Changing Market for Florida Waterfront! Prices finally came down - and inventory is very small right now Good and bad news for buyers! During 2004 and 2005 we had problems finding the right waterfront homes for our buyers as hardly anything was on the market and homes sold fast. Now the situation has finally changed. The prices are down again and back to about 2002 levels, BUT the inventory levels are down too. Prices came down When the boom turned into a downwards spiral we had 630 properties listed in Apollo Beach. The number of homes, condos, and townhomes on the market in Apollo Beach is getting smaller, there had been about 630 properties on the market, on October 18, 2008 we had 432 properties on the market, we are now down to 273 as of April 12, 2011. In October of 2011 we were down to 260 listings of homes and condos, today (June 15, 2012) we are down to 150! This is a very low inventory level, esspecially in the lower price ranges many buyers cannot find what they are looking for any more. And I believe that the inventory will not go up again fast as sellers who do not have to sell wait for the prices to go up. Financing has been an issue in the past years as the banks raised their requirements, but a large number of properties are bought in cash. May of these buyers are investors who rent out the homes or condos or vacation home buyers who do not trust the bank and invest their money in real estate. Also foreign buyers are coming back and as there is only easy financing for Canadians (through banks that are also operating in Canada), foreigners have to pay cash. many sellers do not bring their homes to the market, they wait for the prices to go up, NOW is still a great time to buy, but I would not wait too long as the inventories might go further down and prices are expected to go up soon. There are not many banks selling foreclosed properties in Apollo Beach any more. Some of these properties receive multiple offers. There are still many short sales on the market. Let me explain, what a short-sale is and why it can take very long for an answer on an offer. Someone bought a house in 2005 at the top of the market and ows now more for the mortgage as it can be sold now. The seller wants to avoid a foreclosure, therefore he/she is trying a short-sale, which means, they try to get the approval from the lender(s) to take less than they owe. As in many cases more than one bank is involved and also in most cases money is owed to the county for taxes and for community fees and/or other liens, it takes three months or longer in many cases for an answer from the lender, if they agree to the deal. And it is not sure if they accept the sales price that the seller offered, they might come back after six months or longer with a higher counter. Let Renate Bellingrath and her team assist you finding the right house on or off the water. Renate Bellingrath is licensed real estate broker in Florida for over 15 years.

Waterfront - Apollo Beach
Apollo Beach is located just South of Downtown Tampa with an easy commute via US Hwy 41 or I-75 and Expressway.
Apollo Beach is a boater's dream. There are no bridges obstructing the water ways to Tampa Bay for most homes. Only Sunshine Skyway bridge separates the Gulf of Mexico from Tampa Bay; even cruise ships can pass underneath this incredible bridge. Some homes on Flamingo are located behind a low-lying bridge. Homes on Eagle Lane, Golf Island Drive and Bunker View that is relativly high, but not for sail boats.

Apollo Beach offers several prestigious gated waterfront communities, please find information about the most important of these below:

Apollo Beach has three larger and exclusive gated communities: Andalucia, Symphony Isles, and Mira Bay. Listed below you find more information about these great communities and other communities in Apollo Beach.

Andalucia

Andalucia is located on a peninsula in the open bay and the most prestigious community in Apollo Beach, a community of only about 225 homes. The developer sold the individual lots and it was possible to choose any custom builder. Andalucia offers tennis courts, pool, a small beach, a marina, a jetty for watching dolphins play or sunsets; and the community is 24 hours gated.
The developer has sold all lots. Not all homes are on the water, some homes on the water cannot build a dock (behind the mangroves or on the open bay). Some of these homes come with a docks in the Andalucia Yacht Club, which can hold boats up to 60 feet.

There are a few resale-lots available priced from $ 49,000 (no lots are dockable).

Homes are currently for sale from $ 385,000 to $ 4,100,000.
Please note that not all homes in the community are on the water, canal-front homes currently start at $ 625,000, estate homes on the bay on lots that are nearly an acre start at 1.5 million $.

Symphony Isles

Symphony Isles was the first gated community in Apollo Beach: A gated community of waterfront homes and a few townhomes. Some homes that are located on the open bay have a small beach in the back, but could not build a dock. Most of these homes have a dock next to the community beach. The beach is larger than the beach in Andalucia.

Bay Vista
Bay Vista is located on the open Bay and offers very nice views. The lots are about 50' X 175'.

Harbour Isles
Harbour Isles is a newer community across from Mira Bay. Most homes are located on a large lake or smaller lakes, but there is no access to the salt water and the lakes cannot be used for boating. In the beginning the builders tried to charge prices like across the street in Mira Bay, but the prices came down as one of the builders reduced the prices twice. Three builders are building in the community. Only fivehundred homes in the community and all the lots are large, a minimum of 70 feet wide to 95 feet for the larger homes. There are several builders building in the community right now.

Nice community with clubhouse and pool, you can rent a party-room with kitchen (at the clubhouse) for a nominal fee to enterrtain guests. After the major price reduction you find a great value here in a nice community. But please note that there are no homes here with access to the bay.

Mustique Bay
Mustique Bay is a small community with 3/4 acre homesites on the open bay.

MiraBay®

MiraBay is a new coastal community where the first homes became available about three years ago und it is still under developement. Most of the waterfront lots have been built, most of the remaining waterfront lots are estate lots for homes over a million dollars to about 3.6 million. The first homes have been completed about three yeasr ago and as many people bought their homes or villas as an investment and they are offering their homes for sale. 138 homes and villas are available for sale in the mls.

As you can no longer dredge canals our of environmental reasosns, this will probably be the last new master-planned waterfront development in the area, maybe in Florida. The salt-water canals were dredged about 30 years ago, but the development was never completed and the developer of MiraBay bought these canals and combined several smaller lakes to a larger freshwater lake with 135 acres, which is connected to the saltwater canal by a lift.

MiraBay is a gated community with many amenities like a $ 2,000,000+ clubhouse.
The market in Mira Bay has stabilized as the prices came down dramtically as many investors bought in Mira Bay and there were many foreclosures and short sales.

We will work for you as a buyer's broker with the builders in MiraBay.

Other homes and lots
Like most waterfront homes, the majority of homes in Apollo Beach (that are not located in the newer subdivisions mentioned above) are single-story ranch-style homes and range from about 1000 to 2500 s.f.
Most of these homes offer deep sailboat water and larger lots to offer space for your yacht, only a few are behind lower bridges. Please note that these are older homes from the 1970's and 1980's and in need of updating.
There used to be not many condos in Apollo Beach. Condos in Anchor Point, where the association leases boat slips to property owners, if available, are starting at below $ 100,000. Yardarm condos and are located on deep sailboat water. Sunset Bay Townhomes not all have a dock.
The Bella Sol condos were priced very high and the prices came down. Many of these come with a dock. There are only a few for sale now.
Waterfront lots in Apollo Beach are getting rare as most areas have been built out and it is not possible to dredge canals in wetlands any more, but as it is currently not worth to build (if you do not have something special in mind) as homes are companrably cheap, the demand for lots is low.