Ed and Terri Smith Broker/Owners RE/MAX Coastal 725 Harbor Blvd Destin, Florida 32541 (850) 837-5500 x1

Since last month, the BP “oil spill” hysteria has gone from bad to worse. Every day, we hear from someone from some part of the country that believes that we are “covered in oil”. Today’s calls were from as far away as Boston and Cal-ifornia. The media is without a doubt our big-gest enemy today. Big-ger even than BP. Everyone is hearing about the decline in tourism, but not as much about the direct effect on sales. Unfor-tunately, sales contracts are dropping out at an unnerving pace. Buyers are simply digging in their heels and refusing to close. Some are even forfeiting large earnest money deposits. All across Northwest Florida, phone calls and inquiries have slowed to a trickle. That is not to say that the market is dead. It

is not. We are showing properties, writing of-fers and attending clos-ings. But certainly not at the pace we would expect for June. And we are extremely thankful to be busier than the other agents out there. We have contended from the beginning that it is the fear of the unknown that is driving this irrational hysteria. FDR’s famous quote “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” sums it up very nicely. Once BP (or someone) gets this well capped off, things will begin to improve. Over time, apprehension will succumb to reality. The psyche of the public at large will relax as they come to realize that we will not have knee deep sludge on the beaches and the gulf waters will not turn black.

Ed and Terri’s Market Update

June 2010

So, what to expect in the meantime? For the immediate/near future, we will be inundated with bottom feeders looking for steals. Ridiculous low-ball offers are becom-ing more and more frequent. Additionally, investors in the vacation prop-erty market are now reluctant to buy due to the negative impact on rental income. With many local businesses suffering as a result of lower sales figures, we are seeing more employee layoffs. The resulting unemployment and under-employment serves to further neg-atively influence local sales figures. The brighter side … This will not last for-ever. We still have a decent number of good, qualified buyers that are actively look-ing at properties here.

May Stats at a Glance

Ft. Walton Beach

to Inlet Beach:

Single Family

Homes For Sale:

2,142 Sold: 173

Condominium

Re-sales For Sale:

2,493 Sold:

94

Residential Lots For Sale:

1,728 Sold:

56

~ over ~

Other real estate news that is affecting our market: Senate approved a measure to extend the deadline for those wishing to take ad-vantage of the $8,000 first time homebuyer tax credit. Congress would not play ball and the measure died. The deadline remains June 30, 2010. Also from D.C.: Congress has allowed the FEMA backed flood insurance pro-gram to expire twice so far this year. Since federal flood insurance policies are

The typical profile for today’s buyer? Fairly conservative, carrying a sharp pencil and most likely looking for a primary residence. Unfortunately, all this points to softer real estate values, at least in the short term, which is still better than the market here in the 80’s. Buyers were practically non-existent back then. No one seemed to have any money. To-day, there is much disposable cash in the market. The bottom line is that proper pricing is the most important aspect of a successful sale!

assumable, this really only affects purchases of properties that were not already covered. Policy renewals have been honored. And, there is a fair chance that Congress and the Senate will get the pro-gram re-authorized by early July. We’ll see. And of course, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a Destin based appeal this month, that being the fight over beach renourishment. The Supreme Court vot-ed unanimously to reject the appeal of six Destin homeowners, who be-lieve that the govern-ment directed renour-ishment of the beaches

equates to the taking of private property. The Florida Supreme Court had ruled against the homeowners in 2008. So, with any luck at all, by this time next month the BP oil well will have been plugged and life on the Emerald Coast will be back on the path toward some semblance of normalcy! Please call us to discuss anytime! Thanks, Ed and Terri

Okaloosa Property Statistics — YTD May 2010

Metro Market Trends Reports