to the point where it generates a type of  ‘feeding frenzy in the marketplace resulting in multiple offers. This actually happened on two of our sales this week, this one and a gulf front lot we’ll look at in a little while.   The county had this one assessed a good bit higher than sale price, having it at $437,101.

Next up is an impressive home in Jubilation on the south side of the Cape listed for $995,000. It’s an exquisitely furnished 5-bedroom, 5 1/2-bath, 3,166-square foot home situated on a generous 1.15 acre gulf front lot.  In 2007 it sold for $1,239,800, but the county has already lowered their assessment to $705,047. On Wednesday it sold for near list at $950,000.  Jubilation is an upscale development done by the same company who did Ovation, Ashwood Development.

We have new neighbors!  This building next door to my office is our fourth sale and it’s another big place, 3,894 square feet to be exact, with five bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths and lots of porches. It’s zoned mixed commercial-residential and previously housed a vacation rental company who lost it to foreclosure. This time around it is going to serve as a private home. The bank had it listed for $395,000 and it sold on Thursday for $380,000, way below its assessed value of $628,234.

Our fifth and final sale is our only lot this week, and this is the one that caused such a frenzy. It’s a 77′ wide gulf front lot in beautiful Sunset Pointe north of Sea Cliffs and Barrier Dunes, which the bank put it up for sale just recently with with list price of just $250,000. This for a lot which sold in 2004 for $836,000. The county has it assessed for about half that, at $462,240, and on Wednesday it sold for about half that value, for $255,700. So we have two sales in one week go for above list.

The first of this week’s two new contracts is a short sale on an attractive 4-bedroom, 4 1/2 bath, 3,789 square foot gulf view home in Seagrass on the Cape listed for $499,900.  The sellers paid $385,000 for it in late 2004, and it’s currently assessed at $655,329.

Our other new contract is another short sale house on the Cape, this being one-half of a road-front duplex in Cape Dunes.  This is a really cute place inside. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, and roughly 1,019 square feet under heat and air. The sellers paid $302,500 for it and have it listed for just $249,000, but even that’s a good bit above the assessed value of $173,700.

Although there are some nice properties among our fourteen new listings, I’m not seeing anything debut in the super value range I like to reserve for my picks of the week, so we’ll pass until next week. Different story with our eight price changes, where I like this combo first tier/gulf front house on the Cape which is reduced from $425,000 to just $399,000.  In the spirit of full disclosure this is one of my listings.

This is a 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,073 square foot beach bungalow with panoramic views that make you feel as if you’re living in a Florida postcard.  The living area is wrapped with windows to showcase the gulf views from every angle. To illustrate what I mean by ‘gulf front/first tier combo’ here is an aerial shot showing the shape of the lot:

Here’s a late afternoon shot from the “front yard”. 

That’s a wrap for this week. If you’re interested in finding out more about these or any other property, or if you’re an owner considering selling, give me a call.   My cell phone is with me 24/7 so either call me at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com.  My email arrives on my Blackberry imediately whereas Verizon’s voice mail doesn’t always deliver same day service, so if you reach my voice mail and haven’t heard back from me within a reasonable amount of time, please try email.  Have a wonderful Easter weekend, and thanks so much for stopping by today.