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Archive for January 2009

Low Mortgage Rates Make The Market Ideal

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

This is a great time to get financing on a new or second home in Panama City Beach. We are seeing Panama City Beach mortgage rates like we have not seen in many years.

The lending criteria is undergoing some major changes that will make it harder to buy a condo in Panama City Beach as a second home. It seems that the Panama City Beach mortgage rates will make Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac unable to make condo loans in the near future. This will not have an effect on the second home market that is not a condo. In fact, it makes it an excellent time to buy that Panama City Beach home because of low interest mortgage rates. I also believe that Panama City Beach townhomes will be able to be purchased as second homes, just not condos. They have absolutely stopped the condo purchasing as of yet, but anyone on the fence thinking about making a Panama City Beach condo purchase and who plans to make it a second home mortgage purchase should move on that idea before it is too late.

Just an example of what the Panama City Beach mortgage rates are for 30 year conforming loans, Banks in our area are offering 30 year fixed rate mortgages of 5.125% as of 1/16/2009. A 15 year fixed mortgage rate is as low as 4.75%. Both of these loans are with no points with 30 or 45 day lock.

You can also get a Jumbo Fixed Mortgage Rate @ 6.875% with no points.

With the lowered mortgage rates, this is an excellent time to buy a Panama City Beach property as an asset diversification or just to fulfill a long time family or personal dream of owning a Panama City Beach home. We are seeing many cash buyers in today’s Panama City Beach market, as it is a way to diversify your holding and still get the potential of great appreciation in the next 5-10 years. If you’re holding much cash today, it is a difficult thing to know what to do get the most return. CD rates and money market funds are not paying out much in the way of income in today’s crazy money climate.

If you are holding cash in an IRA, we now have Panama City Beach companies that will manage your IRA assets in a way that allows you to purchase Panama City Beach investment properties with your IRA. In this unknown world of investments we now find ourselves in, it is comforting to have a variety of assets held in your IRA so as not to be totally dependent on the stock market or money investments.

Even in spite of the fall in real estate values in these past many months, most of the people that held Panama City Beach property in their IRA did better than the stock market did. But this too requires careful buying, so that your buying values are good long term holds and will not leave the Panama City Beach buyer at the whims of the up and downs of the Panama City Beach mortgage rates.

Posted in Mortgage Rates | No Comments »

Incredible Panama City Beach Property Values

Monday, January 12th, 2009

I was checking out the listed Panama City Beach properties that are bank owned in our area and it never ceases to amaze me in what I find for sale and the price history. There is Panama City Beach property that is unusual in that it is less than a block from the Gulf and backs up to a lake. It is a beautiful fresh water lake. We have lots of fresh water lakes in the Panama City Beach area. It is amazing as these are literally a stone’s throw from the Gulf. This is in one of those areas where the lake is just separated from the Gulf by a road. When you are located on one of these lakes looking south, if you have an elevation you will have a pretty much unimpeded few of them Gulf. This view would provide some wonderful sun sets views to the south and west.

One of the Panama City Beach properties for sale is a bank owned house that is up for $260,000. The house in vintage but in nice shape and a 3/2 with a nice lot that runs down to the lake. This house also includes the empty lot next door. This means that you not only get Panama City Beach property on a lake front lot that is just across from the Gulf but also a full sized 50 ft lot next door that would make an excellent location to build another home of several stories that would provide excellent views.

What caught my attention was that this Panama City Beach property sold in 2005 for $750,000. That is right–$750,000. For a time it was for resale for $899,000. Now four short years later this Panama City Beach property is bank owned and for sale for $260,000 and it included both lots.

You have to ask how could perceptions of value undergo so much change so quick. Someone in 2005 thought this property was worth $750,000. Now it seems totally insane.

Question now, what is it worth today? It has been for sale for several months and falling from $360,000 and still has not sold. We will soon find out what the value is because it will continue to fall until it sells. This is the value at this time.

At $260,000 I now think this property is a value. The house is ok to live in as it is and the lot next door would make an excellent location for another home. The property is the west end of Panama City Beach. It is hard to imagine how anything that was sold for $750,000 just 4 years ago would not be worth $260,000 today. I think Panama City Beach properties like this are not presenting some wonderful values. But nothing is a value if it doesn’t fit into your bigger financial plan.

To sum up, there are some incredible values in our market in Panama City Beach, but nothing is a value if it does not full fill a need for you in your overall financial and personal plan. If you are looking for a second home or investment near the beach that will most certainly grow in value over the next few years this is one of those Panama City Beach properties. Please contact me if you are interested. Thanks. Jay Davis, Beachside Resorts Realty.

Posted in Property | No Comments »

Pre-Forclosure Homes for Sale in Panama City Beach on the Rise…

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

There are lots of homes for sale in Panama City Beach that are classified as distressed. When we say that we mean that these homes for sale in Panama City Beach are in pre-foreclosure, foreclosed on, short sales, or bank owned. We get lots of questions as to what is a Short Sale? When a property is in short sale the seller still is owner of the property, but they owe more than they are asking for in the listing. It means that any contract that is offered on the property must first be accepted by the seller, and then it is presented to the bank and has to be approved by that bank.

What happens to the difference between the selling price of the home for sale and the bank pay off is not up to the buyer. This is something that is worked out and agreed on between the mortgage holder and the seller. I say this to say that buyer would be buying a home for sale that has been released from any title encumbrances. The difference between what was owed by the seller and the mortgage holder is sometime forgiven, but not always. Many times the bank will ask for an unsecured note for the difference or they might 1099 the amount to the IRS. This means that the seller will be expected to pay taxes on the forgiven amount.

It is always easier to deal with homes for sale in Panama City Beach that are bank-owned. The banks do not want to be property holder and are anxious to put the home up for sale. They will usually respond to an offer within a short time frame. If the property is a short sale, it sometimes is months before you will get an answer from the lender as to whether they will see for the contract price. Many times after waiting for many months you may find that they will not accept the offer and you have lost valuable time in looking for another great deal. The pre-foreclose homes for sale in Panama City Beach usually mean the seller is under water but not as great an amount and they are getting behind in their payments and if they can see of near the asking price they will be prevented from going into foreclosure.

Posted in Homes for Sale | No Comments »

Is Now Time to Buy a House in Panama City Beach?

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

This is an interesting time in our Real Estate economy especially for those buying a house in Panama City Beach. The prices of homes in the Panhandle experienced a great surge in 2004 and 2005. It was not uncommon for property to double in price with 18-24 months. This increase in value and the fact that people were buying houses at such high prices was a shock to many owners of older home properties. Many sold their houses at big profits, but worse many took out home equity loans on the increased valued Real Estate.

When the value of Real Estate begin to slow, many home buyers who had bought for resale(flipping) found themselves owning property that they could not sell. Many of these properties were highly leveraged, with many putting as little as 5% down. Unfortuntely the increase in property values had encouraged apprasial that continue to climb, making it easy to get an apprasial on a property that substantiated the loan.

When buying homes in Panama City Beach slowed and many were caught holding property that they could not pay the notes and expenses on, the prices started to fall. This falling property value escalated as more and more sellers could not find people to buy their house or property. There begin to come to market short sales and foreclosed properties that continued to push the property prices lower and lower.

Now many of the older owners that had paid little for their property years ago and now had taken out equity were now under the gun to make these new payments with no value in their home to make it sellable at the price necessary to pay off their new mortgage.

The whole thing spirals into a continuing cycle of those that now owe more for their property than they can pay, with no way out because the property is unsellable at the price it would take to pay off its debt.

That said this presents some great opportunities to buy a house in Panama City Beach as the market is now loaded with properties that are selling for below real values, as banks are not inclined to hold a property and they are bringing these properties to market and selling at fire house prices.

Posted in Buy House | No Comments »

Welcome to Panama City Beach Florida!

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

The golden sunshine, southern hospitality and quaint beachside charm you’ve always experienced in Panama City Beach is nothing new. What is new, however, is almost everything else!

The Chamber’s new Tourist Information Center has opened at 309 Beckrich Road in Panama City Beach. The lobby is informative, educational and fun, and is the perfect resource for accommodations, dining, things to do, economic stats and community information.

For more information please click here.

All the information above was taken directly from http://www.pcbeach.org

Posted in Homes | No Comments »

Market Recap

  • Avg. Sales Price: $657,667

  • Avg. Days on Market: 158

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