All Forum Posts by: Patricia Drew

I don't know anyone, conservative or liberal, that likes having STRs in their single-family neighborhood.

You should check out Natali Morris' Instagram account.  Recent visits to Egypt, Antigua, Austria and the Canary Islands, skiing in the Alps, and livin' the life in Portugal. 

The former Fox & Friends host and his wife hightailed it to Portugal once the lawsuits started.  Their ill-gotten gains go a lot further there.  (It's a beautiful country with wonderful people.  I feel bad for the natives.)

They have no shame.

https://www.instagram.com/nata...

Taxes on our properties in the panhandle of Florida run about 1.5% of assessed value. Taxes on the house in the example will run $3500-$3750. Better than Texas, but quite a bit more than in Las Vegas. And you're not going to find a house suitable for STR anywhere near the coast for $250,000.

Insurance premiums are expected to go up 25%-40% this year after an increase of 40% last year (some people reported that their insurance almost doubled last year). For a $250,000 house, you will be paying $5000-$6000 per year and perhaps $8,000 by next year. 

When your insurance company drops you, goes belly-up or leaves the state, you may have to go with state-backed Citizens Insurance, "the insurer of last resort," which provides terrible coverage. They just approved a 14.2% rate hike for Citizens.  An estimated 2 million homes will be insured by Citizens by the end of the year because the owners were unable to find coverage elsewhere.

Flood insurance is a separate policy and flooding is not covered by Citizens.  It varies widely, but the closer you get to the coast the higher the premium.

Florida has the fourth highest average cost for car insurance in the country. 20.4% of cars on the road are uninsured, also the fourth highest rate in the country.  And Florida drivers are, to be kind, less than skillful.

We go bare on our personal home.  We are knowingly underinsured on our commercial properties, which works out well until it doesn't.  We had over $600,000 in uninsured losses after Hurricane Michael in 2018.  It was a risk we continue to accept because it will probably work in our favor in the long term.

In the last two years the state legislature has passed laws that remove local control over development, water quality, tree cutting and protections for houses with historic designations.  They've rolled back what developers have to pay for the infrastructure needed for new construction, transferring the cost to the taxpayers.  It's basically corporate welfare.

Once a couple of state legislators notice STRs in their neighborhoods, don't be surprised when they remove local control over STRs as well.

I'm a 5th generation Floridian so I'm not going anywhere, but I've watched the quality of life take a nosedive, especially for the average Joe.  Their kids are moving out of state because they can't find well-paying jobs and most will never be able to buy a house.  Long term planning for development is practically nonexistent.

STRs are taking over my brother's bayfront neighborhood in Panama City.  

As you noted, Panama City is a separate city from Panama City Beach. It's almost all single-family homes.  The government is very different from PCB's.  PCB has absolutely no concern for locals.  

If the trend continues, or if someone decides to put the house next door to the mayor's on AirBnB, I foresee future restrictions.

My brother had to put a no trespassing sign and a gate on his dock after groups repeatably used it. How entitled must one be to trespass on private property?

Apologies to those who own STRs, but I'll be glad to see the city crack down on them.

Usually when a city buys a property it must first get an appraisal and the city commission must approve the purchase.  This is to avoid any shenanigans, like paying cousin Bubba twice what it's worth.  Their hands are somewhat tied; they have a responsibility to not overpay.  If you're happy with the appraisal, sell.  If you disagree with their appraisal, pay for your own.  You'll probably have to meet somewhere in the middle if your appraisal is higher.

I occasionally buy foreclosures.  I noticed a foreclosure that was surrounded by properties the city had bought for parking/expansion of City Hall, so I bid a few thousand more than I normally would have.  

The house had been deemed uninhabitable by the city and needed a gut renovation. The lot was large enough to subdivide.

When I emailed the city manager to see if they were interested, I got a response in three minutes.  Who says government is inefficient?

I told them I was planning to fix the house and subdivide the lot but was willing to give them first dibs. 

I had to have a contractor submit a line item estimate of what repairs would cost. 

The city hired an appraiser to determine the fair market value if the house were fully renovated and the value of the extra lot after the lot split.  They subtracted the estimated cost of renovations to come to the purchase price. I had researched comps and thought the appraisal was fair.

The city manager presented the purchase at the weekly commission meeting so the public could weigh in.  At the end of the presentation, the commission voted to approve the purchase.  We closed two weeks later.

I didn't have to pay any realtor commissions or incur the $10,000+ cost of doing a lot split. I negotiated with them to pay every penny of the closing costs since it would not affect the official purchase price.  Property taxes were up to date, having been paid by the lender.  I did have to pay the pro-rated property taxes for the current year.

Before agreeing to sell, I also got the city manager to cancel the $8,000 in code violations racked up by the previous owner.  Code violations are not extinguished by foreclosure.

Hurricanes Michael, Dennis and Opal would like a word.  Those are just the worst of many.  Not as many as South Florida, but not uncommon. 

Before buying in the Florida Panhandle, get an insurance quote. A policy for a $500,000 home will be in the neighborhood of $6,500 and that's if you're not in a flood zone. Following Hurricane Ian, insurance rates are predicted to go up by 20%-40% in the next year.

Over four years later, we're still recovering from Hurricane Michael, a Cat 5 that is the fourth strongest recorded storm to ever hit the U.S.  Almost every home in Mexico Beach was destroyed.  I would guess at least 30% of the commercial buildings in the Panama City area sustained severe to catastrophic damage.  

I think Michael was quickly forgotten by most people because it caused little damage in Panama City Beach.  Had it made landfall 10 miles to the west...

Neighbors who don't want an STR next door were probably among those who attended the zoning board meeting. New faces arriving with suitcases every few days are hard to miss, and you can be sure they will call code enforcement.

Cities large and small have also wised up and are hiring companies to find illegal listings and to make sure that legal listings are paying city taxes on STRs.

"These companies sleuth out identifying data on rentals — even though addresses and full host names are not generally provided in short-term rental listings. Using special software, the companies use short-term rental listings and other public records to identify short-term rental addresses and owners. These are then matched up with a city’s records to see which rentals are out of compliance or whether operators are dodging tax obligations."

And call me crazy, but I follow local zoning laws and expect others to do the same.  Don't like the law?  Vote out those who support it so that it can be changed. But then you'd have to live there to vote.

It depends.  If you're looking at $50,000 or more in capital gains, it might be worth the gamble of not finding a suitable property. 

But as you noted, you have to be disciplined and avoid making a bad deal.

"They are paid and bonused to cause problems."

Please, name a single organization that does this. 

I do the civil and criminal background checks on potential tenants.  We have commercial properties, but one building has apartments upstairs.

We passed on a guy who was the plaintiff in two personal injury lawsuits.  He was a real estate broker.

We also passed on a guy who had a misdemeanor vandalism conviction.  He tried to set his ex-wife's house on fire.  While she was inside.  The charges were reduced in a plea deal.  His political views on social media were the opposite of woke.  He made $180K a year and had great credit.  We would have rented to him if it weren't for that pesky police report.

If they have a good credit score, their salary is 3x the rent and they have a clean criminal record, I don't care if they're woke or unwoke.

I'll surely be on the lookout, however, for this horde of social justice warriors lying in wait.