Would you consider a second home/rental property in Port St Joe or Mexico beach?

Looked at Mexico Beach a few years back after Hurricane Michael ravaged the area. Property was going relatively inexpensively at the time. A few that I looked at are still for sale. Albeit for 30-50% more now.

On the plus side; how often does a town basically get to start over again? Should come back better than it was. Making it pretty desirable IMHO.

At the time; there was some problems too. In an effort to keep it similar to what it was historically; there were serious restrictions on what could be built. Basically; only allowing a home to be built that was roughly like what was destroyed. A condo replacing a condo instead of a new single family home; etc.

It was also evident that there was an explosion in pricing and desirability in the 30A area. All things being equal; I think a vacation rental in the 30A would probably perform better.

Finally; as a Florida resident I can’t underscore enough how problematic insurance is becoming in the State. There are still homes in SWFL which aren’t being rebuilt after Ian. They were insured and the insurers have left them hanging. Moreover; the insurance industry has approached FL regulators to ask for “acts of God” to be excluded from basic policy coverages and added as an additional fee.

Meaning; they want an excuse to no longer pay for Hurricane damage or only do so if the insured has paid an exorbitant additional premium.

IMHO; we’re literally one major storm hitting a metro area away from the major Insurers leaving the State altogether.

Both homeowners and auto insurance premiums have grown exponentially with no signs of stopping.

We’re seeing some even take the risk of self insuring if the home is already paid off. Choosing to take the money they would have paid for insurance and putting it into the market or a HYSA. Their argument is that if they get lucky they make money and in the worst case scenario the insurance wouldn’t pay if they made a claim anyway.

Wait about a year.

quote:

---

OP is referring to a different Mexico Beach.

---

A lot of Insurance providers are pulling out of Florida.

I would check to see who provides and what kind of rates you are looking at.

is this florida specific? what about orange beach or somewhere in AL instead?

sorry for dumb questions; this is all new to me. we're going to be in st joe this weekend and for shits & grins we're having a realtor show us around so i'll pick his brain as well.

We visited that area years ago following a stay on 30A. This would have been well before Michael. Enjoyed Apalachicola, although they were experiencing a red tide, which meant we couldn’t have their famous oysters. Took a spin through St. George Island, and out Cape San Blas, which struck me with its beauty and remoteness. Visited the St. Joe development at Port St. Joe - Windmark Beach - and toured a magazine’s “Dream Home” there. (There was another St. Joe project back towards Panama City, which appeared to be fizzling at the time.) There were things we loved about the area, but the major roadblock we saw at the time was the distance from any major highways. It’s not called “The Forgotten Coast” for nothing.

We toured a dozen houses or so today from Mexico Beach all the way down to Cape San blas.

Because of the storm last night the Gulf was raging and they had the double red flag up.

What I found interesting is the fact cape south is growing and cape north is eroding like crazy. The waves were literally crashing under the houses just north of the boulder field they set up to keep the road from washing away. No beach left whatever.

Feel bad for those people. Those houses won't hold their value too much longer.

Definitely gave me pause after the long drive through PCB and the lack of any decent stores except going all the way up to PCB.

I don't know now. Getting cold feet but Indian pass raw bar was straight up fire. $27 for a massive pile of crab legs that were steamed to perfection and $2 for the best cheese grits I've ever eaten.