UPDATE: We've Moved to PCBDaily.com

After the constant delays and blogger going down for half of a day this week, I decided to finally put in the late hours and extra work to get my own blog site built and transfer all the files to the new server. We were down last night and this morning completely while the nameservers propogated, but we are up now.

Visit PCBDaily.com

'Rock Solid' Economy, Co Rd 388, Lowes on the Beach

The 2006 year end came with a "Rock Solid" economy. I know this is not directly real estate related, but the economy does affect most everything we do.

Click here for the article.

For you number-heads, here is a link to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bay County wants to transfer County Road 388 to the Florida Department of Transportation without resurfacing it. Anyone who's vaguely familiar with this area knows that 388 has been in terrible shape for years. Roads are normally required to be in good shape prior to transfer, but Commissioner George Gainer stated that he does not want to re-pave it because the county is not supposed to incur any costs associated with the airport project. (more)

Panama City Beach is growing with the opening of a Lowes across the street from Home Depot on Back Beach. The open date is set for January 20. (more)

New York Times Recognizes Panama City Beach

First and foremost, I'd like to apologize for not getting this up quicker. I've had several people email me with the article. Thank you for keeping on me, and keep up the good work.

The New York Times published an article on Panama City Beach that was quite flattering. The author speaks of a "supermodel showing off her good side" in reference to our "flaunting [our] most valuable asset".

The new airport is mentioned along with the strong growth we've experienced and optimism by local residents and visitors. Local Realtor stars, like Katie Patronis are quoted and Census statistics are stated.

Something else was mentioned that I used often in my active real estate selling days: Our beaches are almost never crowded. "It's not like Coney Island, where you're stepping all over each other. . .", a native New Yorker mentioned.

This is true, we have beautiful, renourished, uncrowded beaches with crystal clear water most months out of the year.

It's great that we are being recognized on such a national level (not like we haven't been in the past).

The entire article can be read here.

Statewide homesales down, national homes sales up

In November, home sales in Florida were down although many markets were reporting stabilization. Nationally home sales were up two months in a row. Both the Florida Association of Realtors and National Association of Realtors issued reports that spells out the details with stats and all.

FAR Report

NAR Report

2006 Highlights, Affordable Housing, and Regency Towers Repairs

First and foremost, I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I trust that if you are reading this, your holiday was safe. 2007 will be an exciting year, not only for Panama City and Panama City Beach, but also for PCBDaily.com. We've grown a lot over the last 90 days and look forward to tremendous growth in the next 90 days. Please do your part to help us grow. If you like what you read, tell a friend, or register their name and email address for our weekly e-news letter by clicking the button to the right.

The News Herald wrote an article highlighting 2006's top 10 stories. The number 1 story selected by readers discussed the issues with property taxes this year and addressed concerns about 2 years in a row of 100% increases. Increased taxes coupled with hightened insurance rates is literally pushing people out of homeownership.

The number 3 story discussed the new airport and the challenges it has overcome in the past year, and the challenges it faces this coming year; the most significant being the $331 million price tag. Joe Tannehill calls it a "conundrum" and said "if it's higher than $331 million, there's a good chance it won't happen. . ."

I'm sorry to say, but it will cost more. It always costs more. (read entire article here)

Also in the news: Again, talks of county sponsored affordable housing. Recent discussions involve St. Joe donating 100+ acres to the county affordable housing effort and Bay county receiving a $5 million grant. The goal is to sell homes for $75,000. The two potential sites include one north of Callaway off 98 and another north on highway 79. (read article here)

Those of you that are familiar with the area, know that Recency Towers on Panama City Beach has suffered constant repair issues over the last couple of years. The issues began with no pre-inspection of the site before the repairs began and association mis-management. (read entire article here)

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.