5 Reasons to be Excited About the Fall Season

Along with many beach residents, I have spent the whole of summer’s slow decline anxiously anticipating the Fall Season. I love the cool weather, the colors and the ripples of pumpkin spice in the air. In my opinion, fall is Panama City Beach’s very best season, transforming our town from a hot, tourist-filled circus to a quiet and festive jewel of home for anyone who lives in this great city. There are a number of reasons to be excited about the season from something as simple as less traffic in the streets to traditions as beloved as Halloween and Thanksgiving. But, in Panama City Beach there are even more reasons to get excited about the season to come; here are 5 of them

Fall Art Show September 18 – 20 – Pier Park

If you like art and enjoy seeing totally unique creations, the Fall Art Show will be an exciting place for you this fall. Throughout Pier Park you’ll see artwork on display and being created various artists. While you’re there enjoy Pier Park’s great restaurants and shopping.

Thunder Beach Fall Rally – September 24 – 27

Thunder Beach Motorcycle Rally is held twice yearly on Panama City Beach and the fall event may very well be the best of its kind during the season. Bikers, vendors and exhibitors from around the country descend on Panama City Beach, Florida for Panama City Beach Bike Week and locals get to ride into all the fun. They share stories, see great bands and live entertainment, find the hottest custom motorcycles and motorcycle accessories available, and to experience a scenic ride on The World’s Most Beautiful Beaches!

Taste of the Beach – November 6 – Pier Park

Wine enthusiasts and aficionados, gourmets and gourmands, philanthropists and successful friends will combine talents and passions to create an unparalleled 4 day gala at the “Taste of THE Beach-Wine.Dine.Donate”. This 4-day extravaganza will be held in the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast, also referred to as THE Beach

This fabulous venue will hit Panama City Beach with an international wine tasting experience with over 300 wines to taste and food samplings from various Pier Park restaurants.

Oktoberfest – October 2 – 4 – Downtown Panama City

The Annual Oktoberfest transforms quaint downtown Panama City into a bustling German-style village. From accordion players to carnival rides and sausage eating contests, this Uber-Strassen-Fest has it all. Large food tents are concentrated near the bandstand.

Food enthusiasts will be serenaded by local musicians of a variety of styles, so practice your polka. Oktoberfest offers plenty to keep the little ones busy, while the adults savor a huge selection of beer. Carnival rides, face-painting, clowns and other family activities are part of the fun. More than 25,000 people are expected to attend the event, from the ceremonial tapping of the kegs to the Oom-Pah-Pah band concerts.

Seafood Wine and Music Festival – October 9 -11 – Frank Brown Park

If this event doesn’t get you excited about the season, nothing will. Panama City Beach’s signature Festival will be held during Columbus Day weekend and could be the most fun you will have all year.

Enjoy fantastic entertainment including performances by country singer and Dancing with the Stars’ Julianne Hough, the legendary Styx, plus John Anderson and Grand Funk Railroad. Sample delicious culinary treats and fine wines from around the world, and take part in fun activities for the whole family.

Honorable Mentions: EVP Pro Tour Labor Day Festival – September 5 – 6, Jazz by the Bay – October 16 -17, Holly Fair – November 12 – 15, Iron Man Triathlon – November 7, Emerald Coast Cruzin Car Show – November 9 – 14

Is Pier Park Killing Thomas Drive?

The answer to the aforementioned question is no, Pier Park is not killing Thomas drive, at least not in a definitive way like maybe how Rock-n-Roll killed Disco. But if you take a drive down Thomas drive and absorb the lack of traffic and innumerable “for lease” signs dressing business windows, you’ll know instantly that, although Pier Park isn’t killing the area, its influence is eye-opening.

It should be noted that the overall effect is difficult to quantify because Thomas Drive is a street, not a destination like Pier Park, so the draw is somewhat unrelated. Thomas Drive also has two identities sundered just past Grand Lagoon Bridge at the perpendicular intersection where Thomas goes East/West. At that point, a business driven, Navy Base inspired four-lane highway transforms into a quiet, scenic gulf front strip; two completely different socioeconomic streets. Pier Park’s continuing popularity has affected them differently.

Since Pier Park’s unveiling, North Thomas Drive, running from bridge to bridge, has seen a surge in development. Restaurants like Hooter’s, Sake House II and, locally acclaimed, Donut Island have been opened and flourished off Navy Base business. After speaking briefly with Debbie Johnson, one of the Donut Island’s owners, she said with confidence, “We’re doing great and growing.” Further down, staple restaurants like Captain Anderson’s and Treasure Ship have done well and so has the general area, evidenced by the opening of a small business like Sweet Racks and the groundbreaking of a franchise like Jasmine Thai restaurant. North Thomas has seen developments all over the place since Pier Park opened.

The other Thomas Drive has seen exactly the opposite; no new developments and lots, LOTS, of businesses closing down. The question remains, is Pier Park the culprit?

Kat Meeks, owner of Liza’s Kitchen, one of the businesses on that picturesque strip of Thomas Drive that has been able to thrive, quite well in fact, despite Pier Park’s success, had an interesting take on the matter. “I don’t think Pier Park is killing Thomas Drive as much as it’s just changing it. Yes, more people are staying on the west end, but that’s okay. Thomas Drive, I think, is just becoming the local’s end of the beach.”

Her take was that Pier Park’s greatest effect on Thomas Drive is accelerating its natural evolution, one that will weed out businesses that don’t fit the mold. “Panama City Beach has its own subculture, y’know?” She said. “While locals go to Pier Park as the one-stop-shop, here on Thomas Drive you have condo owners, families and locals that support businesses. Locals need some place to go too and Thomas Drive is becoming that place. It’s the local’s place and is locally driven.”

And a local haven may very well be Thomas Drive’s inevitable progressive destination. When locals, repeat tourists, eco-tourists and snowbirds want to get away from the generic areas, there is but one place for them to land and that’s Thomas Drive. One possible key to making this work is for businesses to embrace that role; to fashion themselves to cater to the locals, some tourists and flourish during the off-season. The question is how to do that.

“We’ve been able to do more creative things and think outside the box.” Kat Meeks answered when asked how other businesses can compete. “You can’t just wait for people to come to your door. We have a lot of locals in this area that are looking for some place to go. We do everything we can to make sure they know we’re here.”

Strangely, what may affect Thomas Drive more than Pier Park could be the Grand Lagoon Bridge construction. “I’m nervous about it.” Kat said. “It has two sides. Once it’d done its going to be great, but the construction phase will be tough.”

It remains to be seen how quickly Thomas Drive will get over the Pier Park effect. One thing is for sure, it will be up to the locals and businesses to reaquaint themselves if Thomas Drive is ever to return to it’s beloved status.

Demolition by Sunbird Condos in Panama City Beach – teaser

[updated 11:51am 8/18/09]

On Friday I received several emails from people in and around the Sunbird Condo area in East Panama City Beach. With the backdrop of Condo Canyon (Shores of Panama and Laketown Wharf) demolition crews had been working for days to clear just over 1.5 acres right on the sunny Gulf of Mexico. “This place had been in total disrepair for a while now,” said one local property owner that often visits her townhome right down the street.

There are 6 lots on the water totaling around 240 beach footage with 12 lots lined up directly behind the beach-front lots along the same plat lines, 18 lots total. The labeled property usage per the Bay County Property Appraiser’s office is Hotels/Motels, and the record shows the entire piece of land was purchased in April 2004 for $7.5 million. It would appear that the land was foreclosed upon as there is a deed recorded with the Bay County Clerk of the Courts in late 2008.

My first assumption was that this was a Faircloth property that was sold at auction last year in which the new buyer was clearing out the land to build or sell, but the Florida Division of Corporations name search revealed that the old owners were out of Destin and the new owners are actually a bank. New South Federal Savings Bank out of Birmingham, Alabama too possession in October of last year I assume because the previous owners weren’t paying their fat mortgage any more.

Many have asked whether a condo was going in there, but I would assume that the bank is just clearing the land preparing for sale. From the looks of the properties that had not been torn down yet, I would assume that these were not inhabitable homes and that the city was requiring the demolition in an effort to keep our area clean and reduce incident rates from homeless people. Typically banks are not in the development business, so I would assume that they are preparing to sell.

I have a call into New South’s acquisition lawyer with no return call yet and a call into the local PCB planning department. I’ll keep you all updated.

Updated!

I just received this from Mel Leonard with the panama city beach planning department:

“No one has submitted any development plans for those lots as of this time. However, New South Federal Savings Bank did answer the City’s advertisement to purchase gulf front property in an effort to create a public park. We also have a proposal from Peek’s Motel. A few weeks ago the City Council asked staff to run public notices to see if any gulf front property owners wanted to sell their property to the City for purposes of constructing a public park with showers and restrooms. So far, we have the two proposals one of which is for those properties on Beach Blvd. The deadline for proposals is Thursday, August 27, at 2pm. At some point thereafter, the Council will discuss whether to pursue any of those properties or abandoned the idea. Let me know if you need anything else.”

http://www.twitvid.com/player/ED848

http://www.twitvid.com/player/6A737

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http://www.twitvid.com/player/D6F97

3G Launched in Panama City Beach

About 20 minutes I received a voicemail from Cebo, “Dude, tell me if you see 3G on your iPhone, I just noticed it on mine.” Before I called him back, I quickly turned off Wi-Fi and low and behold there it was, like a huge un-meltable ice cream sunday on a hot sunny day. 3G, right here in Panama City Beach.

Every since I purchased this lovely magical device known by millions I had been craving 3G, even before having a taste of what it was like. Last month our family vacation yielded first-hand experience of what 3G was like as we traveled through larger metropolitan areas on our way to rural Illinois. Our time spent in St. Louis was accompanied by lightening fast surfing on our iPhones (yes, my wife has one too) making Facebook updates and Tweets breezily and fast. And, yes I said breezily.

In my haste to know just when we would receive this savior of a data connection, I did every search I could muster and was able to uncover a press release from AT&T that announced 3G would be expanded or added in 5 markets in Florida during 2009 and one of them was the Panama City area. As of last week, each of the areas that were to receive coverage or expanded coverage had seen so, so I knew Panama City would be next. But, no one at AT&T would confirm this for me. So, I waited.

Of course, I wanted the full story of what was happening to my iPhone. “Not good, actually, you’re area does not have 3G as of right now,” said Judith, an AT&T call center representative. I called to see how much AT&T knew about this ghost upgrade. “Actually, I have 3G, it says so on my phone right now,” his immediate response was a puzzled, “uh, you do?” I grinned, of course. My wife was making fun of me, because the discovery of this actually brought a tear to my eye. Not a big one, but a tear nonetheless.

The AT&T rep had no record of our area having 3G, but was able to confirm with a supervisor that this area was probably sharing a “partner” tower array. I have 3G on the west end, Cebo has it on the east end, good enough for me.

So, what does this mean for Too Creative, and more importantly Panama City Beach? This means that our mobile surfing pleasure is actually pleasurable with download speeds of up to 1.7 mbs and upload speeds of up to 700 kbs, per Judith, our friend at the AT&T call center. The Edge network yielded a measly, puney and very dissapointing 27 kbs up and down. However, I did a speed test just a second ago that brought a swift 2.3 mbs download and a very satisfying 228 kbs upload. Mobile video uploads, here we come. You can sure bet that you’ll see more TwitVid’s from us in the near future.

Around The Bend: Spanish Trail Playhouse Presents "School House Rock"

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, head over to our neighboring county for the Spanish Trail Playhouse’s rendition of School House Rock.

The Emmy Award-winning Saturday morning educational cartoon series is one of the most fun, and energetic musicals ever to hit the stage! Tom, a school teacher nervous about his first day of teaching, tries to relax by watching TV. Suddenly, various characters representing facets of his personality emerge from the set. They proceed to show him how to win his students over with imagination and music, through beloved Schoolhouse Rock songs that cover a variety of subjects: math, science, history and grammar. Like the classic television series, this show is a hip, entertaining and educational treat that shows young people that learning can be as fun as you choose to make it.

Show dates for Schoolhouse Rock Live:

Thursday, Friday & Saturday August 13-15, 2009

Spanish Trail Playhouse

680 2nd Street

Chipley, Florida

For more information on the event please stop by www.visitwashingtoncountyfl.com

Pet of the Week: Pixie

Pixie is a GORGEOUS 1 year old Siamese with the most beautiful markings. She was a mom when she came to us and is so sweet and loving and will come to you when you walk in the room. She longs for a family to welcome her and love her!

Forget about those Dog Days of summer, it’s time for the Cat Craze of the summer! Now through the end of August, adopt one of our gorgeous fully vetted cats or kittens for only $25! Check out our beauties at http://friendsofbcar.rescuegroups.com. Not finding what you are looking for? We have several cats and kittens not on the site, send us an email at FOBCAR@Comcast.net to see if we have what you are looking for.

Be sure to check out our Events page to see where we are going to be each week doing adoptions!

So How's that TDC Website and Summer Marketing Campaign Performing?

Six months ago, the community, businesses and, well, anyone who has a vested interest in Panama City Beach waited with bated breath for the unveiling of the new marketing campaign bent on rebranding Panama City Beach. Loads of marketing dollars were spent in an unprecedented effort, at least for PCB, that included big time cable TV buys, a $50,000 video competition, social media networking, microblogging and print buys all aimed at guiding potential PCB vacationers to the new and improved Panama City Beach website. So, how did it do? If I may, allow me to send the first congratulatory pat on the back to the TDC and marketing committee for a job well done.

Unlike most destinations, based on a recent Klages report, Panama City Beach is doing well. While all around the state 2009 hotel occupancy and ADR have dropped considerably since 2008, Panama City Beach has managed to keep itself in the black ink. In fact, 2008’s total economic impact for Panama City Beach spring quarter yielded 247 million whereas the 2009 numbers surged to 261 million. The total amount of visitors for the spring quarter increased as well. But let’s look at some actual recent numbers.

Tourist Development Tax Collections

PCB June – Down 4.5%

2008 – $1,223,300
2009 – $1,167,681

PCB YTD – Up 1.6%

2008 – $4,091,591
2009- $4,158,268

Unique visitors to the website http://www.visitpanamacitybeach.com

April visitors – 44,277
May visitors – 64,753
June visitors – 91,932
July visitors – 93,693

Social Marketing (Facebook Fans, Twitter Followers, Registered Users)

April – 9,624
May – 14,266
June – 24,694
July – 35,198

March – May Visitor Sentiments

Satisfaction
2008 – 88.5%
2009 – 89.9

Intent to Return
2008 – 69.6
2009 – 76.9

Refer to a Friend
2008 – 70.7
2009 – 72.8

Occupancy and Visitation

March – 62.6 % Occupancy – 711,660 Visitor Days
April – 46.2% Occupancy – 482,560 Visitor Days
May – 49.2% Occupancy – 562, 002 Visitor Days
Quarter – 52.7% Occupancy – 1,756,222 Visitor Days

Judging by these numbers, one can very easily see the impact of the campaign. It must be considered that these numbers are during a recession and a severe lag in travel. Similar destinations are not seeing the type of visitation Panama City Beach has seen evidenced by the article in the New York Times that referenced Panama City Beach.

While there was debate about how much money to spend and where to spend it, what cannot be debated is the campaign’s overall success. Note to the TDC: Keep up the good work guys.

Episode #18 – 3br Gulfview Carillon Condo Firesale

This week’s features:

Deal 1 – Huge Lux Condo in Carillon 3/3.5 overlooking Lake and Gulf, only $498k
Deal 2 – Nice 1450 sf townhome, move-in ready only $149,900
Deal 3 – Foreclosure SFH with pool only $197k

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.

Continue reading “Episode #18 – 3br Gulfview Carillon Condo Firesale” →

Rates Ease and Home Prices Post Record Fall

Mortgage rates have eased since last week with the rate on the benchmark thirty-year, fixed-rate falling back below 5.50% to settle in at 5.375%. That’s a .25% improvement since last week’s spike up to 5.625%. Rate shave been benefiting form some profit taking in the stock market which has cooled a bit in August following it’s month long rally in July. This is interesting considering last Friday’s unemployment report for July showed far fewer jobs lost for the month than economists expected and an actual decline in the overall unemployment rate to 9.4%. News like this usually provides the impetus for renewing a stock rally as it indicates an economy that may be pulling out of recession and stocks did surge on the news but have since pulled back as worries that we’re not out of the woods yet continue to linger. I have felt all along that the optimism on Wall Street over the better part of this year has been premature and has put the cart well before the horse. The fact bond prices have remained high and rates low supports this theory.

After a plethora of good news on the housing front we finally received a sobering report on June home prices this week. The National Association of Realtors on Wednesday said that home prices fell a record 15.6% for the three month period ending June 30 compared with the same period in 2008. Analysts attribute much of the decline on the excess inventory of distressed properties on the market, those that are either in foreclosure or short-sales, as these properties on average sell at a 15% discount compared to non-distressed properties. Yet there was a glimmer of hope in the report as median home prices actually rose 4% and quarter-over-quarter home sales rose 3.8%. Though fairly typical of a normal spring buying season, it is yet another sign that the worst of the housing market correction may be behind us.

Part 3 Debunking the tax credit Myths

You know how you receive those lovely thick pieces of hard to open Junk mail that say in bold big letter, “TIME SENSITIVE ” well this is your online version of that but it really is TIME SENSITIVE, so in an attempt to wrap this topic, up here we go.

Tax Credits are a wonderful way for saving money on that dreaded tax bill but there is still much misinformation out there. This will be my third and final attempt to seperate the fact and fiction surrounding the tax credit for New home buyers. We have addressed some of the other questions in prior articles but there are a few myths that remain. . . So we will try to stick to “just the facts Ma’am”

Myth #1 To qualify it has to be a house.
NO, a home is different for everyone and the only definition that need apply for a home is a residence. With that in mind then you may purchase a detached single family, a duplex, townhome, condominium, pre-manufactured home (mobile home) and even a house boat!!! The only restriction that the program requires is that you are not able to buy a home from your parents, children,grandchildren or spouse. In other words it must be an “Arms length transaction”

Myth #2 I have to fill out loads of paper work before I even purchase my home.
There is no paperwork to file ahead of time to receive the credit. You just need to fill out the IRS tax form 5404 when filing your income tax return. Then, follow the instructions on the tax forms. Again, as in all things, discuss your personal situation with your lender and he will guide you through the process.

Myth #3 I have to buy an existing home.
NO absolutely NOT. This one is timely right now however and if a home is not already started you may be pushing the envelope a bit. Remember you must close on or before November 30, 2009. You are allowed to apply the tax credit for an existing home or a newly constructed home. If you own a lot and construct your home yourself, or with a builder, your date of ownership is considered to be the date you first occupy the home. For homes that are built by a developer/home builder, eligibility is determined by the settlement date. I have one couple doing this but the home was already started so borrowing any acts of Nature then they should be just fine.

Myth #4 I must be a US citizen to utilize this program.
An alien resident who has not owned a home in the past 3 years, and is within the income limits, may also claim the tax credit if he meets all other requirements.

For space and time and my writing skills we can not address every issue that comes up but his should get you started. Please discuss this with your Realtor, banker and accountant to see what best fits you. Hopefully if you are looking forward to the credit to help buy your home you have already started the journey and if not what are you waiting on???? Get on your boogey horse and GOOOOOO.