Monday, February 26, 2007
Crystal Beach Village, Jerry Wallace, Tunnel under Commons, Condo Sales

"The Villages of Crystal Beach will have its grand opening this spring and a few units are available for rent or sale. Walking down the streets in The Villages of Crystal Beach one can see how the cohesiveness of the homes’ designs give it an actual village atmosphere. Homes are closely spaced together, but that seems to be part of the plan at this mostly rental community. . ." (more)

Laketown Wharf, a Panama City development by Destin Resident, Jerry Wallace was mentioned in Saturday's paper. It looked like the same pompous, insulting, and tactless article that was published in the News Herald. You can read the article here, and see what some in Panama City Beach think about it here.

Destin City Council voted Tuesday to spend$205,000 to have a city consultant design a tunnel under Commons Drive. This could help prevent pedestrians from having to dodge traffic crossing the busy road. (more)

Condo sales are down 87.9% in Destin; largely to blame is the 80 sales at Indian Lakes in January of 06. . . (more)

posted by Jason at 6:10 AM

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Saturday, February 17, 2007
Green Design, Green Building, New Urbanism

Recently there has been a lot out there on Green Design and Green Building. Business 2.0 did a piece on green in this month's issue as well as Popular Mechanics. Yes, I'm a nerd, I read (and love) PM.

I didn't pull everything, but I took the liberty to pull a couple of the features I liked from PM's web site. The rest can be found here.

The site of the old Stapleton Airport in Denver is being completely developed with the last home being built in 2016. Principles from New Urbanism heavily shaped the master plan with an emphasis on green building. Homes are all withing walking distance from shopping and recreation with designs to encourage community interaction. (more)

Recycled Glass Surfaces

Recylced Wood

Reflective Daylighting System

Thin Film Photo-Valtaic Cells

New Urbanism emphasizes 10 principles including walkability, connectivity, mixed use and diversity, mixed housing, quality archetecture and urban design, traditional neighborhood structure, increased density, smart transportation, sustainability, and quality of life. The website provides tons of great information. Click here.

posted by Jason at 4:26 PM

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Saturday, February 17, 2007
Beach Renourishment, Mid-Bay Bridge, Mortgage Fraud, Destin Harbor

"If the city of Destin has the money to pay an extra $600,000 for beach restoration, it should do so, members of Okaloosa County’s Tourist Development Council say.
'The question I will probably ask,' TDC Chair Mike Minich said in an interview, 'since the city has (state) grant money available, I’m curious why they’ve chosen not to seek that grant money out. . .'" (more)

"Tetra Tech wants to make sure that after a visitor to Destin drives over the Mid-Bay Bridge, they head west toward the harbor. And once they’re in the harbor area, they need to be able to find a parking place and then if necessary, cross U.S. 98 safely. . ." (more)

"This summer’s traffic numbers could have an impact on the future of the Mid-Bay Bridge. At their monthly meeting Thursday morning at Destin’s City Hall, the board’s members were briefed on the latest updates to the ongoing, $5-million project to build four new toll lanes, two northbound and two southbound, on the north end of the bridge. . ." (more)

"Attorney General Bill McCollum has issued a consumer advisory warning Floridians of common mortgage fraud scams. Mortgage scams were among the top ten categories of complaints received by the Attorney General’s Office last year. . ." (more)

posted by Jason at 2:51 PM

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Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Florida Growth, Green Building

Florida continues to grow with over 1000 people a day moving to the sunshine state. Despite rising insurance rates and increases in property taxes, Florida is still comparatively less than other highly desired places to live. Florida is ranked second in biggest population gains behind Texas with over 320,000 people moving in between July, 2005 and July, 2006. (more)

In Florida, Green Building is "poised to go mainstream" with commercial projects seeking Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certifications increasing from 33 to 130. "Buildings are the biggest drain on energy and natural resources. Using solar power, trees. . . and energy efficient appliances. . . to save natural resources. . ." (more)

posted by Jason at 4:55 PM

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Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Insurance Refund, Equity Cashout

Some Florida residents who insure with Citizens Insurance can expect to get a refund check in the mail soon. The biggest checks will go to those that live in the higher risk areas. Those that live in these high risk areas can expect to see their premiums go down an average of around 25%. (more)

If you are struggling to make your mortgage payment, and you still need a larger house, an out of state move may be on the agenda. This is something that my family has definitely explored. Over the holidays, we went back to Texas to visit my folks in Plano and the new home prices there were very attractive considering what you can get here. In addition, the employment opportunities are much greater. I can make more money and buy a nicer, larger house for much less in an area that is far more developed.

There is one huge thing, however, that Plano does not have that my family loves very much: the beach. My wife and I often kid, that if Plano had a beach, we'd move there in a second, but we are beach people.

Anyway, the article that spurred this rant is here.

posted by Jason at 8:52 AM

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Thursday, February 1, 2007
Florida Economy, Throw a House Party, Tax Cuts

"The sluggish housing market, and not gas prices or the stock market, is likely to blame for the drop in consumer confidence in Florida by one point to 89 in January, according to University of Florida economists. . ." (more)

"Census Bureau data shows that the U.S. home ownership rate held steady in the fourth quarter at 68.9 percent. Regionally, the home ownership rate was 73 percent in the Midwest, 70.8 percent in the South, 65.3 percent in the Northeast, and 64.5 percent in the West. . ." (more)

If you are having trouble selling your home, throw a party. That's what some brokers in California did, anyway. This is the type of creativity that is needed during a time when home sales is difficult. Not long ago, in Panama City, a luxury town home owner offered a brand new BMW as incentive to purchase his place. $38,000 to sell your $500,000 home is not too bad in a time like this. If you are trying to sell, those of you that are creative will do the best. (more)

Crist is proposing a statewide tax cut that should save Florida residents as much as $4.7 billion a year. (more)

posted by Jason at 7:11 AM

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Monday, January 29, 2007
Recent Insurance Bill Press Release

The nine ideas signed into law can be found here.

posted by Jason at 7:20 AM

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Friday, January 26, 2007
More on Insurance

Charlie Crist signed the insurance bill that was passed on Monday. It is still unclear as to how much savings we, the citizens, could expect, or when we could see them. When asked, Christ said, "It’s going to take a little while, candidly, but it’s going to be a lot sooner than it would have been if this had not happened today." Sounds like a typical politician response. Click here for the article.

posted by Jason at 7:38 AM

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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
More on the Insurance Bill, Airport Sale Delays, and Tips for the Modern Broker/Agent/Company

With the bill that passed over the weekend, insurance companies are expected to cut rates. State-run Citizens Insurance has cancelled hikes of more than 20% this month, and a 56% hike later this year.

After talking to a friend in the insurance business yesterday, I was told not to expect to see much of a difference, which is certainly discouraging. I was also told (this was a second opinion) that my policy that had an increased premium this year of 33% was actually "not bad", also discouraging. He said something interesting to the point of trying to change companies. He said I should just stay where I'm at and to hold on tightly until the ride is over. I hope the ride is over by next year's renewal.

The article is here.

The winning bidder for the new airport site has still yet to be chosen. Among various reasons, one major one is the recent determination that the relocation costs have risen to $330 million. The winning bidder is expected to be chosen in February.

The article is here.

I'm in the real estate sales and marketing business. I do not sell general real estate, nor do I take listings, but the company I work for specializes in resort development consultation, marketing strategy, and sales. We've got projects in northwest Florida, and in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and considering others in central Florida and more in the Smokeys. With the current market climate, we are reevaluating our marketing strategies to be sure we are maximizing our coverage and getting our products in front of the people that are interested in purchasing right now.

Here is an article that speaks into this greatly.

posted by Jason at 7:15 AM

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Monday, January 22, 2007
Home Owner's Insurance Rate Cuts

Florida law-makers have addressed the insurance rate increases and have passed a bill that should help bring relief to some of us whose pocket book is suffering after receiving this year's insurance bill. A bill was passed over the weekend. One of the articles is quoted as stating that we could see cuts from 5% to 40%. You can read about the progress here, here, and here.

posted by Jason at 7:20 AM

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Saturday, January 13, 2007
"Value Call" - an article from Florida Trend

Real estate is still selling, and the developers that are having success right now have attractive price points on their products. Housing that the majority of Florida's residents can afford is in high demand right now. "Over the past five years, average wages and household incomes have remained flat, while home prices have risen by 200% or more in some markets, putting too may homes out of reach of the average working family. . ." (more)

posted by Jason at 9:25 AM

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Monday, January 08, 2007
'Rock Solid' Economy, 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.

posted by Jason at 6:47 AM

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Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Statewide home sales 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

posted by Jason at 10:42 PM

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