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Reasons to Choose a Boutique Resort in Islamorada
If you really can’t stand the sound of kids squealing and screaming and enormously loud Texans hollering at each other, then a smaller boutique resort in Islamorada, Florida, might be perfect for your next vacation. Maybe it’s just me, but I grow increasingly uncomfortable when I am shoved into tiny hotel rooms where the TV doesn’t work, there are no robes and slippers, and room service always messes up breakfast. I much prefer a place where the manager stops by to introduce herself and mentions that our travel agent forced her to do it or else.
When asked if there is anything else she could do for us, I hesitated. Should I tell her that the surface of the floor in our main room is carpeted and would be dramatically improved if she would install engineered hardwood, such as perhaps hickory plank? That a moving walkway down to the beach would be lovely? Or, that I have no intention of wearing the life jackets she said the Coast Guard requires us to wear in order to go paddle boarding? I think not. Things would be different if I ran this resort in Islamorada.
Instead, we asked for an in-room coffee pot. Well, my husband requested it and then he blamed it on me. Which meant that I was now forced to come up with something else that she could do for us. I brought up the fact that our threshold to the bathroom is raised and not properly installed, leaving an inch-and-a-half drop onto the marble flooring in the bath — in other words, it is a toe-stubber. There is no smooth transition.
Even though I do feel that sheer curtains around the bed, since there is a frame for the curtains, would lend a certain amount of dramatic flair, I did not mention it. Lips zipped. Overall, the best words I can use to describe this Islamorada resort are uncomplicated, refined elegance. If you start to improve it too much, the ambience would vanish. Still, hardwood floors, gotta say. Would make this lovely resort in Islamorada all that more lovely.
While at the Green Turtle Inn last night sipping my Turtle Tini, which is decadence times 11: like a Snicker’s Bar with salted caramel and a combination of at least 3 creamy chocolate-laced liqueurs, I received a signed counter offer. You may wonder why I was checking my cell but it was all lit up to advise that Feastivus is awaiting me in Plants vs. Zombies. I love putting Sacramento homes into escrow.
Photos of a resort in Islamorada by Elizabeth Weintraub
Buying Homes on Christmas
Gulf Bay at Islamorada Resort Casa Morada
One would think that the real estate business, especially in Sacramento, would be pretty slow over the day before Christmas and on Christmas itself but I still had showings on my listings. I guess I could see this if parents were in town visiting and had but one chance to look at homes with their kids; however, if the main objective was to shop and not buy, like for shoes at Macy’s, that could be done online.
Let me depart for a moment and say how unhappy I am with the quality of merchandise at Macy’s in the downtown Sacramento mall. Its inventory has been downgraded. Gone are many brand names and with it the expensive price tags, which I suppose is a result of supply and demand: Macy’s supplies and then buyers purchase those items online. I propose that shoppers would buy directly from Macy’s if a shopper could ever locate a clerk. You’re lucky to find one clerk per cash register, and that’s if you can find the cash register, which is probably buried under returned items dumped on the counter.
You might think I am just a grumpy old person who goes around complaining about everything and nothing makes her happy, but you would be confusing me with a tourist who had spent time in Miami. Who can be grumpy with the above view from her deck in Islamorada? OK, maybe a person who didn’t get any coffee.
I stumbled into the breakfast room, which is right around the corner from our deck that overlooks this lovely view. Pretty convenient. Scooted past bent-over-guy who was trying to read the headlines of the New York Times without actually touching the newspaper because there could be lizards tucked away inside, I guess; I have been warned to be careful what I pick up around here and I imagine he’s heard the same thing.
Fumbled on the counter for a coffee cup. Picked up the coffee pot and dumped it upside down, shaking out every last precious drop into the paper coffee cup. Grabbed another pot and repeated episode. If my husband’s eyes were not open, this would not have been a problem, but we needed 2 cups of coffee and not just one. I called room service. I don’t think they can identify you at this small resort upon answering the phone, but I was still polite, even though the opportunity afforded me the chance to snarl. I did not snarl, just for the record.
I simply said there was no coffee in the breakfast room. Anticipating that I would be asked if I checked all of the coffee pots, I added that all of the coffee vessels were empty. My husband heard that conversation as a person who did not yet have her morning coffee.
This was not a day for me to receive an email from a buyer’s agent demanding that I educate my sellers on sales prices. My sellers are so educated they should be sporting real estate graduation caps. But it’s the day after Christmas, and I didn’t get into it. Serves no purpose. Besides, when you think about it, I am not the agent who was forced to drag buyers from house to house on the day before Christmas.
Photo: Gulf Bay in Islamorada, Florida, from private resort deck, by Elizabeth Weintraub
Bank of America and HAFA Short Sale Credit Report
Stepping foot on a public beach with seagulls for the very first time is daunting if all you worry about is whether a bird will poop on your head, but that’s the very thought that ran through my mind when I first walked along the ocean in California. Same thing at our resort on the Florida Gulf at Marco Island — although there are a lot more birds and fewer people. Fewer people in a resort around Christmas time means we are not forced to make a reservation for dinner, which was a huge drawback at Four Seasons and the Fairmont in Hawaii.
When a person is on vacation, a person wants to relax and not be subject to stupid rules and regulations with unnecessary restraints on time. A person expects the resort to anticipate her every desire, like this Sacramento short sale agent tries to do for her own clients. A person wants the leisure to make decisions if and when decisions are necessary. Clocks? Who needs clocks? Cellphones? OK, I do carry my cell. My house sitters could call with an emergency and one of our cats could be choking. Or I might need to identify a bird we just spotted using my handy dandy Audubon bird app. Or I might need to know if there is a Pinata party planned for tonight on Plants vs. Zombies. Important details.
I called a client on our first night at Marco Island to let her know that her short sale in Roseville had closed. She is fighting with Bank of America because the negotiators at the bank don’t seem to realize that the guidelines for HAFA short sale credit reporting have changed. My seller is so polite and nice. When the negotiator told her she needed to put her on hold while she discussed the situation with her supervisor, my client acquiesced. See, I suspect the negotiator used this time to go down the hall and buy a Diet Coke.
I would have demanded to speak with the supervisor myself. Tell ya what, I would have snarled, I’ll hold and you go get the supervisor. We sent a copy of the guidelines to the negotiator. We copied the guideline verbiage and cited section number. We sent the C.A.R. memo about credit reporting for a HAFA short sale.
Because I am not a lawyer, I can’t really fight with the bank at this point. This is a fight my client will need to undertake herself to make sure the reporting is done correctly. In a HAFA short sale for which there was no foreclosure proceeding started, the guidelines say the short sale must be reported to the credit bureau as Paid in Full. Not paid in full for less than agreed. Other Bank of America borrowers have had to fight this fight after closing, but they have won, and I have full confidence that my former seller will win as well.
Photo: Marco Island, Florida, by Elizabeth Weintraub
Does Work Make You Sick?
Knock on wood, I asked my husband yesterday if he can remember the last time this real estate agent was sick. I mean really sick. In bed sick, moaning and groaning, unable or unwilling to get up. It seems that when I was the communications director for a Minnesota nonprofit, I managed to use up almost every sick day I had per year. Yet, now that I live in Sacramento selling real estate, I cannot recall the last time I didn’t feel well.
Oh, wait, perhaps it was after our Galapagos trip in 2005. We thought it would be fun to end the vacation with a trip to the jungle in the middle of Ecuador. Yeah, sticky, hot and buggy, with giant croaking frogs, screaming monkeys and pouring rain at 3 AM — kinda like Sacramento short sales, now that I pause to reflect. The water wasn’t as safe to drink as we were led to believe. I’ll spare you the details but let’s just say that giardiasis is very unpleasant.
But since I’ve been a Sacramento real estate agent, I haven’t been sick one single day. Have not spent one day for the past 11 years under-the-weather, so to speak. On the surface, you could probably conclude that’s because Sacramento real estate is so all-fired consuming that I don’t have time to be sick. People who hate their jobs are often ill. I love my job. So, that, and I suspect even more important is that I spend most of my productive work time in front of my computer and not in the company of little kids.
It’s the kids that get you sick. They are walking little germ-carrying time bombs. And they make everybody else around them sick as well. When I hear a client sniffle over the phone, I ask: Do you have kids? Yup, well, there ya go. The two ingredients for a healthful life: no kids and self employment.
We are in south Florida on vacation, and there are kids everywhere. It’s hard to get away from them. We are heading off to tour the Everglades today, so don’t be surprised if an alligator or two pops up in my blog along the way.
Think About Selling a Sacramento Home When Buying
One of the biggest fears sellers often harbor about selling a Sacramento home is what if it doesn’t sell? They have those fears because they are not in real estate. When you’re in real estate, like this Sacramento real estate agent, you know that anything will sell if the price is right. Even a flooded-out house with mold the size of basketballs will sell. And yes, I’ve sold a lot of those types of homes, too.
There are a variety of reasons why selling a Sacramento home might take longer than usual to sell, though. These are sometimes the reasons that some sellers don’t want to hear because they are reasons the sellers should have thought of before they bought a home. I often tell people that the time to think about selling a Sacramento home is when you buy a home.
Maybe it’s in a bad location. You know, location, location, location is what drives real estate. Maybe there’s something about it that other homes have and yours does not. I ask buyer’s agents who show my listings to give me buyer feedback. From feedback I hear about things we can rectify. If we can’t rectify those things, we can adjust the price to account for it.
It’s difficult to explain to a seller that she bought the wrong home or paid too much, but I do try to get that point across if it is true. It is often true. Especially in certain neighborhoods in Sacramento, it’s easy to buy the wrong type of home in the wrong location.
Or, we can wait for the buyer who is just like the seller of any other beautiful home in Elk Grove. Because the seller bought this home for a reason. That is most likely the same reason a new buyer will buy it. Nobody is that unique. A buyer will appear, and we will reel ’em in.
There is a buyer for every home in Sacramento. If this agent is listing and selling your home, you can count on it.
