destin real estate

To Be, Or Not To Be?

Nov 17th, 2011
by edsmith.
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State Senators Don Gaetz and Greg Evers, joined by Reps. Brad Drake, Matt Gaetz and Doug Broxon addressed approximately 50 constituents at NW Florida State College in Niceville on Thursday night to field comments and concerns with regard to the proposed beach re-nourishment project on Okaloosa Island.  At the end of the day, the group voted to oppose the project.

 

Opponents of course believe that the sand to be used to shore up Okaloosa Island beaches will be too dark and will diminish the quality and desirability of the beach. Proponents believe the $12 million re-nourishment project is necessary to prevent future encroachment and erosion along the 2.8 mile stretch.

 

In September, an administrative judge agreed with the opponents and  recommended that DEP reject the beach re-nourishment project on the basis that the sand would be “too dark, have too many shells and have too high a carbonate content”.  The Okaloosa County Commission has supported the project all along. In fact, they recently filed a response in opposition to the judge’s decision. That is, until this week, when Okaloosa Commissioner Bill Roberts said the issue  should be dropped “because it has become too divisive”. An answer from DEP was otherwise expected by Dec. 29th. 

 

With Roberts about-face on the issue, for better or worse, the beach restoration project on Okaloosa Island is effectively dead. A public hearing will be held on January 17th to officially pull the plug. How this may affect future re-nourishment projects in the area is anyone’s guess.

 

 

Gambling in the Sunshine State

Nov 9th, 2011
by edsmith.
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The Florida Supreme Court will be hearing an appeal on whether or not the Legislature can approve slot machine operations anywhere in the state.  An appellate court decision said that the Legislature can approve them, but the legislation is being opposed by moral grounders, competing business interests and some rather influential corporations such as Walt Disney World. Among other claims, opposition expresses the fear that casinos may tarnish Florida’s family-friendly image.

 

If the ruling survives the Florida Supreme Court challenge, lawmakers may  begin permitting casino resorts literally anywhere in the state. Some Bills have already been filed for next year’s legislative session, which will begin January 10, 2012.  The Bills could serve to license three casino resorts in South Florida.

 

There does not seem to be much of a push to establish further gambling in NW Florida. (We already have the Ebro Greyhound Park and Gambling Room near Panama City.) Although, Ft. Walton Beach was quite the gambling mecca during the 40’s. The area was gaining so much unwanted attention over the illegally operated casinos that the Florida governor actually removed the Okaloosa County Sheriff from office and appointed someone to crack down on these activities. Some of the old timers had joked that Ft. Walton Beach at the time had more neon than any other city east of the Mississippi River.

Garbage is a Dirty Word

Nov 8th, 2011
by edsmith.
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Garbage can be a dirty word around Destin. With 15% of the voting population signing a petition to suspend an ordinance passed by the City Council, Destin is back to the drawing board with regard to garbage collection. At issue was a provision that would have placed residents’ trash bills on their annual property tax bill. Opponents argued that the city did not have the authority to take such an action to begin with. Other factors were that not all residences In Destin are occupied full-time. Some owners
would have to pay for 12 months of service for properties that are occupied for perhaps a couple of months or less per year.  

 

Also at odds with city residents was the limited discount that would have resulted. Waste Management stood to receive a large increase in both revenues and profit. Revenues because the city would bill out each and every residence.  100% of all homes and condos within the city limits would be assessed. Profit because Waste Management would no longer have to bill out 5,000+ invoices and quarterly stickers for the individual cans. Additionally, Waste Management would no longer have any billing delinquency issues such as they have now.  

 

What is next for garbage collection in the World’s Luckiest Fishing Village? I would suggest that if garbage collection is our biggest challenge next year, 2012 should be a very good year!

 

 
 
 

 

A Divorce Decree Does Not Convey the House!

Oct 14th, 2011
by edsmith.
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Even though a divorce decree may state that one spouse is required to relinquish their interest in favor of the other, a former spouse may still be required to sign when the property is resold.

 

In order to convey the property to a new owner, the title insurance underwriters will require more than just a copy of a divorce decree. The underwriters will require that the relinquishing spouse sign a quit-claim deed at closing, if they had not already done so. This is often overlooked in divorce situations and has been known to cause unnecessary delays when it comes time to resell.

 

We recently experienced a closing delay of more than one month because a former spouse claimed to be in China and could not get to the Embassy to have the deed witnessed and notarized. So far as we know, this person may have actually been in Omaha. The emails could have been coming from anywhere. Excuse after excuse and the clock kept ticking. We eventually got it closed judicially, but having to deal with a bitter former spouse on the day of closing is not an enviable position.

 

 

The moral to the story? Get the quit-claim deed signed simultaneously with all other divorce related documents!

 

For information on Destin Florida area short sales, bank foreclosures and general real estate topics, please visit www.FloridaBrokers.com or email us at smith@realtor.com

October is Fire Safety Month!

Oct 4th, 2011
by edsmith.
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Yes, it’s that time of year again. October is a great time to change out all the batteries in your smoke and fire alarms! According to organizations such as the National Fire Prevention Association and FireSafety.gov, almost all home fires are both preventable and survivable. Changing your smoke and fire alarm batteries annually and replacing alarms that are more than 10 years old will greatly improve your odds!

 

For many great tips and guidelines pertaining to fire safety, please visit http://www.nfpa.org  and http://www.FireSafety.gov

 

For information on short sales, bank foreclosures and general real estate topics, please visit www.FloridaBrokers.com  or email us at smith@realtor.com

Citizens Raises Sinkhole Coverage Premiums

Sep 13th, 2011
by edsmith.
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State legislators have allowed Citizens Insurance to dramatically increase the premiums it charges for sinkhole coverage. Citizens is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt government corporation.  Citizens was established to act as a safety net, or insurer of last resort for the thousands of Florida property owners who were unable to get coverage elsewhere. Unintentionally, Citizens became the largest property insurer in Florida with more than 1.4 million policies now in place.  That equates to more than $500 billion in property coverage and nearly $3 billion in annual premiums.

 

Fortunately, sinkholes are not a major concern in NW Florida. However, counties such as Orange and Hillsborough have been plagued with them.  Citizens has proposed sinkhole premiums coverage increases of up to 2,000 percent in such sinkhole prone areas. Citizen’s board voted to limit the rate increases (for sinkhole coverage) to 50 percent next year and then phase in the remaining increases over the next several years.

Rescuing the Housing Market

Aug 31st, 2011
by edsmith.
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According to a CNNMoney article today, many experts believe that the best medicine for the housing market is to speed up the foreclosure process,  and they believe that the Obama administration should pave the way!

 

Those of us who work in the trenches fully realize the futility of the attempts thus far by the Obama administration to stem the rising tide of delinquencies and foreclosures.  Jacksonville Florida based  Lender Processing Services, Inc.  states that of the 2.2 million loans in foreclosure today, approximately 37% (more than 800,000) have not made a single payment in more than 24 months. 750,000 of them have not made a payment in more than 12 months.

 

A rapidly growing number of such properties are in a declining state of disrepair, many are abandoned. How can this be good for neighborhoods, communities, and/or the housing market in general?  That which is good for the communities is good for our economies. That which is good for our housing markets is good for our economies. Want to create jobs and put people to work?  Stimulate the housing market!  

 

Generally speaking, I believe in and fully support a more limited federal government role in our lives. However, a very wise man once said, “If you find yourself in a hole, quit digging”. That is exactly what needs to be done in this case.  Somehow, some way, the nation’s largest lenders must be encouraged to accelerate the processes of a) Modifying the rates and/or terms on delinquent loans in their portfolios; b)  Approving short sales; c) Foreclosing the rest.

 

Often, it is the most complex problem that has the most simplistic solution. But don’t try to sell that in Washington, ‘cause as we say in the south, that dog won’t hunt.

Oil Spill Dollars on the Way

Aug 26th, 2011
by edsmith.
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Our Florida legislators have seen fit to earmark $30 million dollars for economic development in NW Florida. The funds will be doled out to the tune of $10 million per year for the next three years to the eight counties most affected by the BP oil spill last year. The recipient counties include Okaloosa, Walton, Bay and Santa Rosa. NW Florida’s most prolific economist, Rick Harper will administer the funds through the University of West Florida Office of Economic Development.

 

The Oil Spill Recovery Act will place NW Florida front and center in terms of any state sponsored incentive programs. According to Harper, “This money can then work in concert with existing state incentive funding and local dollars to give more firepower to economic development opportunities. Counties outside the eight-county region will also benefit, by providing residential areas and helping meet increased regional demand for labor.”

A Normal Realtor?

Jul 15th, 2011
by edsmith.
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According to an article in this week’s Destin Log, a “normal” Realtor in Florida had 10 sales transactions in 2010. Additionally, the article states that only 60% of Florida Realtors have a website and only 10% have a blog, yet 40% use social media.

So what is normal really? Based on the extremely high percentage of Florida agents that work part-time, an average of 10 transactions per agent sounds rather optimistic.  Large companies throughout the state and even in the local markets average 5 transactions per agent or less. Agents at RE/MAX Coastal Properties have typically averaged about three times the national average. Ed and Terri personally closed 99 transactions in 2010.

However, even more curious is the stat that 60% of Florida agents have a website. That means that 40% do not? All agents associated with RE/MAX Coastal have multiple websites. It is inconceivable that any agent in today’s market could survive without good internet presence.

Social media and blogs are relative newcomers in terms of real estate marketing, but there is no doubt that they are both here to stay. But regardless, in this rollercoaster of a ride that we call a real estate market, normal may just be a moving target for a while longer!

Are Foreclosures on the Rise?

Jul 14th, 2011
by edsmith.
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According to many sources, the banks are now “gearing up to play catch up” … After nearly a year of stalled foreclosure actions resulting from the “robo-signing” debacle last year, most lenders are now ratcheting up their foreclosure efforts. This will have some impact on the market as the REO inventories increase nationwide. Some markets had actually been seeing decreases in overall inventory levels.  This may soon change.

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