Living on the Gulf of Mexico we experience the occasional Alge Bloom referred to as Red Tide. Wikipedia defines it rather well "The term "red tide" is most often used to describe a particular type of algal bloom common to the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and is also called "Florida red tide". This type of bloom is caused by a species of dinoflagellate known as Karenia brevis, and these blooms occur almost annually along Florida waters. The density of these organisms during a bloom can exceed tens of millions of cells per liter of seawater, and often discolor the water a deep reddish-brown hue."
But for the average person, what does it really mean? Well it causes breathing problems in humans and tends to kill a wide variety of fish, resulting in them washing up on the beaches.
To find out what is the latest status of Red Tide in Southwest Florida, please visit The State's website and to learn more about Red Tide visit these websites:
At Century 21 Mike Miller Realty, Inc, we have lost a beloved co-worker this week to cancer, Euginia (Quena) Valley. This has hit our office very hard, and we are very sad to have lost such a wonderful spirit in our office. We have had the honor of working with her for the past 10 years and we will miss her terribly. Tomorrow our two offices will join her family in laying her to rest at 3pm at St. Paul's Episcopal Church - 3901 Davis Blvd, Naples. In lieu of flowers donations to St. Paul's Church or to your charity of choice.
Although she never had an opportunity to join Active Rain, she was the example of the spirit of this community -- always willing to help and share with others. Both Faye and I will miss her greatly, for she was not only a co-worker, we shared an office together and we were very proud to call her our friend.
It is official and yes you read that correctly, tomorrow it will snow here in Naples Florida with the 21st annual Naples Snow Fest!
Dig out those boots and gloves you are going to need them tomorrow! There is all sorts of family fun at this event and it kicks into full swing our Season!
This event expects to draw close to 15,000 people and runs Saturday 10-5pm (with snow) and Sunday 12-5 (without snow) at the Golden Gate Community Park at 3300 Santa Barbara Blvd in Golden Gate City!
Check out the website listed above and see all that there is to do!
As promised we will be updating you on the status of lots in some of the areas of Golden Gate Estates. Several people don't want to hear the news, but we have shifted into a BUYERS MARKET. What caused the shift? Well the number of investors went down, the inventory increased resulting in the market as we see it now. So if you have a lot and don't have to sell, we strongly suggest that you take it off the market and wait it out. Things will get better. Read Colleen Kulikowski's BLOG on Collier County Growth Projections, we are smack dab in the middle of where all the growth is going to happen.
We focus on just a couple of areas in the Estates, if you wish to see information on another area of the Estates, please give us a call at the office and we wil be happy to update you with the latest information. Right now here is what is happening in several of the areas in Golden Gate Estates:
Unit 36
27 Active listings ranging in list price from $55,000 to $350,000
1 Pending and No closed sales at this time
2005 Closed 15 Lots ranging in closed price from $50,000 to $310,000
Unit 38
37 Active listings ranging in list price from $38,000 to $549,000
1 Pending and 8 Closed YTD ranging is closed price from $59,000 to $239,900
2005 Closed 31 lots ranging in closed price from $35,000 to $179,000
Unit 43
4 Active listings ranging in list price from $49,900 to $1,750,000
1 Pending and 3 Closed YTD ranging in closed price from $55,000 to $103,000
2005 Closed 36 lots ranging in closed price from $35,000 to $179,000
Unit 63
25 Active listings ranging in list price from $89,900 to $299,000
No pending and 8 closed YTD ranging in closed price from $30,000 to $194,000
2005 Closed 25 Units ranging in closed price from $30,000 to $184,000
Unit 71
25 Active listings ranging from $59,000 to $200,100
No pending and 8 closed YTD ranging in closed price from $57,000 to $122,000
2005 Closed 24 lots ranging in closed price from $65,000 to $199,900
Unit 72
24 Active listings ranging from $75,000 - $565,000
2 Pending and 11 closed YTD ranging in closed price from $35,000 to $565,000
2005 closed 23 lots ranging in closed price from $72,500 to $170,000
Corkscrew Area
27 Active lsitings ranging in list price from $90,000 to $1,500,000
No pending and 4 YTD closed lots with closed prices from $100,000 to $275,000
2005 closed 7 lots ranging in closed price from $115,000 to $70,000
If you have any questions, or need additional information, please call us at the office at (239) 596-0200 x225 or email us at fgnewbauer@aol.com.
The Naples Chamber of Commerce had an excellent article this month how to improve your customer service. From it were 10 Commandments of Excellent Customer Service.
Know who is boss.
Be a good listener.
Idendify and anticipate needs.
Make customers feel important and appreciated.
Help customers understand your systems.
Appreciate the power of "YES".
Know how to apologize
Give more than expected.
Get regular feedback.
Treat employees well.
We started to think about it, and it does apply well to Real Estate business. What does everyone else think? We really believe that #2 is so important to helping people buy or sell Real Estate. And as important as appreciating the power of "YES", we also believe that we sometimes forget that NO is just as important if not moreso.
We are continually impressed with the amount of information that is freely shared here at Active Rain. So we played around in the search function (Colleen gave us a lesson yesterday) and came up with a couple of great searches that you might find of interest:
Open Houses - it appears we are not the only ones out there asking the same types of questions, review some of this information and we are positive you will come out with some great information
Mortgage Fraud - Broker Bryant had a great post earlier about this which then got us to test out the search function
Colleen has been after us to work on our Listing Presentation, so once again we had some great information that we found here! And she wants us to get a website, which we have done some great research here!
Search on Marketing Ideas and we have a couple of great reads there!
So don't be afraid of the search function! It is there and ready for you to search....
ps... Colleen -- we have search and linking down, what is next?
Faye & Bernie Newbauer
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