"Go big or go home," if you can afford one

Why would someone pay hundreds of thousands of dollars over asking price for a house without even seeing it first?

• Matthew Barnes explains in just three words: "Tampa will boom."

What's happening: Barnes, investor and self-proclaimed "​​principal of miscellaneous corporations," tells Axios he has left Fisher Island, the richest ZIP code in Florida, to drop bank in Tampa.

• When 4615 Bayshore Blvd. hit the market for $3.5 million on Nov. 29, Barnes entered into a buying contract with the seller for $3.8 million, waived all inspection and financing contingencies, then wired the entire sum in cash in 72 hours.
• The agreement was executed just a few hours after the listing went up.
• He relisted the five-bed, five-bath 4,262- square-foot home for $9.5 million within hours of the official closure on Friday.

Why it matters: Barnes thinks he could have made Tampa's fastest-ever multimillion-dollar, sight-unseen home purchase.

• Kathy Ervin with Premier Sotheby's International Realty, who represented the sellers, says the sale was the fastest transaction she's ever completed.
• Record or not, this transaction definitely pours gasoline on the hype around our hot housing market.

Behind the buy: "Go big or go home," Barnes says. "Big money expects Tampa residential real estate to boom like never before."

• Why now list for $9.5 million? He's counting on the stock market and the most recent Zillow report predicting Tampa residential real-estate will return nearly 25% this year.
• Barnes thinks homes on Bayshore Boulevard will be worth more than $100 million "in some of our lifetimes."
• "Be ready for some serious cash to pour into Tampa very quickly. Don't be afraid to pay too much in Tampa for a home right now because the secret is only just getting out."

The other side: It's sales like this that make it harder for folks without millions to find housing.