/* Adobe fonts - Trajan */ December 2014 – Page 3 – Emerald Coast Business Brokers, LLC

Monthly Archives: December 2014

Succession Planning

When buying and selling a business, you must have a succession plan in place for a smooth transition. Find out what succession planning is, and how to prepare your own plan.

Plan for Progression

Whether you’re selling a business, retiring, or buying a business, it’s important to think through the succession planning process. This helps ensure you have a map in place for the progression of your business. Companies may wrestle with ways to train and develop employees for new roles, but making a plan for the future is especially critical during business acquisition. Succession planning will make sure you have the right people ready to take on new roles after you buy or sell your business.

What is succession planning?

Succession planning is the process of finding people to fill leadership roles within the company as organizational changes occur. It includes identifying existing employees who can take leadership roles, along with figuring out gaps where training or new hires may be necessary.

How does succession planning apply when buying and selling a business?

As you complete business acquisitions, structural changes are bound to occur. If you buy a business, perhaps the previous business owner acted as general manager. But after buying the business, you’d like to take more of a hands-off role, so you need a plan for who will act as general manager. Creating that plan is succession planning. Part of the transition process when buying the business is identifying current employees who might be ready to fill new roles. If you’re selling your business, you can help the new business owner with succession planning since you will know current employees’ strengths and weaknesses.

Steps of Succession Planning

When you’re creating a succession plan, you’ll want to do follow a few key steps.

• Identify the roles that need to be filled. Take a look at existing roles and identify where gaps may occur.

• Think of roles that need to be created. Consider where additional positions would benefit the business structure.

• Define the ideal candidate for each position. Think through the skills necessary for each available position.

• Examine your current pool of employees. Attempt to match their skills with the open positions you currently have or those new positions you intend on creating.

• Prepare training programs and create development plans to prepare employees for new roles. Work on areas of weakness and develop their strengths.

• Most importantly, keep your plan simple. The plan doesn’t need to be perfect, you just need to have a plan in place so you understand the organizational changes that will occur when buying and selling a business.

• Be open with employees. Don’t make promises; be realistic. If you’re buying a hotel, you might be considering your front desk manager for your general manager. Talk with your general manager about development opportunities and realistic expectations for career growth. If the growth doesn’t occur within your current employees, be willing to hire new ones.

At the heart of succession planning is employee training, growth, and retention. You want your current employees to become better for your business, even if that means training for a new role.

Talk with the Experts

Just like you would use experts when buying a business or selling a business, you might need to speak with succession planning experts if you’re acquiring a larger company that requires an in-depth plan. Speak with other businesses in your area to find out who they trust with their succession planning

If you’re interested in buying or selling a business, contact the experts at Emerald Coast Business Brokers to locate pre-screened businesses that are ready to purchase. They can help you from start to finish, including creating a succession plan in conjunction with the current business owners.

The Benefits of Hiring a Broker When Selling a Business

Find out the 10 biggest benefits of hiring a broker when selling a business.

10 Reasons Why You Should Hire a Broker When Selling Your Business

Transferring ownership of a business is complicated. If you go it alone, you can expect to spend lots of time and energy on the process. Or you can hire a business broker who will work alongside you to make sure the entire experience is well-executed. While every broker offers slightly different services, at Emerald Coast Business Brokers we work to make the business sale easy. Here are 10 benefits of hiring a broker when selling a business.

You Should Hire a Business Broker When Selling a Business Because…

1. Brokers know the local market. Business brokers assist in numerous business sales, typically in one particular area. A broker will help you with your valuation so that you’re competitive, and they will position your business as unique in the local market.

2. Brokers find the right buyer. One of the most important aspects of selling a business involves finding someone who wants to buy it. A broker is familiar with local business owners who may be interested in diversifying by adding your business. They also work to promote your business to those who are best suited to run a business like yours.

3. Brokers can devote their time to selling your business. If you try to sell your business on your own, you’ll be working to sell it while running your business. Hiring a business broker allows you to devote the proper amount of time to the business sale.

4. Brokers offer a database of many businesses. These databases draw potential buyers, exposing your business to a wider range of buyers than you could on your own.

5. Brokers prescreen buyers. Through a series of interviews and screenings, a broker will help ensure that you don’t waste your time with unqualified buyers. A broker will interview a buyer to make sure funding is available and that their interests align with your business.

6. Brokers maintain confidentiality. During a business sale, a broker will provide a confidentiality agreement to protect your business. In most cases, you won’t want employees, customers, suppliers, or vendors knowing about the sale before the time is right. Confidentiality ensures that your day-to-day operations are not affected by listing for your business for sale.

7. Brokers work as the buffer during negotiations. As you go back and forth on terms with the buyer, a broker will be your buffer. You’ll likely have to work with the buyer after the sale for a period of training, so you’ll want to keep that relationship intact and let your broker do the negotiating.

8. Brokers help with paperwork. The paperwork can be overwhelming during a business sale. A broker will work to make sure the right paperwork is completed on time.

9. Brokers will get you the most profitable price. Along with properly valuing your business, a broker will make sure you get the most profitable selling price by working with qualified interested buyers and making the most of the negotiations.

10. Brokers coordinate closing requirements. During a business sale, there are many interested parties, from attorneys, title companies, lenders, insurance companies, and more. A broker will work to coordinate this process. So there you have it! A whopping 10 reasons why you should hire a broker when selling a business. So are you ready to contact one of our experienced advisors? If you’re ready to sell your business, let’s set up a confidential consultation today! Contact the Emerald Coast Team to find you the perfect buyer for your business.

The Emerald Coast

Find out all you need to know about Florida’s Emerald Coast.

Florida’s Emerald Coast

Southern Living magazine has named the Emerald Coast the “Best Beach in the South” for the past 14 years, and if you’ve ever visited the area, you know exactly why. It’s a great place to live, work, and vacation. But what exactly is the Emerald Coast?

It’s the 100 mile stretch of gorgeous beach stretching from Pensacola Beach to Panama City Beach is called. The Emerald Coast includes popular vacation locations like Gulf Breeze, Navarre Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Seaside, Seacrest Beach, Perdido Key, Destin, and Santa Rosa Beach. It’s the place we call home, and we would love to tell you more about what makes the Emerald Coast such an amazing local.

Why is it called the Emerald Coast?

The area has had a few different names over the years: The Playground of the Gulf Coast, the Miracle Strip. But in 1983 a Fort Walton Beach High School student named Andrew Dier won a contest for the new slogan (winning $50). And, as you can guess, the name comes from the beautiful clear emerald green waters along the coast.

Why do people visit the Emerald Coast?

One look at the coastal towns located along the Emerald Coast and you’ll know exactly why the area is such a sought after vacation location. The beaches are the biggest draw to the area. Sugar-white sand and emerald-green waters draw people who enjoy things like snorkeling, parasailing, fishing, and dolphin watching. Then, there are those who like to simply relax on the beach and watch the waves roll in. The towns along the coast offer much when it comes to shopping, dining, golf courses, nightlife and attractions like zoos, aquariums, museums, water parks, and more.

There are also world class events in the area such as parades, food festivals, concerts, performances, or just about anything you could imagine! When you consider it’s a 100 mile stretch of beach with so many unique towns, it’s easy to see that the Emerald Coast has something for everyone!

What’s the weather like on the Emerald Coast?

Like most of Florida, this area is known for gorgeous weather year-round. While it may rain occasionally, you’ll mostly find sunny skies with temperatures in the 80s during the summer and in the 60s during the winter. Remember to pack your sunscreen!

How can I learn more about visiting the Emerald Coast? With so many areas to visit, you’ll want to do a little research before your trip. For more information, check out the Emerald Coast Magazine for information and deals along with the visitor info on the Emerald Coast Convention and Visitor’s Bureau website. Want to move here?
We think this area makes a great place to call home! There are numerous businesses providing job opportunities, along with many ways to become your own boss! If you’re interested in owning your own business in the Emerald Coast area, contact us or browse our extensive database of Emerald Coast businesses for sale. Welcome to Florida’s Best Beaches! Once you see the crystal clear water, white sand beaches, taste our fresh seafood (which you can catch yourself!), and explore our fun towns, you’ll love the Emerald Coast as much as we do!

The Safe Way to Buy and Sell

If you’re interested in buying and selling a business in a low-risk environment, you’ll want to work with a business broker. Find out how here.

Buying and Selling a Business Safely

Buying a business is less risky than starting one from the ground up. And if you want to sell a business, you’re likely to make more money selling it to an interested buyer than liquidating your assets. However, buying and selling a business can be a exasperating and intricate process—especially if you haven’t done it before. So how do you safely buy and sell a business? With a business broker. Let’s look at how using a business broker is the safe way to buy and sell a business.

Business Brokers Make the Process Simple

At Emerald Coast Business Brokers, we’ve made the business acquisition process as low risk as possible. We want you to not only have a low stress experience, but we want you to feel comfortable throughout the process by providing our expertise. Prescreening. We start by prescreening both buyers and sellers. Businesses placed on the market are prescreened to help ensure they are worthwhile investments. Potential buyers are taken through a prequalification interview and screening to determine skills, goals, and funding. This helps you avoid wasting your time.

Maintain Confidentiality.

We provide a professional confidentiality agreement for both buyers and sellers. This protects you during the process, before, during, and after the sale. Confidentiality keeps your day-to-day business running without any negative impact. If you try to buy or sell your business on your own, you’ll have to be very public and open about it, which has the potential to negatively impact your employees, customers, vendors, and suppliers. Confidentiality is vital when trying to buy or sell a business the safe way.

Paperwork Assistance.

A business broker will work with you to complete all paperwork. Sellers will need to collect financial records, tax returns, and financial statements to share during due diligence. Buyers will have to compile paperwork for lenders, attorneys, and insurance companies. Having the assistance of professionals who have been through this process countless times before provides you with the confidence that required paperwork will be completed properly and in a timely manner.

Contact a Trusted Advisor

Are you ready to choose the safe way to buy and sell a business? Contact the team at Emerald Coast Business Brokers. No matter the type of business you’re interested in, you can count on us to be there through the entire process. Our qualified advisors are experienced in business transactions, both big and small, and they are ready to help you. Set up a confidential consultation by filling out this form. A member of our team will be in contact with you to help you safely buy or sell your business.

Valuing a Business Based on Sales

Need help valuing your business based on sales? Look no farther, Emerald Coast Business Brokers can help!

How exactly do I value my business based on sales?

This is probably one of the questions most commonly asked by business owners. And though it is common for owners to need this information to sell their business, it is also natural to simply want to know the value of your business, just to see how your company is doing.

Valuing a business based on sales

While there are certainly many different ways to determine a businesses value, and many different ways of defining itself, this post will focus on valuing the business based on sales. The most accepted way of valuing a business based on sales is a very simple formula: (firm’s annual sales) x (given multiplier) = value of business based on sales.

Calculating your businesses sales

Sales are the cash flow, or income that a company produces after all the expenses have been accounted for. The best way to determine your companies sales is to look at all sales generated by your business in a given time period, let’s say a year. After seeing how many sales there were in a year, we come up with a number “x.” Then, you would determine the number of any missing goods/products, returns, or discounts allowed, and come up with the number “y.” The formula x – y = (firm’s annual sales) would then show the total amount of sales generated by a company within that given year.

How to calculate a multiplier

A multiplier depends on not only the type of industry the business deals with, and how predictable the sales are year to year. Often times the multiplier is a starting point, then you will adjust the multiplier based on the specifics of the company in question. For example, say the multiplier initially is twice the company’s sales, and they have seen consistent growth over a few years; the consistent growth would then raise the multiplier to 2.5. If that same company had an initial multiplier of 2, but half of the company’s billings are made up by client, the risk factor would then decrease that multiplier to 1.5.

Factors affecting the multiplier

While it may seem that the multiplier is a random number generated by a business owner, or company broker, there is actually quite a lot of statistics and economics that go into determining not only the multiplier but also the factors that can raise or lower that multiplier. Most small, profitable, healthy, businesses will sell within a range of 2.5 to 4.5 ranges. Furthermore, other factors that can lower a multiplier include: one, or few customers making up a major portion of the sales; major investment needed soon in equipment; pending legal or government action. Factors that can help raise a multiplier include: diversified consumer base; strong management team, with few key personnel; financial ratios at, or above national average.

So why would you need a business broker?

Although most of this information can be found in books, articles, and online, it is rarely recommended that you attempt to determine the value of your business without seeking professional help – especially if you are in the market to sell it. A good analogy would be taxes: almost anybody can do their own taxes, however to do them the best possible way, most people would hire a professional tax specialist. The same rings true with selling a business. A professional can make sure you’re not missing anything. A good business broker will:

• Know the local market that your business will be operating in – a company selling on the Emerald Coast will require a totally different method of approach versus a business in Texas, or California.

• Understand the multiplier adjustments – as stated before there are several various factors that can either raise or lower a given multiplier, a good business broker will understand these factors, as well as how to adequately use them to value your business.

• Calculate your net sales – while it may seem simple when dealing with your sales, if you start working on a time scale of several years, the numbers can begin to get very complicated. A good business broker will help you understand, and work with your numbers in a more efficient way.

Chose Emerald Coast Business Brokers

The brokers at Emerald Coast are well trained, and know their business inside and out. These specialists will be able to take your company and help calculate your value based on sales, as well as any other definition of value, with no stress to you as the owner.

Pensacola Food Trucks

Looking for the hottest food trucks in Pensacola? Want to own your own food truck? Get the inside industry scoop here.

Food Trucks in Pensacola

While Pensacola food trucks have recently been in the news over possible regulations regarding where they possible can and can’t do business, all around the area, food trucks are thriving. Food trucks are a fun food experience where patrons can follow a truck around town as it moves each day. For the business owner, there is less overhead and more flexibility. With the beautiful weather of the Emerald Coast, it makes sense that there are numerous successful food trucks allowing patrons to walk up and get gourmet food on the go. Here are some of the top Pensacola food trucks, along with information about buying or selling a food truck in the Pensacola area.

Top Food Trucks in the Pensacola Area

Al Fresco Area

Al Fresco is an outdoor dining area featuring five airstream restaurants: Shux Oyster Bar, Gouda Stuff Gourmet Melts, Gunshot BBQ, Z Taco Fresh Mex, and the Greenhouse. While these food trucks are not exactly mobile since they stay at Al Fresco, you still get the food truck experience without having to locate the truck before you go. Shux Oyster Bar features oysters on the half shell, fried, char grilled or baked, along with stuffed burgers and specialty salads. Z Taco serves great tacos including carnitas, mahi mahi and deep fried avocado. Gouda Stuff appeals to cheese lovers with a variety of gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. Gunshot BBQ is known for their slow cooked ribs and other barbecued specialties. Greenhouse is delicious good-for-you fare with smoothies, juices, salads, and wraps.

Mimi’s Bistro On the Go

Mimi’s is a food truck collaboration with Tucker Duke’s Lunchbox and Chef Brian Cartenuto. It features Pensacola’s only crepes, and it moves around town frequently. This bright yellow food truck features both savory and sweet creations in crepe form, from the cheese explosion (featuring gruyere, gouda, and apple smoked mozzarella!) to the Holy Crepe! (with Nutella and banana). Their Facebook page is updated with their location so you can always find them when you have a hankering for crepes.

Carmelina’s On the Go

This food truck goes from Pace to Pensacola to Gulf Breeze, Milton and all around the area serving patrons an eclectic menu of Italian, Mexican, and comfort food. The menu is global. Sandwiches that span around the world – Spicy Italian, Meatball Subs, Chicken Pesto Wrap, and The Cuban – to carne asada tacos and soups that span the globe as well (Italian Wedding Soup, Mexican Chili, Gumbo, and Chicken Tortilla), you can get just about anything at Carmelina’s. And don’t forget the desserts! The bread pudding and napoleon cannoli are local favorites. This family owned business serves wood-smoked barbecue including baby back ribs, brisket, chicken, turkey legs and Asian inspired chicken wings. They make their own sauce and dry rub, along with their side dishes of potato salad, coleslaw, and baked beans. Their banana pudding will put your mom’s to shame. Their Facebook page will keep you up to date on specials and what’s being served each day.

Own Your Own Food Truck in Pensacola!

If you love the culture of a food truck, why not operate your own? From the flexible schedule, the carefree nature of switching up a menu and location, to the interaction with customers, it’s a great business to own. The popularity of food trucks isn’t dying down anytime soon as more TV shows and movies are centered around food trucks, keeping them in popular culture and in high demand.

If you want to buy a food truck (or if you have a truck to sell), contact the business buying experts in Pensacola, the Emerald Coast Business Brokers. Their expert advisors will help you find the perfect business to buy. Businesses for sale are prescreened to minimize risk, allowing you to have confidence as you buy a Pensacola food truck through them. They will guide you through the entire acquisition process, including transitioning you to own and operate your very own food truck. Contact one of their advisors today to confidentially start your search to find your very own Pensacola food truck for sale!

Retirement When You Own Your Own Business

Are you ready to retire from owning your own business? Find out what steps to take to sell your business and retire.

Retiring from a Business You Own

When you own a business and you’re ready to retire, you have two issues to think about: your retirement from work and your ownership in the business. Hopefully, you have set up retirement savings plans in the form of Roth IRAs or other investments, and if not, you’ll want to talk with your financial advisor. For the second half of that equation—retiring from ownership of a business—Emerald Coast Business Brokers can help with that.

Retirement when you own your own business works in one of two ways. You can either get out of the business gradually, by slowly selling off inventory and phasing out little by little. This can take months or even years—ideal if you have plenty of time to prepare for your retirement. But if you’re in a hurry, you may want to look to the next option.

The second option is to sell your business when you’re ready to retire. Finding a buyer, working through the negotiations and paperwork, and creating a succession plan can also take time and effort, which is why we recommend using professional business brokers throughout the process. Here is what it looks like if you are ready to sell your business and retire.

Prepare to Sell

If you’re ready to retire from a business you own, it’s important to prepare your business to sell. In order to do this, there is a lot of information you will need to gather for potential buyers. If you’ve ever sold a business, you know that the paperwork and records can be overwhelming to tackle on your own. The easiest way to prepare your business to sell is to contact a business broker like Emerald Coast Business Brokers. Brokers are experts at preparing businesses to sell, evaluating it, and creating realistic terms of sale that align with the current market.

Attract Buyers

Brokers like Emerald Coast Business Brokers specialize in taking care of the marketing plan for selling your business. We’ll find interested buyers who are prescreened to ensure they are legitimate buyers confidentially. A successful buyer search will locate potential buyers who have the skills necessary to buy your business. With expert advisors helping you find and prescreen buyers, this process will go quickly, allowing you to retire when you’re ready.

Complete Closing

Once agreeable terms are reached (which can happen fairly quickly with the help of the trusted advisors at Emerald Coast Business Brokers), you will work with the buyer to create closing documents and execute a smooth acquisition. During negotiations, you will determine what your involvement in the business during the transition period will be. There may be training or other transitional activities that you will be involved in for a short time after selling the business. Once the transition period is complete, you will be free to live the retired life.  Whether you plan on fishing all day, spending your free time on the green, traveling the world, or just finally being home with your family, Emerald Coast Business Brokers will assist you in making sure you don’t spend your retirement years attempting to sell your business. We’ll work to make the process smooth and fast so you can enjoy this time in your life.

Retire the Easy Way – Sell Your Business!

Instead of taking years to slowly liquidate your business, transition quickly into retirement by selling your business with professional brokers.  The experts at Emerald Coast Business Brokers will guide you as you plan to sell your company.  From start to finish, they will assist you in selling your business to a qualified buyer so you can maximize your profit and easily transition from owning your own business to retirement.  Complete the contact form to speak confidentially with an expert about selling your business.

Rosemary Beach Businesses

Rosemary Beach is a unique community. Find out about the businesses in town, along with how to become a business owner here!

Businesses in the Rosemary Beach Community

Located between Panama City and Destin, this neo-traditional town is a master-planned community that looks like a slice of paradise in Northwest Florida. Its 107 acres are designed to bring back the ideals of community, neighborhood, and convenience for both residents and visitors alike. You are never more than a five minute walk from anything in town.

Rosemary Beach is very similar to Seaside, FL, however there are more home-owners in Rosemary Beach, making it great for businesses.  The town center features shops, restaurants, and other activities for locals and tourists. The beachfront offers the gorgeous white sands typical of the Emerald Coast.

Because of the unique nature of Rosemary Beach, owning a business here may seem confusing. Let’s explore the businesses in Rosemary Beach, along with resources for owning your own business here.

Rosemary Beach Businesses

The Rosemary Beach website lists local merchants ranging from shopping, dining, and professional services. While Rosemary Beach isn’t the largest community in the area, it does offer a variety of different businesses that cater to the needs of locals and visitors. Shopping is focused on the beach lifestyle with beachwear, bicycles, surfing, and books. There are also boutiques offering clothing for adults and children, along with home interiors and art galleries. Restaurants range from casual coffee shops to high end sushi, and also offer some distinctive choices like tapas or gourmet hot dogs!

Owning a Business in Rosemary Beach

Due to the unique nature of the Rosemary Beach community, you can’t exactly just start a new business here. However, there may be opportunities to purchase existing businesses here. To find business listings in Rosemary Beach, you’ll need to contact the Emerald Coast Business Brokers. Their trusted advisors know the ins and outs of purchasing businesses in Rosemary Beach, so they can help you identify possible Rosemary Beach businesses for sale, and work with you throughout the entire acquisition process. If you’re interesting in owning a business in this idyllic community, contact Emerald Beach Business Brokers to confidentially begin your search today.

 

Selling a Business Online

If you’re ready to sell your business, find out how to sell your business online making your sale quick and easy.

How to Sell A Business Online

Selling a business is not like selling a home—you need more than a fresh coat of paint and a call to a realtor. When you sell a business, you want to work to find the ideal buyer who will offer you top dollar and easily take over the business. If you’ve never sold a business before, or if it has been a while, the easiest way to sell a business is by using a business broker. These brokers will list your business online, and work to promote it to find the perfect buyer for your business. Let’s look at what goes into selling a business online.

Selling a Business Online – Choosing a Business Broker

Sure, there are websites out there where you can add your business to a long list of business for sale around the country. These sites typically charge you a fee for your listing. Once your business is listed, it may be tough to find. Those websites are just hubs of thousands of listings, so your business doesn’t stand out. The best way to sell a business online is to use a business broker. A broker will list your business on their online database, but then they will work hard to find you the ideal buyer. Instead of your listing getting lost in a huge database online, a broker will showcase your listing to potential buyers.

You’ll want to choose a broker who has a professional website and offers lots of information to buyers and sellers. While much of the business buying process happens offline, the first impression is often on a website. Here at Emerald Coast Business Brokers we understand the importance of doing business online. We pride ourselves on not only being professional advisors in person, but also online. We can help you list your business, but we will also help you prepare your business to sell.

Selling a Business Online – Preparing to Sell

We’ve seen many sales fall through simply because the business owner was not prepared to sell. Sure, you might be ready, but you must also prepare your business. You will need to gather some paperwork (which we can help you with) including financial information, tax returns, and financial statements. We will help you get your business ready by handling the paperwork and setting the valuation price. Throughout the entire process, we will maintain confidentiality so there is no negative impact to your daily business operations after listing your business for sale online.

After preparing and listing your business, we will conduct buyer searches, prequalify interested buyers, and make sure you are only spending your time with serious buyers (something you won’t get from the giant business listing websites). We will also help with negotiating terms of the sale, working as the buffer between you and the buyer.

Contact Us to Sell Your Business Online

Whether you are ready to sell today, or thinking about selling in the future, contact one of our experienced advisors today to start the process. We will work on your timeline and help you sell your business online without the stress and hassle of doing it yourself. Whether it’s a new listing or a business you’ve been trying to sell for a while, we can help. Selling a business online doesn’t have to be difficult or overwhelming, let Emerald Coast Business Brokers assist you throughout the entire process.

 

Retiring to the Emerald Coast

Are you ready to retire to the Emerald Coast of Florida? Find out what makes this area ideal for your golden years.

The Emerald Coast – The Best Place to Retire in Florida

From the gorgeous white-sand beaches, to the limitless activities, and amazing weather year-round, the Emerald Coast is the popular retirement spot that retires rave about. Communities like Fort Walton Beach, Panama City, Pensacola, Destin, and Crestview will provide you with affordable real estate, an active lifestyle, and even some business opportunities.

Retiring to the Emerald Coast

Whether you want a bigger city with more of a suburban feel or a small community, the Emerald Coast offers it all. Larger cities like Panama City or Destin give more of an urban feel, while Rosemary Beach or Okaloosa Island give more of a small community atmosphere. No matter where you want to retire to on the Emerald Coast, the real estate market is good.

Emerald Coast Real Estate Market

There are many choices when it comes to real estate in the area. Beachfront condos, homes in a new development, in town, or along the coastal route—what option sounds ideal to you? If you want a retirement community, the Emerald Coast has a few of those options as well. While real estate close to the water will go for more, typically homes in the Emerald Coast area are pretty affordable.

Currently, the national average cost for a home is $169,000, but in Florida, the average is lower at just $152,300. Narrowing down a few of the cities here you might want to retire to, Panama City’s home prices are averaging $95,100 and Crestview is at $131,400—well below the national average. If you want to retire affordably, there are plenty of areas in the Emerald Coast that will allow you to stay within your budget.

Recreation Options for Retirees on the Emerald Coast

Since the Emerald Coast area stretches about 100 miles along the coast, the options for fun are endless. What a great opportunity to make the most of your retirement! The beaches along the Emerald Coast provide opportunities for water sports, snorkeling, boating, fishing, swimming, along with being ideal for those who just want to stroll along the sand looking for seashells. Also, if you enjoy beach combing to hunt for treasures, you have plenty of shoreline to explore!

If golf is your sport of choice, retiring to the Emerald Coast is a GREAT plan! There are some amazing courses here. In fact, the area is packed with over 20 golf courses, ranging from exclusive clubs to public courses.

And if you’re an art lover, there is a lot to enjoy along the Emerald Coast. You can experience live performances at the Emerald Coast Theatre, along with the numerous art galleries featured in each coastal town.

Because of the strong tourism industry in the area, there are many shopping and dining options to try. Your family will love visiting you after you retire to the Emerald Coast because of all the fun things you can do together.

Business Opportunities in the Emerald Coast

Let’s face it, those of you with an entrepreneurial spirit may never fully retire. If your heartbeat is in business and investments, you might be drawn to retire to this area because of the local economic opportunities. If you are interested in purchasing a business here after retirement, there are low-risk (low-stress) options available throughout this beautiful area. Maybe you want to run a bed and breakfast? Or maybe a car wash sounds interesting? Want to drive around the area in a food truck? Or maybe you want to invest in a successful business so you can just sit back and let someone else manage it.

No matter what your desires are, the experts at Emerald Coast Business Brokers can help your dreams become reality. If you are interested in investing in a business venture after retiring to the Emerald Coast area, contact one of our advisors to set up a consultation today.

Enjoy Life on the Emerald Coast! Welcome to Retirement!

Other area features that make this a prime retirement location are world class healthcare, amazing weather, and low crime. But you were already sold on retiring to the Emerald Coast, right? We hope you find it as wonderful as a home as we do! Congratulations on your retirement, and welcome to North Florida.