PANAMA CITY BEACH — Panama City Beach officials call it “the 30A effect.”
Panama City Beach Planning Director Mel Leonard described the 30A effect as an encroaching storm, creeping across Bay County.
It happened the same way during the economic boom of the mid-2000s, with prices skyrocketing to the west and spreading into Bay County. To him, it’s a definite sign the economy is turning.
“People start looking for deals,” Leonard said.
Panama City Beach code enforcement officer James Tindle said the city was rife with foreclosures following the economic crash in 2008. Now, however, foreclosures and the resulting abandoned properties are rare.
Tindle cautioned PCB is quickly turning around because beachfront properties are seen as valuable, and it helps that PCB is in the midst of a very strong tourist season.
The house at 121Manistee Drive is one of the last foreclosed properties in Panama City Beach that has yet to be snatched up by a buyer.
Back when the lien fines started piling up to $3,069, the property had a manufactured pond full of fetid water to go along with the overgrown grass. That’s gone now and the front yard is shorn. The house is still in shaky shape, spotty holes throughout the faux cabin siding, but Tindle thinks that matters little — the house is going to get knocked down.
But even 121 Manistee is on the market, with a for sale sign displayed prominently in the front yard.Financial Freedom Acquisition is the current owner.
“Foreclosures are basically nonexistent,” Tindle said.
Tindle said a common practice is for buyers to skim through liens and quickly pay them off as a part of the property purchase.
Developer Jason Roberts, of Sandana Construction Inc., and Bay County code enforcement officer Scott Hare confirmed properties are being snapped up with regularity in and around Panama City Beach. Roberts said the prices have doubled in the last year. There are a few open lots on Oleander. Roberts said that property was selling for about $300,000 and now it is listed at $580,000. Roberts added that he just bought four narrow lots off State 79 for $1.4 million.
Roberts said many investors are taking money out of Individual Retirement Accounts and choosing to invest in property.
“A lot of investors bought on the beach for rental properties,” Roberts said. “If you’re buying for under $1 million, you can make a lot of money on rental properties.”
Roberts said there are about 14 beach properties still on the market. The effect is spreading between Front Beach and Back Beach roads, with properties in between increasing from an average of $15,000 to $35,000.
“It’s spillover off 30A,” Roberts said. “A lot of investors are coming over here.”