It is a crisp but sunny Friday on Sanibel. With some record cold temperatures in Southwest Florida last night, islanders are happily enjoying a warm-up to the low 60’s today. It is expected to be back to the mid-70’s tomorrow and through the weekend.
Happenings at SanibelSusan Realty
There was good sales activity on both Sanibel and Captiva over the last few days, we had one listing go under contract and another sale close, but our requests for showings are down from last weekend, mostly because there are long-term tenants in many of the properties we have listed.
Near-beach home sales continue to dominate the market as baby boomers continue to transition from income-producing condos to more residential properties.
The action posted in the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Multiple Listing Service over the last week follows a couple of news items below.
Sanibel’s Vegetation Standards Protect Homeowners
Good reminders from the City – good for sharing – came with recent quarterly sewer bills. Below is the one titled “Sanibel’s Vegetation Standards Protect Homeowners”:
“For decades, Sanibel residents have sought to maintain the island’s sanctuary character by protecting our native environment. To help in this effort the City has adopted vegetation standards for homeowners and businesses. These include:
- A requirement that at least 75% of all vegetation (trees, shrubs, and ground cover) on a property be native plants; up to 25% may be non-invasive, exotic species.
- Property must be kept clear of 8 specific invasive exotic plants such as Brazilian pepper.
- Pruning of native plants is limited to 25% of the total leaf area in any one year.
- The type and use of fertilizer is carefully regulated to protect our water. This includes a ban on fertilizer use during the summer rainy season.
- A permit is always required to trim mangroves, to trim in the beach zone (dune), and to move or remove any native protected plant.
- All landscape contractors or persons hired to work on landscape must have a Sanibel Vegetation Competency Card. All professional fertilizer applicants must also be certified by the City.
“Native plants survive and thrive in our highly variable weather conditions (summer heat and rain and winter droughts), alkaline soil and proximity to salt water. They require little or no supplemental irrigation, do not need fertilizer and provide habitat for native wildlife.
“The Natural Resources Department section of the City’s website, www.mysanibel.com, offers information and photos of native plants, a listing of licensed contractors, Sanibel’s vegetation standards and codes, the Environmental reference Handbook prepared by the City’s Vegetation Committee, and much more. The Vegetation Committee also offers free native plant tours of the grounds at City Hall at 10 a.m. on the 2nd Wednesday and 4th Saturday of the month from November to April. Additional information is available by contacting the Sanibel Natural Resources Department at (239) 472-3700. “
Move Inc. Ready to Take on Zillow-Trulia
Wednesday’s “Daily Real Estate News” had the latest on the Zillow-Trulia merger. It’s going to be an interesting year:
“The real estate portal space is heating up with Zillow and Trulia finalizing their merger Tuesday. The number of major competitors serving this market has been reduced to two big titans: Move Inc., which operates realtor.com®, and Zillow-Trulia.
“Following the Zillow-Trulia announcement, Move released a statement saying, “2015 will mark Zillow’s year of the merge and realtor.com®’s year of the surge.”
“In an e-mail yesterday to Move employees, CEO Ryan O’Hara elaborated. “My expectation is that the two of us will wage a spirited battle for the hearts and minds of consumers and the industry, and we will push each other to be better performers – more focused on the customer, quicker to innovate, more committed to adding value at every stage of the real estate cycle. In this way, everyone wins.”
“Zillow finalized its acquisition of Trulia Inc. for $2.5 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction Tuesday. The acquisition forms Zillow Group Inc., which also houses New York-based StreetEasy and rental search brand HotPads. The company faces increased competition now that realtor.com®’s operator has the force of News Corp behind it. This past November the global media company, which operates real estate portals internationally and owns such titles as The Wall Street Journal and Barron’s completed its acquisition of Move Inc., tying its name to the REALTOR® brand.
““There is no digital replacement for the human touch,” Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp said during the Real Estate Connect conference in New York in January. “No technology can meet all of someone’s needs. It takes a real person. … We want the shortest distance between the American Dream and a family’s reality to be realtor.com®.”
“The acquisition has already proved a boon to Move’s traffic. Move Inc.’s web and mobile traffic jumped more than 30%. In January, Move reported an all-time high of 37 million unique visitors to realtor.com®.
“Move/realtor.com® is extremely well-positioned to compete and thrive in this environment of industry consolidation and data-driven customers,” O’Hara said in his e-mail to employees. “Competing in business typically involves trying to be better, cheaper, faster or different than your competition. How will we compete? By continuing to build the best web and mobile experiences for consumers and the best and most valuable tools for brokers and agents, and by providing the market with the most comprehensive, most accurate, and most up-to-date listings in the U.S. I can also promise you we will quicken the pace of product innovation and apply more marketing muscle to our consumer and industry outreach.””
Sanibel & Captiva Multiple Listing Service Activity Feb 13-20
Sanibel
CONDOS
4 new listings: Sundial #I301 1/1 $389K, Sundial #F303 2/2 $495K, Sundial #S404 3/2 $837K, Kings Crown #101 2/2 $1.195M.
10 price changes: Casa Blanca #6 1/1 now $254.9K, Sunset South #9D 2/2 now $399K, Mariner Pointe #813 2/2 now $469K, Ibis at The Sanctuary #201 2/2 now $475K, Blind Pass #G203 2/2 now $495K, Blind Pass #G203 2/2 now $495K, Sundial #R304 2/2 now $799K, Pointe Santo #B46 2/2 now $825K, Tanglewood #1A 3/2 now $1.149M, Sedgemoor #206 3/3.5 now $2.499M.
4 new sales: Sundial #C306 1/1 listed for $329K, Sanibel Siesta #105 2/2 listed for $424.5K, Donax Villlage #8 2/2 listed for $449K, Seawindd II #2 2/2.5 listed for $685K.
2 closed sales: Seashells #15 2/2 $319.5K, Sandpebble #3C 2/2 $327K.
HOMES
8 new listings: 475 Sea Walk Ct 3/2 $524.9K; 1322 Sand Castle Rd 3/2 $565K; 580 Chert Ct 2/2 $580K; 4241 Old Banyan Way 3/2 $779K; 755 Pen Shell Dr 3/2 $899K; 1328 Seaspray Ln 4/4 $998,995; 1253 Anhinga Ln 4/4 $3.9M; 4241 West Gulf Dr 5/4.5 $3.995M.
14 price changes: 702 Donax St 2/2 now $399K; 982 Main St 3/2.5 multi-family now $445K; 1521 Wilton Ln 3/2 now $549K; 1228 Anhinga Ln 3/2 now $629K; 987 Sand Castle Rd 4/3.5 now $699K; 5406 Osprey Ct 3/2 now $729K; 1291 Sand Castle Rd 5/3.5 now $779K; 5424 Shearwater Dr 3/2.5 now $859K; 1188 Harbour Cottage Ct 3/3 now $925,555; 1138 Harbour Cottage Ct 3/2.5 now $1.295M; 375 East Gulf Dr 4/3 now $1.395M; 842 Limpet Dr 4/3.5 now $1.495M; 830 Limpet Dr 4/4.5 now $1.645M; 1490 Middle Gulf Dr 3/4.5 now $1.795M.
11 new sales: 1613 Sand Castle Rd 3/2.5 half-duplex listed for $449K, 744 Martha’s Ln 2/2 listed for $479K (our Seller), 475 Sea Walk Ct 3/2 listed for $524.9K, 1294 Sand Castle Rd 3/2 listed for $529K, 3168 Twin Lakes Ln 3/2 listed for $549.9K, 728 Windlass Way 3/2 listed for $649K, 248 Daniel Dr 3/2 listed for $749K, 8999 Mockingbird Ln 3/2 listed for $775K, 2582 Wulfert Rd 3/3.5 listed for $789K, 4037 Coquina Dr 3/3 listed for $799K, 1056 Sand Castle Rd 3/2 listed for $899K.
4 closed sales: 999 Dixie Beach Blvd 3/2 $585K, 1337 Eagle Run Dr 3/2.5 $1.025M, 6440 Pine Ave 3/3 $1.0875M (our Buyer), 1520 San Carlos Bay Dr 4/3.5 $1.92M.
LOTS
2 new listings: 540 East Lake Dr $197K, 3354 Barra Cir $319K.
1 price change: 6419 Pine Ave now $799K.
4 new sales: 9426 Sage Ct listed for $229,555; 3792 Coquina Dr listed for $329K; 6411 Pine Ave listed for $329,999; 4988 Joewood Dr listed for $459K.
No closed sales.
Captiva
CONDOS
1 new listing: Captiva Bay Villas #B 3/3.5 $2.095M.
1 price change: Gulf Beach Villas #2031 2/2 now $645K.
1 new sale: Gulf Beach Villas #2012 2/2 $615K.
1 closed sale: Beach Homes #18 4/3 $2.34M.
HOMES
2 new listings: 1105 Tallow Tree Ct 3/3 $2.195M, 16464 Captiva Dr 8/8.5 $7.495M.
No price changes.
2 new sales: 11491 Dickey Ln 4/4 listed for $1.799M, 17020 Captiva Dr 7/8/2 listed for $6.75M.
1 closed sale: 15301 Captiva Dr 4/3.5 $1.9625M.
LOTS
No new listings.
2 price changes: 956 South Seas Plantation Rd now $2.49M, 15879 Captiva Dr now $2.695M.
No new or closed sales.
This representation is based, in whole, or in part, on data supplied by the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors® or its Multiple Listing Service. Neither the association nor its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the association or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. The information provided represents general real estate activity in the community and does not imply that SanibelSusan Realty Associates is participating or participated in these transactions.
Until next Friday, here’s a nice flock of roseate spoonbills to keep things cheerful!
Susan Andrews, aka SanibelSusan
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