Seahaven Auction Details

29 Seahaven Condos to be Sold at Absolute Auction on December 13th

For the National Auction Group, one successful project often leads to others. That has been the case in Panama City Beach this year where the company will conduct its third auction on Saturday, December 13th. This one will feature 29 luxurious condominium homes in the Gulf-view Origin at Seahaven community. The auction will be absolute, meaning regardless of price, and bidders will be able to select from 61 condos. The Gadsden, Alabama-based company specializes in the marketing of one-of-a-kind, high-end properties. In two previous Panama City Beach projects this year they sold more than $26 million worth of condos.

The 17-story Origin at Seahaven community is brand new and located near Pier Park. Water views are tantalizing and are close to the most popular beach restaurants, attractions and night spots. All are crafted from the finest materials and with painstaking attention to the smallest details. The wide array of offerings includes studio units as well as spacious one, two and three bedroom units, and one four-bedroom penthouse condo. All have to be seen to fully appreciate.

The Origin tower is one of the first phases of the carefully planned Towne of Seahaven, a 53-acre pedestrian village with 1,400 +/- feet directly on the Gulf of Mexico. Expected facets include hotels, town homes, a town hall and a Main Street marketplace, an events plaza and a water park. In other words, the value of the luxurious condos will surely escalate over the next few years.

All of the condos feature attractive African mahogany two-panel doors; kitchens with Whirlpool appliances, granite and porcelain countertops and custom cabinets; ceiling fans in both the living areas and master bedrooms, and washers and dryers in the two-bedroom and larger units. Included in the purchase are electronics, linens, window treatments, kitchenware, accessories and high speed internet access.

Rental-ready furniture packages are available for purchase.

The list of community amenities is both endless and extraordinarily impressive. Residents and their guests enjoy a fully-equipped fitness center, his and her saunas, a theater with stadium seating for 24, a spectacular Zero-Edge swimming pool overlooking the Gulf, a heated and covered spa, observation decks, grilling terraces with built-in commercial grade stainless steel grills and a game room. Origin at Seahaven also features 24-hour security, climate-controlled storage units, high-speed elevators, on-site property management and beautiful tropical landscaping.

“These are truly wonderful condominiums,” said National Auction Group president William Bone. “And being part of the new Towne of Seahaven makes them even more special. This is a remarkable opportunity to bid on spectacular residential fantasies and to purchase an incomparable beach lifestyle.”

These lavish condos are available for viewing daily, by appointment, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. To schedule an appointment, please call 877-636-6550 or 256-547-3434. Bidders will be required to bring $7,500 in personal check, business check or certified funds to bid on the studio units; $10,000 for the one-bedroom units; $12,500 for the two-bedroom condos; $15,000 for the three-bedroom units and $20,000 for the four-bedroom penthouse condos. Closing will be within 30 days. The auction will take place at Origin at Seahaven community which is located at 15100 Front Beach Road.

The National Auction Group (nationalauctiongroup.com), Inc. is the country’s largest seller of private, one-of-a-kind real estate properties such as estates, ranches, farms, commercial properties and recreational facilities. Recognized for its creative and aggressive marketing strategies which are carefully planned, promoted, scheduled and implemented, the National Auction Group’s team of talented professionals is skilled at developing plans of action customized to the needs of each client.

Seahaven Auction at Origin

WHAT: The auction of 29 large and beautifully-designed waterfront condominiums directly on the Gulf of Mexico.

WHERE: Panama City Beach, FL

WHEN: Saturday, December 13th. Registration begins at 10:00 a.m.; the auction at 1:00 p.m.

WHO: The auction will be conducted by The National Auction Group, Inc. (nationalauctiongroup.com) of Gadsden, Alabama, one of the country’s top commercial and trophy property auctioneers.

The 17-story Origin at Seahaven community is brand new and located near Pier Park. Waterfront views are tantalizing and are close to the most popular beach restaurants, attractions and night spots. All are crafted from the finest materials and with painstaking attention to the smallest details. The wide array of offerings includes studio units as well as spacious one, two and three bedroom units, and one four-bedroom penthouse condo. All have to be seen to fully appreciate.

The Origin tower is one of the first phases of the carefully planned Towne of Seahaven, a 53-acre pedestrian village with 1,400 +/- feet directly on the Gulf of Mexico. Expected facets include hotels, homes, a town hall and a Main Street marketplace, an events plaza and a water park. In other words, the value of the luxurious condos will surely escalate over the next few years.

All of the condos feature attractive African mahogany two-panel doors; kitchens with Whirlpool appliances, granite and porcelain countertops and custom cabinets; ceiling fans in both the living areas and master bedrooms and washers and dryers in the two-bedroom and larger units. Included in the purchase are electronics, linens, window treatments, kitchenware, accessories and high speed internet access.

Bidders will be required to bring $7,500 in personal check, business check or certified funds to bid on the studio units; $10,000 for the one-bedroom units; $12,500 for the two- bedroom condos; $15,000 for the three-bedroom units and $20,000 for the four-bedroom penthouse condos. Closing will be within 30 days. The auctions will take place at Origin at Seahaven which is at 15100 Front Beach Road.

Directions: From Panama City, follow Highway 98 to south on Highway 79. Turn left on Front Beach Road. Drive 1.7 miles to property on left at 15100 Front Beach Road.

Condo Market after Ocean Reef Condo Auction

The Ocean Reef auction on October 18, 2008 concluded with a reported 35 sales. Sounds good but they still have over 140 unsold units in their inventory. The 2BR/2Ba units sold for $225,500, including the auction fee, which is about 20% less than recent sales of very similar Emerald Isle 2BR/2Ba units. This tells us that there are a few buyers out there willing to buy at a 20% discount. The Palazzo auction in August told us there were a few buyers out there willing to buy at a 10% discount. The question is whether buyers will demand more than a 20% discount at the next auction.

We reported in July that there were over 1,300 unsold, high-quality developer units in beach-side buildings in Panama City Beach. The Palazzo auction sold 50 units in August, the Ocean Reef auction sold 35 units in October, and Sterling Breeze closed 30 units in-house since July. That still leaves around 1,200 unsold developer units that need to be sold. 1,200 unsold developer units most likely means more auctions and lower prices.

The local condo market continues to trend downward. The chart later in this post indicates that sale prices as of October 2008 are down 15% compared to October 2007. New 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 database continues to decline. The market dynamics at play in our local market and just the market inertia will most likely drag prices lower.

Is there any good news here? If your basis for news is the year 2005, then market values have declined 50% and the world is coming to an end. However, if your basis is the year 2002 then story is more upbeat. Let’s look at the 744 square foot, 1BR/1Ba units in Long Beach Towers. These units were selling in 2002 for around $175,000. Currently, they are selling in the $215,000 range for a 23% increase since 2002. The rate of inflation in constant dollars over the same period was 21%. Not bad when you consider any other long lived item (vehicles, equipment, etc) you purchase almost always depreciates over time.

It is unreasonable to assume that residential property will always increase in value at a rate higher than the inflation rate. If you extend price increases at a 2% to 3% rate above the inflation rate over a 30 year period, people will be spending more than 75% of their income on a place to live. That is not a sustainable scenario.

Is this a good time to buy? If price is your main consideration, the operative question becomes “is it a good time to buy today relative to what point in time”. Certainly, today is a better time to buy than six months ago. But is it a better time to buy today than six months from now? The answer you will get depends on the agenda of whom you ask. Speculation in this kind of market is not for the faint of heart.

The following is an update of our usual, no spin data from http://www.condosaletrends.com which we hope will help you in your investment decisions. As always, if you lie to yourself about things concerning money, you lose.

We recently updated our Panama City Beach condo sales data through mid October 2008. The graph below illustrates the number of monthly re-sales from the 70 Panama City Beach condo buildings in our database. The 2008 monthly re-sales since July appear to be trending lower than past years.

The market 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 2005; 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 sale 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 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 177 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 19 months. Compared to October 2007, it appears that typical prices have declined approximately 15% over the past 12 months. Price stabilization is not indicated.

Sam Portman
www.condosaletrends.com

Condo Auction Today at Ocean Reef

Get your checkbooks ready, because there is sure to be some good deals to be had today.

At 11 am, Ocean Reef Condominiums will be putting 31 beachfront condos on the auction block. National Auction Group, the same auction company that sold 50 condos at Palazzo August 2nd of this year, will be putting on the show onsite.

With over 63 to choose from, 31 will sell regardless of price. The sizes up for auction are either 2 or 4 bedroom configurations ranging in square feet from 1,100 to 1,600.

Registration will start at 9 am with the auction to begin at 11 am.

Get Live Auction Updates

I will be in attendance, and for those of you that can’t make it, I will be sending live updates to all of you that are “following” pcbdaily on Twitter. The way it will work is that I’ll be “texting” my Twitter account from my cell phone updates on prices sold per square foot and any other exciting information happening at the auction. When I do this, everyone that is “following” pcbdaily on Twitter will be notified of the updates. When you sign up on Twitter, you can set up a cell phone on your account to be notified automatically whenever I submit any updates to my Twitter page (you can turn this feature on and off at will, actually), or you can set up to be notified by email. You can also see pcbdaily’s Twitter updates in the sidebar of the website under the heading “Twitter”.

Click here for a full list of auction terms, etc.