Tim Shepard Destin's Blog: Destin Homes For Sale

Fall is my favorite season of the year.  The temperatures are in the mid-80's, the water is still warm, and the beaches are less crowded.

It's also the season of festivals.

My favorite, the Destin Seafood Festival, runs from October 2 - October 4 this year. The event is held on the Harbor and features activities for everyone. Visitors can enjoy many of the arts and crafts booths or sample a wide variety of local seafood favorites prepared by the best chef's in the area.

The Seafood Festival also features outdoor concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings.  This years headline acts include Survivor ("I Can't Hold Back", "Eye of the Tiger") and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts ("I Love Rock -N- Roll", "I Hate Myself For Loving You"). 

If seafood and music are…

For the past several years, I have quietly compiled a daily list (The Shark's List) of the best homes and condos that are currently for sale.  Every entry on this list represents the one property that is head and shoulders above the competition in one or more aspects.  This could be price, location, quality, amenities, neighborhood, or a combination of all.

This is a list that I maintain privately and do not email or publish on my website.  Because the list represents best of class, the content changes daily.  There is is only one way to obtain this list and I'll talk about that later.

I'm only discussing it here because of the following email that I received today from another realtor:

     I'm looking for a condo priced under $300,000 on or near the…

Fishing out of Season is Illegal!

Hunting out of Season is Illegal!

But....hunting homes in Destin out of season is absolutely Fine.

I have shown homes in Destin to the same couple for three consecutive years now.  They always visit the third week of August and plan on doing so again next year.  Every year, we look at homes and the same thing happens.  There aren't any available that fit their criteria.  It's really unfortunate because there were many qualified choices for them in March and April but none in August.  This happens to them every year. 

Why?

Because, Destin is a popular resort destination located in the panhandle of Florida. In fact, Destin is so popular that we receive over 4.5 million visitors annually.  This is quite an accomplishment…

There have been two great foreclosure opportunites come onto the market in Destin, FL in the past 10 days.  One was a nice beach front condominium and the other was a charming cottage within walking distance to the beach.  Both properties were bank owned and priced well below recent comparable sales.

For the past several months, almost every prospective buyer that I've spoken with has asked specifically for a list of bank owned properties.  Unfortunately, there isn't much of a list available because these properties typically contract quickly.  As a result, our strategy has been to identify potential neighborhoods and complexes with our buyers and wait for the next foreclosure or extremely motivated seller to appear.

At this point, our buyers have done…