The real boom has not started here yet.

[scenethief]

I interpret this that the real boom has not even started down here yet. Forecast reads: "diminishing cloudiness with sunny skies ahead.."



Boomer Boon - Great Implications for the Real Estate Market

It’s just the beginning. This year, four million baby boomers will celebrate their 60th birthday. Well-known personalities so far have included Presidents Bush and Clinton, Cher, Sylvester Stallone, Dolly Parton, and Donald Trump.
Every 8 seconds, another boomer will turn 60 and this has great implications for the real estate business. Boomers will sell, buy, move, and join the ranks of real estate like no other generation. It is well documented how the purchase power of this generation has reshaped the economy. The impact continues as 60 some things buy second homes, invest in real estate, purchase condominiums, zero lot lines, downsize, and even “test drive” homes for retirement.

The 2006 National Association of Realtors ® study, BABY BOOMERS AND REAL ESTATE: Today and Tomorrow, was conducted online by Harris Interactive ® among a nationwide cross section of 2000 U.S. adults born between 1946 and 1964. Results show an “almost insatiable desire for real estate” with 25% owning multiple properties, including ownership of 57% of all vacation homes, and 58% of rental properties.

http://www.realtor.org/PublicAffairsWeb.nsf/Pages/BabyBoomerStudy06

[Bob]

The boom will start when you can convince them to unload their mutual funds.

[kurt]

I agree with the subject title. But I also believe we will continue to get a lot of younger couples and families who want to live at the beach and have enough money to, or will move here to start businesses, or who can work from anywhere (and will use the new airport).

The takeoff is going to be slow for awhile as more infrastructure is built. Once prices stabilize we will have an influx of new residents, and investors with deeper pockets than what we saw during the greed hump.

[Paula]

I definitely hope the area continues to be a place that draws families who build their lives in SoWal. The quality of life for families seems to be on the high end of quality of life.

As we know, the challenge will be for the area to provide more jobs (ideally airport will draw more companies and provide people with a way to live at/near the beach and fly to their jobs -- e.g.,consultants who travel for their work could live pretty conveniently at the beach with an convenient airport). I could also see it as a place for people who have had a successful career, still have young children, but want to move their lives to the beach and will be able to accommodate a drop in income if necessary in order to live life at the beach. (As some people we know have done.)

Anyhoooo -- I'm a believer that "where there's a will there's a way" for most people (my mother must have said that to us as children).

[Scooter]

I want to move there NOW!!!!!!!!! Have a lot but can't afford to build. Property taxes, insurance, homeowner's, special assessments. Grayton take me away. Away from the interstates of Atlanta, the eighteen wheelers, the soccer moms.

[John R]

Glad I got in early...

[Scooter]

Nothing against soccer moms except they're always rushing somewhere or another. I want the simple life (minus Paris). Seafood, water, sunshine, trees that don't loose their leaves in the winter. This is starting to sound like a novel.

[30A Skunkape]

I don't know if boomers will flock to SOWAL. Most real estate is currently out of their price range while they are employed. Based on the stories I hear about personal debt and poor savings, I don't think your average SOWAL property is attainable. And from what I have observed and read, people who are not born into wealth 9 times out of 10 achieve wealth by being frugal...something tells me that those folks would be happy in a modest house or condo elsewhere paid for in cash where they have a big lump of moolah left over. But, this is all just speculation, I could be way off.

[kurt]

I don't know if boomers will flock to SOWAL. Most real estate is currently out of their price range while they are employed. Based on the stories I hear about personal debt and poor savings, I don't think your average SOWAL property is attainable. And from what I have observed and read, people who are not born into wealth 9 times out of 10 achieve wealth by being frugal...something tells me that those folks would be happy in a modest house or condo elsewhere paid for in cash where they have a big lump of moolah left over. But, this is all just speculation, I could be way off.

Which is why at some point garden homes and townhomes will pop like mushrooms beside golf courses north of the bay.

[egrp]

I don't know if boomers will flock to SOWAL. Most real estate is currently out of their price range while they are employed. Based on the stories I hear about personal debt and poor savings, I don't think your average SOWAL property is attainable. And from what I have observed and read, people who are not born into wealth 9 times out of 10 achieve wealth by being frugal...something tells me that those folks would be happy in a modest house or condo elsewhere paid for in cash where they have a big lump of moolah left over. But, this is all just speculation, I could be way off.

boomers will flock to walton and bay co...JOE has a big vested interest to make sure they do and it will happen

[kurt]

boomers will flock to walton and bay co...JOE has a big vested interest to make sure they do and it will happen

And Franklin, Gulf . . .

[spinDrAtl]

I know of some folks who moved down permanently. One travelled almost full time (able to work from anywhere) and the spouse took a job in the area. It worked well for them, although they did buy their primary residence in 2004, I believe, at a much more affordable price.

But their whole thing was wanting to live at the beach full time.

[beachmouse]

If you're wanting to draw the retiree crowd, you have to design communities that are set up well for retirees. It doesn't have to be the next coming of The Villages, but you need low maitenance housing that's reasonably close to grocery shopping, churches, and health care.

If I was looking to retire down here, Sandestin actually has a very good set up- choice of single family/townhouse/condo, you can get around with a golf cart or development-provided shuttle service instead of a car, you're close to the Sacred Heart complex, and if you get to the point where you need assisted living, Crystal Bay is very very nice and you're close to friends you've made in the area.

But a lot of the developments on 30-A, the access to those kinds of things is harder, and so many of the single family homes are 2-3 stories. (If you're planning on being somewhere at age 85, single story is desirable)

[ozbeachmom]

We bought a condo that we use for our personal use (do not rent it out) and I would do back flips down the street naked if my hubby came home and said we are moving to the beach full time! My kids and I love it so much there, the weather, the beach, the slow pace, the people are awesome. I can't wait for him to retire so we can be down there full time.

[Uncle Timmy]

I would do back flips down the street naked if my hubby came home and said we are moving to the beach full time! My kids and I love it so much there, the weather, the beach, the slow pace, the people are awesome. I can't wait for him to retire so we can be down there full time.

I'm sure you would be warmly welcomed. As a whole, this community is very supportive of people inclined to do naked back flips.

[scooterbug44]

The boomers will come and are remodeling/planning their second homes to accomodate the retirement needs and gradual physical demise of them and their aging parents!

Kitchens and baths are being remodeled to accomodate full time use and physical limitations. I am getting many requests for wheelchair accessible bathrooms, shower grab bars, ground floor master suites, elevators, dumbwaiters etc from clients who are very active.

A common plan I've heard is to have a home health care provider live in the carriage house when they need help, but aren't ready for assisted living.

We need to plan accordingly with public transportation, services, and greater accessibility not just for all the aging boomers, but the many military personnel w/ severe injuries from Middle East service.

[Sandcastle]

And Franklin, Gulf . . .

Add Leon and Wakulla. Just look at what JOE has accomplished in Southwood.

We took our boat up the Wakulla River today and we were very surprised to see the amount of new building – even in today’s terrible real estate market.

[Geo]

I agree with the subject title. But I also believe we will continue to get a lot of younger couples and families who want to live at the beach and have enough money to, or will move here to start businesses, or who can work from anywhere (and will use the new airport).

The takeoff is going to be slow for awhile as more infrastructure is built. Once prices stabilize we will have an influx of new residents, and investors with deeper pockets than what we saw during the greed hump.

What you said applies to me, Kurt. My wife and I are 34, we have a 3 year old and will be having our second any day. We move here from St. Louis in February. I am a consultant who travels in and out mostly every week and as soon as I realized I could live almost anywhere (and saw the prices drop) we jumped at the chance to be at the beach...

So glad to be here.

Cheers, George

[Bobby J]

Welcome George!!! I am beginning to hear this allot. Buyers seem to be getting a little restless. In a buyer, seller standoff I always put my money on a buyer winning but have recently learned buyers can not sit still too long. Buyers like to buy!

[Babyblue]

I want to move there NOW!!!!!!!!! Have a lot but can't afford to build. Property taxes, insurance, homeowner's, special assessments. Grayton take me away. Away from the interstates of Atlanta, the eighteen wheelers, the soccer moms.

Going to your city this weekend for 2 days. It is hard to leave Seagrove for ATL. But ATL has a lot of cool stuff that we do not have down here.

[Franny]

I'm sure you would be warmly welcomed. As a whole, this community is very supportive of people inclined to do naked back flips.

A nekked flipper!!