Neighborhood News

Real Service... Real Results                                         November, 2012 
  102A Palm Point
Laura Cole & Tana Gaskill
  (561)        (561)
 776-4429    776-4444
 Illustrated Properties
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In This Issue
Featured Property
Real Estate Trends
Things to Do
Greetings!

Welcome back to all our snowbird and snow flake friends.  We so love greeting returning friends and neighbors.  Everyone seems to have had a good summer is ready to go for the Florida season!  

This month we feature in our special Things to Do, the fabulous ecological wonder just around the corner, Grassy Waters Preserve.  Take you visiting friends and family for a very special nature treat!
 
Wishing you and your family a bountiful Thanksgiving.
Laura & Tana

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FEATURED PROPERTY                  
 
  
1150 Crystal Drive

 

A Dream House with 2 bedrooms plus a library in the main house and a separate 1 bedroom, 1 bath guesthouse on the North golf course.  Sliding glass doors open on to the dramatic pool and patio area with spa, summer kitchen, built-in grill and entertainment bar.  Inside an enormous master suite with huge his and her closets, separate dressing area and marble master bath, a step down bar, open flowing floor plan and tremendous family room kitchen area with breakfast bar make this home a WINNER!  Available completely furnished to enjoy the 2013 season.  Buyer must purchase golf equiy membership.  

 

See a Virtual Tour of this property 

See All BallenIsles Properties for Sale

REAL ESTATE TRENDS  
BallenIsles Sales*
 102A Palm Point

Here's a Real Estate overview from Chappy Adams, president of Illustrated Properties on the local property market. 

  

The prognosis is in: The housing market is picking up steam. There's no turning back. Sales volume and prices ticked up on a national level at the end of the summer, with existing home sales up 9.3% in August compared to a year ago, and median prices up 9.5% from a year ago. Locally the news is also positive:

  • The inventory of available homes is down 13.7% from a year ago.
  • The months of supply of available homes is down to 7 months which is close to the historic norm.
  • The average asking price in PB County is up 4.3% from last September.
  • The average sold price is up almost 23%, it must be noted that almost all of the gain in sold prices has been in the lower end of the market up to this point.  There is still downward pressure on prices in the luxury market.
  • Average days on market has dropped almost 10% from 151 days last year to 139 days today.

With this positive news many people still ask: What about all those foreclosures economists and experts have warned about? Shadow inventory? Are there threats to the recovery that could crop up and throw us off course?
 
The good news is the foreclosure market is easing. Foreclosure inventory was down to its lowest level in August since April 2010. The 57,000 foreclosures completed in August puts the total number of homes that have foreclosed since September 2008 at 3.8 million, according to CoreLogic's latest report.

The continued downward movement in the foreclosure market is a good indicator that the recovery is picking up speed. 
Florida ranks 2nd to California with the most foreclosures, so while improving it still remains a serious concern in our area. Thankfully, the shadow inventory problem that many were worried about these past few years seems to have deflated more gradually than initially thought so we didn't see a second flood of foreclosures all hit the market at the same time at the national level.

 

As a company Illustrated Properties sales were up 47% for the month of October and pendings are up 31% so the fourth quarter looks strong and we are very optimistic about 2013.

  

             BALLENISLES SALES -OCTOBER
                                               SOLD       ORIG.                              MARKET 
ADDRESS                           BR BA    PRICE       PRICE       SOLD DATE  TIME
   

243 CORAL CAY TERRACE

3

3.0

   $250,000

$279,000

10/01/2012

531

77 ST GEORGE PLACE

3

3.5

   $820,000

$1,200,000

10/02/2012

333

130 VINTAGE ISLE LANE

5

4.5

   $505,000

$549,000

10/05/2012

201

114 SUNSET COVE LANE

3

2.5

   $212,000

$265,000

10/10/2012

538

1112 CRYSTAL DRIVE

4

5.0

   $450,000

$549,000

10/11/2012

1

223 GRAND POINTE DRIVE

5

6.5

$1,525,000

$2,195,000

10/18/2012

337

         
  
*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 11/06/2012.  

To learn more about current Real Estate trends in BallenIsles, click on the links below. 
    
THINGS TO DO                       
Grassy Waters Preserve
 
Grassy Waters Preserve is a community based conservation center that offers unique education and recreational opportunities on the edge of a vast 20 square mile wetlands resource. The Preserve today features nature center pavilions, boardwalk trails, hiking, canoeing, environmental education, interpretive programs and more. In providing educational and recreational opportunities to the community.
 
By virtue of its long established integrity, Grassy Waters Preserve remains as one of the few year round wetland refuges for the Everglades Snail Kite, Limpkin, Southern Bald Eagle, Great Blue Heron, Short-tailed Hawks, Snowy Egret, Glossy and White Ibis and a host of other avian species. Its vast size permits the interplay of top predator and prey to continue undisrupted between Bobcat and White-tail Deer, Alligator and Wild Hog, Eagle and Bass and is supportive of a myriad of food chains that have existed in these sub-tropical wetlands long before man was part of natural selection. 

 

Winter Programs include: 
Winter Wonder Walk                                     Mini-Canoeing
Hike and Paddle                                           Swamp Tromp
Moonlight Paddle                                          Marsh Critters
Introduction to Nature Photography                 Wetlands Discovery Canoeing

 

South Side: Charles W. Bingham Wilderness Pavillion
8264 Northlake Blvd.
West Palm Beach, FL  33412
Phone:  561-804-4985
Fax:  561-622-7628

North Side:  Everglades Pavilion
8537 Northlake Blvd.
West Palm Beach, FL  33412
Phone:  561-804-4980
 
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