Month: July 2009

Episode #14 – Huge 4 Bed Home Steps from the Beach $262k

The Beach Show is your ONLY internet TV show all about Real Estate on Panama City Beach.

Remember, it doesn’t cost anything to work with us if you are a buyer.

Click the “more” tag for show notes and pictures.

Call us at 850-527-5651 to see these properties or for anything else you need regarding real estate in Panama City Beach.

Show Notes

Deal 1 – 1 Block from the Beach for Only $98k!

  • List Price: $98,900
  • Square Feet: 1,088
  • Price/SqFt: $90.07
  • 2 Bedrooms, 1.5 Bath
  • Built in 1982
  • This townhome has been totally redone on the inside. Located only 1 block from the beach, this is a perfect place if you’re looking for a great starter home or a phenomenal rental. Move-in ready, you can’t beat $90/foot. There are great appliances, the bathrooms look great, tile in the kitchen and dining area with bamboo flooring in the living area. There is a newly redone deck on the second floor over looking the fenced in back yard. There are no association fees. This is a short sale and won’t last long.

Deal 2 – Huge 3 Story 4 bed House 200 Feet from the Beach for $100/foot

  • List Price: $262,500
  • Square Feet: 2,613
  • Price/SqFt: $100.46
  • 4 Bedrooms, 4.5 Bath
  • Built in 2006
  • Huge 4 bed 4 and a half bath 3 story single family home 200 feet from the white sandy beaches of Panama City Beach. In fact, we could see the Gulf of Mexico from the street. Surrounded by good looking homes, you can’t go wrong with the price of this one. There are some minor things that need to be addressed, including a blemish inside the garage, but all-in-all, this is a great deal. Includes a two car garage and a wet bar on every floor. Talk about cash-flow.

Deal 3 – Single Family Home in Carillon for $525k

  • List Price: $525,900
  • Square Feet: 2,244
  • Price/SqFt: 233.96
  • 4 Bedrooms, 4 Bath
  • Built in 2007
  • Single family home in the much sought after Carillon Beach. 3 story 4 bed 4 bath brand spankin new home in one of the most pretty areas in Panama City Beach, full community amenities included. 8 “dune” walk-overs to the beach, community pools, including one on the beach and some of the most breathtaking views around. This home is a foreclosure and was originally purchased for $1.4 million. You have to see this place, if you like high-end living, this is it.

Call us at 850-527-5651 to see these properties or for anything else you need regarding real estate in Panama City Beach.

Who Really Qualifies for a Condo Loan Anyway?

Okay let me clear this up from the very beginning – I am not a loan expert nor do I play one on TV, but these days that would be a great idea. I have had several customers come to me wanting to purchase a condo and they assume that BECAUSE they have great credit and good income then they are good to go. Sometimes they even have a pre-qual letter and they really feel good. Well not so fast. Lets talk about the real skinny about who can get a loan and what they can buy with it.

I rely on the good wisdom of some really good lenders here in Bay County which brings me to one of the most important points. In MOST cases when buying a condo it would be best to use a local lender who is familar with the local market. While we are on the subject of Local a local appraiser is another vital part of the deal. So much has changed in the last few years and even more so in just the last few months. Because I am not a loan expert I am going to address just a few of the issues surrounding loans on condos in Florida. I hope to give you just enough to have you running to your local lender for the rest of the story.

In speaking to one of my favorite Bankers today he shared that back in the good ole days (creative license) that loaning money to folks was like a 3 legged stool that was income, credit and assets. If you had 2 of the 3 then most likely you were good to go. Now we throw a whole new monkey wrench and there are many more issues to consider. First you must have all 3 to get you started. Sounds like the way we used to borrow back in the day when you really had to make the money to buy the deal. What a concept?

One huge difference is that just because you have all 3 it is important that you find out if the condo that you are getting excited about is an approved project for that bank. Many banks take into consideration the saturation of loans in one condo complex, lack of people paying their dues and maybe even litigation issues to determine if the project is loan worthy. So not only does the customer need to be loan worthy so does the condo!!! In addition the bank will evaluate the building , it’s finances, and market conditions for your area.

So now your are feeling confident we have passed the first test and then the lender wants to know, “Is this your primary home?” “Is this your second home and vacation spot? Oops you say your primary home is just a few miles down the road??? Now the scariest question of all… Is this an investment property? Again in speaking to my various lender friends there is no such thing as investment loans on condos today. You will need to use the green stuff.

Another issue that many find discomforting is the fact that there are no longer just good old conventional fixed loans for condos and the amount needed to put down is greater and the interest rate higher. I have brought up more questions than answers but this should get you started with the questions you need to get answered by your favorite lender so you can buy that condo while the deals are great from your FAVORITE REALTOR.

I hope this does not serve to scare you away because there have never been so many deals and so many choices for the buyer it just means that lending is now a much more conservative and intensive process. I encourage you to find a lender to work with so you can be ready for those deals when they come up.

Mortgage Rates Helped by Stock Slide

As I predicted last week, mortgage rates have managed to ease somewhat over the past week thanks to a slumping stock market that has seen a miserable start to the third quarter. Investors are beginning to think that all of those “green shoots” of economic recovery may have been so many weeds as lackluster earnings reports, a sell off in the commodities markets, and concerns that the third quarter will fail to bring the robust growth many had hoped for are all taking their toll on stocks.

The Dow and S&P 500 both ended the day Tuesday at two month lows. Bonds have benefited from all this uncertainty as investors retreat to the safety of the capital markets and mortgage rates have reaped the reward. The benchmark thirty-year fixed-rate fell below 5.50% to settle in at 5.375% on Tuesday. Remember it was only a couple of weeks ago when we were almost at 6.00%.

Fifteen year mortgage rates fell to 4.625%. There are no big economic reports due out this week and I expect mortgage rates will continue to simply respond to the ups and downs of equities and commodities on a daily basis. With no major market movers, expect rates to remain in the 5.375% range and perhaps ease if the sell-off in stock continues.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-07-07

7 Things to Know About Shubee Flowrider

Ok, so I know that we just did something on this, but I wanted to get something up that had more information, since there seemed to be some questions.

  • Shubee will be the name of this Flowrider, but Flowrider is the name of an actual “ride”.  A Flowrider is a proprietary name that describes an attraction that is essentially a man-made, surfable wave.  The way it works is basically a jet-engine blasts a flattened stream of water at around 30,000 gallons a minute up a padded slope to create a wave.  More can be found here, although something seems to be wrong with their web site as google was telling me its been blocked.
  • The Flowrider surface is a padded material that has a plastic feeling with the slope gradual at first, then increases.  I’ve been told by younger people that falling on it feels like you are falling on a cloud.  We’ll see how my 30 year old body takes it.
  • Steel structure is up, and has been for over a week.  Next step?  The roof.
  • The Flowrider equipment and machinery will be installed once a roof is on the place.  I’m unsure at this time whether they will have the building “dried-in” before this happens, or if they’ll have to leave the walls open.  There wasn’t anyone there that knew the size of the equipment pieces before installation.
  • The expected open time has been pushed back to August.  There was a longer than expected cure time on the actual structure that houses the Flowrider, but everything should begin moving fairly quick.
  • Most of the inventory is in, they’re just waiting for the roof and walls to start moving stuff in.

LIVE – City Pier's done, Now County Pier's Under Construction!

_mg_7759wtmkThe projected construction timeline for the new County Pier located just west of Alf Coleman Road is around 16 months, barring no unexpected obstacles present themselves.  The design is exactly the same as the new Russell-Fields pier located right across from Pier Park.  Alf Coleman Road is the road the Shipwreck Island Waterpark is on, and it runs almost directly into Sterling Reef Condominiums on the Gulf of Mexico.

Construction began in March of this year with the concrete ramp that leads up to the portion of the pier that extends out into the water already complete.  The next milestone is expected in October when they should have the “mid”-section complete by.

The totall cost of this pier will be $7.6 million with FEMA picking up $3 million of the tab.  Completion is expected to be June of 2010.

LIVE – Russell-Fields Pier First Weekend Huge Success

_mg_7746wtmkWith the first day of business being Friday, Russel-Fields Pier in Panama City Beach saw over 1800 people on Friday and just under 1,000 people on Saturday by 1 pm when I was there.  They closed the pier down shortly before dusk to set off the fireworks a little after 9pm.  The fireworks show left no visible damage that I could see, just as promised – thnaks Yankee!

So far the most common fish caught are Spanish and King Mackerel, although a small handful of people I talked today said they caught a higher number than usual of “lady-fish”, or the poor -man’s trout.

The weather is rather dreary, but seems to be wanting to clear up.  I was actually harrassed by more fisherman than usual, must have been the umbrella, I’m sure I looked like a dweeb.  I was just trying to keep my camera dry!

_mg_7739wtmkThere were tons of surfers out, the surf looked great, good clean waves, nice break in between.  In fact, the only complaint I would have had if I were a surfer would be that there were too many surfers.

I will say this, all weekend I was greeted by a great guy working the booth that seemed happy to be there.  Today, I was greeted by a man named Terry who was real grumpy, must have been the weather.  At least he’s got a/c!  We do need polite people greeting our tourists – haven’t we been discussing this?  Cheer up Terry, you live in the best place on earth!

On to the county pier that’s under construction!

Recap: Panama City Beach's Best 4th of July Ever

4thofJuly199The title is obviously difficult to quantify, but as a lifelong resident of our great city, I can say without a doubt, that I’ve not experienced a better 4th of July on this beach before.

All week long you sensed the buzz. On Thursday afternoon you felt it. By Friday morning rumblings became a full-on stampede, all leading up to a Saturday 4th of July that, at least in one writer’s opinion, was Panama City Beach’s greatest Independence Day event ever.

It was a hot, very hot, but beautiful weekend perfect for beach lovers who showed up in droves. From end to end, Panama City Beach was packed with tourists. Hotels and Condos were sold out, restaurants stayed on waits, attractions were packed to the door and if you were brave enough to step foot into Walmart, you had no doubts as to the overwhelming surge of business.

The Veteran’s Memorial was rededicated at Pier Park where several Vets saluted the flag and prayed for soldiers currently protecting our country. Throughout the day there were concerts, contests and all sorts of food and fun to be had.

At sunset, the real show began. From Grand Lagoon down to Pier Park, Panama City Beach tourists and locals were witnesses to a stunning celebration. Night skies came to life, and Pier Park put on one of the most amazing fireworks displays I’ve ever seen. It was awesome.

I hope that this weekend’s events were not just benchmarks for future events, but a precursor to what Panama City Beach can expect in the years to come.

More pics and video to come soon.

Panama City Beach LIVE – What's happing now

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Following this post, I’ll be updating pcbdaily.com with short quick blog posts of what is happening as I happen across it TODAY.  For all intents and purposes, call it a write-a-thon.  This is actually a model the staff here is experimenting with for an event that we’re planning in the next month or two for SeePCB.  If it works, maybe it will be a regular thing.

The idea is to have an experience, then write about it, posting it as soon after the event as possible.  With the goal being to give you information as it happens, right now, we’re not sure if it will end up being too much work to be feasible (i.e. the process may take too long).  But, I’m going to try it.  That’s right, I started a sentence with a But – sorry english teachers.  But that’s hip now!

So, keep your follow on, and be sure to keep an eye out for posts from Jason Koertge – LIVE