Life In Bonita Springs

               Hold The Creative Stories & Excuses

Buyer’s remorse is a sneaky little thing that creeps its way into the hearts and heads of home buyers when nobody’s looking. Somewhere between, “heck yeah, we’re buying a house” and the settlement date something happens and the tides turn.

In a market peppered with short sales it’s a common occurrence. A lot of the time it’s that waiting. The wait for the bureaucracy of the seller’s debt forgiveness by their lender is like waiting at the DMV, only its months of praying for your number to be called, not hours of it.

If idle hands are the devils playground, then idle buyers … well, I don’t know a great analogy for idle buyers. What I do know is that idle buyers can let their thoughts and fears get the best them. They can talk themselves out of the best deals or talk themselves into other deals because they’re worried that there could be greener grass somewhere else. Sometimes, it actually is.

So, somewhere between “heck yeah, we’re buying a house” and settlement date the heavy revelation of commitment and hand wringing begin.

The buyer’s cousin Russell tells them all about something awful that happened to his neighbors, doctors, ex-husband when he bought real estate in Orlando or they heard about entire condo complexes in Miami going into receivership and the party is over. The buyers go run-away-bride regardless of how irrelevant Orlando and Miami markets are to southwest Florida.

Putting aside job loss and financing issues, here’s the deal with short sales and the buyers who get cold feet. Both foreclosures and short sales are usually purchased “as-is” with the right to inspect. In a nutshell that means that Mr. Buyer contracts to purchase the home for $X and has the opportunity to perform a home inspection. If he is not satisfied with the inspection results, he may cancel the contract.

It doesn’t matter if there is a massive roof leak or simply a broken doorknob. “Satisfactory home inspection” is at the buyer’s discretion. Performed within the time frames stipulated, it’s the way out of most as-is contracts.

Watching buyers with cold feet orchestrate reasons to get out of a contract is a bonus to being the listing agent. Elaborate tales are spun and there is almost as much excuse making and blame shifting as the BP oil brawl.

The street address of the house adds up to 5 and that’s my unlucky number was one of the more creative excuses. The numbers added up to five before the buyers signed the contract, too. Unfortunately, unlucky numbers aren’t considered a defect or covered in the as-is contract.

How about, we’re cancelling because we couldn’t get in to the house on Saturday to see it one more time.

Really? There was no subterfuge. Maybe Saturday really, truly wasn’t convenient because the sellers really were actually moving and there really was too much going on to appease the buyers indulgences on a cookie cutter home where the only difference between the home and the one next door is a built in wall unit.

All that belly aching and defensive reasoning aren’t necessary when in the end and all most troubled buyers have to do be accountable, drop a couple hundred bucks on a home inspection and leverage the as-is inspection clause when it’s decided that they couldn’t possibly bring themselves to repair a drippy kitchen faucet.

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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.

Taste of Bonita 2010 ~ Riverside Park ~ Things to Do

The 17th annual Taste of Bonita 2010 is back, and some of the area’s finest restaurants are serving up their best once again.

The Taste of Bonita food festival will be held at Riverside Park on Nov. 21st. from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Riverside Park is located on Old US 41 in Bonita Springs, Florida. Dozens of Naples, Estero and Bonita Springs restaurants are scheduled to participate and an estimated 8,000 plus people are expected ...to attend.

The Taste of Bonita event is planned and headed up by Bonita Springs Rotary Noon. The festival is a fund raiser for local charity programs.

Local restaurants will be participating in the Taste of Bonita event with most dishes and samples being offered priced under $5.00. This is an excellent opportunity for local residents to sample the cuisine of locally owned restaurants and support the local businesses.

Fish House	Outback Steak House	Johnny Malloy’s
First Watch	Buffalo Chips	Cirella’s
Tony Sacco’s	Royal Scoop	Sweetbay
Rodes	Randy’s Fish Market Restaurant	Paradise Shrimp
Pincher’s Crab Shack	Tropical Smoothie	Survey Cafe
Fitzgerald’s	For Heavens Shakes	Stevie Tomatoes
Tiki Time	Pastrami & More	Home Sushi Thai
Ted’s Montana Grill	Carrabba’s	Your Restaurant Here <hint, hint, hint>

$2>

Admission to the Taste of Bonita is FREE. Live music, entertainment and fun things to do will be on site, as well.

For more information about Taste of Bonita 2008 contact 239-273-7430.  A map to Riverside Park is located below the red markers indicate the park on the west side of 41 and overflow parking on the east side of 41.

Buying a Listing – Over Priced Real Estate

What could possibly justify a two hundred thousand dollar spread in pricing on nearly identical homes, within the same community, with remarkably similar options? The answer is nothing.

It’s a frequently asked question that buyers pose when they narrow down the search to either a particular neighborhood or specific floor plan. They look at the list of properties and start wondering why homes priced in the $300,000 price range have identical homes sitting next door priced brushing up against the $500,000 threshold.

There are homes that are priced at or near current market price and there are home that get priced at the wish list price. The wish list price could be the premium price the owner paid for the property or the price they’re willing to move for.

Whatever the reason, the price is clearly too high for market conditions. Too high for a buyer without a head injury to pay when they sit down and look at the recent comparable closed sales and too high to appraise for a mortgage, too. Lenders are actually using them these days.

Typically, a homeowner calls a couple of real estate agents when they’ve decided to sell their home. The interview process usually entails some degree of marketing presentation explaining the techniques that will be used to advertise the property and a listing price estimate of the house or condo.

There is an interesting pricing phenomenon that occurs when some homes get listed for sale. For home owners that get stuck on a particularly high dollar listing price they will simply interview until they find the right agent. The right agent is the one that tells them the highest list price or the “yes man” agent that simply agrees to list a home at any price.

In the real estate trade it's known as buying a listing.

The agent is willing to expend marketing dollars with little hope of a return on the investment just to get a listing … or they’re willing to tell a seller what they want to hear and a few weeks into the listing start hammering for price reductions to get it to the price where it actually stands a chance of selling.

The home owners themselves are unwittingly “buying” by holding a property and incurring monthly costs which include the mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance.

What’s more, if the owners really were hoping to sell they are immediately in a negative position where they’ll be chasing the market price down. The end result is more days on market, more holding costs and the risk of stigmatizing the property.

A couple of years on market make for a stale listing. Stale listings tend to make buyers ask questions like, “What’s wrong with that one to keep it on the market so long?”

Behind the gates to most communities there’s a listing or two that just too high and there probably always will be one. The same as there was always some doctor willing to “help” Michael Jackson; there will be a real estate agent willing to help a home owner list at the wrong price.

Just remember that having all those yes men around MJ didn’t do him any favors, either.

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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.

Which Real Estate Price is Moving?

Additional real estate market reports below.  Read also:

Ten Years of September Real Estate Sales

Short Sales & Foreclosure vs. Equity Sales September 2010

A Decade of Real Estate Sales History

For additional real estate market reports, read also:

Short Sales & Foreclosure vs. Equity Sales September 2010

September 2010 What Price Range Real Estate Sold?

How Many Real Estate Sales Are Foreclosure?

Additional real estate market reports are available.  Read also:

September 2010 What Price Range Real Estate Sold?

Ten Years of September Real Estate Sales

Red Magnolia Seeds in Bonita Bay

A question I’ve heard by visitors and residents of Bonita Springs and Southwest Florida is, “Don’t you miss the seasons?”  We actually do have seasons, but they’re just not blatantly obvious and we don’t have to shovel the winter season.

We have spring, we have fall changes just like our northern friends, minus the snow.  We get our spring sprouts, we get our fall color changes.  It just has to be looked for, like in this magnolia seed pod.  The magnolias are huge white blossoms in the spring and summer.  To see them read also:

The Magnolias Trees at The Gates of Serrano

In the fall the pods have bright red seeds and are shaped like pine cones.  The pods litter the walking paths of Bonita Bay near the entrance to Whiskey Pointe.  They’re probably in a Southwest Florida neighborhood near you, if you just slow down a little bit and look for them.

Questions Regarding Healthcare Tax & Tenants in Foreclosure

The mailbag filled up and these two gems stood out as questions that were asked more than a few times. Not only are they important questions but I almost get to use the word Obamacare which is almost as much fun as throwing rocks at a hornets nest.

So here you go, my best answers to the tough questions with enough cover my rear end disclaimers to comfort those who fret over such matters.

Q: I didn’t react to this subject until I heard it the third time.  Now it was a CNN business reporter stating that within the bowels of the health care bill was a 3.8% sales tax on real estate expected in 2012 and beyond.  No mention of who pays, buyer or seller, but he used the example of $300,000 thousand as an average [$11,400 tax?].  Is this tax is true? I hope you can confirm or deny this latest tactic to worry the population holding deeds.

A. This is a resurfacing question that first came up in the spring when a chain email started circulating. To date, I must have received it a dozen times myself. Unfortunately, this email just like many of the urban legend emails get forwarded without anyone verifying the accuracy or sighting sources to support the information or lack, there of.

First and foremost, if you want to get to the bottom of a tax or legal question and how it specifically affects you, you need to ask your tax advisor or lawyer. The rest of the population too embarrassed to ask the question will do the next best thing and Google for the information and hopefully get the right answer.

The verbiage regarding the tax is in the healthcare bill, however it doesn’t affect everyone. I’m certainly not going to be able to sum it up in less than five hundred words but I can provide you a few links so that you can get the facts and educate yourself.

http://budurl.com/FactCheck

http://budurl.com/NARFAQ

http://budurl.com/Snopes

If you’re not able to access the web and anticipate selling your home after January 1, 2013, at a considerable profit which exceeds the capital gains threshold, call me and I’ll print one of the summary pages and snail mail or fax it to you. Fair enough?

Q: How do I know if the home I'm renting is safe from foreclosure?

A: Beyond simply asking the owner if they’re current with their mortgage payments you can also search the owner or address of the property at the county clerk of courts website.

Depending upon the county and how the information is displayed there will be recordings which indicate legal action. The filing may read simply as a “lis pendens” which indicates a legal action or actually be listed as an NOD which is a notice of default or mortgage foreclosure action.

You’d be wise have a real estate attorney review your lease and check for legal action against the property and the owner of the home, prior to signing. There is a chance that an existing legal action could actually affect the validity of your lease.

It’s better to be safe than sorry. You may want to check the county clerk’s site from time to time just to make sure there haven’t been any developments that come up during the tenancy, too.

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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.

Orchids & Bromeliads  in Southwest Florida Homes

Here’s an insider secret: I have a pretty bad track history with orchids.  I also leave the bromeliads to the others. There are some wild ones growing out back which I admire and do not touch. My touch usually is the kiss of death or at the very least extreme sickness. 

The only orchid I have ever successfully had a hand in growing was a fluke.  I sold an Oakmont model in San Remo at Palmira a few years ago and one of the articles the home owner couldn’t fit in their car when they moved was an orchid plant. I picked it up and took it to my ailing mother.  She owned several orchids in various states of dying.  A few weeks after delivery it was peppered with blossoms.  Apparently, two plant killers are like a mathematical equation and cancel each other out.

That was as close as I came to trying to help an orchid. I now admire them from afar, usually in garden departments across Bonita Springs and Estero.  Most of the orchids in this article are from The Home Depot in Bonita Springs on Bonita Beach Road. 

View Full Album

It was fall and I was looking for some annuals for my front flower beds … curb appeal, you know.  I was taking pictures of my usual focus; Hibiscus.  A lovely woman at the counter said, “You should go back by the orchids, they’re rather stunning today.”  Apparently, she didn’t see the poster with my likeness that read “keep away from orchids”.  At any rate, she was right.  There really is a great collection of orchids at the Home Depot right now.  I promise to stay away from them from now on.

The Pompeii II at Positano Place Naples, Florida

In the heart of Naples, Florida at Positano Place is a lovely one bedroom, one bath residence. Top floor unit with "solarium" sitting area for extra room. Enjoy lovely appointments which include 18" tile throughout the main living area, warm wood cabinets, stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops. Positano Place offers a beautiful clubhouse with many amenities which includes BBQ - picnic area, bike and jog path, elevator, billiards, business center, clubhouse, community pool, exercise room, library, play area, sidewalk, underground utilities, vehicle wash area, community room, community spa/hot tub. Just minutes to gulf beaches, shopping, dining and downtown Naples. This condo is priced right and comes with a tenant in place, leased through July 2011. This unit is offered as-is with the right to inspect as it is a short sale.   The Floor Plan for this Positano Place Condominium is the Pompeii II, which offers the Solarium room in lieu of a screened lanai.