Fickling of Florida Blog

Six homes sold on St. George Island during January, four of which were distressed sales.  There are currently twenty-eight homes under contract on St. George Island, twenty-one of which are short sales or foreclosures.

Two homes sold in Apalachicola in January,one of which was a distressed sale. There are currently ten homes under contract, seven of which are short sales or foreclosures.

Two homes sold in Eastpoint in January, one distressed sale, and there are currently two under contract, both of which are  distressed sales.

No homes sold in Carrabelle in January.  There are currently seven homes under contract, six of which are distressed sales.

Old Man Winter, begone!  It certainly seems Groundhog Phil read the right signs.  It doesn't slow us down too much down here in Franklin County Florida - we've had plenty of warm and sunny days to charge the batteries and go fishing, even if only cast netting for mullet.   Then after dark, there is plenty to do inside.  The Mardi Gras celebration at the Dixie Theater in Apalachicola  was enjoyed by a full house, with great music, great food and successful silent auction.  All told about $4,000 was raised for Habitat for Humanity and Franklin's Promise.  There is something at the Dixie every weekend for the next three months, no boredom allowed! 

January was a solid month for St. George Island real estate sales and upcoming sales activity in all areas (Apalachicola, Carrabelle and Eastpoint) looks positive too.  We are seeing a pent up demand for property at true market value.  Homes are significantly more affordable than they've been in recent years and most buyers are "end users", intending to enjoy the home and area, knowing full well this is a long term investment.  The online auction for the four local properties (a beachfront home and townhome on St. George Island,  creekfront lot in Carrabelle and commercial property in Apalachicola) ends Wednesday, February 17th - it's not too late to register to bid!

Judging from the reservations in the Fickling Vacation Rental department, we are going to have a busy spring break and summer season.   Last year many guests waited till a week before their vacation to book a rental home and that may still be true this year but many others are starting now!  Our list of rental homes is ever-growing so visit our website to see the new homes www.ficklingvacationrentals.com
We hope all is well with you and yours!  If there is anything we can do for you, don't hesitate to call.

Many buyers believe that short sales or bank owned foreclosures have to be the best deals on the market.  Sometimes that’s true, other times, not so much.  On St. George Island there are currently four bank owned homes listed for sale.  This does not necessarily mean that there only four bank owned homes on St. George Island, it just means these are the only four listed.  It may take a bank several months after foreclosing on a house before listing it with a Realtor. 

There are thirty-three short sales homes for sale right now on St. George Island.  Short sales can be a good deal, but they can be a huge time loss too.  Many banks are not responding to short sale offers. In some cases, owners themselves are not submitting all the purchase offer packages to their banks because they are earning rental income from their vacation rental home.  If the bank is already in pre foreclosure, the owner may not benefit from selling the home as a short sale and would rather pocket the income from a vacation rental home on St. George Island.  Some of the larger gulf front homes for sale and for rent on St. George Island generate over $100,000 rental income per year. 

Foreclosures and short sales require a patient buyer who is not afraid to pay attention to detail and may need to attend to homes that have suffered from deferred maintenance.  For that type of buyer, these distressed sales can be an opportunity to find some fantastic deals in the St. George Island real estate market!

One of the methods of analyzing a real estate market is by monitoring the absorption rates – or the amount of inventory divided by the number of homes that are selling in a particular period of time. In the simplest of terms – how long will it take to sell every home on the market? On St. George Island, the absorption rates are improving over the last four years. Six months absorption rate is considered a healthy, balanced market; greater than six months is considered a buyer’s market, less than six months is considered a seller’s market. It’s not surprising that St. George Island has been a buyer’s market since about 2005, but it is encouraging to see that the absorption rate is coming down.

Currently there are 128 homes for sale on St. George Island and 28 homes under contract.  There are 27 months of inventory which is still quite a ways from a 6 month healthy market but oh so much better than 123 months that we had in 2007!

Thirty percent of the homes for sale on St. George Island are short sales or foreclosures.  The short sales are not necessarily good deals but usually bank owned foreclosures are priced to sell. 

Visit Apalachicola Florida’s Dixie Theatre on Saturday February 6th, 2010 for it’s 7th annual Mardi Gras celebration benefitting Habitat for Humanity and Franklin’s Promise. 

Apalachicola Mardi Gras was an important community celebration until World War II.  It began again in 2004 as the yearly benefit for Habitat for Humanity.   This year, tickets are $20 and include dinner and live music.  Tickets are available at the door and the party is from 6:30pm-11:30pm.