Latest / Short Term Shopping / $900K Gulf Shores Beach House Breakdown: STR Numbers and Revenue Potential

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$900K Gulf Shores Beach House Breakdown: STR Numbers and Revenue Potential · Short Term Shopping

• 0:02
  Speaker A: Welcome to Short Term Shopping, where we explore homes for sale in the best vacation markets in America. Some homes we do like, some homes we don't like. Brought to you by the Short Term Shop. It's Short Term Shopping. All right, Short Term Shop. Bringing you the Emerald coast podcast market target for Short Term Shop Plus, I'm Luke Karl and I'm here joined by one of my favorite real estate agents of all time, Ms. January Johnson. You're just absolutely wonderful. And you, I just, I just love having you around. A lot of experience as well. I'm going to talk you up here before I get, give you a chance to introduce yourself once again. But a lot of experience in real estate in general and just being hospitable to guests and been in Panama City Beach a very, very long time. Not your whole life, is that right?
• 1:03
  Speaker B: I was born here. I was born in Panama City, yes. And I lived here TILL I was 15, but my family still lives. I mean, I live five houses down from my mother, so I've been back here as a full time resident since 2016, but I've been coming back and forth for ages. So you get sand in your shoes, you can't leave.
• 1:20
  Speaker A: Yeah. So born and raised here on the Emerald coast and it doesn't get any more real than that. So, January, how are you?
• 1:30
  Speaker B: I'm great, thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk to people about updates and what's going on here because I, I, I'm a big believer in the pcb, well, the whole Emerald coast. But PCB is just, you know, it's really great prices and good income and great beach access, which you can't say for everywhere on the Emerald Coast. So I like that.
• 1:48
  Speaker A: Yes, I live here as well. I live a little further west of you, but same area and the beaches, I do want to hit that. Even if you've already listened to the first several podcasts, the beaches here, they're insane. They are, they're truly nuts. I was talking with a beach friend of mine, a client actually. She's wonderful. She bought a place, Seagrove, and she just got back from St. Thomas and we got to talking about she's a beach hopper. And, and I said, well, how was the beach down there? And she said, none of these beaches that I go to, I go to a lot of beaches. None of them are as good as they are down there, right where you are in Florida. And I was like, man, you're going all the way to other countries to go to the beach and they're still not as good as where you own your property.
• 2:35
  Speaker B: I think it's funny when my friends go on a beach vacation to someplace else, I'm like, hello. Why like you could drive right down the street. I'm actually skis in April and I felt like I was in another country, but that's still Florida. So it's amazing here.
• 2:49
  Speaker A: We're dabbling in it actually every occasionally. My wife of course brings up a ski trip in February. And I don't like flying and I don't like I can't ski. I mean I would enjoy skiing, but I'm not worth willing to risk it. I don't want to risk it. I'm a big runner and I'm like, I am going to break my leg so I'm not going to do that. So this year I kind of threw her a curveball and I was like, February, January, maybe we could go hit Aruba or something, you know, and go to the beach. So we're actually kind of throwing it around. It'll be cold here.
• 3:23
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 3:24
  Speaker A: But anyway, let's talk about the market. Where are we right now? In. We're in the fall of 2025. Q4 we're here like today. Today, today, the day we're recording this podcast. Q4:25.
• 3:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, buyer's market. Totally, totally buyer's market. As a matter of fact, I was running comps for a seller. Yeah, the. I was looking at active comps and sold comps and there's a lot of stuff on the market. I feel like, I feel like things are coming onto the market at the same rate they always have been, but they're not leaving the market at the same rate. And that has been primarily, I think because of interest rates. But now we're getting some relief there. I am definitely swamped with buyers right now and I think buyers are in an awesome position because there's so much inventory and because things have been on the market so long. I mean six months is not uncommon for days on market. And I mean I've seen lots of things even up to a year on the market with, with and without price cuts. And I'll tell you I'm surprised on both ends. I'm surprised when we make a low offer and it's accepted because I'm like, oh, that's kind of low, but let's try. And I'm also surprised when we make an offer and people aren't willing to budget all off of their price. But you do have to remember that these are income producing properties and you know, people don't quote unquote, have to sell, but, but I assume that they're motivated if it's on the mls. If it's on the mls, they want to sell it. They raised their hand and they said they want to sell. So let's see what they really want to sell it for. But buyer's market, lots of opportunities, lots of choices. And I've got lots to say about what kind of property you should buy.
• 5:03
  Speaker A: Well, let's talk about it. Let's just go right ahead. What kind of property should we buy?
• 5:07
  Speaker B: Okay, so let's talk about single families. I would definitely lean toward single family with a private pool as my first option, a fabulous resort style community pool as a second option and then room to put a pool as a third option. I would not be buying a property right now that's a single family that doesn't have those options because when you are ready to sell or 1031 into something else that it's, it's harder to sell that. And you know, we have double red flag days when you can't go in the water. And so people want a place to beach it up even if they can't be in the water at the beach. And so a pool at home, in the backyard or in the community is definitely a great option. So you know, for example, Villages of Crystal beach, single family homes, fabulous resort style pool. You don't have to maintain it, your HOA pays for it. But that's a great neighborhood in Destin that I would be looking in for single families. Panama City beach has lots of good options as well. There are places in PCB that have septic in the backyard, which septic is not a problem. It's just if it's a small backyard and they're septic, then there's no room for a pool. So you know, I have a great listing right now. I'll plug it 5817 pine tree. And they, they're on septic, but they've got a nice sized backyard and there's definitely room for a pool there and lower grand lagoon and you can walk to the beach. So I'm not going to show any property that's not close ish to the beach, walkable to the beach, maybe a short golf cart ride. So, you know, other than that, that's what I would buy if I were buying single family is I would prioritize a private or fabulous community. And then condos. We have a lot of good condos all up and down the Emerald Coast. I really love resort style condos that have a lot of amenities because there's a lot of condos that are great, they have great pools. They might have a little, you know, convenience store or ice cream shop or something. But you just can't beat properties like say for example Edgewater. Edgewater has a 36 hole executive golf course, pickleball, tennis, a great pool, resort style pool, multiple pools, two restaurants on site, a pro shop, a conference center. But HOA is a little higher because they've got a lot of amenities to keep up. But it's great in the wintertime. Snowbirds love it. It's been here since the 80s. It's got a great following. So that is a really great option for condos. And then my other favorite, two other favorites right now in PCB are Splash Condos because their HOA is 760 bucks a month no matter what size unit you get. And there's multiple pools, a small lazy river, a big splash pad for kids, little restaurant on site across the street from a beach gear shop. And it is on the sand and it's very well managed, very well run. Their HOA is very healthy and the income is very good. I've looked at air DNA examples of high performers in all these places and I definitely think that that is a great, it's very like you've got small kids, your kids would love the splash pads and, and all of that. I mean it's, it's not a place where, you know, college kids are going to fall off balconies and get drunk and all that kind of stuff. It's definitely very family friendly. And so I really like that there's Only right now 9 or 10 units for sale there because they keep their value so well. So those are two places that I really like. I like Shores of Panama too. But we could talk about that if you want. But those are some of my top picks.
• 8:36
  Speaker A: We need a pool, we need a place to put one or a community pool. What was it? What were those?
• 8:40
  Speaker B: Yes, Private pool, first choice. Private community pool, second choice. And room to put a pool, third choice.
• 8:47
  Speaker A: Room to put.
• 8:49
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 8:49
  Speaker A: And I'm finding right now I'm actually putting in three swimming pools. It's a long story. Only two of them, they're mine. Right now I have a new build that is not rental so that one doesn't really count. And then I have a new, I have a ripping out my pool and putting in a new pool at my world famous destin rental which is, I think it's got to Be one Of the top 10 longest running Airbnbs in Destin at this point. Putting a new pool in there starting. Oh man, it's creeping up month and a half, so I'll throw you a price on that. It's costing me 84,000, 86,000 somewhere in that neighborhood, mid-80s to put this pool in. However it is because there's already a pool there. We are ripping out the original pool, which is a liner pool, but it does have a. It's a long story. It has a new beautiful deck that anyway, it didn't work out. We're ripping it out. So the deck is, is a pain in the ass to rip out is what I'm getting at. And it actually cost more money to rip out an old pool and put a new pool than it does to put a new pool. I've learned that the hard way.
• 9:59
  Speaker B: Now I have a client who put in a really great pool and all the decking and stuff, and he paid about 57 for it. So I would say 55 to 65 is a really good range for this area for a new pool.
• 10:10
  Speaker A: I agree. I think that this pool would be 20,000 less if I didn't. I already have a pool there. Also, on the rental, I don't think you need the $80,000. Let's. Let's forget about my 80,000. This mine's more of a remodel, a rehab than it is putting a pool in. It's, it's not a new build on the pool. You don't need the built in sauna. They call it like the hot tub built in. That's my opinion. To me, that's just more stuff to break. And also, you know, there's not a lot of rentals here in the winter time. You can heat the pool if you need to. So maybe a sun deck, maybe, but just a regular old rectangle pool. What do you think? You agree with that?
• 10:49
  Speaker B: I do. I mean, I've seen everything. The little ones I call a sip and dip. So I would get something bigger than a sip and dip if you have space. But it does not have to be enormous. It doesn't have. Have to have a volleyball net and all that kind of crazy stuff. I mean, people just want a place to get in and cool off and have a drink and enjoy. So yeah, great.
• 11:07
  Speaker A: Also, I want to say I've been into the community pool lately because it's nice to not have to deal with it. I bought one in, I believe, March of this year in a community down the street from Where I live here on 30A Santa Rosa beach area. If you're not familiar with this area and the community pools right in the middle of the community. It's basically halfway between. My house is in the far back between my house and the beach. I've had no complaints. I've had. I haven't heard a peep about it, to be honest with you. And the property is full. It's actually still even full right now. And we are definitely in the slowing down season, so I'm loving that. And to throw one more thing at you, which I don't recommend and I agree with you because of this, I did buy a house recently that doesn't have a pool at all. This one is a weird one where it's near my home and I'm calling it our guest house where grandma can come if she needs to and stay there. Although it does have a massive lot. I can put a pool in later if I want to. So I like the community pool. I think the community pool is a little bit less of a pain in my rear end. If something breaks, I don't have to really deal with it.
• 12:18
  Speaker B: Yep. And you can still advertise it as a pool and put your pictures up there and show the, you know, drone shot of the proximity of the pool to the house and. Yeah, why not?
• 12:26
  Speaker A: I think it's great. And then the kids, you know, if the kid. Sometimes it's cool because there's other kids. There might be other kids there, you know, now you don't know these kids. And it's not like a country club, you know, so there's that. But I like the community pool. Don't. Don't. If you're looking for a deal and you can get a community pool and you're worried that it's not a private pool, I don't think that that's something. Obviously it's not worth as much as a private pool. Got to keep that in mind. Any idea. Can you give me any insight there? Throw a number or two. How much is a private pool worth to you compared to a community pool?
• 13:04
  Speaker B: You know, as a buyer, that's a good question.
• 13:08
  Speaker A: Tough question. It's hard. I. I hate to even.
• 13:10
  Speaker B: I would say easily the price of a pool. I mean, 50 grand or more on the. On the purchase price, I would say.
• 13:18
  Speaker A: I think that's right. I actually heard this morning on Avery's podcast this morning, I heard her. This was in the Smokies. She said that an indoor pool in the Smokies, obviously nothing to do with what we're talking about today is only going to add about 40 grand to the equity, to the property's value. And so I think I like your 50,000 number. I'd say probably about the value of the pool is what you're adding to the price of the house.
• 13:43
  Speaker B: Yeah, I think so. Because right now I can think of a listing that's a 4 4, really close to the beach with a community pool for 600. But properties with private pools are going to start closer to 700. So 650 ish and up. I think that's about right.
• 13:59
  Speaker A: Okay, let's dive a little deeper into that. If I want a private pool, and I am between, as you say, I've stole this, stealing this directly from you,
• 14:06
  Speaker B: between the Colas, Pensacola and Appalachicola.
• 14:10
  Speaker A: I'm between the Colas and I'm on the Emerald Coast. How much am I looking at? Obviously this is way difficult to come up with, but right now, early Thanksgiving, 2025, how much money am I looking at to get into something with a
• 14:28
  Speaker B: private pool in PCB? 650, 675 minimum. I would really recommend falling in love with a house built in the 2000s, because houses in the 80s and 90s are going to be higher for insurance. So I would say a safe bet is probably 700. But you can do that for 10% down with the second home loan. Whereas condos are going to require 20% down here. So think about that too. That that has a big difference for people buying is how much do they have to put down.
• 14:58
  Speaker A: Something interesting I just heard there. Are you saying that a home that is more than 20 to 25 years old is worth $50,000 less than the exact same home that is 20, 15 years old? Maybe.
• 15:16
  Speaker B: Maybe I just am saying that it's worth more to you to get a house built in the 2000s because insurance is not going to be as much.
• 15:25
  Speaker A: So in other words, if I'm buying something that is less than 20 years old, I could maybe have a little higher budget on the purchase price.
• 15:33
  Speaker B: Yes, yes, you could.
• 15:34
  Speaker A: Because I'm paying less money in insurance. Correct. So fascinating.
• 15:38
  Speaker B: And let me say, just as a disclaimer here, it is impossible to estimate. Insurance people call me and they're like, I just need to know how much insurance is going to be. And I'm like, I can't tell you because insurance is. I know this is kind of a tangent, but insurance is predicated on so many factors other than just the house itself. I mean, it even takes into account what Claims have you had on your personal property in other areas. I mean, there's a whole lot of factors that go in. How old is the house? How far is it or close is it to water? What year was it built? What is the age and condition of the roof and the systems. There's so many things that go in. You can't just call an agent and say, hey, I need a quote on this insurance. They can't do it. Unless it's a brand new bill, they can't do it. So we can, we can ask what the current owner is paying in insurance, but that's not going to be your rate. So it's just, it's a futile attempt to. To figure that out. So fall in love with something built in the 2000s. The newer the better if you can. And then you'll be in good shape even if it's in a flood zone and you need flood insurance. Flood insurance is not that expensive and it's not that scary. So I don't want people to worry about that.
• 16:44
  Speaker A: Okay. I have a couple things that come to mind there. Number one, I value a fantastic real estate agent more than just about anything. I'm a guy that buys a lot of real estate. I do not maybe as much as I did, you know, as I used to, but I still do. And there's nothing better than a good real estate agent. And I think what you're saying here is that if your real estate agent says, I can't give you the amount, amount of money that your insurance is going to be on this purchase, that doesn't mean they're a bad real estate agent. Right.
• 17:13
  Speaker B: These are a good real estate agent because they're not spouting off numbers and making things up.
• 17:17
  Speaker A: I agree. I agree you want that. But I can, I can already picture some, you know, Joe Schmo, I hate to throw mud at people from, you know, Arizona calling up and being like this real estate agent couldn't even tell me what the insurance was going to be. I'm not going to call her back, you know.
• 17:33
  Speaker B: Well, some people will look for any excuse not to buy property, so that's true. Excuse. Then maybe this game's not.
• 17:39
  Speaker A: Yeah, maybe. Maybe you're not going to buy anything anyway. I agree. And I'm sure you have plenty of real estate broke. I'm sorry, Insurance agents and brokers to send folks to.
• 17:48
  Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 17:50
  Speaker A: Yeah. Rock stars. No rock stars.
• 17:52
  Speaker B: Correct.
• 17:53
  Speaker A: Absolutely. Wonderful. Okay, so what else do you want to talk about? Locations a little bit more? Show maps maybe? Or do you Have a map app that you. Yeah.
• 18:04
  Speaker B: I want to say one thing that I tell a lot of clients. I, I say this to people who can take my humor, but I say, don't try to out Zillow me. Like if I'm sending you listings, then I'm telling you that 99.9% of the time it's short term rentable. People will call, come up at me with this Zillow link and be like, why didn't you show me this four bedroom, two bath house with a private pool for $350,000, like they found something amazing. And I'm like, well, I didn't show it to you because it's not short term rental. If it looks too good to be true or if it doesn't look like a beach house, it's probably not short term rentable. So stick with the agent who knows the maps. So first of all, along the coast, I would stay below Highway 98, all along the whole Emerald coast, for sure. Now when you get into Mexico beach and Port St. Joe, 98 is almost on the sand. So, you know, definitely there's a few areas north of that that are great. But don't look north of Highway 98, especially like in Destin. If you're looking at the map of Destin, a lot of Destin is north of Highway 98, but the short term renable part at the Gulf is south and it's not that big relative to the whole city of Destin. So it looks like it's on the water. You're like, oh, look, this is a great house on the water. But it's the bay. It's, it's nice water, but it's not where people come to, you know, vacation on the bay. They want to be mostly on the Gulf. So I definitely look there. So when you're looking at the map. Yes, yes, definitely south of Highway 98. Yeah, that's a good one right there. Yeah. So see all that water north of 98, people are like, well, what's wrong with this? Well, it's the bay. It's great for boating and fishing and things like that, but it's not the white sandy beaches. So you want to be south and then go scoot over to like Mexico beach and the Cape because see how that little arm comes out? That is the cape. So Inside there is St. Joe Bay, and that is a different quality of water than the Gulf, which is on the outside. So Port St. Joe is still great for fishing and, and it's nice and quiet. It's I call it summer camp at the beach. But inside this area is just a different. The water looks different. It's better for fishing. But if you're on the Gulf side now, you've got the white sandy beaches. So if you're on the Cape, you really have the. The capability of both waters. You've got the Gulf on one side and the bay on the other. And in most cases, you can just walk right across the street and over to that other body of water. So. And then just north of there on Mexico beach is on the Gulf right there, and that's also St. Joe beach right next to there, too. So those are also good places. But you see how close 98 is to the water over there. So it's hard to get out of 98 in Mexico beach because you're practically on the sand.
• 20:45
  Speaker A: Or I used to. I owned on the Cape for a number of years. We sold recently out there actually, and basically traded it for two a little closer to home, but again, not. Not because they're. They're closer to my home, but I just happen to live in one of these towns, so it just kind of made sense. And we were looking to get something for family to stay in. Anyway, I want to tell you.
• 21:05
  Speaker B: I want to tell you a fun fact about the Capes. Go back over and zoom in on it. See Saint TH Stone. That's actually my stepdad's great grandfather, TH Stone.
• 21:16
  Speaker A: Oh, really?
• 21:17
  Speaker B: Yeah. And Stone is a family name, and my stepbrother's name is Stone. So there you go. My. My. My grand. My stepdad's great grandfather helped found Port St. Joe.
• 21:26
  Speaker A: Well, look at that. Look at some history there for you. All right, in general, what we're talking about on today's show here is from basically from that little peninsula down here all the way up to possibly somewhere in this neighborhood is what we're covering today. I want to go through. We'll start at the top here, Pensacola Beach. And I want to give you. I want to. I want to like, a scale of 1, name some areas on a scale of 1 to 10 on where I can find a deal and what by a deal is not necessarily, like the cheapest purchase price, but, like, where are we having some success lately with finding a seller that we can, you know, budge, get to budge and maybe find, you know, a deal. So what's our. What's our deal? Our deal meter looking, like right now for. For this area far. On the far west end over here on the past.
• 22:15
  Speaker B: Let's talk about Navarre, because I have A property closing in Navarre tomorrow, as a matter of fact.
• 22:20
  Speaker A: And when you say Navarre where?
• 22:21
  Speaker B: Navarb.
• 22:22
  Speaker A: Here? Yeah.
• 22:24
  Speaker B: Not the city of Navarre.
• 22:25
  Speaker A: This is not regular old city. Can you rent there? Sure. Are people going to want to rent it? No, no, you got to come out on this, this bridge, which is a really cool bridge, nightmare in the summertime, but this area here is so badass. Okay, go ahead.
• 22:40
  Speaker B: It is because you've got national seashores on either side of there and on the eastern end and you have a marine turtle sanctuary over there. And it's pretty fabulous.
• 22:51
  Speaker A: And the beach is spectacular, beautiful, spectacular. See if we can get it here on satellite. Look at that beach. Yeah, this is not even a picture of the beach, it's just satellite. But look at how green that is. It's wonderful.
• 23:02
  Speaker B: Yeah, it's gorgeous. So anyway, and then if you're closer to the bridge part, there's. There are condo buildings on the very far eastern end that really, if you get a corner view, you have like a 270 degree of water because you can see the sound behind you and you can see the gulf in front of you, and it's just pretty, pretty amazing. So we have a really great condo under contract there, and it's been completely remodeled. It's beautiful. And my buyers got a very nice deal on it. I wouldn't say, like, you know, rock bottom prices, but I mean, there are other condos in that building less fabulous that are priced higher. And so if you look closely and you make a good, solid offer, you can definitely get a good deal there. And I don't have kids, but I. This is an area that I feel like you could let your kids kind of free range a little bit because it's not full of, you know, all the family attractions. There's not a whole lot of busy traffic. You know, it's not a highway down there. And it just feels a little summer campish to me too. I like it over there.
• 24:00
  Speaker A: All right, so we're liking the bar. It sounds like we're maybe somewhere in the 8 range on a scale of 1 to 10. Maybe.
• 24:06
  Speaker B: Yeah. All right, I would say that.
• 24:08
  Speaker A: What about Pensacola Beach? Do you ever really even get up that far? And no, I don't.
• 24:12
  Speaker B: We had an agent in Pensacola and we don't currently have somebody over there. And it's two and a half hours one way for me. So I really don't sell in Pensacola, although I have been a guest in Pensacola. And there, there are some fun areas around the downtown area of Pensacola, which is over the bridge, but Pensacola beach is supposedly great. I just don't know very much about Pensacola.
• 24:34
  Speaker A: Yes, that's not to say that the short term shop couldn't service you over there. It's just not necessarily. Jan Wheelhouse. Yes.
• 24:40
  Speaker B: Jonathan Lazzarino is definitely more versed in that because he's in Gulf Shores and I think he's getting licensed in Florida. And Navarre, I'm sorry, Pensacola beach is just like half an hour.
• 24:50
  Speaker A: We can take care of you there, no problem. All right, Navarre. And then once we get up, what about Fort Walton? Are you seeing in much action up here in Okaloosa island area?
• 24:58
  Speaker B: You know, Okaloosa island has a lot of older condo buildings and a lot of smaller condo buildings. So you have to watch out for special assessments. You know, what work are they doing. And in a smaller. When I say smaller, I mean like maybe there's 100 condo units as opposed to three or 400 condo units. You know, people want nice and quiet and they want high income and you can't really have both of those things. So I think you have to think, okay, if there is going to be a special assessment in this condo building in the future, how many people are we spreading that cost among? And if it's 50 owners or 100 owners, it's going to be higher, a higher amount. So Okaloosa island is great, but I think the water is better in Destin and over. I don't know what it is about the Okaloosa island area. I don't sell too much over there, but definitely Navarre and then Destiny, decent prices.
• 25:55
  Speaker A: Okaloosa island or not really. And it's mostly condos, right?
• 25:58
  Speaker B: It's mostly condos. And Okaloosa island is also one of those places that like above a certain street is not short term rentable, but below is. So you have to know the area over there. But I think the prices are way better for what you get in pcb.
• 26:15
  Speaker A: I see. Okay. And then we get into Destin here, obviously. Hopefully you know what Dustin is by the time you're listening to this show. And this is, you know, I mean, it's Destin. It's.
• 26:26
  Speaker B: I see what I'm talking about. Below 98, the. The piece of Destin that's like Holiday Isle and all. Yeah, all of that. I mean, you got a lot of Dustin, that's north. So don't be looking up up there now.
• 26:36
  Speaker A: If you want a second home or something, no problem.
• 26:39
  Speaker B: But just don't you want something fabulous on the bay? Right, exactly.
• 26:42
  Speaker A: And there's wonderful. Gorgeous high dollar homes up on the bay, especially once you get down into Miramar. And they're wonderful, but it's not what we're talking about here. Is probably not going to really rent, you know, maybe not even really much at all. And some of them are not even going to be legal, right?
• 27:00
  Speaker B: Yeah. Some of them might not be short term rentable. And even if they are, if you're driving through what looks like just a regular boring neighborhood, it doesn't inspire excitement in your guests.
• 27:10
  Speaker A: Like some of this stuff up in here, up behind Target and all that.
• 27:14
  Speaker B: Exactly, yeah.
• 27:16
  Speaker A: And then here, I don't want to get you in the weeds because we've been over a lot of this on the previous podcast, but this is a very cool area. Difficult to get permits in here, but can totally be done in Sandpiper Cove is in there.
• 27:27
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 27:28
  Speaker A: Which is very affordable.
• 27:29
  Speaker B: Yes. I've sold and Holiday Isle in Destin Point is really nice on that little corner down there.
• 27:37
  Speaker A: I own a home in here which actually right by the bridge, which I've had. That's when I was talking about earlier. I've had that one for a number of years. Great area here. Well, okay. Anyway, let's. We're getting too granular Destin right now. Can I get a deal?
• 27:51
  Speaker B: You can get a deal. Because things have been on the market for a lot longer for sure. I would say as a general rule Destin prices are going to be about 20% higher than PCB just because there's. There's less property there for sale because it's just a smaller area. But. But yeah, I mean if you're looking at things that have been on the market for a while, I'm happy to throw out whatever offer you want to make on something in Destin and see what deals we can get. But yeah, that's what I just. At Crystal beach we've got things under 900,000 for a four bedroom single family with that fabulous pool. And Villages of Crystal beach has a little tram that'll take you to the beach too. You could walk but they'll also have a little transportation.
• 28:29
  Speaker A: Love that area. It's right behind, you know, Best Buy and all that. And it's great. A lot of stuff to do and the pool is wonderful. So. Okay, hold on. You said days on market. I actually looked it up here. Hold on, let me pull my notes up.
• 28:44
  Speaker B: Six months or more for sure. And look, don't be fooled by when it says days on market or like 29 days. That might just be for this listing of that property, they could have gone through multiple agents and it could really be on the market a year. I mean, it could have been like, oh, well, this agent had it for three months and then this agent had it for six months. And this agent had it, has it right now. So it looks like it's fresh on the market, but if you dig a little deeper, might be longer.
• 29:10
  Speaker A: Yes. According to the MoS, et cetera, 118 to 121 days on average in the month of August 2025 for Panama City Beach. Just, just Panama City beach, not the entire area. And so that's about. What is that four months average on market. But you're saying maybe something six months or more is really kind of where you're going to get a deal?
• 29:33
  Speaker B: Yes. I mean, and, and look, I can even search by days on market and we can look at stuff that's been on the market more than 200 days or whatever. If people want to do that.
• 29:41
  Speaker A: I agree. I, I think that if they haven't in the weird, the weird thing about this market is that it's changed so much from three years ago so fast that people are just not really understanding that it's changed. But I, I think that if you're, I think you're looking for a minimum of four months to find a. If you're looking for like the world's. And we're just talking about like the world's most ultimate smoking deal right now, I think you probably don't even really want to bother with anything that's been on the market for less than three months. This is a seller that hasn't come to reality yet. They haven't been beat up enough yet. And understand that, you know, things are not moving in, in the, in the fall of 25. Q4 of 25. Now do you agree or, or no?
• 30:24
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, I think we should use every piece of leverage we have for sure. And days on market is one of them. Days on market, but also competition. Like if I'm looking house in the neighborhood and there's one just over in the same condition for less money. Like what. Why aren't you adjusting to that, you know, Mr. Seller, why aren't you adjusting your prices or at least your expectations?
• 30:42
  Speaker A: Because three years ago, during COVID their next door neighbor sold it for 30% more.
• 30:47
  Speaker B: Right. This ain't that.
• 30:48
  Speaker A: No, and I made that number up, by the way. Don't quote me that, Covid. 30%. That's not real. That is not real. All Right. So let's quickly go because I didn't realize how much time we're going to spend on the map. And it's fun. It's fun. But like, when we get. Let's get into Miramar here in the Sandestin area, you see much action there.
• 31:05
  Speaker B: I don't see a whole lot of Miramar. Yes, definitely. I don't sell very much in Sandestin, but Sandestin is very interesting for a lot of different reasons, including the four amazing golf courses they have. And it has. It goes on both sides of 98, north and south, with a tunnel under 98 for your golf cart so that you can easily do beach access. So yeah, I stayed in Destin. I mean, in Sandestin in January. Research. You understand, Luke.
• 31:30
  Speaker A: Right, Right.
• 31:31
  Speaker B: And I thought it was great. They've got the. The. The wharf area with all the shops and stuff, and there's. There's a lot of little neighborhoods inside Sandestin, so you have to drill down a little bit. But you like that burnt pine Golf club up there? Yeah, there's. There's four really nice golf courses there. So big. Big wintertime area. Big snowbird area.
• 31:53
  Speaker A: Big research. We didn't have any fun at all. It was all research.
• 31:56
  Speaker B: That was research.
• 31:58
  Speaker A: I live right down the road from Sandestin. My kids go to school right around the corner. And it is. It's a city. It's like its own little city.
• 32:04
  Speaker B: It is.
• 32:05
  Speaker A: The cool thing about it is it's a great place to live. It's really easy and convenient. You can golf cart, everything. You can golf cart to the grocery store, you can golf cart to the beach. They have some fantastic. I'm talking top tier restaurants and it's just great. But Miramar is definitely a little bit more like kind of regular every day. Are we. Are we getting any deals done there?
• 32:27
  Speaker B: Yes, I just closed on something in Miramar about two months ago. We got a very screaming deal over there. Yeah, I think there's lots of. Lots of good things and, you know, destined into Miramar, they're very similar in a lot of ways. So I would definitely look in Miramar as well.
• 32:44
  Speaker A: Okay. And then once we get down to 30A, this starts to be a little bit more expensive. But I'm finding. I'll just. I'll speak for it. I've found two great deals here this year. One somewhere in this area. Actually both of them in the same area right there off of the state. We call it the Stinkies beach around here. Because Stinkies is a. There's very few restaurants on the West End, and this is one of them. And it's not even, I mean, it's like half restaurant, half hangout bar. And this beach right here is very easy to use and not super populated. So. And it's very public friendly, so you have plenty of space on this beach. So I, I've actually purchased in this neighborhood this year and another one basically in that same area this year. And having success with both of them, I'm finding good deals on, on a lot of stuff. I will say there's a lot of stuff for sale in these areas, so don't let that deter you. That's happening everywhere. But I've had a couple of buddies of mine be like, you know, interested in the one that I bought, and they're like, hey, that one you bought, man. I noticed there's like a lot of stuff for sale in that neighborhood. And I'm like, well, here's what happened. This is my take on it. I want to hear your take. My take on it is, is that Joe Blow put his house for sale because, you know, whatever reason, he was finally ready to sell. And then Johnny next door was like, oh, damn it, Margaret. We were talking about selling the beach house and, you know, Steve got a billion dollars for his on 2021, and, and now Johnny Joe's got his for sale. So if we don't put ours for sale quick, then we're never going to get our billion dollars. So it's almost like a domino effect is what I'm seeing.
• 34:22
  Speaker B: People think that list price is a comp. No sold price is a comp. So just because, you know, the neighbor has it listed for 1.5 doesn't mean that's a comp. That means that's his asking price, as I like to say, suggested retail price. And then we're going to see, you know, how what we can get it for underneath that. I just showed eight properties along 30A yesterday, and there was quite a range of prices and availability. One thing you want to really pay attention to along 30A is beach access, because that's important. Don't, don't, you know, don't make your, your guests mad by buying someplace that's far from the beach that they're going to be upset that they can't just get there. So beach access is very important on 30A. It's, it's. I like to say beach access is more constrained on 30A than it is in Destin and PCB. So you just have to pay attention to where that is.
• 35:15
  Speaker A: Yes. We've had some advancements in that area. Last year we had the governor come to town and sign a bill that basically turned the beaches back over to the government or whatever. I don't know all the details. I'm not going to get into politics. Things have gotten a little better. But yes, she's right. 100% on. Especially when you get down on the east side here. Some of these beach accesses, the public beach accesses are just like a sliver. So you got to be careful with that. Doesn't really happen as much on the West End. Also, not as much to do on the West End. There's not a billion restaurants and, you know, the. Where the kids go play at Seaside and the Truman show and all that.
• 35:50
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 35:50
  Speaker A: Which if you don't know what that means, true. Truman show was shot at Seaside.
• 35:54
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 35:54
  Speaker A: And it looks exactly like that. Because in the movie you're like, this isn't real. This isn't a real place. It's a real place and it's really cool. And we take the kids there. There's a lot of traffic and it's hard to park. But it is what it is. Now, I'm finding on the west end, I don't. I really personally don't look at the east end much at all. It's not really my vibe. It's a little too fancy for me. I hate to say it's a little, you know, like we got our. I like to drink my beer with the pinky out, but it's fancy. But I'm finding things for under a million, for sure. Matter of fact, the three bedroom I purchased in March, I paid 815 for a three. I think it's a three. You get to the point. You don't even know how many bathrooms.
• 36:34
  Speaker B: Yeah, I know where you bought. I think.
• 36:36
  Speaker A: I think it's a three and a half bath. It's a three three or a three? Three and a half. And it's a great little house that I did nothing to. And normally I like to say, you know, you can have turnkey or you can have cash flow. It's very difficult to have both. This damn house. It was insane. I. I went over there, I filled my truck with all my get my house ready stuff. You know exactly what that's like. And I went over there and I opened the doors and I just closed it that day or the day before. And I went in and I was like, I just wasted 20, 2500 bucks on the stuff in my truck. This house doesn't even need anything. And it's worked out great. It's been busy ever since, you know, I've had a few things. The guys, I don't want anybody to think this is easy. Easy. It's not. But I've had success with that house and it's been just a delight, to be honest with you. But anyway, we're, we can find stuff on 30 under a million, I think right now. Now. But let's hold on for the sake of time. Let's cruise down to pcb. We're going to skip over some of this stuff, which we shouldn't, but let's get down to pcb. Give me a little speech here.
• 37:38
  Speaker B: Okay. A hundred public beach access points in pcb. Lots of them are where you can actually park too. So to me, the beach access is the best in PCB for sure. Destin is a close second. But I, you know, the west end of pcb, quieter, not so many condos. Pier park is still up and coming. Pier park area is. We just put a topgolf in there. Dolly Parton just built a $60 million dinner theater, pirate thing dinner theater. And she also bought the sky wheel, the big Ferris wheel. And then there's supposedly a surf park coming in 2027. They're supposed to start building it next year so you can learn to surf not in the actual golf, but in a controlled wave pool environment. Tons of shopping, lots of things now everybody, you know, three quarters of the people who come here drive here, so they're going to have a car. You don't have to stay in any place that has to be walkable. People do like walkable, but don't, don't get hung up on it has to be walkable. That's kind of a benefit than, than a requirement really. But all the way down to Lower Grand Lagoon. I love Lower Grand Lagoon. It's no, no hoa down there. It's a real mixed, you know, long term residents, renters, short term people. I sell a lot in Lower Grand Lagoon, but let me also tell you that I have a buyer who's bought three properties. He's under contract on a fourth with me in the Upper Grand Lagoon area. And this is kind of a little sleeper area. But it's not where people normally would be looking for short term rentals. They're more neighborhoody area, close to great restaurants. But the lots are bigger. And he always buys a house that already has a pool. And then he transforms the backyard into this oasis. He puts this big tiki bar and outdoor Games and the, the, what do you call that? The, the fake grass stuff, you know, turf and. Yeah, the turf. And he does the landscaping and he'll turn the garage into a game room, which a lot of people haven't really snapped to that. That's a big deal, you know, like they have in the Smokies mostly because a lot of the properties down here don't have garages or they have a really small golf cart garage or, you know, a one car garage. But that's kind of an outlier of the Upper Grand Lagoon. But, but he's getting properties in the 400 to $500,000 range that are really sweet. So if you have, if you have a creative bent and you want to put some money into transforming a property like that, there are some, some deals to be had in that area as well.
• 40:06
  Speaker A: Okay. We're, we're talking at a million miles an hour, but mostly because January and I both do that. But we also have a limited amount of time. We actually have to hop to another meeting here in a minute. So to recap, we're, we've learned data wise data. We, we are right around four months days on market in this, this area. And we are, we can, we can find deals, no problem. Under a million if needed. I also want to mention that this particular market, as far as vacation towns are concerned, I think is very underrated for just having the lifestyle asset, having the beach home. There is, there's a lot of people in Georgia and Alabama and Louisiana that would do just about anything to have their own beach house here. And there's a lot to be said for that. You don't have to go crazy and rent the damn thing and like squeeze it for everything it's worth. Why not just have a nice house for your family and we can help you with that too. As a matter of fact, our job gets a lot easier if you're that type of person. So we would love to have you.
• 41:07
  Speaker B: Well, because you can't underestimate too the tax benefit. So even where the income, you know, it might, if it doesn't cash flow where you want, don't. Don't ignore the fact that you're going to be able to write off a huge chunk for the bonus depreciation. I mean, that's amazing.
• 41:22
  Speaker A: Yep. And this is the right time to do that. Matter of fact, we're going to talk about that a lot on the next call we're having here because it's getting to be that time of the year.
• 41:29
  Speaker B: Yes.
• 41:30
  Speaker A: So yeah, it is, it's the time to buy really is. I think, you know, Lord knows what's going on with, you know, who knows? Every day we wake up and it's something different at this point. But interest rates are definitely seeming to, you know, we, we may, may not even get a jobs report this week, so we don't know what's going to happen there. But the interest rates are calming down a little bit and the, the spread between the Fed rate and the interest rate, mortgage interest rates is getting a little better. So, you know, it's, it's a weird world. It's a weird market. I've, I've found two deals. I bought two deals on the west end of 30A this year. Both of them are, I can tell you, I can tell you right now, they both have cars in the driveway right now. One of them is right by our house, by the way. I don't recommend that because here's why. My wife goes to work and she passes that house and she's gonna know. She's gonna. Hey, I noticed there wasn't a car in the driveway.
• 42:27
  Speaker B: They're at breakfast. Yeah.
• 42:28
  Speaker A: Yeah. Whose fault is that? That's my fault. They're at breakfast. Well, why didn't they use the trash can? Anyway, it's not all fun and games, but we do have a lot of fun around here, man, it's, it's just such a joy to be in this business. Even when it makes you want to just bang your head against the wall, which it does.
• 42:48
  Speaker B: Hey, my job is great. I get to look at beautiful beach houses every day, all day. So I love it.
• 42:52
  Speaker A: Isn't it fun?
• 42:53
  Speaker B: It is.
• 42:53
  Speaker A: Okay, well, I appreciate you. I'll see you on the next meeting here in a couple minutes. Thank you for hanging with us on the Emerald coast podcast. And how do we get a hold of you?
• 43:04
  Speaker B: Oh, january@theshorttermshop.com. or you can Google me. I'm all over the place. And you can see me on our short term shop website. Meet the team. You can read my bio.
• 43:15
  Speaker A: Google me, baby. That's what I'm. All right, we'll see you. Thank you.