Maybe I show my age, but who would have ever thought that we would be paying $3.00 and more for a cup of coffee. Granted some of the offerings from Starbucks� are far more than your normal cup of coffee, but still, what am I missing.

Everywhere you go in Naples, no matter which Starbucks� you go to there are lines literally out the door. And the funny thing is that it almost doesn’t matter what time of day either. Come to think of it, it’s not just Starbucks, it’s every coffee shop you go to, 7–Eleven or whoever. It just never ceases to amaze me that we are so driven for that great cup of � ‘joe’, that we will do almost anything to get it. Is it� because we feel that we aren’t fully dressed unless we have it? Maybe so!

Funny too, I’m one of those who stand in line some 3 days a week to get my fix as well. And as I stand in the line waiting to be served, I’m constantly thinking that the Starbucks’ bottom line must be suffering somewhat, because it takes so long to make up some of those exotic coffee receipts and the line moves so frightfully slowly. Somehow, there must be a better way, but I guess that no one has discovered it as yet!

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Since moving to Naples, Florida from the North Shore of New England some fifteen or so years ago, I’ve always marveled at how pristine the area is, not a blade of grass out of place, no trash in the streets. As I’ve traveled around the country and returned home, it has really stood out to me how beautiful Naples is.

Yesterday, I happened to be closing up an exquisite new construction single family home for a friend of mine, when, as I’m walking to my car, I spotted what I thought to be just an ordinary piece of paper lying face down in the grass. Naturally, having lived in such a spotless area, I’m prone to doing my civic duty and picking up anything I might find lying around, which is very rare. (I’ve found lots of pennies, but they haven’t been necessarily that lucky).

As I bent down and retrieved it, I turned it over and was stunned to find that this was no ordinary piece of paper. It was actually a negotiable check for $100,000 that had been made out and dated that day. After some bit of research, I discovered that the check was actually a deposit, part of an offer that had been made on the property earlier in the day. I hurriedly got it back to the proper person.

Only in Naples could you be picking up what you thought was an piece of paper lying on the ground and find $100,000. Oh well…rich in thought for a moment anyway!

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There are a slew of changes regarding the IRS code for 2007, some of which benefit realtors. Many of these changes were made by the IRS due to inflation adjustments. A lot of the exemptions were broadened and raised.

One of the areas of interest to realtors is the Standard Mileage Rates, which were increased as of January 1st, 2007. When operating your car for business, the rate per mile deduction has been increased to 48.5 cents. The moving rate deduction has increased to 20 cents per mile, the medical rate deduction also increased to 20 cents per mile, while the charitable services rate remained the same at 14 cents per mile.

The Earned Income Credit amount was also raised, along with the Exemption amounts. Click here to look at some of the tax rate schedules.

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I am so tired of some agents that I talk with who tell me that they expect this to be the worst year that they will experience during the past five or so. They say that there will be little or no business and that we had better be prepared for it, because it is going to happen, or in that case not happen. I am tired of all the negativity from the press, both locally and nationally. Maybe we should blame them for all the fear that they have thrown into people, or maybe we should just blame ourselves. I find myself looking for the positive in all of this, and yes, there is a lot of positive in this market, if you are willing to look for it.

Maybe my attitude has changed since listening to “The Secret”(you can listen to a snippet here) and the Law of Attraction, a four part CD series by Rhonda Bryne. If you haven’t listened to the CD series or seen the DVD, it is imperative that you run out, (as fast as you can), to your local bookstore and get it. It is just that good! As a matter of fact it’s not just good, it is an absolute must!

Believe me there are positives out there, we just have to go out and find them. Certainly for one, it is a fabulous ‘buyer’s market’, with many a good investment to be found. Focus on that one aspect alone, find the buyers and go make your fortune. It is basically just that simple. It is much like the stock market, there is a ton of money to be made no matter what the market is doing, whether it is going up or down. You simply need to shift your focus and make it happen.

The bottom line is that we must keep our attitudes positive and stay completely away from the negative!

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Having grown up in the northeast section of the country and enduring all those cold winters, I grew up pond skating and playing hockey until it got so dark out, you just couldn’t see where you were going. As the years grew, I continued playing the game all the way through college and beyond. I even had a tryout with the Nashua Maples Leafs, a professional team in the old New England Hockey League.

I hung the skates up long ago, moved to Florida and began my real estate career. I longed for something that would keep me connected to my Boston roots, as I spent quite a few years as an on-air personality in radio, where I maintained my love of sports. I did a stint as ‘the voice of the Boston Red Sox’ for Spring Training, yet it has always been hockey that I have been most passionate about.

I was thrilled and excited some eleven years ago to read in the Naples Daily News that a group, owned by the Carolina Hurricanes, was planning on building an arena in Estero, a short drive from Naples, and forming a franchise that would play in the ECHL, the premier hockey league. That franchise is now the highly successful Florida Everblades, who have been serving as an affiliate for both the Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL, where they have sent several alumni. For the first few years, I was their Music Director, responsible for the arena music before, during and after the games. I have now moved on the become one of the off-ice officials for the ECHL, where I run the area scoreboard clock, sitting between the home and visitor’s penalty boxes, which provides plenty of excitement, plus some occasional bad language.

The key is that I have been able to successfully mix two passions, hockey and real estate, and for that, I’ll be forever thankful.

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With the Baby Boomer’s arriving on the real estate scene, we are all licking our lips as we try to desperately find ways to market to them. And well we should, because, as we look at the statistics, they are staggering.

A recent study revels the following interesting facts: Baby Boomers now have a higher rate of property ownership than the national average, and fully one quarter of all Boomers own multiple properties. The study shows that, as a group, they have an enormous appetite for real estate, with nearly 8 out of every 10 owning their own homes and 9 out of 10 have owned at some point in their lives.

The type of real estate that the group is purchasing is varied from residential to commercial, vacant land to vacation homes, and so on down the line. 10% of the boomers surveyed said that they intended to purchase additional real estate in the next 12 months. Interestingly, the real dichotomy is that many have not planned adequately for their retirement…go figure.

The bottom line is that we have always known they were coming, and now that they are here and more on the way, I’m trying, like others, to find innovative ways to catch their attention…suggestions?

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Since the time when it became no longer in vogue, smoking has become a hot-button issue in so many areas of our lives, so much so, that it can affect almost everything we do. Maybe it’s because I’m a former smoker that I’m so sensitive to it. I believe that if I were a smoker today, I’d be far more careful of how and where I smoked and certainly more conscience of the effect it can have on the valuation of my assets.

I don’t know the statistics, but I would bet that if you smoke in your car and go to sell it, your audience would be at least 50% less than if you didn’t. I know that I can get into someone’s car and know in an instant that the owner is a smoker, or someone who has been riding in it has. As a matter of fact, like myself, I know people who wouldn’t even consider buying a used automobile from a smoker.

The other day I was in the home of a FSBO, and as soon as I entered the front door, I was literally overwhelmed by the presence of stale smoke. We are at the time of year here in South Florida where we finally have the luxury of being able to have our windows open and the a/c off because of the lack of appreciable humidity, and yet this lady, a schoolteacher she said, had her house totally buttoned up. The odor of the smoke was so bad that I had an extremely hard time walking through the house and almost offered to do my presentation outside on her lanai, (porch).

After my presentation and upon leaving, I found myself wondering just how many people would be completely turned off and not even consider making an offer because of the smell. I also tried to calculate how many bottles of Febreze, bleach, rug cleaner and the like it would take to get the house to the point where it would be very hard to detect or if you even could. I guess that if my presentation was as good as I thought it was, I have a good shot of finding out.

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May the spirit of the Holiday Season fill your heart.

I and my family wish you the very best and hope that the New Year brings you much joy, happiness, health and prosperity.

And to all a good night!

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