Month: January 2009

New FNMA Condo Guidelines Chilling to Panama City Beach

FNMA released new condo eligibility guidelines for mortgages acceptable to be purchased by FNMA in Announcement 08-34.  These new guidelines are directed specifically toward condominiums located in Florida.  The guidelines specify particular situations that place additional restrictions on condominium mortgages that FNMA will purchase in the secondary market.  The new guidelines have an effective date of January 15, 2009.

Some of the highlights are:

  • Reduced loan to value ratios.
  • 70 percent of the total units in a project must have been sold or under a bona fide contract to a principal residence or second home purchaser.  This could affect new buildings such as Trade Winds, Ocean Reef, Origin of Seaheaven, Grand Panama, Shores of Panama, Etc.
  • No more than 15 percent of the total units in a project can be 30 days or more past due on the payment of their condominium/association fee payments.  This includes the unsold units where the developer is responsible for paying the HOA fees.
  • Increased insurance requirements for the HOA and the unit owners.
  • Projects are ineligible where a single entity (the same individual, investor group, partnership, or corporation) owns more than 10 percent of the total units in the project.  This may affect Emerald Beach where the Wyndham Corporation owns more than 50 percent of the units.  If a hedge fund comes in and buys 10-20 percent of a project, say the Trade Winds, it could mean that FNMA would not purchase any mortgages of the remaining units.
  • Review of the project HOA budget and income statement, especially for projects where the developer is still in control of the HOA.  This could be a problem for projects where the developer has not fully funded the required HOA fees of the unsold units.
  • Projects are ineligible where the HOA or developer (if he is still in control of the HOA) is named as a party to current litigation that relates to the project.  This could affect Shores of Panama that is in bankruptcy or projects where the developer is being sued for nonpayment of construction work or services.

Lenders are also increasingly reluctant to lend on what they consider to be condo-tels.  FNMA may consider projects with any of the following characteristics as condo-tels:

  • Front Desk/Registration Service
  • Central telephone system
  • Daily cleaning service
  • Advertising rental rates
  • Central key system
  • Few or no full time residents
  • Short-term rentals

There are exceptions to all of the rules.  However, if you have a great contract from a well qualified buyer, don’t be surprised if the loan gets rejected by the lender.  Additional loan collateral requirements will mean fewer sales and a longer market recover period.

Sam Portman, www.condotrends.com

Lawmakers – Leave the Affordable Housing Trust Money Alone

In an effort to plug Florida’s $2.6 billion deficit, lawmakers are threatening to sweep $190 million from the Florida Affordable Housing Trust.

The fund was established in 1992 and is funded directly from a portion of doc stamp taxes and is used to build new single-family homes and multi-family housing projects and for financial assistance programs.

Originally, lawmakers were eyeing a more robust taking of $284 million, but when it was estimated that the fund appropriations would only generate $170 million for 2009, they lowered their steal to $190 million.  This taking away of this money will negatively effect the real estate and housing industry in the state of Florida.

This morning an email was sent out to all BCAR members, but I wanted to get this issue in front of the readers of pcbdaily.com.  Please don’t hesitate to email Representatives Jimmy Patronis and Marti Coley and urge them to NOT STEAL THE MONEY FROM THE FLORIDA AFFORDABLE HOUSING TRUST.

Jimmy Patronis email: jimmy.patronis@myfloridahouse.gov

Marti Coley email: marti.coley@myfloridahouse.gov

New Airport Constructin Update

Construction at the new Panama City-Bay County International Airport continues to run smoothly and is currently about 3 and a half months ahead of schedule.  A summary of the contracts underway follows.

  • Contract 1: Heavy Civil and Airfield Lighting:
  • 115 pieces of heavy equipment in operation at any one time with approximately 160 personnel on site.
  • 46% of time utilized (360 of 780 days).
  • 37% of the 15” concrete paving lanes have been placed on 8,500 linear feet of Runway 16-34.
  • On Taxiway D, all lime rock base and the majority of the first 2” lift of P-401 base have been placed.
  • 12,902 tons of asphalt base course is in place along the Main Access Road (MRA) and loop road.  Curb and lime rock base installation within terminal parking lots now 100% complete.  Asphalt base course is in place over 75% of main parking lot.
  • 34,888 tons of asphalt base and 20,000 cubic yards of structural concrete have been placed on 8,400 linear feet of Runway 16-34.
  • 6,780 tons of asphalt base has been placed on Taxiway D, and the main apron.
  • Stormwater drainage pipe installation is now 99% complete.
  • Storm sewer installation within the General Aviation Area is now underway.
  • Over 5.4 million cubic yards of earth has been moved (98% of total).
  • Mass grading within Pond C now 90% complete.
  • Contract 2:  Terminal Building, ATCT and Support Buildings:
  • Gulf Power has completed installation of temporary overhead power to the Terminal Building location and site office trailers.
  • Installation of reinforcing steel continues along Area’s A and B of the Terminal Building.
  • New design of the Air Traffic Control Tower auger cast piles was required due to the original design not meeting the required load test. The original design required 72 piles drilled to a depth of 52 feet. The new design, based on the actual field load tests will require 44 piles drilled to a depth of 70.33 feet and 28 piles drilled to a depth of 80.33 feet.
  • Rough-in of electrical and plumbing for the Air Cargo Facility is completed.
  • Installation of mat reinforcing steel and dowels for the Air Cargo Facility is completed.
  • Installation of the drainage structures for the Airport Maintenance Facility continues.
  • Contract 3:  Utility Contract:
    • Contract has been executed and all necessary submittals, insurance and bonds have been received from the Contractor. Notice to Proceed is anticipated within the first week of January.

Pier Park Beach Ball Drop Video

Pier Park’s Beach Ball Drop in Panama City Beach was a huge success with thousands in attendance from all over the south-eastern United States.  The CVB’s marketing blitz covered our drive-to market while locals attended in droves.

I had a blast there with my buddy Lou shooting the whole event and have actually spent probably 12 hours reviewing and editing to get just over 5 minutes of reliving the New Year’s Eve Party on Panama City Beach.

The original version was about 8 minutes long, but I edited it down to really focus on the action. I hope that this brings back some of the emotion of the night for those of you that were there, and for those that were not there, I hope this depicts what an awesome time it truly was.

I want to thank Pier Park’s Felecia Cook for all the hard work that she and her assistant, Ashley Capps did to pull this great event off.  With the help of the PCB CVB and the local tourism industry, this is sure to be a grand tradition that we will all enjoy for years to come.

Enjoy the video.

View in HD

2008 Panama City Beach Condo Market Analysis

2008 was a turbulent year for the local real estate market and 2009 doesn’t look much better.  The Panama City Beach, Florida condo market continues to trend downward.  New sale price lows are set almost every month in high quality beach-side buildings.  There are numerous examples of list prices that are below the lowest reported sale price of a particular model unit.  Foreclosure proceedings in high quality beach-side buildings have accelerated in every quarter over the past year.  The number of monthly, arms-length, market-rate sales from the 70 buildings within our http://www.condosaletrends.com database continues to decline.  The market dynamics at play in the local market and just the market inertia will most likely drag prices lower.

The graph below illustrates the number of monthly re-sales from the 70 Panama City Beach condo buildings in the http://www.condosaletrends.com  database (20,000 Units).  The total 2008 re-sales are lower than any year over the past five years.

The sale price trend line is illustrated below.  It is structured to show a sale price trend measured in terms of the percentage sale price as of a particular date.  The starting date used was May 1, 2007 so we could show the price trend for the preceding 19 months.  We chose units from a variety of buildings of different ages and sizes that had a sufficient number of sales as to be statistically significant.  The units used in the analysis were:

Boardwalk Beach Opened in 2005 1,380 SF 2BR/2Ba
Calypso Opened in 2006 1,226 SF 2BR/2Ba
Celadon Opened in 2004 846 SF 1BR/2Ba
Grandview Opened in 2005 1,492 SF 3BR/2Ba
Gulf Crest Opened in 2003 1,388 SF 2BR/2Ba
Emerald Isle Opened in 2005 1,146 SF 2BR/2Ba
Treasure Island Opened in 2005 1,370 SF 2BR/2Ba
The Summit Opened in 1983 912 SF 1BR/1.5Ba
Regency Towers Opened in 1975 1,114 SF 2BR/2Ba
Sterling Reef Opened in 1975 1,076 SF 2BR/2Ba
Splash Opened in 2006 1,074 SF 2BR/2Ba
Seychelles Opened in 2006 883SF 1BR/2Ba

The May 1, 2007 market value for each type of unit was determined by analyzing sales data from January 1, 2007 to June 19, 2007.  The sale price of each type of unit is only compared to the typical sale price of that particular type of unit as of May 1, 2007.  In other words, a unit type with a May 1, 2007 market value of $400,000 is represented as 1 or 100%.   An October 2007, $380,000 resale of that type of unit is depicted as .95 or 95% of the May 1, 2007 sale price.  The sale prices and sale dates were charted with a price trend line for each type of unit.  The chart contained in the following price trend analysis is a trend line of the trend lines of the sale prices of each type of unit from the 12 buildings.  Foreclosure sale prices that were unrealistically low were not included.  There were 184 sales used in the chart.  The analysis does not try to skew the price trend in any direction.  The data is just the data.

The data indicates that the rate of price decline has been mostly steady over the past 20 months.  Compared to 2007, it appears that typical prices have declined approximately 15% over the past 12 months.  There are numerous examples of condo units that are listed for sale at prices below the lowest sale price of that particular unit. Price stabilization in the near term is not indicated.

The Panama City Beach condo market will not hit bottom until most if not all of the unsold developer units are transferred to private ownership.  The condo market will not hit bottom until most of the condo units whose owners are significantly upside down, with high “loan-to-purchase price” mortgages and who do not have the financial horsepower to hang on are sold at current market values.

2009 will most likely see additional price declines, fewer sales, and additional foreclosures.

Sam Portman, www.condosaletrends.com

PCBDaily has moved!

_mg_9861Well, I’ve moved, to be precise.  If you have been wondering “hey, what’s that Jason character been up to, pcbdaily has seemed sparse lately.”  Then your wondering is definately justified.

We had our baby begining of December, then family came in town, then Christmas, then New Years, then we moved New Year’s weekend (that’s why the Pier Park vid won’t be up until tonight), leaving me almost totally incapacitated and barely able to keep up with the bare minimums on everything.

img_9766Nevertheless, we are moved, settled in and the whole event has borne me an office of my own. No more sharing a room with the kid’s play area and Spongebob square pants.  The new diggs will afford me a whole new level of productivity.

We have much planned for 2009 on pcbdaily, and for Panama City Beach, this is a whole new year.  With elements in place that we’ve never, as a community, had before, this year will be paramount.

Thanks for reading!

PCB Sand Sports and Panama City Beach

img_0193PCB Sand Sports in partnership with the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau welcomed Beach Tennis USA President Jim Lorenzo and Daniel Weinberg Marketing Director along with the EVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour President Ross Balling. Russ Smith hosted the group at the Towne of Seaaven’s Origin as part of the hospitality coop from the local area. Many local properties offered to host these important guests and we appreciate the interest and excitement from across the community.

Richard Sanders, Director of Sports Marketing with the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau discussed dates and tournament schedule ideas to showcase Panama City Beach as one of the host cities for the EVP Pro Beach Tour in Summer 2009. The EVP Pro Beach Tour can bring exposure on Comcast Cable TV Network to more than 70 million homes.

PCB Sand Sports is working with both major beach sand sports associations to present the white sand beaches across Panama City Beach for the launch of a combined sporting event that will showcase “sand sports” . This will include Beach Soccer as we continue to share our vision of how this can help develop the new brand for PCB and grow activities for the local community as well as offer events and exposure to grow tourism in the area.

Rick Dye, President of Regions Bank and a founder of the non-profit Bay Areas Sports Association which is focused on developing sports for the local community by working closely with schools hosted a reception Friday night January 9th at Baja Grill. This provided an opportunity to introduce both sports to the local business community.

We had a great attendance with much interest in the “new sport and buzz of Beach Tennis” and discussion on how to work closer together. Beach Tennis showcased the “ball” used for Beach Tennis and provided t-shirts and hats as part of their hospitality for the attendees.

Dr. Jason Newsome, Director of Bay County Health Department was also in attendance and shared his input on the benefit sand sports can bring to the local community to get citizens out to play.

We discussed ideas to engage the schools within the community to expand opportunities for local leagues along with the tournaments and Pro Beach events for these hot and growing beach sand sports.  Beach Tennis is now licensed in more than 7 global countries and can bring International visitors along with Beach Volleyball as the area prepares to open the new airport.

Ideas for the New Panama City Beach Web Site

The new web site for Panama City Beach should be pretty sweet.  Ok, now that I’ve secured my insecurity regarding my terminal uncoolness, lets get right down to it.

Participants heralded from all walks of the hospitality and tourism industry in PCB.  The audience was spotted with community leaders such as Jack Bishop and Buddy Wilkes and the little guys such as individual condo owners, and was chaired by Jennifer Barbee from JBInc.

The idea behind the meeting was to brainstorm with the local tourism industry on what they liked and disliked about the current web site and what their expecations were with the new web site.

Some of the ideas were:

  • Come up with a categorization process or criteria for events posted on the events calendar.  CJ Ryan had mentioned that there is a distinct difference between events and specials and that should be discerned on the calender.  There was actually a lot of discussion about the calender.  I agree with CJ, and disagree at the same time.  I think there should be a discernment between events and specials (meaning 2 for 1 drinks and where ever), but I don’t see any reason why they should not be on the same calendar.  I think anything dated should be in the same place so the user doesn’t have to look in multiple places to see what is happening on what date.
  • One of the participants suggested having a Craig’s List of sorts for PCB where travelers could post their needs and resorts could respond.  I don’t see how this would work, logistically.
  • Using Niche content – users would arrive at the site and gently be asked a series of questions so the site could get a feel for who they are.  After a few questions, the user would be directed to a series of custom pages that would be populated based on the answers to their questions.  I’ve seen this before and it is a very powerful way of guiding the user to the parts of the web site that would best convert the user into money.  These processes usually include pretty detailed site flow traffic.  This would enable us to tweak all the varying elements of the site to make the presentation more effective.  We need to be moving in this direction.
  • Part of the previous section includes feeding the user accommodations options based on their input.  Other suggestions included a way for people to search by varying criteria such as “indoor pool”, or “pet friendly”, etc.
  • There was discussion about offering package deals
  • The audience talked about having an online booking engine.  There are good arguments for and against this as it effects the varying aspects of the local tourism industry in myriad ways.  Jennifer ultimately said that having a booking engine on the actual destination site historically hasn’t been real effective but was willing to explore that option further.
  • It was discussed to tailor the events calendar based on user input – again, going back to the Niche content.
  • Discussed was user-derived content such as photos, e cards and video.  This could possibly include a user generated content community.  Another local site has done this and the execution was done very well.  I think this is a necessity as we move forward.  We need to seriously consider having a user community where people can create profiles, chat in forums, IM each other, and post pictures and video.  It wouldn’t be very difficult to implement a verification, screening, or moderation process to ensure that less favorable or unsuitable material wouldn’t make it live.  People are dying to post their videos and picture of the beach in a place that others that share their same passion can view them.  The trick is marketing the whoopsidoodle out of it and consistency.
  • Of course, the whole site would need to be set up with RSS, with feeds specific to all the varying categories of  content, maybe even custom feeds generated on the fly based on user input (is that possible?  surely some genius can figure that out).
  • Online chat was suggested where visitors could chat with a live person about the area.
  • Video based promotion and a web cam.  The TDC/CVB currently has a web cam but is cannot be viewed from the visitpanamacitybeach.com web site, it goes through WeatherBug, or something like that.  Also talked about was “man-on-the-street” video covering happenings in Panama City Beach.  This is great, but one has to be careful to not make it TOO “man-on-the-street”.  The News Herald is guilty of often posting videos that are so terrible that you can’t hardly tell what they are saying.  Sorry NH, but you’ve got to buy a better video camera, a microphone, and some skills!  I still love you guys though.
  • Capability for the vendors to login and manipulate their information on the site, i.e. pictures, copy, specials, etc.
  • Continue meeting in workshops to keep up with industry needs.

All in all, there were some great ideas and a good platform has been made for a great web site.  Jenn Barbee is sharp and I’m excited to see what we get.

Download her presentation (3.9mb)

TDC Meeting Agenda – Beach Renourishment, PCB Fest and More.

Up for discussion and approval will be the funding for the Panama City Beach Renourishment Engineering and Modeling Report, Consider for Approval Panama City Beach Turtle Watch Program Description and Budget for 2009, and an update on the Panama City Beach Seafood, Music and Wine Festival.  I assume they’ll be talking about this year and what’s planned for next year.

The full agenda is below, or you can download the pdf.

AGENDA

COMBINED BOARD MEETING
Bay County Tourist Development Council
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Monday, January 12, 2009                    1:00 p.m.        Council Room, PCB City Hall

I.    CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II.    ROLL CALL

A.    Invocation
B.    Pledge of Allegiance
C.    Approve Minutes From the December 9, 2008 Meeting

III.    REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD ON AGENDA ITEMS (3 Minutes)

IV.    UPDATE ON BED TAX COLLECTIONS, Ms. Charlene Honnen, Tourist Development Tax Specialist

V.    ELECTION OF OFFICERS

A.    Chairman of the Board
B.    Vice Chairman of the Board
C.    Secretary/Treasurer of the Board

VI.    BOARD ACTION ITEMS

A.    Discuss and Consider for Approval CVB/TDC Financial Statements Dated September 30, 2008, and October 31, 2008, Mr. Dan Rowe, President
B.    Discuss and Consider for Approval Scope of Work and Fee Proposal for Panama City Beach Renourishment Engineering and Modeling Report, Coastal Planning & Engineering, Mrs. Lisa Armbruster, Sustainable Beaches, LLC
C.    Discuss and Consider for Approval Panama City Beach Turtle Watch Program Description and Budget for 2009, St. Andrew Bay Resource Management Association, Mrs. Lisa Armbruster, Sustainable Beaches, LLC
D.    Discuss and Consider for Approval Coastal Planning & Engineering Invoice #81242 and Invoice #81243, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

VII.    BOARD DISCUSSION ITEMS

A.    Update on the 2008 Panama City Beach Seafood, Wine & Music Festival, Mr. Jack Bishop, Eventertainment, LLC
B.    Update on Marketing Activities, Ms. Susan Estler, VP of Marketing

VIII.    PRESIDENT’S REPORT

IX.    AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

X.    ADJOURNMENT