Blog Northwest Florida

Silver Lining to the Harsh Realty Reality - Just got off the phone with a truly lovely lady. She bought her house in '06, not at the height of our local market, but before it started it's big slide. She has a beautiful, large home in a much sought-after downtown neighborhood walking distance from great restaurants, the symphony, shopping, etc. What's more, this lovely home has a full apartment over the garage. Heaven. But, as you know heaven is a relative thing.

The owners plans have changed a bit. Things happen. The grandkids are on the other side of town. They don't need quite so much home. It makes sense to downsize a bit. But what about that sliding market? What about the money they will lose?

Here's the thing . . . as one of my mentors once said, "The best time to sell is when you need to." Sounds like they need to - for comfort, for convenience, for love of the grandkids.

And here's the other thing . . . the Silver Lining to the Harsh Realty Reality - they'll do FINE. They'll buy for less on their downsize than they would have just a year ago. It will all work out. But we have to get there. And we get there by letting it sink in and then putting one foot in front of the other. And pricing for the market - truly pricing for the market.

Pet Fest in Gulf Breeze - Trust me, Pet Fest is a "Don't Miss" event in Northwest Florida!

Have you ever seen an iguana dressed as a cheerleader? Here's your chance. This is an Anything Goes event second only to the Flora-Bama's Mullet Toss. Over 1,000 people attended last year, most of them brought along by their pets. And the variety of pets is pretty amazing as well - horses, goldfish, lizzards . . . and yes, some cats and dogs as well.

This year's event will be more educational, with 23 vendors displaying pet related items and 7 veterinarian stations.

• WHEN:   10am to 4pm, Saturday, May 10
• WHERE: Shoreline Bark Park, across from the Gulf Breeze Recreation Center, 800 Shoreline Drive
• COST:   $5, Proof of rabies vaccine for all pets
• INFO:    932-7888

Pet Fest in Gulf Breeze . . . Don't let your pet go without you!

The Zoo Northwest Florida hosts a Longneck Party to welcome the newest giraffe, Colby.

Wooo Hooo! Break out your dancing shoes as there will be live music. Heavy hors d'oeuvres, raffles, a cash drawing and the unveiling of the Zoo's new giraffe exhibit are among the treats you can expect at the Longneck party.

Colby is a 12 year old male giraffe that stands 18 feet tall. Zoo handlers say he is adjusting well to his new home.

• WHERE:   The Zoo Northwest Florida, 5701 Gulf Breeze Parkway
• WHEN:     Friday, May 9 - 7pm to 10pm
• COST:     $30 per person, $50 per couple
• INFO:      932-2229

The Zoo Northwest Florida - Gulf Breeze, FL

Santa Rosa County Clean Community - Lots of reasons for the environmentalist in you to smile - and play! You can take care of Mom and help the environment. Crafts, from jewelry to birdhouses will be available for sale, along with some gorgeous plants and horticulture-related items in this Mother's Day tradition held for the 6th year in a row. The Milton setting is beautiful and you will find food, gifts and music for Mom and the entire family.

Green-Up Santa Rosa is a program sponsored by Santa Rosa County Clean Community System. The county organization supports environmental programs countywide. Funds raised during Green-Up go to projects like Adopt-A-Space, a program whereby community organizations or businesses work to keep sections of the county free from trash that damage the environment and the natural beauty.

• WHERE:      6758 Park Ave., Milton, FL
• WHEN:        9am to 3pm - Saturday, May 10                         Santa Rosa County Clean Community
• CONTACT:   623-1930

Catalogs, Catalogs and MORE Catalogs . . . I can't tell you why it has taken me Soooo long to take this tiny little step. After all, I've been complaining about this absolute deluge of mail, catalogs, flyers and just plain JUNK for at least a year. And I am concerned about the 19 billion catalogs mailed in the US every year and the 53 million trees we consume to make them. 

I suppose a really honest gal would say that it has a lot to do with the EcoBroker course I have been taking for the last few weeks. I have always prided myself on my sincere concern for the environment, and I have always been a great recycler. But focusing on energy savings, the environment and green issues for the last few weeks has really brought home that - WELL HELLO - I am part of the problem.

So there is a great new online service called Catalog Choice that tells the merchants to Stuff It (Nicely, I understand). This is free and they give you the option to say "No Thanks" to their e-mail offers.

Here are those 3 EASY STEPS:

1. Log in to www.catalogchoice.org
2. Register the Address where the JUNK comes
3. Hit the Submit Button and you're done

If you are like me you will immediately feel like you just jumped out of the shower! And think how much time you will save by not having to sort through all those Catalogs every evening. Plenty of time to make a few more real estate calls.

Gallery Night in Downtown Pensacola - This FABULOUS weather is supposed to stick around through the weekend so there will be NO BETTER place to be this Friday evening than Gallery Night in Downtown Pensacola.

Never been to Gallery Night? WOW, have you missed out! Not to worry . . . I'll fill you in!

Over 40 artists, performers, and groups of all kinds participate in Gallery Night. And food . . . did I mention food? There'll be GREAT food to munch on as well. Gallery Night actually takes place in 4 Districts - North Palafox, South Palafox, Belmont and the Historic District. Just head downtown and wander around, or for the more organized among us, CLICK HERE to go to the Arts Council of Northwest Florida's site where you can find out EXACTLY WHO will be EXACTLY WHERE doing EXACTLY WHAT.

The festivities begin at 5pm and run until 9pm. Best of all - it's all FREE baby!  See you at the Gallery Night in Downtown Pensacola.

Robin Sherman, MA, CRS is a Broker Associate licensed in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. You can contact Roibn at Robin@PensacolaForYou.com

Interested in More Articles Like This One?

Eco Friendly Business Cards and Other Twisted Tales from the Internet

Gulf Coast Condo Auction

Green Building Council

Eco-Friendly Business Cards - Working through the Eco-Broker designation has led me to many of what Oprah fans would refer to as "Ah Ha Moments." I had one just the other day as I looked at my dwindling supply of real estate business cards and thought about my need to order new ones . . . SOON.

I do love to hand out business cards and I love to collect them as well. All those friendly faces staring back at me when I open my desk drawer or peer into that seeming black hole of a handbag. Look at all my happy colleagues, all my friends, all of them right there at my fingertips. (I know, you're saying, "She must have been one of those little girls that didn't get any Valentines." ) But, as usual, I digress . . .

Back to the eco-friendly business card search. So I went to Google and typed in something on the order of "Green Business Cards." Now, did you know that you can actually buy a Green Card? That's right, a Green Card as in an official card for a foreign born person to work in the U.S. Well, perhaps you can't actually buy the Green Card, perhaps you can just pay for a consultant to help you procure the Green Card, I got bored with the website before I got the entire gist of it. But, as usual, I digress . . .

Back to the eco-friendly business card search. My super slick, super shiny business cards just don't seem the thing anymore. While I don't want to drop my business card habit completely, I do want to scale it back and lighten the footprint (or ink print) so to speak. So - on a serious note - here are some things I learned while searching for eco-friendly business cards.

If you go to http://treehugger.com/ you can see an actual bloomin' business card, a business card with a plant growing out of it. I kid you not! I really like the idea, but in all honesty I have allergies and I'm afraid that those little scrap of paper with the plant sprouting out of the top might get moldy sitting there on my desktop or in that black hole of a handbag. Wait, my nose is starting to itch. But, once again, I digress . . .

Eventually I found http://www.boingboing.net/ where you can get eco-friendly business cards printed on peanuts. I think they actually use the peanut shells for the cards. This is much too complicated for me to understand (I am blond), much less explain, but if you go to the website I'm sure you will catch on much quicker that I did.  But then there's that allergy thing again.

Perhaps the "Green-ist" business card of all was one I found at http://www.microsoft.com/ - the electronic business card in an Apple Green design!

So . . . I never really found an acceptable (non-allergenic) eco-friendly business card. Ideally, it would be on recycled paper, use soy or some other natural ink, and make me look like - well - Angelina Jolie. If you've seen a source, I'd love to hear from you! Please post it!

Gulf Coast Condo Auction - Wow . . . have we come off those '05 and '06 highs of $600 sq. ft. This past weekend saw an Absolute Auction of 30 new condos in Gulf Shores, AL (aka the Redneck Riveria, part of the Emerald Coast running from Panama City, FL, through Orange Beach, AL).

This is an amenity laden condo of 170 units. A total of 100 units were sold at preconstruction prices. The developer held back 70 units for appreciation. Things didn't go that direction so . . . look at this sample of the buys this weekend:

The fundamentals are roughly the same as they were when we were selling at above $500 a sq. ft. The sun still shines and the rent still comes in. HELLO investors . . . you can see that the smart money is waking up to the bargains to be had! There will be more Gulf Coast Condo Auctions!

The first meeting of the Home Builders Association of Northwest Florida's (HBA) Green Building Council drew a large audience today.  The majority of those in attendance are HBA members who are interested in meeting the public's increasing demand for "Green Building."

Council President Luke Shows of Shows Construction told the group that the purpose of the Council is two-fold; Education and Leadership. By way of education the group intends to work to educate the members about "Green Building" while also taking a leadership role in helping define just what the broad term "Green Building" means.

The Green Building Council will have monthly educational meetings focused on building in an environmentally friendly manner. The major topic categories will include energy efficiency, conservation, sustainability and recycling. Education on the various green certifications will also be tackled by the Council.

Many of you know that I'm about half way through my certification as Pensacola's first Eco-Broker, so thought it important to attend. I've joined the Council and will keep you updated on the Green Building Council's "Greening of Pensacola."

Check out my article on Energy Efficient Windows

Energy Efficient Windows? I resumed my Eco-Broker course today and WHOA are there a lot of things to learn about windows! Silly me . . . my concern has usually been with the way the windows looked from the outside of the house.

Now, I've built a house (To clarify, I've watched my house being built and paid the bills as they rolled in!) and I remember picking out the windows, choosing between aluminum and wood clad, etc., and I knew there was an Energy Rating. But, did you know that there are Climate Zones for Energy Star qualification criteria? The climate zone break down comes down to - mostly - do you spend more time heating or cooling or do you spend almost equal time on both heating and cooling.

The Department of Energy actually has a  Climate Zone Finder that allows you to search by zip code. The nice thing about this is that once you find your climate zone, you can determine the most appropriate U-factor (The measure of the rate of heat loss, or how well a product prevents heat from escaping) for your most energy efficient windows. (There are R-values too, which are the inverse of the U-factor, but we'll save that for another day!)

Eyes glazing over? Please, save the glaze for the windows! A Low-E (low emittance) coating can be applied to your windows to reduce the heat loss. Much more economical than replacing the windows, especially in mild climates. (But you'll want a licensed, insured window professional to help you with this determination.)

Why is all this important? It's the $$$ of course! Approximately 25% of the energy used for space heating and cooling offsets heat loss or gain from windows. And energy efficient windows, doors an skylights can help reduce energy bills up to an estimated 15%. With energy being a major focus of much of the conversation I hear today . . . it's definitely - well - a HOT topic!

Stay tuned. It's about much more than energy efficient windows. I'll keep you posted (no pun intended) on my quest to become Pensacola's first Eco-Broker!