Mel's Musings

MORTGAGE RATES CONTINUE TO SET RECORDS

Sunday, August 29th, 2010 at 10:53am. 46 Views, 0 Comments.

One wonders how long the mortgage rates will continue to stay low, as last week they again set record lows.

In a recent speech, Fed chairmam Ben Bernanke restated his position that the Fed is prepared for implementing emergency measures should the economy worsen. Mr. Bernanke does not see that happening and stated that the economic recovery is taking longer than anticipated, but we are not at the end of the world. One reason for the slow recovery is that joblessness remains high and that is having a direct effect.

One thing that we are absolutely sure of is that mortgage rates will soon rise. So the time is ripe to either refinance your present mortgage or finance that new purchase assuming that you can meet the industry's rigid qualifications.

IT'S A GREAT TIME TO PURCHASE IN NAPLES!

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 2:40pm. 214 Views, 0 Comments.

With all the talk of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, there's been talk of some people holding off to see whether the spill will affect any of the beaches in our area. A study recently completed states there was less than a 1% chance of oil affecting the beaches here in Southwest Florida from the BP well.

I think that one of the issues has again been the national press and people's misconception about how much of Florida has been affected. People's thinking can sometimes run amuck because they hear oil on Florida beaches and they take that to mean that there is oil on all of Florida's beaches, when in fact it has only come ashore a few beaches north in the Panhandle of the state.

The good news is that BP seems to have the new containment cap doing its…

FLORIDA PANTHER NUMBERS KEEP DWINDLING

Saturday, June 12th, 2010 at 5:00pm. 152 Views, 0 Comments.

The plight of the Florida panther is getting deperate as three more of their numbers were killed in the past few weeks after being hot by cars and there seems to be no end in sight.

The experts peg their number to be between 100 and 120 panthers left in the wild and with the population expansion, the future of these magnificant cats seems perilous to say the least. The more and more we expand and build, the less territory the panthers have to roam.

A total of 10 panthers have been found dead this year, with 8 bhaving been killed by cars. Last year, a total of 29 were found dead and a record 17 of those deaths were by vehicles.

One of the recomendations by wildlife biologists is to build more road underpasses with fencing along side so that the animals will…

LIVING LARGE IN NAPLES, FLORIDA

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 at 8:20pm. 219 Views, 0 Comments.

Naples, Florida is certainly an intriguing place to live and I've spent the last 20 years of my life here.

When I first arrived, I was a bit suspect thinking that at the age of 45 I was going to be mixed in with a much older 'retired' crowd. How wrong I was even in the early years, for the demographic of the area was changing literally before my eyes. Naples was becoming a world-class destination and attracting younger money. And when I say younger money, we saw multi-billionaires in their late twenties and early thirties building mega-homes in Bay Colony, Aqualane Shores, as well as Port Royal and Olde Naples. Naples quickly was being called a town where the billionaires were kicking out the millionaires.

It always amuses me that on any given night on 5th…

TUBULAR SKYLIGHTS SAVE ENERGY COSTS

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 at 6:07pm. 206 Views, 0 Comments.

Last year I got the energy saving bug and went on a rampage.

I replaced every light bulb in our home with the LiteTronics Neolite energy saver tubular bulbs. Yes I know, they don't look like tyhe old regular light bulbs, but once you get by that aspect what a difference it has made in the home. Just from a cost saving standpoint, a 13 watt Neolite bulb is equal to a 60 watt incandescent old fashioned bulb and will burn for 12,000 hours.

I put the new bulbs in everywhere, general lighting, table and floor lamps, recessed can fixtures, as well as ceiling fan fixtures. The total savings on our monthly electric bill has certainly been dramatic

The other thing that I did was to have four 12" tubular skylights installed in our home here in Naples in areas where it…

NAPLES FEATURED ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 at 11:35am. 253 Views, 0 Comments.

The other day Good Morning America featured Naples as one of the most undervalued areas for real estate in the country. As a matter of fact, Naples ranks as the 15th most undervalued areas according to a recent article published by CNNMoney.

What make it all the more interesting is the fact that a few short years ago, 4 to be exact in 2006, Naples ranked as the most overvalued area of the country. Back then, realtors and others cried unfair citing skewed financial information.

Well now the additional publicity should work quite favorably. That coupled with the fact the inventory is decreasing by almost 14% a monthshould help to get potential buyers off the fence and purchasing for fear that property values will undoubtedly rise.

Find the article HERE.

OH CANADA...EH!

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 7:01am. 311 Views, 1 Comments.

If the past month's activity on our website at www.previewnaples.com is any indication, the coming season is going to be excellent for greater Naples Real Estate!

The activity on our website with regard to people opting in for more information about communities and property has recently been dominated by Canadians. Certainly one can understand because the Canadian dollar is again almost at par with the American dollar, plus the fact that greater Naples Real Estate is at prices not seen in years. Those two facts make it just too tempting to resist, especialy for those Canadians who have been coming to Naples for years and have been renting while holding off making a purchase.

What I also find interesting is that a great majority that I have talked with looked…

COST OF BUYING, HOLDING AND SELLING NAPLES REAL ESTATE

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 1:57pm. 487 Views, 3 Comments.

Often we are asked about the different costs related to buying, holding and selling real estate in the greater Naples area. The costs associated with purchasing property will vary within each county in the State of Florida. For example, the cost of purchasing property in the Naples area (Collier County) will be different than purchasing in Bonita Springs, Estero Ft. Myers (Lee County).

The largest single expense for buying a home in the Naples area is title insurance.

Paying the cost of title insurance becomes the responsibility of the buyer and will insure the buyer against loss, if it is subsequently discovered that there was a defect in the title. If the buyer is getting a mortgage, the lender will require the buyer to purchase title insurance. If the…

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Sunday, March 1st, 2009 at 10:23am. 461 Views, 1 Comments.

The other day I read a wonderful article in the Naples Daily News titled Still In The Family. It was about the history of the Naples Zoo, formerly called Caribbean Gardens, and how far it had come since the early days of when Dr. Henry Nehrling, one of Florida's premier botanists, founded Caribbean Gardens in 1919 as a botanical garden. In 1954   margarine magnet, Julius Fleishman, began the rescue and expansion of the gardens and in 1969 animals were first introduced by the current zoo Director David Tetzlaff's parents, "Jungle Larry" and "Safari Jane" Tetzlaff. That was actually the beginning of the zoo as we know it today and when you look at how far it has come from those humble beginnings, it is truly amazing.

I am a member of the zoo and one of the…