#715 Listed 5/29/14 for $95,000  
The unit is a 3/2, upstairs, parking lot side, originally purchased 12/15/06 by Sylvia Sims for $174,900 
MLS #620657

Is it a good time to buy a condo?

(Note:  I brought this up the blog from the original date of Friday, August 24, 2012.  It is an old post but the info remains valid with the caution that if you buy here you are making a purchase of a condo in a low income rental project, make sure you want to do this.)

Q)  Is Nautilus Cove Condo a good place to buy a condo.

A)  Yes, provided that you can put up with a really crappy management firm that the BOD seems unwilling to fire.

There are pretty much three price ranges here at NCC. The most expensive condos would be those 56 condos being sold by the developer. Even they don't think they will sell at the prices they ask and they say that they do not anticipate any further sales.  Those units are rented out by the condo management firm and are advertised as 'low income housing'.

2nd tier prices, are lower than the prices above and are being asked by Owners who wish to sell their units, either they have paid cash or they are approved by their lending institutions for short sales. Short sales have several problems and you can frequently waste a lot of time trying to buy one only to have it fall through at the last minute.  Be careful with short sales see info at:  http://tinyurl.com/9co2tgd.

3rd tier, the units that have been foreclosed by lending institutions and are put up for sale at 40-50% or their original purchase price. The prices are very good, but they are sold 'as is' and some units need to have holes in the wall patched, require new carpeting and even complete painting.

The foreclosed units can sell quickly and now and then there will be a bidding war which will drive prices up by several thousand dollars. Even with the steep discounts on prices asked, potential buyers can still put in bids for less than the asking price and this can save you money, all the seller can do is refuse to go lower, so it dosen't hurt to ask for a lower price.

So the answer is that it is a good time to buy and foreclosures have tended to sell quickly. There have been some problems in obtaining FHA/HUD approved loans.  However, cash seems to work quite well and if you have 80-90K on hand you can pick up a very good deal at Nautilus Cove.

Probably the only 'happy' Owners are the ones coming in now at those steep discounted prices.  Owners who purchased at the original list prices of 3-6 years ago have seen their units re-sale value drop so low that it frequently isn't worth keeping up the mortgage and Assn. dues payments.  You can rent a lot cheaper here than the costs of paying on  a mortgage obtained before the realty bubble burst. 

Rentals here go from $850 to $1100 and an owners old mortgage may be costing them $1,000-1,250 a month, plus your Bay County taxes, your $225 monthly condo fee and your units insurance.

By Way of Disclosure:  I owned #708 at NCC from 5/07 to 1/13 and sold it back to the developer at a 78K loss.  I am very pleased to be a 'former owner'!   Note:  I also sued the developer controlled BOD for several years on their lack of enforcing 3 sections of the documents regarding rentals of units.  I 'settled' the suit and got back my 7K in attorney fees and filing costs.  When I left they were renting out units in accordance with the condo documents.

#705 liened by NCC for past due assessments

#705 has been a problem unit since it was initially sold 12/11/06 to Juan Reyes for $168,200. Now it is yet again liened by Nautilus Cove for $3,430.75 in past due condo dues.

Brian Gibson, of Camillia, Ga, purchased the condo 5/6/13 from Deutsche Bank for $80,000 and it seems that nothing was ever paid in dues. Now the condo assn. is again liening the unit. This is a 3/2 ground floor parking lot view.

As with all units or names you can find all the references to it by using the blog search feature at the top left of the site.  Just enter 705 and bring up all mentions of this or any other unit.

Developer's unsold units available for a bulk sale

Nothing really 'new' here these unsold developer's  units have been on the market for years and had a nibble some years ago but the price was to high, as it probably still is.  The units remain available for a bulk sale for $6,840,000. You can see the listing at: http://www.loopnet.com/xnet/mainsite/listing/Profile/Profile.aspx?LID=17468613&PreviousLinkCode=10850&PreviousSourceCode=1lww2t006a00001&&LinkCode=10850&SourceCode=1lww2t006a00001

Nautilus Cove Condos
13700 Panama City Beach Parkway, Panama City Beach, FL 32408

$6,840,000  57 Units | Multifamily Property For Bulk Sale
Price:  $6,840,000  No. Units:  57  Building Size:  75,586 SF  
Price/Unit:  $120,000  Property Type:  Multifamily  Property Sub-type: Garden/Low-Rise  Property Use Type:  Investment  Commission Split: 1.5%  Cap Rate: 3.55%  Gross Rent Multiplier: 9.05  Occupancy:  93%  
No. Stories:  2  Year Built:  2007   Parking Ratio: 2 / 1,000 SF  Listing ID:  17468613  Last Updated:  33 days ago (4/7/14)

Highlights
58% Huge 4 Bedroom/3 Bathroom Units. Huge Resort Pool. Beautiful Club House. Only 8 Blocks to Public Beach. Great Drive By Traffic for Rentals. Huge Potential for Selling as Condos when Market Recovers.

Description
57 beautiful condos in the Nautilus Cove community. These are new construction (not condo conversion) condos with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. The mix is 33 four bedroom, three bathroom; 11 three bedroom, two bathroom; and 13 two bedroom, two bathroom. All financial information, building size, lot size and other information in this listing will need to be confirmed by buyer.

Nautilus Cove is located just 8 blocks from a public Gulf of Mexico beach and less then 1 mile from the new Pier Park shopping district. The new international airport is only 12 miles from the property.

Financial Summary
Actual  Year2013
Scheduled Gross Income  $755,849
Effective Gross Income  $605,284
Operating Expenses  $362,528
Net Operating Income  $242,759
Pre-Tax Cash Flow  $242,759