About Saint Johns County, FL

Sea Colony is a gated oceanfront community in St. Augustine Beach, Florida.

Originally platted in 1999, construction began in 2000 on the first homes. Sea Colony has 200 home sites, but only 28 are direct oceanfront and 27 are in a “cottage” style. The Sea Colony Community located on Anastasia Island, is approximately 114 acres with a 26 acre ocean dune buffer zone between the Atlantic Ocean and the oceanfront homes. The Sea Colony Community has four beach access boardwalks, a large swimming pool, a wading pool & cabana as well as 24 hour security and a gated entrance.

Directly to the north of Sea Colony is the City of St. Augustine Beach’s new Ocean Hammock Park. An 11 acre preserve park with a 1200 foot ocean boardwalk which provides ocean & beach access to the City residents & guests, but is not connected to the Sea Colony Neighborhood.

The theme of most homes in Sea Colony is Florida Vernacular, or a Key West Style with front porches, metal roofs and pastel colors. Several homes have turret style stair cases, ocean observation rooms and covered walkways from detached garages with in-law suites.

Homes range in size from a Cottage of 1700 square feet to over 6,500 square feet, some with individual pools, spas and waterfalls. Prices range from$400,000 to over $3,000,000. There are currently 23 homes on the market and in 2011, there have been 10 sales to date. There are 15 vacant lots available for a custom home and prices are from $125,000 to over $1,000,000 for one the last few oceanfront lots.

If you are looking for an oceanfront community or home, Sea Colony is one of the most prestigious neighborhoods on Anastasia Island in St. Augustine Beach. Let me show you around.

Marsh Creek is a gated golf community located on Anastasia Island in St. Augustine Florida. Originally developed in the late 1980’s, today it consists of over 550 homes and covers more than 800 acres located between the Atlantic Ocean and the ICW.

The Marsh Creek Clubhouse, built in 1988, is the center of the social activities for the neighborhood and the club members & guests. While it is not mandatory to purchase a membership to purchase a home in Marsh Creek, the Marsh Creek Country Club does offers an 18 hole golf course, 6 tennis courts, a swimming pool, fitness center, Club House and Dining Facility. www.marshcreek.com

The Dining Room faces west toward the Intracoastal Waterway and features spectacular sunset views over the marsh. Member Activities include bridge, a book club, bingo, mahjong and of course enjoy lunch and dinner, Sunday brunch in the Main Dining Room and Happy Hours in the 19th Hole.

The 18-hole golf course was designed by former PGA touring professional, Mark McCumber. The Golf Course features a GHIN Handicap System, Six Tee placements options, two putting greens, a chipping and practice area, a fully stocked Pro Shop, Ladies & Men’s Locker Room Facilities and of course the 19^th Hole. There are men’s, women’s and junior tournaments, golf lessons and social events available to all.

The Tennis Center features 10 Har-Tru surface courts, 6 of which are lighted for night play. There is a Tennis Pro Shop, Fitness Room and Outdoor Patio complete with wet bar, ice machine and spectator seating for match & tournament viewing.

Marsh Creek offers homes with views of the ICW, the Marsh, a lake or private preserve view, as well as multiple types of golf course views. The golf course homes overlook the tee boxes, the manicured fairways and surround the putting greens. There are even a few vacant lots available if you want to build a custom home.

Today there are currently over 30 homes for sale in Marsh Creek ranging from $ 300,000 to $1,700,000. The median price is currently $ 412,000. There have been 23 homes sold since January of 2011. Sales prices were from $270,000 to $723,000 with the median price of $386,000 and the average time on the market of only 180 days.

If you love golf or tennis, please visit the Marsh Creek Country Club while you are in St. Augustine. If you are looking to re-locate or dreaming of a second home located in a golf neighborhood, please let me know. I would enjoy showing you around one of St. Augustine’s premier communities.

St Johns County Florida Market Report

Single Family homes (attached & detached)

October 2011

Single Family homes in:

·St Johns County

·St Augustine

·St Augustine Beach

·Ponte Vedra

·Ponte Vedra Beach

·Palm Valley

·Nocatee

·Vilano Beach

October 2011 October 2010

Active Listings: 1,728 Active Listings: 2,305

Sold: 207 Sold: 170

Months Inventory: 8.35 Months Inventory: 13.56

Average Price: 482,905 Average Price: 489,232

As you can see from the picture above, we do have some fall color. That was taken about a week ago and the temp was around 81 that day. Love that temp in November! Just wanted to go back in time and take a look at the real estate market in St Johns County Florida in October 2005. There were a total of 1,008 available listings. 183 sold listings. Our months inventory was at 5.51. And that's for every price point total. The average sales price was 451,464. Just think, we sold more in October 2011 than October 2005, we just have 720 more homes available. Not a huge difference in the grand scheme of things really. Still slight improvements in the months inventory this month vs September 2011. Average price is down from September.

October 2011

And now for a Blast in the Past…………..

October 2010

Active Listings– The amount of active listings in the month reported

Sold– The amount of sold listings that closed in the reported month.

Months Inventory– How many months it would take to sell the current inventory based on the sold amount.

Avg Sale Price– Average sale price of the sold houses in the reported month.

SP/OLP Ratio– Sales price to Original List Price, this is the percentage showing the difference of what the house was originally listed for and what it sold for.

Days on the Market– The length of time it took the house to get under contract from list date.

Sold REO– How many homes sold that were foreclosures (REO=Real Estate Owned).

Sold Short Sales– How many homes sold, that were short sales

Want to know what these numbers mean to you when selling your St John's County Florida Home? Call me at 904-910-3516 and find out!

Before you do anything, start packing! You will have to do this anyhow, when the house sells, so get a jump on it before you even call a REALTOR to discuss listing it. Pack away the family photos, the chachka's that you've been collecting for the last 25 years and remove anything that might be a distraction to a potential buyer. You want them to be able to visualize their furnishings in your home by staying focused on the rooms not what's in it!

You may have an older home and have not updated it throughout the years. If you don't have the funds to replace faucets or update appliances, the next best thing you can do to get more money for your home is almost virtually free! The house needs to sparkle, old or new, and smell good, too! Scrub the baseboards, wash the windows, tidy up the closets, remove excess furniture, dust the fans, clean the vents. You get my drift! Your home is competing with model homes and must be looking its best, both inside and out! Your REALTOR should be able to make suggestions on items you may have missed after you list it.

Where you price your home, initially, is most important. Pay close attention to what your current market value is. Your REALTOR will go over the comparables with you to get a price range and determine a marketing plan for you to get your home sold. Price it right, and stay focused on where you want to be after the home sells and you should be well on your way to new destination!

When you have acquired a contract, your REALTOR will assist you in finding your next home and keep you on track to a successful closing! Good luck...

Since I still have the Cannondale for test riding, I decided to ride from my area to Micklers Landing, a nice 20 mile loop this morning.

You would, at first glance, consider Jacksonville to not be very cyclist friendly, and the city is indeed working on that; I prefer to stick with either roads that have nice wide bike lanes (usually the newer or more recently improved roads), or, my beach routes where you have lower levels of automobiles, and you share the road with other cyclists, runners, etc.

Today, I took a route to to Ponte Vedra Boulevard, and that is a wonderful ride. First, the speed limit is 25 MPH for most of the road. Second, the drivers are aware that cyclists use this road, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Third, there is probably no better way to enjoy oceanfront real estate up close and personal (minus the mortgage payment or REALLY good friends!). Plus, you get to go by three excellent oceanfront resorts on your way, so you can "shop" for where to stay on a future visit!

You will also see the public beach access points for Ponte Vedra along the way, to plan your beach time.

I took a 5 minute break at Mickler's Landing to water up before my way back; glad I did, there was a headwind on the way back, which made my time longer than projected.

I didn't take any pictures today, but hope this will suffice as motivation to check out the route.