Karl Burger - Pensacola Real Estate News

Original article on Pensacola Real Estate News

With the weather in the Pensacola area this week, I thought flood insurance would be an appropriate topic to discuss.

On Oct 18, Pensacola airport reported over 6 inches of rain, and over 9 inches was reported in Gulf Breeze.

And there is still more rain to come.

Owning real estate in the Pensacola area, or on the gulf coast in general, means living with ridiculously high homeowners insurance rates. The typical homeowner would assume that their insurance policy would cover anything that caused damage to their home, including flooding. Given the cost of insurance in Pensacola, that would seem to be a valid assumption.

Unfortunately, many gulf coast home owners found to their dismay that this was not the case after hurricane Ivan hammered Pensacola in 2004. Owners of flooded homes were given the cold shoulder by their insurance carriers, and the courts stood by the insurance companies.

Here are some important points regarding flood insurance.

1) Flooding is not typically covered under a homeowners insurance policy

Other losses caused by wind, fire, lightning, vandalism and burglary are covered. If you want to buy flood insurance, it must be obtained through the National Flood Insurance Program administered by FEMA. Your insurance carrier should be able to help you obtain flood insurance, although some insurance carriers have stopped providing this service.

2) Do Not Depend on Federal Disaster Assistance

To be eligible for federal disaster assistance, a community must be declared a federal disaster area. In most cases, flooding tends to be a localized event and a federal disaster declaration is not issued.

And IF disaster assistance is available, it is usually a loan you must repay, with interest.

After hurricane Ivan, the Pensacola area was declared a disaster area, and thus many homeowners without flood insurance were provided varying degrees of financial assistance. As an example, I knew a resident of a home in the Bayou Grove subdivision that was flooded with 3 feet of water when Bayou Chico rose from the Ivan storm surge. All of the owner's possessions were destroyed, and the home had to be gutted. FEMA paid $10,000 to cover damage to the home and the contents. Contractor estimates to repair the home were over $50,000.

3) Flooding can extend beyond flood zones

Approximately one third of all flood claims come from moderate to low risk areas outside of delineated flood zones. FEMA estimates that 1 in 4 homes in high risk areas will experience a flood over the course of a 30-year mortgage.

4) Flood insurance premiums are based on property location

In other words, if your home is in a flood zone, your premiums will be higher. To find out how much flood insurance will cost you, you need to know if you are in a low to moderate, or high risk flood area. Refer to this article on How To Determine The Cost Of Flood Insurance in Pensacola.

It is extremely important to know whether a home you are living in, or one you are considering purchasing is in a flood zone. I have seen several instances where a contract was finalized for the sale of a home only to fall apart weeks later when it was found that the home was in a flood zone.

5) Flood Insurance coverage

Comprehensive flood insurance coverage includes two policies.

The first covers the structure
The second covers the contents of the home.

When researching the cost of flood insurance, the policies will be broken down into these 2 categories.

The Pensacola News Journal wrote an article regarding Flooding in the Pensacola area after hurricane Ivan. This article provides useful information about flood insurance and some sad situations that could have been avoided by obtaining flood insurance coverage.

And if you do lose your home to a flood in Pensacola, there is a bright side. FEMA still has lots of trailers sitting out at the Saufley Field Naval Base just waiting for, well, waiting for something. They have been there since early 2005, so I'm not sure what they are waiting for. (Update: As of April 2008, the FEMA trailers are gone).

Those trailers out there are empty. There were too many to count. If anyone can help me understand why they are sitting out there, I'd love to know.

Here are some useful flood insurance links:

FEMA Information For Homeowners and Renters

Flood Smart

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Pensacola Market Data For March 2008
Residential Properties in
Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties

The table shows the Pensacola real estate market data for the month of March 2008, as compared to previous months. Pensacola home sales are up a little from the previous month, but so are inventory levels. Average homes sold price has dropped a little. Overall, this table shows that the Pensacola real estate market is just holding steady in its buyer's market mode. Keep checking back for my weekly and monthly updates on the Pensacola real estate market to keep abreast of what is going on.

- The table shows the monthly market data for Pensacola residential property.
- These numbers include only residential homes and condominiums in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties that are listed in the Pensacola MLS.
- The numbers do not include vacant land or lots, mobile homes or manufactured homes.
- The numbers are generated using data from the Pensacola MLS and are deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Click on Pensacola Real Estate News for a list of articles indexed by category.

This article provides a Pensacola real estate market report on the Herons Forest subdivision. If you are interested in seeing any homes in the Herons Forest subdivision, or any other homes for sale in Pensacola Florida, please feel free to Contact Me for assistance. All of the homes pictured on this page were for sale at the time this article was published.

Herons Forest is a beautiful gated community that has its own community pool, tennis courts, picnic area, nature trails, and deeded access to the beach area behind the subdivision, along with a natural greenbelt area. The first picture below shows the beautiful nature walk down to the water.

To see all current Pensacola Homes for Sale in Herons Forest, follow these simple steps:

Click on Search for Homes.

On the Property Search screen, click on the "More Search Options" button.

Then type Herons Forest into the "Subdivision" category and click the "Search Now" button at the bottom of the screen.

Herons Forest is located in Southwest Pensacola. It is not within the Pensacola city limits. Herons Forest is accessible from Old Gulf Beach Highway, just west of Blue Angel Parkway.

If you have younger children, the Perdido Kids Park is just a mile or so down the road, along with the Big Lagoon State Park. And the beach is just 10 minutes away.

To see the rest of this article, visit Pensacola Real Estate News

In the March 2008 monthly meeting of Pensacola Real Estate Navigators, our local Escambia County property appraiser Chris Jones was the guest speaker. I have never met Chris, although I have been friends with other members of his family for many years. And Chris, like the rest of his family, is a warm and friendly person and truly cares about his Pensacola community.

I have also had to work through real estate related issues with the Escambia County Property Appraisers office, and they are a pleasure to deal with. (I'm not kidding. No sarcasm intended.) Maybe you've dealt with our local county or city government and were left wondering how anything ever really gets done in our county. That is not Chris Jones' office. They are extremely customer service oriented and just as helpful and friendly as they can be.


The main topic of the speech was Property Tax Exemptions: Limitations on Property Tax Assessments, also known as Amendment 1. If you are not familiar with Amendment 1, follow the links on the Escambia County Property Appraisers home page for more information.

The first topic Chris covered was the doubling of the $25,000 homestead exemption. Chris made the point that this was not a "true doubling". The homestead exemption was increased to $25,000 in 1980. At that time, it should have been indexed to increase at a rate to keep pace with inflation. However, it was not. It was kept at $25,000 for the next 27 years. If the homested exemption had been indexed to keep pace with inflation, the exemption would now be $65,000, not $50,000. Hence, not a true doubling. This exemption does not apply to school taxes.

Why did we end up with Amendment 1? The taxable value of Escambia County real estate doubled over the last 7 years. The taxing authorities refused to lower tax rates, and just raked in all the extra money. Citizens of Florida said enough is enough. Hence, Amendment 1 was the Florida citizens' way of stopping the government from taking advantage of rising property values while not providing any better service to the people.

Another feature of Amendment 1 is portability. Portability refers to being able to move your "Save Our Homes" benefit from one home to another if you buy and sell your home in Florida. Without this portability, it can be cost prohibitive for many citizens to move in Florida. Chris gave the example of a gentlemen in his 80s who had lived on waterfront property on Bayou Texar for many years. His current property value is well over a million dollars. However, to downsize and move to a more modest $250,000 home would result in an increase in property taxes paid by this man. Portability will help with these types of issues. Chris believes that the portability feature will help absorb much of our current glut of inventory in the Pensacola real estate market. You can follow my Pensacola real estate market reports to keep track of local inventory.

The next feature of Amendment 1 discussed was the Tangible Personal Property Tax Exemption. This exemption pertains to Florida businesses. It basically helps the property appraiser's office focus their efforts on larger businesses that have more assets, versus wasting valuable resources on smaller businesses.

The last feature of Amendment 1 discussed was the 10% per year cap on non-homestead property. Thus if you own land, a second home, or other investment properties, your property taxes cannot increase more than 10% per year. This does not apply to school taxes.

After Amendment 1 was discussed, Chris went on to give his assessments of what he felt was the state of the Pensacola real estate market. He felt one of the big positives for the area was commercial property. We are seeing commercial property selling well, and holding its value. In addition, homes under $200,000 are holding their value fairly well. This should be a call to action for first time home buyers. There is bond money available at low interest rates, down payment assistance, and other programs to help first time Pensacola home buyers.

Of course we also have our negatives in Escambia County. Chris saw our big negatives being sales of waterfront properties and condos. These properties are not selling well in the current Pensacola real estate market. However, the prices are coming down on waterfront. See my article on Cheap Pensacola Waterfront Properties. Unfortunately, insurance rates are a big factor in preventing sale of these properties.

Chris also sees that people are leaving Escambia County faster than they are coming in. We need new business to attract people to our area. Santa Rosa county is rated as the 5th fastest growing County in Florida. Mobile Alabama is booming, along with Baldwin County and Orange Beach. And here sits Escambia County, sandwiched between 2 of the fastest growing areas in the nation. Our economy is stagnating and we are losing residents, while our neighbors are creating new business and have positive growing economies. Something is wrong. My feeling is that our local government leaders are not proactive in bringing new business to our area. Chris did not go so far as to say this, but I did hear several people in attendance mention poor leadership as our biggest problem.

I would like to extend a big thank you to Chris Jones for sharing his time and his knowledge with our local real estate investment group. It was a great educational experience for all who attended.

Click on Pensacola Real Estate News for a list of articles indexed by category.

Weekly Update For Residential Listings
In Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties

Welcome to this week's weekly Pensacola real estate market report. Pensacola home sales surprisingly jumped the previous 2 weeks, but seem to have dropped off this past week. All of the other data seem rather standard for this buyer's real estate market, but it is good to see a little movement in home sales. Keep an eye on my weekly market reports to keep tabs on the direction the real estate market is moving.

- The table shows the weekly market data for Pensacola residential property.
- These numbers include only residential homes and condominiums in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties that are listed in the Pensacola MLS.
- They do not include vacant land or lots, mobile homes or manufactured homes or Pensacola FSBOs.
- The numbers above are created using data from the Pensacola MLS and are deemed reliable but not guaranteed

Click on Pensacola Real Estate News for a list of articles indexed by category.