Naples Bonita Springs Estero Florida

Who am I?

I've been thinking about BLOGs for a time now while trying to understanding exactly what they are all about. Certainly, there is not one single answer to this question. BLOGs are created for a variety of reasons, the primary reason, I believe, is for communication. Each BLOG has a primary intent that ranges from commercial, to informational, to simply building a community, and more. Often, more than one of these aspects are included but, there is almost always a personal nature to them - a personality.

I believe that BLOGs are a way for people to get to know the BLOGger, hence my rhetorical question title. Make no mistake REALTORs BLOG for many reasons but for sure it's a way to introduce oneself to a large group of people who (hopefully) are interested in real estate - buyers and sellers. At the root, we REALTORs all strive to help clients meet their goals and there are rewards for doing just that not to mention it is how we earn a living.

So let me (re) introduce myself. I thought long and hard when I selected my picture for the BLOG. It is me. It is casual and relaxed and displays my pleasure with my new outdoor kitchen that I get to use all the time in Florida. (Something I only dreamed about through the long New England winters from where I most recently hail and spent the last 30+ years). I love to cook and cooking outdoors is an added dimension and great for entertaining. By the way, my serious, business picture is on my real estate web site http://www.bobpisa.com/ (or http://www.swflproperties.com/).

I think this explains, clearly, the two sides of me. There is time for fun and play and there is time to be serious and work. I believe that this separation is what keeps us on an even keel and healthy. And, making work fun also helps a lot!

Something else came to mind when I wrote the rhetorical question - who am I? It is the title of a song from the hit musical Les Miserables. It's sung by the leading character Jean Valjean and it is about his personal conflict when he must decide to remain quiet and allow an innocent man to go to jail or to speak the truth and identify himself as the wanted escapee. He chooses to do the "right thing". I bring this up because it speaks to honesty, integrity, and ethics. Guiding principles for a REALTOR and qualities I hold in high regard in my work and my life.

What else do I want you to know about me? Well there is much. I spent about 30 years in high-tech corporate America as a manufacturing engineering, engineering manager, manager, and Sr. Marketing Director for global companies. In that timeframe there was a six year hiatus when I started, built, and operated a successful small business that was finally sold to a nationwide concern. I am highly analytical in nature and thrive on data, particularly analyzing the data so it becomes useful and actionable information for everyone. Just look back to some of my earlier BLOG posts.

Now I live in paradise working with people every day help them reach for and attain their dreams. I can help you too - e-mail me 

Well, I guess it depends on who you listen to. Putting Realtors aside for now, consider these two recent reports:

1) Forbes magazine recently examined current home sales patterns and sales projects. They looked at the usual indicators: estimated 2008 housing inventory, sales rates and turnover.

Only one Florida city made the list for markets where sales are likely to increase. Despite a decline in prices for 2006 (2.%), the authors expect that decline to turn around fairly quickly. So, this report says buy!

2) PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., in its second-quarter U.S. Market Risk Index, lists Orlando-Kissimmee as one of the 11 metropolitan areas with greater than a 50% chance for prices to drop over the next two years. So, this report says not to buy!

Why is it that we always look to someone else to tell us what to do? Maybe it's human nature or maybe we just doubt our own abilities to make judgements based on the data. You don't need to be an "analyst" or mathematician, often plain old common sense reigns true. The data that most homeowners need for the analysis is readily available for the asking. The most pertinent data is i) inventory ii) inventory increasing/decreasing over time iii) sales volume iv) sales volume increasing/decreasing over time and v) prices. The last one is actually the hardest. What do you measure? In theory you want to measure the price a given house brings or will bring over time. This same house sale data is difficult to attain so most often we see reported averages and median sale prices. These numbers are easily skewed as different economic conditions can drive sales activity in one end of the market. Bottom line, work with a professional that understands the numbers, can explain them to you, and then YOU decide.

The PMI report went on to say that's it's always a good time to buy. When they studied real estate purchase through up cycles and down cycles buyers always had a positive return on their investment with a 20% down payment over ten years.

This supports my belief that real estate (particularly your primary home) should be purchased to meet your needs and as a long term investment.

Buy low, sell high...inventory is high, prices are low...let's get going!

Olde Cypress is a luxury community on the north side of Naples. It boasts a large club house (pictured above) with all the ammenities that you could ever want. And, to top it all off there is a P.B. Dye designed gold course. This is not one of the "mega communites", at completion there will be about 650 residences ranging from villas to custom estate homes. You can get more information at www.swFLproperties.com or here.

Now about that golf course...Olde Cypress is another club that participates in a reciprocal arragement with Grandezza and I'm trying to work my way through the list! The reciprocal season ends on October 31st so I have to continue this journey next "off-season".

I felt good on the preactive range and I got off to a double, bogey, double start. I though I might have a decent round for a course I have never seen before. Then, those dreaded triples started sneaking in there and, well, I finish off at 104 from the Preserve Tees witha slope of 131. Tournament and Champion tees provide slopes of 137 and 140 respectively. Two of us got teamed up with a wonderful woman who lives there and plays all the time. She was a great guide for us.

All-in-all, just another great day in Paradise.

Looking for an exceptional value for a beautiful home in a quiet neighborhood? Your search is over. This two story home is priced to sell at LESS THAN $155.00 per square foot! This home features many upgrades that include a spacious kitchen with corian countertops, and island with electricity and 2 sets of French doors that lead to the extended lanai. Enjoy the California closets, large sitting area in the master bedroom, and the convenience of an upstairs laundry room. You'll love the plantation shutters and the oversized lot and garage. This home is within walking distance to the new clubhouse and pool and is surrounded by A rated schools. Make your offer today!

CLICK HERE for more...

Reported today in the Bonita Daily News is the announcement for the 2007 Merrill Lynch / Greg Norman "Shootout". This motivated me to add today's BLOG post.

The Shootout raises money for fight childhood cancer. Before the announcement, Greg took a moment to remember Naples' Gregory Lang who spoke at the tournament's banquest last year, was a guest of the event last year, and who finally succombed to the disease last month.

The Shark's big catch for this year is Zach Johnson the 2007 Masters Champ. Zach is among a field of notables: Woody Austin, Mark Calcavecchia, Stewart Cink, Fred Couples, John Daly, Chris DiMarco, Fred Funk, Charles Howell III, Jerry Kelly, Justin Leonard, Mark O'Meara, Rod Pampling, Kenny Perry, Nick Price, Scott Verplank, and Camilo Villegas. South west Florida, what a great place to live!

As for my round on the course (Black Course) a few weeks ago, all-in-all, it was great. We did not get to play the Shootout Course because it would have delayed our start about an hour. The course, the grounds, the Ritz-Carlton, and the residences are truly gorgeous. First drive off the tee faded (that's a slice that didn't slice so much) a bit to the right side of the fairway to a reasonably good position. Clunk the second shot and finish with double bogey. It's been a fews weeks since I played it so many of the details have now faded away.

You can read a bit more about Tiburon on MyWebSite or direct link here.

As a Grandezza resident and golf club member, during the summer season we have reciprocal arrangements with many of the other golf clubs and resorts in the area. This is a great benefit for year round (and if you are not year round) residents and members. The reciprocal time period runs from May through October each year. With my new reviltaized golf game (but not yet much improved!) I've set out to play some of the local excellent courses. I've written about a few earlier. This one is about West Bay Club.

The West Bay Club is a fairly large community of condos, coach homes, single family homes, and two high rise towers. The high rise towers are just now undergoing interior completion, there are resales and lots for new home construction. It is located in Estero just west of US 41 and continues west to Estero Bay. There is a bit more about The West Bay Club located on my website or a direct link is here.

Now the golf...the course architects are Pete Dye and P.B. Dye, a double whammie, and it's just gorgeous. We met a few very proud club members as they waived us through (we were just a twosome) on the 16th hole aptly name "High Anxiety". It is the #2 hole in difficulty. I was thrilled managing a respectable drive into the center of the fairway with the new found audience but what next after reaching the ball? The members, equipped with the latest range devices, pointed to the flag not quite visible, on an elevated platform, to the right, just passed a hazard that crossed the fairway some 205 yards away and playing about 215-220...yikes! Suffice it to say, the drive was the best part of that hole!!

We decided to play the Back Tees when we started because we hadn't seen the course ever before. The Back Tees are the shortest at just under 6,000 yards but, the slope from there is 130. The next hole, 17 a par 3 named "The Wall", played about 185 yards (170 all carry) over a lake on to the green. I managed my tee shot to the 1st cut off the green about pin high and putted my way to a bogey.

There were many more memorable moments throughout the round as we toured the beautiful course and the grounds. My round started off double, double, and bogey with one par on the front and one par on the back so I was feeling reasonably good but, then the reality of my game set in. I'll be back!