chrisgriffith on February 9th, 2013

Southwest Florida Weather in February This is Baily.  Baily wanted you to know that this is what February weather is like in Bonita Springs, Florida.  We’ve had picture perfect weather this week! Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take a boat ride on one of Baywater Exclusive Boat Club’s boats, the doubled decker boat with [...]

Continue reading about What a Nor’easter Looks Like in Bonita Springs Fl

chrisgriffith on January 12th, 2013

  Bonita Springs Backyard Butterfly Experiment Let me tell you a little story about the time I went to my neighborhood’s community pool to tan my lily white, fructose rich body.  I had gotten a little pudgy and decided to bite the bullet, tan that fat and start working on getting healthy. I sucked up [...]

Continue reading about Bonita Springs–Farming for Monarch Butterflies

chrisgriffith on September 28th, 2012

  Video of Cedar Creek Bonita Springs Florida Cedar Creek is located in Bonita Springs and offers single family homes.  Cedar Creek boasts the lowest home owner association fees in the area and the closest proximity to many conveniences. If you do not see the video above, click here: http://youtu.be/jQngIPE-U6A To learn more about Cedar Creek [...]

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chrisgriffith on January 3rd, 2012

Real Estate Photograph Fails It’s a no brainer that pictures sell real estate, especially in the digital age. What is surprising is that there are still so many homes skating by or even floundering in the real estate market without proper or, at the very least, a weak representation of its unique characteristics whether they’re [...]

Continue reading about Real Estate Truth in Advertising Photos

chrisgriffith on August 23rd, 2011

Last Ditch Home Selling Method When I was growing up in Northern Ohio I recall finding Indian artifacts in the fields. I grew up on a farm near the river and not far from Lake Erie so it would appear that it was a primo spot for hunting and growing crops. There were arrowheads all [...]

Continue reading about Leaning on Faith & Legends to Sell Real Estate

chrisgriffith on August 10th, 2011

Real Estate is Selling Off – Deal With It So here we are half way through a sweltering southwest Florida summer. Worlds away are our seasonal residents who have all but forgotten us and cubical dwelling number crunchers who will soon be speculating about Florida real estate. Right about the time the first of the [...]

Continue reading about Summer Real Estate Sales and The Real Estate Truth

chrisgriffith on April 27th, 2011

Foreclosure Fixer Uppers and TLC Needed Defined Just exactly how much “tender loving care” does a property that needs TLC really require? Well, isn’t that a question just chock full of possibilities? The definition of fixer-upper and “needs TLC” really is in the eye of the beholder. Any one person’s opinion of what is a [...]

Continue reading about Needs TLC is A Matter of Opinion

chrisgriffith on December 22nd, 2010

Merry Christmas Bonita Springs Write something fun about Christmas was the advice I got from friends. I was away when the words were due and, well, I just wasn’t feeling Christmas or feeling like writing about it. It sounds all scrooge, but I’m not sure I feel Christmas the way most people feel Christmas anyway. [...]

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chrisgriffith on December 15th, 2010

Phone Books Cluttering Up a Home Near You Ever hear that old wives tale; if you touch a frog, you’ll get warts? What do you have to touch to get a half dozen unsolicited phone books dumped on at your front door every year. You may not know this but phone books are the warts [...]

Continue reading about Fossils on Florida Front Porches

chrisgriffith on November 15th, 2010

Appliance Repair in Bonita Springs and Estero, Florida. Second oppinions about appliance repairs, too.

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chrisgriffith on October 6th, 2010

Over priced real estate, the agents that list it and the home owners who fall for it.

Continue reading about Finding The Right Agent to Overprice Your Real Estate

chrisgriffith on September 26th, 2010

Orchids at Home Depot Bonita Springs, Florida.

Continue reading about Orchids ~ The Southwest Florida Gardener’s Passion

chrisgriffith on September 15th, 2010

Selling for sale by owner and inviting real estate agents to show and sell.

Continue reading about Inviting Real Estate Agents to Your FSBO

chrisgriffith on September 11th, 2010

Weekend mortgage rates for buyers of Bonita Springs, Florida real estate.

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Tips for sellers of real estate to freshen their market reports to get their home sold. Absorption rate calculator and recent closed sale comparables.

Continue reading about Four Seasons of Real Estate – Winter, Spring, Summer and Listing Season

chrisgriffith on August 20th, 2010

A single family home in Bonita Springs Golf & CC area that is for sale.

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chrisgriffith on August 15th, 2010

An Oakmont listing in Village Walk of Bonita Springs, Florida.

Continue reading about SOLD! Puffin Drive, Bonita Springs, Fl 34135

chrisgriffith on July 30th, 2010

Homes and cottage real estate on Hickory Island, Bonita Beach, Florida.

Continue reading about Bonita Beach Melody Lane Pelicans | The Mailbox Series

chrisgriffith on July 2nd, 2010

A buoy mailbox on Bonita Beach, Florida.

Continue reading about Bonita Beach Hickory Blvd Buoys | The Mailbox Series

chrisgriffith on June 5th, 2010

Comparing real estate sales during the month of May 2001-2010.

Continue reading about Ten Years of May Real Estate Sales Compared

chrisgriffith on June 2nd, 2010

Hire a home watch service to watch your vacant real estate.

Continue reading about The First Rule About Fridge Club …

chrisgriffith on May 26th, 2010

Buying furnished or turnkey furnished real estate in southwest, Florida.

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chrisgriffith on May 19th, 2010

More Than Just a Pile of Rocks Several weeks ago I walked though a field of cairns on a trail. What’s more shocking than the wild notion of outside exercise is the idea of a positive message formed rocks. It was just a river bed of rocks and one day someone decided to pile up [...]

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chrisgriffith on May 11th, 2010

Real Estate Sales and Inventory Report So here we are in the first week of May.  The most important thing to report about Bonita Beach and Barefoot Beach is that the water is warm again.  I made a trip down last Sunday afternoon and it was down right delightful.  The real estate report isn’t that [...]

Continue reading about Barefoot Beach & Bonita Beach Market Report | April 2010

chrisgriffith on May 5th, 2010

Weird things inside of homes for sale in Southwest Florida.

Continue reading about Maybe Animal Head Trophies Are The New Black …

chrisgriffith on May 1st, 2010

Turtle Nesting Season on Bonita Beach A little know fact about SW Florida and the Bonita Springs area is that May 1 – November 31 is sea turtle nesting season. Those lovely beachfront condominiums and the homes on Bonita Beach and in the Barefoot Beach community are held to strictly maintain the use of their [...]

Continue reading about Lights Out For Turtles May Through November

chrisgriffith on April 27th, 2010

What Sets Real Estate Buyers Apart? What compels a seller to accept one offer over another besides dollars and cents? Putting aside the black and white aspect of a business decision based solely on numbers, image that you’re in a position where the offer you are placing on a home finds competition. We’ve had a [...]

Continue reading about Presenting The Buyers and Their Offer

chrisgriffith on April 11th, 2010

Vacation Home: It’s All About Perspective This is one of my favorite little places in Bonita Springs besides that cute little house with awnings on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Rio Vista.  This little place is in Lime Tree Park. Sometimes I walk by house on Rio Vista and hope that some day the [...]

Continue reading about The 55 Plus Pied-à-Terre | Potato, Puh-TAH-Ohh

chrisgriffith on March 31st, 2010

The Aftermath – After the Warranty Expires The last couple of home or condos that I’ve sold have all had one thing in common. They’ve been fairly new, not lived in or barely lived in and nearly every defect that showed up during the home inspection was defective from the day the property received its [...]

Continue reading about Home Inspections: New Doesn’t Mean Perfect

chrisgriffith on March 29th, 2010

How to estimate real estate tax in Bonita Springs and Lee County, Florida.

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Boating – Gulf Access Homes in Bonita Springs This mailbox picture was taken back in 2008. I just stumbled across it while looking for a totally different image on my Flickr account and thought I’d share. I just loved the fishing pole mail flag with lure. Classic “Bonita Springs Fishing Village” mailbox. This box was [...]

Continue reading about Off Pennsylvania Ave Gulf Access Real Estate | The Mailbox Series

chrisgriffith on February 17th, 2010

Taking Mortgage Broker Recommendations There’s a big difference between inexpensive and a good value where home loans are concerned. Throw in a few dozen flashy ads with teaser interest rates and all the magic the loan officer promises to work for you and let the mortgage cyclone begin. Getting a mortgage is unsettling for some [...]

Continue reading about Time Zones, Online Mortgages and Russian Roulette

chrisgriffith on January 12th, 2010

Home Improvement Real Estate #Fail There’s no better way to find the inspiration to get that home improvement project done than to crack open a brew and start fixin’ things. It’s even more fun when there’s absolutely no plan and some discontinued tile scooped at a garage sale within arms reach. In my daily travels [...]

Continue reading about Jury Rigged Home Improvement Projects

chrisgriffith on October 28th, 2009

Foreclosure by Choice When did the mentality about walking away from the obligation of a home change? Maybe the change started when the possibility of owning a home was made so easy that anyone with a pulse and a blue ink pen could qualify for a loan. Home ownership was no longer a challenge for [...]

Continue reading about Strategic Default – Walking Away From The Debt

chrisgriffith on October 22nd, 2009

  Yeah, this just about boils it down to the ugly reality of buying an, reo, foreclosure, bank owned home. If you do not see the video above CLICK HERE.

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chrisgriffith on September 23rd, 2009

It’s Still All About The Real Estate Appraising Recently there’s been a lot of hubbub about the effects of the new Housing Valuation Code of Conduct – HVCC. The HVCC was intended to create a system to eliminate inflated values by either bad or novice appraisers or by predatory lenders. The resulting unintended consequences have [...]

Continue reading about Appraisals with the Shelf Life of Whole Milk

chrisgriffith on September 2nd, 2009

Banks Get The Gold Mine Consumers Get The Shaft … and Jesus Loves You Sometimes actually getting the bank to give a loan modification doesn’t end with the borrower being getting their issues solved. Loan modifications are an emotional roller coaster. From the day a borrower finally gets a living, breathing human on the phone [...]

Continue reading about The Home Loan Modification Mirage

chrisgriffith on August 18th, 2009

Are You Looking at Me?   The sun was going down and I was rushing so I didn’t realize the depth of field of my little friends.  It at least gives you the chance to see those baby birdie feathers up close.  The baby doves were spotted first thing this morning in a driveway, very [...]

Continue reading about The Local Bird Housing Statistics

chrisgriffith on August 1st, 2009

  If you do not see the video above Click Here

Continue reading about 1st Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Explained

chrisgriffith on July 10th, 2009

HVCC survey results

Continue reading about The Numbers – The Impact of HVCC

chrisgriffith on June 17th, 2009

Motivation: Selling Is The Ultimate Goal One of the most common questions you’ll hear while a real estate discussion is going on is; how motivated is the seller? Given the climate of the current real estate market it would seem that most sellers would be motivated. In reality, the ad running for their property may [...]

Continue reading about Real Estate: Motivation vs Desire to Sell

chrisgriffith on June 9th, 2009

If you don’t see the video above, click here.

Continue reading about A Poacher’s Dream With Reach In Closets

chrisgriffith on May 13th, 2009

Kids overhear financial distress and housing issues. They’re filled with anxiety and they’re scared. Did you know?

Continue reading about The Silent Witnesses

chrisgriffith on May 11th, 2009

Are you too late to the home buying or refinancing game? Some people still think that things are going to get better.  So I decided to hold off one week on writing something, so this way I could write on what did happen.  As they say, “Hindsight is 20/20.”  Now, there is no arguing that [...]

Continue reading about Bonita Springs Florida Monday Mortgage Report 05-11-2009

chrisgriffith on May 9th, 2009

Killing Time on Hickory Pointe Sometimes when real estate agents have to go check our listings to make sure they’re secure after a showing it’s an average day.  Some days it’s just so darn pretty.  Today I drove to Bonita Beach to check a condo at Dolphin Way.  This was the view out the front [...]

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chrisgriffith on May 8th, 2009

San Carlos Estates, an acreage parcel community in Bonita Springs, Florida

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chrisgriffith on May 6th, 2009

Chinese Drywall Checklist I received the contents of this post in an email and thought the signs of Chinese Drywall was so well documented that it was worth sharing on the blog.  The photo examples are superb.  If you suspect your home has Chinese drywall you may find a few ways to self test the [...]

Continue reading about A Home Inspector’s Chinese Drywall Checklist

chrisgriffith on April 11th, 2009

Timing The Bottom of The Real Market The experts all say you can’t time the bottom of the real estate market because you can’t tell it’s bottom until it has passed.  The armchair opinionistas hit up the comments on the bubble blogs and online newspapers all bellowing how stupid anyone would be to buy SW [...]

Continue reading about When’s Rock Bottom in Bonita Springs?

chrisgriffith on April 8th, 2009

The Road to First Time Home Ownership As anticipated the month of March belonged to the first time home buyers. About fifty three percent of all closed sales in the Sunshine MLS were under $200,000. Short sales and foreclosures accounted for about thirty seven percent of the under $200,000 sales. If you’re considering buying a [...]

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Barefoot Beach | Bonita Beach Sales February ’09 The latest market report for Barefoot Beach real estate and Bonita Beach real estate is, uh, well, I would be better off telling you about the weather. It’s been a glorious couple of days at the beach in Bonita Springs, Florida. The weather is absolutely perfect and [...]

Continue reading about Barefoot Beach – Bonita Beach Real Estate Market Report – February 2009

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