Condos everywhere in the state are having huge issues since the State Legislature was forced to deal with the very flawed Condo Statute 718 after the Surfside Towers collapse in Miami.
Entirely separate law from the one regulating HOA’s (720). I could go on for a while about how and why FS718 was written and who influenced the law but there’s a long history there going back decades.
Condo prices are falling everywhere and monthly dues are rising fast. Some of the nicer condos in the panhandle now have annual dues of around $25,000. They are owned by out of state folks who paid a lot less for them ten years ago and they’re flooding the market now with some unrealistic prices and expectations. They were renting their units out weekly and bringing in as much as $150K a year on rentals (before COVID) and it’s almost back to those levels now.
I love the Gulf Coast from end to end and the TB area from Tarpon to Sarasota is fabulous. It’s more expensive but it’s been popular with retirees from B1G country who have historically been Republican way before DJT came along. Few “MAGA” types. More like the stereotypical Country Clubber Repubs.
The Panhandle is also popular with Midwesterners who don’t mind wearing a sweater or a jacket in January and February since NoFla does have two and a half seasons and those of us who grew up here are used to it. In January we’re wishing it was June and in August we wish it was January. And if you’re an old style Floridian you do not go to the beach after Labor Day and not until Easter Weekend.
The old Panhandle (Lower Alabama) locals who live north of I-10 have always been ultra conservative and up until the 80’s they voted Democrat and put in far right guys like former Speaker Dempsey Barron who always wanted his picture taken in camo on horseback with a hunting rifle. He was a mean SOB. The SoFla folks in the Leg did not like him one bit. D la
Now I happen to love those beaches over in the Destin area and if I won the Lottery I’d have a place there. Not 30A but maybe Holiday Isle or western edge of PCB. I also like the more casual atmosphere and the lack of one upmanship about money and status.
There are jobs in the area that aren’t military oriented. You can’t have that kind of growth in population without growing goods and services.
Right now they are working to upgrade medical and health care facilities and services.
Traffic in this entire state is AWFUL and FDOT has never kept up and newsflash to the gullible dummies - it’s not because of any Governor either.
One solution would be if we stopped welcoming visitors and actively discouraging people to move here. Think that’ll happen? 😂
