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Archive for the 'Ortega' Category
Average Sale Price of Ortega Waterfront Up 12% from 2008!
4561 Ortega Blvd.
I ran a quick statistical analysis this m0rning to see how waterfront sales in Ortega this year compared to the sales from 2008.The figures below represent a year to date look and do not include sales from 12/3 – 12/31/09.
In 2008, there were 10 waterfront sales for a total volume of $15,188,073 making the average sale $1,518,807. This number included a little house on Country Club Road that backed up to a “duck pond” — which can’t really be considered waterfront.
In 2009, there have only been 6 waterfront sales with a total volume of $10,290,000 making the average sale $1,715,000 — that’s an increase of 12% over 2008. Does that mean that the price of your home is worth 12% more now that it was in 2008? Unfortunately, no.
It is true that the average sale price is up 12%, but this figure is misleading. We all know that the price of waterfront property has dropped by hundreds of thousands of dollars and sometimes by as much as million! So, while this is a legitimate and factual statistic, it just goes to show that not all data points to the real truth of the matter. You must have an experience realtor who knows the local market to interpret the statistics for you and give you the real truth about the value of your waterfront house in Jacksonville.
To see the list of waterfront homes that sold in 2008, click here.
To see the list of Ortega waterfront homes that have sold in 2009, click here.
Thanks for reading! Please join me for my next discussion of real estate in the Ortega, Avondale and Riverside neighborhoods.
Are the Ortega property values reported on Zillow accurate?
A friend of mine in Coconut Grove, FL recently wrote a post about Zillow which made me interested to see what Zillow is reporting about the values in Ortega. I found some VERY surprising information!
Zillow is honest about how accurate (or inaccurate) their data might be — they have disclaimers all over their site that discuss this. They admit that they aren’t aware of how great your interior renovations are or if your house is backs up to a busy (and noisy) roadway. They let you know that their data comes from public records and that there may be a delay from the time of a sale to when they are able to report it.
A quote from their site states “our data may be incomplete or incorrect. Also, we have not physically inspected a specific home. Remember ZEstimate is a starting point and does not consider all the market intricacies that can determine the actual price”.
Market intricacies — we all know that market intricacies are really the whole ball of wax so the fact that they don’t consider “market intricacies” says it all.
A particular house in Ortega Forest illustrates this perfectly. One screen of Zillow shows the sales price of this house followed by what they think the value might be now (the ZEstimate). If you believe this ZEstimate, then the people who bought 5058 Ortega Forest Drive in August 2009 have made out like a bandit!
This house closed for $865K in August 2009. Zillow states that their house is now worth (just four months later) $1,221,500. That sounds like the real estate boom times doesn’t it? A fat 400K profit in just a few short months? Oh, how I wish Zillow was right.
But….they aren’t.
This house was listed for $1,185,000 in April 2008. I even considered this house myself because on a price per square foot basis, $1,185,000 seemed like a great price. But, once I got inside, I saw that the house had very low ceilings and a choppy floorplan (among other things) and I decided to pass.
The house was reduced to $1,100,000 just two months after being listed. It was reduced again six months after being listed to $1,049,973 (that’s an odd number). Still…no bites. This listing expired and the property was re-listed at $969,000. It finally sold for $865K in August of this year.
So….the market has shown us that no one would buy the property at $1,185,000…..or $1,100,000…… or $1,049,973…….or $969,000. Zillow tells us that they estimate the value of the property to be $1,221,500.
So now you see the problem with Zillow. They do not know the local market which is the most ESSENTIAL piece of the puzzle to have.
So, what IS Zillow good for? It’s a great place to see cool maps (like the bird’s eye view) of your neighborhood, to get an APPROXIMATION of value (although we’ve seen how far off this can be), to see the prices that some of your neighbors houses have sold for and to look at available properties for sale.
In my book, Zillow can be fun — but I’d leave it at FUN.
Buying or selling a house is serious business. If you’re thinking of buying or selling, call a realtor who knows the local market and leave the funny business to Zillow.
Thanks for reading. Please join me for my next discussion of real estate in the Ortega, Avondale and Riverside Neighborhoods!
WATERFRONT DEAL IN ORTEGA!
If there’s anyone out there that’s been waiting for a water front deal — this may be your chance. Just reduced to $ 2,199,000, this house is located at 3891 Timuquana Road and the price makes it only $456 per square foot. The lot is very deep (500 feet) and has wonderful views of the downtown Jacksonville skyline. It’s also within walking distance of the private Timuquana Country Club.
If you’re not from Jacksonville, it’s important to understand the different “types” of waterfront that are being offered because they carry different values. In addition to the overall size of the lot, the amount of waterfront “footage” that the property has is an important factor in the valuation of a property.
For example, if two houses are of similar condition and square footage and one has 70 feet of waterfront and another has 120 feet, the one with 120′ of water will have more value. Another factor that influences price is whether or not the property has a downtown view. The Jackonville skyline is very attractive and is especially so at night. The properties, like this one on Timuquana Road, that have a downtown view will sell for more money. “Open” water — on the St. John’s River — comes at a premium value and waterfront in Ortega is more expensive than waterfront in Ortega Forest. There are other distinguishing features of waterfront but these are some of the most important.
To see a list of waterfront properties available for sale in Ortega and Avondale, click here.
Thanks for reading — please join me for my next discussion of real estate in the Avondale, Ortega and Riverside neighborhoods!
Happy Thanksgiving!
On Thanksgiving, it’s important to remember what we are thankful for. I’m lucky to have much to be thankful for including my husband, children, Mother, other family members, my health and my friends!
Professionally, I also have a lot to be thankful for. Among them are the many people I’ve met through my real estate career. Some are customers, some are other realtors I work with, some are my managers (current and former) and some are professionals from associated industries like mortage loan officers.
I must say, however, that I am most thankful for my business partner, Caroline Powell. What a lucky day it was for me when Caroline made the decision to work with me. She’s an amazing person that I’m lucky to know and even luckier to work with. Full of energy, knowledge, compassion and general zest for life, there are few people as delightful as Caroline. She has a very large fan club and I’m lucky to be part of it!
Hope you are enjoying Thanksgiving with family or friends on this great American Holiday. Having a crowd at Thanksgiving is fun and I thought it might be fun to see how many houses over 6,000 square feet arefor sale in Avondale, Ortega and Riverside. There are currently 12 houses that meet that criteria — and here they are!
Thanks for reading — please join me for my next real estate adventure in one of Jacksonville’s best neighborhoods!
Monday Morning Market Update – Week Ending 11/22/2009
The story for this week remains largely the same as the past few weeks — a steady number of new listings, a few closed sales, a few pending sales and LOTS OF PRICE REDUCTIONS. So…the stats for the week are:
New Listings – 9 (click here to see the list)
Contingent Sales – 1 (you can see this house under the New Listings Tab)
Pending Sales – 4 (Click here to see the list)
Closed Sales – 2 (Click here to see the list)
There are some notable transactions in this weeks stats. A very attractive home at 1360 Avondale Avenue was listed at only $449K. The main house has 3br/2.5ba and about 2,743 square feet of air conditioned space. It also has a large two car garage with guest apartment above. The lot is 60 x 174 with a nice backyard — at only $163 per square foot — this is a BARGAIN! It’s is a SHORT SALE, however, so the buyer of this will need to be patient! Short sales generally take about six months to complete. I suspect that this house will be on my list of contingent sales for next week.
There’s an AMAZING deal on DIRECT waterfront in Ortega. The property is located at 5141 Yacht Club Road . Priced at only $1,295,000, this house is being offered for $530,000 less than the current owners paid for it! It’s got 5br/3.5 ba in about 4,100 SF with a two car garage, walls of glass and incredible views! This is an amazing deal — I hope it gets added to my list of pending sales soon! To see the full details for this house, click on the link for new listings.
Thanks for reading — please subscribe so that you’ll be the first to know about the best opportunities being offered in Avondale, Ortega and Riverside.
Gone in a Day – Ortega Foreclosure
My last post was about a little 3/2 bungalow in Ortega that had fallen into foreclosure. It was an incredible opportunity. Did you notice the word was? It’s already under contract! Stick with me and you’ll be the first to know about amazing opportunities in the market and you can be the one to benefit from the great deals that I’m out there looking for every day!
I took a customer to the house who decided against it because of the very large oak tree out front. Another neighborhood agent who actually had the house under contract a few years ago for $275K told me that the house is uninsurable because of the tree and the cost to remove it would be $10K. That’s expensive to be sure but the house was priced at $149K and if you add in the cost of removing the tree, the price would only be $159K (still a good deal).
I’ll be interested to see what the final sales price is and if the bank negotiated anything off the final list price. Stay tuned and I’ll let you know!
Thanks for reading – To get the latest news about real estate deals or things going on in the Avondale, Ortega and Riverside neighborhoods, please subscribe to my blog!
AMAZING WATERFRONT OPPORTUNITY – Another Run, Don’t Walk Deal!
A few weeks ago, a house at 4155 Lakeside Drive in Ortega was listed at $2,300,000 and many of the agents in our office scratched their heads wondering where that list price came from. A pretty house? Sure, but $2.3M?? No way!
Well, today, the sellers have obviously come to their senses and reduced the price by ONE MILLION dollars. The house is now in short sale. So, what was ridiculously high a few weeks ago, is now a really GREAT DEAL. At this price, the house is listed for $226 per square foot which is a remarkable price for waterfront in Ortega. To see the full listing details for 4155 Lakeside Drive, click here.
If you’d like to schedule an appointment to see this house, please give us a call at 904-463-1898 or 904-252-5181. Thanks for reading. To keep up with the latest news in Avondale, Ortega and Riverside, please subscribe to our blog and you’ll be among the first to know about great deals like this!
Extra, Extra….Read All About It!
In case you’re wondering who has the latest and greatest news — it’s often a realtor who specializes in your local area market. I often know about a house that’s getting ready to come on the market, a house whose price is getting ready to be reduced or about programs that lenders are getting ready to roll out that could save you a lot of money.
You might say that I have a lot of insider information. So…if you’re the kind of person who likes to know about it before it happens, then give me a call and I’ll be certain that as soon as I know it, you will too!
If you’re a loyal reader of mine (which I hope you are!) then you’ll know that I specialize in the Avondale, Ortega and Riverside neighborhoods of Jacksonville. Please join me for my next adventure in these very special neighborhoods of Jacksonville!
Wedding by the River in Ortega – Just Perfect!
A few weeks ago a neighbor of mine hosted a family wedding at her home in Ortega. We sometimes take the incredible view we have for granted until you realize that someone values it enough to want to be married there!
The weather was perfect although a cold front swooped in and they had to replace the fans with space heaters at the last minute. There was a huge white tent set up on the lawn and a “chapel” set up by the water where the couple exchanged vows.
A golf cart was used to ferry guests to and from their cars, delicious food was served and a band played into the night to celebrate the new couple’s life together.
Having the perfect setting for a wedding might be another great reason to consider buying a beautiful piece of riverfront property right now. There are over 40 properties for sale on the River and some of them are amazing deals — to see the list, click here.
Thanks for reading – please join me for my next adventure in the Avondale, Ortega and Riverside neighborhoods of Jacksonville!
Time Starved and Hungry? I’ve got the Answer!
If you’re anything like me (and like most of the world these days), I run at the speed of light working as a realtor during the day and then when 5 o’clock comes — I CRASH! Crashing at 5:00 is not good because that’s just when I’m supposed to rally and start my second job as Mom, homework helper (or enforcer), taxi driver and dinner cooker!
The solution to my (0ur) problem is just around the corner (literally). Terry’s Kitchen prepares & sells yummy food like chicken pot pie (more on that later), chicken tetrazzini, lasagna, meatloaf and mac & cheese that’s quick frozen and ready for you to pop in the oven.
Like many small business people, Terry started in her home and was making only her famous chicken pot pie. She soon realized that the demand for prepared dinner was strong and moved on to a commercial space located at 4218 St. John’s Avenue in Jacksonville, FL over 9 years ago. Carolyn Patterson, who has been with Terry for over seven years, says that Terry will also prepare food in your dishes for a dinner party if you drop them off a week in advance. It’ll be our little secret that you didn’t prepare that fabulous gourmet meal!
Terry also makes some desserts, appetizers and breakfast items like steaming hot cinnamon rolls so load up your freezer and save yourself from a meltdown!
Terry’s Kitchen is open M – F from 10 am – 6 pm. Their phone number is 904-388-1748 and prices range from $7.75 for an individual serving size to $25.75 for her Mega size dishes that will feed a large hungry family. If you go by, tell Terry that you read about her on my blog!
Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll join me on my next adventure in the Avondale, Ortega and Riverside neighborhoods!
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