Garren Grup, REALTOR, CDPE, GRI… Naples & Bonita Springs, FL

Residents of The Brooks* will be pleased to see that the 37,500 square foot SweetBay grocery recently opened it's doors about a mile from the entry of their community. SweetBay occupies barely less than half of the 80,000 square foot building at The Brooks Town Center which is at the northwest corner of Coconut Road and the recently openend Imperial/Three Oaks Parkway which is known as Livingston Road in Naples

The new Sweetbay grocery store opened in The Brooks at 7 AM on July 26, giving out pineapples to the first 1,000 customers and the pineapples were gone by 2 PM

SweetBay has 107 stores across Florida and is headquartered in Tampa.

Residents of The Brooks* and Coconut Point as well as the surrounding communities of Pelican Landing, The Colony at Pelican Landing, West Bay Club, Colonial Oaks and Lakes of Estero are also going to benefit from the opening of this new store. Grocery competition has heated up lately with the opening of Fresh Market last year, Super Target at Coconut Point this summer and the recent takeover of Albertsons by Publix which is going to bring a new prototype store from Publix called Publix Green Wise. These new and recent opening are in addition to the two publix stores that are also competing for this market.

National Bank & Trust is currently under constructiion on one of the outparcels and a number of other retailers are preparing to open over the next several months before the peak vacation season that starts around the end of December.


*The Brooks and Coconut Point are made up of seven communities including Rapallo, The Residences at Coconut Point, Shadow Wood, Copperleaf, Spring Run, Lighthouse Bay and the NEW Community of Mirasol at Coconut Point!

Shadow Wood, Copperleaf and Spring Run at The Brooks, Pelican Landing, The Colony Golf & Bay Club and West Bay Club are Golf communities. Learn more about area communities on the Neighborhood Guide

Garren Grup, REALTOR
Delivering Noteworthy Results in Naples!

FLORIDA TAX BENEFITS

STATE INCOME TAX: Florida is one of only a handful of states that has NO state income tax!


• Proposition 1: On January 29, 2008 voters passed Proposition 1, a property tax measure making Florida one of the lowest taxed states in the nation. Here is a condensed explanation of current property tax laws and an additional law that is being proposed to the voters next month in the November 2008 election.

• Homestead Rule: If your Florida condo or home is your primary residence, you are entitled to a $50,000 Homestead deduction from the assessed value as determined by the property appraiser. Example: If you purchase a home that is assessed at $350,000 you will be taxed on $300,000

• Maximum Yearly Increase: If your primary residence (Homestead) appreciates during the year, property taxes can only increase by a maximum of 3%. Non-Homesteaded or investment property taxes cannot increase by more than 10%, regardless of how much the real estate market may rise during a strong market. Example: If real estate values decrease, your assessed value will decrease accordingly, whether you are Homesteaded or not. However, if the real estate market turns upward the next year by 20% or 30%, your tax assessment can only increase by 3% if Homesteaded, and 10% if it is not a Homestead.

• Portability: When you sell your primary residence, you may transfer the difference from the original assessed value and the sale price (up to $500,000). You then deduct that difference from the next property's assessed tax value if the new property is the same or greater value.

Example 1: You buy a Homesteaded property with an assessed value of $350,000. You later sell that home for $500,000. You have $150,000 in "Portability" that can be deducted from the value of your next residence. This is in addition to the $50,000 Homestead exemption. Say you purchase your "new" residence and it is assessed by the county appraiser at $600,000, you will only pay property taxes on $400,000!

Example 2: If you buy a home that is less expensive than the one you sold, and the old property increased in value, you may still apply a percentage formula to save on property taxes. For more details about Portability contact me, or visit the Lee County website at www.Leepa.org or the Collier County appraiser's site at www.Collierappraiser.com

PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX AMENDMENT

To be voted on in the November 2008 election and will be effective in January 2010.

If this proposal passes, all property taxes will decrease by approximately 25%.

Another nice feature of this proposal is that non-homesteaded property taxes could not increase by more than 5% in a year, as opposed to the current 10% maximum increase. This change will be very favorable to second homeowners, vacation homeowners and investors and increase the number of buyers coming into the market.

Garren Grup, REALTOR
Delivering Noteworthy Results in Naples!

I wanted to continue with the Top Four Myths in the Top Ten seriesthat I will be blogging about to inform both customers and my colleagues about to help dispel some of the myths about credit. Improving and making the best of your credit rating has become increasingly important with the tighter lending standards. Don't let these obstacles get in the way of a home purchase!

Myth # 4 - Disputing a credit report is easy. Any consumer can do it themselves???

Disputing a credit report is easy. Getting results from the credit bureaus as a layperson is amazingly difficult, complex, and infuriating. The Federal Trade Commission receives more complaints against credit bureaus than any other type of business. In February 2000 the 3 major credit bureaus paid a fine of $2.5 million dollars for ignoring consumers requesting information regarding their file. Remember the credit bureaus are primarily interested in protecting their profits. Investigating consumer disputes consumes these profits. Short of sparking a mass number of lawsuits, the bureaus do everything in their power to impede your progress with credit restoration. Restoring your own credit is like repairing your own transmission or representing your self in court; it is possible, but you have to be willing to invest the time to learn the processes, assume the risks of your inexperience and realize that it will probably take you longer and you probably will be less effective then the correct professional.

Myth # 3 - There are items such as bankruptcies, foreclosures, and tax liens that are impossible to remove from the credit report.

There is no type of negative listing that has not been removed from a credit report - thousands of times.

Myth # 2 - If a negative item is successfully deleted from my credit report, it will just come right back on my report.

The credit bureaus have cleverly spread this myth through the news media and government agencies. In truth, the credit bureaus will often temporarily delete a negative listing if they have not heard from the credit grantor for 30 days since an item has been disputed. Should the credit grantor submit verification a week or two later, it will be re-inserted. (This is called a soft delete.) Most of the time the creditor simply fails to respond and the negative item is permanently deleted. If the creditor verifies the item the account may still be deleted later in the process as the challenging process is intensified.

Myth # 1 - When I pay off a past-due account, such as a charge off or a collection account, it will show "paid" and no longer be negative.

It is difficult to fully restore your credit without paying your outstanding debts. However, paying off a debt can actually hurt your credit. Negative items on your credit report are allowed to stay on your credit report for a maximum of seven (7) years, except for bankruptcy that can stay for up to ten (10) years. This 7 or 10-year clock begins ticking at the date of last activity. Making a payment represents new activity and restarts the clock. When paying an outstanding debt, you will change the account status to paid collection, paid charge-off, satisfied judgment, or paid ‘was x days late". This is still considered very negative and appears as though you had to be strong-armed by the credit bureau to pay the account. It is almost always prudent to have a professional help so as to not further damage your credit by trying to do the right thing.

Garren Grup, REALTOR

Delivering Homes & valuable Information with Noteworthy Results in Naples, Bonita Springs & Estero Florida!

I recently visited the new Whole Foods Store Grand Opening which took place on Friday September 5th, 2008.

The 52,000 square foot Whole Foods Market's at The Mercato near the intersection of Vanderbilt Beach Rd. and US41 (Tamiami Trail) is the first store in Southwest Florida. The opening is estimated to generate approximately 100 new jobs in addition to the 100 plus employees transferred from the Wild Oats store that recently closed along Airport-Pulling Road and Naples Boulevard (near Pine Ridge Rd.) in North Naples.

The store is much larger than a normal grocer and more like a gigantic warehouse with many more offerings than the Wild Oats store in which it replaces. Not only does it sell fresh pre-made sushi, but now they also have a large selection of fresh salads, soups, ready-to-order Chinese and gourmet pizza.

The store is ideally located to serve the newly constructed Strada at The Mercato, Pelican Marsh, Vanderbilt Beach, The Dunes, Naples Park and Pelican Bay communities.

Capital Grill is another new addition in Naples and Southwest Florida that also recently opened at The Mercato.

Garren Grup

Noteworthy Results in Naples, Bonita Springs & Estero!

The start of Fall is not just a day!

You may not think much of the first day of fall but it is one of only two days in the year that the sun rises directly in the east and sets directly in the west. This is referred to as the equinox because you have an equal amount of day and night. It stands to reason the that the day of the equinox is the only day that you can directly locate.

We have winter here in the northern hemisphere because starting in the fall the north pole begins to tilt away from the sun. Cooler weather comes because the rays are no longer shining directly down on the earth. In winter when the north pole is tilted farthest away from the sun you have the shortest amount of daylight hours and the coldest weather.

It stands to reason then that people love the winters here in Naples, Bonita Springs, Estero & Fort Myers since it is the southern most point in the continental United States and on average always closer to the sun. Southwest Florida's temperature averages 75 degrees year round and 67 degrees in the winter. Along with the tropical breezes, the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico make it significantly warmer than any other place in Florida. Enjoyment of the beaches, boating and top area golf courses make it a destination for vacationers as well as those looking for a winter home to escape the blistering cold and snow.

The first day of Fall is TODAY September 22nd, 2008!

You may have noticed when you logged in to Google today that they were displaying another one of their iconic Google images.

Here are some upcoming dates you can add to your calendar for the exact moment when Fall arrives.

This is also a good day to remember to put fresh batteries in your smoke detectors!

*Note: This is not to be confused with the day that your clocks get turned back. November 2^nd at 2:00 AM is the time your clocks go back one hour.

Garren Grup,

Noteworthy Results in Southwest Florida Real Estate