Land Still King In Fla.

North Port lots sell high, go fast
After a slow start, 1,085 lots sell for $29million in the first phase.
By ERIN BRYCE
erin.bryce@heraldtribune.comNORTH PORT -- Maybe the sizzling land market in Southwest Florida hasn't cooled off after all.The largest government land sale in Sarasota County's history raked in more than $29 million Thursday after the first phase of a public tax-delinquency auction came to a close.Of the 1,085 lots sold, many were in remote areas without sewer and other services. But the land market in North Port has become so hot that the lots, most of which had been abandoned for years, fetched as much as $76,000 for a quarter-acre.When the final bell for the first phase of the auction rang at 3:50 p.m. Thursday, only 70 lots remained unsold. More than 9,500 bids were cast from fewer than 380 registered bidders."Our goal is to sell them all, and to sell them all for the most that we possibly can and to make sure that they close," said Louis Fisher III, the chief executive officer of Fisher Auction Company, which was hired by the city and county to sell the lots.Revenue from the sale will be shared between North Port and Sarasota County, with the city getting 55 percent. Officials are hoping to generate between $50 million and $70 million.Fisher said he hopes the county and city will meet that goal."I'm not in the predicting business," he said. "Hopefully, we'll stay on track."With more than 1,000 lots left to sell and the market clearly gaining momentum, land brokers said that reaching at least $50 million in sales appears attainable.The county will use its share on an affordable housing project. The city has discussed using its share on road improvements.Real estate agents said there wasn't much difference between what the auction sold and market price."I thought it was amazing," said Bill Diekman, manager of a Coldwell Banker office in North Port.Diekman's sentiments were echoed among many land brokers at Thursday's end. The auction had started out very slow, raising some minor concerns among area land brokers whether the majority of the lots would sell during the first auction phase.Shannon Moore, a real estate agent for Prudential Village Realty, said many of her clients weren't even intending to place bids Thursday. Instead, she said, they were planning to wait until the unsold lots were auctioned in blocks live at the end of February, in hopes to get them at a cheaper rate. Moore said she now doubts there will be any left over now for that live auction.