Buying Condos in Panama City Beach (view all articles)
Written by: Joanie Miller - Panama City Beach, Florida

About Condominiums in Panama City Beach
Amenities: Your Playground
Making Money with Your Condo
Location, Location, Location!
Know Your Expenses

About condominiums in Panama City Beach

Whether you’re buying property for investment purposes, or just as a second home, Panama City Beach, Florida has a variety of condominiums to choose from.

A couple of decades ago, smaller low-rise condominiums and hotels were the only commodities to choose from. With the rise in supply and demand, developers completely remodeled beach front living in our town.

Amenities: Your Playground

Today, more than 20,000 beach-front condominiums can be found in our city. From high-rise to low-rise, your choices couldn’t be better. Most condominiums on the beach offer owners and guests a menu of amenities such as a pool, Jacuzzi tubs, one or more Tiki bars and of course, a fitness center.

However, with the introduction of some of the newer condominiums, amenities are now at a whole new level. Some of the larger resort style condominiums include large lagoon pools, movie theatres (one even has a dive-in movie theatre - yes as in swimming), children’s pool areas with interactive water toys, bowling alleys and more. From the buyer’s perspective, it seems as though the more amenities there are, the better.

If you are considering buying a condominium, get a list of all available amenities. Some people like a large list and some don’t, it’s all based off your interests. If amenities are not what you’re looking for, there are many condos that keep it simple with just a pool and spa.

Making Money with Your Condo

Many people buy Panama City Beach condos not only for leisure purposes, but for investments purposes too. Absentee owners and investors a-like know that while you are not using your condo, you can rent it. Putting your unit on the rental program could mean an extra $15,000 to even $50,000 a year. Boy, wouldn’t it be nice to have some assistance with your home mortgage!

If you are thinking about placing your unit on the rental program, here are a couple of tips to keep some change in your pockets:

• When looking for a property manager, it pays to shop around. Most companies are paid a percentage of your grossly rental income, so shopping around could save you 5% to 10% (possibly more) on rental income.
• Consider renting your property yourself. If you have the spare time, a great way to increase your income potential is to rent by yourself. There are various websites out there that allow you to advertise your rentals. Some for a couple hundred dollars a year.
• Don’t buy expensive furniture. I’m not saying don’t make your unit look nice, but keep it simple. Too many times have we seen our customers buy expensive furnishings only for them to be ruined by guests. Sure, you get a security deposit, but sometimes $500 doesn’t cover everything.

Location, Location, Location!

Yes, you’ve heard it before; location is the key to your enjoyment.

Want to be where the action is? You can surely find it everywhere, but we often recommend Front Beach Road. Many of the bars, shopping and dining take place on this soon-to-be-redeveloped roadway. Places like Pier Park, the city pier and Alvin’s Island, can all be found on Front Beach Road. Take caution though, when traveling on this road during spring break or the summer, traffic can get very congested.

More into the “laid back?” Thomas Drive is where you should look. Located on the east end of Panama City Beach, Thomas Drive is more of the quiet end of the beach. Don’t get us wrong, there is a large amount of condominiums on Thomas Drive, but most of the events seem to be geared more in the central and west-ends of Panama City Beach.

Know Your Expenses

If you’re thinking about buy a condo, make sure you know all the fees that are involved with the community. Here are some questions to ask your REALTOR® when looking at condominiums:

• Does this condominium have an association fee?
• How much is the association fee?
• Is the association fee paid monthly, quarterly or yearly?
• Are there any common elements fees (not included in the association fees) that are required prior to use?
• Is there a mandatory “club” that an owner must join? If so, how much is the club per month/quarterly/yearly?
• Does my association fees including cable tv, water, electricity, phones or anything else?

If your REALTOR® does not know these figures, they can obtain them for you fairly easily.