The Florida Panhandle, specifically the area along the "Emerald Coast" from Destin to Panama City Beach and including Miramar, Grayton Beach, Blue Mountain, Dune Allen, and Santa Rosa Beach has seen a challenging real estate market for the last two years. After record high appreciations in 2005, many properties are currently selling at pre-2004 prices. Talk about a great time to buy!! With prices in this range, selling prices averaging 30% less than asking prices, interest rates low, and short sales (when the bank will agree to take less than the mortgage amount on a property) plentiful, now is the time to buy! It's important, however, to think of a second home purchase, or any real estate purchase for that matter, as a long term investment. When purchased this way, real estate really can be a great investment. Consider this: If you took $10,000 and invested it in the stock market for ten years, a 10% rate of return would yield $23,600. If you took the same $10,000 investment and used it for a down payment on a $200,000 home, with a 5% rate of appreciation, your return would be $110,300, nearly five times the stock market return! So, what are you waiting for? See you at the beach!