Cape San Blas Real Estate Blog

 No evidence of global warming around the Cape this morning - IT’S COLD OUTSIDE! It was 40 out here on the peninsula when I woke up, and according to weather.com it was 35 in town. There’s been a bit of a chill on our local real estate market this week as well, as for the first time since I started this column fifteen months ago, we had no sales and no new contracts. Even our inventory remains unchanged with a total of 391 active listings in the MLS within Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and the C-30 Corridor, with 164 homes and 227 lots. What little activity there was consisted of four new listings, eight price changes, and six expired unsold.

There’s an absolute clear winner for my pick of the week in this week’s four new new listings - just in time for Christmas, how about a half acre, 50′ gulf front lot at Indian Pass for only $299,000? I’ll save a few thousand words of copy and just show you some photos. This is a gorgeous piece of property.

At 0.57 acres, there is plenty of room to build your dream get-away beach home.

I’ll bet this one goes under contract and closes by Christmas at a price like this.

There is an equally clear winner among this week’s eight price changes, this one a 76′ wide lagoon front lot on C-30 fronting the Indian Pass lagoon, slashed from $149,000 to $78,000.

The sellers are highly motivated; according to the county records, they paid $259,000 for it in January 2005.  This large 0.6 acre lot is partially cleared and in a FEMA eligible area. Some lucky person is going to get themselves a very picturesque setting for their weekend getaway.

Call me and let me know if you’d like more detailed info on any of these attractive properties. You can always reach me on my cell at 850-227-5197 or send me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com since I check it throught the day and evening.  Thanks for stopping by today. Keep warm and have a great weekend.

What a tumultuous week.  The 22-month campaign marathon finally, mercifully came to an end while the stock market continues to whip wildly back and forth like a loose fire hose. It doesn’t look as if the stock market is going to be the safe haven of choice any time soon, which bodes well for the likelihood of real estate returning as the alternative investment of choice. 

No wild undulations locally as our inventory continues to whittle its way down, coming in this week with a total of 380 active MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market, down 6 from last week, with 158 homes (vs. 157) and 222 lots (vs. 229).  Only one sale this week and no new contracts, but we have four new listings, ten price changes, and twenty expired unsold.

Our one sale was the home out on C-30 that went under contract back in mid-September. This 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1600 square foot home was listed in August for $285,000 and closed this week for $260,000. The sellers did ok as they paid $220,000 for it in 2001 so they’ll make a nice little 9% return. 

My pick of the week from our four new listings is this Florida cottage with a gulf view in Money Bayou which is priced right at only $299,900.  This 4-bedroom, 2-bath, 1650 square foot home was built in 1999 and is situated on a quarter acre lot. Just a short stroll and you’re on the beach. Here’s what the listing notes say:

Beautiful home with view of water. Large living space with fireplace and oversized bedrooms. Wonderful wide porches for entertaining. Florida room /Art Studio gives this house several nice living spaces. Fenced back yard with shed. Large workroom/storage under house. Lots of parking area.

There’s lots to like among this week’s ten new price changes, too, but if I had to pick just one it would be this gulf front single family home in Treasure Shores reduced from an already low $795,000 to bargain priced $749,000.  Check out the view from the decks:

  I could get used to having my coffee there in the mornings. Here’s the listing notes details:

Lovely home with a great layout for lots of company. Each bedroom has a private bathroom, and all rooms face the beach. On the first level the kitchen, dining and living space enjoy ample beach front views; this area extends to the front deck with equally breathtaking views and roomy space for gatherings. On the west side of this floor is a king size bedroom with bath. On the top level are two bedrooms, a den-sitting area, and the master bedroom. All three rooms open to a large screened porch. Storm shutters, tile roof, great rental with a loyal follow up, and mostly in excellent condition with new carpet installed in 2007.

With a gross rental income of $31,185 the numbers work well. This 3-bedroom, 3-bath 1,886 square foot home was built in 1997 and sits on a 75′ wide, roughly half acre gulf front lot.

That’s a wrap for this week. I enjoy hearing from my readers so if you’d like additional info on these or other properties, or if you just want to talk about what’s going on at the beach, give me a call at 850-227-5197, or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . Thanks for stopping by today.

Lots going on this weekend what with Halloween and the Apalachicola Seafood Festival. There’s been lots going on in real estate, too, with investors starting to look for bargain properties to snap up. Our inventory of active MLS listings in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor drops to 386 from 392, with 157 homes (vs. 164) and 229 lots (vs. 228).  We have two sales this week (one townhouse and one lot), two new contracts, nine new listings, nine new price tags, and seven expired unsold. First let’s see who went to closing.

 The Cape Shoals gulf front townhome that went under contract back on the 14th with a list price of $214,900, closed on Thursday for $205,000. This was a bank-owned foreclosure which last sold in June of 2005 for $279,000. According to the MLS notes, this was not a short sale.

The lot that closed this week was a 50′ wide gulf front lot on Cape San Blas just south of Scallop Cove BP which was listed for $400,000 and sold for $361,000 on Thursday. 90% of list is not too bad in the current market. The sellers bought it all the way back in 1996 for $85,000 so they did very  nicely. What other investments can you think of that have more than quadrupled in value in just twelve years? Long term real estate investing is still a smart choice.

There has been a lot of activity in Sea Grass on the Cape recently, and one of our two new contracts continues that trend with this 3-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath, 2600 square foot gulf view home listed for an even $500,000. This is another bank-owned property which was turned over by the Clerk of the Court in April. According to county records, it last changed hands via a quit claim deed exactly two years ago on Halloween in 2006 with a recorded price of $647,000.

  Our other new contract is on a 2-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 1369 square foot gulf view townhouse at Barrier Dunes listed for $299,000. The photo shows the view from the home. This one last sold in March 2005 for $425,000 so someone’s going to get a good deal here, just not the seller.  

Lots to like among our nine new listings this week, but if I had to pick just one it would have to be this lovely first tier home in Treasure Shores for only $479,000. Check it out:

Luxury First Tier Coastal Cotttage w/Deeded Beach Access. Designer interior with Cottage theme including flat woodwork around all doors & windows, beaded board in bathrooms, all hardwood floors up & down, custom cottage fireplace. Gourmet kitchen. Exotic Granite in kitchen and Baths. Stainless steel appliances in kitchen. Very large screen porch and large covered porch upstairs. Beautiful landscaped yard with sprinkler system on a deep well. Rear driveway thru natural foliage. This is a very well built house! Extreme Value! FEMA.

It wasn’t too long ago you couldn’t even buy just a first tier lot in Treasure Shores for $479,000.   This home is priced to sell right out of the starting gate.

My pick of the week from our nine new price tags is another easy choice: how about a 100′ wide bay front lot on Cape San Blas zoned mixed use (residential or commercial) for only $299,900, down from $360,000? Great location, just shortly after you turn onto Cape San Blas Road. Owner financing is available, too.

That about does it for this week. I apologize for not updating last Saturday, but I took a week off to head down to Tampa for a friend’s wedding. Had a great time but glad to be back. People often ask me where do people who live on the Cape go to vacation and I tell them anywhere we go just serves to remind us why we’re so blessed to live here. Give me a call at 850-227-5197 if you’d like info on these or any other properties or shoot me an email. to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . Let’s see what we can do about finding you your very own Cape escape.

Well, the world didn’t end this week as everyone predicted, so if Wall Street is still alive I guess there’s hope for real estate, too. Aother nice drop in our inventory this week, down 10 to 388 with nine fewer homes (160 vs. 169) and one fewer lot (228 vs. 229). Despite all the doom and gloom from the media, we managed to eke out one closing and one new contract. Much of the inventory reduction is from expireds not relisting; we had 23 expireds in all, only one new listing and nine price changes.

The house at Seagrass that went under contract back on September 11 closed on Wednesday after having been on the market 524 days.  The sellers bought the home in May 2005 for $1.1M and put it on the market in April 2007 for $1,199,000. Since then they have repeatedly dropped the price, finally ending up at $699,000 in August, which was all it took to get a buyer to step up the plate with an offer. The buyers were able to get a contract for $625,000 plus agreeing to pay one half of the cost of the doc stamps and $8400 of the sellers’closing costs.

Our new contract is on a lovely gulf first tier home located in the Two Palms subdivision on Cape San Blas.  The sellers have had it on the market since December 2005 when they listed it for $1.16M. Like our sellers above, they, too, have been tweaking the asking price downward ever since to a final list price of $749,900.  These sellers should fare a little better, though, as they purchased the undeveloped lot in early 2000 for $68,500 and then built the home, so depending on what the actual contract price is and provided they haven’t used it as an ATM, they should come out ok.

Our solitary new listing is on a home in Sea Grass where our one sale was this week, but since no photos have been posted of it yet I’m going to include it in next week’s new listings so you can have a better idea of what the place is actually like.

   My pick of the week from among the nine price changes is this bay front house just a little south of the entrance to the State Park. The sellers have been trying to sell since May 2006 when they listed it for $1.2M. They’re been lowering the price since then and this week dropped it to $799,000. This is a beautiful secluded setting, very peaceful and private, with 100 feet of bayfront.  There are lots of little extras to like with this home, one of my favorite of which is the bay front pool. Check out this view from one of the decks:

That wraps it up for this week’s review. Give me a call toll free to 877-512-9366 ext. 109 or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com if you’d like further info on these or any other properties. If you’re considering selling, ask me for a property pricing report. Have a great week.

The two major news stories sharing the headlines this week have been the wildly undulating international financial markets and the rescue and recovery efforts in Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. The one glimmer of sunshine in the news comes out of California where housing sales soared upward 13.6 percent in August fueled by a flood of foreclosures. According to MDA DataQuick who released the report on Thursday, 46.9 percent of the 37,988 homes sold last month were foreclosed properties.  This is encouraging because Florida’s market typically mirrors California’s.

In spite of all the somber headlines, there was still activity in our local real estate market, albeit no closings for the second week in a row. Our active inventory of MLS listings remains unchanged at 404, with 170 homes and 234 lots for sale in the Cape San Blas, Indian Pass and C-30 Corridor market. We have one new contract, six new listings, nine price changes, and ten expired unsold.

Our one new contract is on a 1600 square foot, 3-bedroom, 2- bath classic Florida cottage on C-30 not far from Waters Edge subdivision. This beautifully built home overlooking a lush savanna is listed for $285,000, and the sellers have owned it since mid-2001 when they purchased it for $220,000. The contract is scheduled to close on or before October 31, so we’ll have to wait awhile to find out what the final price is.

My pick of the week from our six new listings is easily this gorgeous 3388 square foot, 6-bedroom, 4-bath gulf front home for only $899,000. That’s like buying the lot and having the house thrown in for free, and this beautiful home is brand new construction. Check out the view.

Here’s the MLS description:

Huge, brand new, beautiful gulf front home with elevator and FEMA flood insurance, priced aggressively to sell. Many custom appointments including hardwood floors throughout main, granite countertops, beautifully tiled bathrooms and showers. Home is completely finished inside. Would make an awesome rental home that could easily sleep 14 or more people, excluding living room. Gulf front homes with 6 bedrooms, plus game room or additional sitting room and an elevator are rare and in high demand as rental accomodations. Large 300 sq ft deck on all 3 floors with expansive views of the beach and gulf. The entire 3rd floor is the master suite with elevator access, separate shower, Jacuzzi tub, tile and a huge walk-in closet. Beach walkway in place.

According to the tax rolls, in February 2007 the sellers paid $926,500 for just the unimproved lot, so we’re looking at a short sale here.

  My pick of the week from the nine new price tags is this picture-postcard perfect gulf front lot at Secluded Dunes on Cape San Blas just south of the State Park, which was listed for $999,000 and is now reduced to only $599,000. This 61′ wide lot last sold in September 2004 for $910,000.

That about wraps it up for this week’s review. If you’re interested in finding out more about these or any other properties, give me a call toll free to 877-512-9366, ext. 109, or shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com . As always, thanks so much for stopping by today.

Living in a coastal community is 99% bliss, but when hurricanes threaten life gets challenging. We on the Cape have had some inconveniences from Ike but no life threatening problems. I’ve been listening on the internet tonight to KTRH from Houston where the storm is bearing down and as a fellow coastal resident with a keen feeling of “but there but for the grace of God go I”, my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Galveston, Houston and all the coastal communities in harm’s way with wishes for their safety, survival, and access to rapid resources to help them restore, when this storm is over. 

Please remember these people in your prayers tonight.

7:00 p.m. UPDATE - We have a fluid situation here, absolutely no pun intended. I just had a call from Paula Pickett, Executive Director of the Gulf County Tourist Development Council, who drove out to the Cape within the hour, and was told the road is such that if it’s passable (which it is right now),  they’ll let you out here. So unless things change, if you have plans to come this weekend, owner or visitor, it seems as if you should be able to come on out.  

4:00 p.m. UPDATE - Just spoke with Gulf County Emergency Management and they are now saying that as of this afternoon ONLY owners and emergency vehicles will be allowed through, and that guests scheduled to arrive tonight should contact their rental companies to make refund arrangements. The woman I spoke with said owners must provide some proof of ownership such as an electric bill.  

2:00 p.m. UPDATE - VMS is the company in charge of repair efforts at Stumphole and word I’m getting this afternoon is they are being very strict about traffic access and determining who drives through. Drivers are apparently being told to take very seriously that if they are allowed access to the Cape, they may not be allowed to leave again for some time.

If you are coming down for the weekend, have with you either some sort of proof of ownership or a printed reservation showing where you are staying to reduce the chances of problems.  Also, bring what you need with you as you may or may not be able to get back into town Saturday or Sunday to pick up groceries.  Scallop Cove is open for business for sundries and such (i.e. bread, beer, wine and ice), but you may want to consider filling up on gas before coming out. Jill (the owner) said her gas supply overall is ok so far, getting a bit low on premium, but with today’s $1.00+ per gallon price spike, she told me she’s been quoted between $4.50 and $5.50 a gallon so she’s going to hold off on ordering more.

10:50 a.m. I just got back from Stumphole and they’ve cleared one lane . . . sorta . . . for emergency vehicles and local traffic to trickle through under escort of equipment to clear the way.  The tide is going back out - a bit - but there are still a lot of waves breaking over the wall. Conditions should hopefully improve during the day, but as for me - personally I don’t need to be anywhere badly enough this morning to want to drive through this saltwater gauntlet.

Here is the latest update from Emergency Management:

Gulf County remains under a High Surf Advisory. These conditions will continue to lead to hazardous rip currents as well as dangerously high surf along Gulf County’s beaches. These conditions will be life threatening to anyone entering the watering including experienced surfers.

 Indian Pass Road (CR 30B) has been opened to all traffic and the Cape San Blas Road (SR 30E) remains closed except to emergency vehicles and local traffic only. Conditions in this area remain extremely dangerous, therefore only those residents that must travel through the area will be allowed in. Coastal residents and visitors are encouraged to continue to monitor coastal conditions throughout the day.

7:40 a.m. - The Sheriff has re-closed Stumphole this morning as waves continue to break over the rocks. High tide is at 8:30 and there is hope they can reopen Cape San Blas Road to traffic after the tide subsides later on this morning. I will let you know as soon as I hear anything new.

3 p.m. Update from Gulf County Emergency Management:  

Gulf County remains under a High Surf Advisory and a Coastal Flood Advisory. These conditions will continue to lead to hazardous rip currents as well as dangerously high surf along Gulf County’s beaches. These conditions will be life threatening to anyone entering the watering including experienced surfers.

 Indian Pass Road (CR 30B) remains closed at this time and the Cape San Blas Road (SR 30E) has been opened to emergency vehicles and local traffic only. If conditions continue to improve, school buses will be operating tomorrow in the Indian Pass and Cape San Blas areas. Coastal residents and visitors are encouraged to continue to monitor coastal conditions throughout the day.

          For additional information contact Gulf County Emergency Management at 229-9110.

Thanks to radical environmentalist bureaucrats in Tallahassee, Cape residents are cut off from the mainland this morning as waves crash over the wall at Stumphole which was badly damaged by Gustav. Despite the hard work of our Sheriff’s department who did the best they could moving rocks from the north end over to the low areas towards the middle of the wall, by 4 a.m. this morning they had no choice but to close it to traffic.

The beach renourishment continues to work as advertised and although we’ve lost a lot of beach, the homes I saw in the areas where renourishment has been completed were safe and sound. You can see in this photo taken in my neighborhood, Cape Breezes, how the gentle slope of the new beach prevented the waves from cutting into the base of the primary dune line.

Over on the bay side, I just thought I saw a high tide during Gustav. In the fourteen years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen anything like this.

This was taken from the porch of one of the cottages behind Scallop Cove; normally this is a vast expanse of green lawn. The water actually came up underneath several of the cottages.

I’ll be in touch with county officials today monitoring the situation and will let you know as soon as I hear they are letting traffic back through.  If you have questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to either shoot me an email to sherri@sherridodsworth.com or call me on my cell, 850-227-5197.

Although the county was able to quickly reopen Cape San Blas Road to traffic again by late Monday afternoon after closing it at 10 a.m., the rocks at Stumphole took quite a thumping and FDOT will hopefully make repairs quickly.  I saw three of their crew members out yesterday with measuring equipment so hopefully that will be the case.

I can’t stress enough how well the beach restoration did its job. I only wish the storms could have held off just a few weeks longer to allow the entire project to have been completed in front of everyone’s homes. Paula Pickett, Executive Director of the Tourist Development Council, echoed this sentiment:

” . . . we are very pleased with the performance of the beach. There was certainly some loss, though we do expect the majority of sand to be in the system still and come back on shore within the next week or so. This is assuming that there are no further storms to take it away. The escarpments (clifting) of the sand was minimum and the waves’ impact was held to a minimum due to the gradual sloping of the shoreline, as opposed to the previous flat beach that allowed the waves to basically cut into the duneline”.

“I personally feel great losses were avoided by having the beach in place and can’t wait for that level of protection to be along the entire coastline”.