Found 221 blog entries tagged as buyers.

What Should You Check Before Buying Vacant Land on the Forgotten Coast?

Once you are under contract on vacant land on the Forgotten Coast, your due diligence period should confirm three things: a wetland check and current survey establishing your buildable area and legal access, a realistic estimate for utility hookup and well drilling costs, and a land loan that fits the down payment and terms lenders actually offer for raw property. Florida's Vacant Land Contract gives you a generous due diligence window built specifically to run these checks before you are locked in, and working through them in order turns a promising lot into a confident purchase.

By Billy Joe Smiley | August 20, 2026

More buyers are calling me about vacant lots than…

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What Happens If the Appraisal Comes in Low on a Forgotten Coast Waterfront Home?

If your Forgotten Coast waterfront appraisal comes in under contract price, you have four real options: renegotiate the price, cover the gap in cash, request a lender-facilitated Reconsideration of Value with stronger comps, or use Florida's appraisal contingency to walk away with your earnest money. Waterfront and one-of-a-kind homes appraise low more often simply because there are fewer recent comparable sales for the appraiser to work from, not because anything is wrong with the property. In today's buyer's market on this coast, you have more leverage to resolve it than buyers have had in years.

By Billy Joe Smiley | August 18, 2026

You found the right…

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Eleven Sales Again, and a Very Different Eleven

The count did not move. Eleven homes closed on the Forgotten Coast last week, the same number as the week before. Everything underneath it moved.

Mid-August has its own rhythm out here. The weekday beach thins down to walkers and a few surf casters, and the afternoon pop-up storms have gotten regular enough that you learn to run your errands before two. Weekends still fill up. Tuesdays belong to the locals again.

Under that quiet, the money shifted hard. Residential volume came in around $8.06 million on those 11 sales, up from roughly $7.5 million a week earlier on the identical count. The average sale climbed to $732,565 from $682,382. The reason sits out on the Cape, and it is a story about…

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How Does a 1031 Exchange Work When You Sell Investment Property on the Forgotten Coast?

A 1031 exchange lets you sell a qualifying investment or rental property and roll the proceeds into your next one without paying federal capital gains tax right now. You defer the gain instead of losing a chunk of it, as long as you use a qualified intermediary, identify a replacement property within 45 days, and close within 180. Florida has no state capital gains tax to worry about, but documentary stamp tax still applies on both sides of the exchange. Get the timeline and the paperwork right, and this is one of the most valuable tools an investor on this coast has for building real wealth over time.

By Billy Joe Smiley | August 13, 2026

If you own…

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One Day on the Market: Park Point Custom Home with St. Joe Bay Views

This secluded dunes custom home in Park Point at Secluded Dunes on North Cape San Blas lasted just one day on the market—proof that the right buyer showed up at the perfect time. With St. Joe Bay right out the back door and uninterrupted vistas into the St. Joe Peninsula State Park, it’s a rare find in the heart of the Forgotten Coast.

A Setting Like Nowhere Else

Backing up to the state park means your "neighbors" are the deer and native fauna that make this world-class preserve so special. From sunrise over the bay to peaceful evenings, the views and wildlife take center stage every day.

Highlights at a Glance

Stunning St. Joe Bay views from the backyard


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Twelve Miles of Highway 98 Did Most of the Coast's Business Last Week

Eleven closings. That is the whole Forgotten Coast for the first full week of August, down from 22 seven days earlier. Cut clean in half.

August runs on its own clock out here. The shrimp boats work the flats in the early light while everybody else sleeps in, and by four in the afternoon the storms have stacked up over the mainland and the beach empties in about ten minutes. A slow week in August surprises nobody.

What should get your attention is what inventory did while sales were cooling. Active residential listings fell to 571, down from 582 a week ago and well off the June peak of 620. Supply has now shrunk two weeks running, in the quietest stretch of the season.

Active Residential Listings on Florida's Forgotten Coast

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Your inspection found issues. Can you get the seller to fix them or pay you for it?

Yes, and in today's Forgotten Coast market you have more room to work with than buyers have had in years. Florida's standard AS IS contract does not require a seller to make repairs, but it gives you a defined inspection period, typically 10 to 15 days, to use your findings as leverage for a closing credit, a price reduction, or repairs before closing. With inventory rising across Cape San Blas and the surrounding coast, sellers are saying yes to reasonable requests more often than they were even a year ago.

By Billy Joe Smiley | August 6, 2026

The inspection report just landed in your inbox and it's longer than you expected. Maybe the roof is pushing 17…

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Do HOA fees and rental rules differ between Ovation, WindMark Beach, and Secluded Dunes?

Yes, significantly. Ovation enforces strict signage rules and tiered dues penalties, WindMark Beach charges roughly $490 to $600 per quarter with rental policies that vary by neighborhood, and Secluded Dunes has recorded covenants but no active HOA collecting dues or enforcing them day to day. I always pull the actual documents for the specific lot before a buyer writes an offer, because the rules can differ even within the same community.

By Billy Joe Smiley | August 4, 2026

I love this question, and I get it often, because it means a buyer is thinking ahead instead of getting surprised later. Cape San Blas and Port St. Joe have some of the best…

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St. George Island Finally Shows Up, and the Coast Closes Out July at Full Speed

August arrived the way it always does out here. Heavy, bright, and loud with cicadas by nine in the morning. Turtle nest markers still stake out the dunes past Cape Palms. The bay lies flat and glassy until the storms stack up over the mainland around four, and by supper the whole coast smells like rain on hot asphalt. It's officially the dog days of summer.

Underneath all that, the market turned in its cleanest week of the summer. 22 homes closed across the coast, and active inventory fell by 33 listings in seven days. Sales up and inventory down in the same week is not something that happens often out here so it's worth attention.

Market position by area of the Forgotten Coast

What is the Forgotten…

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Does "beach access" on a listing actually mean you have a legal right to the beach?

Sometimes, and it is worth confirming exactly which kind before you write an offer. Deeded access is a recorded easement in the property's chain of title, spelling out a specific path to the water that transfers with the home. Public access is a government-maintained crossover open to everyone, reached from a public right of way rather than through a recorded right tied to your parcel. A title search during your due diligence period settles the question in writing, so you know precisely what you are buying rather than assuming it from the listing photos.

By Billy Joe Smiley | July 30, 2026

I get some version of this question every time a buyer falls for a…

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