If you need to prepare your Bonita Springs Home for sale use these useful tips to tidy up while using Feng Shui. Bonita Springs Feng Shui experts recommend following these guidelines:

1. Bedroom stimuli. Placing too many stimulating items in the bedroom, such as electronics and books keeps your bedroom from being a restful location.

2. Out of sight, out of mind. Believing things which are out of sight don't affect the Feng Shui of the home. Deep down you know there's a drawer, closet, attic or garage full of things that needs to be sorted, thrown away, given away or purged. Over time these ‘hidden' things subtly drain energy from you.

3. Back to the door. Sitting with your back to the door when at a desk diminishes your focus and energy for the task at hand.

4. Storing and saving everything. Saving cases and boxes for later use is a rare occurrence. This thinking reinforces a fear of not having what you need, or not being able to get what you need.

5. Garage entry. Using the main entry door celebrates your humanness and is more visually appealing than a garage entry. The garage is designed for machine entry.

6. Limited vision. Have you become blind to your home and what is in it? Take pictures of the outside and the inside of each room. Capture every detail and then look at the pictures. You will see your home with new eyes.

7. Ambivalent imagery. Not being conscious of the influence of the images (artwork, tapestries, pictures) you see daily in your beautiful, Bonita Springs home. It is good Feng Shui to have images which make you feel good. Bring in local photo prints of the Bonita Springs scenery to reflect the coastal life you enjoy. Take in a festival and pick up art from a local Bonita Springs Art show.

8. Clinging to the broken. Hanging on to broken items which never seem to get fixed is a big no-no. This subconsciously makes you feel ineffectual or anxious about not having enough time or know-how to get things fixed. Fix things, dispose off them or pass them to someone who will rehabilitate them. Plus, replacing a damaged piece of furniture with something from the Design Center will give you a pick me up.

9. Clinging to the negative. Hanging on to items that have bad memories associated with them keeps those memories alive. Release the items and release the memories. Allow someone to make new pleasant memories with your bad memory stimuli. There are dozens of charitable organizations in Bonita Springs that will gladly accept your donations.

10. Stale air. You live in Bonita Springs so listen to the surf, wind and nature. Forgetting to air out the home with outside air from time to time keeps stale energy inside the home. Airing out the home at least once a month not only replaces stale energy; it connects you with the out of doors and nature.

Feng Shui is a great tool to use before staging your Bonita Springs home. It affords you the opportunity to de-clutter, organize and purge your home of unnecessary junk.

Once you've wrapped up the interior, don't forget to take a look at the outside of the home to make improvements, too.

Contact Chris today if you would like assistance with finding a qualified home stager or Feng Shui expert than can help turn your house into a sanctuary.

OK, so they all laughed at me for taking a picture of a snail a the garden party. I wasn't taking a picture of the snail, I was taking a picture of its shadow. So there. I an more than just Bonita Springs homes for sale and a real estate agent!

And now that you're wondering about the rest of the poem and trying to figure out what day of the week you were born on:

Monday's child is fair of face.

Tuesday's child is full of grace.

Wednesday's child is full of woe.

Thursday's child has far to go.

Friday's child is loving and giving.

Saturday's child works hard for a living,

But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

What day of the week do you think I was born on?

See All Bonita Springs Communities

My big secret is that I am not really a good plant owner. There, I said it. My spare time is spent disregarding horticulture. I don't know why I don't "get" plants but I don't. I have made a concerted effort to revive a few of the victims around my house and had a little success. What I do know about my "style" of plant care is that I have to stick with succulents so they can rebound from my abuse.

Meet Ingrid. I've lived in this house probably about 12 years and I'm not sure I've watered her 12 times. It is probably a miracle I didn't accidentally starve my own kids to death. [Sidebar: I ran into Barry, the fireman at the Bonita Springs 4^th of July parade and was relieved he didn't recognize me as it was either he or his twin Brad that got my infant twins out of the locked car, back in the day. Totally humbling experience and a long story.] At any rate Ingrid has a story, too. I'm not sure where I got her but I know when I gave her away. I use to live in Bonita Shores on 6^th Street back in the day. Bonita Shores is the little section of Bonita Springs that is in Collier County. The Southwest corner of Vanderbilt Beach Road and Bonita Beach Road, for the most part. My friend Heidi lived across the street. When I moved from 6^th I had to stay in a condo for several months while my new home was finished being built. I just didn't have room for plants and such because the condo was s-m-a-l-l. I offered the plants to Heidi and she took them in.

Several years actually went by and one day Heidi called and said that she was moving to California. She still has my house plant, yes, singular; the cacti and other plants had died and she apologized. She brought me back Ingrid and then Heidi moved to California.

Today, I looked out back at LBD - the Little Brown Dog lying in the sun and Ingrid looked goo-ood. Someone must have watered her. It sure as heck wasn't me. I do know that Heidi has moved back to Florida. She's living in North Fort Myers, right now. I'm wondering if I should give her the plant back so Ingrid has a chance? What do you think?

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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, local real estate information and market reports. If you have topic ideas, feel free to share them or 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 left pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog.

Bonita Springs Mailbox Series

Did you ever see such a patriotic Manatee mailbox? Me either. Bonita Springs has a ton of manatee mailboxes, by the way. They’re right up their with dolphin mailboxes. This is what a manatee is if you didn't know: West Indian Manatee Facts.

Last week one of my readers, the mysterious “Mr. J”, escaped the bars of his fortress for a planned lunch meeting with little ol’ me at Rodes on Bonita Beach Road. I was a little early so I decided to buzz back on Meadowlark Ln. to snoop around. For the record the homes on Margina Circle and a few of the other neighboring streets are on Imperial River. The homes are charming and their views are exceptional. You should take a drive back on Meadowlark and see a little bit of Bonita Springs off the beaten path.

Years ago I recalled seeing a manatee mailbox that had an eye patch, black Pirate hat and saber on a sash back on Margina Circle. He was a real swashbuckler. It had been years since I’d even thought about it but I headed to the riverfront and lo and behold the mailbox was still there and had been seasonally dressed for July 4^th. I hopped out and snapped his picture just for you.

It wasn’t but a few moments later that I realized the bell in my car was ringing because my seatbelt wasn’t on. It’s a rental car. My car is in the shop getting face lift and bumper implants complements of a Toyota Tundra towing a boat that couldn’t quite stop in time. Since I wasn’t really familiar with the car, it was then that I noticed the gas light was on. For how long? Who knows. I high tailed it to Rodes for my appointment and waited inside because I didn’t want to idle my fuel away and be stranded on the far side of Bonita Springs from my office or home.

Naturally, the grouper at Rodes was superb and meeting Mr. J was like having lunch with a friend I’ve had lunch with dozens of times. I’ve met tons of people through my blog, the newspaper column and online networks like Twitter and Active Rain. The internet sure makes the world a much smaller place, don’t you think?

Just a Couple of Bucks For The Humane Society?

This is a greyhound dog mobile. I was leaving the home I just helped a buyer in Hunter's Ridge purchase when I saw this in traffic. I am not particularly fond of these trucks. You might see a few of them around Bonita Springs because there is actually a dog track here. Breeders raise dogs strictly for racing them. The dogs have a short career and a less than glamorous life. In the past there has been questionable happenings with the dogs about how they were cared for or how they died. I think the whole thing is sordid and I choose to not participate in anything that has to do with hurting animals even if it's just a rumor.

Sometimes you just have to take a little bit of the ugly with the good, right? It's the price for living in paradise. So today you have to see a picture of a dog mobile and hear me make a plea to donate money to your local animal shelter. With the Southwest Florida economy slowing and more and more people moving around, losing their jobs or just pinching pennies, the shelters are literally bursting at the seams with animals that owners are abandoning. If you have it in your heart to take in a new family pet, this is definitely the time. If you can't take in a pet then just give a little money or a bag of dog food so that the animals can be taken care of. The abandoned animals can't help themselves and need us to give them a home, a full belly and a second chance at life.

Gulfcoast Humane Society serves Lee County, Florida which includes Estero and Bonita Springs. They have a great website right here: http://www.gulfcoasthumanesociety.org where you can make a cash donation. If seeing all of those little eyes hoping for a home is too much for you to bear just put $10 on your Visa and skip that Starbucks Coffee today. You didn't need a 500 calorie cup of coffee anyway, did you? The shelter also has a WISH LIST so if you prefer you can purchase products they *wish* they had and deliver it to the shelter.

It really is that easy to help.

Psst, Bonita Springs Real Estate is Looking Up

For the first time in a good long while I'm actually looking forward to preparing the June Estero and Bonita Springs real estate market report. Usually, I wait until about a 14 days into the month before I do the report. It gives the agents enough time to close out their sales in the MLS so that they all get counted. This month I'm jumping into the market report a little early. Keep an eye out for it next Wednesday. You can sign up for the newsletter to make sure you get the good news. It's easy and free, no spam even. Just click this link: Bonita Springs Newletter

I'm just sure that the report is going to not only be good, but pretty darn good. The sales numbers for Bonita Springs real estate has consistently gone up each month for quite some time. The grumps are everywhere whining and crying about how bad it all is when it's actually improving. How do I know it's improving? Paper. Paper is flying and contracts are being written, accepted and closed. Sure, we still have short sales and foreclosures blipping on the screen but they're not rotting into the ground. How do you know?

How do I know? I ask the experts. Ask a title insurance processor. I spoke with one yesterday and asked all of the questions I could regarding what she's closing, what issues are popping up and what is selling. Ask a home inspector. Better yet, when you make an appointment to get a home inspected note that instead of having the inspection tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. you may actually have to wait up to two weeks to get on the schedule.

It's been quite around Bonita Springs and many people have tightened their purse strings, so why is real estate moving? Maybe the Fence riders have reached point break. The prices of homes have adjusted low enough that it may now be a race against interest rate hikes to get that value. It's true. The "good" real estate deals are moving and the longer a buyer goofs around, the better their chance for delaying a purchase and paying a higher interest rate. Just a word to the wise for you tire kickers out there that are trying to time the market. If you're not careful you just might time yourself out of the Bonita Springs real estate market.

Busy Busy Busy - The June Market Report Publishes July 9, '08

Sometimes the day in the life of a Bonita Springs real estate agent is just a marathon. When I hear the alarm in the morning I feel like a pony busting through the gate at the Belmont. Today was no different than most days. I can't tell you all the places I went, errands I ran, people I talked to, text messages I sent, phone calls I made, people I hugged, baby's I kissed and emails I sent. Whew. On top of that, I've probably put on about 150 miles on my car and the city of Bonita Springs is only 7 miles wide from West to East. Seriously. I wasn't even showing property. I've gone to Naples twice, Estero once, several neighborhoods in Bonita Springs, two title companies (one title company twice) and two banks.

When the day was done at 6:45 I had to go to the Albertsons-soon-to-be-Publix grocery store for grub because short of some Campbell's Cream o' Mushroom Soup, Teddy Grahams and stale Tostito's that I don't even remember buying, my kitchen is, uh, sad behind the cabinet doors. Come to think of it I even was even almost out of dog food. So goes the day of a real estate agent or this real estate agent.

There are a few people out there that just don't have a whole bunch of respect for what a real estate agent does, works for or stands for. Kind of a bummer because if one of *those* people were following me around they would have know that everything I did was for a consumer; a purchaser of real estate. I managed to even squeeze a few things in for friends, families, a cheerleading coach from yesteryear and find out when the funeral and mass for a friend will be taking place. Yeah, I have a little tiny personal life.

My sellers and my buyers are frequently thousands of miles from Bonita Springs, Florida and need an advocate working on their behalf. Someone has to fight for that rotted garage door to be replaced, pick up their new homes keys from the attorney or meet the locksmith so their home is secure until they can get back to Bonita Springs. For example: The buyer of my latest sale was 800 miles away on an internship and needed to make sure the repairs were made to their home and made properly. After a couple tries that failed and a flex from her agent, moi, the repairs were done the right way. Other buyer's and seller's need to make sure they get all of the documents, information and applications to get them to the speedy close they need to move in time for their work contract to start. A whip needs cracked and on top of what I do to process the transaction I even do a little extra to make sure the buyer or seller is happy and things go as smoothly as possible.

Tonight I will try to wrap up a little paper work that needs to be organized for my most recent sale. The buyers of this property are not in Bonita Springs, they're back up north. Their condo association application is mostly filled out, sans SS#'s and personal references. It even has necessary copy of the contract attached and is paper clipped to an envelope that is addressed and had the postage affixed so they get it done and mailed to *me* so I can hand deliver it and make sure it is done right the first time. I handed it to the buyer and tried to shake his hand and he hugged me almost breathless.

Just a day in the life. I should have finished law school, right?

We really have to love what we do to do this job. I love my job.

A good many of us have played a pinball machine. A friend of mine, "Big Al," restores and maintains them as a hobby. He has a brilliant mind that can disassemble anything and reassemble it in better-than-new condition. Most importantly, he knows what they are worth.

Friday afternoon we had a conversation about him "previewing" a pinball machine. Big Al drove to Fort Myers to survey the machine and see if it would be an option for reconditioning. This machine looked like a regular pinball machine. It had flashing lights, themed sounds and a slot for the quarters. To a novice, it would have definitely seemed adequate. Big Al knows a lot about the machines and if he doesn't know enough about a specific machine, he'll find out more.

After some digging through the recesses of his mind, asking his friends and searching the Web, he felt this particular machine might not be priced at what the other comparables were selling at. There were a few features missing from it.

Price is only good if there is value. If it all looks pretty but it is overpriced and it's not delivering the goods, it's not going to sell, unless to a sucker.

The owner of this machine didn't know a thing about pinball machines, never maintained the one he owned, is asking more than what was paid for it a few years back and basically knows nothing about selling it. I think to myself: This isn't much different from valuing and selling real estate. It's just a different item.

Any person can own any kind of property like a car, a pinball machine or even real estate. When they decide to sell it they may even advertise it themselves and for that matter sell it themselves. Here's how it applies to real estate: A homeowner should find someone to evaluate the home to properly price it. I'm not saying that homeowners can't sell their own real estate. I'm saying they may find difficulty pricing it right.

At worse they might underprice it and leave money on the table. If it gets overpriced, they may actually lose money in holding costs. Sure, anyone can find out the advertised price of other homes in their neighborhood, but it's what has closed sales, inventory absorption and buyer interest that creates or diminishes value.

In order to properly price real estate, a homeowner should either get an appraisal or a comparative market analysis based on the last three months of closed sales of similar properties in the area. We're talking the price recorded at the county clerk's office, not the price that was on the "just listed" or "just sold" postcard that came in the mail. There are a few online services that can guesstimate a value, but their systems haven't been perfected.

So Big Al went to see a machine that was valued at $1,500, already dropped down from $1,800 and but was really worth $1,000. He made a fair offer ($1,000) and invited the seller to call if he had a change of heart. The value was based on recent closed sales, and online pinball database figures and buyer interest. How is this so different from Bob and Betty who are asking $1.5 million for a shack when it's worth only $1 million and there are many to choose from?

It's nearly the same basic principal, hopefully minus the flickering lights and a smoky cigarette smell behind the glass.

Here's What People Were Looking For...

So here’s the weekly Sunday funnies. These are a few searches that brought people to my little Bonita Springs real estate blog. Some of them, you just have to wonder what they were *really* looking for:

• bonita springs florida swap http://lifeinbonitasprings.com/ (Swap what?    YIKES)

• i have a commercial vehicle in a deed restricted community http://lifeinbonitasprings.com/why-do-homeowner-associations-have-rules-restrictions-regulations/ (a little forethought is nice to see, commercial vehicles are a sometime no-no in HOA's here.)

• a picher of spase in real life http://lifeinbonitasprings.com/ (would that be “picture” and “space”? and what the heck did I write about to bring that specimen in.  Ah, yes, and now I've used the word "specimen" that is right up there with "Master Bait and Tackle"....can't wait to see what "specimen" brings in! and someone is still looking for the "real mermaid photos", too.)

• link:http://focusonfrederick.com/
  

• bonita zoo in bonita springs http://lifeinbonitasprings.com/kid-zoo-of-bonita-springs-things-to-do/ (We do not cage our children, that only happens in Wakeman, Ohio....you’re looking for “Everglades Wonder Gardens”)

Little Dogs Are People Too!

Come join our very first "Small Dogs Only!"

Social "Meet and Greet" this Saturday June 28th in front of Dipidy Dawg Gourmet Dog Bakery at Coconut Point Mall in Estero from 10-12 p.m.

Directions: Dipidy Dawg

Be our guest and bring your four legged friend and meet other dog owners and dogs this Saturday. We will feature this event in the fall issue of Naples Dog Magazine and show off photos of dogs at the social.

Leashed Dogs only and please pick up after your furry friends!

The Small Dogs Only! This social is a fun time to let your dog meet and gather with other dogs. If your dog is under 15 lbs. you are welcome to come join the fun. There is not an agenda- simply have fun!

For more information contact: Ericka Basile