Sally's Key West

I Don't Get This

I got this via email yesterday from a fellow REALTOR®:

6.5% Commission to the Buyer's agent.
Bring all offers.

MLS #000000
Listed at $550,000.
HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL.

Thanks,
K-west Agent

The commission was 3% before yesterday. This is a "bonus" offering to entice the real estate agent. In the MLS these days, there are $10,000 bonuses offered to the agent if they will just bring a buyer to the closing table. These come-ons always set me off. I guess the reasoning is that:

a) I have buyers
b) who are NOT buying until
c) I give the High Sign. And
d) I am NOT giving the High Sign until
e) I get offered enough commission?

Excuse me, but if I HAD a buyer who wanted to buy that listing, I would be writing up an offer so fast it would make your head spin and for whatever commission you offered.

In fact, if I'm working for a buyer as a Buyer Agent, I HAVE to show that buyer the listing no matter what the commission is.

What real estate school did K-west attend? And how did he convince his seller this would work?

Sellers: overpriced listings aren't selling. I'm not standing around yawning with my arms folded across my chest waiting for you to offer a higher commission or fat bonus before I bring a buyer. My buyers are waiting for value. LOWER YOUR PRICE. Paying me more money won't make the deal because I can't talk buyers into paying too much for a house. And, let's face it, if your house was priced right, IT WOULD SELL.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm living on the other side of a glass wall and nobody can hear me hollering. It's why I stopped hollering. Just makes me hoarse.

Sorry I Missed This:

Key West dog parade hits streets
The Gainesville Sun
About 100 dachshunds and their owners will kick off New Year's Eve festivities.

It's New Year's Eve With A Key West Twist
Forget about glittering balls and tons of confetti - when partiers in Key West celebrate New Year's Eve, they do it in typical Keys' style. This year, a parade of about 100 dachshunds and their. owners will kick off New Year's Eve ...
Sailing News - http://www.topix.com/sailing

Non-Baker Baked!
By Deb's Key West Wine & Gardening
The Non-Baker Baked !!!! It really worked! In my last post I was telling you about a recipe I found in two magazines called “Almost No-Knead Bread”. Cooks Illustrated Magazine is the one that caught my eye as it used beer and water, ...

Key West, Happy New Year!
By K Street Kate Michael
Although New Year's Eve plans changed for me (I thought I would be in Anguilla - British West Indies - already by now), a sad occasion and a blessing kept me in DC for just a few extra days. I'll be heading down to Key West, ...

This Week's Blue Paper Online!

It's always something with these guys...

News Nosh: 28 Dec 2007

Havens | The Lower Florida Keys Just Possibly the Best Place for ...
New York Times - United States
Fishing during a rain shower on a Saturday morning near Big Pine Key in Florida.
By CHARLES PASSY

IT’S tempting to think of the Lower Keys, a roughly 36-mile stretch of Florida islands between Marathon and Key West, as something of a lonesome no-man’s land.

After all, the area is home to fewer people (about 16,000) than elsewhere in the Keys (there are some 25,000 in Key West alone). And the emphasis isn’t quite on people. The region, less than a half-day drive southwest from Miami, is known for being the only habitat of Key deer, a species once nearly extinct.

--

"New" way of collecting water during drought
WPTV - West Palm Beach, FL, USA
Reported and Photographed by: Eric English

In just five days, once-a week water restrictions will take effect for everyone from Orlando down to Key West. Many are wondering what they can do to make sure they don't lose their flowers, or lawns and whether it's ok to get that car washed. With water managers ready to clamp down on watering ...

An Odd Twist

This ad was in yesterday's La Nación here in Costa Rica. Translation:

"This is the moment to buy. Stable price and low interest! Resale opportunity. Pre-construction priced at $250,000. Only 10% down and you can pay that in four payments! [So get into this game for only $6,000 now.] To be completed in 2010, then finance 70-80% for 30 years. I sell these properties in Miami." The rest is contact information...

There are so many things that struck Hal and I. Like:

• Advertising a Miami condo in a Spanish language third world country's newspaper?
• Advertising for speculators at this point in the market?
• Could this be a sign that Costa Rica real estate is now MORE expensive than Miami's? (Yes.)

From everything we know about Miami's real estate market, it's crashing badly. Condos that sold pre-construction for $600,000 are selling now for $300,000.

Hal told me that in the first five years of the decade (2000-2005), only 5,000 condos sold in Miami. Total. That's 5,000 TOTAL. For all five years. I'm hammering this point because I had to keep asking him to be completely specific. I kept thinking I wasn't understanding the numbers. Because...

In subsequent years, as of about 2005, there were 50,000 condos in the pipeline at some stage of construction. Fifty thousand new condos being built... when only 5,000 new condos sold during the preceding five years.

Do developers do any research? Can they add? They can sure extrapolate their presumed profits. But none of them, it seems, looked back or around. They were building for the 77 million baby boomers coming along any minute, 50,000 of whom would surely want a new condo in Miami. Who wouldn't????

On the road to the Multiplaza here in Escazú, we pass, in a one-mile stretch, at least 10 new office buildings in various stages of construction. TEN. Multi-story, multi-office, big, fancy, brand spanking new and, so, most likely in the $250K range...

Question: where are the businesses located now that are supposed to fill these offices? What will entice them to move to these far fancier, more expensive new digs? They are making Costa Rica-style incomes... how can they pay Miami-style prices? And... do enough businesses even exist?

Here's the scenario I've constructed for this office park boom. But it will work for any real estate boom anywhere:

1. Costa Rica's real estate starts booming, driven by easy money people acquired in their home country - either borrowing on their primary residence or selling at the exact right time. Which was an incredibly short window of opportunity.
2. People start to believe the hype, "Real estate never goes down."
3. Everyone hears that commercial real estate is the next boom.
4. A guy builds an office building near the Multiplaza and it sells out.
5. Nine other guys quietly buy land on the road to the Multiplaza, to build "the next" office park. They tell no one.
6. One by one, they start to build... noticing the new office park going up right next to theirs.
7. They start cutting corners and hurrying along to finish before the next guy...
8. We aren't finished building yet, haven't reach the finish line... how do you think this will end?

News Nosh: 26 Dec 2007

Ex-Ridgefield officer cleared of FBI charges
NorthJersey.com - Hackensack,NJ,USA
A former Ridgefield police officer who now works for the Key West Police Department in Florida has been cleared by state and federal authorities of charges ...

'Tis the Season
By Judy Blume
I know he'll be donating more computers. That's the thing -- there are so many great programs to support this time of year. It's hard to choose. I concentrate on those I really know, in Key West, on the Vineyard, and in New York. ...

Key West's Casa Marina Resort returns to grandeur
Belleville News Democrat - IL, USA
Jodi Weinhofer, president of the Lodging Association of the Florida Keys and Key West, said the major renovations and the opening of the new luxury resort ...

South florida: Eight are sentenced for smuggling immigrants
Sun-Sentinel.com - Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
A federal judge in Key West has sentenced eight smugglers of illegal Cuban immigrants to prison terms, according to a release Wednesday from the US Coast ...

Mystery: What is co-locating WiFi?
Computerworld - Framingham, MA, USA
Key West, Fl. -- FCC documents reveal that a future Palm phone code-named Zeppelin (as in "Led") sports a feature set described as "co-locating WiFi and ...

18 Divers and Family Discover Key West
On the weekend of Dec 7-8, a party of 23 people from Winter Haven, Lake Wales, Haines City, Lakeland and Orlando all headed together on a dive trip discovering the underwater beauty of Key West and also celebrating the birthdays of Dr. ...

New voices at Key West Literary Seminar
Sun-Sentinel.com - Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
By Chauncey Mabe | Books Editor December 24, 2007
Next month's Key West Literary Seminar may be one of the most original and daring in its 26-year history ...

News Nosh

Keys at a crossroads - I posted this article a couple of days ago - here it is in the Oregon news!
Coos Bay World - Coos Bay,OR,USA
AP Photo KEY WEST, Fla. — The sights and sounds at Schooner Wharf drip with Key West attitude: Sunburned tourists lounge near a marina, savoring drinks ...

Tree honors those lost in Iraq, Afghanistan
Florida Baptist Witness - Jacksonville,FL,USA
While a Naval Air Station Key West honor guard flanked the tree and military branch flags adorned the top, speakers extolled the sacrifices made by those ...

Old City Hall building on Greene Street, Key West, FL.
Florida Memory Project

Good Morning - Good Morning to You
By Susanne in Key West (Susanne in Key West)
Judy Garland - Good Morning lyrics Artist: Judy Garland Good mornin', good mornin'! We've danced the whole night through, good mornin', good mornin' to you. Good mornin', good mornin'! It's great to stay up late, ...

If This Isn't Proof...

Evidence Grows That Consumers Are Pulling Back

Latest Industry to Feel Pinch: Plastic Surgery

The Wall Street Journal (you have to subscribe to read it there...)
By RHONDA L. RUNDLE and KELLY EVANS

The latest sign that growth in consumer spending, the mainstay of the U.S. economy, is slowing? A nip and tuck in spending on cosmetic surgery.

The slowdown was a hot topic at the meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in Baltimore this fall. One breast-implant maker sees hints of a slowdown in demand. The number of vision-correction surgeries appears to be falling as well. "This whole mortgage credit crisis is making people think twice," said J. Peter Rubin, a Pittsburgh plastic surgeon. "It's something I've noticed and some colleagues have noticed as well."

While anecdotal, the industry chatter is the latest worrying hint of a broader slowdown in consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of the U.S. economy -- and fodder for a broader debate on how deep such a slowdown might bite.

Key West The Newspaper

This week's paper online now: read it all here!

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Keys At A Crossroads

My good friend Jan, a REALTOR® in Arizona (Jan is on the left), sent me a link to an AP article on Key West:

Keys at a Crossroads: Locals vs. Rich

By Adrian Sainz, AP
AP Photo by Lynne Sladky

Long welcoming to wayfarers of all income levels, the Keys are becoming a playground for the rich. The sights and sounds at Schooner Wharf drip with Key West attitude: Sunburned tourists lounge near a marina, savoring drinks alongside locals wearing tank tops and sandals. A singer warbles, "I'd rather be here, drinking a beer, than freezing my a-- off up north." ... continue reading here...