The 30A Songwriters Festival headquarters is located just West of Seaside at the Watercolor Inn. An updated performance schedule was posted on 1/11/12 but it’s a good idea to check the website for updates as changes may occur. You can pick up a printed schedule at Watercolor Inn or download the schedule here.

The festivities kick off on Wednesday, January 11th with a special pre-festival performance at Fish Out of Water for members of the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County.

Friday, January 13th is the 30A Songwriters Festival kick-off party hosted at Pandora’s. (open to all weekend pass holders) Most of the venues will be open with performances from 6:00-12:00AM.

Saturday starts at 10:00AM and ends at 12:00AM with performances by Matthew Sweet & The Bangles at the Seaside Lyceum.

Start Sunday out right with a gospel brunch at Caliza in Alys Beach…heavenly music and incredible atmosphere! Again, most venues will be open with performances until 12:00AM

This is an awesome festival, no matter where you end up on 30A you won’t be disappointed. See you there! And if you’re interested in looking at real estate, give us a call at Beachy Beach and make sure you watch our two weekly real estate shows. The Beach Show 30A and The Beach Show.

WASHINGTON – Jan. 5, 2012 – In Florida and a handful of other states, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will sell homes it owns for only a $100 downpayment, providing buyers meet certain conditions.

Buyers must plan to live in the home and pay full list price. They must also take out an FHA loan, and standard underwriting rules apply. FHA loans typically require a 3.5 percent downpayment.

The deal also helps buyers who want to buy a home that needs repairs. The $100 downpayment offer can also be applied to FHA’s 203k loans, which allow a buyer to borrow more than the list price and use the extra money to fix it up. By rolling the loan money plus fix-up costs into a single loan, buyers can pay it off over time with one monthly payment.

In most cases, HUD will also cover up to 3 percent of closing costs.

For more information, visit HUD’s website.

© 2012 Florida Realtors®

Hooray! Panama City Beach Economy On Upswing!

A new shopping center is going to be built across from Simon Properties Pier Park Development. This is great news for Panama City Beach. Wal-Mart is also building a Super Store adjacent to Pier Park so this is going to be a busy area and can only mean investors think this area is ready to grow.

The new shopping center, called Pier Park North will occupy 60 acres and will be approximately 400,000 SF, for reference, Pier Park is approximately 1,000,000 SF. The architecture and landscaping will be very similar to Pier Park. The new center is being developed by Glimcher Development Corp. and they consider themselves direct competitors of Simon Properties, so…if you love Pier Park, you should love the new Pier Park North also.

The Glimcher Development Corp will release an announcement once leases have been signed for fifty percent of the space, some of the names mentioned include The Fresh Market, Men’s Wearhouse, Dicks Sporting Goods, and Pier 1. I know my whole office would be incredibly stoked for a Fresh Market. Projected opening for the new shopping center is Spring of 2013.

If you’re keeping track, you can add Pier Park North to your list of new businesses that now include Wal-Mart, Harley Davidson and Whataburger.

PierParkN

It was windy off the dock at my back yard on 11-29-11.