Don't Get Me Wrong, I Love Pets

I received about 10 calls in the last two days from people looking for Palm Beach Rentals. After speaking with them, I asked the question, we all should ask, "Do you have pets and if so what is the breed and weight?"

No matter what breed you claim it is, a Pit Bull is a Pit Bull. I heard comments such as "It is old and just lays around", "It doesn't bark" and "It is very friendly"

Renters have to understand that most HOA"s or Condo Associations have a rule against Pit Bulls or weight limits. I had one landlord, with no HOA, that received a letter from their Insurance Company stating the dogs go or you lose your insurance.

If renters want a pet, they can get a cat, a small dog, goldfish and if there is no weight restrictions, maybe a horse (Only joking). But Pit Bulls are out.

In 1935, the American Kennel Club (AKC) agreed to register pit bull dogs, but only under the name Staffordshire terrier. This was done to distance the breed from its continued use in dogfighting. Thus, the pit bull and the Staffordshire terrier was one in the same, yet held two different names.

In 1972, the AKC renamed the breed to the American Staffordshire terrier. Though the American Staffordshire terrier is by definition a pit bull, many owners claim they are different breeds and shelters adopt out pit bulls under the Staffordshire name to fool unsuspecting members of the public.

In 1996, the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals renamed pit bulls to "St. Francis Terriers." The hope was to make the breed more adoptable. After much screening, about 60 pit bulls were placed. The program was suspended after several of the re-dubbed dogs killed cats.

In 2004, while serving as the director of New York City Animal Care and Control, Ed Boks tried to rename pit bulls to "New Yorkies" also in hopes of making the breed more adoptable. Boks' idea failed, as did his tenure in New York City, which only lasted from 2003-2005.

Meanwhile, dogfighters historically and presently refer to pit bulls as "bulldogs." The American bulldog, which is unrecognized by the AKC, was only recognized by the United Kennel Club (UKC) in 1999.6 Furthermore, the breed was called the "American pit bulldog" up until the 1970s.

Sell Your House in A Week

Do you want to sell your house? Would you like to have a contract for full list price or more in less than a week?

Here are three easy steps to ensure that your house is one of those “hot” properties that everyone wants:

1) Price it correctly. In real estate many factors determine price. Location, schools, amenities and features all figure into the calculation. Don’t try to “test the market” by starting high and work you way down. Price your home at market and you will do OK. Price it slightly below market and you will have buyers beating a path to your door.

2) Have the property in move-in ready condition! Buyers want to buy a house and NOT a project. Buyers want to visualize placing their furniture and do not want to think about the cost of replacing the roof.

3) Make your house available to be shown. No one will buy your house if they can’t see it. It doesn’t make any sense at all to offer a product that cannot be displayed. Every showing that is prohibited is one less chance to get top dollar for your house.

To sum up, price, condition and availability are the three keys to selling a house quickly.

Do it right from the start and you will most likely have multiple offers in less than a week.

Love Living in Florida

One reason I love living in Florida is the weather. Sure we get those cold spells when it drops down to 50 and everybody puts on a sweater or coat. But, realistically, it can't be beat. No snow, no sleet, just sunshine most of the year. You can go out year round and enjoy activities. Not cooped up during the winter.

I remember living in Jersey, after moving from Florida. Too cold. First thing I learned was that you don't turn on the windshield wipers to clear the windows. Surprised when the water froze and I was going 60 miles an hour.

Got a new smoker today. I will be using this year round. Since I love BBQ's, I remember standing outside in the snow and cooking. Now in the Winter, I can go out in my shorts and cook.

Going to go stare at the smoke coming out.

What's Up

Home prices are. Buyers searching for *Lake Worth Homes for sale* and *Boynton Beach Homes for sale* are experiencing sticker shock. They have a price in mind and can’t find anything they want. Prices have been rising and inventory is low. Low inventory means prices will continue to rise.
When they go out, they are looking for homes priced at $250,000 as an example. None of these have what they are looking for. Then they look at higher priced homes. Finally find one that suits there needs. But, it is $325,000.
As a Realtor, I am faced with a problem. They qualified for the $250,000 home. Now they are in a different ballpark. Before placing an offer, should we see if they are going to qualify? If not, they spend the time on this property, when we could be looking for others in their price range.
It’s our job to educate them as to the market conditions. Maybe with the proper knowledge, they will reconsider what they feel is necessary, and not go beyond their means.

Palm Beach Real Estate

Importance of G+ for Websites

Importance of G+
  
Content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant than content from strangers. For example, a movie review from an expert is useful, but a movie review from a friend who shares your tastes can be even better. Because of this, +1's from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query. This is just one of many signals Google may use to determine a page’s relevance and ranking, and we’re constantly tweaking and improving our algorithm to improve overall search quality. For +1's, as with any new ranking signal, we are starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality.
+1 is a public action, so you should add the button only to public, crawlable pages on your site. Once you add the button, Google may crawl or recrawl the page, and store the page title and other content, in response to a +1 button impression or click.

Foolish Real Estate Photos

Consumers just spend a few seconds looking at a MLS Listing and you need to attract their attention. If there are no photos or poor quality photos, they will pass the listing. They could be interested in the property, but skip it because of a bad presentation.
Choose the pictures wisely. When going through Listings for Lake Worth Homes for Sale and Boynton Beach Homes for Sale, I had to decide which to send to my customer. These were Listings not sent.
The first one was taken on a stormy day. The picture was dark and the house didn’t stand out. If the conditions aren’t right, come back another time. Wouldn't it be better buying a home where the sun shined instead of looking like a tornado was going to hit. 
Pictures of the Home where it looked like they forgot to turn on the flash. Nothing was clear.
The main picture was of the bathroom, with a mop and bucket featured. At least, they were used to clean.
There were the same 5 pictures of the front and nothing else. Would have been okay, if the lawn wasn’t dead.
Nothing was cleaned up. Sink had dishes, laundry basket on bed and a litter box in the Den. It might end up like that after they move-in, but they probably want to do it themselves.

High- Resolution photos should be the only ones used. Cell phone pictures are not the quality that should be presented. 
Have the property cleaned and straightened up. When the house is filled with clutter, tying to visualize what the Home will look like with their furniture is much easier if they can view the pictures with clean, uncluttered areas.
What picture should be the main one?  This is the picture they see when they go through the MLS, Realtor.com and other sites. Show the picture that offers up the best features of the House. If the Kitchen is a main selling point, place that one as the main photo. Using the Exterior Photo might not be the best choice to stop customers.
Showing photos of the rooms are necessary. While the exterior might look great, they live inside. The bedrooms, living room, kitchen and others should be included. This will make people come back and look at the Listings.
Make sure to post all the pictures possible. Too many listings have no photos or just one. If you don’t have pictures, don’t list it. Customers might not come back to it.
 I guess I’ll go take some of Homes for Sale in Lake Worth and Homes for Sale in Boynton Beach.