ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – If you are looking for good examples of just how wild the housing market has become in Northeast Florida, look no further than St. Johns County.
Two so-called major fixer-uppers in the Lincolnville neighborhood of St. Augustine that just came onto the market are getting lots of attention because of their steep price tags and run-down conditions.
One of the homes, first spotted by the St. Augustine Record, is a 448-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bath home on Moore Street that has definitely seen better days. The asking price? A whopping $349,000.
Tomasz Muszynski and Bart Piniaz of The 904 Team are the listing agents on the home and say the price is based on the hot housing market right now.
“We put a number out there, we believe the number is attainable and we’re going to sit back and wait for what kind of offers we end up getting on the property,” Piniaz said.
And anyone who thinks they can just tear down the home and build a new one might want to think again.
According to the St. Augustine Record, the early 1900s home is actually “one of the oldest surviving Black school buildings in St. Augustine,” so that means any owner would have to get permission from the city’s Historic Architectural Review Board to demolish it.
Another dilapidated and overgrown 656 square-foot home, also in Lincolnville, is listed by another agency for an astounding $299,000.
“When a neighborhood gets built, the last couple houses are always the most expensive. That’s what we’re seeing here in Lincolnville, you know, there is very few vacant lots, if they are, the prices are trending this way,” Piniaz said.
Northeast Florida Association of Realtors President Mark Rosener said he was taken aback by some of the listing prices he saw in St. Augustine, but he said he could still see new owners making money off the property.
“There’s any number of things that owner can do with their property, not the least of which is Airbnb, and short-term rentals, which could be, you know, very lucrative. The value of that property is obviously in the property and location, not necessarily the structure,” Rosener said.
There’s a chance both houses will go for close to the asking price in St. Johns County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the state.
Data from the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors shows that St. Johns County sellers are getting over the asking price 32% of the time and the average number of days on the market is just 16.
And buyers are coming from everywhere.
“A lot of cash buyers out of state, mainly in New York, New Jersey, California,” Muszynski said.
Rosener said the high prices are a classic example of supply and demand.
“It’s a difficult environment for a buyer to be able to find the home that meets their needs. And sellers are concerned, if I sell this, what can I buy? So all of those concerns kind of feed into that lack of inventory, high demand,” Rosener said.
Rosener did add there are signs that the housing market is leveling off in St. Johns County and the rest of Northeast Florida.
As far as that house on Moore Street? Muszynski and Piniazthey said they are getting a lot of interest and are expecting to get an offer soon.
