Neighborhood News

Real Service... Real Results                                            January 2010
  102A Palm Point
Laura Cole & Tana Gaskill
  (561)        (561)
 776-4429    776-4444
 Illustrated Properties
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In This Issue
Real Estate Trends
Featured Property
Restaurant Review
Greetings!
 
We trust that everyone enjoyed a joyous holiday season.  This month we feature a superb review of Forte by our gourmet critic, Vicki Slotnick.  Sometimes a visit to an exciting venue is less than a stellar experience.  Read all about it below. 
 
We also include a year end summary of sales in BallenIsles.  This overview may surprise many of you and is sure to be informative.
 
Lastly, we invite you to experience our brand new website at www.palmbeachgolfhomes.com  We have totally overhauled the look, content and operation.  Sample the BallenIsles Club amentieis tour below and see what we mean.  We are sure you will like the NEW us!   
 
With best wishes for the new year,
Laura & Tana
 
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REAL ESTATE TRENDS  
BallenIsles Sales
 102A Palm Point
Thirteen properties closed during the months of November and December bringing the total for 2009 to 48.  This compares fairly similiarly to 51 sales in 2008.  The average sold price is just under $600,000 with and average original list price of almost $838,000.  This reflects an average sales price down almost 40% from average original list price.  Average market time is 9 months and average price per square foot is $185.  Inventory holds at at a fairly low 100 properties for sale.  This is much lower than customary in a down market and it is possible that many sellers have decided to wait it out or withdrawn their properties rather than take a large price reduction.

 

 
BALLENISLES SALES - NOVEMBER & DECEMBER
 
ADDRESS                                            BR              BA       SALE PRICE
239 Coral Cay Terrace                            3               3          255,000
216 Coral Cay Terrace                            3               3          300,000
117A Palm Bay Circle                              3               2          300,000
105 Sunset Cove                                   2               2.1        335,000
19 Laguna Court                                    3               3          350,000  
104 Isle Drive                                        3               3          450,000
124 Victoria Bay Court                            3               3          455,000
120C Palm Bay Drive                               3               3.5       475,000
117 San Marco                                      3               3          630,000
104 San Marco                                      3               3.1       630,000
123 Vintage Isle Lane                             3               3          653,000
40 Somerset Drive                                 3               4.1        750,000
126 St. Martin Drive                               3               4.2       850,000
 
*This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by the Realtors Association of the PalmBeaches or its Multiple Listing Services thru 1/2/10.  
 
To learn more about current Real Estate trends in BallenIsles, click on the links below.
 

FEATURED PROPERTY
We NEED your LISTING!               
We can feature photos of your property right here!
We can feature a virtual tour of your property here!
        
We have buyers and inventory is low.  With over 40 years combined experience selling real estate in the Northern Palm Beach area, we have the tools to market, negotiate, and SELL!  Contact us if you or a friend is looking to sell in 2010.  We would be happy to meet and discuss marketing your property in today's more challenging environment where pricing is key.  Let us prepare a confidential, informative and complimentary comparative market analysis for you. 
 
 
 
RESTAURANT REVIEW by Vicki Slotnick
Forte  
 
I am going to say this right off the bat, this will not be one of my "I'll be back" reviews.  But don't stop reading...
We [six people] walked into a really visually stunning restaurant, with a wall of "white" waves over the bar area, and other contemporary touches that made this place feel very "New York".  Our reservation was for 8pm and we were seated promptly. The music/noise level was more than a bit loud, especially if you're inclined to have any conversation with your dining partners, although I must say, it did seem that the people at the bar were not at all disturbed by the noise level.  (That's probably because they were at least three decades younger that we were!)
A server took our drink orders quite promptly, but then things started to go downhill after that.  Five of us got our drinks correctly and in a timely manner, but R's wine didn't come until he had inquired at least 3 times.  We were able to order our food promptly, and foccacia with Italian salami came out soon after.  Some pieces of the foccacia were warm and nice, others were absolutely cold and stale...translation: hard as a rock.  A request for olive oil and grated parmesan cheese never was fulfilled.  By the way, at least half of us requested our food without any garlic.  The waitperson absolutely seemed to understand "no garlic of any form whatsoever". It was: no garlic, no problem.  But, more about that later...
Then, we waited and waited and waited.  Granted it was a Saturday night in early November, but what a wait!  Then, strangely enough, R was served his Chicken Milanese long before everyone else was served.  So, with our tongues hanging out, R had to eat his entr�e before it got cold and before the other five of us were served. We were finally served at least seventy-five minutes after we had ordered.  Anyway, by that time the place was not crowded, believe me. We complained about the timing to the waiter, he offered no excuse but said he would send over the manager.
Meanwhile, on to the food...appetizers were good, although not "divine".  Eddy and I shared grilled shrimp with zucchini and a prosecco butter, and three others shared two "excellent" roasted beet salads with endive, goat cheese, lemon and Casalvento olive oil. Then, the entrees: the chicken Milanese was very good per R.  It was a huge cutlet, nice and crispy and topped with an arugula salad with among other things, chopped green olives.  Eddy's grilled BBQ pork chop was tender, but tasteless. L and D shared the saut�ed red snapper which they said was very good. (The garlic lover in our group definitely got his money's worth though!) I had whole wheat spaghetti with fresh seasonal vegetables, fresh basil, and Casalvento olive oil, hold the garlic. I am not sure what was so special about the olive oil that they had to specify the brand because my entr�e had zero flavor!  Nothing I could do to it helped it to taste any better.  When I asked for no garlic, I didn't ask for no flavor!  And about that garlic...I can promise you that there was plenty of it around somewhere...I was sick all night! 
Before we were finished with our entrees, a bus boy tried to take our plates away...while we were still obviously eating.  The waiter was very apologetic about the service problems, and offered us free desserts and coffee to apologize for the bad experience.  We ordered a couple of desserts to share which arrived very promptly (sure, after all the other timing problems), and they were declared very good, especially a chocolate concoction. 
Finally, after L signaled for the manager, she came over to the table.  She appeared to have no clue that we had had a negative experience.  L asked her for her email address if she wanted to read our review.  By the way, when the check came the first time, they had actually charged us for two chicken Milanese...you remember, R's entr�e that came way before all the others.  When the final check arrived, they had removed the double charged chicken Milanese, removed 2 more entrees, and had not charged us for the chocolate dessert and coffee.
 
Bottom line:  Food was, on the whole, good.
                    Service was, on the whole, dreadful.
                    Musical atmosphere was, on the whole, unbearable. 
 

FORTE di ASPRINIO RISTORANTE AND WINE BAR
225 CLEMATIS STREET, WEST PALM BEACH, FL 33401
561-833-3330
 

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