Destin & South Walton Real Estate Blog

In the middle of the Florida Panhandle, nestled between the South Walton communities of Grayton Beach [http://www.destinrealestatesales.com/grayton-beach.php ] and Seaside [http://www.gulfcoastrealestatesales.com/seaside-real-estate.php], lies Grayton Beach State Park [http://www.floridastateparks.org/graytonbeach/], one of the Emerald Coast’s most beautiful and pristine beach environments. Tall, rolling dunes of brilliant white sugar-soft sand gradually flatten into a wide beautiful beach that stretches down to some of the greenest, clearest water on the Gulf. Nothing less than idyllic, the beach at Grayton Beach State Park is renowned as one of the most beautiful natural beaches in the United States and attracts flocks of sun worshippers year…

One of the smartest things a Destin home seller can do when he puts his Gulf Coast home on the market is spend a little time – and perhaps a little money -- properly staging his home for sale. Home staging is the art of arranging and decorating your home to make it more appealing to potential home buyers. Expert Destin Realtors [http://www.gulfcoastrealestatesales.com/buying.php] have found that a well-staged home will attract more buyers and sell faster than an unstaged home. The proven success of staging a home for sale has created an industry of home stagers, professional decorators that are expert at playing up a home’s best features and creating an ambience that entices house hunters to BUY!

You can hire a professional Florida home…

Sunny days, white-sand beaches and warm Gulf waters are powerful attractants that draw 4.5 million tourists to Florida’s scenic Emerald Coast every year. Eighty percent of those vacationers visit Destin and many ultimately purchase a Destin vacation home [http://www.destinrealestatesales.com/idx/search_subdivision.html ] or relocate to Destin and become full-time residents. Frequently, vacationers who are considering a Destin home purchase will slip a little house hunting into their vacation schedule and cruise through a few open houses.

If you know you want to buy a home in Destin but aren’t sure exactly where you want to live; open houses are a great way to explore different Destin neighborhoods and get a feel for the local ambience. Open…

Open houses are a great tool for Destin home buyers [http://www.destinrealestatesales.com/buying.php]. Attending open houses allows South Walton home buyers to get a general feel for the ambience of a neighborhood, find out which features are considered standard in that particular neighborhood, and make direct comparisons between homes that are on the market. To make the best use of an open house and avoid jeopardizing sale negotiations should they decide to make an offer on the home, there are a few things that Destin home buyers [http://www.gulfcoastrealestatesales.com/buying.php] should know about open houses.

Open houses are usually conducted by the home seller’s real estate agent, know as the listing agent because it is her duty to…

Destin home buyers [http://www.destinrealestatesales.com/idx/search.html?search_submit=true&search_city%5B%5D=DESTIN&idx=detached-single-family&minimum_bedrooms=&minimum_bathrooms=&minimum_price=&maximum_price=] may be drawn to a particular neighborhood by its proximity to their workplace, the nearness of favorite leisure activities, excellent school systems, convenient shopping, exemplary community services, an extensive bike path and park system, or any number of features. But a community’s “vibe” and the “look” of a particular neighborhood also play a significant role in home-buying decisions. When they start house hunting, experienced Destin Realtors will tell you that most people have a mental image of the type of neighborhood they want to…

More Americans travel on Thanksgiving weekend than on any other weekend, kicking off America’s busiest travel season. Whether you’re visiting relatives or taking a vacation, your Destin home is a potential target for burglars while you’re away. According to the FBI, every 14 seconds a burglary occurs somewhere in the U.S. Burglary rates have risen during the recession and are expected to rise further during the coming holidays.

Surprisingly, most burglaries do not occur in the dark of night, but during the day between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. More than a third of burglars gain entry by forcing open the front door. And don’t think you’re safe if you have already moved out and your home is sitting empty while it’s on the market. The struggling…

Rated the No. 1 Fort Walton Beach attraction by Trip Advisor, Okaloosa Island is a quiet, family-friendly paradise tucked away between Fort Walton Beach and Destin on Florida’s scenic Gulf Coast. Okaloosa is where people go to relax, slow down, kick back and enjoy special times with family and friends. On Okaloosa Island, the soft, sugar-sand beaches are not crowded. The water is a glorious clear emerald green, and the frequent dolphin sightings are “amazing.”

Isolated from the mainland by the Gulf of Mexico, Choctawhatchee Bay and Intercostal Waterway, Okaloosa Island, which is actually part of Fort Walton Beach…

In America, we celebrate our diversity and value individual uniqueness; but in the Destin housing market, owning a home that is “different” from its neighbors usually puts you at a disadvantage when you go to sell your house. Homes that are significantly different from surrounding homes typically don’t sell as fast as homes that are more in-tune with their local neighborhood, say experienced Destin Realtors [http://www.gulfcoastrealestatesales.com/selling.php]. South Walton home buyers are less likely to purchase a home that is built in a radically different architectural style than its neighbors or that is significantly larger or smaller than other area homes or that lacks features that are standard in neighboring homes. Particularly when a…

Fifty years ago scientists envisioned a fully-automated home where a home owner’s every need and desire could be attended to with the push of a button. Of course, they also thought we’d be traveling by jetpack. Obviously, daily jetpack travel is still in the future, although Martin Aircraft did debut a personal jetpack [http://www.gizmag.com/first-commercially-available-jetpack/14423/] for public sale last year; but we’re much closer than you think to living in futuristic push-button homes. Using smartphone apps, Destin homeowners can already control a number of home systems and appliances (see our previous post). Within 5 to 10 years, scientists expect new developments in digital communication and electronic integration to completely change a…

The smartphone has not only revolutionized the communications industry, it is paving the way for the fully integrated home of the future. Several hundred apps are already available that allow Destin home owners to remote control various home systems and appliances. Using currently available smartphone apps, Destin home owners can already access their home computer network, turn lights and appliances on and off, turn down the heat or crank up the air conditioning, control sound and home entertainment systems, record and watch favorite television shows, lock and unlock doors, and monitor their home security system.

Researchers and IT engineers say that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In the not too distant future, you and your Destin…