Ivanette Free's Blog

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has joined the fight to stop our policy makers who are suggesting that a 20% downpayment be required for a mortgage loan.  Senator Rubio has sent letters to FDIC, Department of Treasury, Comptroller of the currency, HUD, SEC and the Federal Hous...

The Bay Point 40/40 Shootout will take place Friday. You could win $1,000,000 if you catch a Billfish that beats the state record. The Billfish tournament will start on Friday and conclude on Saturday night. The weigh in will take place between 6:00-10:00PM each night. This i...

The SEC investigation of the ST Joe Company is now a formal investigation.  The St Joe Company has been a good neighbor to the Panhandle region since the 1920s when Alfred DuPont and his brother-in-law Ed Ball started buying large acreage tracs in Northwest Florida. After DuPont’s death ball fou...

Our Policymakers in Washington are now thinking that the down payment should be 10%-20%. These are the same folks that thought everyone should be a homeowner regardless of their credit history and without anything down. Perhaps that is how we got in such a mess. The Center fo...

Miami is expected to sell more home (houses & Condominiums) this year than they did in 2005. If they continue 40% of those sales will go to foreign buyers. South American investors are buying condominiums in south Florida for rental investments. Canadians seem to prefer the Pa...

Some point to doom and gloom when discussing Florida’s real estate market. No doubt we have gone through some major adjustments and now Florida property is again affordable. We have something a lot of other places don’t have. We have a lot of sunshine and a lot of beaches. A ...

Friend or Foe? How do you treat Referral Agent?  It almost seems like the law of nature to treat other real estate agents as competitors.  We have found that it is profitable to treat them as partners. Our primary business is in Panama City Beach, Florida. Like many resort to...

We may have set a Short Sale Record. We listed a 2BR/2BA unit on September 20, 2007 as a short sale. The listing price was $585,000 and the complex was only two years old. Shortly after we took the listing the owner filed bankruptcy. The Bankruptcy Court discharged the debt b...

Florida’s Rocket Docket ended Thursday June 30. Florida had allowed the state courts to hire additional staff and bring back retired Judges to handle the backlog of foreclosure cases. Due to budget restraints the state legislature did not fund the program for another year. Th...

It looks like every room is booked for this next week. We sincerely hope you enjoy our beautiful beaches while you are here. Our population turns over every Saturday and there will be thousands leaving and thousands more driving or flying in. Please drive safe and when you ge...