New Real Estate Report May 2010

May 2010
It was a jammin’ spring break here. We locals get a little break in May to prepare before our summer season officially starts on Memorial Day. The community is gearing up for our visitors, hiring summer help, loading up on inventory we know will be needed. Each Saturday the grocery stores will bulge with families getting their supplies so they can spend every moment on the shore. Armed with shovels and nets and buckets and umbrellas, they will don their creams and lotions and take their place on the sand as they have been doing as soon as there were roads to get here. Cottages and condos are filled with games and books and puzzles to keep multi-generations of visitors amused and content on the rare days the weather doesn’t cooperate. No matter what the weather is like, wonderful memories are made here traditions begun or continued. Every village town has amusements from movies to concerts to shopping to crafts. There is always something to do.

Traditionally, more listings come on the market in summer to take advantage of the swell in population so if looking for a home is part of your plan for summer vacation at the beach give me a call so we can be ready for you.

We look forward to seeing you,
Bruce

Bruce N. Johnson Blue Wave Living Certified EcoBroker

Looking Forward and Back - January 2010

January 2010
Just as my parents told me they would, the years fly by the older I get. I’m very grateful to live and work in a place I love and I’ve been fortunate to work with people who share my love for the area and enthusiastic to own property along the 30A corridor. The second decade of the 2000’s should follow the trend that ended the first: South Walton property being sold at the best prices seen in years. I’ve sold all types of property during 2009, everything from a nice starter home on the North side of hwy 98 to stunning gulf front property. The inventory is still high so the deals will continue however 2009 closes with people buying at a rate double what they did in 2008 (check out my blog for more sales statistics), and the best of the inventory goes fast.

Get in touch with me soon and take advantage of looking at property when there is a smaller winter population. It’s easier to see the homes now with fewer vacationers in town and believe me the summer season will be here before you know it. Let’s find you something so you can enjoy it right away.

Wishing you a wonderful 2010,
Bruce

What's Happening Now along 30-A? - July 2009

The scuttlebutt around our office has been very upbeat lately, talking about how much activity there has been. We have all been busy showing homes and writing offers on a regular basis to serious buyers. There is feeling that we have reached a market plateau.and in some cases we are even seeing a "bounce". Checking the local stats in Santa Rosa Beach from east of Sandestin to Camp Creek from second quarter of 2005 (the quarter most agree was the last quarter of the local boom) through second quarter 2009 seems to prove our optimistic outlook to be valid.

Here are a few reasons we believe this area may be the leading edge of a real estate recovery.

· Great deals are available: Selling prices are off their peak in late '04 and early '05 by, on average, 35%. So a property that sold for $1.0 mil then would be closer to $650,000 today.

· There might be even greater discounts available for short sales or foreclosures: They are for the patient buyer as they can take more time but I am experienced at those types of transactions and they often offer a great value.

· The Warren Buffett's investment philosophy of: "to buy when others are fearful and sell when others are greedy." Some folks are standing on the sideline thinking prices will still go lower and they might. But others, as the statistics illustrate, are taking advantage of this unusual opportunity.

· The strengths of our market: As we like to say "its the BEACHES stupid". People are here because they want to be! And that is not going to change If you are here on holidays, during the summer months you do not readily see any signs of "recession". People are still enjoying our Blue Wave beaches, high quality homes and resorts, family orientated communities, green space, a 50' construction height limitation, safety, shopping, restaurants, and all kinds of outdoor activities.

· Interest rates: Available at all time lows for 30 year fixed rate mortgages.

· It's going to become easier to get to us: In less than 10 months planes will be landing at our new international airport.

Please call or e-mail me when you want to know more about the best values and how you can get your slice of 30-A. Real estate like many other aspects of the economy are local in nature and as a result it is possible that we can misread what is really happening. Don't sit on the sidelines and watch this go by.
Call me today. 850-368-8368 or email me at bruce@BlueWaveRealty.net. We'll get busy for you.

The Blue Wave Real Estate letter - January 2009

Goodbye 2008. Good buy 2009. Last year wasn’t one of our best but I’m not going to dwell on all the gory details. We all know the economic world went sideways last year and it’s going to take some time to recover. Okay. That’s fine. Let’s take a look at where we ended up and think optimistically about moving forward.

Here’s some good news: The area we specialize in, the 30A corridor, enjoyed a 5% increase in home and condo sales over 2007, and 27% increase over 2006. The key word: Increase. We can sure live with that. Our goal, of course is to getting back to the old days in terms of appreciation. In the old days, the days prior to 2003, most real estate experts would counsel you to expect a 3-5% increase in your home values per year. We were happy and satisfied; a normal steady real estate appreciation average. We aren’t back to that yet but flattening prices PLUS an increase in sales seems to reflect a leveling so I feel like some people should buy right now. Another huge consideration that indicates a leveling point is cost-to-build. This week, I was showing homes in the $700,000 to $900,000 range south of 30A. I came face-to-face with what I consider a very important milestone. The square foot cost-to-build compared to the square foot cost-to- buy has become competitive. That means if you buy at these prices, in many cases, you get the land free. How much lower can you go than that?

Here’s a description of who is buying and who really should be:

The patient investor: You don’t need to flip your property for a quick profit, you have cash to purchase and you view a real estate purchase as part of your portfolio of investments. You have the wherewithal to hold onto the property for 5+ years.

You like it here and want to enjoy it now: You come here regularly for vacation yourself and you’ve been thinking about a purchase here for years. You are the patient investor above but you have an added incentive to actually use the home for vacations right now. You may also like the idea of enjoying the rental income benefit when you aren’t using it for family fun.

This is it! You’re moving to the Emerald Coast. If you have good credit, the door is always open for primary use loans. First time home buyers can enjoy great mortgage rates and the deals are really steals right now.

The Special Needs Buyer: There is a good selection of amazing homes with features most people only dream of. But you want your home built for very specific needs. Perhaps pure Green is the color of your lifestyle or you need special access for your indoor ATV, or perhaps you just have to have a split level, indoor/outdoor pool. Right now there are land choices and builders ready to work to suit the most particular of tastes.

It’s 2009 and all the cliché’s apply: It’s a buyer’s market; the shelf is full; if you want it here it is come and get it; and the truest of them all: Life is short. Quit waiting for the right time. Resort properties usually lead the decline in a real estate cycle and so I expect we will lead the way out of this one.

Contact me for more info: 850-368-8368 or email me atbruce@BlueWaveRealty.net. We’ll get busy for you.

The Blue Wave Real Estate letter - June 2008

Owning real estate in Walton County is an absolute privilege. It is a beautiful area, rich in natural resources, award-winning architecture and it provides a lifestyle second to none whether you live here full time or own a vacation home. On the real estate side of things the good news is there has been a spike of sales activity lately, price being the sales key. And I am happy to report that next to St Joe, the largest land owner in the area, H2O has been responsible for the highest sales volume along the 30A corridor.

But the market on a whole is still in recovery and some of the folks who purchased between 2004 and 2005 have gotten caught short on the upside of the cycle, finding themselves in the position of owing more on their property than it will currently sell for. Of course in a market like this it's always best to hang on to your property because in the long-term real estate has a history of solid appreciation. However, if you simply can't wait for the recovery, you need to know your options. That's why I added a section on the website that explains a little bit about the short sale process.

What do short sales have to do with the green side of real estate? Reducing our existing inventory will help our economy and I gotta believe a strong economy is good for the environment as long as we make a real effort to be careful and aware of what we are doing to keep it strong. It's fascinating to watch the Presidential election this year. The good news is that no matter who wins the Presidential election in November, it is a pretty sure bet environmental policies will be changing too because no matter who or what is affecting climate change, changing it is and the free market has finally begun a strong turn toward finding ways to make a profit on fixing what's broke.

It's fun to watch the brightest minds rising to the challenge of finding alternative energy sources. It will be even better when our government extends more tax incentives to reward green lifestyle choices and even more mortgage companies give better rates for green sensitive homes or for retrofitting existing homes with energy efficient additions. Rather than looking at the tragic side of waiting so long to acknowledge these issues, we need to look forward and embrace the wonderful discoveries that will come out of addressing them. Speaking as a realtor, what I can do for to help in that cause is to encourage builders to see the marketing advantages of incorporating energy efficiencies in their new construction. I also try to encourage all of us with homes we are going to live in for awhile to consider adding things like insulation, switching to energy efficient appliances and sealing our homes to be energy smart now. The sales benefit to that is that when we do sell our homes, those are the elements that will be the most valuable in differentiating our product from others for sale. If you have any questions on Green Real Estate e-mail me at bruce@BlueWaveRealty.net

The Green Building Report - March 9, 2008

South Walton really does have it all. Not only the beautiful beaches and amazing places to live, and play but the Florida Panhandle is one of the nation’s six “biological hot spots”. That means it has many rare species, and many of these rare species are found only in small areas. The area is in beautiful company with the other five others on that list are:
Hawaii,
the Southern Appalachians,
the San Francisco Bay area,
the Death Valley region, and
Southern California.
My partner Laurel and I walk our cocker spaniel through the State Forest between 30A and Hwy 98 almost every day and enjoy watching the subtle and not so subtle changes of the seasons here. We have had a kind of up and down winter this year with some bikini weather days, (well I don’t wear them but I can’t help to notice when others do), and we’ve had some cold nights that left us with frost on the windshields.

Now the spring flowers are starting to come up and we enjoy the discovering them on our morning walks. On the weekends we ride our bike one mile to the beach access and mostly just spend time watching the sparkling waters and clear blue sky that you get on a regular basis here. We think the shore birds are more showy and active in the late winter/early spring time than during the summer. Or maybe we just see them better when there are less people.

Being a Realtor with the housing market as off as it has been, we find ourselves working on short-sales which while a boon for buyers they are difficult for the sellers. But it is part of our job to do the difficult with as much professionalism as we do the fun part of our job.

To balance it all with a dose of what’s really important we will continue to keep you informed of some more “green” news in the area as well. To that end, read on about a special forum being held at the South Walton County Courthouse. SWCC Special Public Forum: Saving dollars with natural systems; the economic value of conserving native plants and wetlands. South Walton Community Council in partnership with Nokuse Plantation will hold a special forum at the South Walton County Courthouse Annex in Santa Rosa Beach on April 5 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The forum will be held in the BCC chambers. Dr. Bruce Means will present his research on the economic value of preserving native vegetation and wetlands throughout the Walton County ecosystems. Dr. Means is President and Executive Director of the Coastal Plains Institute and Land Conservancy , a nonprofitorganization founded in 1984 that is dedicated to conserving the rich biodiversity–and elevating public awareness and appreciation–of the vast Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States. Means and his research have been featured in important national publications as well as documentary films for National Geographic Television, BBC Television and PBS. Might be fun to check it out the forum if you can.

If you have any questions on Green Real Estate e-mail me at bruce@BlueWaveRealty.net

The Green Building Report - 2007

Recently articles that might have left a few readers a little bit more than nervous about their coastal future. However, we have to remember, just as we as a people, worked together to reduce the negative effects on the ozone layer, most experts tell us that if we act quickly, we can also reduce the negative effects of global warming. So let’s act. Green building is a lot easier than people think, and it can be economical. You can build green for as little as 2% more than traditional building.

Buildings use more energy than transportation. And as we have all seen, as products become more widely used and competitive, costs drop. There are even special green mortgages that will help you finance a home or renovation.

If you spend an extra $10,000 for an energy efficient home and you mortgage payment at 6.5% on a 30 year fixed goes up $800 in a year but you energy bill drops $1200.00 you're up $400.00. That’s the way many mortgage companies look at it.

Plus most of the mortgage payment is tax deductible and the gain is tax free. You can also get green mortgage for renovating an existing house. Energy efficient homes are in most cases stronger, safer, and more resistant to mold and termites. What’s not to like! We are not talking space-ship houses or houses made from straw, (though they do make very good energy efficient straw houses, I think they would be a hard sell here. Can’t help but think of the big bad wolf blowing down the straw house.) You can take virtually any house design and make it green. Being a Realtor I always think of a homes value. In the future all new homes will be green and homes that are not will not be as valuable. What we need are more builders and developers and homebuyers in Northwest Florida who realize this is not the future, but the present.

A few years ago when you heard anything that had Green in front of it most people had an image of left wing radicals in inflatable boats and the peace sign trying to block an oil tanker or whaling ship. Now green is coming into the mainstream, being adopted by left right and center. This is happening as we Americans realize two of our most pressing problems nationally, and worldwide are related to green issues. The first is our national interests, which include keeping our economy strong, insuring our freedom and strengthening our values. Our dependency on fossil fuels has kept us involved in regions were some people don’t like our involvement and wish to do us harm both physically and economically. The other is the widely concurring opinion that global climate change is happening right now, and burning fossil fuels is the major contributor. How do we turn this boat around? We all know the answer, become less dependent on fossil fuels and develop alternatives. America is the worlds leading economy with some the best minds in the world. We are the Can-Do society of the world. We have the ability to develop the technology, all we need is the will. But won’t that hurt the economy? From what I see, many new businesses and jobs will be developed as new technologies are brought on stream. Mankind has being around for a long time, but we have only being burning fossil fuels for a short time. And as of now we can’t manufacture it. We can all do something to make a difference. Even with Real Estate choices!

If you have any questions on Green Real Estate e-mail me at bruce@BlueWaveRealty.net