I live in Cortez and was never a fan of the Seafood Shack restaurant, although it did come in handy on occasion. Well now, if you didn’t already know, the “shack” has been demolished. It sustained a great deal of damage from the storms and Manatee County, who now owns the 8 acres of property where it sits decided to tear it down. The Shack didn’t get the attention that Annie’s Bait & Tackle received a week earlier when it was decided to also demolish what was left of that structure, also part of the parcel the county now owns.
Why is this significant to the real estate values on the Cortez peninsula? Well, for one thing, the property looks like it’s been through a war and is fenced off from the street on both the east and west side of 127th Street. I have confidence that the county will eventually remove all of the debris from the building as well as the marina but what ultimately remains will certainly not be attractive or Old Florida in feel, which was part of the charm of the area.
When the county finalizes its plans for a boating facility with ramps and trailer parking and when it’s finally constructed it will certainly be an improvement. Until then we who live here and those who may be considering selling their homes or condos could face some negativity from potential buyers not familiar with the area.
The best thing the county could do for homeowners on both sides of Cortez Road is to decide on a design for the 8 acres of Seafood Shack property as soon as possible. Making a plan available would at least be something potential buyers and sellers can refer to about the future of the peninsula. It’s hard to sell something where nothing exists and there are very few buyers who can envision a future, no less an investment in this area.
Last week we discussed the Manatee County sales statistics for March and now we’ll look at the national numbers for March. According to the National Association of Realtors, the sales of existing homes in March posted their biggest monthly decline in more than two years. Existing home sales fell 5.9% in the country compared to Manatee County’s single-family home sales which were down 8.5% compared to last March.
The NAR also reported that the national median selling price for single-family homes was $403,700 in March, up 2.7%. Manatee County’s median single-family home selling price in March of this year was $506,317, up 1.8% from last year.
A survey of economists had estimated a monthly decrease in sales of 3.1% compared to the 5.9% drop. Meanwhile inventories of unsold homes continue to increase and uncertainty in the financial markets continues to be a factor leading to a likely fall off on asking prices. The recovery that economists were hoping for so far has not happened, but the year is still young, and a lot can change.
6.5% or 6.8% interest rates will become the new normal and buyers will eventually get accustomed to those numbers. It’s been about 10 years since we’ve seen rates that high, so the generation of buyers in the market now has no experience with higher interest rates.
So, are we at the end of an era or the beginning of a new one? Florida has perpetually reinvented itself from the wild days of cattle drives to the leveling of ranches and construction of small cities. I predict we will look back at 2024 and 2025 as the years when Florida reset yet again.
