Remember Our Veterans on Independence Day

Sometimes, amid all the celebration, bar-b-ques and fireworks, we forget what July 4th is all about – declaring our independance from Great Britain and the establishment of the greatest country on earth.  With great cause we celebrate our freedom and liberties, and we are given a chance to come together with the one thing everyone in this country has in common – we live in the good ‘ol US of A.

Saturday, our Veterans will be remembered at the Veteran’s Memorial located in Aaron Bessant Park.  It will be a time to remember those that gave all they had to protect our freedoms and those that served our country.  The Veterans Memorial Ceremony will take place at 4 pm and will be honored by contributors such as Panama City Beach Mayor Gayle Oberst, Richard Jackson, and Mary Carmaichal.  Also expected is Panama City Beach’s former Mayor, Lee Sullivan and County commissioner Mike Thomas.

Chaplain Hickenlooper will give the invocation, Marsha Rockhill from teh Saint Andrew School will seing the National Anthem, and Cmdr John Duncan and the Sea Cadets will be the Color Guard.  The Military Order of the Purpole Heart is the wreath giver and will be presented to Debbie to place by Dan Laurita, the President of the Veteran’s Council.

There will also be a Tyndall flyover at 5 pm.

AGENDA: TDC/CVB to discuss the Spring Break Study

The Tourist Development Council and Convention and Visitor’s Bureau have called a special combined meeting to discuss the results of the spring break perception study. This will, no doubt create an interesting debate on one of Panama City Beach’s most polarizing topics. They also plan to set a date for a community discussion forum.

Special Called Meeting

AGENDA

COMBINED BOARD MEETING
Bay County Tourist Development Council
Panama City Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, Inc.
Panama City Beach
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
1:00 p.m. Council Room
PCB City Hall

I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER

II. ROLL CALL

A. Invocation
B. Pledge of Allegiance

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

IV. BOARD DISCUSSION ITEMS

A. Review and Discuss the Results From the Spring Break Perception Study And Set Date For The Spring Break Community Forum, Mr. Dan Rowe, President

V. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION

VI. ADJOURNMENT

To download this agenda click here.

Episode #13 – Gulf-front House for $850k

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 – Brand New Home, Needs Nothing for less than $200k

  • List Price: $192,900
  • Square Feet: 1,500
  • Price/SqFt: $128.60
  • 3 Bedrooms, 2 Bath
  • Brand Spankin’ New – Just completed
  • Looking for a home with great green grass, sprinkler system, fenced in yard, brand new inside and out, including EVERYTHING and has NEVER been lived in? This is the home for you. This home was completed earlier this year and was under contract set to close recently, but everything fell through on the buyer’s side last minute. I love this home. Everything was done very cleanly and there is so much room to move around. The lot is huge with a huge, grassed, fenced in back yard. When you think of a great quality Florida starter home, this is what you think of. Proximity to the beach is great, you could walk to a public beach access in under 5 minutes.

Deal 2 – Gulf-front HOUSE for $850k

  • List Price: $849,000
  • Square Feet: 3,100
  • Price/SqFt: $273.87
  • 7 Bedrooms, 3.5 Bath
  • Built in 1976
  • Old beach house with 50 feet on the Gulf of Mexico. Total fixer-upper, but it’s listed at the same price vacant lots are listed for. Individual Gulf-front lots are a precious commodity in Panama City Beach and this is a rare opportunity to have something very few others have. This is a foreclosure listing.

Deal 3 – Absolute Steal in Wild Heron with Rare Full Golf Membership at Shark’s Tooth

  • List Price: $334,900
  • Square Feet: 2,192
  • Price/SqFt: 152.78
  • 2 Bedrooms, 2 Bath
  • Built in 2006
  • If you are looking for that high-end neighborhood in Panama City Beach that’s new, Wild Heron is it. Truly one-of-a-kind, Wild Heron boasts the only highend feel and world-class amenities in the area. This home has it all, including a two car garage, separate dining a kitchen areas, study area for an office, huge bedrooms and very awesome full wall sliding glass doors that bring the beautiful nature preserve behind the property right into your huge living room. Of course, the huge deal here is that the price includes a full golf membership as it was originally set up to Shark’s Tooth Golf Course.

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

11 Reason's Short Sales Take FOREVER

One of my friends had a customer that is demanding for the bank to hurry up and get the short sale done, they are tired of waiting. I bet I am hearing some hearty “Amens” from all my Realtor buddies. And also as life would have it I called my short sale departments to see how my little short sales are coming along so I can report back to my apprehensive buyers. As in most things in life there is a flow to it, a cycle that all things go through to reach their peak or completion. So it is with a “short sale”. Please know that this is straight from a company that I am working with and I am NOT going to name any names. I have had a couple of easy ones but generally it has been taking from 3 to 6 months to get an approval to move to close.

  1. Seller decides he can no longer make payments so he list property with you and gives you an approval letter to speak to his lender. He gathers all of his financials, his budget, his taxes, his last 4 months of bank statements, and his hardship letter. You send all of this in to the bank and you wait and you wait and you wait.
    NOTE: it will many times take days before your authorization letter gets to where it needs to be. (this is the easy part)
  2. You are enthusiastic and excited because you get a buyer and grateful that buyer and seller have agreed to the short sale price and you have signed all the forms and additional short sale addendums. You and the other agent try your best to brace the buyer and the seller for the long months ahead.
  3. Offer along with HUD-1 and any other updated documents that the lender needs are sent in and the fun begins. I have a great title company that helps me gather this information. (McNeese)
  4. (Real life example) Contract goes into the company on April 7, 2009, you call each week and the lending company tells you that they are about 4 weeks behind on uploading documents to the system. You continue to call each week and they can’t find it and suggest you send it in again. You get excited because a BPO (Broker Property Opinion) is ordered somewhere along the way.
  5. Now to make it real fun I forgot to tell you that there may be 2 mortgage companies to deal with so we do this times 2!!!! The first mortgage company now tells you that they are close to getting their deal approved and they ask for explanations of customers finances and additional documents that you send in with a gleeful heart. They also inform you that while they are maybe only a month away from completion and it is now June 25 they let you know, oh by the way. . . we want you to call the other mortgage company and tell them that although they are owed over $200,000 on the second note that they will be glad to give them $3,000 of the dollars upon close. The first mortgage holder wants the Realtor to get something in writing from the second mortgage holder. . . now it gets real fun.
  6. (Real life example) Keep in mind that although the buyer knows they need to be patient, it is hard for them and they wonder what in the world is anyone doing. . . is anyone doing ANYTHING? ???? On June 25th second mortgage company informs you that the contract that you sent in on April 7 was opened and reviewed for real on June 15th and by June 24th it was finally in the hands of the FIRST PHASE negotiator. Keep in mind that although first mortgage is almost finished we have to wait on the second. Meantime fees are mounting if the buyer is behind on payments and they usually are.
  7. The first phase negotiator will keep it approximately 15 days to make sure all documents are there that are needed and of course it has been awhile so they need to be updated so you gather the needed paper work and send it in again.
  8. IF all is well the file now goes to the SECOND PHASE negotiator who has 30 days to review. If he finds all things well, the file now travels to the investor.
  9. IF all is well now the investor has from 2 to 30 days to review the file..
  10. Shortly before close they let the seller in on what they are willing to do for them in the way of accepting a lesser amount owed and what the seller contribution needs to be and if all is agreed upon then we all move to close. Oh and one more thing the lender expects the Realtors to take a reduced commission and they do and they all live happily ever after.
  11. If the lender and the seller do not agree and if the buyer gets tired of waiting then it is back to the beginning of the short sale life cycle.

This sale portrayed in my “real life example” is projected to have an answer according to the second mortgage company around September if all goes well. So thus the life cycle if all survive it will be approximately 6 months!!! My purpose in sharing is not to discourage but more to bring attention to the fact that a short sale is anything but short and the more inventory that is sold this way the more difficult it will become. There are no short cuts (no pun intended at all) so just take a deep breath and be very kind to anyone involved in this adventure. I am actually enjoying all that I am learning from this and if patience is not your virtue it will become so. I left out some of the duties that a Realtor will do along the way because my main focus was to let the consumer know why it takes so long so that you can just sit back and enjoy your life while the lenders, Realtors and title companies are working the deal.

Fireworks on Grand Lagoon for the 4th of July!

Restaurant owners and Marinas come together to make history on historic Grand Lagoon.

July 4, 2009 Panama City Beach, FL: Capt. Anderson’s restaurant, Boatyard restaurant, The Treasure Ship restaurant, Lighthouse Marina and Pirates Cover Marina are reaching deep in their pockets to celebrate the 4th of July in spectacular fashion on Grand Lagoon. “We’re making a little history on this historic old Lagoon,” said Sparky Sparkman, co-owner of Boatyard restaurant, “We have hired an awesome pyrotechnic group from Tennessee, Pyro Shows, Inc; these guys are going to put on an amazing show!” (www.pyroshows.com)

According to Lansden E. Hill, Jr., President and CEO of Pyro Shows, Inc., the Grand Lagoon fireworks show will begin at approximately 8:30pm.

“It’s going to be better than going to Disney,” according to Lisa Todd of the Treasure Ship, “I wish we had it back when I was a kid. Can you imagine? Especially here at the Ship – we’ve got pirates running around a big wooden ship, face painting going on – and then you add fireworks to the picture! Amazing!”

Steve Counts, of Counts Real Estate Group said, “Grand Lagoon is the perfect place for a fireworks show. I don’t know why we waited so long to do it! You’ve got the three marinas… Treasure Island Marina, Pirate’s Cove Marina and Lighthouse Marina… and the best restaurants on the beach lining the lagoon, with docks all the way around. There’s plenty of parking and tons of places for people to watch the show.”

“We’ve been here on the lagoon since 1967, and there’s never been a fireworks show on the 4th,” reported Yonnie Patrons of Capt. Anderson’s restaurant. “When we had the kick off for Grand Lagoon National Tournament last year, we got a taste of what it could be when Bill Spann did the fireworks for that event, and we’ve all been talking about it ever since … how nice it would be to have fireworks for the 4th. A lot of planning, a lot of work, and a lot of money has gone into it, and we’re all very excited about it. It’s been a lot of fun working with all our neighbors here on the lagoon to make it happen, too. I think this show will be the closest you can get to the actual fireworks action, and I really believe it will become the number one fireworks celebration in Northwest Florida – so, a lot of people are looking forward to being a part of history; they can say they were there the first time the FIRST 4th of July fireworks lit up the sky over Grand Lagoon!”

“The fireworks will be launched from a platform at the center of the lagoon, so you have a spectacular 360 degree view. You can watch from a waterfront table at Capt. Anderson’s… or pick a seat, upstairs or down, at the Boatyard… I think our friends at The Treasure Ship may have the most spectacular views… they’ve got Hooks dockside, the Main Dining Room with those incredible floor to ceiling windows and, then, they have the very top of the ship – you can see the whole lagoon from up there,” Toni Davis of Boatyard explained, “Of course, we’ve got great views from Boatyard, too! We don’t usually do reservations at Boatyard, but we’ve had so many requests for waterfront tables on the 4th since the word got out about the fireworks. But, you don’t need a reservation to find a great spot on the docks to watch the show – or, you can come by boat.”

Housing Market Bottoms Out

Mortgage rates eased slightly this week as the bond market was reassured by comments form Chinese officials who indicated they still had a taste for US Treasury debt and that the dollar would remain their primary foreign currency reserve. Thirty year mortgage rates settled to just below 5.50% to 5.375% as the yield on the ten year Treasury fell back to 3.5% after pushing 4% two weeks ago. Fifteen year mortgage rates were even more attractive with the no point coupon at 4.75%. With inflation in check and the stock market sputtering I don’t see any significant upward pressure on rates in the short-run. There will be several economic reports over the next week that could create some daily volatility as investors attempt to determine whether the economy is turning the corner or still stuck in a rut.

A report released on Tuesday showed that we may have finally reached the bottom of the housing market nationally. The S&P Case Shiller Index of home prices, though down 18.1% from the same month a year ago, showed only a .6% drop from March to April. This is nearly three quarters lower than the previous month’s decline of 2.2%. The Case Shiller index has shown a monthly decline for every month since July of 2006. Yale Economist and co-creator of the index, Robert Shiller, called it, ” a striking improvement in the rate of home price decline.” The good news was tempered, however, by another report that showed more prime mortgage loans became delinquent in the latest quarter and a report on consumer confidence showed a surprise dip. It will be interesting to see in this week’s report from the National Association of Realtors on pending home sales whether more evidence of a housing recovery can be seen.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-30

  • rt @thebeachshow Sneak Peek tomorrow’s show: Steal in Wild Heron $152/ft, house ON THE BEACH (50ft) for $850k, Gulffront condo $210/ft #
  • A break from the cloudy weather? http://twitpic.com/8sikl #
  • Rt @seepcb You can’t believe how amazingly comfortable and beautiful our it is tonight. @pierpark #
  • I’m at Veterans Memorial Park – http://bkite.com/08ZDj #
  • Rt @seepcb http://twitpic.com/8mrzz at a mid summer nights dream in @pierpark panama city beach #
  • rt @pierpark http://twitpic.com/8fdz8 dude. Neville’s rockin it out. #
  • http://twitpic.com/8f7dk how’s the sunset going to be tonight? I’ll tell you in a few. Neville is rocking. #
  • Rt @pierpark http://twitpic.com/8f40i Shooting timelapse at the concerts in the park at pier park. Cyrille Neville tonight. #
  • http://twitpic.com/8elva 14 things to know about the future development of the existing airport site. Tommorrow. #
  • http://twitpic.com/8ejkc the goal is to keep the development as walkable as possible. It’s a little more than 1 square mile. #
  • http://twitpic.com/8ej98 there will be plenty of access with 8 roads feeding into the development. #
  • http://twitpic.com/8eitv the new development may have up to 3200 units. 60% detached single fam 40% multi family. #
  • should o have to pay for parking web coming to an open house at the airport? #
  • Going up to the existing airport site for an open house. Supposed to find out what the future holds for it. Stay tuned. #
  • Washington County rep said, “we can’t go out and have a drink because there are no restaurants that serve alcohol. That’s just insane. #
  • Washington County has no major restaurants or lodging. Entreprenuers take note. #
  • Jimmy and Johnny Patronis to be elected into FRLA Hall of Fame. Cool. #
  • Beyond taxi cabs, we might need a plan to get people off the planes and into PCB rather than Walton Cnty. #
  • Conversations have veered to airport talk. The consensus is that PCB is not ready. #
  • Did you know in order for a cab to pick you up at a airport he must be certified to do so? #
  • Cab drivers really need hospitality training. Nothing is worse than getting off a plane and the first person you meet is a smelly cab driver #
  • Paul Walford (sp) talking airport transportation. We need better ground transportation. #
  • Hotel and Condo staff need training as well. #
  • Lots of training services provided for restaurants but nothing for hospitality service training. #
  • Didn’t realize how slight bed tax increases truly effect the restaurant and lodging communities. #
  • Meeting called to order by Matt Griffits. #
  • At the newly opened Palms Conference Center for the FRLA meeting. Should be interesting. #
  • http://twitpic.com/872ks another teeser. For 125 a foot. Newer home. #

Free Yoga on the Beach

Saturday July 4th, Paul Zipes will be holding a free yoga class on the beach at 5:30 am.  Yogi’s will be found that morning, literally on the beach at Rick Seltzer Park, across from Mr. Surf’s Surf Shop.  The class is free, but donations will be accepted.  All donations will go to providing yoga mats to a U.S. military base in Iraq where soldiers requested them.

I’m just now getting back into yoga, and if you are a yogi, or an aspiring one, come out for a sampling of this area’s only stand-alone yoga studio.

15 Things to Know About the Development of the Old Airport Site

Leucadia National Corporation/CAR/SABLC: Leucadia National Corporation is the parent company of Community Airport Redevelopment, which was changed to the St. Andrew Bay Land Company.  Leucadia has home offices in Salt Lake City, UT and New York City.  Labeled as a “mini Berkshire Hathaway” as noted in their Wiki page, Leudadia was a $6.6 billion company in 2006 generating revenue in a variety of ways including mining & drilling services, telecommunications, health-care services, manufacturing, banking and lending, real estate, and winery businesses.  Other notable developments by Leucadia include Rosemary Beach and Draper Lake.

The community will be walkable: With 703 acres, the property consists of a little more than a square mile.  From the center, it would take approximately 10 minutes to walk to the edge of the property, and from one end to another a walk would take around 10 minutes; unless you’re a speed walker, in which it would take about 8.3 minutes.  Although little design conceptuals have been made, it is anticipated that it will be an open community that is very ped-friendly.

3,200 total residential units: The development has the capacity to hold 3,200 residential units with an expected spread of approximately 60% single family and 40% multi-family (including condos and townhomes).  Development time-tables will be completely subject to market demand and the expected build-out time is in upwards of 15 years.

Wide open community areas: Some of the discussions the other day included creating an area that Panama City could collect for events and holidays and enjoy company and the water.  Right now, Panama City has no area like Pier Park to hold these community events.  I believe Panama City could greatly benefit from this.  If they were to bring in the right marketing team and layout the initial public development right, they could create a community before there’s actually a community there.  Talk about buzz.

Multiple points of access: Feeding into the community are 8 points of access varying the ways with which to handle the out-flow and in-flow of the increased traffic.  Access roads include Frankford, Airport Road, Lisenby, Airport Circle, Baldwin, W 39th Street, and Jackson Way.

700,000 square foot of commercial/retail: Some mixed among the residential, others in concentrated areas, there will be approximately 700,000 square feet of commercial and retail area.  Right now, there are plans to have a “Town Center” in the middle of the community that will house the tallest of the structures, in addition to a higher concentration of retail.  There will be a small lake with a boardwalk around it and the buildings will have retail on the first floors, office space on the second floors with residential above that.

Height limitations set at 120 feet: I was told that even though maximum height is set for 120 feet as defined by the zoning (light industrial), the maximum planned height at this time is 80 feet.  In addition, the maximum height buildings will be in the center of the development, reserving the water-frontage for 2 and 3 stories.

Nothing available to purchase until 2012: The St. Andrew Bay Land Company will take possession of the land the day after the airport operations are moved to the new airport site.  Upon possession, it is estimated that infrastructure installation will take approximately 1 year with real estate product available to purchase last 2011 or early 2012.  The SABLC may build some, but it is expected that they will sell plats to developers to handle build out once infrastructure is in place.

Tons of green space: All the green areas depicted in the images will be open park-like areas that may have open grassy areas, trees, nature trails and the like.  The idea, again, is to create a pedestrian-friendly community that encourages the natural beauty of the Bay County area.

No water-front buildings: There will be plenty of water views to be had from residential units, but nothing will be right on the water, cutting off access from the general public.  The design is intended to keep the pristine areas pristine, and enjoyable by everyone.  There will be large open areas in between the buildings and the water.

All open to the public: The whole community will be open to the public.  Amenities such as shopping, dining and the marina will be open for everyone to enjoy and the community will not be gated.

150 boat marina: Quenching the thirst for much needed wet slip space, this new community will house a 150 slip marina capable of accommodating vessels up to 60 feet.  The marina depth will be 6 feet.  There is only one small spot on the whole plot of waterfrontage that will accept a marina without having a negative environmental impact; located at the top, close to where the runway terminates into the bay right now.

Marina to be developed first: Right now, talks include developing the marina first, in addition to around 10 shops and restaurants with some residential above around the marina.  The idea is to give something to the community that is usable right now (or in a couple years) until the demand for real estate product comes back.  The conversations I had were very interesting in that for once, I was talking to a developer that wasn’t acting like a developer, but a rational, reasonable person.  With my background in preconstruction sales and marketing I have quite a bit of experience working with developers and new developments, and it always seems like they are drinking their own cool-aid; not so with these guys.  They were very much verbal about the current conditions of the market and were very open with the fact that at this time its hard to tell where the market will be in two years.  This, by the way, is exactly opposite the outlook of most of the developers I’d worked with in the past.  typically with a new development such as this, you’d expect to hear aggressive development time-lines.  I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed with their level-headed outlook.

The developmental options are plenty: They’ve kept the initial planned layout open so as to offer a wide variety of developmental options.  With plats around 500 by 260 feet, it will be easy to determine where single family versus multi family will go in the future, based on market demand.  The plats are large enough to accommodate an alley system, should they decide to go that route.

Sasaki Associates brought in to help with initial planning: Sasaki and Associates are known for their master planning of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Ruston Town Center in Virginia, The Woodlands in Houston TX, Charleston South Carolina Waterfront Park, and Harbor Town in Hilton Head, just to name a few.

Panama City Beach in the New York Times

In a very interesting article posted in the New York Times, Panama City Beach was mentioned as one of the popular vacation destinations working hard to survive in the current economy. In several recent TDC and CVB meetings, Dan Rowe, chairman of the TDC, has praised Panama City Beach as a destination that has economically clutched the black ink while other destinations have slipped deeper into the red. This sentiment was again expressed by Mr. Rowe in the New York Times.

He was quoted as saying,

“The subtler sell is a hallmark of several campaigns intended to stimulate summer travel. For instance, the Convention and Visitors Bureau in Panama City Beach, Fla., is starting an online campaign with the YouTube unit of Google. Users who upload video clips to YouTube may see ads inviting them to enter a video creation competition sponsored by Panama City Beach (realfuncontest.com), with $50,000 in cash and prizes.

“There’s a lot of destinations that have had a tougher go of it than we have,” said Dan Rowe, president and chief executive of the Panama City Beach bureau, “but it’s tough here.”

“Demand has not come up to meet an increase in supply” of hotel and motel rooms, he added, “so rates are suffering; there’s deals to be had.” The campaign for the video contest is from Jennifer Barbee Inc. in Austin, Tex.; it is part of a summer marketing initiative by Ypartnership in Orlando, Fla.”

What I found most interesting NYT article, which focused on the difficult time vacation destinations are having economically, was the places on which it chose to focus. In the article you hear the big name destinations like Miami, Mexico, The Cayman Islands and even quotes from Travelocity representatives. My question is why did Panama City Beach make this article? If Stuart Elliot, the author of the article, were looking for smaller a destination to get a better range, why not Gatlinburg or Destin or even Daytona?  Why Panama City Beach?

My only answer has to be exactly what Dan Rowe is talking about. Compared to many places around the world, Panama City Beach is one of very few who continues to do well despite the economy. It should also be considered that in the very near future, New York may well become one of Panama City Beach’s new feeder markets. I know for a fact that New York ranks in the top five on both PCBDaily as well as SeePCB for visitorship. This NYT article, in some ways, was an introduction to New York, a “Hey, look at us now, and envision 2010,” sort of thing. A city that is prosperous in hard times is a city that, when the times get good, should break new grounds. It’s too early to tell, but at least we know that the first impression on a potential game-changing relationship was one of which Panama City Beach business owners can be proud.

To read the complete NYT article click here.