Anna Maria Island Real Estate Sales Blog

After 589 days on the market, the three-bedroom, two bath home at 508 72nd Street in Holmes Beach has finally sold for $380,000.

It was a rare combination of short sale and reverse mortgage, and the huge trees in the back yard that the owner loved so well were a big turn-off to the dozens of prospective buyers that saw the place in the last year or so.

Yes, the place needed some work, but it could easily have been refurbished for nominal money and turned into a quite livable family home. And the new owners may well decide to do that, or -- on second thought -- tear it down and build anew.

It happens that way frequently on Anna Maria Island, as the older built inventory is replaced by newer properties with granite counter tops, high ceilings and a LOT more space than the 1,500 or so square feet in many of our canal homes (like this one).

So, as it turns out to be, it was good for the sellers to be shut of a surplus home no longer needed, and good for the buyers, to obtain a lovely homesite on a deep water canal.

I'm just glad to have facilitated this transaction, from both sides.