Mel's Musings

If ever I could join a club for the sole purpose of entertaining clients, it would be the Players Club at Lely Resort. But alas, one must be a property owner in Lely Resort to be considered for membership...so that theory is totally out!

Lely Resort is a Stock-built golfing resort community equidistant between Naples and Marco Island and is in their final building phase. It has been named the community of the year for four years in a row. It is a community that has been very well received over the years and sales have been strong even during the real estate down turn and remain so today.

The Players Club and Spa at Lely Resort provides a tropical atmosphere as opposed to the normal golfing atmosphere typically found at other golf club communities in…

Ideally, best practices when moving should be known for quite a while before the actual move.

Suddenly, tossing everything into boxes or storage containers on the morning of the move can only add to what is already going to be a stressful situation. 

• Get Rid of Unwanted or Unneeded Stuff  

The Preview Naples family wants to wish you and your family a blessed and happy Thanksgiving holiday.

We look forward to helping you achieve your goals and dreams in the Greater Naples Real Estate Market.

For those looking for a very special homesite, they might well consider the Estates at Bay Colony, a gated community within the confines of Pelican Marsh.

Nestled on 280 acres, the Estates at Bay Colony is limited to just 80 magnificant estate homes, with the homesites from ranging from 3/4 of an acre to over a full acre.  75 homes have been completed by some of the areas most well respected builders, one is in progress and only 3 sites remain available.  The requirement is for homes is to be a  minimum of 4,000 square feet under air, while many are two and three times that amount.

Amenities within this very exclusive compound include a sensational Robert von Hagge designed golf course, membership in the Bay Colony Beach Club, Bay Colony Tennis Club, as…

As a realtor, I'm always asked about the crime rate in Naples and how it might compare to a city on the east coast of Florida.  My answer is that there is virtually no comparison between the two coasts as far as crime goes.  Sure we have the petty crime, thefts and so forth, but the big stuff we primarily leave to the other coast.  

This is borne out in a 2010 Fact Sheet just released by the Collier County Sheriff, Kevin J. Rambosk.  Sheriff Rambosk was formally the Chief of Police for the Naples Police Department and his slogan for the Sheriff's Office is Working Together For A Safe Community.  Interestingly crime has gone down the past few years.

How has it been done you might ask, the answers are many but a few are: created community safety teams,…

Many times we are asked what the customary closing costs are by customers for both the selling and buying sides and we have put together a pdf file specifically addressing that issue.

We put together the file reflecting the costs regarding the seller's expenses and buyer's expenses for a Conventional Mortgage, as well as a VA and FHA Mortgage.

We think that you will find the information very helpful.

To see the customary closing costs, please CLICK HERE. If for any reason you are unable to download the file, please send me a note and I will email it out to you.

For a number of years, I have been telling people looking to buy forclosures and thinking that they are the best deal around, you need to look thoroughly and totally understand the downside risks before pulling the trigger.  Since the banks are selling the property as-is and will fix nothing, it's prudent the the buyer think in terms of what damage might have been done that he cannot see.

With forclosed or bank-owned properties there can be a number of issues that sometimes buyers do not necessarily think about, such as possible mold issues within walls from having the a/c off for a lengthy period of time.  Another issue is many units have been substantially damaged by the owners prior to being forced out, and what they fail to realize is that they can…

In Collier County there still exist about 35 residential cooperatives, primarily on the Gulf of Mexico.  The cooperative is a form of multiple-family housing which is older than the condominium form.  The first cooperative was formed in New York about 1926.  In New York City and Chicago there are numerous cooperatives that remain.  In Collier County there were about 100 residential cooperatives at one time, most of them created in the early 1960's, before or shortly after the first laws recognizing the condominium form of ownership in Florida were passed by the Legislature.  Since that time, condominiums have become the vastly predominant form of multi-family residential development in Florida.

The question that most often arises is what is the actual…

I find it interesting that the founder of the popular website www,forsalebyowner.com recently sold his 2,000 square foot apartment in New York through a realtor after unsuccessfully trying to sell it himself.  What is even more interesting is the fact that the realtor sold it for more money then the owner was asking.

The broker, Jesse Buckler said that the owner was extremely opposed to the suggested price increase but eventually relented.  He told the owner that the current price was too low as the market had been increasing and he could get him more money. He certainly did as the unit ended up selling for $150,000 more then what the owner had been asking as a FSBO (For Sake By Owner).

And who said that we realtors don't work for our money and that…

About 6 months ago, I began offering weekly reports of statistical data compiled by the very respected firm of Altos Research in California. 

The reports are substantial in depth, although if you prefer, you can opt to receive an Executive Summary for any area of greater Naples or by zip code. For a more extensive report for a certain area, one would opt for the Market Update. 

The Executice Summary will show the Median List Price, Asking Price per Square Foot, Average Days on Market (DOM), Percent of Properties with Price Decrease, Percent Relisted, Percent Flip, Median House Size, Median Lot Size, Median Number of Bedrooms, Median Number of Bathrooms and most importantly the Market Action Index.  All this criteria is geared to show trends in the…