2014 in Review: Flagler County and Palm Coast Real Estate News

Hammock Beach Hotel plans, short-term vacation rentals, local golf courses, Island Walk, City Hall, Cinnamon Beach condos, Palm Coast Pkwy widening, $1M house on wrong lot and more.

Palm Coast, FL – December 29, 2014 –. It’s time to look back and reflect on what happened in Palm Coast’s real estate world during the past 12 months. GoToby.com fired the shot heard around the world when it broke the story about a $1M house built on the wrong lot in Ocean Hammock. Literally, that story was picked up and retold by news publications around the world.

Here is my list of the most important locally relevant and/or most popular stories for the year Click the links to read the original stories.

House built on wrong lot

Million Dollar Home Built on Wrong Lot in Ocean Hammock, NE Florida

Palm Coast Home on Wrong Lot Six Years before Discovery

Short-term vacation rentals; the battle against mini-hotels. A proposed county ordinance will be considered by the Board of County Commissioners, probably in February.

Vacation Home Rental Bill Heads to Governor after Senate Approval

Commentary: Flagler County’s STEALTHY Short-term Vacation Rental Ordinance Draft

Flagler BOCC to Hear 1st Reading of Short-Term Vacation Rental Ordinance

Flagler BOCC will Continue Short-term Vacation Rental Ordinance for Staff Rework

Florida Is Watching: What Will Flagler Do With Short-term Vacation Rental Ordinance?

Commentary: More Thoughts on Flagler County’s Short-term Vacation Rental Ordinance

Salamander applied for a variance to build a new 198-room beachside Lodge/Hotel to replace the Hammock Beach Club’s ageing lodge. The request prompted a group of Hammock residents to protest. The issue is on the Board of County Commissioner’s agenda for its January 12th meeting.

Hammock Beach Unveils Plans for Proposed New Oceanfront Lodge and Golf Facilities Complex

Hammock Beach Resort Town Hall Meeting Garners 85 Percent Favorable Response

Hammock Beach to Share New Lodge Plans with Club Members

New Lodge at Hammock Beach or Status Quo – a False Choice

Flagler Planning and Development Board Lives Down to Expectations with Vote Against New Lodge

Hammock Beach Club Lodge Conflict Heats Up

Golf Courses throughout the U.S. struggle with changing demographics and the decline in discretionary income. Flagler county courses were not immune.

Palm Coast Golf Courses Lose 80.74 Percent of Appraised Value in Five years

Rumor: Changes on Horizon for Grand Club Golf Courses

Matanzas Golf Course in Palm Coast Sold

Only Remnants of the Matanzas Golf Course Remain

Flagler Beach real estate agent Linda Kasper gets a plea deal to resolve $9M mortgage fraud charges. Kasper’s real estate sales license remains active.

Kasper Mortgage Fraud Case: Neither Foreclosures Nor Justice are Swift

Plea Agreement Ends $9M Mortgage Fraud Case Against Flagler Beach Real Estate Agent

Commercial

City of Palm Coast to Begin Palm Coast Parkway Widening Project

Watchtower Buys Former FAA Training Facility in Palm Coast for $7,025,000

Former Books a Million Site Will Become an ULTA Beauty

Palm Harbor Shopping Center Sale Closes

Demolition Permit Issued for Former Perkins Restaurant in Palm Coast

Palm Harbor Shopping Center Demolition Permit Issued Making Way for Island Walk

Building Permits Issued for Chick Fil A and Palm Coast City Hall

Residential

Financial Settlement at Grand Reserve Paves Way for New Development

Land Development at Harbor View Marina Site Started

Country Club Harbor Construction Begun

Seagate Homes Plans New Gated Community in Palm Coast’s P Section

Webcams

Flagler Webcams Offer Live Views of the Intracoastal Waterway

NE Florida Eagle Cam Goes Live as Romeo and Juliet Return

NE Florida Eagle CAM: Juliet Lays First Egg of 2014-2015 Nesting Season Today

Bobby Ginn – no year is complete without some Bobby Ginn related news

Ginn Companies 2008 Bankruptcy Repercussions Continue at Tesoro Preserve

Ginn-LA Lawsuit Settlement Checks Totaling $25M Mailed to Creditors: Guess who the Big Winners Were?

The Cinnamon Beach Condominium Association had to resort to a lawsuit against developer Centex/Pulte to resolve construction defect claims in order to complete the transition from developer control to association control.

Cinnamon Beach Condo Association in $14M Lawsuit with Centex over Construction Defects and Deficiencies

Construction Defects Lawsuit by Cinnamon Beach Condo Association Settled

Cinnamon Beach Condo Assoc Gets $3.2M in Settlement Agreement

GoToby.com in 2014

In October, GoToby.com entered its ninth year as a favorite place to find real estate news, information and commentary. Here are some interesting statistics for GoToby.com’s 2014 year.

114,875 unique visitors clicked on GoToby.com this year (through 12-29-2014). Of these, 94.67% were from the U.S. The remainder was from 167 different countries. Following the U.S., the countries rounding out the top ten with the most visitors were, in order:

  • Canada
  • U.K.
  • Germany
  • Colombia
  • Netherlands
  • Brazil
  • Bahamas
  • India
  • Spain

Most of GoToby.com’s visitors (55.63%) are from Florida. Other states account for 39.04% of GoToby.com visitors. Rounding out the top ten states are, in order:

  • N.Y.
  • California
  • Georgia
  • N.J.
  • Illinois
  • N.C,
  • Texas
  • Pennsylvania
  • Ohio

“Real Estate Matters” – my new weekly radio show co-hosted with David Alfin

GoToby.com’s Toby Tobin Launches Weekly Radio Broadcast

To my readers: Thank you for your loyalty. Thank you for passing my posts on to your friends and associates. Thank you for supporting my advertisers. Thanks to those readers who have sourced information on important stories. And thank you for your comments, whether in agreement with me or from the other side of the debate.

Have a joyous and prosperous New Year!!!

5 replies
  1. Roger Cullinane
    Roger Cullinane says:

    GoToby.com is Biased

    The fact that VacationRentalPros.com (the agent for most transient rental properties in Flagler County) is a GoToby advertiser, explains why Toby’s comments on the transient rental issues, including his adverse comments about Flagler County’s efforts to enact regulations to help control the current rental abuses and adverse impacts on our community are always slanted to support the transient rental industry. We expect Toby to be even handed in his coverage of rental issues, but unfortunately he is not.

  2. mike hewson
    mike hewson says:

    hammock beach hotel

    why haven’t you told your readers that Salamander/Lupert Adler has filed an amendment to their hotel proposal to include “lodging” which can mean timeshares, interval ownership or rental condos ANYWHERE on the golf course in addition to the hotel? This certainly does away with the clause that forbids constructing anything that is not golf related in the present deed.

  3. JQ
    JQ says:

    Ruining this real estate market – deed plat restri

    CC action plans , Salamander negotiation ploys, letter writing campaigns that advocate dissolution of the existing real estate agreements established in 1998 will have a negative effect in this real estate market.

    Thiink carefully about actions ….some buyers who were going to come here, now want no part of this 5 year+ circus that has evolved. Breaking the governance model that effectively built this Community, sets precedent and is dissuading new buyers.

    And for what…..to give a $19 Billion real estate developer a bailout ! We have already worked with them, trying to make this club a success.. it is now public after using members funds to build it. The towers were built … a surprise and advertised as the ‘last chance to buy ‘ infamous Ginn video.

    Here we are again. We’ll probably be going through this same exercise in 2019…because of some reason, financial manipulation.

    How about a Salamander real estate buyback program… those who want no part of this can leave….now. I wonder how many would stand strong by mr. Salamander then…I think you know that answer.

    Let’s do it…..a Salamander buyback program – a bailout to residents. they want one with real estate rezoning, so why can’t we have one!

    Should be no problem, as allegedly, we are just a very small group that opposes this…

  4. Toby
    Toby says:

    Reply to Roger Cullinane

    You assert that my comments are slanted in favor of the transient rental industry because Vacation Rental Pros advertises on GoToby.com. Your assertion assumes that the two items, my comments and CRP’s advertisers, are linked. Following the same path of reasoning, would you assert that campaign donations create reciprocal bias from the recipient politician? I’m not going down that path, nor should you.
    Let me reiterate my stance on the short-term vacation rental issue. Something should be done about the uncontrolled proliferation of mini-hotels. Unapproved bedroom conversions, health & safety issues, local responsible party, bed tax collections and sales tax collections should all be addressed. The proposed ordinance went far beyond these issues and would, in my opinion, not stand up to a legal challenge. I understand that a modified ordinance to be brought forward (likely in February) will be more appropriate.

  5. Toby
    Toby says:

    Reply to Mike Hewson

    I am liberal in allowing reader comments. I don’t allow ALL CAPS. I don’t allow personal attacks. I do, however, allow factually incorrect comments such as yours, as long as I can respond with corrections.

    I verified with county staff that Salamander’s proposal would not allow “timeshares, interval ownership or rental condos ANYWHERE on the golf course in addition to the hotel.” Salamander has not filed an amendment to their application. Nor have they submitted any request to change the plat addendum language. Perhaps the term “lodging” to which you refer comes from county staff’s consistency analysis rather than from any Salamander submittal. Furthermore, while there is a plat restriction, there is no deed restriction.

    [Note: It’s spelled Lubert, not Lupert.]

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