Life is always full of challenges, and when there are none, people create them. That seems to be the story of Ocean Walk Resort in Daytona Beach, the most luxurious condo-hotel/time share Wyndham Resort in the area.

Two Towers, south tower completed in 2001, and the North tower in 2004, this is the  only condo-hotel (resort) wich is not a conversion, meaning that it was built like that and not converted from older hotel, like all other condo-hotels in the area.

The South Tower has, I believe, 299 units, and 167 or 169 are owned by so called whole owners. The rest are time share units. Wyndham Resorts is relatively new to the property, they took over from Fairfield Resorts. Having both whole owners, like in other are condo-hotels, and time share owners here in the area is unique, and has it problems.

The property has 3 distinct groups of owners:

1. Whole owners

2. Time Share Owners

3. Commercial Owners

On the Board they are presented by 2 Board Members from Whole Owners and 2 from Time Share owners wit the remaining one representing the commercial 5 units (restaurant, catering space, etc.)

Couple of years ago there began a conflict between the Whole owners and Wyndham Resorts. Whole owners felt that they were not represented properly, and that the property was mismanaged. They revolted, and formed their own Board of Directors. Wyndham maintain another board of directors, representing Time Share and Commercial units. The situation could not have been amicably resolved and now both groups got their attorneys involved.

Tomorrow, on Monday the judge will look at the parties the first time. A small issue is at stake. The whole owners object to Commercial units being represented on the Board and have one vote. In reality, it creates a winning situation for Wyndham, as they represent both the time share owners and the commercial space, so they always have a 3 against 2 majority.

And this can change tomorrow, if the judge sides with whole owners. Would be interesting to watch the outcome of this first step in a long legal battle ahead.

It was Monday November 2. My telephone rang. Showing a Canadian number. The gentleman introduced himself and told me he read my blogs. Could I show them condo-hotel properties?

Of course.

We meet in our office. They pretty much know what they are looking for, but they are open to suggestions. They have a lot of questions, they want to know pros and cons of owning a condo-hotel.

Instead of steering them in one direction (You want condo-hotels? Here's what you should buy), I am trying to make sure this is what they will be happy with in couple of years. I am not the first agent they met. They went to someone else, and most probably met more than one agent. They are not complaining, but I can feel that they are a bit frustrated. They are going to spend money and they want to spend it wisely. The agents tried to sell them without educating them. They want a fair deal, but being from Canada, they are not sure what a good deal is. They need guidance.

There are many sides to owning a condo-hotel. I can't simply say that this one is the ultimate best. It depends. I can't make it simple. And they quickly learn the issues.

There are no ideal condo-hotels in the area. Whether it is physical condition, or rental situation, or a divided Board of Directors (or even worse - a misguided Board), there is always something which is affecting the resort now, or may affect it in the future.
I am human, and I avoid some properties, and sometimes it is more of a gut feeling rather than real numbers or real facts behind. But doing it for years, I have developed this 6th sense, that tells me that with everything else equal, stick to this resort and pass on the other.

Sometimes I can only rely on instincts. I often catch myself on saying things today that are different from what I was saying 5 years ago. A lot of things happened, even those that we could not have imagined happening before.

Until 2004 the question "What would happen if a destructive hurricane comes?" was more from the science fiction. But August 2004 has changed it. Before 2004 I would say that there was unlikely the way that a condo-hotel association could be terminated, but we have seen it in 2005. Are we getting smarter? Maybe simply more experienced...

When I tell people about the potential or existing problems, two things happen. They either say that this is not for them, or they get into it with the understanding of the issues. Both scenarios are OK. The problem with condo-hotel is that people have wrong expectations and do not really know what they are getting into.

Therefore, my goal is to give realistic expectations. Constant questions and answers while we are touring the properties. Condo-hotels one day, residential condos another. After which they say "Thank you. We will let you know if we decide to go ahead with any of the properties".

And this is OK. Because this is their money, and they have all the rights to get scared, to decide to wait, or simply get in the car and go to St, Augustine or Jacksonville. They are buying a vacation property, and it can be where there is warm climate, nice sandy beach, and warm Ocean. Which is anywhere in Florida.

They called me next morning. Could I arrange showing of that unit in Ocean Walk again? And could I bring the draft of the offer with me?

It is a short sale. I called the agent as I always do. It gives me the indication whether my clients would waste time, or have a pretty good chance of closing. Sounds like she knows what she is doing. Yes, she would agree to small things that we wanted.

We looked at the unit again, met with owner's liaison, asked her questions, got the rental agreement, and now we have the offer accepted by the Seller, signed and taken off Active on MLS.

Now it is a waiting game for me and my clients. Meanwhile they are talking to their attorney and their tax man to make sure they are structuring the deal the right way. Don't forget, they are Canadians, and besides FIRPTA, I really can't help them with that. But we have time.

They told me that I helped them understand the issues, and they are thankful for that. And I am thankful that they were able to process all the information I was giving them, and, believe me, there was a lot. I give more than they would have expected. Because my goal is to have happy customers, not just customers.

if you want to call me, here's the number: 386-405-4408. Tell me you read it on Active Rain. And stay warm.

 Holy cow? No, it is not about India.

It is about 1/6th of the world, where, since I can remember myself, we have been catching up with the Rotten West (that's how they put it in the newspapers).

The Spring came in the 50s with the new leader Nikita Khrushchev. They called it the Spring as the dark years of Stalin's terror were behind, and the nation started breathing, just a little bit, and the first time since the war the chances of surviving the executioners' bullet was becoming a reality. There were still labor camps and political prisons, but a black car stopped coming in the middle of the night and take people away to the place from which there was no return. Actually, people started returning… After 10 or 15 years. Those who survived

But we knew that these were the mistakes, and that as a society we were so much better, than the rest of the World. We were about freedom for the common folks, brotherly love between the people, the society where money were a temporary evil soon to be gone, and we needed just a little bit of luck to beat the West and, finally, outrun it for the shining glory of Communism. And the world would follow us to the Communist future. We were proud to call ourselves communists, from elementary school kids to veterans. We were the home to many nations under one Party, which was taking us to the ultimate glory of life on the Planet Earth.

It was time to catch up with the West and finally outrun it and prove the moral superiority of Communism over the rotten capitalism.

There was a whole national movement - DIP (abbreviation for Догнать и Перегнать - Catch up and Outrun). Industrial machinery, expropriated from the defeated Germany was called DIP. The overwhelming enthusiasm was in the air.

Virgin lands (please do not confuse with Virgin Islands - LOL) were ploughed, new industrial giants were built, new railroads were laid, new grandiose housing projects were initiated, and we were promised that every family would have their own room and not a space in the room with 3 other families, separated by hanging sheets).

We were already producing more steel, more bricks, but because we were surrounded by imperialist forces, waiting for a moment of our weakness to attack us, so they could get our natural resources, and also silence us, so that their own folks would not have who to look to and follow, we had to spend a lot of money for our military. We, of course, were peaceful, but this was because of THEM...

Somehow the road to glory was marred by shortages of meat, eggs, milk, potatoes, tomatoes, wheat, corn and everything else edible. Empty shelves of the stores with rows of canned fish were white and clean and empty. Somehow, the weather always cooperated with imperialists, and there have always been shortages of food to put on the table. Actually, shortages were everywhere, and, of course, they were temporary... but I digress.

Back to cows. They, the cows, also had to catch up and outrun those capitalist cows... in their peculiar cow way... the milky way... The cows did not know that they were destined to become the most productive cows in the world. If a normal well fed cow could produce 3,000 kg of milk a year, the Communist Party great leaders figured that if the cows would be giving 6,000 kg – 10,000 kg a year, there will be no shortage of milk.

The kick was in the Почин (Initiative). This movement started even before the WWII, in 1935, when a miner Alexei Stakhanov set the record jack hammering 227 tons of coal in a shift with the local party organizer standing behind his back providing moral support and encouragement. His portrait even made it to Time magazine. That was his initiative, and that’s how the initiative movement started.

Initiatives were highly praised by the Party Leaders as they were supposedly coming from the people, who wanted to do more and to do better for the country. They quickly became the norm, and they were directed by the Party officials (how come that in this industry there are no initiatives? Come up with something and it better be good).

In agriculture there were plenty of their own initiatives. Like completing sowing the seeds early, so that they have more time to ripe. The initiative took over all other senses, and people were throwing seeds into the snowy land, as the weather this particular year was colder than last, but you could not sow the seeds later than it was last year. It would be a defeat, and there was no such option.

After Khrushchev’s visit to the US, where he was fascinated with corn (there was no corn in Russia), he came back with the solution to food shortage problem. The blissful corn. They planted it from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean and pretty much at the same time. And that imperialist corn boycotted the vast areas of Russia, where they still kept planting it year after year, and the best they could use it for was to feed the cattle. But it was not up to the farmers (collective farms) to decide what and when to plant. If the party said it was good, it was good. Even if it wasn’t.

I remember the anger of Soviet people when they read in the newspapers that in the US they were destroying some crops, but did not give it to people. They were doing it to keep the prices up. We would never have done it. We would have given it to people… if we had what to give. But we didn’t. But morally we were still so much better.

In our understanding those people, that did not get it, should have been hungry … We were looking into the mirror, but we did not see the world behind it…

So they came up with the initiative to make the cows be more productive. The trouble with that was that cows were not responding favorably to the Initiatives.  Milkmaids worked hard to get more milk from the cows. There was a ferocious competition between the cows milkmaids to get the best result, and the numbers were growing. 4,000 kg, 5,000kg, 6,000 kg, and even more and way more (and we learned that milk is food, not drink, and that it is measured in kilograms, not liters). Of course, the more milk they were getting, the more water it had. And for every extra kilogram of milk you had to spend 3 times more on food and care.

We were beating you, guys, practically on all counts, you just did not know that. Watch the news and you would hear that we produced more of something, than the US and Belize combined, that we manufactured more tractors, bulldozers, planes, electric bulbs, toothbrushes…. That our cows were the most productive cows in the world, as our chicken…

Our free health care system was undoubtedly the best (and we did not know that our leaders would go abroad for simple surgery), our free education was far superior to everyone else… but we still were a darn poor country…

…Choosing cuts here in the US is a poem for my ears. Tenderloin, picnic, butt, London broil…And steaks: rib eye, porterhouse, T-bone steak, New York strip, sirloin, blade steak….I can go on and on…

In the best of the worlds life was simpler. The choices were meat, or no meat. If meat, 1/3 of its weigh was supposed to be a bone, and they will weigh the meat and then grab and weigh the bone…Our cows were bony, but it was fair and great. Because quite often there was no meat, and no bones… The cows, that made it to the fridges of party and government officials, were meat only, but this was a minor inconvenience.

Of course, we were extremely grateful that the Communist party and the government (The People’s Government) were there for us. We knew that without them we would become an easy prey to Imperialist forces…

All the good was coming from them. The day Stalin died, people cried. The whole nation cried. Because who would save us from the cruel imperialist world now? Government was everything.

Without it we were nothing… Without it there would be no meat and no bones...

P.S. Later, in Brezhnev's era, when we were still not free, but no longer that naive, and did not believe in Hell and in Communism, but were still afraid of Communism (let's call it Communism enforcement) way more than of Hell, there was a joke about the Rotten West.

"Yes, the West is rotten... but smells wonderful..."

* Photos courtesy of Flickr

Has it ever happened to you, that you receive a comment to your blog, which makes you feel jealous? It reinforces what you wrote, but does it so much better? Or a commenter comes with a comment, which is better than your blog? Making you feel shallow?

It happens to me. I am blessed with some comments, that make me feel all of the above. 

For some timea lready here on AR we have the option to reblog. I think I used it once or twice at most. Often these are sign of laziness by rebloggers (what an awkward word), but often I am grateful to rebloggers as otherwise I would have missed some of the most powerful blogs on AR. The latest example is the post by Janet Guiilbault Economic Cancer: That Sense of "Entitlement" It was originally posted October 23, 2009, and if not for reblogs, I would have missed it.

However, time from time I read comments to the blogs, which are so well thought, written, right on the money, and which could be full-scale blogs and bring more points to the commenter, and it strikes me that we do not have a reblog of a comment feature on AR.

That would be a rare occasion, but these comments worth being re-blogged (re-commented?). So why don't I start this in the way that I can, i.e. write about the comment that I believe should be read by way more people, that are simply commenting on my blog.

Tim Maitski is not a new guy on the block. This Atlanta agent has accumulated over 200,000 AR points, runs a pretty successful Real Estate business. This is pretty much what I know about him. However, time from time I read his blogs or comments, which are not about Real Estate, but about us as a nation (otherwise called political), and he stuns me with his analysis. He says he is not not the average Atlanta Real Estate agent. I am not in that area, and do not have any real estate interests in that area. But he is sure not the average guy in terms of his interests and knowledge.

Lately we are using the word "entitlements "more and more. And here is his comment on my blog post Fixing The Economy. For Better or for Worse?

"Jon,  So much of what's going on today was written about back in 1850 by Frederic Bastiat in "The Law"

Here is a quote that is appropriate to what you write about here:

     But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

Then abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals. If such a law - which may be an isolated case - is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system.

The person who profits from this law will complain bitterly, defending his acquired rights. He will claim that the state is obligated to protect and encourage his particular industry; that this procedure enriches the state because the protected industry is thus able to spend more and to pay higher wages to the poor workingmen.

Do not listen to this sophistry by vested interests. The acceptance of these arguments will build legal plunder into a whole system. In fact, this has already occurred. The present-day delusion is an attempt to enrich everyone at the expense of everyone else; to make plunder universal under the pretense of organizing it."

Can we say it better today? Are we wiser today? Yes, Tim used a quote. He didnot write it himself. But this quote somehow shows Tim's caliber.

Thank you, Tim

After immigrating to the US in 1991 and settling in the Bronx (and this is a fascinating story that I will write about some day), we did not make it to Brighton Beach for another couple of years at least.

Brighton Beach, a small place on a southern tip of Brooklyn, became a popular Russian enclave after the wave of immigration in the 70s settled in this place, nicknamed Little Odessa. When we got there, even many signs were in Russian. There were Russian pharmacies, Russian insurance agents, Russian Real Estate agents, Russian stores and everything else Russian. You could hear Russian all around you, and there were a lot of older people who did not need English to live their lives.

And even not Russian speaking people managed to adjust to the changed environment. Mexicans working in Korean owned groceries on all corners learned how to say "Stupid, buy today, or you will pay more tomorrow" in pure Russian with the smile from ear to ear, so conflicting with the rudeness of the phrase...

There was even a joke, that an American stops the car on Brighton Beach to ask for directions, and nobody speaks English, and one Russian guy asked the other Russian guy "So, did his English help him?". When an American walks in a Russian store, where the salespeople spoke no English, you could here when the sales lady calls for a supervisor, who understands English, to come and serve"a foreigner".

One of those famous Russian Stores on Brighton Beach is Золотой Ключик ("Golden Key"). The way the flow of people was organized made you bump into others. I think they did it intentionally in order to create a Russian store atmosphere, where there is a crowd of people shoulder to shoulder...

Where you socialize with those next to you, and you have common dislike against those who are on the other side of the counter, as they have access to goods that you do not have access to (money is not an object here, it is the power to give to one and not give to another). This is a place where you encounter adversity and yell at each other and call other people names... It was so Russian...

The lines in the store were surreal and so weird in America where there are no lines, and no shoulder to shoulder socializing... but it was so Russian, so nostalgic for a lot of people, especially the older ones..

In the Soviet Union, where lines were an integral part of living, your status related to this lines was of tremendous social importance. Party officials did not stay in lines. There was a system of providing goods to them. No lines there. The goods were priced the same, but the value of the ruble there was much higher, as you did not have to bribe to get anything. 

The salespeople was another group of people, who had access to goods and distribution. And then there were some important people, who had connections, and who were instrumental in exchanging one goods for another, so that if you had access to meat, you could get clothes in exchange.

And then there were the rest of us. People, whose rubles were pretty worthless. Nobody wanted them.

Actually, there was another group of people, who had a bit of privilege as it pertains to lines - veterans. In the Soviet Union in the 80s, when there were not really that many veterans of the WWII left, they instituted the regulation, that veterans could go to the head of the line, show their veteran's ID and buy without staying in exhausting lines.

The country loved their veterans... in general, but often not up and close. Every time a older guy would be trying to squeeze to the counter through this shoulder to shoulder monolith, the line would be getting adversarialy anxious. Then there would be a nasty exchange, where the veteran, buying a pair of women bra, would get yelled at, and would yell back telling the crowd that he was spilling his blood for these bastards, and now HAS THE RIGHT to buy the bra (cologne, toilet paper, chicken legs, high boots, you name it) without standing in line.

Veterans deserved it. It was the country's Thank you to them, and as little as it was, they cherished the mere fact of their exclusivity.

In 1989-1992 a lot of them came here with the last wave of immigration from the Soviet Union. They did  not want to go, but they were tied to their sons and daughters, who decided to look for better life abroad. Life in the US turned out to be better than they expected. After they settled, they figured that they did  not need to worry about food and shelter, and free medical help was like in the Soviet Union, but much better, and even those, destined to die there, underwent unheard of before procedures and got their second and third chance in life.

They  soon formed the Association of Veterans of WWII (In Russia it is not WWII, it is always the Great Patriotic War, which started June 22nd 1941 and ended May 9, 1945). Somehow eventually they ended up with 2 associations of veterans. The 2 Associations of older people cold not handle their disagreements in a civil manner, and in Russian language media there was a dirty campaign. Each of those associations claimed to be the only true one representing the veterans, and tried to shut the other one...

Puzzled and confused, American media was trying to understand what that all was about, but it make very little sense.I never had Russian radio or Russian TV since we immigrated to the US, and the great fights of my compatriots did not affect our lives. I only once heard the interview with the official of one of those associations.

I remember the journalist asking the old gentleman, what they wanted, and his responses stunned not only the journalist, but myself. They wanted the American Government to acknowledge them as Veterans of WWII. They did not ask for pensions, no. So what did they want?

They wanted the government to issue Veteran IDs, so that those veterans could use them to buy stuff without staying in line.

- Which lines? The journalist could not understand it. The veteran looked at him angrily and repeated the demand.

It did not matter that there were no lines. They wanted to be acknowldged, and the only way they knew were those ID giving the right to buy. No lines? So what? The right, that's what important. Being different from other people was important. They wanted to be IMPORTANT.

The entitlements were so embedded in the brains, that their value survived 11,000 km flight, survived a different life, different reality. They still demanded the Government issued ID even when there was no practical or ethical reason for that.

These people beat the most feared enemy in the history of the world. They beat the Nazi. But they could not beat a small plastic card saying that the bearer of it is an IMPORTANT person. They could not lose the privilege that card was offering... even when there was no privilege any more.

The mighty power of entitlements. It is when not when everyone has a blanket...It is when there is a blanket and yo can pull it your way. And others can't.

* Photo is coutesy of Flickr

There is a lot of hype about the extension of the Tax Credit. Some look at it both from a professional point of view, and from a personal perspective as a citizen. I understand that. I wrote about it in Are You Ready to Write a Check for $8,000?

Some are just happy and there is even a notion that all real estate agents gotta be ecstatic about it. Well, not me. And I hope not you.

I am trying to understand how could it happen that we became so narrow minded. We are against wasteful spending, but we are allowing the government to do it at an unprecedented pace. The realities of life are changing, but we are fighting to preserve the status quo by all means. Even borrowing from our own future.

I am afraid the biggest consequence of the way the government is fixing the economy is the one that we are not expecting. And which we are not discussing.

It is the change in our mindsets. In Democrats, Republicans, independents...

A mindset of free people relying on themselves is what makes them entrepreneurial. It is what makes them find the ways to better themselves and the Nation as a result of taking care of themselves.

A mindset of people becoming happy campers if they can get a buck for themselves in the overall destructive and wasteful giveaways is the first step to socialism. Because it is no longer important where we are going, as long as we can pick up some slack on the way.

The road to Socialism does not start when the government proposes another wasteful and politically charged giveaway. It starts when we, The People, become a group of people. When we become happy campers every time we are on the receiving end. When the interest of the Nation becomes the fragmented interest of groups, a blanket that we try to pull our way...

We were angry with banks getting trillions, but we are so pleased with home buyers getting billions... Guys, it is the same waste, different recipients. Since when we start praising the smaller waste as the Good for the nation? It is our nation's check book that is already empty, and we are using our Nation's Credit Card. Bborrowing billions instead of trillions will simply make us bankrupt a day later, but that's where we are heading... and we are happy campers?

It is when we claim that we are to protect the environment, and then decide to rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward, which should have never been built there in the first place. But then we did not know... We can now say that we are wiser today and correct it... but we lack the courage to do the right thing for the future, and instead do a politically correct thing for today. We will rebuild it... As a symbol of what?

If symbols are so important to us as nation, why we can't rebuild theTwin Towers? Eight and a half years later it is still not there, while it took initially 5 years to build them nearly 40 years ago (1966 - 1971). It is not a technology that takes that long, it is our mindset that allowed this to happen.

As people we might have more than we really need. We can survive with smaller homes, cheaper cars... No society in the history of civilization ever had everything, no civilization was demanding to have what they want and get it.

The trouble is when we are ready to sell our souls so that we keep getting it even if this can hurt our future. When we willingly start hurting our future because we want something today, that we can't have, we are losing both.

We are not going to fix our trouble with our grandchildren money, but we will terribly affect their lives.

Don't we care about our grandchildren? Our Future?

I posted Hottober in Daytona Beach - Florida and it was a teaser for the  guys in colder places. When you are shivering, then reading about 80+ Daytona Beach weather and leisurely warm waters of the Atlantic was not a nice reminder from me... Sorry, guys. I simply can't help it.

Tom Braatz from Wisconsin commented on it and here's what he wrote "maybe we should get you to find Lars and I a home in Florida and then would be really a great thing for him to bask in the sun".

First I wanted to send Tom the Buyer Broker Agreement, but then stopped as I did not know who  was going to be my client. It is obviously for Lars...

Here's Tom's patriotic dog Lars.

How often we think that dogs are our best friends? Are they? I think this is us, who are their best friends.

Many people call them our babies. But are we the bosses? Or we only think we are?

Of course, they love us dearly... and our hearts melt. They know our weaknesses, and they take us the way we are. Great. But if we are really their Masters, then why do we pick up the poop?

I do not have a dog (yet). My daughter has. So, Bruno (on the left) is not my baby. But he licks me, I am still a relative... who does not pick up the poop

*Photo of Bruno b y Jon Hardison

Hottober in Daytona Beach - Florida.

These are the last days of the most incredible October I can remember. A commentator on local TV station called it Hottober. Daily temperature are either record high, or close to that for at least 3 weeks straight.

Yesterday's high of 89 was a tie with the record temperature in 2005. Water in the ocean is very warm, we are having a second summer, less hot and much more pleasant.

89F may sound hot, but couple degrees less than in August already feel better for us, and we enjoy it.

Right now at 6 PM on Saturday it is 83F and it feels like 88F. It is perfect. I enjoy every minute of it.

How different it feels in the spring and in the fall. When it hits 80 in the spring, it is so hot, and you feel that you are dying without the AC. And in the fall when the temperature suddenly drops to 82F, it feels cool and pleasant, and you turn off the AC and open the windows.

What surprises me is that Daytona Beach is empty when it is the best weather. Back in Russia on the Black Sea they called it a velvet season when school started and kids had to leave. There were fewer people on the beach, which meant that finally you could find where to put your foot.

Because in my native Russia they use centigrade, I do not really compare the temperatures, it is a tricky formula, and I  never do it. But it would be interesitng to compare. I got the online conversion table and figured it all out.

So, in Florida average temperature for January is 69.8F. Average July temperature is 84.2F. In Moscow, where I lived last two years before emigrating to US, July average is 64.8F - less than in Florida in January. And Moscow average temperature in January is 18.5F. Sounds cold? Not really. Let me check average temperatures in Vorkuta, the place above the Arctic Circle, where we lived 14 years prior to moving to Moscow. Average July temperature is 53F. Average January is - 5.1. But cold temperatures are 9 - 10 months and annual average is 20F.

Forget about the Arctic. It is warm and green in Florida. It is a velvet season in Daytona Beach now. Come and enjoy Hottober. Are we going to have Hotember?

Welcome Home!Welcome to Oceanside Inn - Daytona Beach Shores

I had a closing today. One that was traditional and that we now do not have very often. Sitting at the table with the Closing agent and the Buyer felt like a thing from the past. We still did not have the Seller and seller's agent at the table, but this was REO and I did not expect the agent to come.

The unit is direct oceanfront. It is the south east corner, so in addition to all the view directly to the ocean, it also has panoramic vistas south up to New Smyrna Beach. This is the largest studio floor plan in the resort and at 543 sf thee is enough room for my client. This is the only unit on that stack with full standard kitchen. I do not know who the original owner was, as they have put it there initially, instead of small kitchenettes in other units.

The buyer is from Boston. She came here twice and both times stopped in Oceanside Inn to get the feel of the property. Stayed in different units.

After the closing we went to the condo-hotel resort and when we walked into the lobby, she smiled and greeted everyone she saw there at the front desk by name:

"Hi Nick, hi James". And they smiled and greeted her by name. And when I told them that I wanted to introduce the new owner to them, they said: "Welcome Home!"

And it was beautiful.

I love Oceanside Inn - the best condo-hotel resort in Daytona Beach Shores. They can make you feel at home.

P.S. If you are looking for inexpensive oceanfront to call your second home, just drop me a line in the e-mail or call 386-405-4408.

Just heard on TV that Alan Grayson calls himself "Congressman with the guts". No questions, this is a very catching tag line. But if we think about it, I can see rednecks with a lot of guts in every local bar.

What I do not see in abundance in local bars is the mental capacity of a statesman. But I do not see it in Alan Grayson as well.

We are getting to the point where cheap and cheesy get the center stage.

What about "Congressman with the brain" for a change?

Photo is courtesy of Congressman's site. Not copywrite protected.