Real Estate Auction Amelia Island Properties

A real estate auction company is offering some Amelia Island, Florida properties at their April auction. One of the properties being auctioned is a Carlton Dunes (Summer Beach) oceanfront condo, representative of the top of the luxury condo market on Amelia Island…

Carlton Dunes, Summer Beach Resort, Amelia Island, Florida
Carlton Dunes, Summer Beach Resort, Amelia Island, Florida

A real estate auction company is offering some Amelia Island, Florida properties at their April 8, 2010 auction (to be held in Jacksonville, Florida, see “Florida Real Estate Auctions” video further below). The auctioneer, United Country, is reportedly the largest real estate auctioneer in the U.S., described on their website as the “nation’s largest integrated organization of real estate and auction professionals.”

One of the properties being auctioned is a Carlton Dunes oceanfront condo, Summer Beach Resort (Golf Club of Amelia Island memberships are available to property owners of Summer Beach Resort properties). For those unfamiliar, these condos represent the top of the luxury condo market on Amelia Island, and are located next to the Ritz-Carlton hotel and Peter’s Point beach park. (To be perfectly clear, not the entire complex, but just one of the condo units is to be auctioned.)

I’ve been in several Carlton Dunes units and can attest the shoreline views from these condos are spectacular from the expansive porch balconies and the interior layouts that invite the ocean inside. Anyone in the market for a luxury condo or penthouse on Amelia Island typically tours the Carlton Dunes (as well as Amelia Island Plantation’s Ocean Club Villas and the Dunes Club Villas).

Times certainly have changed. At the height of the real estate market, some Carlton Dunes re-sale units were selling at around $2.2 million. Anyone familiar with Summer Beach Resort new construction real estate knows how prospective buyers, from around 2003 through at least 2006, had to participate in a “drawing” for the chance to buy new properties in Summer Beach — this is how properties in The Preserve community of Summer Beach were sold (townhomes and courtyard homes), as well as Harrison Cove. Demand for Summer Beach new construction exceeded supply back then, so prospective buyers were entered into a drawing. Also in the same vicinity of Amelia Island, to be auctioned April 8th, are two townhomes in the oceanfront Sandpiper complex, located on South Fletcher Avenue, also next to Peter’s Point.

A few months ago, some properties in Summer Beach’s newest community, The Enclave, also were offered via auction. In November, another real estate auctioneer, Rowell Auctions (an online-only auction) offered eight townhomes in The Enclave at Summer Beach, the resort’s newest community (new construction 2008). It appears these Enclave units did not sell at auction, since they are currently listed for sale in the price range of $319,000 to $339,000 (bank owned real estate) at www.cbcnationalbankproperties.com –although these units did receive bids during the online auction. A quick look at one of these Enclave townhomes on the Rowell Auctions website indicates, for example, that 23 bids were placed on a 3 BR, 3.5 BA townhome in The Enclave, highest bid was $202,077. Another unit had 34 bids, highest at $194,503. (Bargain hunting investors are around, but in this case there appeared to be a wide gap between what bottom feeders want to pay and and what the banks will accept.)

Amelia Island commercial properties are also to be auctioned April 8th, 2010 and local folks will immediately recognize these properties (see real estate auction video below). On the main corridor of the historic district in Fernandina Beach, at 402 Centre Street, is an office building to be auctioned, near Fernandina’s Victorian-era courthouse. On the city’s waterfront, a North Front Street warehouse near the Fernandina Beach city marina — a place where local shrimping boats are often docked — is also on the auction schedule.

Toward Amelia Island’s northend (the complex actually backs up to Fort Clinch State Park), is the Ocean Park condo units that overlook Fernandina’s Main Beach Park lawn and the ocean in the distance. A unit in Ocean Park is also on the auction agenda.

These are just some of the Amelia Island properties to be offered at auction April 8th. The Sonic Drive-in restaurant on A1A in Yulee, is also included in this auction. Plus properties in Jacksonville as well as south Georgia.

The auction is to be held at the Marriott Hotel in Jackonsonville at 10 am, for potential investors in the market for Amelia Island residential or commercial real estate. Just because properties are being auctioned, however, does not necessarily mean they are “distressed” properties in foreclosure or are bank owned or that they will sell below fair market value. Some auctions are a type of marketing promotion, so it’s possible this one falls into that category — check further by contacting Certified Land Auctions and see their website for the complete listing of properties. Anyone interested should do their homework — i.e. complete their due diligence. It appears the auction company posts the results of their auctions online at their web site. Those interested in seeing what Amelia Island area properties sold, and at what price, should check out the web site after the auction is completed.

By The Editor

Observations of island life, news & opinion by W.B. Lawson. Wendy has enjoyed the laid-back Amelia Island lifestyle since 1993. Her professional background began at a newspaper in NY. She then worked in PR/Investor Relations at Fortune 500 company, and later became a managing editor at an equity research publishing firm. She was Series 7 licensed while with Merrill Lynch Private Client Group.