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Jacksonville Beach, FL Real Estate News

By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
I Wish That I Could Wrap Up Christmas I wish that I could wrap up all the love and Holiday cheer That comes along with Christmas and with New Year's every year, Pack it in a pretty box and put it on my shelf And pull it down again each year and give it to myself. I wish that I could tie up all my favorite carols with twine, Wind around some ribbon, too, and for twelve months call them mine Until the next Yuletide came when the sounds again could be unfurled And untie every single one then give them to the world. (courtesty of http://www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/poems/poetry_page_1.htm#wish)    
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
I tend to take Sundays off whenever possible; I miss having a full two days off per week, but did a great job this past weekend with time off. On Sunday, I received two offers on listings, and had no choice but to work a few hours; please understand, I'm not complaining! It's a great position to be in, and I'm thrilled to say I'm in the process of working 4 deals right now (one failed, see DBC Day 12). Sometimes, in order to achieve our goals, we have to be flexible and look at the bigger picture; a few hours of work on a Sunday is not that big a deal, if you have the time (or can delegate to another!).    
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
This past Saturday, I rang the bell for an hour at my local Publix for the Salvation Army. I love doing this every year: since it's the Publix I shop at, I always see people I know, and it's just fun! I could not locate my antlers this year (probably need a new pair, as the lights no longer work anyway), so I sported my Tigger Santa hat (green, with ears like Tigger!), and that was more wind friendly in the long run (may be a weather based decision in the future). If you have the chance to do this in your area, grab a buddy and GO! It's time well spent!!
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
Day 3 - Today, I worked on getting the utilities transferred over into my customer's name for a property they are buying in Atlantic Beach, FL. They are  a wonderful couple from Utah, who are ultimately looking to retire here, and hence, parts of the utility application need to be done in person, which I, of course, volunteered to do. How will this help my business in 2012? When they tell all their other friends how easy and seamless I made it to buy a house from out of state! Day 4- I work out every (ok, most every) day, and one of the joys of my local gym is how many familiar faces I see. One of these, Jeff, is someone I've known since I moved to Florida, over 20 years ago. He helped me develop a website for the advertising agency I was working at then, and we hit it off, so we have k...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
I took on a challenging listing earlier this year, with the conviction that I could, of course get it done, and look like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Oh, boy.  Here is the abbreviated back story: My seller purchased a condo at the beach on the courthouse website for $8000. This was an association foreclosure, subject to the first lien.  My seller didn't really know what he had just done.  The first lien is for $220K roughly.  The lender has started foreclosure proceedings against the absentee note holder who abandoned the property (and took all the appliances and surprisingly, the bath vanities from both baths).  Locating the absentee note holder was an adventure itself, requiring Dog the Bounty Hunter (not really, but much more colorful). Absentee note holder has been thr...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
I have always had cats.  Usually multiples, but really have not truly been the Crazy Cat Lady. Until now. I somehow, for some unknown reason, agreed to foster 5 kittens last Friday morning for the next few weeks....I have an extra bedroom, they provide everything (including food, litter, kittens), so why not?  I'm helping First Coast No More Homeless Pets, which is a wonderful organization! Who knew kittens would be the inspiration to learn how to use existing resources to create collages, and movies? Funny how life sends you the teacher when you are ready for the lesson!  The collage is too large to upload, apparently, so here are some pix of my foster kitties! This is Binky, he's the smallest of the litter, and I think he's my favorite..... This is Captain Morgan (a bit fuzzy, sorry)....
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
  Here are the 2011 stats and 2010 for comparison -  2011   16 Homes Sold (up 4 from September, or 25%) Lowest price: $125,000 (September=$83,900) Highest price: $570,000 (September=$374,000) Shortest Days on Market:6 (September=0) Longest Days on Market: 511 (September=299)   2010   15 homes sold (September=21) Lowest price: $69,900 (September =$92,500) Highest price: $480,000 (September =$975,000) Shortest Days on Market: 0 (September =7) Longest Days on Market: 185 (September =732)  This is what I wish the local media would focus on: Sales are up 25% month over month, flat year over year. The lowest price home sold is up very nicely month over month, and significantly up year over year. Days on market (total time from new listing to closing table) is flat on the short side; I cannot ...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
I love taking sunrise shots on my way home from a 6am workout - this was a group workout which happens to focus on abs and gluts (aka guts and butts!). This was not the best sunrise, however, I love the color and contrast, and the length of the beach - one of many reasons to visit Jacksonville Beach, FL!  
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
A good friend of mine, Kurtis Loftus, recently decided on a unique way to raise both awareness and funds for the 26.2 With Donna Breast Cancer Marathon. He decided to surf for 30 hours in an effort to set the surfing world record, of course, with Guinness World Record  reps on hand. That was 30 continuous hours, meaning he started at 1pm, and surfed for 30 hours - he did get 5 minutes of rest for each hour in the water, and took his "breaks" every 3 hours in 15 minute increments. Did he achieve his goal? Hell, yes - you can see the rest of the story and some pix here: slideshows. Kurtis is still raising funds for the 26.2, and you can donate here. Kurtis ran into each other last night so I was able to ask him more about how he decided to do this, and it was amazing: he decided he would ...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
Here are the 2011 stats and 2010 for comparison -   2011 12 Homes Sold (down 9 from August, or 30%) Lowest price: $83,900 (August=$63,700) Highest price: $374,000 (August=$1,700,000 ) Shortest Days on Market:0 (August=7) Longest Days on Market: 299 (August=379)      2010 21 homes sold (August=20) Lowest price: $92,500 (August=$113,500) Highest price: $975,000 (August=$950,000 ) Shortest Days on Market: 7 (August=6) Longest Days on Market: 732 (August=701)   There are bright spots here, despite first glances. Days on market (total time from new listing to closing table) is down on the long side by a solid 50%.  I would not focus too much on the high priced end of the market being a ping pong ball; those higher priced listings take longer to sell, and have fewer buyers to start with.  Whi...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
I know the readers in the mitten states (those states where you own and wear mittens!) may be chuckling a wee bit, but we DO use our fireplaces here in Jacksonville Beach, FL!  I have a fireplace in my house, and I use my fireplace every year (yes, Virginia, even here in Florida!). I love having a fire in my fireplace when the weather gets chilly, and it does, in fact, get chilly here...damp chilly, and it can be bone-chilling cold at times. I had a home inspection the other day, that showed some potential issues with the fireplace. Today, we had a fireplace/chimney inspector take a look, even though he could tell from the inspection report what needed to be done.  This particular inspector is a retired firefighter, and has worked on my fireplace when I bought my current house. With 29 ...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
The City Council voted 6-1 on Monday to approve the $4.8 million for the final phase of the multi-year Downtown Vision plan.  The project brings improvements to the infrastructure in the forms of brick pavers replacing asphalt and landscaping additions. The work focuses on First Street North from Beach Boulevard to Fourth Avenue North.  Massive improvements have been made to the central business district over the years, so much so that if you visited here 20 years ago and came back now, you would have a hard time recognizing the area.  Here is a street view of one area and what it looks like currently and an artist's rendering post-improvement: The concept is to make the area even more pedestrian friendly and to be more family friendly as well. You can read the full Times Union article ...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
Here are the January through September 2011 stats and 2010 for comparison -  2011   6 Homes Sold Lowest price: $330,000 Highest price: $410,000           Shortest Days on Market: 39 Longest Days on Market: 193 (1 short sale in these stats)   2010   11 homes sold Lowest price: $295,000 Highest price: $450,000 Shortest Days on Market: 2 Longest Days on Market: 377 (2 short sales 1 REO)   Ocean Cay is a wonderful community located east of South Beach Parkway, the entrance is just a few blocks from Sunshine Park.  Located within a half mile from the Atlantic Ocean, the community is bordered by South Beach Parkway, Osceola Avenue and Jacksonville Drive. Sales are down year over year by 45%. This is a very stable community, with 187 homes so this is kind of surprising to me. The priceing appe...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
Here are the January through September 2011 stats and 2010 for comparison -  2011   6 Homes Sold Lowest price: $245,000 Highest price: $275,000           Shortest Days on Market: 0 Longest Days on Market: 109 (no distress sales in these stats)   2010   3 homes sold Lowest price: $180,000 Highest price: $277,000 Shortest Days on Market: 0 Longest Days on Market: 131 ( 1 REO)   Riptide is a wonderful community located immediately west of South Beach Parkway, the entrance is just a few blocks from Sunshine Park.  Located within a half mile from the Atlantic Ocean, the community is bordered by South Beach Parkway on the east, Osceola Avenue to the north and Jacksonville Drive to the south. Jacksonville Beach is a wonderful community - you can see all the special events we have on the city's...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
Do you think you are running a business? Got a gig? Working a transaction, a deal, a steal? Do you consider yourself to have a profession and to be a professional? Why not? At the Florida Realtors Spokesperson Training the other day, our judges reminded us we are, in fact, both in a profession and we are indeed professionals. Let's look at the definition for each: Profession: a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science: the profession of teaching. Professional: following an occupation as means of a livelihood or for gain (a professional builder) Now, we practice our profession on a daily basis (same as doctors, lawyers), and we educate ourselves about new facets to our profession (whether to gain a designation or simply remain current on short sale trends/ch...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
Many of you may think there is not much you can do at the beach this particular weekend; even though the rain has not been as constant as predicted, the winds are definitely out in force. Took this picture today on my way back from breakast with friends, proof you can use the weather (and winds) to your advantage if you want to!  
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
We've all been there. We planned for something, put it on our calendars, prepared for it, maybe trained for it, budgeted for it. And, then, it does not come to fruition, for whatever reason This weekend, I was supposed to be in a sprint triathlon on Jekyll Island, about a hour north of Jacksonville Beach, FL, and had a few friends going with me. One friend was participating in the sprint tri, the other two were there for moral support and to cheer us on during the race. We had this planned since the last sprint tri I did in July, so I had been training specifically for this event, to finish in a faster time than I did the last one. However, Mother Nature had other plans for this weekend, specifically a Nor'easter to batter our coastline, which actually started it's appearance yesterday....
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
We had a home inspector at our weekly Realtor meeting recently, talking about the various points of home inspections and how home owners can save money. His excellent analogy of the "spare refrigerator in the garage, holding 4 beers" being the devil was a big point. The garage is the WORST place to have another refrigerator, due to these reasons: most garages are not the cleanest rooms in the house. rarely are these refrigerators full, meaning they work harder to cool less the garage is not heated and cooled, like your house is. So, you are really asking a lot from an appliance being put in a less-than-optimal operating environment. Consider: how much do you really have stored in that fridge in the garage? If you really don't have much, the cost to run that fridge could be as high  as $...
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By Carol Zingone, Global Realtor in Jax Beach, FL - ABR, CRS, CIPS
(Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Florida Network Realty)
It's our fourth annual Boosapalooza today!  Boobsapalooza is a live, local concert featuring different bands all day long, and raises funds to fight breast cancer. All the musicians donate their time, and for many, this is not their first appearance. In addition to the bands, there is a Miz(ter) Boobsapalooza, silent auction and chance drawings. Admission today is $15 at the door. Below is the line up of bands.   Boobsapalooza music lineup Inside stage 12:15 p.m. - Dailiss 1:20 p.m. - Ron Rodriguez 1:35 p.m. - Lucky Stiff 2:45 p.m. - Nate Holley 3 p.m. - Something Distant 4:15 p.m. - Azmyth 5:30 p.m. - Ron Rodriguez 6 p.m. - Crowning 6:30 p.m. - Cupid's Alley Outside stage Noon - Out of Hand 1:10 p.m. - Darren Corlew 1:30 p.m. - Blistur 2:35 p.m. - Ron Rodriguez 2:50 p.m. - American Att...
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