Ponte Vedra Beach, FL

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.

Here are the 2011 stats and 2010 for comparison -

2011

• 8 Homes Sold (YTD=51)
• Lowest price: $123,900 (YTD=$119,900)
• Highest price: $2,500,000 (YTD=$4,700,000)
• Shortest Days on Market: 5 (YTD=1)
• Longest Days on Market: 277 (YTD=2065)

2010

• 12 homes sold (YTD=56)
• Lowest price: $160,000 (YTD=$49,000)
• Highest price: $2,600,000 (YTD=$5,375,000)
• Shortest Days on Market: 20 (YTD=4)
• Longest Days on Market: 478 (YTD=744)

Home sales are down about 25% year over year, not as close to flat as they appeared in the January-June report. Days on market has declined, indicating sellers are pricing correctly. The lower end does not appear that much different year to year; and the upper end is flat year over year.

Ponte Vedra Beach has a varied housing supply, including townhomes and condos that make it affordable for many, along with the St. John’s County school districts, and a lower tax base.

Properly priced and properly presented properties are STILL selling – currently, the Jacksonville area has about 8.12 months of inventory (housing supply), right now and homes can and do sell in very few days on market. Ponte Vedra Beach has 17.38 months of inventory as I write this post, which is up significantly over the June numbers which showed 9.4 months of inventory.

If you are ready to list your home, call me for a comparable market analysis to see what price range you should list in, and to learn more about what sets myself and Prudential Network Realty apart from the competition. Our home sales in our Atlantic Beach office are up 26% comparing 2010 to 2009, so we know how to sell homes.

If you or someone you know is considering a short sale, please have them contact me for a no-obligation confidential interview about their current situation and how best for them to move forward. I hold the Certified Distressed Property Expert, and am one of a mere 18,000 who do so – I can help salvage their credit, and their financial future.

Here are the 2011 stats and 2010 for comparison -

2011

• 51 Homes Sold
• Lowest price: $119,000
• Highest price: $4,700,000
• Shortest Days on Market: 1
• Longest Days on Market: 2065

2010

• 56 homes sold
• Lowest price: $49,000
• Highest price: $5,375,000
• Shortest Days on Market: 4
• Longest Days on Market: 744

Home sales are down about 8% year over year, very close to flat. The lowest price home sold figures are up impressively year over year, similar to other beaches communities. I’m not concerned at all about the difference in the highest price home sold figures, as Ponte Vedra Beach has more high end homes. The days on market has decreased on the low end, and that anomaly of 2056 days on market was a $3M dollar listing! The shortest days on market this year was the most expensive property sold year to date as well.

Ponte Vedra Beach has a varied housing supply, including townhomes and condos that make it affordable for many, along with the St. John’s County school districts, and a lower tax base.

Properly priced and properly presented properties are STILL selling – currently, the Jacksonville area has about 8.12 months of inventory (housing supply), right now and homes can and do sell in very few days on market. Ponte Vedra Beach has 10 months of inventory as I write this post.

If you are ready to list your home, call me for a comparable market analysis to see what price range you should list in, and to learn more about what sets myself and Prudential Network Realty apart from the competition. Our home sales in our Atlantic Beach office are up 26% comparing 2010 to 2009, so we know how to sell homes.

If you or someone you know is considering a short sale, please have them contact me for a no-obligation confidential interview about their current situation and how best for them to move forward. I hold the Certified Distressed Property Expert, and am one of a mere 18,000 who do so – I can help salvage their credit, and their financial future.

A while ago, I posted a blog about the popularity of our sole Ponte Vedra Beach free parking public beach access, Mickler's Landing.

Yes, the same Mickler's Landing I visited yesterday morning for my sprint triathlon.

The long debated argument about public access to Ponte Vedra Beaches, Mickler's Landing has a nice walkover, bathrooms, showers to rinse off, trash and recycling.

And, only 248 parking spots.

When those 248 spots are gone, which is about 11am on Sunday 7/3/11, beachgoers park along the side of Mickler's Road, and around other areas, some more legal than others.

Hence, a Plan B was prescribed: have beachgoers park in the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall at 1050 Florida A1A N, then be shuttled to the beach via van. The shuttle would be every 30 mintues on the hour to the beach, and every 30 minutes from the beach on the half hour, running from 10a-4:30pm.

So, last weekend was the second weekend they ran the pilot program, and.....two families took advantage of it. This leads me to believe there is not enough knowledge of the program, which will lead to the inevitable conclusion that this service (which is free now, but may require a nominal charge in the future to sustain) is not necessary.

If you live in Ponte Vedra, and are parking at Mickler's, or TRYING to park at Mickler's, please utilize this program either this weekend or next weekend, which is when the trial ends.