it’s been at least 10 days since I know you havent logged on

Invariably, at some point during the conversation the following question comes up:
“Do you have access to foreclosures?”

This is what I like to call the foreclosure myth. There is a general perception that foreclosure homes are special in some way. That they are dramatically cheaper and are therefore harder to find.

The truth is that foreclosure homes are available among the regular inventory and it is actually harder to exclude them from a home search rather than add them in.

Furthermore, foreclosure homes are not necesarily cheaper than other regular home sales. As a matter of fact, foreclosure sales have been such commonplace in the real estate market in the past few years that as a result they have pulled down the prices of all homes.

But there is a specific reason why foreclosure homes have a tendency to be sold at a lower price. A lot of times home owners who are evicted upon being foreclosed take an extra moment to wreck the house prior to departing. So it is not uncommon that when I show a property that was a foreclosure, that extensive repairs are required.

While there are some loans that will account for repairs and will allow you to get financing for this, most of the time buyers need to have the money available to conduct repairs after purchasing the house. In essence you should consider this as additional down payment, therefore you are able to buy less house for your money. For those on a tight budget utilising an FHA loan, it makes it virtually impossible unless you have a family member helping you with funds for the repairs.

Sometimes, the seller (often a bank) account for this and they conduct repairs on the home prior to listing it in order to facilitate a sale. These repairs are generally cosmetic in nature and many corners are cut in order to save money.

The most important lesson to take from this is that foreclosure homes are not particularly special in any way, nor are they necessarily cheaper than a regular home sale.

if you have any more questions you can contact me directly through my website at www.rapidresponserod.com.

The word that immediately comes to mind when describing the landscaping is “lush”. As an experienced agent, I can tell you that I have been in pretty much every development in Boca Raton and I would be hard-pressed to find a development that has nicer landscaping.

Broken Sound has two world class golf courses for the golf fanatic. The “Club Course” right on campus and the affectionately known “Old Course” across Military Trail. The “Old Course” will play host to the Allianz Championship in early February 2012, this is an official PGA Champions Tour Event.

The Tennis Center at Broken Sound boasts 23 courts and is also home to the 16,500 square foot Fitness Center and Spa and the Centre Court Café. The Clubhouse, which is currently undergoing an extensive renovation, offers a Five-Star Dining experience that can also cater any major event you would wish to host.

Broken Sound Country Club offers various types of homes for every need. From single-story villas and two-story townhouses in Cedar Cay, to zero-lot line detached homes with views of the golf course in Whisper Trace, larger homes with great panoramic views in Fairway Bend, estate properties with larger lots in Bermuda Run to Grand Oaks, offering the largest estates in all of Broken Sound.

There is really too much to cover in a small article such as this. So I invite you to visit their website for any additional information you seek. http://www.brokensoundclub.org/

But of course, I am more than happy to help you find out anything you want to know about Broken Sound or if you are ready to take a closer look, get in touch with me. You can reach me through my website: www.barbaraandbobreiter.com

Het is hierdoor nu veel goedkoper om een huis te kopen in Amerika. Met andere woorden, je krijgt meer waar voor je geld!

Maar alleen een huis kopen maakt het wonen niet geheel mogelijk. Het is immers nog altijd noodzaakelijk om een visum te krijgen. Hier hebben een paar senatoren iets op bedacht: om buitenlanders alsnog de mogelijkheid te bieden investeringen te doen in de Verenigde Staten is er nu een immigranten visum beschikbaar.

Het zogeheten Immigrant Investors Visa (EB-5) bestaat al langere tijd. Om in aanmerking te komen voor dit Visa is het nodig een investering van minimaal $500.000 te doen in een sector waarmee minstens 10 banen worden gecreëerd. In ruil hiervoor ontvangt de investeerder vervolgens een visum.

De grootste valkuil van dit plan is echter dat de ‘kleine man’ vaak niet zomaar de kans krijgt om dit soort investeringen te doen. Bovendien blijkt het moeilijk te bewijzen  dat er voldoende banen bij zijn gekomen.

Dezelfde senatoren hebben daarom nu een nieuwe aanvulling op dit visum voorgelegd. Met de nieuwe visumsoort zou je ook door middel van het aanschaffen van een woning van minimaal $500.000 in aanmerking komen om een Immigrant Investors Visa aan te vragen om in Amerika te wonen. Met deze investering is dan de 10 banen-eis niet van toepassing.

Aangezien $500.000 voor een huis vrij pittig is, is er ook een provisie aangemaakt bij deze voorgestelde wet waarbij het bedrag gesplitst kan worden. Wanneer er samen met een initiële woning van $250.000 nog in een tweede of meerdere woningen met een totale waarde van $250.000 wordt geïnvesteerd, kan hetzelfde visum worden aangevraagd. De andere woningen zouden eventueel kunnen worden verhuurd en als legale inkomstenbron dienen voor de investeerder.

Voor $500.000 kun je een huis aan het water kopen in Zuid-Florida, met de mogelijkheid om een eigen boot achter je eigen huis aan te meren. Waarmee je in het weekend de oceaan op kan varen. Maar voor $250.000 kun je ook een zeer groot huis kopen, mét zwembad en een ruime voor- en achtertuin. Met de rest van je woningen zou je makkelijk tussen de $15.000 en $25.000 per jaar kunnen verdienen aan verhuur.

Hopelijk wordt deze voorgestelde wet snel aanvaard. Dit zou zeker een uitkomst zijn voor de vele families die zich graag in Amerika willen vestigen.

Mocht je meer willen weten over het investeren in een woning of meerdere woningen in Florida dan kun je mij altijd contacteren via de website www.rapidresponserod.com

Like any boat owner would know, the type of boat you have usually determines the type of house you can live in. Even if you don’t have a navigable waterway directly behind your house, you are limited by the type of property you can keep your boat at.

Most neighborhoods with an HOA (Home Owners Association) will not allow you to park your boat if it is visible. Some will not allow you to park a boat at all. Thereby restricting you from even pulling your boat to a ramp where it can be lowered into the water. So generally boat-owners are forced to live in a community that does not have an HOA.

Obviously, if your boat can be docked directly behind your house it would be an advantage and Boca Raton has various communities that offer this possibility in various price ranges.

At the lowest price point there is Boca Bayou, sitting right on the border between Boca Raton and Deerfield Beach. It is a condo community sitting directly on navigable channels that give you quick and direct access to the ocean only having to pass one fixed bridge: Federal Highway crossing over the Hillsboro Canal. This bridge is quite high and allows you large sized boats.

At the next price point are the properties around Camino Gardens and Royal Oak Hills. These include neighborhoods just west of Dixie Highway running from the southern border of Boca Raton, all the way up to Palmetto Park Road. Depending on which canal the house is on, there are several low lying bridges which will restrict you to a boat with a maximum height of 6 feet. This can be quite restricting for the fanatical fishermen.

After that we move up to the homes that sit on canals just off the intracoastal in neighborhoods such as Boca Harbour and Boca Keys. These have no fixed bridges and in essence allow you to have a boat of any height docked behind your house. You are subsequently only limited by a boat of the size that can safely navigate the canals.

If however you have a superyacht, around 60 feet and larger, you are probably going to need to be directly on the intracoastal. Where you can safely dock and navigate with minimal obstructions. Here you are looking at prices starting at a million for the most modest of homes.

So it really depends on what kind of boat you either already have or plan on having to determine what kind of house, but more importantly the location you need to have for your house. For those happy with leisurely cruises up and down the intracoastal on weekends, the possibilities are endless. But if you are a serious fisherman and you like spending your weekends on the waves in open water, there will be a lot more that you will have to take into account.

If you have any more questions or need me to help you find your dream home, you can reach me directly on my website: www.RapidResponseRod.com

Pod koniec roku 2011 dwoch czlonkow Senatu Stanow Zjednoczonych zasugerowalo plan wsparcia podupadlego rynku mieszkaniowego i gospodarki USA poprzez sciagniecie zagranicznego  kapitalu do kraju.

W zamian za zainwestowanie co najmniej $ 500,000  w zakup nieruchomosci,obcokrajowiec otrzymalby wize pobytu ( wiza nieimigracyjna).Prosze nie mylic z „zielona karta”.

Zainteresowany musialby kupic:

1. co najmniej jedna rezydencje mieszkalna za pol miliona dolarow (tylko gotowka, pozyczki hipoteczne nie wchodza w rachube) , lub
2. Jedna posiadlosc mieszkalna za co najmniej $250,000 plus posiadlosc przeznaczana na inwestycje (rentowanie), rowniez za minimum $250,000

Nabywca musialby przebywac w glownym miejscu zamieszkania przez co najmniej szesc miesiecy ( nie koniecznie kolejnych) w roku.

W wypadku sprzedania nieruchomosci cudzoziemiec stracilby prawo do wizy.

Cudzoziemiec, ktory otrzyma wize w ten sposob nie bedzie mogl tez  pracowac, chyba, ze wystapi o uzyskanie wizy pracy.

Ktoz wiec bedzie chcial skorzystac o takich mozliwosci??

- Zamozni biznesmeni, emeryci lub wakacjusze, ktorych stac bedzie na zakup i wydatki zwiazane z posiadaniem i utrzymaniem posiadlosci (podatki, ubezpieczenia, zarzadzanie,..jedzenie, benzyna…)

To oni beda podreperowywali nadwyrezona gospodarke.

Kim sa ci zamozni cudzoziemcy?

- Najwieksza ilosc kupujacych to Kanadyjczycy, Chinczycy, Brytyjczycy… korzystajacy z dogodnego kursu dolara, jak tez i niskich cen.

Zagraniczni nabywcy zainwestowali w rynek mieszkaniowy w USA w ciagu jednego tylko roku od Kwietnia, 2010 do Marca, 2011 okolo 82 mld. dolarow, a zapotrzebowanie na „otwarta droge” do  Stanow Zjednoczonych nie ustaje.

Jakie beda losy propozycji?

Styczen 2012

Masz pytania, myslisz o kupnie nieruchomosci, chcesz otrzymac najnowsze wiadomosci o rynku mieszkaniowym na Florydzie?

Skontaktuj sie.

Twoj Realtor na Florydzie:

Anna Vida

Cell: 561-302-5205

Email: avida77@comcast.net   anna@gferealty.com

First of all, we would like to once again touch upon our First Annual Christmas Charity BBQ, which was an enormous success. We collected a large number of donations of gifts and money for The Haven, a boys shelter right here in Boca Raton.

Kelly O'Meara Hampton and Don Stewart with Barbara, Rod and Bob Reiter

For those of you who regularly visit our website, we are in danger of sounding like a broken record with all the times we have mentioned and promoted The Haven. But it is a blessing that there are people out there willing and able to help out children in need and here at Grand Floridian Estate Realty, we are only more than happy to endlessly promote and support these organizations.

In the final week of the year we also handed out our yearly awards to the agents at Grand Floridian Estate Realty who have performed above and beyond in 2011. We are happy to announce that the agents winning awards this past year were Geri Kearns, Beverly Loder and Jose Oliveira. Here at Grand Floridian Estate Realty we are quite lucky to have agents who works so hard and take their craft so seriously, they are truly an example for all agents to follow.

We also took the opportunity at the end of the year to completely modernize our office, installing brand new Windows 7 computers and wireless printers. We can confidently say that Grand Floridian Estate Realty quite possibly has the most State-of-the-Art Real Estate office in all of Boca Raton. Many of our agents have started to take advantage of the new technology and they are walking around with smart-phones and laptops in order to better serve their clients wherever they may be.

Besides the new technology, we have made many improvements to our ever developing website. The Property Search Engine has been optimized and if you take the time to use it, you will notice that it is arguably the most accurate Property Search engine in the business. For those paying attention, we have also implemented an App for the iPhone and iPad. This app is entirely free and you can use it to search for properties based on your location. Just click on the logo to download it today.

Finally, we are looking towards 2012 with great promise. The strides we took at the end of 2011 we consider to be just the beginning of the new direction our brokerage will be taking in this coming year. As I already alluded in the beginning of this article, 2011 was the most successful year ever for Grand Floridian Estate Realty, this in the midst of a “down” economy. As such I can assure you that the Real Estate market right here in our own Boca Raton and surrounding areas is quite healthy and sales have most definitely been picking up. Our agents have also noticed that the inventory in Boca Raton has been steadily declining, once again creating the price driving scarcity.

We are looking forward to being there for you for all of your real estate needs, any and all of our agents are eager and ready to provide you with the best service in the business. On behalf of the entire Grand Floridian Estate Realty family, I would like to wish you a Happy, Healthy and especially Prosperous 2012.

Sunday December 18th, we had a Charity BBQ on our parking lot, benefitting the boys of The Haven.

We had a great turnout and we collected a whole bunch of donations from all our friends for our guests from The Haven.

For those who donated, we held a raffle with prizes donated by supporters in the local community.

So without further ado, the winning numbers for the raffle:

• 530271 – wins a Gift Certificate for Casimir Bistro
• 530192 – wins a Gift Certificate for Alene Too
• 530236 – wins a Gift Certificate for Alene Too

Congratulations to all the winners, please come to our office to collect your prizes.

Once again, a special thanks to Casimir and Alene Too for donating these prizes for our Charity BBQ.

For more information about The Haven or Casimir and Alene Too, please visit their websites (click the images):

 Casimir French Bistro

Recently, Grand Floridian Estate Realty has been taking a more active role in the local community, wanting to give back after enjoying the support of Boca Raton and surrounding areas for the past few years. This is why the management and realtors at Grand Floridian Estate Realty are proud to be able to assist a local charity. In these trying times charities need more help than ever.

The charity barbecue is open for all to attend, it starts at noon on Sunday, December 18th. As part of the parking lot is being used for the barbecue, the parking on location will be limited. For parking overflow, visitors can park along Ocean Boulevard on the properties adjacent to Grand Floridian Estate Realty.

The Haven is a charity for boys in Boca Raton that currently houses 35 boys between the ages of 12 and 17. Grand Floridian Estate Realty recently donated Thanksgiving Dinner to The Haven. The Haven was founded in 1976 and mainly focuses on helping young boys that come from troubled environments in the Boca Raton area, but it has accepted boys from areas as far as Miami, Naples and Orlando.

We welcome you to attend and looking forward to seeing you at the barbecue and we thank you in advance for any contribution you plan on making.

Below you will find a wishlist of items needed by The Haven. You can also donate money to The Haven in the form of a check, just make all checks payable to The Haven.

For more information you can e-mail us at Grand Floridian Estate Realty info@gferealty.com or you can contact Debbie Denstedt at The Haven ddenstedt@haven4kids.org

Sports Equipment
footballs, flag football kits, basketballs, kick balls, soccer balls, skateboards, elbow/knee pads, fishing rods, tackle

Kitchen
cafeteria-style food trays, pots/pans, aprons, hot pads, plastic plates, cups, bowls, utensils, serving utensils, water pitchers, food storage containers, baking dishes, baking sheets, kitchen towels

Bath/Bed
bath towels, beach towels, wash cloths, twin bed spreads, bed pillows, shoe racks, plastic organizers/drawers

Laundry
baskets, hampers, irons, ironing boards, large plastic bins with lids, detergent, cleaning supplies, buckets, brushes, brooms, dust pans

Electronics
desk lamps, small individual fans, flashlights, batteries (all sizes), nightlights, radios w/CD player, power strip cords, mouse pads , DVD players

Miscellaneous
Board games, puzzles, playing cards, G/Teen-rated video games for Xbox, PlayStation, first aid kits, toiletries, duffle bags, suitcases, sleeping bags, large coolers, five-gallon water coolers
Gift Cards: Subway, McDonald’s, Papa John’s,  Boomer’s, Laser Quest, Movie Gift Cards

For more info on The Haven, visit their website at www.haven4kids.org

It is important for us that our agents can provide our clients with the best service anywhere they are and having the best technology at their disposal is a big part of that.

In that regard, we have recently launched our very own mobile app for the iPhone and iPad. We are doing our best to launch an Android version as soon as possible, but have no timetable at this time when we this might actually occur.

With this app you can search for properties with the criteria you want based on your location. So if you are driving around in a neighborhood you like and have your criteria entered in the filter, you will be able to see if there are any properties in that area that are realistic for you. In addition to that, if you have your designated agent’s code entered in the system, you will be able to contact them immediately to get all the additional info you want right then and there.

We want this to be as simple as possible for our clients, so this article provides a quick tutorial on how to download and use the mobile app.

GFER Mobile App

First of all, the app is available entirely for free on iTunes. The most direct way to download it to your iPhone is to scan this barcode you see right here on the right. Otherwise in the sidebar on the right there is a link to the download site on iTunes as well. Once you have downloaded and installed the app you will have to enter your agents’ code.

Every agent in the office has a unique code, when you enter their code, their name, phone number and e-mail address will appear right there on the top of your search page, a simple tap is all it takes to call or e-mail them requesting additional information of the property you have found.

Our office code is 7840, every agent would then have an additional code behind it (i.e. 7840-1). All you do is enter this information after installing the app and then tapping on the “GO” button. The App will automatically do the rest.

On the bottom right of the app you will see a button that says “Filter”. This is where you can set your desired parameters for the type of property you are looking for. After that all you have to do is drive around in the neighborhood you like and the properties that match your criteria will automatically pop up on the screen.

We invite you to try this Free Mobile App, only one of the many innovations we have recently instituted here at Grand Floridian Estate Realty. Give us the opportunity to show you that we are truly the most service oriented real estate brokerage in the business.