Right before the U.S. Open polo tournament in Wellington Florida was set to begin, one by one, these amazingly beautiful polo ponies began to fall to the ground one at a time. The spectators and owners ran on the field to try to help the horses to no avail. Each horse began to die while those around them pet them and talked to them until they took their last breath. There were over 100 people running to the aid of the ponies. Each pony had at least 3 to 5 people triaging. It is not the prize nor the fact that each of these ponies is worth at least $100,000 each that caused the deep sorrow felt by the entire Wellington community but rather the closeness of owner and pony, of rider and pony and of community and pony. These ponies were loved and cared for beyond description.The ponies were... 04/20/2009

I wrote my post about what we did for Easter but I did not have my camera with me when I was writing the post. My daughter who is now our executive assistant and new listing manager had my camera to take some photos of some of our new listings. Then at the Tea Party in West Palm Beach Florida I discovered that my Flip Video was full!  I have been uploading all the video to my computer. I had forgotten that I had this cute short video of our son running around our Church grounds gathering up plastic Easter eggs. So for family day I am going to share these cute little family videos with our family. This was my granddaughter's first Easter egg gathering time. It did not take her very long to figure out that she was supposed to pick up the eggs. At 17 months old, picking items up is a favor... 04/18/2009

The annual CHAA- Christian Homeschool Athletic Association of Florida held its' annual Homeschool track meet. We had a lot of fun watching all of the children doing the hurdles, long jump, and the 50 and 100 yard dashes in Carlin Park in Jupiter Florida. Our son was one of the athletes participating in this event. Coach Rick who earned the teacher of the year award and is a youth minister is the coach who founded CHAA. He is very encouraging and motivating with the children yet he keeps their eyes focused on playing for Jesus and to be kind and courteous to others. One of the most endearing things that I witness at homeschool events is the very impressive well behaved children. This event is very popular and it is held annually here in South Florida at the Jupiter park location. The chi... 04/15/2009

I intended on writing about my thoughts on Passover and Easter but the thing I hate most in life; paying taxes, reared it's ugly head this week and as soon as Easter's sundown appeared I was involuntarily immersed into the bitter reality of wasting days of my life to organize all of my unorganized paperwork in order to complete the process of paying taxes. I am still working on them but I snuck away to write this post and comment on some blogs. We are going to the Tea Party so I am going to stay up until I am finished. We had a wonderful family Easter weekend. On Friday night we went out to watch Monsters versus Aliens with our little 6 year old son. He just loves those types of movies. Then it was up very early in the morning, ( I am NOT a morning person), to get our son and grandchild... 04/14/2009

South East United States Regional Service Day Project We have over 488,000 people in the southeastern states joining together to do an all day volunteer service day project on April 25,2009. Please join us. You are invited to join us in our annual Helping Hands, Linking Arms service project taking place all day Saturday April 25th, 2009 from 8:00 a.m. to when we finish all through the south eastern states: Florida Louisiana Mississippi Alabama Georgia Indiana Kentucky North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee This volunteer service day project is being put on by my church; The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. Our church does these Regional Service projects all over the world and we are reaching out to other churches to join with us to make a difference in the world through ser... 04/09/2009

Florida short sale agents handling Palm Beach County Short Sales need to know how to do a short sale before they list your house. We monitor the listings in our market place and are surprised to discover how many homes are in foreclosure that have just expired.  When we further look into the listing details there is no mention that this house was a short sale. When we do the math; the amount owed to the lender on this particular property which is public record here in Palm Beach County compared to the asking price on the property it is clear that this was a short sale. How does a short sale listing expire? We see more and more of these non disclosed short sales and disclosed short sales expiring in the mls. We have never had one of our short sales expire. Why would a short sale listing ... 04/06/2009

The government made some plans to keep 9 million borrowers in their homes through refinancing their current mortgages or through loan modifications. How are these plans working out? Delinquencies are increasing especially among borrowers with very good credit with prime loans.  The housing crisis is spreading. Less than half of the loan modifications made last year reduced the payments by more than 10%. In October through December 2008 only 37% of the loans re-modified had payment reductions of more than 10%. 1 in 4 loan modifications in the last quarter actually had the payments go up instead of down.  26% of the loans that were modified by 10% or more downward were in default within 9 months. When the refi or loan modification is not reduced or is increased; 50% of those go into defau... 04/03/2009

This is the result of raising your voice, emailing and writing your Representatives our US House of Representatives. Sometimes we feel like our one tiny voice does not get heard but when we put our voices together, things will get done. Whether or not you have children, this issue concerns you as those that oppose parental rights seek to submit to a United Nations order and rule of law. Parentalrights.org asked us to help get 50 Congressmen to become the original co-sponsors of the Parental Rights Amendment which has been headed up by Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan. On March 11th we only had 31 members of the US house of Representatives on board for this amendment that is a vital instrument to protect the rights of Parents in the United States against the global treaty that the U.S. is ... 03/22/2009

We went to the Winter Equestrian Festival Nations' Cup in Wellington Florida which is one of the main events of the equestrian season here. This event is the world famous, Nations' Cup. Riders and jumpers from all over the world come to compete in the Nations' Cup. The Irish team was in the Tiki room cheering for their Irish riders who did very well.There was a sell out crowd of over 8,000 spectators. We saw Olympian champion Gold medalists perform with grace and precision. The USA team did very well. There were teams from Venezuela, Brazil, Canada, Ireland and others for a total of 13 nations competing. Canada won the nations' cup this year. Great Britain and Ireland tied for second place. USA came in 4th. There was a last minute emergency change in riders for team USA because Todd Min... 03/19/2009

Florida short sale realtors® understand what you are going through. We have helped many homeowners avoid foreclosures in Florida. The most important thing that you can do once you know you can no longer pay your mortgage payment is to contact your Florida Short Sale Realtor® in order that you can be proactive in developing your options to see if a short sale may be just the ticket to moving on with your life without leaving the keys on the table. Time is of the essence, you need to plan right away. Myth #4 of our short sale myths busted is that if you ignore the foreclosure summons and complaint, the papers that get served on you that the foreclosure will somehow go away. You can not be in denial of the importance of your situation at this time. The next part of this myth is that you wi... 03/11/2009

Real Estate Connected with Spiritual Friendships Come Around Full Circle   I first met Mark and Jolynn Watson before they even moved to Florida. In fact, I was the Watsons' real estate agent. I will never forget Mark telling me he was moving to paradise and Jolynn telling me that her dream home would be on a street lined with Palm trees. I found them that home on a street on the way to their home lined with Palm trees and even their new driveway lined with gorgeous Palms. We go to the same church. The Watson's were moving here from Tennessee. Mark bought a chain of McDonald's restaurants here in Palm Beach County. That was in 1997. I found their dream home in which they are still living in today. Mark is now the Bishop of our congregation here in Wellington Florida. In our church we do ... 02/26/2009

Wellington Florida Short Sale agents can help you negotiate your short sale with your lender. Are you behind in your mortgage payments? Have you just been turned down for a loan modification? Are you thinking about just letting the bank foreclose on you? You may be able to have your Wellington Florida short sale approved with good negotiating skills and correct pricing. What is a short sale? Most people do not know what a short sale is. To read more about Wellington Florida short sales you can read our short sale series and facts here. Wellington Florida short sales are increasing here. This is something that is a part of the whole mortgage meltdown. Many Wellington homeowners call us because they have lost their jobs or fallen ill. They are very ashamed of their circumstances. We are h... 02/25/2009

There is a lot of action this year during the Wellington Equestrian season that is going strong and will last until the end of March for the main events of the Winter Equestrian Festival. You can go watch the show most weekdays for Free. There are the main events that you have to get tickets for but you can certainly see plenty of exciting equestrian events throughout the week. This Thursday a group of homeschooling moms are bringing their kids to the event of the day at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center so if you are a homeschooling family and would like to take a break come on by. We will be in one of the tents. All you have to do is look for the well behaved children to know where we are:) The kids will be up close and personal with many of the horses and be able to see ... 02/20/2009

You all know how proud we are of Tirzah, our 20 year old daughter who just graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach Florida with her Bachelor's in Psychology. This photo was taken at her Graduation brunch where she is wearing daddy's suit jacket because she was freezing that morning. Of course, that word is relative! In case you missed my post about Tirzah's graduation you can click here to read about it and view the photos. At the end of this post I have the videos of some of the graduation ceremony that I forgot to add to that post:). Tirzah also just had a baby boy right before her finals!  He is a healthy baby and so totally adorable. You can click here to read about her amazing experience from my eyes. Now that she is taking care of her baby and looking for ... 02/10/2009

The Battle of the Sexes Equestrian competition was a grand success here in Wellington Florida during the Winter Equestrian Festival at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. The Winter Equestrian Festival is held here in Wellington Florida every year from January through the end of March. The main ring at the showgrounds was the venue for this event. We went over there early so that our son could see the different farm animals and jump in the bounce house provided free for the kids. We then grabbed a great place to watch the equine events from on brand new bleachers that were very comfortable. We were able to get front row seats with great visibility of all the riders and horses. Here is a photo of a husband and wife team competing in the Battle of the Sexes competition. Everyo... 02/05/2009

WOW, living in south Florida has many benefits and one of them is that we don't use our heater. We do use our air conditioner more than I care to.   We have a cold front coming through tonight that is going to drop us in Wellington and all the way down to Miami in the low 30's.   Tallahassee and Orlando will be down in the 20's with ice warnings. My gosh, no one here would even know how to drive on ice!!!   I don't even know what to put over my little tomato plants to keep them from freezing!   We have not used our heater in our home except when we checked it on our home inspection over 10 years ago. Our heat is forced air and comes from our air conditioner.   So do we turn it on or do we wrap up in extra blankets? Stay safe everyone!   By TwitterButton The original blog is posted at So... 02/04/2009

Equestrian Seasonal Rental for the Wellington Florida Winter Equestrian Festival for the week, month or the season is available right now behind the showgrounds in the Equestrian Club Estates at the Palm Beach International Equestrian center right on the lake! The best of everything is within your reach! This photo is take right from the backyard- that is the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center you are looking at! How convenient is that!?! This fully furnished 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom home is available for the season at $15,000 per month or by the week for $4500 per week. 14289 Calypso Lane in the Equestrian Club Estates. If you are coming down for the season this month and have run out of options for lodging this is the perfect house for your equestrian festival needs. You can see ... 02/03/2009

Call Your Senators Today- Stop These Spending Sprees! Congratulations and thank you to the 11 Democrats and the entire Republican Congressmen and women who voted NO on the Pork Spending Bill . It is not a Stimulus Bill it is a Spendimore Bill and I am sending a thank you email to the Congressmen and woman of our state to let them know that we are pleased with their decision to vote against more spending  such as: $20 Million for the removal of small to medium sized fish passage barriers. $400 Million for STD Prevention and Testing $25 Million for the rehab of ATV trails, off the road vehicle trails. $34 Million to remodel the Department of Commerce $70 Million for support in supercomputing action for climate research $100 Million for Honey Bee Insurance package. While some of the above... 01/31/2009

Get the facts about Palm Beach County Short Sales or short sales for anywhere in the state of Florida.   I have been on the phone this week with 3 homeowners and 1 real estate agent who have been so misinformed about short sales. It made me think that there must be a lot more people out there that are misinformed.    You can read our series on short sale information at: Short-Sales-Florida.com.   Things change often, rules change often in Short Sales. What a lender says is the way it is one day may change tomorrow.   Two of the people I spoke with this week were given incorrect information from agents who have a Certified Short Sale designation or certificate or loss mitigation certification. Just because someone has been certified does not make them an expert. Check their references of... 01/30/2009

Short Sales- Countrywide changes their short sale procedures for the third time in the last 16 months. It seems they just do not understand how to get through the short sales they have stacked up on their desks. Now- which road do they take? Which way do they turn? As you may recall the last time I wrote about the changes; Countrywide had decided to ship most of their files off to India for processing. Well, then came the problems. The employees there are trained to be like robots. They go down a check list and if anything does not fit the mold they deny the loan modification, deed in lieu or the short sale. This created a lot of problems because rarely is a file sent in totally perfect no matter how hard one tries. We make sure we use a check list for our short sales but there are alwa... 01/26/2009