Hey guys, back from my extended vacation on the gulf coast. It was great except for being chased away for three days by a guy named Dennis.
What I noted during my time in on 30-A is a continued softening of the market. While a several high dollar homes have sold over the last couple of months in Rosemary, Seaside, Seacrest, Watercolor, Grayton, etc, the number of new listings hitting the market far exceeds the number being sold. The inventory is building rapidly and those that need to get out of the market are lowering asking prices dramatically. I saw some homeowners drop prices twice just over the past four weeks. Some price decreases over the last few months are in excess of 20%. In Watercolor, there were approximately 125 properties on the market in mid-May. Today the number approaches 180 (that's between 20 and 25% of the total units!!!!). I think Rosemary has close to 100 properties on the market, Seaside 40ish, etc, etc. I believe the inventory growth situation is similar up and down 30-A. That's a bit scary to me. Are all of these folks selling because they need to (are they flippers that never intended to own long term or multiple property owners that now need to dump some investments), are they simply trying to cash out, or are they just testing the market?
I also tried counting the number of properties on the MLS from Sandestin to the east end of 30-A. There are over 700 properties for sale in excess of $1.5 million and another 1000 plus in the $750k to $1.5 million range. At recent rates of sale (based on Walton County tax appraiser site), that makes for about 4, 5 or more years of inventory (as opposed to less than a years inventory last year) of these high value properties and the number is growing weekly. My figures might be off because I am not privy to all the facts that a real estate agent is so someone should check my numbers.
I do believe the market is very desirable and sales will pick up once the prices fall enough and the market stabilizes. I heard a few potential buyers say that they were waiting on the sidelines until things "bottom out" in terms of prices.
Don't want to start another war, just looking to see how others see the current market.
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Meow
If you and Kurt don't stop telling people these lies about October being a good month to visit the beach, I may have to break out a jar of whoop-a_s. October is the worst month ever and everyone should plan around the month of October for beach travels. The yellow flies are the worst from Oct 1 - Halloween. Sharks eat a lot in October. Rip Currents are definitely worst in October. All the restaurants close for a vacation in October. Peak of Hurricane season is October. Should I continue?Yes, if you want to have the worst beach vacation, come in October.
Oh SJ, you are so spot on about October. Unfortunately, it is the only month I can get away. In the past, I have just stayed indoors to avoid the beach and flies. Cable TV is not so bad...especially Channel 12...Beach TV. I watch that while eating onion dip from Grayton Market and think how lucky all those people are romping on the beach and eating at fine dining establishments!
SoWal Expert
Some info on International Home Buyers in Florida from the National Association of Realtors. Click here to open link.
Beach Fanatic
The scale of foreign buyers in the peninsula is just so much bigger than it is here. You may think we're getting a lot, but the raw numbers there are staggering. I mean I've seen quarterly magazines whose sole purpose was to cinvince Brits to buy vacation villas in the state, and it was almost all Orlando and South Florida, with Tampa/St. Pete's treated as something of a new and exotic area to buy a villa or condo.
Beach Comber
The article on foreign buyers is interesting. The last home we rented in Carillon Beach had pictures of the family in Paris - I just thought they were very well traveled. The house actually looked like the owners never visited because it was in need of lots of basic maintenance. Now that I read that article, it would make sense that they might be Europeans and that they actually DON'T get here very often. I had no idea the foreign investment in FL was that large scale.
Beach Lover
The article on foreign buyers is interesting. The last home we rented in Carillon Beach had pictures of the family in Paris - I just thought they were very well traveled. The house actually looked like the owners never visited because it was in need of lots of basic maintenance. Now that I read that article, it would make sense that they might be Europeans and that they actually DON'T get here very often. I had no idea the foreign investment in FL was that large scale.
I was in London a few months ago visiting someone, and nearly every paper's real estate section had a piece about buying a "villa" somewhere, be in Spain or wherever. Orlando was really, really big. Some FL sellers are "guaranteeing" rent for the first few years (essentially a discount). The hurricane issue is a big problem for foreign ownership, though. Many articles about that.
Now, if you want to talk about pricey real estate, go to London. I would look at listings for rentals and nearly would drop dead at the cost of a modest flat when converting it to our ailing dollar. Then, I looked closely and that turned out to be the weekly price, not the monthly rate.
Walton property is dirt cheap by London standards.
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