2007 Panama City Beach Condo Market

Sam Portmans from CondoSaleTrends.com regularly releases reports on the condo market and updates on what the buying, selling, pricing trends are.

I hadn’t seen one in a while, but he just sent me his annual report of 2007. I must warn you, it seems sort of doomy-gloomy, but the report is based on sales facts, not opinions. A friend of mine always says, “We are where we are”, and that couldn’t be more true in this case. It is no secret the real estate market is hurting right now. All of us in the real estate business are dreaming of days where we aren’t living paycheck to paycheck.

These are the facts, click the “more” link for the entire report.

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Pier Park – Margaritaville Grand Opening in Panama City Beach (video)

Today was the grand opening of Margaritaville in Pier Park in Panama City Beach. This location is the only one in the Panhandle and has been highly anticipated, I can’t wait to eat there. Inside, there is a boat with fake scuba tanks lining the railings (like you’d see on a dive boat), a plane hanging from the ceiling, huge sails hanging from the walls with Jimmy Buffett concerts projected on them and flat screen TV’s all over with more Jimmy Buffett.

Click the “more” link for the video, and more pictures.

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New developments on Thomas Drive

I don’t drive down Thomas Drive very often, but when I did the other day I was quite pleasantly surprised to find a new development area has been moving along quickly.

Directly across from the Navy base a new development named Coastal Palms has all-of-a-sudden come to life. The developer built a La Quinta Inn that opened I think last year, but it may have been open longer. Various out-parcels have been sold and a Brewster’s Ice Cream and Burger King have recently opened.

Click the “more” link for more pictures.

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Spring Break is here and the beaches are filling up

I can’t believe it is already March in 2008 already! Spring Break is here, and the beach is coming to life. I said this last year and I’ll say it again. I don’t like many of the things that come with spring break, but I do love it when our area comes alive.

My mother-in-law owns a rental business and I was told that this week isn’t quite as busy as next week, but most of their rentable units are occupied.

It is supposed to cool off a little as the week goes on, but all-in-all, we should have pretty good weather.

Click the “more” link for a list of schools in town this week.

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The Fed reports that more needs to be done about foreclosures

With foreclosures on the rise and market instability increasing, The Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke urged lenders Tuesday to help distressed owners by lowering mortgage amounts. He warned that foreclosures and late house payments are likely to rise a while longer, even with the efforts of industry and the government to curb a recession. Many lenders have increased their loss-mitigation options and grown more willing to work with owners in threat of default.

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Pier Park – More Stores to Open this week

March 3rd press release from Simon Property Group.

Pier Park Welcomes More Dining and Shopping Choices!
– Popular New Eateries and Stores Set to Open This Week –

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (March 3, 2008)- Pier Park options continue to grow as many anticipated restaurants and shops plan to open this week in the 900,000-square-foot retail and entertainment lifestyle center. New tenants scheduled to open include Dillard’s, JCPenney, Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, Southern Waters Outfitters, Smoothie King, Trader Tom’s and ULTA Beauty.

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A Review of the 2008 TDC/CVB Spring Break Marketing Plan

As I am writing this, our first group of college spring breakers are on the road heading to liven up our beach. No one knows whether the TDC/CVB’s College Spring Break Marketing Plan will end up being a success, a failure, or somewhere in between. Hopefully President Dan Rowe has a plan for calculating a reliable estimate of how many college students visit our destination during the four-week period this year and what the actual economic impact is to Bay County. Lately, I have heard the estimate being mentioned that 250,000 college students came here for Spring Break last year and that we are expecting the same or better this year. However, it is my understanding that the TDC/CVB has no data to actually support this 250,000 figure. I am pleased that the new TDC/CVB board has been very diligent in questioning the attendance and economic impact of other special events; however, I do not believe that they have had the same diligence in questioning College Spring Break. But regardless of how successful the MTV plan ends up being, it is clear that the plan has some major problems.

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Dinner at Bootleg Barbeque, and it rocked (review)

Last night, my wife and I had dinner at Bootleg Barbeque. I have to say, it wasn’t our first choice, but I’m very glad we had the opportunity to eat there, it was great. Actually, great was an understatement.

One of the things that excited us about Pier Park, is that it is an all inclusive date. We got their early for our movie, walked up and down the boardwalk, and came back to eat at Camile’s Sidewalk Cafe, but to our surprise, they closed at 7. I’m not very familiar with them, but it would seem that on a Friday night, they would be leaving some business on the table by closing so early.

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Shores of Panama files for Bankruptcy

In an effort to continue operations after over 100 purchasers initiated the process to get out of their contracts, the Shores of Panama has filed for protection under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

The Shores of Panama consists of 709 condos in a 22 story building on Front Beach Road. When they were marketing and selling this project, huge emphasis was placed on the expansive resort-style amenity area. Situated right across from Laketown Wharf, the Shores of Panama is a beach-front U-shaped building.

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