Bay County, Florida
Can I work in Panama City? Yes. Should I? Let us talk.
The same brokerage either way. The only question is which of us takes it.
Licensed statewidePlainly, then
If you have already spoken to agents in Panama City and were unconvinced, that is a reason to call rather than a reason not to. I can act for you in Panama City under The Keyes Company, or I can introduce you to a colleague who works Bay County every week, and you will have my view on which of those serves you better before you have committed to either. An introduction inside Florida is not a referral in the out-of-state sense — it is the same brokerage — and I will explain how the two differ.
What Florida adds to a transaction
- Windstorm and flood are underwritten separately from the main policy across much of Florida. Price them on the specific address before you are under contract, not after.
- For condominium buildings of three storeys or more at the relevant age, Florida requires milestone structural inspections and a structural integrity reserve study. Both change assessments and financeability. Read them before waiving anything.
- The homestead exemption reduces taxable value on a Florida primary residence, and the Save Our Homes cap limits how fast the assessed value rises afterwards. Portability may carry a benefit from a prior Florida homestead. Your county property appraiser is the authority, not your agent.
- Title in Florida is customarily handled through a title company rather than an attorney as a matter of course, which changes who you call when a question arises mid-contract.
What actually decides a Florida closing
The appraisal decides what the lender will lend against, not what the property is worth to you, and the two are not obliged to agree. What matters is what the contract says happens when they do not — who may walk away, who may make up a difference, and by when a decision has to be made. Read that clause before you need it rather than on the day it becomes relevant.
Other cities in Florida
Questions people actually ask
Do I need to worry about the flood zone and elevation?
Look both up before you are under contract rather than after. The flood zone determines whether cover is required by a lender, and on an older property an elevation certificate can move the premium substantially. That certificate is a surveyor’s document rather than an agent’s opinion, and the seller may already hold one. Ask for it early — it is one of the few pieces of paper that can change the arithmetic of a purchase by a large amount.
What is an estoppel letter and why does it hold things up?
It is the association’s written statement of what is owed on a unit — dues, assessments, transfer fees — and a Florida closing involving an association generally waits for it. The association has a statutory period in which to produce it and charges a fee for doing so. It is ordinary and entirely predictable, and it delays closings only when nobody ordered it early. Ask for the association’s governing documents in the same breath.
Who handles the closing in Florida?
Customarily a title company rather than an attorney as a matter of course, which differs from practice in a number of other states. The title work confirms the seller can convey what they are selling and turns up the things nobody mentioned: an old lien, an open permit, a boundary that does not match the fence. You may still want your own attorney, particularly on an estate sale or anything unusual, and I will say so when I think it is warranted.
What do I have to disclose as a seller in Florida?
Florida sellers are required to disclose known facts materially affecting the value of the property which are not readily observable — the rule from Johnson v. Davis — and it is broader than most sellers expect. The practical version: if you know about it and a buyer would not see it on a walkthrough, disclose it. Where the boundaries of that duty are genuinely unclear, that is a question for an attorney rather than for me.
What are the four-point and wind mitigation inspections?
Insurance documents rather than buyer protections. Insurers commonly ask for a four-point report on an older property — roof, electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling — before they will quote at all, and a wind mitigation report records construction features that can reduce a premium. Neither replaces a full home inspection. Order them early enough that a refusal to quote is not what you discover a week before closing.
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Jacob Campbell · Florida Real Estate Sales Associate, license 3623732 · The Keyes Company · 561.301.7130