Kathie Gartlan

Saturday Nov 7 and Sunday Nov 8 Show Case weekend at Jonathan's Landing

The club house has been renovated with new decor including elegant stone flooring, light and bright paint and wall paper with furnishings to match. The new state of the art fitness center and tennis shop are open.

Saturday from 9AM till noon Jonathan's Landing Realty will have 14 properties open for private showings ranging from two bedroom condos to custom estate homes.

Other properties will be available by calling on sight office 561-746-2561 any time between 11 AM - 3 PM Sat or Sun.

Jonathan's Landing is a gated community with a variety of amenities which include three golf courses, tennis, fitness and boating. Located just one mile from the ocean and miles of pristine beaches there is some thing for every one,s life style.

Please call either 56-758-3054 or 561-746-2561 for security clearance

The club house is open and members are very pleased with the recent remodeling of Club house and the Grand opening of the tennis and state of the art fitness center will be this evening. The new colors are light and bright elegant stone flooring.

The staff is preparing to entertain in excess of six hundred people this evening for the event. They are hoping for good weather as the plan is for it take place out side of the fitness center

Believe it not up till just this week I have not worked with any short sells but all that is changing. Ihave a buyer that after seeing several properties decided on a short sale and one of my listings in down town West Palm Beach the owner has decided to not to continue paying her mortgage. So I went to six hour short sells seminar offered at my company and taught by an attorney. It certainly was an eye opener the in and outs time involved is unbelievable.

As my main expertise is in golf and country clubs so far have not had to many but looks like that probably will change unless things improve. These deals are not for the faint of heart and new agents would be advised to seek help from short sales expert if the company has a short sales division refer the business to them.

good Luck to every one

The last two deals I closed were both bank foreclosures and in both cases my buyers got a great value. The most recent was in a upscale gated community the house had lots of upgrades and had not been trashed even though a few appliances were missing all in all good condition. The property was built in 2006 and sold for $1,300,000 the house has five bedrooms, four and a half baths, marble floors, pool, spa, impact windows located on large pie shaped lot.

We put in our offer of $455,000 and it was accepted and here is where the fun starts. After the contract was signed by both party's with eight pages of disclosures the listing agent assigns me to her assistant. After speaking with the lender she assigns me to her assistant next my first contact with the title company for the bank now assigns me to her assistant. No wonder nothing goes with out errors.

Not taking any chances I had searches done to see what liens were still not satisfied there were HOA fees, none compliance fees total more then $85,000 the bank had negotiated done to $8,000 but had not paid them yet. The bank requires you fund 48 hours before closing so they have the money. Morning of closing we did are walk through as we were driving to closing the city called to say the the liens had been satisfied.

At the closing the HUD was incorrect which I had bought to their attention the day before so we had a two hour closing to fix it. Then the closer did not have copy of survey, appraisal, commission check or keys to the house. She said I would need to call listing agent to get them. When we had left the house after the walk through I had taken the keys from the lock box after the closing presented them to my clients and advised they go change the locks. The listing agent never called to see if the deal closed and to advise as to keys to the property.

Recently had a call from a buyer /investor this person had purchased in a country club community a few years ago. She paid $60,00- and since has moved and has it successfully rented. I did some research and found a couple very nice condos golf course views updated in the price range $50,00 to $60,00.

I was ready to make some offers but the community had imposed a mandatory membership to all owners. I inquired as to what that entailed one time $5,000 none refundable, annual due $4,000, also $1700- capital improvement, $240- fitness center, minimum $750- dining at the club.

Now the condo fees are $339 a month plus taxes, insurance etc, I called the membership and asked them did they realize those fees plus every thing else no investor could buy or even a person who could afford the price the fees are way out of line. she explained in the south end of the community prices were in the $400,000 to $500,00 but they are single family residence.

There are about 26 condos for sale some owners, some short sales and foreclosuresthe mandatory membership is not helping sales. With decline in prices and older members giving up their full golf memberships most of the country club community's are in the same situation tight on funds.