About 35 miles southwest of the cluster of high-density condos in downtown Miami sits a house on over 2 acres. It has a new $200,000 aluminum blue roof and is a half mile from a u-pick strawberry farm that makes cinnamon buns and pecan rolls, for which sweet tooths willingly wait in hour-long lines.
The sellers are asking $2.7 million for the palm tree-shaded property at 15960 SW 250th St. in unincorporated Homestead, Florida, according to Homes.com. Julian Delaney of Douglas Elliman has the listing.
The custom-built, five-bedroom house in the Redland agricultural district and Outer Homestead neighborhood is nearly 8,000 square feet with a three-car garage and has plenty of room outside for recreation and entertainment, according to Delaney. There's even space to build a guest house, the listing states.
"It has a lot of potential," Delaney told Homes.com. "It's up to the buyer."
The remodeled kitchen has navy blue cabinets, part of a trend in which more homeowners embrace bold colors and warmer neutrals. Other amenities include a theater room, indoor bar and an office with a library, according to the listing.
The backyard has a fire pit with seating, an outdoor theater screen, lounge area, playground equipment, two tiki huts, a heated pool with a Jacuzzi, waterfall and water slide. Next to the garage is a half basketball court.
Sellers don't need as much space
The sellers installed those items after buying the house in 2015, but their children are older now, and the family no longer needs so much space, according to Delaney. The family enjoyed entertaining, sometimes inviting more than 100 guests for parties, he said.
The new owner will be just around the corner from Knaus Berry Farm, a local landmark business dating to 1956.
In those days, strawberry-growing brothers Ray and Russell Knaus sold their fruit through a broker, who suggested Ray's wife also market her home-baked cookies, according to the farm's website. That's how the business branched out from strawberries and today sells guava pies, brownies, bread, shakes and ice cream, in addition to the sweet rolls. Alas, the farm closes during the summer months.
"Lord willing," the website states, "Knaus Berry Farm is open every November through mid-April, during the Redland farming season of Miami-Dade County, Florida."
The home's sellers are listing it in the middle range on a per-square-foot basis relative to comparable properties in the area, according to Juan Arias, director of analytics for CoStar and Homes.com.
"The commute time is a drawback in Homestead, and it is far from meaningful retail amenities as well, so you really have to be a buyer prioritizing more of a rural lifestyle and looking for plenty of space," Arias said in an email.
The house was built in 2003, the year after lawmakers approved a statewide building code designed to increase standards for new construction. The code was in response to Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm that made landfall in southern Miami-Dade in 1992. The Homestead area has endured plenty of severe weather over the past three decades, but nothing as destructive as Andrew.
The sellers replaced the roof last year. Real estate agents say roof age is a key consideration for many buyers, especially in Florida, where some property insurers may not offer replacement coverage on homes with roofs over 20 years old.
"All the buyers that came to an open house said the roof was immaculate," Delaney said. "I'm glad they could see that."