Realty Executives Gulf Coast
Vacationing along the Alabama Coast offers many options. There are so many to choose from but it all depends on preference and budget. The best time to get a good deal is usually between the second week of August through mid October. It’s still very warm and much less crowded.
But for many, this isn’t an option. Whether you visit during Spring Break or Summer, you’ll want to find the right place that best suits your needs and expectations.
House rentals are a little more pricey than hotels or condo rentals but if you share the expense with a couple of people or a group, it may cost the same in the end. House rentals may or may not come with pools and may not be completely beach front properties. However, a house rental gives you the privacy and intimate gathering space that you may be looking for with a family reunion. House rentals vary from beach front, lagoon front or bay front. Some may only include access to water bodies. Make sure you understand exactly where your home rental is and what type of water access you have beforehand.
Condo rentals offer more amenities but you also lose a bit of privacy. Costs for parking extra vehicles may be included as well. But what you get is sometimes worth it. Many amenities include BBQ and picnic areas, recreation areas, piers and boat access, pools, spas, hot tubs and saunas, with the occasional lazy river like The Turquoise Place offers.
There are also many hotels and campsites, too many to mention. With several brand new hotels to choose from, you now have beachfront, Intracoastal Waterway Front, and Gulf State Park front access. There’s never been so many camping areas to choose from. If you own a camper, you should have no problem finding a perfect spot in our area.
Fort Morgan is a more secluded vacation choice. It’s about a ten minute drive back into town, but The Plantation and The Beach Club both have food venues. Not to mention the area’s new food trucks that make their rounds. Fort Morgan is filled with hiking trails, the historical fort, and little lagoon for kayaking. Both of these places have many amenities to enjoy.
Gulf Shores has multiple condos and house rentals to choose from. But it can be crowded and loud at times. This is where the HangOut Music Festival takes place as well as the Shrimp Festival bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the area. Things to do in Gulf Shores.
Orange Beach is east of Gulf Shores and also offers plenty of condo rentals and some home rentals. Several shopping centers offer grocery stores,restaurants, boutiques, and souvenir shops but the traffic can be crowded at times.
Between Gulf Shores and Orange Beach you have the Gulf State Park, the Backcountry trails, Lake Shelby and the Gulf State park beach and pier. (FYI - You don’t want to go swimming near the pier.)
Perdido Key is “down the road” from Orange Beach and is actually in Florida. Less developed than Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, it has a mixture of places to rent that range from pricey to average. You may have to drive farther to enjoy all the touristy things like amusement parks; OWA, The Track, Waterville USA, Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, Adventure Island or Pirate’s Island.
Once you decide the area and type of rental you have in mind, your budget will be the next important factor.
Whether you want to enjoy nature and have the beach to yourself or want to be in the middle of everything, one thing's for sure, we have it all.
Some places you may decide to check out are:Brett Robinson, Turquoise Place, The Beach Club, Meyers, The Lighthouse, Island Winds West, Surfside Shores, Phoenix All Suites, or The Plantation.
Spring is here and officially starts Tuesday, March 20. With it comes warmer days, vacation seekers, festivals and events. It’s the perfect time to take advantage of all the beautiful landscapes that our area has to offer.
The beach, of course, is the main draw to the Alabama Coast. Don’t forget to help the locals keep our beaches clean and safe. Here’s the Leave Only Footprints Policy to guide you. If you’re a local or one of our many snowbirds that stays a bit longer, you may be interested in Alabama’s Sea Turtle Conservation Program, Share the Beach. You can learn more about our Loggerhead Sea Turtles and how to help them during your stay here > Loggerhead Sea Turtle Facts.
Get to know about our coastal community with an intimate tour of the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. Winter Walks and Talks begins in February and ends March 30. For more information, take a look at their schedule.
Many changes have taken place along the coast in the last year. One of the most impressive is the Gulf State Park Enhancement Project. Most of the projects are nearing completion and are slated to be finish in the fall. The new complex will include a gulf-front hotel, conference room, interpretive center, and a learning campus.
There are 6,000 acres to enjoy with the Gulf State Park. You can choose to walk through the forests on the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail, fish or kayak in the freshwater lakes, picnic at Lake Shelby, discover natural habitats, (maybe catch a glimpse of an alligator), in one of the many wetlands spots, bike one of the trails or take the whole day or tour the entire route, here is a map to direct you, and of course there’s miles of beaches complete with the public Fishing & Education Pier.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors each year visit the park. Need a place to stay? The Gulf State Park area has become a popular campground with 496 full hook-up campsites and 11 primitive sites. The reserve also offers numerous bike and hiking trails, boat launches, an 18-hole championship golf course, and a fishing pier extending a quarter-mile over the Gulf of Mexico. Gulf State Park stretches for several miles between Hwy 59 and Highway 161, and is a short drive to Orange Beach condos and Gulf Shores condos, restaurants, and entertainment venues.
UPCOMING EVENTS
March 10 - 11 44th Annual Festival of Art Waterfront Park, 26389 Canal Rd., Orange Beach
March 16 - 18 The 66th Annual Fairhope Arts 7 Crafts Festival Fairhope, AL
March 22 - 25 The Wharf Boat 7 Yacht Show The Wharf, 4550 Main St., Orange Beach
March 22 - 25 25th Annual Festival of Flowers Bellingrath Gardens & Home, Theodore, AL
According to the Baldwin County Realtors Association, Single Family home sales has seen one of it’s most active seasons in years. The amount of homes sold in the first half of 2017 is up twenty percent over last year. In 2016, 356 homes were sold during the first half compared to this year’s 429 homes that have sold.
The average price per home rose from 2016’s $360,550 to this year’s price of $384,480. Median prices also grew from $295,000 to $307,000. Creating the price per square ft of $171 over 2016’s $156 per square foot. That’s a ten percent increase, good news for sellers.
In May of this year, Single Family Home sales reached an all time high with 685 homes sold during that month. This is a whopping forty percent increase from the previous year’s sales. The declining inventory is somewhat responsible with a 3.9 percent months of actual supply.
Homes are staying on the market with an average of 137 days, more good news for sellers. The determining factor is price. Those homes that are priced well suited to markets are moving quickly.
A new report released by CoreLogic, Alabama, ranked Coastal Alabama as the one of the lowest hurricane risks for single family homes among coastal states. Reconstruction cost value (RCV) is correlated with the number of homes at risk. Because of this, Florida has the highest risk, followed by the southern states of Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, and Mississippi. Alabama scored high on the chart at 15 out of 19 states surveyed.
This makes Coastal Alabama even more attractive for investors, second home owners, retirees, and those seeking a beach community to raise their families in. You can read more about the results here: CoreLogic Storm Surge Analysis.
New growth in Baldwin County as well as Mobile County is having a huge impact on the housing market. Expectations are that it will continue on into next year with more on the way if the market continues to display the same patterns that’s been observed in the last couple of years.
The retirement surge has also been a contributing factor as more and more couples are making the move from high impact regions to low density coastal communities. The Alabama Gulf is a perfect blend of a small community with the ability to travel a short period of time to major cities and conveniences. All this together makes Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Fort Morgan and Foley an attractive alternative to the Florida Panhandle.
According to the Alabama Center for Real Estate, demand for condominiums along the coast in Baldwin County is growing. The Phoenix Orange Beach, the Phoenix Gulf Shores, and Abaco in Gulf Shores are only a few of the new buildings under construction this spring.
With condos selling like they are, inventory is down which has caused prices to rise along the coast. The Baldwin County Association of Realtors reported approximately 216 condos sold in March which is an increase of 122 sold the previous year in March 2016. That’s 12 units shy of doubling the amount sold in February of this year which ended up at 114.
Not only is inventory down but the number of days condos are staying on the market is also decreasing. In 2016, an average time span for condos on the market was about 178. In the first quarter of 2017, the average number of days for condos to stay on the market is 137. Sales are taking a month less on the average which is great news for sellers.
Prices have steadily increase with the growing national trend. Less inventory means pricing increases as demand outweighs supply. March’s median sales price was 6 percent higher than the five year average from 2012 - 2016, from $261,670 to $277,250. This is a 4.2 percent increase over the nationwide median vacation home price of $200,000.
Investment properties continue to see an increase, almost an 8 percent rise from 2015, as younger generations are choosing rent over purchasing. Inventory for Baldwin County peaked in February at 1,348. This again includes all of Baldwin County and not just coastal properties. With the new surge of construction, inventory should be at it’s best in the next 6 to 12 months opening up new room for investors and second home purchasers to gain better purchasing prices as demand and supply balance out.
“The pace of U.S. home price gains slowed in June from the previous month, but strong appreciation in the West and South kept growth above the two-year average, according to a monthly report,” according to CNBC News.
Baldwin County totaled 528 units in July residential sales. Although sales is down 0.6 percent from 2015, year-to-date sales are 1.1 percent or 34 units above the same period last year according to the Alabama Center for Real Estate’s (ACRE) monthly forecast. See the report here.
ACRE forecasted 3,090 closed transactions for the year through July, actual sales were 3,231 units, a difference of 4.5 percent. With supply diminishing by some 58% for 2016, this has put a damper on would be sales. With a decrease in supply, the usual sales increase in July wasn’t there. Down by 7.2%, the usual increase from June is around 2.7%.
However, 60% of total sales came from existing single-family homes while only 13% accounted for new home sales. Condos added another 28% of sales.
Median sales prices for July landed around $207,450 which is down by about 4.4% from 2015. See here for historical data.
According to Bankrate, there are 5 Trends to Watch for the Fall.
If you’ve ever considered selling your home to either downgrade, upgrade or retire, now is the perfect storm to do so. Call, text or email me today to set up an appointment. I can offer guidance into what your best strategy will be to make the most out of your home sell.
Realty Executives agents are real estate experts. They have the education and expertise you need to navigate through the process of buying or selling a home. From listing at the right price to making the best offer, our Executives have witnessed the best - and most regrettable - decisions homeowners and homebuyers can make. Every day, they are immersed in every aspect of real estate that includes comparable home price analysis, property surveys, credit reports, open houses, HOA agreements, lenders, title companies, homeowners’ insurance, walk-throughs, terms of sale or purchase, repairs, concessions and closing documents. Let our accomplished Executives help navigate you through the process of buying or selling a home.
