Cape San Blas Real Estate Blog

After a string of busy weeks, our market finally took a bit of a breather this week, slowing down the pace with just two new contracts and no closings, only six new listings and five price changes. Since we didn’t move anything out of the inventory by closing sales, the number inched up by three, ending the week at 347, with 124 homes and 223 lots for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor MLS.

Both of our new contracts are lots on Cape San Blas, both short sales, the first being this first tier lot in Seagrass with a list price of $199,000, about 17% above the county’s assessment of $170,000.  This one’s sales history is a perfect illustration of the real estate bubble of the mid-2000′s, having sold in January 2004 for  $225,000 and then re-selling a year later for near triple that, for $625,000.

Our second contract takes us to the south side of the Cape to Jubilation where this interior lot went under contract as a short sale with a list price of just $39,900, having last sold in early 2005 for $335,000.  The current list is less than half the county’s assessed value of $85,000, but it’s in line with recent comps, so the property appraiser’s office simply hasn’t caught up with the actual market in this area.

I have a Pick of the Week from our crop of six new listings. It’s a spacious 6-bedroom, 4-bath, bank-owned gulf front home on C-30 which is new construction, nearly completed, just needing someone to see it across the finish line. If you’re looking for a large beachfront home for the whole gang to enjoy, this is it, with 3,348 square feet under heat and air, and a total of 5,344 square feet when you throw in all the porches and decks. All this on a  half-acre, 50′ wide gulf front lot with federal flood insurance available.  Here’s the details from the MLS:

Enjoy new construction right on the beach in great location! This gulf front home is nearly completed & ready for your finishing touches. Three full stories on pilings with ground level entrance & parking underneath. Large covered porches, spacious rooms, 6 BR/4 BA plus separate den or media room. Hardi-plank siding, metal roof. Top floor is master suite with separate shower, jetted tub. Fantastic gulf views and white sand beaches. Needs flooring, some fixtures, water heaters, paint, hardware, driveway and landscaping, repairs. Kitchen has stove, dishwasher, microwave. Home has never been occupied. Would make an ideal vacation rental home, second home or permanent residence. Quiet location. SOLD IN “AS IS” CONDITION.

That does it for this week. If you’re interested in finding out about other opportunities  or if you’re considering selling, let me know and I’ll be glad to help you either way. Call me on my cell at 850-227-5197 (there’s apparently a new tower now in town and I actually have cell service on most of the Cape now – what a concept!) or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . Have a terrific Easter weekend with family and friends, and thanks so much for taking time out of your schedule to stop by today.

Even with the tax deadline hanging heavy over the calendar this week, there was nothing taxing on the market mood as we had a bountiful week, with one sale and six new contracts, eight new listings, and five price changes. Accordingly, our inventory expanded, closing up by four with 344 properties listed in the MLS in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market.  Once again, we have a lot to cover today so let’s get to it.

I’ve written about the subject of our one sale several times, a gorgeous bank-owned bay view home in Ovation on Cape San Blas. Built as a spec home in 2007, this spacious 3,100 square foot, 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath lovely was originally listed by the builder/owner in May 2007  for $1.275M.  They had $340,000 into the lot alone which they bought in late 2005.  The owners unfortunately missed the peak and finished building well into the downturn, and were never willing to accept buyers’ offers brought in below their list price.  It went to the bank this spring and they listed it aggressively for $479,000 on February 16, and 30 days later it went under contract. Price it right and they will come. On Friday, my happy buyers went to closing and claimed their beautiful new home for $470,000.

The first of our six new contracts is also at Ovation where this steal of a deal came on the market and went under contract almost immediately. It’s a bay first tier lot listed by the developer for a very attractive $125,000,  a bit above the county’s assessed value of $95,000.  There are no contingencies to be met so this one should close quickly.

Our second sale is next door to Ovation in Peninsula Estates, where this bank-owned gulf first-tier, one-third-acre corner lot listed for $134,000 went under contract on Thursday. Here’s the stunning part of this: it last sold in the summer of ’05 for $780,000.  I have to admit I have a hard time getting my head around the staggering amount of money prior loan holders, banks, stockholders and taxpayers are hemorrhaging with these massive write-offs.

About two miles down the road, our third contract is on another listing which was snapped up pretty quickly after it went on sale, this one a 3-bedroom, 3-bath,  1,620 square foot gulf view home in Silent Sands, just north of Scallop Cove. The sellers listed it on March 15 for $365,000. The county has this one valued at $251,390 which is way low based on actual comp sales.

Up next is a gulf front lot on Louisiana Lane on the south side of the Cape which went under contract on Thursday with a list price of $399,000, a good bit above the county’s assessed value of $235,000.  I’m siding with the county on this one, so I’ll be curious to see what it actually closes for.  The property measures 50′ by 500, a little over half an acre, and the last time it went to closing in mid-2004 a check for $625,000 changed hands.

We’re heading over to Indian Pass for our next contract which is on this 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,440 square foot gulf view home which goes under contract with a list price of $299,900, more than double the county’s assesment of $129,794. Built in 1986, it last sold in 1989 for a modest $65,000.

  We’ll stroll just two blocks over to Palm Street for our next contract, this one on a gulf view lot measuring 75′ by 105′, or 0.18 of an acre. It’s not listed as a short sale despite the sellers having paid $425,000 for it in late 2004 and listing it now for $169,000. The county’s not quite that generous, pegging its just value at a mere $75,000.

I have to wrap it up short this week -  have to head out for my next appointment. I will try to post my Picks tomorrow.  It has been unbelievably good busy and there just aren’t enough hours in the day. It’s all good – so glad to have business booming again. I heard the same thing this week from a colleague who works on St. George Island. To quote her “the activity has been as high as we’ve ever seen it.  Stuff is now selling that has been on the market for years – it’s very good to see the decks finally beginning to clear a bit! ”  Agreed!  If you’re interested in buying or selling, let me know and I’ll be glad to help either way. Call me on my cell at 850-227-5197 or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com.

Spring Break continues and business is booming all over; while we don’t get a lot of college kids here, most go to Panama City Beach, we get their teachers and parents.  The rental companies, stores and restaurants have been busy as can be, and our real estate market is no different. We had a good week, closing another three sales, wrote four more contracts, listed six new properites and slashed prices on eleven others. That’s a lot of territory to cover so let’s get right to it.

The first of our three sales is a fixer-upper on a generous 1.32 acre gulf front lot on the south side of the Cape which sold as a short sale on Monday for $240,000, a good bit below its list price of $274,9000, and way below the county’s assessed value of $326,431. This 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,474 square foot house was built in 1983, and last sold in 1988 for a modest $129,000. Out of curiosity I ran that price through an inflation calculator and was surprised to find that $129,000 in 1988 dollars equates to $241,325 in today’s dollars. Wow. Twenty-three years on a gulf front home and zero real appreciation.

Just a little further down the beach in Piney Woods subdivision, our second sale is another gulf front lot listed for $259,900 which sold this week for $245,000.  This wasn’t a short sale, despite having last sold in mid-2004 for $850,000. Ouch.   Even though that new sale price is quite a dive, it’s not as low as the $200,000 the county has it pegged at. 

We’ll head on out onto C-30 over to the Treasure Bay area for our third sale, a bank-owned 75′ by 217′  bay view lot listed for $17,000, exactly half the county’s assessed value of $34,000.  This one last sold in early 2005 for an even $200,000, and someone picked it up this week for a mere $15,000, basically 7-cents on the dollar.

We’ll start up in Barrier Dunes to review of our four new contracts, beginning with a park view 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,172 square foot interior townhouse listed for $129,500, below the county’s assessment of $142,131. This unit was built in 2003 when it sold for $180,000.

About three miles down the road to Cape Shoals where our second contract was on this 1,120 square foot, 2-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, bank-owned gulf front townhouse, which went under contract with a list price of $159,900.  These townhouses were built in 1986 and this one sold that same year for $72,800, which my handy inflation calculator tells me is the equivalent of $147,000 in today’s dollars, probably pretty close to what it will sell for now. Interesting.  The county has it well above that at $161,785. This unit last sold in 2005 for $295,000.

Our third contract is on one of my favorite homes which I’ve featured it before as a Pick of the Week. It’s a gorgeous craftsman-quality gulf front stucco home in Money Bayou listed as a short sale  for $649,900, having last sold in 2006 for $1.25M.  The county has it at half that, for $567,295. This is so much home for the money, especially considering it sits on a wide stretch of stable beach front, is FEMA eligible and has no HOA fees. Situated on a 50′ wide gulf front lot, it has 2,172 square feet under heat and air with spacious decks on both levels for a total of 4,300 square feet. 

It’s tastefully decorated and being sold furnished.

The spacious kitchen features custom-crafted cabinetry throughout, gleaming granite counter tops, and high end appliances.

Our fourth and final new contract takes us about 2 miles east of the Raw Bar on C-30 to this 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,200 square foot home located on a 100′ wide lagoon front lot. Sold in late 2008 for $425,000, it’s currently listed as a short sale for $110,000, below the county’s assessed value of $124,739.

My New Listing Pick of the Week from our six new listings is at Barrier Dunes, one of the handful of cottages in the back by the park.  It’s a 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 1,876 square foot cottage with porches upstairs and down wrapping three sides nad it enters the market at $289,000. Don’t you love the Hemingway-esque Key West look of the white picket fence and palms?  The sellers bought it in December 2009 for $265,000, have now opted for a gulf front home and so are ready to sell this one. This one isn’t my pick because for the price, but because I just love this home and setting.

I’m going with a repeat for my Price Change Pick of the Week from our eleven price changes as this one earns that title for a third time with the owners of this gorgeous secluded bay front home in Treasure Bay ratcheting the price downward once again from $329,900 to $319,900.

Nestled on a cul de sac in Treasure Bay over on the mainland and situated on over 100′ of waterfront, this impeccably maintained 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,917 square foot home built in 2000 offers privacy in a natural setting.  Here is the description from the MLS notes:

Million Dollar Views! This well-maintained home is located in the peaceful bay front subdivision of Treasure Bay, just off SR-30A. Enjoy the laid-back lifestyle of this classic beach house design. The great room is an open-concept design with cathederal ceilings. The master bedroom features tray ceilings and his & hers walk-in closets. The two additional bedrooms share a charming “jack & jill” bathroom. From breathtaking sunrises, to mesmerizing sunsets, you’ll never tire of the panoramic views over pristine St Joe Bay.

This would be an ideal home for someone looking to live here year round.

That’ll do it for this week. If you’re interested in finding out more about one of these or any other properties, or if you’re thinking of selling, let me know and I’ll help you either way. Call me on my cell, 850-227-5197. or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . Have  a terrific week, and I really appreciate your stopping by today.

We had a fairly brisk week with three sales and one new contract but after such a smoking hot first quarter we’ve earned the right to cool off a little bit. We had a total of 36 sales this past quarter, with 21 houses and 15 lots sold in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 markets. That’s a very healthy 28 1/2% increase over Q1 2010 and a whopping 200% increase over Q1 2009. So it hasn’t just been my imagination – we really have been smokin’!  Our inventory took a nice little dip, closing the week at 342, down eight from last Saturday, with 124 houses and 218 lots listed for sale in our MLS for our area. In other activity, we added four new listings and fourteen price changes.

The first two of our three sales are both bank-owned lots in Ovtation, beginning with this bay-view lot located on the crescent South Echo Drive. These are my favorite lots in this subdivision as they offer unobstructed views of the bay for a fraction of the cost of an actual bay front lot. Very nice. This one last sold in late 2005 for $375,000. When Superior Bank inherited it recently, they put it on the market for $99,000 which was pounced on immediately, and on Friday it sold for $89,000. Ashwood Development has a number of these still at $125,000 so I’ll be curious to see if they move on those with this new comp.

I don’t typically delve into the Bay County MLS for researching each week’s review, but this second sale is an exception as it came to my attention unexpectedly this past week and it’s a clear example of the banks acting wrecklessly and destroying property values because they have the false comfort of the government absorbing a certain portion of the losses. Since our tax dollars are being used to absorb those losses, we’re essentially being forced to fund the destruction of our own property values. This is an amazing rabbit hole we’ve crawled down into.  Anyway, this is a second tier, gulf view lot in Ovaton which sold in late 2005 for $455,000. Those owners had been trying to resell it since late 2006 when they listed it for $575,000. Never happened. They kept lowering and lowering the price finally getting all the way down to $109,900 last fall, but Wells Fargo ended up with it and listed it for $103,900 in December, dropping it quickly to $97,450 around the first of the year. Why they listed a prime Gulf County lot in the Bay County MLS is puzzling to me as very few agents track several MLS’s on a daily basis so most of the  agents selling in this area weren’t even aware this was out there. They inexplicably dropped the price to a ridiculous low price of $44,950 and the listing agent had a buyer at that time interested in it who immediately put a contract on it. It sold on the 25th for that list price of $44,950, but didn’t appear in the MLS as being sold until Thursday. This sale doesn’t make sense to me at all as the bank had already received offers higher than that. I just don’t get it.  Even the county has it asessed for a far more reasonable $115,000.

   Our third and final sale takes us down by the rocks at Stumphole where this 5-bedroom, 5-bath, 2,296 square foot gulf front home complete with in-ground pool overlooking the beach sold on Tuesday for $525,000. It wasn’t listed as a short sale at its list price of $599,000 even though the sellers paid $940,000 for it in early 2008.  The county has this one at $390,903 which I think is way too low as I don’t believe you could build this house for that let alone build it and pay for a 55′ wide gulf front lot to put it on.

Our one new contract is a repeat, having been under contract once before back on February 3rd, and then put back on the market again.  It’s a bank-owned gulf-front, 4-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 2,690 square foot home located about a half-mile north of Scallop Cove. This is a lovely home, a bit formal for the beach for my liking, but very spacious with quality attention to detail in construction throughout. The owners who bought it in late 2004 for $1.178M tried to turn it seven months later when they put it on the market in June ’05 with a $1.985M asking price. We’ve seen how that movie ends. Anyway, the bank ended up with it, put it on the market for $549,900 (a fair bit above the county’s assessed value of $451,223) and we have a new contract.

I have a clear Pick of the Week from our four new listings - what’s not to like about a gulf front townhouse complete with FEMA flood insurance and a community pool for just $229,000? This 2-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 1,140 square foot end unit at Cape Villas is located out on C-30 right near the little bridge at Money Bayou.

There are nice porches overlooking the gulf, and the downstairs one off the living area is screened.

Here’s the view from the downstairs porch – only steps away from the surf.

When the surf’s a bit rough, you can always cool off in the community pool.

The home was built in 1986, but the kitchen has been recently updated with this bright and cheery area for serving up all our fresh local seafood for your family and friends.

At $229,000 it’s a short sale, having last sold in 2003 for $230,014 so you’ll need to be patient if you decide to have a go at making this one your own, which I’d be happy to help you do.  The county currently has it pegged at $153,609. Call me if you’re interested – I suspect this one will go pretty quickly.

Although there are some decent price changes among our fourteen price changes I don’t see anything on a par with a $229K gulf front townhouse, so we’ll just go with the one pick this week. Besides, it’s absoutely gorgeous outside today and I’m working a terminal case of Spring fever and that beach is calling me, so I’m gonna ditch this computer screen for some sun screen and call it a wrap.  I’ll have my cell phone with me if you’re interest in finding out more about buying or selling opportunities, so feel free to give me a call, 850-227-5197, or shoot me an eamil to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . Since I switched over to the iPhone 4, I actually have phone service on most of the Cape now. What a concept!  Have a terrific weekend, and thanks so much for taking time to stop by today.