Real Estate in 2007

"In most parts of the country, the New Year will dawn on a housing market that's shockingly different from just a year ago. Overzealous speculation, too-lenient lending and aggressive overbuilding have combined to create the type of home-inventory levels and price stagnations that haven't been felt in the U.S. since the early to mid-1990's. . ." (more)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a merry Christmas. For those of you that may be offended by the Christian conotation in this greeting, I'd like to wish you a happy holidays.

I will not be sending out the regular newsletter today but will resume next week.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Pier Park, Ecotourism, East Bay, and 2007 Housing forecast

Pier Park has signed 6 major retailers with one open and another under construction. In addition, Panera Bread and Margaritaville are a few of the restaurants that are coming very soon. The Grand 16-plex movie theatre will be open by May with Longhorn Steakhouse under construction.

- Pier Park Flyer

I came across some information on the Bay County Ecotourism efforts. Included will be a public preserve on the west end of Panama City Beach with hiking trails and off-road bike paths and a paved trail system that will extend from the west end to St. Andrews State Park.

- Ecotourism Brochure

One of our readers sent information on the East Bay Sector. This is a growing area with many opportunities. Featured in the area is not only beautiful waterfront property but the only airpark in our area. Planned subdivisions are huge in my opinion and something Bay County, sadly, lacks. As we grow we will see more of these types of communities built.

- East Bay Sector Information This document has several links to informative sites. fyi, I noticed a few did not work. Also an article from CNNMoney was referenced, but one of the links did not work. It can be read here.

"Americans are increasingly nervous about the real estate market in 2007. They have good reason to be. But the news isn't all bad: Interest rates will remain at historically low levels. . ." (more)

Winning Bidder for Airport to be Chosen

"Talks with potential buyers of the current 715-acre airport site will continue, with a recommendation expected on a preferred developer in January, the Airport Authority executive board decided Friday. In October, the board selected Vice Chairman Bill Cramer as its liaison for a “fact-finding mission” with the bidders after an unexpected $13 million increase in the overall cost of the relocation project put further emphasis on the sale price. . ." (more)

Is Panama City Beach Imposing New Tax on Residents?

A new stormwater fee imposed on Panama City Beach residents is causing some concern. Panama City Beach's charter prevents it from collecting any new taxes or assessments without public approval. Many residents are concerned that this will open the door to other charges and fees that may not have uniform public consent.

Along with this fee came a provision that would allow PCB to collect other special assessments such as roadway and transportation improvements. This is what the CRA is for.

Click here for the entire article.

Bay County Statistics and General Information

I was doing some digging at the Bay County Economic Development Alliance website and found some statistics and other general information. It appears as though much of the information was collected at the beginning of the year, so some of the stats are out of date, but much of the information is still good.

Industrial Parks Directory - Details locations, park owners, current tenants, and contact information.

2006 Community Profile - This document is large, you may have to hit "refresh" after clicking on the link. Click "save a copy" to save it to your computer, this way it will view quicker. Once again, much of the statistics are from 2005. They apparently only publish this report once a year, so we should probably look forward to this again early 07.

St. Joe/Airport Story, Southwest Airlines, More on Insurance and Roads

Many do not realize that St. Joe and the Airport have a long history. They've been working together for more than 10 years. Many people also do not realize that it was the Airport Authority that approached St. Joe, not the other way around. Click here for an article on the whole story.

I got this article from the Bay County Economic Development Alliance. A friend of mine sent me the link, although I could only get one of the recent article links to work.

Recently it was confirmed that Southwest Airlines was in some discussion with area airports. It would appear as though Ft. Walton and the new Bay County International Airport are in competition to host Southwest, however Southwest stated that they are not planning on expanding their service area anytime in the next year. The whole article can be found here.

Insurance rates are still on the rise, and our state legislature is very aware of the citizens concern. More can be read here.

With the area's growth, new roads are needed. With new roads, comes much planning. Two articles can be found on local road development here and here.

Increase in Florida Homeowner's Insurance

This week I received my insurance bill. The premium is 33% higher than it was last year. I immediately called my insurance agent and was told I should feel lucky. I don't, I feel poorer.

He told me others are experiencing 50 - 70% increases in their yearly premium. I'm starting to wish I was a renter again. With the squeeze this will cause my family, there is no doubt this is pushing others out of the "home-owner" catagory.

Realistically, is there anything that can be done? This is how the world revolves. A business needs to profit, and when the costs go up, the price of the product needs to go up or the business can't operate. Some discussions suggest the state foots the bill, but this still trickles down to our wallet. What's the answer?

There were several articles released today about Citizens' rate hike, and click here for some suggestions from our legislators.

Also, more can be found by clicking here.

The Panama City Port and Bay County Airport, plus Something from You.

On Friday I attended a luncheon in Sandestin hosted by the Walton County Chamber. The guest speakers were Randy Curtis, the Executive Director of the Panama City Airport, and Wayne Stubbs, the executive Director of the Panama City Port Authority.

I was able to record it, albeit not a good recording, and it can be accessed by clicking here.

The presentation by Randy Curtis was really just a reiteration of the same news, not a lot of new information. Some explanation was provided as to why the West Bay area was selected. Due to air-flight restrictions from Tyndall and Eglin Airforce Base, and of course land availability, West Bay was the only feasible area for the new airport. In addition, Randy explained that they were on target for a ground breaking in March/April 2007. There was a large audience present and when the ground breaking date was mentioned the audience broke into applause. There was a question/answer section at the end of the presentation, and the feedback I heard was all positive.

The Panama City Port has been growing the last couple of years as the eastern-most port without going to Tampa. Our port has been identified as the most logical port for distribution in the southeast US and received 500,000 tons of copper last year. This totals in excess of $3.5 billion worth of product. They recently dredged the port from 32' to 36'. This may not seem much, but compare this to the Panama Canal at 38'. Our port receives 5 ships a week from the Yucatan, some of that being products from the Ikea plant in Mexico. In addition, a Swedish company has just agreed to use our port to export a minimum of 300,000 tons of compressed wood pellets every year for the next ten years. The post on this article can be found here.

"Is the National Resources Defense Council with their recently filed lawsuit really fighting for the best interests of NW Florida residents? Curiously, press releases and statements from the NRDC regarding the proposed new airport site fail to mention the mitigation property of 10,000 acres in West Bay donated by the St Joe Company. " (. . .more)

If anyone has more information or would like to share a comment, shoot me an email or post a comment.

La Borgata in Panama City Beach

Alan Jackson attended the ground breaking of a new development on west Panama City Beach, across from Wild Heron yesterday. The community, La Borgata touts a "Mayberry" style of living. The community will feature luxury 3 bedroom 3 bath condominiums with two salt water, heated resort style pools. LaBorgata.com

This sounds great, and I love to see nice developments coming to this area, but I'm unsure how well a "luxury" development will do right now. Speaking frankly, what this area needs is housing that the locals can afford to purchase.

Still yet, when La Borgata is completed, it will be a great addition to our growing community.

Click here for the News Herald article.

I wish all the luck to Ronnie Gilley.

Has the market hit bottom?

In a recently release article from Reuters, it was reported that The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had holdings as of September consisting of over 6 million shares of various home builder stocks. Centex, Beazer, and WCI were among the few of them.

If someone this big is making a move like this, are they speculating that the bottom has been hit?

This is the exact model that Buffett uses (is that surprising). Buy a promising product when it's down and prepare for the up-swing.

This goes hand-in-hand with my post on Learning to Invest. When the market is down, buy cheap, buy as much as you can, plan to hold it and prepare for the up-swing.

Click here for the article.

Conservation Easement around the Airport

On Tuesday St. Joe recorded the conservation easement for 9,609 acres. This will become permanent upon commencement of construction of the new airport.

To be quite frank, I had completely forgotten about the 10,000 acre conservation easement that is to be included in the land donation by St. Joe for the new airport. This is miniscule compared to the 40,000 acres St. Joe has committed to dedicate to conservation under the West Bay Sector Plan.

The West Bay Sector Plan consists of approximately 78,000 acres and was passed by the Bay county Commission in 2003.

Click here for the News Herald article.

Click here for the St. Joe press release.

Learning to Invest

It is no secret that the local real estate market is definitely in favor of the buyer. These changes come and go, although many would argue (and much of the evidence suggests) that the most current market changes are more significant than changes of the past.

A buyer's market is called as such because there is a greater amount of "inventory" on the market than there are buyers willing to purchase. Whereas a seller's market is great for the seller and may bring quick sales and high prices, a buyer's market is great for those that are looking to purchase. Along with a buyer's market comes competitive prices and a large selection.
This is a great time to buy; those who can afford to purchase, should. The deals are not around every corner, but they are there. The Panama City area has strong growth potential and still relatively affordable investment opportunities (if you are willing to dig).

I was reading through some of the columns at Yahoo Finance and found a great article from Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. The article can be found by clicking here.

The bottom line is, we've got the beach; and the water and sand is beautiful. People love it here.

Pier Park

Construction of Pier Park is moving forward with the completion of Target and the beginning of the new movie theatre. I took some pictures over the weekend.

Also, check out www.PierParkRetail.com for more information.















This will be the new 16 screen theatre set to open in May. Click here for more information.

The Forgotten Coast and Greenbelt Laws

Florida's forgotten coast has been getting some good publicity lately. For those that don't know, the Forgotten Coast is referring to Port St. Joe. Although Port St. Joe isn't really "on-the-way" to anything, it is still thought very highly of by many vacationers. The News Herald published an article on it referencing some of the other articles that have been written about that area. I know we have some readers that work in the Port St. Joe area, let me know if you have more information on the articles written. The News Herald article can be found here.

Also, Florida's Greenbelt law is in the spotlight along with St. Joe. The recent decrease in pulp demand has resulted in a decrease in assessed value for much of their land holdings across Florida. The Greenbelt law was enacted to protect the state's agriculture farmers from receiving increasingly higher tax bills every year. This way, if property values were increasing, yet the farmer’s product yield was the same (and so is his profit), the farmer is essentially prevented from being "taxed" out of his property. The article can be found here.

Right now, however, to some people it would seem that St. Joe is abusing the "agricultural protection" of the Greenbelt law. Although to many people today, St. Joe is known as a real estate development company, it's roots stem from the paper business. The big question is: When do we start assessing the property as something other than agriculture?

Edited: One of our readers provided me with an article about St. George Island. This article can be found here.

Real Estate is Still Selling

Despite the apparent slow-down in the real estate market in the Panhandle, people are still buying. True, there are not as many buyers here than last year or the year before, but if it is priced right, someone will want to buy it. Below is data from the Bay County MLS.

Sold in Panama City Beach summer 2004

• 314 homes sold from a 3/2 in Woodlawn for $105k to a 2700 sf gulf front home for $2M
• 603 condos sold from a studio at Top of the Gulf for $147k to a Hidden Dunes 3200 sf penthouse for$950k

Sold in Panama City Beach summer 2005

• 272 homes sold from a 3/2 for $175k to a 3600 sf Lake Powell-front 4 bedroom home for $1.5M
• 598 Condos sold from a new studio at Majectic for $139k to a 4 bedroom, 3100 sf at En Soleil for $1.7M

Sold in Panama City Beach summer 2006

• 158 homes sold from a 3/1 for $145k to a 7200 sf bayfront home in Colony Club for $2M
• 313 condos sold from a $20k parking space in Calypso to a 4 bedroom penthouse in En Soleil for $1.6M

Summer is defined from May 1 to August 30.

Bay County Airport Construction Costs Continue to Rise

An article in the News Herald yesterday spoke into the continually rising construction costs of the new airport. The cost grew from $218M in 2000 to roughly $330M now. Increases in construction costs and inflation are to blame. In all honesty, what did we expect? As time passes, the price always goes up. Of course the price went up, the only question is how much more is it going to go up before construction can begin? A link to the article can be found here.

I stand in support of the new airport, but at what point do we throw in the towel and say this is too much money? At what point do we cross the line? There's always got to be a breaking point.

Something has to be done. We need to either get our airport up to regulation or build a new airport. Obviously modifying the existing one would be less expensive, but last time that was discussed, the environmentalists cited that harm would be done to the seagrass beds. What would cause more harm to the environment, extending the current runway, or building a new airport?

What if the airport purchased more land inland and 390 was re-routed? Would that be possible?

Panama City Projected Growth

Business 2.0 came out with an article that states that Panama City is the number one place to own based on projected growth in the next 5 years. A link to the article can be found here.

The projection for Panama City seems a little ambitious, however, if any area will do that I would say it would be ours. With all the new developments such as the airport, and Pier Park coming online within that time, this area will experience great growth.

Higher Construction Cost on New Airport

The cost of construction for the new Bay County Airport has risen $13 million to $331 million. The rise in materials cost is the major contributing factor. Still, all things considered, this doesn't seem too bad considering the Grand Lagoon Bridge construction cost went up 49%, this is only 4%. Why is that number so different anyway? Are the materials used that different? Or is there other factors that I’m not aware of?

A link to the airport article can be found by clicking here. The article about the Grand Lagoon Bridge can be found here.

Some think we should reflect the increase in cost in the asking price for the old airport site. That's just the thing, there was no asking price. The board had an idea on what they would need to make the relocation happen, however, the process was to include bids in order to bring the highest price the market would yield. In addition, the bidding process on this particular transaction did not allow competing bids an awareness of what the competition was offering. This allows the natural process of professionals offering what they think the property is worth given the current market conditions.

At this point, if the board goes back to the bidders and states that their offers are not enough to cover rising construction costs, they risk losing some if not all competent bidders all together. One has to remember, the bidders placed a bid based on what they believed the property to be worth, which in turn was based on their market analysis and future viable plans for the property. If they are asked to pay more, they may say, "No thanks, I've got another opportunity somewhere else that is better at this point."

Obviously, the money has to come from somewhere, and no Cathy, in my infinite wisdom, I don't have any suggestions. All I'm saying is that we have to be careful or the buyers may walk.

New Bay County Airport = Lower Fairs?

Some of our readers don't think the new airport will bring lower fairs, however the authorities involved seem to disagree.

"A poll conducted last month by the Tallahassee Area Chamber of Commerce concluded that 38 percent of the 625 adults questioned would be very likely to travel here to use the new airport if it offers cheaper fares or a direct flight to a destination. Another 20 percent surveyed on the same question said they would be 'somewhat likely' to make the trip for cheaper fares or more direct routes. 'That’s the point of building the airport,' said Airport Authority Chairman Joe Tannehill and Vice Chairman Bill Cramer. 'That’s the bottom line of why we’re moving,' Tannehill said, 'to be more competitive.' The Panama City-Bay County International Airport loses some 10,000 passengers per month to other area airports with cheaper rates, Tannehill said."

We live in an age where we will make a little sacrifice of time to save a few hundred bucks. Why not spend 2 hours and $40 on gas to save $200 on air fare. If we have competitive fares at the new airport, people will travel here to save money. This is inevitable, we as humans are too cheap not to.

A link to the whole article can be found here.

Panama City Affordable Housing

It's no secret the real estate values in the Bay County area have grown tremendously in the past few years. This is great for many, but for some it means they've got to move to afford rent, or rent because they can't afford to buy. Affordable housing has always been an issue because the term "affordable" typically denotes less profit. In Bay County, it appears as though the local separate city authorities are teaming up to try and make affordable housing work here. A link to the article can be found here.

Pier Park, Panama City Beach

I was going to add this into the last post, but it's just too good not to have a post of its own. I was doing some digging and found an e-brochure for Pier Park. It's pretty good and can be found by clicking here. Please be warned, it is a large file, so be patient!

Pier Park Pier, Mexico Beach Millage, Port Pellets, and LaVela Tax

Last year's hurricane activity brought destruction to much, including our piers, specifically Dan Russell Pier - Pier Park Pier. The pier is 1,466 ft long; however the last section has been closed for almost a year. Repairs need to be made and upland infrastructure upgrades are being discussed. Click here to read more about it.

Speaking of Pier Park, what's going on there? Target is almost completed; in fact I think it opens this weekend or next. There certainly is a lot of dirt moving there, and the 16 theatre movie cinema has broken ground due to open by May 07. You can read the press release here.

Mexico beach lowered its millage, but not as low as originally planned. The article is here.

The area is growing and so is our port. After hurricane Katrina last year, our port's activity doubled. A Swedish Bio-energy company has agreed to use the port to export a minimum of 300,000 tons of compressed wood pellets from our port. The pellets will be made of wood waste such as pulpwood, chips and sawmill residue. They will then be used to create energy in Europe. We should take note. When other countries are using our waste to create energy, we need to pay attention. The article can be found here. Another article regarding the pellet plant can be found here.

There is discussion in the area on the fairness of the Bay County property appraiser's office. Read about what Club LaVela has to do with this here.

Bay County Airport - Different Points of View (Cont.)

Along with any huge decision comes an immense number of pros and cons. There are always very compelling arguments to both sides of the story.

A reader sent me an email with some interesting input and included an article that was in the paper October 3rd. The article speaks into why the author believes air fare will not decrease when the new airport is built. Interesting.

A link to the article can be found here. In addition, Cathy had quite a bit of knowledgeable input on the subject as well.

"Obviously, you did not see the article in the News Herald By Pete Dial who is very familiar with airport operations. He states a new airport probably will not reduce airline prices but just the opposite. I believe that he knows much more than you do and that you by your own admission are not a frequent flyer. I, my husband and both of my adult children are and I can tell you that I am deadly opposed to the new airport. The need is not here yet. It is a proven fact. Look at the declining numbers of flights and passengers over the last five years. Figures don not lie, don't tell me it is because of everyone going somewhere else because the prices are cheaper and that once we have the new airport all this will change. I don't believe for a minute prices will be cheaper. Do you have any guarantees of that? Do you really believe there will be direct flights to somewhere from the new airport. There are no direct flights from VPS or PNS now either. Why would we have them here with a new airport. If there was a need for direct flights from here we would have them now. They use the puddle jumpers now because that is all they need to accommodate the air traffic here. They stopped late night flights coming in here because there was not a need. Our present airport is under utilized right now. I see no airlines beating the doors down to come here now because the need does not exist. What will make that change. Higher fees with a new airport is only going to discourage airlines not encourage airlines. . ."

A link to the rest of the email can be found here.

I apologize if I gave the impression that I am an authority on this subject. All I know is what I read and learn from others. Also, I think it should be said that I have no affiliation with the airport, the relocation board, or St. Joe.

By the way, there are direct flights out of VPS. I have family that fly direct from TX many times a year. And guess what, it's cheap AND fast.

Bay County Boat Mooring Plan

With the shortage of boat storage increasing every year and the process of creating new storage possibilities becoming more difficult, mooring issues in public waterways becomes a larger problem. The county commission is discussing a resolution, a link to the article can be found here.

Grand Lagood Bridge - Wishful Thinking?

The bridge at Grand Lagoon has needed expansion for quite some time. Currently the opening is 107 feet and is slated to be expanded to 207 feet. In addition there will be two lanes of traffic each way with walkways and bike paths on either side.

Here's the problem: Estimated construction costs have risen from $12.4 million to $18.5 million because of increases in construction costs. It is interesting that the consulting firm for the county on this project seems to be way off on their numbers.

A link to the article can be found here.

Bay County Airport - Different Points of View

Today I received an email asking me to post two articles found on the airport that discuss a point of view that he agreed with. Before you read it, I'll just say that it is a doom and gloom, shouting conspiracy kinda' article.

Let me just go ahead and say, if you hadn't guessed already, that I am very much for the new airport and the growth that it will bring this area. The articles mention that St. Joe has tremendous influence on the relocation and has motives that align with making their pocket books thick. Of course that is one of their intentions. Think about it. The purpose of being in business is to make money. If you have some complex of "rich people", "the man", or "the corporation", get over it. The American way is to have an idea, capitalize on it and get rich; some people got it, some people don't.

Additionally, St. Joe can build all the homes that they want, but if they don't have anyone to purchase them, the whole airport idea is flushed down the toilet. I could be wrong, but I'm sure St. Joe has done their homework on whether there will be a market for whatever they are planning to develop in the West Bay area.

Another thing the articles state is that the traffic at the Panama City Airport has decreased in the past few years. Of course it has. The only time I fly out of here is when someone else is paying my fare; it costs twice as much to fly out of here than Ft. Walton or Pensacola. If that's what I do, I'm sure many others do it as well. I'm not even a frequent traveler. Not to mention the small puddle jumpers that will only take you to Atlanta or Memphis. I'm getting motion sickness just thinking about them.

Also, you have to remember that Bay County residents will not be the only patrons to this new airport. People will drive from Destin, Ft. Walton, Dothan, Tallahassee and more to fly out of there.

I'm not as educated as some on this topic, these are just my opinions based on the knowledge that I have. I respect other people’s opinions and am grateful that we live in a nation that we can debate such issues. It is my opinion that the airport will bring great growth and progress to this area. I’m opening a can of worms, but what do you think?

The link to the article can be found here.

Out with the old, in with the new - Bay County Airport that is.

I wanted to be one of the first to post this online, even though I don't have much news yet.

As most of you know, 4 bids went in for the sale of the existing airport site on Monday September 25. Those bids ranged anywhere from $30 million to $61 million. Some included a full range of possible development plans and others stated nothing other than that they will "provide adequate parks and recreational areas as determined by their experienced and knowledgeable land planner."

I would think that you would want to be a little more specific, but hey, what do I know?

I haven't read anywhere that they'd accepted any offers, just that they were releasing the bid specifics to the public. As there is not much news on this just yet, I'll be updating the blog first thing in the morning.

By the way, to get a glimpse at the highlights of the 4 bids, click here.

- Edited 10/06/06

The News Herald wrote an article on the release of information on the bids, they don't provide much information, however, a link to the article can be found here.

- Edited 10/07/06

I was doing some digging and found an interesting website. Check it out at Aero-News.net. Also, click here to see what they've got to say about our airport.

Panama City Beach Statistics

I was doing some digging and found some interesting stats on pcbeach.org.

• 27 miles of world famous white sandy beaches along the Gulf of Mexico
• 6 million tourists
• Direct tourist expenditures of $537 million
• $1.5 billion economic impact from tourism
• $163 million in accommodation sales
• $413 million in goods and services
• Over 14,000 local jobs
• 612,602 households within a 100 mile radius of Panama City Beach
• 14 miles to Panama City and 41 miles to Destin

Visitor Profile

• Overnight leisure travel is 77% of all traveler spending in Panama City Beach
• Panama City Beach travel parties include 3.11 persons; families account for the largestnumber of travelers
• The average length of stay is 4.1 nights
• 82% of isitors to the area arrive via automobile
• 74% of Panama City Beach visitors have visited the destination more than once

Awards for Panama City Beach

• #4 Most Popular Vacation Rental Destination - Hotels.com - 2004
• Top Beach - American Coastal Coalition - 2002
• #3 Golf Town un the US - Golf Digest Magazine - 2002
• Clean Beach Award - The Clean Beaches Council - 2002
• #3 Beach in America - The Surfrider Foundation - 2000
• Top Five "Best Beaches" - Southern Living - 2000
• #1 Beach - Dr. Beach (Stephen Letherman) - 1995

Top Markets for Panama City Beach Tourism

• Top Ten States: Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Ohio, Kentucky, Texas, Indiana,Illinois, Michigan
• Top Five Cities: Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, Knoxville, Louisville
• Top Market Segments: Leisure traveler, sports market, special events winter residents, and meetings and conventions

Bubble Trouble?

Frantic speculators and doom and gloom Realtors are looking for new jobs for fear that the real estate bubble is popping. The market right now is going through a natural cyclical correction, and perhaps "bubble" isn't the correct term to define our real estate market. The definition of a market "bubble" consists of values dropping literally over night. The current changes in the real estate market are not reflecting this behavior.

Kendra Todd was the first female winner of Trumps' "Apprentice" and has some interesting input with regards to the real estate bubble. The article can be found here.

Fowler's Wild Kingdom coming here?

October 2, 2006

In the news recently have been reports of Jim Fowler bringing an animal preserve to the Florida Panhandle area, specifically Washington County. A link to the article can be found here.

Also, there have been rumors of a Busch Gardens in Defuniak Springs and something Disney north on Highway 79. It makes sense to put large attractions such as these close to this area. The feeder markets could range from Pensacola to Jacksonville and all of southern Alabama and Georgia. The local tourism market in this area would thrive and we would have someone to put in all those condos that are nearing completion.

Airport News, New Roads, and Something about Millage

Interesting morning in the news. The deadline for bids on the old airport site was Monday. 4 bids were received with offer details to be released in about 8 days. The site is approximately 700 acres with water-frontage. This could be an awesome place for a sweet development. A link to the article can be found here.

St. Joe agreed to sell approximately 4000 acres to the State of Florida for approximately $46 million. This will be huge for our local growth. A link to the article can be found here.

-Edited 9/28/06: Just got word of some of the roads they are looking at widening:

• SR 22 in Bay and Gulf Counties
• SR 12 in Gadsden and Liberty Counties
• SR 20 in Bay, Calhoun and Liberty Counties
• US 98 in Gulf, Franklin, Jefferson, and Wakulla Counties
• SR 71 in Calhoun and Gulf Counties

The last article goes something like this: Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah; blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah; blah blah blah blah.

Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah; blah blah blah blah. *Whispers – The Panama City Commission unanimously voted to decrease the millage from 5 to 4.1722 mills in light of public outcry over high valuations. To understand, click here.

- Edited 9/28/06: The intention of the "Blah's" was not to signify unimportance, it was only to emphasize that the reporter through in a pretty important decision made by the commission at the tail end of a seemingly unrelated article.

Buyer's Market = Great Time to Buy

Typically in my posts (and my opinions) I try to steer clear of anything “doom and gloom”. I like to consider myself an optimist, and I like to discuss positively about the real estate market. However, it is very apparent that the current market is definitely slower this year than it was last year.

A friend of mine often says “. . . it is what it is.” Right now we are going through a period of correction and transitioning to a buyer’s market. I found an article that speaks into this at Realtor.org. A link to the article can be found here.
A link to a .pdf version can be found here.

There is a lot of chatter with regard to owners worrying about their real estate investments. The bottom line is that the growth that occured here in Panama City in the last few years was unnatural and extraordinary. If you are an invester and you have the money to hold your investments, then you'll be fine. If you are a speculator and expecting (or expected) to ride the "real estate wave", you may be in trouble. Quick money is great, but over-extending yourself is risky.

Long term: people love the beach. The commercial industry is on track to catch up with the residential growth and when it does Bay County will be huge for destination travelers. I'll post later on other things coming up in this area.

Katchup - With a splash of Bay County Airport

For a few weeks at least, I will be playing catch-up with regards to getting some recent items in the news posted. A lot has happened and I thought great news would be a good start. On Friday (9/15/06), it was announced formally that the airport relocation had finally received the FAA's last approval. You can find the article here.

To read the FAA Record of Decision, Click Here.
To read the response from the Bay County Chamber of Commerce, Click Here.
To read the response from the Natural Resources Defence Council, Click Here.

Welcome to PCBDaily.com! (Please Read)

September 19, 2006

Welcome to PCBDaily.com. The purpose of this blog is to provide a location for people to find current information regarding real estate in the Panama City and Panama City Beach areas. In addition to providing current real estate-related articles, PCBDaily.com provides a way for you to get a glimpse of the current market trends without being pushed to buy or sell. My intention is not to give advice, but simply to have a place to compile information on this dynamic, rapidly changing market.

Most of my posts will contain links to a download page. Until I switch to a custom blog site, I will have to host the articles I post somewhere else. When you follow a link you will be brought to a page that looks like this:

At this point, click on "Download File" and you will be given an option to open or save. I always click save so that I will have it on my computer for later viewing.

To get back to PCBDaily, just go back to the "download file" window and hit your browser's "back" button.

Also, many of the readers of this blog are in the real estate business and use this as a reference point and place to find articles to share with their clients. If you see something that you think should be here, email me and I'll take a look at it.