Buying a vacation rental

[Tony Kogan]

Hello BP community,

I have a question with regard to vacation rentals in Panama City Beach. Should I wait for the market to go down, or should I invest now? I see the properties in $250K that cost $180k two years ago. Please give me the advise.

[Amie Perryman]

Hi guys! I am a real estate broker in Panama City Beach. I have been a broker for 12 years and just recently moved here from the Tampa area BECAUSE the market here is one of the strongest in terms of growth in the state. 

We have a very unique market here in that they made the choice to not build hotels on the beach but condos. The vast majority of vacationers stay in condos. Many have been coming to the same one for generations. The condo market is unique and the vacation rental market is also unique. We have dozens of property management companies that will range in price from 10% to 30% and have as wide an array of occupancy/profit and quality of management. I believe you truly get what you pay for in this particular case so property management in each building is an important consideration. 

You cannot judge all 2/2 or 1/1's the same. Nor can you judge by price. Every building has it's attractiveness and it's drawbacks. 

The market here is growing very strong for the 3rd year in a row and it's anticipated that we will continue to hit double digit growth for the next several years. The Bay County area is very pro growth and has a plan in place to develop the area to increase year-round residents. Right now the vast majority of homes (including condos) are owned as second homes, vacation homes or by investors. We have recently built an international airport, it's small but has a runway that can accomodate the very largest air traffic in the world. FEDEX is building a 300 employee center by it and the Economic Development Association here is working hard to bring high paying jobs to this area. We have a strong military presence here (Navy Diver training, Navy Seals Academy, Tyndall Airforce  -top gun flight school) and our International Port is expanding though it's already the largest exporter of wood pellets to Europe and copper importing to the East Coast.

I mention all that to drive home the point that this area is becoming more and more of a destination attraction with amenities that were never here before. Baby boomers are a huge target market with over 145,000 homes being developed by one single developer that over the next few decades will provide housing for folks looking to get out of the cold but can't afford the more affluent areas of south Florida and west of us in Destin and Gulf Shores, AL.