Short Sale Success Story- They Do Get Closed We closed another short sale last week. This one was a bit more difficult than our other short sales since there was a PMI ( Private Mortgage Insurance) company involved in the deal. The seller contacted us towards the end of last year from our Active Rain blog to list his house here in Wellington Florida as a Short Sale. He lives in another state and therefore we emailed him the listing agreement and handled the entire listings and sale over the internet, email and phone. We still have not met this seller although we look forward to meeting him one of these days. He no longer lives in Florida. He was relocated by his employer to another state. A few months after he moved he was laid off. He was now unemployed. He owed about $400,000 on this ... 04/03/2008

We Are Having Growing Pains! Welcome Our New Buyer's Agent! Thanks to our great niche in Expired Listings and our blogging on Active Rain; this has led to making some great contacts and closed sales to show for it all. We have been going through some growing pains. We are listing agents and work with several high end buyers. We also work with buyers who call us direct from our blog or website and referrals from Active Rain members and other agents we know around the country. Since our listing inventory is not only growing at great speed it is also moving with closings. Many of our listings are short sales and these take more time to work on than regular files. But this work is also very rewarding. Helping our sellers move on with their lives is very rewarding. Because of our strength is... 04/01/2008

Wellington Real Estate Market ReportBelow is a list of communities in Wellington with current listing. To help you with your search for the perfect home we've included the average listing price and the number of properties available in each community as of Saturday, March 29, 2008.Click on any of the following links to view the homes that are available in that community. Olympia Available Units: 163 Average Price: $545,642Lowest Price: $285,000Highest Price: $1,474,777  Sugar Pond Manor Available Units: 96 Average Price: $282,415Lowest Price: $134,900Highest Price: $1,050,000  Versailles Available Units: 69 Average Price: $1,008,439Lowest Price: $459,900Highest Price: $2,400,000  Villagewalk Available Units: 66 Average Price: $369,169Lowest Price: $254,900Highest Price: $625,000  Wyclif... 03/29/2008

Active Rain Brings In The Green After The Rain Again and Again and Again! Active Rain will bring you business if you blog consistantly and show your personality. Here is yet another post about the power of Active Rain and the quality of the customers that it brings into our business and friends it brings into our lives. I wrote a post about the Aero Club in Wellington Florida which is a very unique aeronautical community complete with hangers with some of the homes being right along the grassy runway. This community is home to airplane owners and also those who like to have a luxury home on an acre of land. You do not have to own a plane to enjoy living here. The Aero Club is bordered by wonderful equestrian ranches with lots of open fields, horses and exciting equestrian events. That p... 03/27/2008

Florida's Home Education Week is March 30th through April 6th. Governor of Florida, Charlie Crist proclaimed that the first week in April is to honor homeschoolers in the State of Florida. We as homeschoolers wish to thank Governor Crist for taking the time to honor a parents' choice to educate their children at home. You can go to the HSLDA Website and download a copy of the home education proclamation with the State Seal. It says that "home education is an official educational option in the State of Florida providing the parents the ultimate authority and responsibility for the care, upbringing and education of their children." It goes on to talk about the many Americans who have been home educated like George Washington, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Robert E Lee... 03/25/2008

Oh Countrywide, Oh Countrywide, Where Art Thou, Oh Countrywide! I sure hope some CEO somewhere at Countrywide cares enough about their image and what people think and experience with their company to set up Google alerts for their company and maybe, just maybe find this post; read it and make some changes. What kind of changes might you ask? How about the customer service department for one? We get paid very nice retainers for helping businesses become more customer friendly and efficient but guess what! Today is YOUR LUCKY DAY! I am going to give you a FREE consultation. Get your phone numbers together! Why is it that every one of your numbers leads back to the same push this button and push that button and enter your social security number only to be switched to another extension to d... 03/19/2008

Short Sales In Palm Beach County - Strategies For Communication- You Must Hold The Key. - Part 10 Short sales in Palm Beach County Florida take a winning and well thought out strategy in the lines of communication. I certainly recommend that if you are a seller that you find an agent who is very good with communication and knows how to work with others well. If you are an agent than please make sure you know what you are skillful in communication styles. The other quality you definitely need to be successful in is great people skills. The reason your agent needs people skills is that he/she must be able to break through all the walls and obstacles that the lender has in his path to a successful closing of your short sale. Nestor is very good with people skills. He knows how to flatter t... 03/19/2008

The Olympia subdivision in Wellington Florida is a resort style community build by Minto Homes. This community was built west of State Road 7, 441 and South of Forest Hill Blvd right across the street from the new and modern Wellington Green Mall and right across the street from Wellington's newest High School.   To find out more about Olympia's amenities read my post about Olympia in Wellington Florida here. There are 1000 homes in the Olympia subdivision. Minto is still building brand new construction in Olympia. And then there are 92 homes for sale right now in Olympia. That means that almost 10% of all the homes in Olympia are now up for sale. This is a great time to take advantage of this inventory.   If you would like to view the most glorious of all the homes for sale in Olympia ... 03/17/2008

Sellers in Wellington Florida- Here is evidence of our success in helping sellers get their homes sold in this tough market. This just in from our newly closed transaction wherein against ALL ODDS, we were able to get the sale closed and the sellers were able to move on with their lives. Yes, we are tootin' our own horn here but documentation beats conversation every time. You want the hard cold facts that we do know how to weather all the real estate climates, the sunshiny ones and the thunderstorms. Beware of leaving the sale of your property in the hands of those who's only accolades are of what happened on sunny days, who have built their reputations on what they did during the years of the hottest sellers' market ever seen in Florida. Nestor's very first real estate transaction was... 03/12/2008

Did you know that the South Florida Science Museum Offers Homeschool Classes And Activities For Wellington Florida Homeschoolers?  You can either drop your kids off for the sessions which last for 2 hours or you can stay and learn something too! It has been a while since I was in a science class and even though I remember most all of the basics there is always something else to learn even in a K to 2 class.   The sessions are divided up for  K-2 Workshops and 3-5 Workshops. These are hands-on workshops that provide a lot of the tools you may not have at home in your home school. The savings of the cost for you not to have to go out and buy the materials is well worth registering your kids for these workshops. They take place once a month during the regular school calendar.  The spring s... 03/12/2008

Successful Short Sale Closings And We Got Paid! Short Sale Series Part 9 We closed on 2 short sales successfully and both were our listings. They were both difficult transactions but in the end we got our checks, the other agents got their checks and 2 new homeowners got awesome deals on these 2 homes. Patience is the principle quality you must have to follow a short sale through. Nestor is very good at following up with the lenders and wielding all the influence possible in order to get the sellers approved with short sales below market value. You need to know what to say and how to say it. Why is below market value important right now? Because our market is not quite finished going down, we are just about there but not quite. One of the units was a condo, we originally had it listed f... 03/11/2008

Olympia is a development in Wellington Florida with 1,000 homes. Nestled behind Forest Hill Blvd and State Road 7 it is very conveniently located right across the street from the new Wellington Green Mall, the Wellington Regional Hospital and the new Palm Beach High School. You can get a very good buy in Olympia right now! There are 100 resale homes for sale in the Olympia subdivision right now. There is an array of styles and models to suit any taste. Come see for yourself. Here is a photo of looking out over the swimming pool area to Forest Hill Blvd. Across the street there is Buena Vida, an upscale active adult community. The builder Minto Homes is still building new construction at this time so if you want to choose all of your own upgrades this may be an option if you can wait for... 03/11/2008

Wellington located in Palm Beach Florida is known for its amazing equestrian facilities, as well as a new mall, and hospital. Wellington offers many new communties as well as equestrian estates. Acreage Aero Cllb Anthony Groves Banyan Estates Bel Air Binks Binks Forest Black Diamond Brookside Buena Vida Eastwood Emerald Bay Emerald Forest Equestrian Club Farmington Estates Glade Ranches Grand Isles Grand Prix Village Greenview Cove Greenview Shores Isles Lakefield Lakefield Landings Lakefield West Little Ranches Maidstone Mayfair Meadow Wood Landings Monterey On The Lake Oakmont Estates Olympia Paddock Park Palm Beach Plantation Palm Beach Point Pinewood Polo Club Provence Rustic Ranches Saddle Trail Shores Southfields Stonegate Sugar Pond Manor Sunglade Point Talavera Versailles Victor... 03/08/2008

Short Sales- Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Short Sales But Were Afraid To Ask Palm Beach County Short Sales- Short Sales- Information For Sellers and Buyers. We get calls at least 3 times a week from Sellers who no longer can make the payments on their home and are trying to find out what a short sale is and how it works. Most of the calls we have received this last week are from sellers who have already spoken to their attorneys and their attorneys are recommending that they sell their home using the short sale process. This past week we listed 2 short sales where the seller found us on our Active Rain blog and called us after reading our posts about how to do a short sale. We had one owner call us to list his house but it would be better for him if he does whatever he can t... 03/07/2008

Are you looking for that one home that when you see it, you stop in your tracks and just stand there to admire the beauty, finite details and luxurious touches, soaking it all in through all of your senses? We have just listed the most pristine and luxurious home in all the Olympia Development in Wellington Florida for a most aggressive price of $1,474,777. This home will match and surpass any 2 million dollar home by far! Take your time to look at the architectural design, lines and depths with such attention to detail through our collection of photos here. At your leisure, soak it all all in and imagine yourself becoming a part of it all by making this home your own. Make sure you check out our Real Estate Show at the bottom of this post. Let us begin the tour of this showplace home b... 03/03/2008

Eco Tip Of The Month, Going Green in The Month Of Green! Join all the Leprechauns this month by making your decision to go green. Every little bit helps, every step you take matters in helping the world get clean and get off of toxic products in our home, on our skin and in our bodies and getting off of our addition to oil. The easiest way to do this is to just change one thing you do that is bad for you or for the environment per month. If you take the small steps you will make big changes. Every action causes a reaction so decide today to make a step for better health this month. What better month can we begin this than during the Green month of March! So for this month the action step is to change your laundry detergent from one that is highly toxic, poisonous to you and your childre... 03/01/2008

Short Sales In Palm Beach County- Part 7- Inside The Process To understand the entire process of Short Sales In Palm Beach County Florida please read the articles below before reading this post. This will give you a greater understanding to where we are in this series on Short Sales: Short Sales-Part1- What You Need To Know Short Sales- Part 2-Are You Qualified To Do A Short Sale Short Sales- Part 3- What you need to do to Prepare for The Short Sale Short Sales- Part 4- What The Buyer Needs To Have With A Short Sale offer Short Sales- Part 5- Myths and Truths about Short Sales Short Sales- Part 6- After The Offer Comes In The short sale package which includes the offer is now in the hands of the third party lender. Depending on how the lender is handling their short sales, this is the p... 02/28/2008

Florida Property Tax actions needed to be take by Florida Residents in compliance with the new Tax changes enacted on January 29, 2008 which is Amendment 1.  Portability of "Save Our Homes" benefits- Apply by March 1, 2008 to get your benefits. If you received your homestead exemption in 2007 on a home you either sold or abandoned during 2007 and you bought another house by January 1, 2008 you can take some or all of your 'Save Our Homes' benefit to your new home but my must apply for this at your tax appraiser's office.  You will need to fill out form DR501t. For your 10% limit on annual assessments for non-homesteaded properties, no action needs to be take at this time. The 10 % limitation does not take effect until next year. Homeowners receiving the increased homestead exemption wil... 02/27/2008

What! The Palm Beach Post just wrote another story about the sky is falling, the sky is falling!  They interviewed a Realtor® we know in our community who says he has buyers and he is doing business and that he thinks the bottom is here. Right after that paragraph, The Post quotes some pessimist economist who rebuts the Realtor with the land slide in going strong! Are they on the front lines? Are they in the business of selling real estate? They just negated what the Realtor said was the truth. What is their motive in all of this? I wish their paychecks were affected by their negative reports and their shameful twists on the truth.  Our fax machine is ringing off the hook and we are getting multiple offers on our listings!  We work our business and our business works for us. When you pr... 02/20/2008

VillageWalk of Wellington Florida is a place you definitely will want to check out and put on your list of great places to live in Palm Beach County Florida. You will fall in love with this completely self sufficient community in the famous and desirable village of Wellington.  Much of Wellington consists of Luxury homes and Equestrian ranches and mini mansions. But for those of us who are interested in a median price home with tons of amenities than VillageWalk is the place for you to relocate to. You can buy a 2 bedroom and a 3 bedroom home in VillageWalk of Wellington for just under $250,000. That is one amazing price for a house with at least 1,500 square feet under air conditioned space. The price of the active homes on the market right now are starting at $259,000 and the highest ... 02/19/2008