Your Sandestin, Destin and South Walton-30A Real Estate Resource.

February 2020 Newsletter

2/23/2020

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EXCITING LOCAL EVENTS

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Are we closer to life like The Jetsons?

5/11/2018

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Builder Makes Alexa a New-Home Standard
DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2018

Lennar, the nation’s largest homebuilder, announced a deal with Amazon that will make voice-activated digital assistants a standard feature in its new homes, as well as other smart devices. The new homes will include built-in Wi-Fi, smart locks, doorbells, thermostats, and lights that can be controlled by Amazon’s voice-activated digital assistant, Alexa.

“This will be the hallmark of why we buy a new home,” says David Kaiserman, president of Lennar Ventures. “It’s an important step in the mass adoption of all these technologies.”

Every new home from Lennar will come with two Alexa-enabled smart speakers, an Echo Show and an Echo Dot. The builder will also give home buyers a complimentary visit from an Amazon technician to teach them how to operate everything.
Lennar and Amazon announced Wednesday that they will be opening eight model homes across the country to showcase the technology.

“We want to be able to walk into one of these model homes and see how it all works in a real house, so they can see how much it would simplify their lives,” says Nish Lathia, general manager for Amazon Services. “It’s super addictive.”

Voice assistants have been growing in popularity. About 18 percent of Americans this year use a smart speaker at least once a month, according to eMarketer, a digital marketing firm. Amazon holds the majority of the market share, but Google and Apple hope to change that.

Source: “Amazon’s Alexa Will Be Built Into All New Homes From Lennar,” USA Today (May 9, 2018)

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Destin Florida Homes and Condos for Sale

12/29/2016

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Start the new year off right by finding your dream home or condo in Destin Florida.

Destin Florida Homes for Sale

Destin Florida Condos for Sale

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October is a great time of year to sell or buy at the beach

10/24/2016

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This is always a great time of the year to list your home or buy new vacation home at the beach.

October is considered the best month here. The crowds are gone, the weather is amazing and the Gulf is still warm enough from the summer heat for swimming.

October sunsets over the Gulf are truly a treasure, offering spectacular vistas almost every evening.

The weather is getting a little cooler, football season is half over. We have had a longer than normal rental season this year and if you have tried to see homes or condos you could have been a little disappointed due to more being rented longer than normal. Now is a good time before the snowbirds come in January.
Call me and let me help you with all your real estate needs. Or go to www.sowal30a.net and start your search here.

Come and enjoy October at the beach.

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Sandestin, Destin and Santa Rosa Beach

11/7/2014

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What is the real cost of real estate in Sandestin, Destin and Santa Rosa Beach's 30A.

I was thinking the other day about this, what is the real cost of real estate here? Is it opportunities missed?
Doing open houses the past month in Sandestin and 30A, I've had multiple visitors come through asking the same question, why is the price of houses here continuing to increase? They will say something like I been looking for a few years now and in the last couple years prices have really increased. Did we miss our opportunity to buy?
This is true our market is up and prices have risen with demand and the mechanics of market is on sold ground.
But there is still great opportunities to buy your dream home.
I believe the greatest expense just might be.....the opportunity cost.

I got this quote from Warren Buffet. Opportunity cost is basically related to the choice we make whether to buy now or wait.
In microeconomic theory, The New Oxford American Dictionary defines it as "the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen". Opportunity cost is a key concept in economics, and has been described as expressing "the basic relationship between scarcity and choice". Thus, opportunity costs are not restricted to monetary or financial costs: the real cost of lost pleasure or any other benefit that provides should also be considered opportunity costs.

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Destin Florida Condominiums

11/3/2014

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See Destin Florida, Condominiums

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Flood Zone - Florida

7/17/2014

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Flood Zone Helpful Hints

A lot of people don’t know the flood map is not set in stone,” “understand they are limited in many aspects, budget, resources and time available, and you can challenge it.”

Article From the Herald/Times

Why are flood insurance rates rising?
Faced with a $24 billion deficit in the National Flood Insurance Program, Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Act to help make the program more fiscally sound.

How does a homeowner know if his or her property is currently subsidized?
The insurance premium rate sheet includes a one-page summary that lists the flood zone as well as a box indicating if the rate is grandfathered or not. If “yes” is checked, the property is grandfathered, indicating the property was likely built before the National Flood Insurance Program was federally mandated and benefits from a subsidy.

What will happen to my rates if my rate is “grandfathered?”
Until now, the federal policy was to allow property owners who maintained payments on their flood insurance to receive the subsidized rate and avoid the rate shock of having their insurance match the true market rate. Under the Biggert-Waters Act, property owners who have subsidized policies for non-primary residences and commercial property will see annual increases in their rates of 25 percent until the rate matches the full risk rate.

Property owners with subsidized rates who sell their home, allow their policy to lapse or purchase a policy for the first time, will no longer be eligible for subsidies starting this month and will be charged the full risk rate.

What is a “full risk rate”?
A full risk rate is one in which the premium takes into account the full range of possible flood losses, including rare but catastrophic floods.

How can a property owner find out what the property’s full risk rate will be?
Many factors influence the rate but the most important is the elevation of the structure in relation to the base flood elevation (or BFE.) A community’s Flood Insurance Rate Map (or FIRM) indicates the portion of that community that has a 1 percent or greater chance of flooding each year. That is considered the Special Flood Hazard Area, or high-risk zone. The higher the elevation of a structure above the base flood elevation, the lower the flood risk. This information is reflected on an Elevation Certificate, a form completed by a licensed engineer or surveyor.

What is the importance of the risk designation?
The higher the risk, the higher the premium. Under Biggert-Waters, the goal was to gradually phase out subsidies so that property owners were paying the true cost of the flood risk for their property.

FEMA uses various kinds of zone designations to determine risk:

V zones are usually located near the ocean and are particularly vulnerable to storm surges. They are the highest risk, and premiums in this zone are the most expensive.
A zones are usually located near a river, lake or stream, the second highest risk zone. Average premium is around $500 annually.
B, C, X, and A99 zones are less prone to flooding.

How does a property owner know if the rate is an accurate reflection of the flood risk?
The Federal Emergency Management Agency bases its risk assessment on flood insurance rate maps (or FIRMS) based on technical studies that evaluate the flood risk in communities and regions on a large scale. Because the maps do not investigate individual properties, are not updated annually and may not reflect significant changes that could affect water flow, some homes may be mapped in the wrong zones.

If a property owner knows of a change in structure or water body, a change in mangrove vegetation that could affect water flow, or suspects the map to be inaccurate, he can apply to FEMA to modify the map or the property’s risk designation.

“The areas where we see the most conservative mapping is along the coast, where flooding is associated with storm surge,” Cummins said. “As a layman, you have to ask what’s changed in my area? If you can tie that to something that affects water levels, you can call a professional and ask if the typography is represented in the flood map.”

How does a property owner challenge a flood map or risk designation?
Homeowners can file an application for a change after they raise the elevation of their property. They may also file a Letter of Map Revision (or LOMR) that asks FEMA to move the map lines based on a detailed survey, signed and sealed by an engineer, and provided by the property owners.

The property owner must supply FEMA with supporting material to justify their claim. It may be as simple as an elevation certificate or as complex as numerical modeling of wave impacts. All the supporting material usually requires three signatures: the professional engineer must validate the authenticity and technical validity of the information; the homeowner must agree to it; and, a local official must approve it.

It is expensive for most homeowners to hire an engineer to proceed with a detailed survey and it is not uncommon for a group of homeowners to pool their resources and get a community or area remapped.

How do you get an elevation certificate?
Every property in a flood zone already has had a surveyor certify the property’s elevation. The insurance agent then rates the property based on that elevation certificate. Elevation certificates may be part of a homeowner’s mortgage documents or be in their file with the insurance agent or lender.

Homeowners may also hire a surveyor to complete a new elevation certificate. The cost usually starts at about $200.

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C.O.B.R.A. Flood Zone - Destin Florida

7/16/2014

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C.O.B.R.A. (Coastal Barrier Resources Act) Flood Zone

Confused as to what a C.O.B.R.A. (Coastal Barrier Resources Act) flood zone is?

Depending upon which flood zone the property is in, will depend on what type of flood insurance you can obtain. For example, if you buy in a flood zone “x” you qualify for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is also the Government Flood Insurance Program. Cost is about $365/year for up to $250,000 of insurance.

COBRA Flood zone as described completely by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA:
“The Coastal Barrier Resources Act (COBRA) of 1982 and later amendments, removed the Federal government from financial involvement associated with building and development in undeveloped portions of designated coastal barriers (including the Great Lakes). These areas were mapped and designated as Coastal Barrier Resources System units or “otherwise” protected areas. They are colloquially called COBRA zones. COBRA banned the sale of NFIP flood insurance for structures built or substantially improved on or after a specified date. For the initial COBRA designation, this date is October 1, 1983. For all subsequent designations, this date is the date the COBRA zone was identified. COBRA zones and their identification dates are shown on Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs).

Communities may permit development in these areas even though no Federal assistance is available, provided that the development meets NFIP requirements.Now, what does all this mean to you? If you are interested in purchasing a home that has been designated as in a Cobra Zone AE zone, and you wish to obtain a mortgage, flood insurance is required….and you can not obtain a flood policy from NFIP. You must obtain private flood insurance, which can be very expensive. In the Destin FL real estate market, there are many communities in a COBRA zone.

When you find the home you want to purchase send the listing to an insurance company. They will let you know which flood zone the home is in.

Here’s another example…I have a Buyer purchasing a home which is in an “AE” flood zone. This means NFIP is available, it’s just a little more expensive. Since we don’t have an elevation certificate yet, the insurance provider gave a range from $400 – $1,500 per year. Once we provide them with an elevation certificate (a surveyor provides this) which determines the “base” elevation of the home, we can then get an exact cost of the flood insurance. The base elevation determines how high above sea level the homes sits, ie. 8′, 10′, etc. (The higher the better).

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February 2020 Newsletter

EXCITING LOCAL EVENTS

Are we closer to life like The Jetsons?

Destin Florida Homes and Condos for Sale

Start the new year off right by finding your dream home or condo in Destin Florida.

Destin Florida Homes for Sale

Destin Florida Condos for Sale

October is a great time of year to sell or buy at the beach

This is always a great time of the year to list your home or buy new vacation home at the beach.

Sandestin, Destin and Santa Rosa Beach

What is the real cost of real estate in Sandestin, Destin and Santa Rosa Beach's 30A.

Destin Florida Condominiums

See Destin Florida, Condominiums

Flood Zone - Florida

Flood Zone Helpful Hints

C.O.B.R.A. Flood Zone - Destin Florida

C.O.B.R.A. (Coastal Barrier Resources Act) Flood Zone

Gena Bolton
Realtor
(251) 366-0423 (c)
Gena@SoWal30a.com

Archives

Categories

Helpful Links

​EXCITING LOCAL EVENTS

Start the new year off right by finding your dream home or condo in Destin Florida.

Destin Florida Homes for Sale

Destin Florida Condos for Sale

This is always a great time of the year to list your home or buy new vacation home at the beach.

What is the real cost of real estate in Sandestin, Destin and Santa Rosa Beach's 30A.

See Destin Florida, Condominiums

Flood Zone Helpful Hints

C.O.B.R.A. (Coastal Barrier Resources Act) Flood Zone

Gena BoltonRealtor (251) 366-0423 (c)Gena@SoWal30a.com

Archives

Categories

Helpful Links​

EXCITING LOCAL EVENTS

Gena Bolton
Realtor
(251) 366-0423 (c)
Gena@SoWal30a.com

Helpful Links