Sales on 30A for July/Aug 2005

[wetwilly]

You guys trying to break Skier? Ain't gonna happen. You are wasting your breath. I think Skier has personal reasons for not wanting to be attacked by many people on this board. How can you guys blame him? I would be a little intimidated when looking across the isle.

BTW, the most expensive (total price, not price per sq ft) home in WaterColor is priced at $1,248 per sqft. That would be mls # 402377, priced just under $4M

Not trying to break Skier at all just want to see his digs and help him try and sell it by advertising it on the board. I know we will get nowhere asking for this.

As for the $3.95M WC "cottage", here is the description from the MLS:

This Watercolor "Beach Cottage" is located on the SOUTH SIDE of 30-A with privacy to the west overlooking the Lake and the Gulf of Mexico. A "cottage" is an understated description of this sophisticated design, yet comfortable living space, but the living space creates a warm and comfortable atmosphere for the beach. The attention to details is incrediable. Bedroom doors open to a large open space, yet the design allows complete privacy in each bedroom. The kitchen, living, dining area are open for wonderful family outings and they all open to a large balcony. Master bedroom is on the third floor with a small office alcove and wonderful private areas including you a balcony overlooking Western Lake and the Gulf of Mexico. You could live here full time, or enjoy memorable vacations. This is a home that you must see to understand. Amenities include tennis, swimming, canoeing, shopping, WaterColor exercise facilities, and many more. This 5 bedroom (one of the bedrooms is a bunk room)4.5 bathroom home comes completely furnished, with many added bonuses.

Pretty sweet pad south of 30-A with a good view of the Gulf over the dunes. Don't know if anything is expected to be built in the view line but too rich for my blood.

 

[Smiling JOe]

For that house, they paid $3.6M back in Mar '05. The list price then was the same as today, $3.995M.

Did I mention they went for a quick flip? They bought it on the 17th of Mar and relisted it on the 30th of Mar for $4.15M. The listing expired and they just relisted it at the lower price of $3.995M

 

[Cork On the Ocean]

Skier,

Sorry but you're way to time consuming. I simply don't have the time to validate your information which is often inaccurate. Are prices dropping? I can only say that if you look at a lot yesterday that just had a price decrease today, yes "it" dropped but the MLS sales prices today are still about 20-25% over last year at this time. You continue to ignore that fact. :nono1:

In a past life, it was my job to analyze data and one thing I know is not to draw premature conclusions. Yes I do have more data at my disposal in many areas, not just watercolor and watersound.

I don't know what's going to happen in this market any more than you or anyone else does. You make very broad conclusions about the entire real estate market with isolated information about an area that is important to you. Watercolor and Watersound don't constitute the entire real estate market.

I've tried not to make conclusions about your motives but common sense tells us that if you really do have property listed for sale, there's no better venue than this one to sell it.

 

[Miss Kitty]

Not trying to break Skier at all just want to see his digs and help him try and sell it by advertising it on the board. I know we will get nowhere asking for this.

As for the $3.95M WC "cottage", here is the description from the MLS:

This Watercolor "Beach Cottage" is located on the SOUTH SIDE of 30-A with privacy to the west overlooking the Lake and the Gulf of Mexico. A "cottage" is an understated description of this sophisticated design, yet comfortable living space, but the living space creates a warm and comfortable atmosphere for the beach. The attention to details is incrediable. Bedroom doors open to a large open space, yet the design allows complete privacy in each bedroom. The kitchen, living, dining area are open for wonderful family outings and they all open to a large balcony. Master bedroom is on the third floor with a small office alcove and wonderful private areas including you a balcony overlooking Western Lake and the Gulf of Mexico. You could live here full time, or enjoy memorable vacations. This is a home that you must see to understand. Amenities include tennis, swimming, canoeing, shopping, WaterColor exercise facilities, and many more. This 5 bedroom (one of the bedrooms is a bunk room)4.5 bathroom home comes completely furnished, with many added bonuses.

Pretty sweet pad south of 30-A with a good view of the Gulf over the dunes. Don't know if anything is expected to be built in the view line but too rich for my blood.

Nothing will be built in front of these homes. I can SEE these homes from my west facing windows, but I could not SEE paying those prices!

 

[Smiling JOe]

Nothing will be built in front of these homes. I can SEE these homes from my west facing windows, but I could not SEE paying those prices!

Regarding that house, I understand that the builder was using it as his showcase house with custom everything. I also understood that the builder had close to $1,000 per sq ft in it when he sold it back in March. It does have unobstructed Gulf views from the Master suite on the 3rd floor.

 

[DBOldford]

I seem to recall that Opal brought a storm surge of 16 feet when it made landfall in Walton County. It was a Category 4 storm that stalled out in the Gulf and weakened, but the stall still resulted in a larger than normal storm surge. There was a lot of water. Porch furniture from Washaway House was floating down in front of The Red Bar. The original Conch Out, one of the little Butler cottages, was completely washed away. It was about a hundred years old and not elevated. But most of the older homes remain in Grayton and the area recovered pretty quickly. Dunes were pretty flat for some time and still are not the towering 30-ft. beauties that I remember from our childhood. Slower to recover were inland areas. Almost every tree in the beautiful lake yard in DeFuniak was destroyed. Now, most of the big trees are pines, but there were many oaks and other deciduous trees there prior to Opal. If we had a Katrina, it wouldn't make that much difference how high the water came up, because the winds would destroy everything up to Highway 20.

In response to the question about why it's so hard to build in CA...answer is growth management programs imposed by smart local governments. In most areas, development is required to pay its own way or go away, meaning infrastructure and connection fees for water and sewer, and more recently being required to build a certain percentage of "affordable" or workforce housing units as an inclusionary part of their projects. (15% is common.) The processing of new development (not counting single-family homes) takes about two to three years, because of the environmental documentation. This is just the entitlements process, not construction, and doesn't necessarily include the final design and building permits. It sounds awful and does result in high prices, but is now embraced by developers because their competition cannot possibly catch up when market demand changes. But for those of us who live here, it has been a great way to protect quality of life and community character, not to mention enhancing one's property value. Plus, we're not stuck underwriting the costs of new development here like we are in South Walton. It is shameful how little is required of those developers, especially when the size of their profit margin is considered.

 

[Bob]

I seem to recall that Opal brought a storm surge of 16 feet when it made landfall in Walton County. It was a Category 4 storm that stalled out in the Gulf and weakened, but the stall still resulted in a larger than normal storm surge. There was a lot of water. Porch furniture from Washaway House was floating down in front of The Red Bar. The original Conch Out, one of the little Butler cottages, was completely washed away. It was about a hundred years old and not elevated. But most of the older homes remain in Grayton and the area recovered pretty quickly. Dunes were pretty flat for some time and still are not the towering 30-ft. beauties that I remember from our childhood. Slower to recover were inland areas. Almost every tree in the beautiful lake yard in DeFuniak was destroyed. Now, most of the big trees are pines, but there were many oaks and other deciduous trees there prior to Opal. If we had a Katrina, it wouldn't make that much difference how high the water came up, because the winds would destroy everything up to Highway 20.

In response to the question about why it's so hard to build in CA...answer is growth management programs imposed by smart local governments. In most areas, development is required to pay its own way or go away, meaning infrastructure and connection fees for water and sewer, and more recently being required to build a certain percentage of "affordable" or workforce housing units as an inclusionary part of their projects. (15% is common.) The processing of new development (not counting single-family homes) takes about two to three years, because of the environmental documentation. This is just the entitlements process, not construction, and doesn't necessarily include the final design and building permits. It sounds awful and does result in high prices, but is now embraced by developers because their competition cannot possibly catch up when market demand changes. But for those of us who live here, it has been a great way to protect quality of life and community character, not to mention enhancing one's property value. Plus, we're not stuck underwriting the costs of new development here like we are in South Walton. It is shameful how little is required of those developers, especially when the size of their profit margin is considered.

Thank you, that sounds like an anti-growth gauntlet. Also, keeps out average folks desiring non-development residences with little time and money. How equal opportunity is that! But like Save Our Homes in Florida, it throws down the challenge to the newbies and non-residents. I guess Florida is becoming more like California. Still, The Valley of the Moon! What a place!

 

[Miss Kitty]

Regarding that house, I understand that the builder was using it as his showcase house with custom everything. I also understood that the builder had close to $1,000 per sq ft in it when he sold it back in March. It does have unobstructed Gulf views from the Master suite on the 3rd floor.

So, this is the green spec house? So, it did finally sell. IMH, this house was WAY over the top. Unusual use of materials (some nice)...and seemed very dark inside. We sent friends to look at it and they were turned off. Different stokes, I guess. I don't undersand the concept of the best views from the master bedroom! We have that as well, but duh...spend most of our waking hours in the living area!

 

[Miss Kitty]

For that house, they paid $3.6M back in Mar '05. The list price then was the same as today, $3.995M.

Did I mention they went for a quick flip? They bought it on the 17th of Mar and relisted it on the 30th of Mar for $4.15M. The listing expired and they just relisted it at the lower price of $3.995M

Jeez.....

 

[Kurt]

Nothing will be built in front of these homes. I can SEE these homes from my west facing windows, but I could not SEE paying those prices!

It is an awesome place - Virtual Tour