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Photos of Gainesville's Haile Plantation (view all)
Gopher tortoises in Gainesville FL - What to do if you find one?
I have always wanted to use the phrase "Do not try this at home" but never really had a chance to. Until now.
Let me explain.
One of the things that I love the MOST about living in Gainesville FL is all of the wildlife! Frogs, toads, anole lizards, and snakes abound. Every night I hear an owl hooting in our backyard. Gainesville FL is a GREAT place to live especially if you love the outdoors.
So imagine my unbounded joy when I discovered this cute little gopher tortoise on a walk around our Haile Plantation neighborhood.
Now, I had seen one of his relatives crushed to bits in the road just a week before...and when I saw this dude munching on grass close to the same spot where his cousin had been obliterated, I just had to act.
I picked him up and brought him back to our neighborhood a couple of blocks away, thrilled that I'd saved his life and excited to get a few up close and personal moments on FlipVideo with him.
Seems like a pretty innocent video, no? Well, apparently, not so much. After I posted it to YouTube I got a couple of commenters who said that gopher tortoises are a threatened species and by moving him like this I was breaking the law.
So, to keep you from making the same mistake I thought I should post some info here about what you should do if you find a gopher tortoise flirting with disaster on the side of the road in Gainesville FL.
Here's what the Florida Wildlife Commission says to do if you find a gopher tortoise in the road:
"It is illegal to posses or relocate a tortoise without a permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Although a wildlife officer would not write you a citation for helping a tortoise across a busy road, picking up a tortoise and taking it to a new location is a violation law. If you do see a tortoise in the road and help it across, be sure to move it across the road in the direction it was heading as the tortoise has a burrow (home) nearby and needs that home to survive. Also remember, moving it (especially during cold weather) could stress or even kill it. Moving tortoises can also spread disease to other tortoise populations. These animals have a strong instinct to return to their original burrow and, if relocated down the road, will likely return to where you first found them."
I felt so bad when I realized that by "rescuing" this gopher tortoise I may have put his life in danger anyway.
Which was not my plan at all.
Hope this info comes in handy for gopher tortoise rescuers in Gainesville. I know I'll keep it in mind if I ever find another gopher tortoise flirting with disaster!
How are Haile Plantation home sales in Gainesville FL?
Check out this chart and you tell me:
See that ginormous gap between the amount of Haile Plantation homes sold in the second quarter (2Q10 - the blue line) and the amount of Haile Plantation homes sold in the first quarter (1Q10 - the green line)? Hmmmm....What could have happened to explain the jump in the amount of homes sold in Haile Plantation during the second quarter? Could it be.....the homebuyer tax credit, which expired at the end of June (which coincidentally marked the end of the second quarter)? Why yes, yes it could! As you can see, the first time homebuyer tax credit definitely had a positive impact on the amount of homes sold in Haile Plantation during April through June of this year.
Forty-nine homes sold in Haile Plantation during the second quarter of 2010, as compared to 18 homes sold during the first quarter of 2010. Here is a breakdown of where these sales occurred in 2Q10: Eloise Gardens - 3; Garison Way - 2; Haile - Amelia Gardens - 2; Haile - Bedford Square - 1; Haile - Camden Court - 1; Haile - Carlton Court - 1; Haile - Chestnut Hill - 1; Haile - Chickasaw Way - 1; Haile - Founders Hill - 3; Haile - Grahams Mill - 1; Haile - Lexington Farms - 1; Haile - Haile Market Square - 1; Haile - Hampstead Park - 1; Haile - Katelyn Lane - 2; Haile - Laurel Park - 1; Haile - Madison Square - 1; Haile - The Preserve - 4; Haile - Prestonwood - 2; Haile - Rosemond Way - 1; Haile - Sable Pointe - 2; Haile - Stratford Ridge - 2; Haile - Victoria Circle - 1; Haile - Village Center - 2; Haile - William Kent Court - 1; Kenwood - 4; Stillwind - 3; Tower 24 - 2; Valwood - 2
What about Haile Plantation home prices?
For the most part, median sales prices on Haile Plantation homes sold were lower in the second quarter than they were in the first quarter....with the exception of 3 bedroom homes sold, which had a slightly higher median sales price than they did in the first quarter of the year.
Average days on market
During the 1st quarter of this year, the homes which sold in Haile Plantation took an average of 221 days to sell.
In the second quarter (April through June), homes selling in Haile Plantation took an average of 215 days to sell.
How is the third quarter of the year shaping up in terms of Haile Plantation home sales?
With one month to go until the end of the third quarter, here's a look at where we stand:
During the months of July and August, 27 homes sold in the Haile Plantation market area, so unless we scare up 22 home sales or more in Haile Plantation during September, we are going to be lagging behind the 49 homes sold during the second quarter, which isn't surprising given the expiration of the homebuyer tax credit. The median sales price of homes sold in Haile Plantation for the months of July and August, broken down by number of bedrooms, is as follows: 2 bedrooms or less - $163,000; 3 bedrooms - $189,000; 4 bedrooms or more - $412,828. So far this quarter, average days on market is 193.
Haile Plantation homes – Camden Court – Gainesville FL
Haile Plantation Camden Court homes in Gainesville FL were built between 1991 and 1993. Camden Court is right across the street from Haile Plantation Village Center, providing residents with easy access to Haile Village Center‘s shops and activities including the Farmers Market which happens every Saturday morning rain or shine from 8 AM until noon.
Want to learn more about Haile Plantation Camden Court? Then full article about this southwest Gainesville FL neighborhood, including a video tour and local schools information, may be accessed here: Haile Plantation homes - Camden Court - Gainesville FL
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
