The emerald coast real estate market has been booming lately, and last year was certainly no exception. So this has home buyers and home sellers asking, what is the emerald coast real estate market going to be like in 2020? Is everything slowing down this year? Or are we still on the climb?
2020 Real Estate A Mixed Bag
Local realtor, Ginny Lee Deptula, recently posted a great update video breaking down the numbers released by the Emerald Coast Association of Realtors at the end of last year. It looks like the answer to the question of what 2020 will be like really depends on what community you’re talking about. As Ginny Lee points out, the Emerald Coast is not just one region. There are several micro regions within it that vary quite a bit.
Seller’s Market in Niceville, FL:
Inventory is down 29% with 1.7 months currently
Supply is down 28%
Prices are up more than 10%
Buyer’s Market in Santa Rosa Beach, FL:
Inventory is down 28% with 6.3 months currently
Supply is up 2.6%
Prices are up over 18%
Neutral Market in Destin, FL:
Inventory is down 33.5% with 5.6 months currently
Supply is down 7.6%
Prices are up more than 18%
Watch Ginny Lee’s full video breakdown here:
So it’s a really good time right now to be selling a home in Niceville and buying in Santa Rosa Beach. But there are also exciting opportunities in our little niche communities all across the Emerald Coast, from Seaside to Freeport to Fort Walton Beach, and all in between.
If you’re in the market to buy or sell a home, let us help you navigate this confusing 2020 market. Contact us right away for a free consultation.
Weather it be a fireplace mantle or accent wall or wood on a vaulted ceiling, I’m finding that popular demand is calling for stained wood inside high-end homes. And more specifically, the trend is for cypress inside their homes. Cypress is extremely big right now. We handle a lot of million-dollar homes down in south Walton county, and everyone is trying to get a line on some cypress. It’s very hot.
Pond Cypress v. Bald Cypress
So let’s discuss where the Cypress comes from. In the southeast part of the country, which is where we’re at, there are basically two common varieties of cypress trees. We have pond cypress and we have bald cypress. Both varieties are extremely hardy tress. They are slow growing and prefer wetlands. And they have an expected longevity of over a thousand years. If you leave a cypress tree alone, it’ll grow for a thousand years.
Pond cypress are a little more versatile because they don’t require wetlands. They can be in dry or wet areas. In fact you find a lot of landscapers will use these on high-end homes around ponds, down drain fields, and in irrigation areas. They can they can handle the drought as well as the floods. And that’s where you’ll find pond cypress.
They grow a little bit faster and mature a little quicker. They’re shorter, smaller, and a little bit fuller than their native cousin, the bald cypress – which is the one that I’m most interested in.
The bald cypress grows almost exclusively along rivers and in the swamp. And the bald cypress is known by many different names:
southern cypress
red cypress
white cypress
yellow cypress
gulf cypress
swamp cypress
bell-bottom cypress
Now, at the moment, I’m sitting on the Satilla River in southern Georgia. And I am surrounded by beautiful cypress trees. As the cypress grows down into the ground, it bells out creating a widening trunk and root “knees.” The root system is extremely complex, and these are very slow growing trees, strong and dense.
Plus these are almost entirely water-resistant or even water proof. This is why most people will use bald cypress for roof shingles or exterior doors or even for exterior siding. Cypress is used as a premium building material in high-end decor and accents almost everywhere in south Walton county. If you want to increase the value of your property or really make it pop, or if you want it to sell quick and have that curb appeal, then you want throw some cypress in there. Bald cypress is very hot right now.
Two Premium Cypress Products
But let’s discuss two specific kinds of bald cypress. There are two specific kinds that my homeowners are calling for right now. The first kind is called deadhead or sinker cypress. This is when a cypress tree falls into the water or dies and the cold water preserves it and knocks off the fat and holds the heart intact. All the sap condenses inside, and the cold water almost petrifies it. It makes it extremely dense, extremely rich, and absolutely gorgeous.
A pure deadhead cypress can sit in the river for a hundred years before it’s pulled out and milled and sent to your home for premium decor or a structural pillar or fire mantle, etc. It’s an ultra premium building material and very classy. If you want to impress your friends, throw some deadhead cypress products in your home.
The other kind is pecky cypress, something that I’m finding is in high demand around here. Pecky cypress is the product of a fungus that develops on the tree bark. It eats through the bark into the actual wood itself creating little caterpillar-shaped cavities. It goes on for tens and even hundreds of years and threatens the life of the tree. It can even kill the tree at times. But when this is milled, it creates an unbelievably beautiful effect in the wood.
If you’re looking for a way to increase the value of your home, blow people away, and help your house sell quicker than your neighbor’s, throw in some cypress for a touch of class.
If you have any questions on how to use cypress in your home, what kind of cypress to use, and where you might put it in your home, please reach out. I love to hear your comments and question. And we’re always happy to help.
Let’s deal with a question that I hear quite frequently: How do I know what my home is worth? And that’s a fair question. When it comes time to selling your home, it’s important that you associate the correct value with your home. Allow me to explain some issues if you do not know how to accurately estimate this value.
Overvaluing vs. Undervaluing Your Home
If you value your home too low, if you place a number on it that’s not even worth what your house is worth, then obviously you’re not going to get the kind of money that you could get for your house. And you don’t want to lose that labor. You don’t want to lose the payments you’ve done. You don’t want to come out with the short end of the stick. So when you value your house too low then you have those issues.
And most people are familiar with those issues. But one thing that most people don’t consider is that there’s just as big an issue if you overvalue your property. If you take a home that’s worth $120,000 and value that property at $140,000, what’s going to happen is the buyer is going to come looking in your area, they’re going to realize that your house is overpriced, and as a result, your home is going to sit there on the market longer than it should.
Or you’re going to get low-ball offers. Because when people see that your house has been on the market longer than it should, they assume that it’s defective or that there’s an issue with selling it. And they see that as an opportunity to take advantage of the listing agent.
So what you want to do is to make sure that you find the exact value of your home. Don’t just pick a number and throw it out there. Find what your home is truly worth. Take the time to discover what the value is, and list it for that price.
Three Ways to Calculate Home Value
I’m going to give you three ways that you can discover the value of your house. A lot of people go with just one of these ways, but I recommend all three. I recommend that you take the three numbers, put them together, and you’ll have a better understanding of what your home is worth.
Now, the first option that a lot of people know about and go with is the appraisal. The appraisal is an outside organizational, a licensed group, that comes in and puts everything together. They compare the size of your lot the inside-outside sizes of your home. They take pictures and look at a bunch of details, then they compile a big list of things that contribute to the value of your home.
Now that is a very big thing to do. And it takes time and it costs a lot of money. If you have the time and you are willing to spend the money, I recommend you get an appraisal. What is important when you’re picking out an appraiser is that you understand an appraisal is not a science, it’s an art. In appraising, 2 + 2 does not always equal 4. You may take it to one appraiser and he may value it five or six thousand dollars higher than another appraiser. So when you’re looking for an appraiser, make sure you shop around and find the right one that is qualified to appraise your specific home.
Now the second thing that I want to bring up is the comparative market analysis or a CMA. In the the real estate world, a CMA is something that a realtor or a license real estate agent will do by pulling together active listings, recently sold, and pending listings in your area. They will try to figure out what the asking price is versus what the selling price is. So they can pull it all together and come up with an average market value or comparative market value to see what your home is worth.
Now the thing about a CMA is that typically this is a free service offered by any local real estate brokerage. So if you have someone that you’re interested in selling your property, ask them about the CMA. See if they will come out to your property to do a comparative market analysis and see if they can recommend a value for your home.
Now the third and final option is what’s known as a brokers price opinion or a BPO. These are usually offered at a small price anywhere from $50 to $250 depending on the value of your home and the brokerage you select. The broker comes out to your place and looks at a bunch of different options and factors and tries to figure out what your home is worth.
A Combined Approach
Now these are three separate options, and it’s always good to reach in different directions to find a good, true, accurate value. If you have the time and the money, go with an appraisal to establish the fair value of your home. But also contact your local realtor. Get them to do a CMA on your property and on your home to see what they might say your home is worth. And also go ahead and call the broker to do a PPO.
You can do one, two, or all three of these options. It’s up to you. However, I recommend using all three options to get a solid average for your home’s value.
The thing you need to understand is that if you don’t get you the value of your home right the first time, it could affect the sale of your house. It really could. If you price it too high and it stays on the market too long ,people are going to associate the picture of your house with too high a price, and they’re going to look right past it. You don’t want to do that. Because everyone wants to sell their house as quickly as possible for the most money that they can get.
If you have any more questions about how to sell it quickly and for the best value, reach out and let us help. And if you know people who might be selling their home, share this resource.
Vacation rental properties are HOT along the Emerald Coast. Many have found them to be a highly lucrative investment avenue. And if you’ve ever considered getting into real estate investment, no doubt the prospect of owning a beachfront property has crossed your mind. But where do you start? Well, we’re not investment experts, but the folks over at NerdWallet are. And if you’re looking for what all to consider before jumping in, you’ll find their post quite helpful.
So let’s discuss where the Cypress comes from. In the southeast part of the country, which is where we’re at, there are basically two common varieties of cypress trees. We have pond cypress and we have bald cypress. Both varieties are extremely hardy tress. They are slow growing and prefer wetlands. And they have an expected longevity of over a thousand years. If you leave a cypress tree alone, it’ll grow for a thousand years.
