My own “neighborhood watch” with a little something on each neighborhood on Daufuskie designed to update you, oddly enough, in just about one minute.

DaufuskieIsland Resort and Breathe Spa

There’s some exciting news from the Easter Beach Villas.  Based on market demands, you may now purchase a two bedroom, two bath unit with either an ocean view or a golf/salt marsh view.  During this product release, the developer is selling these units with a designer furniture package included.  Construction, which is the first new residential construction within the resort itself in over 15 years, is well under way and you can take possession just in time for the peak rental season.  This is a limited opportunity with only eight units available!

West Paces Hotel Group is quickly getting up-to-speed and owners and guests alike are seeing a renewed focus on customer service that is much more than rhetoric.  From my perspective, the property is cleaner, the hospitality staff is providing an even higher standard of service and staffing levels are on the upswing.  All of which is very good news.

Bloody Point

Bloody Point must be the place to be right now.  There are a couple of recently completed homes with more new construction in the planning or building stages.  More important, the inventory of available property is really quite low which has driven prices upward.  Ocean and marsh front property is scarce!

Haig Point

February 20^th brought the annual meeting of the membership at the Haig Point Club.

A capital improvement proposal was presented that includes significant improvements to the golf course, addresses ferry needs and supports the construction of a new beach club. If the proposal is accepted by the membership, financing would be funded through a one time member assessment of approximately $10,500 payable in 2006.

Contractors have been busy in Haig Point and there is an excellent inventory of new construction homes currently available in the $600,000 to $800,000 range as well as the sound and ocean oriented homes in the $1,000,000 and up category.

 The Historic District

The Historic District, often under-appreciated in the past, is enjoying a wonderful renewal of interest.  Prices have risen significantly in the past three months with home sites now starting in the $60,000’s and only a few opportunities at that.  It was just a year ago that $60,000 was the price for wooded home sites in Melrose.

Larger tracts of land (four acres or more) are being purchased and made into smaller subdivisions.  The current “Community Preservation” zoning is having a positive effect as these parcels must, at least for now, limit development to one residence per acre.

Melrose

Our inventory has a nice diversity to it and, as you might expect with the arrival of spring, activity is picking up on home sites.  Prices remain undervalued when compared to ocean oriented low country real estate as a whole.   However, expect the trend toward increased prices to continue as more visitors discover the island.  There are still some good values on ocean-oriented homesites near all of the resort amenities.

Oak Ridge

The Beachfield project has been delayed while the land plan is reworked to accommodate the needs of our seasonal neighbors, the breeding Bald Eagles.  We are all eagerly awaiting the re-release of this project, but no date has been set as yet.

Webb Tract

Unfortunately, the old adage “no news is good news” probably does not apply in this case.  Since the dissolution of the contract with Kitty Hawk Land Development things have been rather quiet.  While a marina (lockable harbor or not) and retail center remain central to the needs of our island, progress has been slow over the past year.  Since I’m not real good with rumors, we’ll just have to wait and see what the spring brings.

Additional info and gossip

Unconfirmed word has it that we have just one new bald eagle this spring.  Only child or not, seeing the young one and its impressive parents, is a moving sight. 

Got a question?  Don’t hesitate to give me a call (315-247-4212) or to drop me an email (amason5@hargray.com) to pass on any real estate insights of your own, find out what is currently on the market or just to share a little gossip.

Take care,

Andy