By Libertina Brandt
In the Florida Panhandle, the waterfront in Panama City Beach is covered in white sand. Chris Himes says the beach is a palpable presence in the roughly 5,000-square-foot beachfront house that he built with his wife, Erica Himes.
"We have two Gulf-front bedrooms on the bottom floor, and when you're lying on the beds in those rooms, it's like you're lying on the sand dunes," said Chris.
The home-sale record for Panama City Beach, a city of roughly 20,000 residents, was set by the 2023 sale of a home in the gated Carillon Beach community closed for $10.7 million, according to property records. Now, the Himeses are shopping their six-bedroom property in the same community for $13.75 million off-market, meaning it isn't publicly listed.
The Himeses, who live full time in the Atlanta area, have long vacationed in the Florida Panhandle, said Chris, a retired real-estate developer. They bought the roughly 0.25-acre waterfront lot for $1.25 million in 2014, then spent about three years building the home. They declined to disclose the construction cost.
The Himeses' real-estate agent, Martin Sandel of Sandels by the Sea, said the potentially record-breaking price reflects the home's size and open layout, adding that that the market has appreciated since the 2023 sale.
According to Chris, he and Erica are selling the home because now that their children are adults, they want to travel more. "It's a very hard decision for us," he said. "My wife's teared up several times."
Carillon Beach, the city's most expensive neighborhood, has its own security team, according to Sandel. The median sale price for single-family homes there was $2.1 million over a three-year period from 2023 through 2025, Sandel said.
Write to Libertina Brandt at Libertina.Brandt@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 04, 2026 14:30 ET (19:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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