Great Florida Homes Blog

While pumping gas I was checking email where I received an AH HAH Moment!

A dear friend sent me a holiday greeting.  It was about her memories of growing up in Nebraska. Being Jewish her Mom made Star of David cookies and Snowmen.  She went onto discuss the memories of cooking and family and how much fun she had.  Then she said, You know, I do not remember a single gift I got back then.  I only remember the good memories that I shared with my sisters and Mom.

For me it was an "I could had a V-8", moment with a bop upside the head!  It is so hard not get caught up in the commercialization of the holidays.  This year I did what I could to put a stop to the madness and a shopping list a mile long.  I figured if we do Secret Santa's at church and work, why can't we do them in our own family?

One gift for the person's name you drew and don't tell until it's opened.  I had a twinge of guilt when I only put one gift under the tree, so I went back and proceeded to write out cards to everyone else telling them how much they meant to me. I feel better now! 

Tonight when we stand around the kitchen enjoying our Chinese take-out (not sure where that tradition started) and laughing about the year of memories, I will be relieved that I started maybe another tradition to teach my children what is most important....the love we have for each other and not the gifts that they are unlikely to recall a year from now.

May we all be blessed with the success life has to offer in 2009!

For our family (Mom and My Two Girls), it is a time of year that EXCESSIVE Decorating takes over the house, inside and out.  We currently store all over the house and garage, TWENTY-EIGHT multiple sized boxes until they come out again after Thanksgiving.

The usual ones are the tree and the ornaments, a bunch of dolls and stuffed animals.  A lot of holidays wares bought at church and craft bazaars throughout the years. We also try to cover the multiple faiths so the kids grew up aware of other celebrations such as CHanukkah and Kwanzaa

On the unique side, we also have lots of artwork, from little tiny pictures to massive prints that take two people to maneuver.  For these we wrap every single one of them and then add bows, garland or lights.  It really is a festive celebratory look.  The bows are in beautiful colors of purple, creme, green, plaid and of course RED and in EVERY Size imaginable.  In fact at one point I was told I had put up the wrong size.  Mom said small, so I put up my definition of small.  She came in to point out that I needed THIS size, as she displayed yet another bow.  I corrected her to say, that size is medium.....not small!!  Like I would know?!?!?

This usually all comes together while I am at work, but this year Mom has been battling a nagging cold so she was moving slower at completing the process.  Since I love the completed look and I have the good fortune of being off every other weekend (thanks to a great business partner, who also happens to be my younger brother), I took my Saturday to help finish all of the decorating.

I did not think it was possible for one house to have THAT MANY BOWS!  I put a bow on every picture frame and still had what looked like hundreds left.  We put bows all over the front of the house on posts and trees.  Back inside I started putting bows on edges of furniture and corners of walls and it still looked like there were hundreds left! 

    A CHRISTMAS VILLAGE & BOWS                I BELIEVE!                 KITCHEN with BOWS and GARLAND

I cried Uncle and said the bows seem to be multiplying on the pool table (our table for everything, including folding clothes).  I told Mom that I felt we had plenty of bows and I was done after 12 hours of decorating....I had cookies to make for an exchange party.

She said she'd finish the rest of the bows as she starts naming off all of the places she'll put them.  All I know is keep moving when you come to visit, because if you stand still long enough you'll be bowed!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

REAL ESTATE UPDATE FOR BROWARD COUNTY & PALM BEACH COUNTY
November 1, 2008 to November 30, 2008

Broward County includes well known cities of Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Deerfield Beach,
Fort Lauderdale, Highland Beach, Hillsboro, Lighthouse Point, Parkland, Plantation, Sunrise,
Tamarac and Weston.

There are currently ­­­­­16,027 Single Family Homes LISTED FOR SALE in Broward County.

9302 priced under $250,000 
5682  priced between 250,001 and $500,000
1452 priced between $500,001 and $750,000
722  priced between $750,001 and $1,000,000
549 priced between $1,000,001 and $1,500,000
279  priced between $1,500,001 and $2,000,000
442 priced over $2,000,000 

For the month of October, 563 Single Family Homes SOLD in Broward County.

289 were sold under $250,000
205 were sold between 250,001 and $500,000
35 were sold between $500,001 and $750,000 
15  were sold between $750,001 and $1,000,000
10 were sold between $1,000,001 and $1,500,000
6 were sold between $1,500,001 and $2,000,000
3 were sold over $2,000,000

There are currently 21,001 Multi-Family Homes LISTED FOR SALE in Palm Broward.
Multi-Family Homes include condos, town homes, villas, coops, all attached and or unattached
as well as single story to multi levels.

15,408 are priced under $250,000
3629 are priced between 250,001 and $500,000
888 are priced between $500,001 and $750,000
460 are priced between $750,001 and $1,000,000
314 are priced between $1,000,001 and $1,500,000
179 are priced between $1,500,001 and $2,000,000
121 are priced over $2,000,000  

For the month of October, 556 Multi-Family Homes SOLD in BrowardCounty.

Note that many of the lower priced multi family homes are located in Adult only communities with a over the age of 55 requirment to live there.  

476 were sold under $250,000
54 were sold between 250,001 and $500,000
12 were sold between $500,001 and $750,000 
10  were sold between $750,001 and $1,000,000
3 were sold between $1,000,001 and $1,500,00
1 was sold between $1,500,001 and $2,000,000
None were sold over $2,000,000 

Palm Beach County includes well known cities of Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Greenacres, Lake Worth, Wellington and West Palm Beach.

There are currently 11,295 single family homes listed For Sale in Palm Beach County.

­­4103 priced under $250,000
3980 priced between 250,001 and $500,000
1167 priced between $500,001 and $750,000
661 priced between $750,001 and $1,000,000
477 priced between $1,000,001 and $1,500,000
289 priced between $1,500,001 and $2,000,000
618 priced over $2,000,000  

For the month of October, 290 Single Family Homes SOLD in Palm BeachCounty.

137 were sold under $250,000
113 were sold between 250,001 and $500,000
20 were sold between $500,001 and $750,000 
10  were sold between $750,001 and $1,000,000
5 were sold between $1,000,001 and $1,500,000
1 was sold between $1,500,001 and $2,000,000
4 were sold over $2,000,000
 

There are currently 11,870 Multi-Family Homes LISTED FOR SALE in Palm BeachCounty. Multi-Family Homes include condos, town homes, villas, coops, all attached and or unattached as well as single story to multi levels.

3710 are priced under $250,000
1948 are priced between 250,001 and $500,000
465 are priced between $500,001 and $750,000
218 are priced between $750,001 and $1,000,000
133 are priced between $1,000,001 and $1,500,000
86 are priced between $1,500,001 and $2,000,000
88 are priced over $2,000,000  

For the month of October, 255 Multi-Family Homes SOLD in Palm Beach county.

223 were sold under $250,000
26 were sold between 250,001 and $500,000
4 were sold between $500,001 and $750,000 
1 was sold between $750,001 and $1,000,000
0 were sold between $1,000,001 and $1,500,000
0 were sold between $1,500,001 and $2,000,000
0 were sold over $2,000,000

To see specific details on a specific category of homes actively for sale or sold, please email us at Team@GreatFloridaHomes.com and we will forward the information for your reference or review.

Information deemed reliable as provided by the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Lauderdale and the
Realtor Association of the Palm Beaches.

There has been a very slight increase in supply (approximately 100 units) of inventory between the two counties since October 2009 and a minor decrease (approximately 100 units)  in properties sold, hence providing an overall decrease in sales since last month.  Palm Beach county showed a larger decrease than Broward based on the areas referenced.