Blog Northwest Florida

That sweet Liz Moras got me. Here I was, little 'ol me, trying to write a post every now and again, lurk around reading everybody else's posts, stay fairly anonoymous in the Rain. Yeah right . . . I'm a Leo with a great big L, so I love all the yakity yak (as my husband says, I talk even when nobody else is listening!) So here's my MeMe.

My favorite music: I adore the B-52s. The first time I heard them was back in about 1982 (here I go dating myself again). I used to leave the radio on when I went to sleep. In the middle of the night I woke up to Rock Lobster. At first I thought it was the end of the world - groggy, half asleep "Rock - Rock Lobster" - OHHHH - Talk about a rude awakening.

I also love Rickie Lee Jones. "Dooowntown in Eddie's All Star Joint, Juke Box Playing Goes Doint Doint"

My favorite artist: This is a tough one. I'm all over the map. My very favorite is my good friend Julie Higgins of Mendocino, CA. Please check her out: Julie Higgins Artist 

I do love Walter Anderson who was a sculpter, painter and naturalist from Ocean Springs, MS, and plied his trade in the 1930s, as well as the Dutch master Vemeer and the American artist from the Hudson School, Fredric Church.

My favorite blogger: Love YOU all. Couldn't possibly pick. Although . . . I read Lanza for his amazing wordsmithing. Sometimes I just have to read his seriously saucy sentences right out loud.

If I could meet anyone dead or alive, who would it be and what is the most interesting thing about them? Jane Austin. I'd want to give her a hug and tell her how much better things would really get for women.

What did I want to be when I grew up? Now this is an easy one. I wanted to be THE BOSS. What, grow up? I have always wanted to be the boss. Has it worked out for me? Well, not so much. I think the people that love me humor me. I couldn't ask for more!

What's the most interesting piece of trivia that I know? Over 2 million Americans get ringworm every year from their dog. For real! Now, how does that make you feel about having Rex in the bed?

What was my most interesting job? I was a Can-Can girl at Rosie O'Grady's the summer of my freshman year in college. Hey, it was honest work. They wouldn't let me be a cocktail waitress because I didn't know a mimosa from a glass of chablis.

1. If I could live at any point in history, when and why? Honey, we're just getting started. I want to live in the future! Beam me up Scottie!

What's my favorite game: Easy one - Liar's Dice, preferably at a bar filled with Navy pilots. I beat their socks off every time!

Rule Breaker - I understand I'm supposed to add or change a question - so here's mine:

What's the thing NO ONE on Active Rain would ever guess about you? I go to Europe every year (opps - missed last year) and drive a Porsche at over 150mph.

So, here's my selection for tagees:

Connie Ragen Green

Christina Williams

Greg Hampton

Kris Wales

Debbie Malone

Steve Homer

Tim Rogers

I know you'll thank me!

Vacant Homes? How does the number of vacant homes impact your pricing strategies? One of our broker associates just sent me some research she has conducted on the Pensacola Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The numbers show 26% of the Pensacola residential detached resales are vacant. Mind you, this does not count new construction, homes under construction or homes about to be constructed, that are also listed on the MLS. To be specific, of 4,063 resales actively listed, 1052 are vacant and another 832 are in some stage of construction.

My friend attached a "daily tip" from real estate coach Rick DeLuca noting that vacant homes mean motivated sellers.

Do you know how many vacant homes are in your market? If not, perhaps it's time to take a look. We need to get the facts in the hands of the sellers, many of whom have - you guessed it - a vacant home on the market so understand motivation.

We need to get our housing stock priced right or we need to get it off the market until the market catches up with the "potential seller's" expectations. Until we get this done we will continue to be in a saturated buyer's market.

Vacant Homes in the Pensacola real estate market . . . what about your market?

Crab Jubilee - Okay, I'll admit it. I'm 50. Fifty is the new 40 you know (But, of course, in my case it's the new 30). Since I'm being honest about my age I have no problem telling you some of the things I remember about the Old Florida. That's the Florida that came WAY before the internet . . . heck that's the Florida that came WAY before Cable television and the 8-Track (if you don't remember 8-tracks, they came WAY before CDs).

When I was a kid we would finish our hastily prepared dinner, load the Igloo cooler with snacks and head to Santa Rosa Island (Pensacola Beach). We would pull the battery out of the car - no kidding - plunk it in a galvanized tub sitting in an inner tube and connect it to lights we floated on the water. My grandfather would tie the inner tube to his belt loop with a rope and pull the entire contraption behind him as we walked through the Santa Rosa Sound (Intracoastal Waterway), nets in hand. What in God's name were we doing you ask? CRABBING - this is the way you caught your fill of Blue Crab in those days and as a kid, it was more fun that Halloween and the Interstate Fair all wrapped into one.

Now, this is a thing most people have never witnessed, but I count myself among the lucky few (relatively speaking) who have been on the beach at the height of a Jubilee. The biologists will tell you a Jubilee occurs when there is too little oxygen in the water and the crabs make their way to the shore. I will tell you that a Jubilee is a CRAZY TEAMING MASS of Blue Crab making their way to shore by the hundreds of thousands come hell or high water.

I have only seen one Jubilee in my adult life (a small one at that), so I suspect we have done something to alter our environment in such a way as to eliminate this amazing phenomenon. But I cherish the memory of being a child, dozing off in the back seat of a Ford Fairlane, surrounded by buckets of Blue Crab, bubbling their last breaths as we trundled down the highway toward a backyard overflowing with aunts, uncles and cousins all gathered around a bonfire prepared just for one of our southern crab boil get-togethers.

Crab Jubilee - The Florida Panhandle

For More Articles like this:

Blue Crab Jubilee - Wild Delaware

Alabama - Great Days Outdoor Magazine

Mobile Bay Jubilee - Wikipedia

Gulf Breeze Waterfront Home - This one is SPECIAL and it truly needs a loving family right away - 3700 Square Feet - with a dock, boathouse and lift. The home has 90 feet on the Bay, a seawall and views to take your breath away.

You'll love the deep lot filled with Live Oaks. The home has a curved driveway leading to a two car garage. There are four large bedrooms, three with their own baths, and even an outdoor bathroom for the gardener or fisherman!

An easement next door makes the property feel even more private. The lot is elevated and out of the flood plain.

Work in Pensacola (NAS Pensacola) or Fort Walton Beach (Eglin AFB, Hurlburt AFB) and live in a private Paradise. Gulf Breeze is conveniently located midway between Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach. 

Gulf Breeze has award winning public schools. The home is only a short drive to beaches, parks and shopping.

Gulf Breeze Waterfront Home - This home is price at $699,340. For a virtual tour, visit my website: www.PensacolaForYou.com

Realtors Don't Bite - Okay, okay, like the next guy (or gal) I don't like to be hounded by salespeople. So, I can understand a person's hesitancy to share their phone number with me on the first e-mail contact. But at a certain point, if you want the benefit of my YEARS of real estate experience (and we all know there's no better teacher than experience), you're going to have talk with me on the phone or in person.

Most of my clients are repeat or referral and I feel SOOOO lucky to be able to say this. It makes everything so much easier when the client already knows me, or their good friend or cousin or uncle Bob knows me, so we have a starting point. They call me on the phone. We make an appointment to meet at my office, or the local coffee shop so they can get more comfortable with me, ask me questions, determine if I really know my market . . . or maybe just to make sure I don't have two heads . . . whatever the motivation, we usually get comfortable with each other quickly. This is important because they are going to spend some time with me and they are going to need to trust me.

But lately more and more people are making their first contact with me through an internet search. This is wonderful. There are so many internet tools out there now and I try to give the internet researcher accesss to good tools. But the email dance can be frustrating.

I had an internet contact today and, while the person typed in their phone number (I assume it's a real number - it didn't read 888-888-8888.), but following the number was a message DO NOT CALL MY NUMBER - JUST SEND THE INFORMATION I AM ASKING FOR - I WILL CALL YOU IF I DECIDE TO USE YOU.

Well, in my book they are already "Using Me" So, I sent them the information that they requested with a message that I would love to talk with them in person and really explain the information in depth. I told them I wouldn't call them; I wouldn't hound them. In truth, I'm pretty busy with the clients that talk with me in person and on the phone and, anyway, it's just not my style.  

While there may be some Realtors that bite, I'm just not one of them.

Five Things to Love about Pensacola, FL - What? Only five? I'll have to make them REALLY Good!

1. The Beach - Where else can you find miles and miles of accessible Gulf front bordered by white sand beaches?

Of the 1,474 acres of Santa Rosa Island controlled by Escambia County, about 77 acres are approved for hotel development - a little more than 5 % of the total acreage. By contrast, more than 600 acres are reserved for preservation, conservation, recreation and beaches.  That's in addition to the 1,742 acres of Gulf Islands National Seashoreland preserved to the west of Pensacola Beach toward Fort Pickens and the 1,598 acres of National Seashore that will remain undeveloped to the east. Hotels are built along a central stretch a little more than a mile long.

2. The Blue Angels - Pensacola is home to the Navy's Flight Demonstration Team, the Blue Angels. The Blues call Sherman Field at Naval Air Station Pensacola home, so Pensacola residents are lucky enough to have two official Blue Angels Show, the July show on Pensacola Beach (usually the second week in July) and the Homecoming Show in November when the show season ends. But the best part is all the "unofficial shows" as the Blue Angels practice on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when they are between shows and in off season.

3. Historic Downtown Pensacola - How many U.S. towns can say their downtown dates back to 1559? Only one! Spanish Explorer Don Tristen DeLuna arrived in Pensacola with several ships and over 1500 colonists only to be met a few days after making landfall with a horrendous storm. Had it not been for the storm Pensacola would carry the title of oldest continuous settlement in the Untied States (an honor that now belongs to St. Augustine. However, Pensacola's historic downtown still maintains the Spanish influence. A day touring sites like Plaza Ferdinand, Seville Square and Christ Church make Pensacola a SUPER vacation spot.

4. Festivals - I think Pensacola must hold some kind of record for festivals. You can't find a weekend in the Summer (and many in the Spring and Fall) without a festival on tap. From the Fiesta of Five Flags, to Mardi Gras and the Greater Gulf Coast Arts and Crafts Festival . . . and all manner of festivals in between, this is the place for entertainment. And . . . every Tuesday through the summer there is a free concert on Pensacola Beach as well as a free concert at Seville Square. HOOOO . . . I'm getting tired just thinking about all of them.

5. Fabulous Housing . . . and friendly people to make your day! When it comes to housing inventory, we have an incredible variety. Do you want to sip your ice tea (sweet, of course) on the front porch of a 100 year old Victorian cottage or is a state-of-the-art beach condo more your style? We've got them both and MORE. With over 6,000 homes currently on the market in the Greater Pensacola Bay area . . . we've got the perfect home for you!

Five things to Love about Pensacola - shoot . . . heck, I've just gotten started . . .

Gulf Coast Vacation Rentals - Friends and fellow Realtors (Not that you're two separate groups . . . we're all friends here!) Here's my truly Shameless Plug for my lovely vacation rental on beautiful Pensacola Beach:

Imagine lounging on your wrap-around balcony, sipping your beverage of choice while you watch the waves roll in from the Gulf of Mexico . . . white sand beaches . . . emerald green water . . . deep sea fishing . . . sea shell scavenging . . . river canoe trips . . .

Well, enough of the ad talk. I have a great, new, three bedroom, three bath condo that I rent on a short term basis. It's pretty busy during the season, but there's lots of availability after Labor Day - when the weather is really perfect (in my humble opinion).

Mention Active Rain for a Special Discount Just for You!

Just click to see Robin's Beach Condo

Bands on the Beach - Pensacola . . . Grab your lawn chairs, the cooler and blankets, get some sand in your shoes! There's no better way to wind down from a hectic day at work than to enjoy the sunset and music at the Gulfside Pavilion at Casino Beach overlooking the amazing white sand beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. Every Tuesday evening from 7 to 9pm a local band wows the crowds at the Bands on the Beach event. 

Everyone is invited - it's free - and, trust me, the people watching is second to none. We've got grannies and grand dads swing dancing, children doing handstands and, well, you name it you will probably see it (All G-rated for sure!).

The event is sponsored by the Santa Rosa Island Authority. Here's the line-up for the remainder of the year:

• May 27: Wildwood
• June 3: A Touch of Gray
• June 10: Midnight Confessions
• June 17: Tin Feet
• June 24: Civilized Natives
• July 1: Local Hero
• July 8: The Dinosaurs
• July 15: The Kyle Parker Bankd
• July 22: The Reunion Band
• July 29: Nashville Country Night
• Aug. 5: Dr. Breeze
• Aug. 12: Mass Kunfuzion
• Aug. 19: The Fort Morgan Slammers
• Aug. 26: Crosstown
• Sept. 2: DMTs
• Sept. 9: Not Quite Fab
• Sept. 16: The Kee Creek Band
• Sept. 23 Big Muddy
• Sept. 30: Wildwood