Enjoy the video above of the Patriot Guard escort motorcade of the Vietnam Wall pulling intoRiverside Parkin Downtown Bonita Springs, Florida. Dec. 1-4 a replica of part of the Vietnam Wall will displayed at Riverside Park on Old 41 Road in downtownBonita Springs, Florida. Click the map below for directions to the park:
Who doesn’t like a great value on anything that they purchase whether it’s a car, gym shoes or real estate? Housing and real estate present a special dilemma for consumers in years of late. As a nation and as a locale we’ve experienced an unprecedented roller coaster ride of real estate prices, both up and down now mixed with recovery.
It’s a struggle for the average consumer to weed their way through the active real estate on the market to locate their “dream home” and also feel that they are getting a value. It’s kind of like archaeologists sifting sand and soil though a screen looking for the treasures and artifacts.
You take a big, huge pile of real estate, sift through the uglies, the overpriced, the “meh” homes, the pretties and find one that meets the actual search criteria; bedroom size, square footage, pool, architectural style, features.
It doesn’t matter if a home is priced at one hundred thousand dollars or one million dollars. The value of what its worth is determined by what a buyer will pay for it and what a seller will sell it for. Finding the sweet spot is the trick; the best property for the best possible price. In a moment of frustration a buyer asked me why the list prices were so different than what they were able to find out online about the actual value.
The answer was actually how not to get a property valuation online; first, don’t use the county tax roll, second, Zillowish websites aren’t exact science. While these sorts of websites offer their share of disclaimers regarding how the valuations are formulated, most consumers don’t look any further than the answer they find. If there was an asterisk beside the answer it generally gets disregarded by most folks, especially if it’s in their favor.
For the record, I’m not starting a sword fight with anyone from Zillow or any “property valuation” website but the fact of the matter is whether you’re buying real estate in Naples, Seattle or Georgetown there are feet on the ground who will extrapolate market conditions that a computer program simply cannot recognize.
In southwest Florida the tax roll “assessed value” is an entirely different wild card. Assessed = Do not get a tattoo of that number. That word “assessed” gets skipped over way too quickly by anyone looking to parlay whatever figure they’re trying to negotiate or justify. If it was an actual market value, it read “appraised value” or “market value”. Instead, it’s an estimate or aggregate for taxing purposes based on the previous year’s sales. Didn’t exactly hear the freshness seal pop, did you? It would be like valuing your car for what other like kind models sold for in the previous calendar year.
Yes, that’s the nutshell version. There’s a laundry list of ways that the assessed figure is derived. As a consumer you’re best served by visiting the county property appraiser’s website and reading up on how assessed values are created. Have some caffeine, first.
So if you become completely confused while shopping for real estate in whatever market you’re searching, ask your real estate agent for a comparative market analysis of the home you’re leaning toward prior to presenting an offer or break down and get a full appraisal.
Most of the real estate valuation information online could be considered speculative, often times out dated and simply cannot take into consideration a variety of market conditions the number aggregators couldn’t possible gather because, after all, real estate is local.
###
Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area. Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor. If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.
You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.
For years we had a family inside joke “save the cheerleader, save the world”. It’s a line from the cancelled sci-fi TV show, Heroes. Since we had a diehard cheerleader in the family it was the perfect smart alec thing to say every time there was a predicament to help her though … I’m not saying she was high maintenance or anything.
Thankfully, we did save her from the many traumas and tragedies of growing up and I now believe we did so for the sole purpose of passing onto her the tradition of cooking Thanksgiving dinner. There is a recessive gene in our family that, fortunately, causes the cooking of Thanksgiving dinner skip every other generation.
My mother, rest her soul, would have probably gotten a kick out of how I fabricated a tale great enough that the cheerleader believed I was genetically unable to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. I stopped just short of her trying to organize a telethon.
For what it’s worth for anyone wondering how it went last year, well, it was all fun and games until we realized we bought a turkey without a popper upper thing in the breast. Since I’m a grazer and not a carnivore, there was no expert on staff to solve that dilemma so we did the next best thing and Googled how to tell when a turkey is done. (See guys, there’s more to the web than just porn.)
I’m sure that both your mother and mine probably cooked a thousand and two turkeys without a popper upper before Butterball revolutionized the basic American turkey. The only thing foreign that came out of the turkeys that I ate growing up was buckshot. Sidebar: It could not have been safe for children to eat that much lead every day.
So the kid decided to tackle the holiday for the second time, invite everyone over via text message and add the declaration, “Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!” Later that day I stalked onto Facebook to check up on the brood to see what sorts of things they’ve been up to.
Posted on the cheerleader’s Facebook wall by her roommate/cheerleader Taylor is this fascinating quote: “You know your room mate is an amazing chef when you are awakened by the smoke detector and she has to run into your room to learn how to shut them off. Oh and you stunt in the hallway to reach the detector!”
If you’re not up on the whole cheerleading stunt thingy, best case scenario with these two means that someone was standing on someone else’s shoulders to reach the smoke detectors. That’s talent and ingenuity in action, right there.
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope your Thanksgiving is going to be hilarious as ours is probably going to be. If it’s not I hope you find at least one thing to smile about and to be grateful for. I’m grateful for my recessive holiday cooking gene and my “emotional allergy” to beets, lima beans and Swiss chard.
She believed that line, too, and they’re not on the menu just so I don’t have a severe reaction.
Happy Thanksgiving!
###
Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area. Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor. If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.
You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the center pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.
Never could anyone have imagined just a few short years ago that social media would be such an important way to advertise and sell real estate. With the technological advances that have developed over the last decade we’re well beyond a real estate agent needing a website. We’ve now also crossed the threshold of a real estate agent needing several key social media platform accounts.
If you’re one of the consumers out there that just don’t “get” computers, the internet or email I realize not everyone has embraced technology. You do not, however, need to list your home without asking some important pivotal questions regarding where your real estate will be found online when you list it for sale.
When you’re interviewing real estate agents to list and sell your home their listing presentation should include aspects of how they market real state online. Some presentations are delivered on tablet PC’s or iPads, as well as in booklet form. One way or another you should be able to collect some information regarding where your home’s listing info will be syndicated.
Websites and social media platforms you should be expecting to see in a listing agent’s presentation are:
· A blog – Not just a website. At the very least your home and your neighborhood deserve an information packed post for consumers to find when they Google your neighborhood or your address if there is a yard sign for example.
· Facebook – A link to their personal Facebook profile and their Facebook business page. Your listing can and should be syndicated and published to subscribers of the business page.
· Twitter – Perhaps the real estate agent’s Twitter ID
· YouTube – YouTube is a video channel which is both popular and high ranking in search engines. Your home and your neighborhood should now have a video produced for marketing purposes by your listing agent.
· Google+ - Google’s social aspect of the brand.
· LinkedIn – A business/professional social networking platform.
· Craigslist – A free yet powerful online classifieds website.
· A host of other lesser known yet powerful platforms – Flickr, Picasa, Live SkyDrive, Vimeo, Animoto.
Once your real estate is placed online in the MLS – Multiple Listing Service it will also be syndicated to a variety of powerful websites such as Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com. These websites position little icons on individual pages of properties; a blue square for Facebook, +1 for Google, a birdie symbol for Twitter, the list goes on. When other consumers find your home listing on the internet they can easily click the icons to either bookmark the property for future reference or to share it so that their friends or family can see it, too.
It’s sort of 21st century version of a flyer on the bulletin board at the grocery with the little tear off phone number tabs. Instead tearing a paper tab off, people electronically click tabs and either save it for reading later or send the tab to someone else for them to read, like their own real estate agent or family and friends.
You’ve heard of the phrase “viral video”, a video so popular and seen by so many people that Kathie Lee and Hoda end up putting it on their Good Morning America show, too? It all started with someone thinking a video was cute or hilarious or ridiculous and clicking a tab to send it to a friend or share on a social media website. That’s sort of how marketing real estate with social media works, too.
Now go forth and ask questions and if you’re really confused about social media hire some kid in the neighborhood for an hour to help you compare listing presentations and check up on the prospective listing agents and their tech savvy abilities.
###
All information is deem accurate, not guaranteed and subject to change. Check the date on this report for freshness. If you have questions regarding your particular neighborhood, your street or your home specifically you’re welcome to contact us for a current market report. Real estate consumers that read this website are urged to seek independent, professional legal, real estate and financial advice before engaging in any transaction. All information is deemed, accurate, subject to change and not guaranteed.
Good, bad or indifferent the story of the Bonita Springs real estate market can be told by doing a few calculations that can predict an estimated number of homes, condos or other real estate that is currently on the real estate market for sale and how long it could take to sell off that inventory.
“The News” will tell you what they think they know about the Florida real estate market and the consumers will be confused and apply the reports to Bonita Springs real estate. Well, real estate is local so it’s important to know the numbers by individual city and drill down even further by neighborhood.
So here are the city wide inventory numbers for Bonita Springs Florida and Estero Florida, the categories of real estate is by structure and/or building type:
Single Family Homes (and Villas): 10.39 Months of Real Estate Inventory
Low Rise Condos: 10.03 Months of Real Estate Inventory
Mid Rise Condos: 10.78 Months of Real Estate Inventory
High Rise and Tower Condos: 19.5 Months of Real Estate Inventory
Attached Villa Homes: 9.47 Months of Real Estate Inventory
Manufactured Homes: 16.86 Months of Real Estate Inventory
…and that’s the facts about Bonita Springs Real Estate for the month of October 2011.
For more Bonita Springs real estate market reports for October 2011, read also:
###
All information is deem accurate, not guaranteed and subject to change. Check the date on this report for freshness. If you have questions regarding your particular neighborhood, your street or your home specifically you’re welcome to contact us for a current market report. Real estate consumers that read this website are urged to seek independent, professional legal, real estate and financial advice before engaging in any transaction. All information is deemed, accurate, subject to change and not guaranteed.
Whether you’re a buyer or a sellers it’s important to know what price range of real estate in Bonita Springs is moving. Still championing our fasted moving real estate sector is the 200K and under price followed by the 200-400K price point. Basically 80% of Bonita Springs real estate sales are priced 400K and under; a remarkable number.
This means there should be a cautionary sense of urgency if you are a Bonita Springs or Estero Florida real estate buyer with a budget of 200K and under. Those deals go fast and we’re seeing multiple offers again. Yes, contrary to what you may have heard on “the news” our buyers market is actually balanced and in the entry level we’re moving swiftly.
To read other Bonita Springs and Estero Florida real estate market reports, read also:
###
All information is deem accurate, not guaranteed and subject to change. Check the date on this report for freshness. If you have questions regarding your particular neighborhood, your street or your home specifically you’re welcome to contact us for a current market report. Real estate consumers that read this website are urged to seek independent, professional legal, real estate and financial advice before engaging in any transaction. All information is deemed, accurate, subject to change and not guaranteed.
For those of you curious about the condition of our sales in the Bonita Springs and Estero Florida real estate market, here is a snapshot of October real estate sales. The news usually predicts an ugly picture of Florida real estate and we just want you to know that we’re chugging along down here. We’ve sold off massive amounts of excess real estate and we’re enjoying a stable real estate market in many price points.
Prices on Bonita Springs real estate are even inching up. It takes excess inventory to push prices down and as soon as the real estate inventory was sold off, the prices were able to increase. To read other October 2011 Bonita Springs Estero Market Reports, read also:
###
All information is deem accurate, not guaranteed and subject to change. Check the date on this report for freshness. If you have questions regarding your particular neighborhood, your street or your home specifically you’re welcome to contact us for a current market report. Real estate consumers that read this website are urged to seek independent, professional legal, real estate and financial advice before engaging in any transaction. All information is deemed, accurate, subject to change and not guaranteed.
Kind of looks like there was a buyer snap of of Bonita Springs real estate deals in 2009, huh? We still have great real estate deals, we just don’t have the huge selection we had a few years ago. It may surprise consumers to know that there is far less inventory and prices are inching up a little bit, especially in entry level housing prices.
To read other October 2011 Estero and Bonita Springs Real Estate Market Reports, read also:
###
All information is deem accurate, not guaranteed and subject to change. Check the date on this report for freshness. If you have questions regarding your particular neighborhood, your street or your home specifically you’re welcome to contact us for a current market report. Real estate consumers that read this website are urged to seek independent, professional legal, real estate and financial advice before engaging in any transaction. All information is deemed, accurate, subject to change and not guaranteed.
Re: 18th Annual Taste of Bonita
Contact: Mary Shallies 239-331-1432
18TH ANNUAL TASTE OF BONITA coming to riverside park
The 18thAnnual Taste of Bonita, presented by The Rotary Club of Bonita Springs Noon, takes place Saturday and Sunday, November 19th and 20th at Riverside Park on Old 41 in Bonita Springs.
The weekend event kicks off with a free concert on Saturday, featuring Jimmy Buffet Tribute band, The Caribbean Chillers, from 5:30 to 9:00 pm. Food and drinks will be available for sale the night of the concert. Concert goers are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs, but coolers and pets are not allowed.
On Sunday, approximately twenty seven area restaurants will offer a wide array of dishes from pizza to wings and pasta to seafood. Current restaurants participating include Survey Café, Fitzgerald’s, Cirella’s, The Fish House, Ted’s Montana Grill, Royal Scoop, Tony Sacco’s, Johnny Malloys, Randy’s Fish Market Restaurant, Paradise Shrimp, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, Daniela’s, For Heaven Shakes, Coconut Jacks, The Stage, Pett-zza’s, Carrabba’s, Outback Steak House, Big Hickory Grill, and First Watch. Most dishes range from 3 to 5 tickets per serving and tickets cost $1.00 a piece. Beer, Naked Grape wine, margaritas, soda and water will also be available for sale.
New to this year’s Taste is a silent auction. Included in the auction is a one year boat club membership to Baywater Boat Exclusive Boat Club in Bonita Springs. The membership is valued at $6,000.00. Minimum bid will start at $2,500.00. Other auction items include jewelry, spa and beauty packages, hotel stays, a sunset cruise, restaurant certificates, and golf. Winning bids will be collected and announced at 4 p.m. Winners not in attendance at the announcement time will be notified by phone. “We have worked hard to assemble auction packages that will include a wide variety of highly desirable products and services for men and women and provide a great value to the winning bidder,” says auction chair, Kim Pitts. “We anticipate the annual boat club membership will be one of the most sought after items!”
Additional highlights of the event include live music throughout the day by The Manipulators, Southwest Florida based band that play a wide genre of cover songs, from rock to blues to pop. “We really enjoy playing the Taste of Bonita. It’s got a friendly, hometown vibe that few other events can match,” says Manipulators drummer, Dan Odem.
Laura Bruenig, whose company, Florida Veterinary Referral Center, is sponsoring the kids play area, offers her reasons for supporting Taste of Bonita: “This is a local event that raises money for great causes and we are glad to be a part of it.” The children’s play area will feature games and activities, including a bounce house, rock climbing wall, laser tag and face painting. Golden Retriever Rescue of Southwest Florida will have pets available for adoption under the Florida Veterinary Referral Center tent as well. “Events like Taste of Bonita are ideal for us,” says, GRRSW President, Alesia Mata. “They allow potential foster parents and those interested in adoption to experience the dogs up close and kids really love it!”
Lee Memorial Health Systems, a VIP sponsor of Taste, will be providing free health screenings under their tent and the Blood Mobile will be on hand for those that wish to donate. “Good food, good times, good cause,” says Mary Briggs, spokesperson for Lee Memorial Health System and a Taste of Bonita sponsor. “It looks like the planning committee has gone all out again this year to arrange an enjoyable event that benefits the community. We are anticipating good participation at our bloodmobile and at our health screenings tent.”
“Every year The Taste of Bonita garners larger crowds and overwhelming support of not only residents, but also visitors to our area. This year, with the addition of the free kick off concert the night prior, silent auction, bloodmobile and health screenings, we believe the event will surpass previous years in the amount of money raised to support our club’s charitable giving, and provide a higher level of satisfaction for those attending,” said Taste chairperson, Tony Valego.
Admission and parking for the kick off concert and Taste of Bonita are free. Major support for Taste of Bonita has also been provided by The Ronto Group and Gulf Coast Coin and Jewelry.
The Rotary Club of Bonita Springs Noon was chartered in 1992. It currently has 52 members and meets Thursday’s at noon at The Spanish Wells clubhouse. The club also organizes and hosts an International Beer & Wine Tasting in April at Mercado in Naples, Florida. Events such as these provide the funding to support the club’s charitable giving throughout the year.
###
Dine outside of the franchise! There are many local Bonita Springs families running local mom and pop establishments who appreciate your business. Feel free to use this handy map to find each of these Bonita Springs Pizza Restaurants. Pizza Map