I do believe I have found the most beautiful family oriented Beach Resort in the entire 26 miles of Walton County. And I’m going to tell you all about it. Let’s get started.
So today I wanted to talk to you about a hidden gem. It is a resort in Miramar beach for those of you who don’t know a mountain bear Mars beach, it might to be the hidden gem It is so perfectly located It is about eight miles east of Destin and about seven miles to 30A so you are right in between Destin and 30A The other thing about Miramar beach that is so fantastic…everything is right here. You do not have to leave Miramar beach for anything. So we have the silver sand shopping malls right here on 98 Miramar beach. We have all kinds of restaurants and fast food and whatever you need there. And then just to our east we have grand Boulevard which has all the high end shops, movie theaters, restaurants, everything you could possibly want. You could spend all day there go across 98 and you’re at Sandestin Baytown Wharf, which has all kinds of fun things for kids to do at night for adults to do at night. Lots of restaurants there’s so much to do there. You really can’t just come here for a week you need to stay longer because there is so much to do. Then to our west we have old scenic 98 and that’s the old highway that parallels the goal and it has the cutest, most fun little beach bars and when I say beach bars I’m not talking about a bar near the beach. I’m talking about bar and restaurant on the beach. So we have whale’s tails and Pompano Joes is so many fun beach bars going down scenic highway 98 is just a great casual way to hang out. Kids can play on the beach while you’re eating. It’s just wonderful. And then we have all kinds of natural preserves around here so there is a lot of preserved wildlife and natural area here. So I was going to tell you about a resort but I’ve gone off on Miramar beach because I really think Miramar beach is one of the finest places on the planet. And you cannot even imagine how beautiful our beaches are. They are sugar white sand, emerald green waters, they are so clean and very very well kept. I just can’t say enough about Miramar beach.
Now Destin is wonderful, don’t get me wrong. 30A is fabulous, I know that too. I love it all. But Miramar beach is a gym. So now you’re thinking what is this resort? Well this resort is called hidden dunes beach and tennis resort. It’s about 27 acres of the most beautiful landscaped resort you can imagine when you drive through has a gated entrance 24 hour security and you drive in and you see all the old oaks that have been preserved and well kept the landscape is just beautiful here and it goes all the way from 98 so the south side of 98 all the way to the Gulf. So we have two towers on the beach. The one is a tower that has a rental property. I mean it has rental units in it and it is called Gulf side. It is a beautiful building. It’s just gone through a huge renovation they’ve done so much to it it just looks beautiful and they have heated the pool now and redone all the tile around the pool so it is gorgeous and it has a boardwalk right to the beach and we have a full beat service at hidden dunes. The beach guys are there from March until the thick the end of November so you don’t have to lug your chairs and do your umbrellas and all that it’s all there for you. Now, the next tower we have on the beach is grand villas. It is a private residence with no rentals. And it again is right on the beach. All units face the Gulf. So some of the condominiums you see up and down the coast will have a few units that face the golf and those are the Gulf facing units haha. And then you have units that go back in a type of triangle. So all these over here are just have a either westerly or easterly piccaboo It’s a golf. It’s not a dead straight on and hidden dunes both the Gulf side Power and the Granville tower. Their balconies look directly south to the Gulf and they are so close to the water that you can literally sit on your balcony and sea turtles swim by. You can see Stingray swim by of course you can see the dolphin in the manatee. You see the pelicans come flying in and diving in the water You are so close to the ocean and you can hear every single wave when the surface up you can hear the entire thing.
Now of course the gulf sometimes can be like a little lake and you can’t hear that but those are the two buildings that are on the water. We’re headed back towards 98 you have what we call the beach villas. These are three bedroom and four bedroom villas for the three bedrooms are downstairs in the four bedrooms are upstairs and what makes that fourth bedroom is a loft with a vaulted ceiling. So that is how you get the fourth bedroom there. So all the top units are fours and all the bottom units are threes in the villas and there is a whole row of them that circle our lake and then there is another row that circles those villas then you keep going north towards that towards 98. It begins the beach cottages and we have one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom beach cottages, and they are all nestled in the little oak trees in in all throughout the cottages in the villas you have little walking paths that are cement, and fountains everywhere that you pass by. So even your stroll to the beach is so pleasant because you’re just seeing all of these pretty things as you go there. And the fact that hidden dunes is a gated community and it has only a few streets and the rest of the area are walking paths and woods. It is so safe for children so your children never have to cross a busy road. So you could feel very comfortable letting your kids run back to the cottage and get something run back to the beach. It’s just that safe here. I have raised four kids and we have been coming to hidden dunes for many, many years and I have never worried about their safety.
The amenities here are so family oriented also. So what we have is all the pools have a hot tub. So we have two community pools. Both of them have hot tubs, they have bathrooms, they have shower, so you never have to run back and forth to your cottage. They have lighted basketball goals. The kids can go out there at night and you know after dinner and play a pickup game of basketball with their friends. It’s so fun for them. And then of course I can play all day too. And we have playground, there’s all kinds of things for the family. And then as you go towards the back towards the back of the resort, we have a whole Tennis Center. And it attracts so many tennis player and tennis enthusiasts because it’s six Ruby code courts and we have a professional tennis staff with two pros. And we have tournaments here and people come from all over to play. We also have matching. So if you come here and you don’t have anyone to play tennis with, they will match you the Pros will match you with with a group so you can always play tennis, when you go to the Tennis Center. It just feels like you’re at a party. Everybody’s so nice to each other. Everybody’s out talking and playing and it’s just a great place. And then as you go down towards the beach, the Gulf side building has a swimming pool on their property that is for the Gulf side building only in it has a baby pool. It’s so cute. There’s not that many condos around that have baby pools anymore. So it is so cute for little babies to be able to stay in on the side and walk around. It’s not very deep at all. They also have a hot tub. And then of course the boardwalk right down to the beach. And at Grand villas. There’s a private pool and a large patio. So if you don’t want to go out on the sand, there is a big open air patio where you can sit and enjoy the sun and it’s got umbrellas and tables. It’s very, very nice. So that is our hidden dunes beach and tennis resort. And one of the things that I always tell people is that if you buy here your investment is strong. The Hoa it hidden dunes is very strong, has great reserves, you’re not going to be hit with all these special costs in assessments. And one of the things about this entire area not just specific to hidden dunes, but it does apply to hidden dunes. And that is our property values have gone up in 2020. I’m doing this in January of 21. In 2020 the numbers are out and the property values rose per square foot by 16%. So 16% increase in property values in this what the properties are selling for. But what’s astounding is that we used to have an offseason.
So we had the offseason which is when all the vacationers would come and it was typically summer and spring break and that kind of thing and now what we have is year round the numbers do not change very much from one season to the next so it is almost like year round rental so what does that translate to in your mind it is money so from a rental perspective the way that this whole entire area the whole state of Florida specifically this emerald coast the county collects a bed tax on short term rentals so every time there’s a rental happens there is a tax associated with it that goes to the county and what’s really interesting about these numbers that i’m sharing with you is the bed tax is went up it’s the 8% between august and December of 2020 now august in December is typically when the bed taxes go down because everybody’s left for the summer but we had the crazy COVID thing and not to mention the fact that so many people are buying down here and renting their places and people are coming down here all year round so as from a rental property perspective our properties are becoming much much more valuable because i mean a 50% increase in your the revenue you’re generating that’s amazing because bed tax is equal revenue the county is collecting 58% more bed taxes that means you’re renting your place 58% more so if the property values are going up at 16% and the rental income is going up at 58% what does that tell you that tells you this is a huge investment so buying vacation rental property here you can use it when you are here and rent it out when you’re not here and the numbers are going all in the right direction and i don’t see that stopping anytime soon it is predicted that this area is going to grow tremendously over the next five years it we’ve seen it happening and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop and if new construction is any indication these builders are fighting over land and building things as fast as they can because this is where most people want to be most people if you think about it they drive here and they drive here from Georgia Alabama Mississippi Tennessee Arkansas Louisiana Kentucky and Texas so that is who drives here the most of course we have people from all over the place but that is where the majority of our driving traffic comes from and it’s so easy to get to and people just love it here now there are a lot of people who fly here and they fly into the international airport in panama city which is just to our east or to the Destin fort Walton airport to our west both flown in and out of both of them many many times and they are so convenient they’re not too big but they’re not so small that you feel uncomfortable they are very well run airports the parking is easy it’s easy to get in and out of it’s really nice flying in and out of the Destin panama city area now the other thing that is making this area so hot right now you know we have the increase tourism we’ve got the increased in property values we have very low inventory which is driving our prices up and up and up and up so i can’t remember a time when we didn’t have 10 or 15 properties for sale in our resort we have 315 homes i believe and we have only two for sale right now two that’s it usually it is 10 or 15 so the inventory is so low and it’s not just here in hidden dunes it’s all up and down the emerald coast and it’s because everybody’s coming here and buying and so therefore our prices are going up but if you want to buy here do not be afraid because this is all going in the right direction your price you’re just jumping on the wave because it has not peaked and at least in my opinion i can’t say that for sure but i can’t see it slowing down anytime soon there are too many people who have discovered this area and people are just clamoring to get here and if the contractors are any indication they usually are usually no and they are building like crazy so i sell a ton of property here at hidden dunes i list a bunch of property here at hidden dunes and i absolutely love it and it’s i think it’s one of the most family friendly safest prettiest well run places on the whole emerald coast it is a hidden gem and you know this because so many of the properties here when the owners want to move up they sell their property and stay in the resort most people don’t leave this resort and go buy somewhere else people who are here are here and they are not going anywhere so i have agents and buyers calling me all the time when we Is something going to become available for sale in the Gulf side building and I’m like, I don’t know because people don’t like to sell their properties here.
A lot of them just hold on to them. Now we do have properties for sale because life happens and people have things that they they are either so far away they can’t come here with as often or they have a family situation that makes it. Another thing I love so much about hidden dunes is its location, not necessarily its location on 98 because I’ve already told you about grand Boulevard and about old scenic 98 and silversands. The outlet malls are right across the street. But once you’re on the beach, you have so many options. If you want to walk somewhere to have lunch, you go to our east which is sandestin Beach Resort, and it sandestin they have the beach house restaurant, so you can just walk down the beach, take a stroll down the beach, have a lunch or dinner and walk back after just a little bit further. Maybe one building i think is bearfoots which is an outdoor dining area at the Hilton and it is a huge patio outside with the ceiling fans going music on TVs on and you can just walk up there from the beach in your bathing suit again, it’s called barefoot so you can just sit up there and sip your favorite cocktail or have a glass of iced tea, eat a wonderful meal and then hop back out on the beach and walk back home and you’re here at hidden dunes in 10 minutes, five minutes, something like that. It’s not hard at all. Now if you want to go west, you can just walk down to whale’s tail and have a evening snack and watch the sunset.
Or you could go further a little further down and the surf hut is there. So there are places to go and sit on the beach and have your meals It is so nice. We also have a food truck that comes to hidden dunes so that we if you want lunch you just walk up to the food truck and get your lunch. But if you want to walk somewhere on the beach, we’ve got several options and it makes it so much fun. Another fun thing about hidden dunes for the kiddos we have our beach service has paddle boards and kayaks that they can rent to play in the water with but if you go again down to Sandestin, which is just to our east it is a five minute walk to Sandestin if the water permits, and if the wind permits, they put up a huge waterpark. So it’s all these inflatable slides and trampoline type things so that you pay and the kids can go over there and spin as long. I don’t even know how long they can spin. I’m sure you can pay by the hour by the day, but they spend so much time out there it is so cute to watch them they have so much fun. Now, if you’re into walking on the beach and you really want to get to a very uncrowded area, just past Sandestin is Topsail. So tops sail is another resort, a wonderful resort and we’ll be talking about that very soon. So Topsail is to the east after sandestin from hidden dunes. But then you have Topsail State Park so it’s mile it’s miles and miles of beautiful beaches with nothing there. It is so pretty. You can walk down there and not even see a footprint. If you get there before everybody else. It is so beautiful. And there’s all kinds of wildlife there you can sometimes see deer and things from the beach. It is it is just a beautiful walk. As you can tell I am a huge fan of hidden there and I truly believe it is one of the hidden gems on this Emerald coast. It has such beautiful landscaping, so many natural trees, one of the most beautiful beaches ever. And it has so many options. So you can buy a home here from $300,000 to $3 million. There is something all the way in between for everyone. So this is a place where you know that you can find something in your price point have a private beach gated community beautiful tennis facility. It is just a jail. So Oh, I forgot to tell you. I live here. I live here full time and I love it. I was always a vacation or here a vacation here from Alabama. And I came here year after year after year. And then one day, my husband and I said we’re moving and we’re moving to hidden dunes and we moved here and we’ve lived here ever since and I love it. So if you’re interested in a property here, I’m here all the time. I list properties here and sell properties here and give me a call and until the next time. I hope to see you at the beach.
