Panama City Beach Real Estate Trends
Panama City, Florida, is a popular holiday destination, and its idyllic setting has many people wanting to settle there. Although the cost of the average beach front home has been rising there is plenty of affordable real estate still available. According to Trulia, “Panama City Beach market trends indicate an increase of $15,000 (7%) in median home sales over the past year.
The average price per square foot for this same period rose to $153, up from $139.” The website tells us more about PCB real estate trends. Today, a one bedroom will cost you around $85,000, a 2 bedroom $163,000 and if you want a bigger 4 bedroom home you have to mortgage it for about $350,000. This is quite affordable when compared to many other cities in the state.
Investing in Panama City Beach
If you are going to invest in Panama City Beach real estate there are important tips that you should keep in mind. The first is the state of the property. Beachfront homes are generally more vulnerable since they are more exposed to the elements. Before you buy any property, big or small it is very important to have it professionally inspected. The inspector should look for damage from sea water, wind and sun. They should be especially on the lookout for mold and mildew..
Find the Right Agent
Make sure that you are working with a real estate agent who is an expert in beach front properties. Just because a realtor is good at finding great regular homes doesn’t mean that they will be any good at finding a beach front home. These homes need a special eye. You don’t want to buy a home only to find that you don’t have much access to the beach, or that the shore is too rocky for you to take your boat out to the water. Take into account your lifestyle. Think about not just the things that you love to do, but also the ones that you have to do. How long, for example, does it take you to get to work, or the kids to school? Are there amenities close by?
Condos vs Single Family
As far as homes in Panama City Beach go – the vast majority of those are condominiums. Condos are a slightly different type of home ownership than a standard single family home. For many people, a condo is perfect – since you wont have much maintenance to be done on the property. Many of the most popular vacation properties in PCB are beachfront condos. You will want to make sure you have a Realtor who is used to working on condos — as they have some different documentation than a standard home purchase.
Financing
Make sure that you have enough saved in the bank before you start looking for Panama City beach real estate. Lenders are typically more reluctant to lend for these kinds of homes because they are more expensive. You will however have a better chance of securing a mortgage if you have a good chunk of money for a down payment. Make sure that you talk to local authorities to find out what you can and cannot do with the property.
You may want, for example, to add a dock to it only to find out that it is not zoned for this. You should also look into what kinds of activities are allowed so that you can avoid doing anything that will draw fines. Once you identify a community that you want to live in talk to a few residents to find out how they like living there and whether there are any drawbacks to living in the area.