My husband and I both grew up in the small southern towns of Quincy and Marianna, Florida.  Both towns had a very large and active community of golfers.  Many social activities radiated from the local country club which was centered around the golf course. Families had dinner at the country club on Friday nights, dad's played golf with their golf group on Saturdays and son's and sometimes daughter's tagged along with dad while he straightened out his swing on Sunday afternoons.  

One of the first outings my husband Bill and I had after we started dating was a golf date at the Cavern's golf course in Marianna.  He even prepared to propose to me on the 18th hole. He was thwarted in his efforts when he realized he couldn't drop the ring box into the

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We recently listed and sold homes in Panama City Beach and Lynn Haven within 48 hours.  What does it take to sell a home in 48 hours with a depressed economy, and foreclosures and short sales around every corner you may ask:

1) The right product - in the marketing field, this is number one of the Four Ps, if you don't have a product that is in demand, your pricing, placement and promotion have to be incredibly strong to get past the market's demand for your product - you have to create articificial demand. 

 

2) The right price - successful sales result from pricing the product at the right price.  The way we find the right price in the real estate world is to compare the home to other recent sales in the market of homes

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Taken from an article on Florida Realtors web site:

CoreLogic: Fla. home prices rising

SANTA ANA, Calif. – April 4, 2012 – CoreLogic today released its February Home Price Index (HPI) report. Excluding distressed sales, month-over-month prices nationally increased 0.7 percent in February from January, but fell year-over-year by 0.8 percent if distressed sales are backed out of the equation and 2.0 percent if they’re included.

In Florida, however, prices rose in February 2012 compared to February 2011 whether distressed sales were included or not. The CoreLogic HCI found that Florida home prices rose 4.7 percent overall, and 1.6 percent without distressed sale numbers. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

Even…

It's that time of year again.  The Easter Bunny hops into town in Lynn Haven and shows up at Sharon Sheffield Park for the Annual Easter Egg Hunt.  The games and Bunny visit start at 9:00 AM and the egg hunt starts at 9:30 AM sharp.  Don't be late!!

 

Age group break downs are 0-3, 4-7, and 8-10. 

Don't forget your basket and camera. 

April 7, 2012

9:00 AM

Sharon Sheffield Park

Downtown Lynn Haven, FL 

Waldorf Astoria Naples FL

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Naples FL for the wedding of the daughter of a dear friend.  I'd never been to Naples, actually never further south in Florida than Tampa.  My expectations were rather high since we were staying at the Naples Waldorf Astoria.  I don't know about you but the words Waldorf Astoria conjur up all kinds of high brow images to me: butlers, women in large sun bonnets, men in ascots and little pocket/purse dogs on leashes with "bling".  But what I came away with is - it's a nice place to visit, but I'll keep my home in paradise, thank you. 

The drive down reminded me once again how large our state of Florida is and the fact that I've always felt we needed to break it into three states

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When I research condos for clients, I ask 3 questions. 1) What is the purpose for your condo purchase? Personal enjoyment, investment, business and pleasure, personal residence 2) How much money are you prepared to put as the down payment? IF you finance, most lenders require 20-25% down and they will normally finance for 15 years and most will only offer an adjustable rate. IF you are wanting the rental income to pay for the expenses of owning the unit, including mortgage payment, you will be required to put down 40%. 3) There are 3 distinct areas with different flavors of Panama City Beach: family oriented, condo canyon (think spring break) , and the secluded west end. Which is your preference?

By answering these questions I can guide you to

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We've made it a family tradition to spend time at our family's condo for spring break for the past 6 years.  This week was no exception.  Although at our house it is a little tricky to work it in.  When one bread winner is a CPA and this is his busiest time of year and the other bread winner (you guessed it-me) is a Realtor and this is my busiest time of year, it makes taking time away a bit of a struggle. 

We did work it out and we've had quite a parade of young people 16 to 22 years of age snacking, laughing and depositing sand throughout our condo and parking their tired, tanned bodies on our fold out couch and numerous beds around the condo.  Tonight we have just two here as our oldest headed back to FSU today, our youngest is with girlfriends at

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The spring breakers and families are here and God supplied us with perfect weather to motivate visitors to become homeowners in the Gulf Coast area.  After a flood on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend, the weather has steadily warmed up and it is sunny with a light breeze and temps in the high 70s and 80s.  The perfect weather for parasailing, skiing, skim boarding, volleyball and of course, tanning.  Just make sure when your laying or playing on that sugar white sand that you wear plenty of sunblock.  Even with my olive tinted skin I always start the tanning season with at least a 30 sunblock for a trip to Shell Island, fishing or sailing.  It makes crawling into bed that night much less painful and prevents potential skin cancer down the road.  I'll…

Spring is easy to recognize at Panama City Beach.  Its when thousands of young people descend on our area and they parade up and down the beach in bikinis, board shorts, sunglasses and chill bumps.  Yesterday was no exception to that same scenario but there was purpose behind this "parade".  Panama City Beach was challenging the Guiness Record for a Bikini Parade on the beach and trying to wrangle the title away from Surfer's Paradise Beach in Australia.  Participants showed up at 9:00 am at Harpoon Harry's for registration and the official parade began at 11:30 am.  The bikini parade made its way down the white sandy beaches of Panama City Beach while our emerald green waters shimmered nearby. They marched one mile down the beach and back again then

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I recently asked my Facebook friends what was the one thing they loved about their home and the one thing they hated. I got some eye opening comments.

The things they liked about their homes were more intangible and the things they hated were more tangible. They hated the carpet, the paint, and the size of bedrooms. They loved the location, the proximity to shopping and the view.

I could write for days about view, considering I have a unique opportunity to observe the wildlife and people who live in and around Upper Goose Bayou through my back windows or on my back porch (patio).When we bought the house, we liked the floor plan, number of bedrooms, kitchen flow and décor but we LOVED the view. That is what convinced us to change all our plans and buy

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