South Florida Real Estate and...

Time to show off the kids and grand-kids. Here are some of our latest photos. Our son who is 9 years old now is our star pitcher on our the Wellington Colts Travel Baseball team and Star Pitcher for Wellington Little League recreation team. He is living baseball! And I am learning a lot about baseball. 

Then there is our oldest grand-daughter who is now 4 years old. Do you remember when she was born? I remember even writing the story of her birth on ActiveRain! 

Here is our next oldest grand-kid, our grandson. He is now 3 years old.

He has a little brother who we just found out is a boy in our daughter's tummy... 20 weeks old here in this picture. We saw his heart beat, we saw him putting his fist in his mouth, we saw him move around and all his vital organs are there. He is alive and strong and a human being. AMAZING LIFE. 

Here is Micha- our granddaughter in Canada. Look how fast she is growing. Remember the photos I posted of her when she was  new born baby in her Native American papoose? She is now 18 months old! She has a brother on the way, Max who will be born in 2 months. 

Here is our youngest baby grand daughter who just turned 6 months old. Look at her amazing blue eyes. 

We are so blessed with all of these grand children and children. We have great adult kids who are all self-sufficient and are either employed or self-employed. What a blessing that is too! 

Till next time! 

Almost Speechless Sunday- Wellington Equestrian Center- The Palm Beach International Equestrian Center- We welcome you to the Equestrian Capital of the world right here in Wellington Florida. 

Bring your horses, bring your grooms and trainers. We welcome all of you to our wonderful equestrian town here in Wellington Florida. 

Florida Short Sales- Then and Now

If you lived in Florida back in the 90's and beginning of 2000's you most likely remember the company called, "We Buy Ugly Houses". This company was doing short sales way before 99% of the real estate agents even heard the term. 

Where did I first hear the term, "short sale" as related to real estate transactions? I remember learning about them in the  pre-licensing course before I took my first real estate exam a long time ago. We learned in that class what a short sale was, when people used them and the process. 

Fast forward to 2007. What happened in the beginning of 2007? I remember the eery feeling in real estate here. It was like a crash unlike any other. We have been through two big real estate recessions but this one was different. The real estate market stood still like we had not seen before. The buyers refused to buy property because the prices were too high and the sellers did not lower their prices so for about 4 months- tropical Florida was frozen. 

I remember the first time we wrote about short sales on ActiveRain. There was one other person, Dan Forbes who also was here in Florida who had already done short sales prior to this period of time as we had also. We were just about the only people back in June of 2007 that wrote about short sales. There was no CDPE and there was no SFR. In fact, many of the comments we received were otherbrokers saying they will not allow their agents to do short sales because of the liability. Well, now the laws in most states say that ONLY real estate agents or attorneys can negotiate short sales. 

Florida short sales were misunderstood by most people. Most real estate agents said they would never take a short sale listing even many of my friends here on AR were saying they would never do a short sale.:) My how times change. In fact, many of our short sale listings came from referrals right here on ActiveRain and many more from local real estate agents who we know.  I think that many of the agents were actually hoping this would just go away soon and they would never have to cross the bridge to short sale negotiations. 

I have written over 280 short sale articles since June of 2007. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 because of our embracing short sales we stayed in business as a real estate brokerage while many offices closed their doors. We carried between 70 to 90 listings most of the time. We created a well-oiled system to process the short sales and started doing them for other agents all over the state of Florida. It was a very fulfilling time for us because we were helping homeowners move on with their lives and we were stopping those foreclosures that were waiting to happen.

Along the way we created some very good relationships with executives and negotiators at the mortgage lenders and servicers in the loss mitigation departments. This has been an asset for our sellers.  Many agents talk about how important communication is but most communication is chit chat kind of stuff that can be taken care of in emails. But rather it is effective communication that gets the short sales to the closing table. There are many and always have been situations that are out of the control of us or our seller when a short sale falls apart but we just put the property back on the market and keep on going. 

Well, most of the agents who said they would never touch a short sale are either now embracing the short sales or reluctantly doing them so they can stay in business. The cycle of the Florida short sale is not over and most likely will not be for several more years in most areas of the state. However, the inventory is shrinking and with more agents going after the same market the short sale listing inventory is shrinking. 

We went from being in the top 2% of our mls closing sides to being in the top 9%. It is still really good and we are not complaining nevertheless when the market inventory starts to shrink as a company and as a brokerage it is time to examine the marketplace. Are there other niches not being served? Are there homeowners who still don't know they can do a short sale where you can be their first point of contact? The one thing that if for sure in real estate is change. Commercial defaults are the next big short sale market coming to many towns in the U.S. If you are a commercial broker this may be the right time for you to understand and learn the commercial short sale process which is different than a Florida residential short sale process. 

The Florida House has an educational bill that is a threat to homeshoolers in the future and private schools now.  I have been blessed to be able to homeschool my children in the state of Florida which is a very friendly homeschool state. To learn more about homeschooling in Florida- read this post. 

Most every bill that is passed into law ends up having unintended consequences and that is why we must read every single bill that applies to us or our families or those we care about. I am all about limited government and this is one of the biggest reasons why. 

Bill HB 859 is the bill we need your help on because it is a slippery slope to be on in about 5 years from now. There is a provision that must be removed from this bill. The FCAT language must be removed from this bill. This is the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. It is on the house agenda right now. We must call on Friday which is tomorrow. They said they have not heard from enough people. I called today but we need to get more people to call as residents of Florida. 

The FCAT language says that all private schools that accept scholarships must administer the FCAT test. That means that home schooled children will be required soon to take the FCAT or not be able to go to college. We don't want this because this would mean you will have to change your entire curriculum because you would be no better than the public schools where all they care about is the kids passing the FCATs. That means there would be no more time for my son to study LEGO Robotics and Nuclear Fusion and Economics at 9 years old because that is not on FCAT tests. 

This bill's language also threatens the integrity of the FCAT and parents with children in private schools will lose their independence and the private schools will lose their curriculums because they will have to use public school curriculums. 

The current federal administration is imposing a national school curriculum. The states who comply will receive federal money. Most states are not going to turn down the carrot dangling before them- to heck with ethics. 

Read the HB 859 here. 

Read the CATO Institute article here - War against the CORE. 

Ask them to amend the FCAT language out of HB 859.

Call:

Bill Sponsor: Rep. Richard Corcoran 850-488-8528
Proctor, William L. "Bill" [R] Chair 850-488-2977
Adkins, Janet H. [R] Vice Chair 850-488-6920
Coley, Marti [R] 850-488-2873
Fresen, Erik [R] 850-488-4092
O'Toole, H. Marlene [R] 850-488-5991
Stargel, Kelli [R] 850-488-2270

Please call the committee members and ask them to amend the FCAT language on HB 859. 

The Senate Bill 962 does not have the FCAT language in it. 

Delray Beach Luxury Estate Listing- Live in Delray Beach just minutes from the beach for $1,697,777. This home is located right close to Lake Ida and there is room to build a dock. After you pay for the land this home is located on you would not be able to build a home like this at this asking price. This is NOT a short sale. 

Luxury Delray Beach House / Home For Sale in Lake Ida - 3953 Lone Pine Rd, Delray Beach, FL 33445-76

Overview Maps Photos Features Description

$1,697,777 Single Family Home Main Features 6 Bedrooms 6 Bathrooms Lot: 2.06 acre(s) Location 3953 Lone Pine Rd Delray Beach, FL 33445-76 USA To get updates on open home dates and other property events, please click the "Like" button below:

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Nestor and Katerina Gasset International Properties and Investments, Inc (561) 753-0135 listingdomoreva@gmail.com http://www.wellington-luxury-homes.com

Our recent listings Wellington Condo For Rent in Shores At Wellington Condo - 12708 Shoreline Dr # F, Wellington FL 33414 Wellington Florida Short Sale - 2147 Wingate Bnd # 0, Wellington, FL 33414 Luxury Delray Beach House / Home For Sale in Lake Ida - 3953 Lone Pine Rd, Delray Beach, FL 33445-76 5 Acre Waterfront Lot For Sale - XXX E Rd, Loxahatchee, FL 33470 Lake Worth Florida Home for Sale! 6028 Sugarcane Lane Subscribe to our listing feed

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Call us today to schedule your private showing of this grand estate home in the heart of Delray Beach. This is truly a rare find. This home will not last on the market for this price. 

Florida Homeschool- Moving to Florida when you are homeschooling your children. 

We received this email on our ActiveRain home page: 

Hi!
We are a homeschooling family from OH and we are considering a move to the Miami area for my husband's job. 
Any advice?

thanks for your blog.

(I left of the name for obvious reasons.)

Since I am a homeschool advocate and activist promoting homeschool wherever I go and as much as I can one of my passions is to write about our homeschooling journey and support parents who homeschool or want to homeschool. 

Florida is a very homeschool friendly state. That is one of the reasons for homeschool families to move to Florida.  In fact, every year the governor of Florida honors homeschool in a special day where he invites homeschoolers to visit the capital in Tallahassee. 

When I first started homeschooling so many years ago we were looked upon as some sort of freaks and we mostly were closet homeschoolers. Back in the day in one of the states we lived in we were not even allowed to homeschool and therefore had to homeschool in hiding so to speak. 

But now millions of children are homeschooled. It is now a very legitimate option to public schools. 

When you move to Florida it is very easy to homeschool. You do need to register your children with your school district as homeschoolers. They have a homeschool department in most school districts in Florida. 

You are required as the parent to turn in a signed form each year that your child is still being homeschooled and that you have chosen to either have your child tested with the state standard testing or to have your child evaluated by a teacher or certified psychologist. We choose not to have our children tested. That is totally up to each parent. We choose to do the annual evaluation and we have a great teacher who we hire to do this each year with our kids.

There is a state law here in Florida that your children can participate in extra- curricular activities at the public schools. This is what Tim Tebow did. He was homeschooled but played ball at his local public high school. So if your children want to play football or be cheerleaders or be in the debate club- they are allowed to do so. 

You are free to choose whatever curriculum you want to for your children. There are no requirements other than they have to make progress in their learning each year. So if you want to unschool your children Florida is a great place to do so. 

Support systems are very good here in Florida. We have a lot of Christian, Jewish and secular homeschool support groups that meet and give the parents the moral and religious support they need. The kids get together to play and get to know each other. They have some really awesome teen groups here also especially here in Wellington Florida. 

We belong to PEC, a Christian Parents Educating Children organization. We meet once a month to hear a message of support, to socialize with other parents and to have the kids play together. 

There is also a great Christian homeschool athletic association that meets all across the state of Florida teaching your children all the sports. Our son goes once a week and spends the whole day doing the SAINTS program run by CHAA, Christian Homeschool Athletic Association. I have written a few posts about this great organization. 

There are also awesome co-ops where kids learn from different parents who help teach subjects that you may feel intimidated to teach or not know to teach like a foreign language. 

Also, here in Florida your children can be enrolled in the public school system but take all their classes on the computer at home. Please remember that if you are concerned about what they are teaching in the public schools that is not going to be different in this program. You also may not be eligible for certain homeschool scholarships since this program is considered to be public school and not homeschool even though your child would be learning at home. This is called Florida Virtual School. Please prayfully go over this option before you opt in for it. 

Homeschoolers here in Florida on average are 2 grades above their peers in public school. They are also eligible for many college scholarships. Many colleges and universities like homeschoolers because they know they have good study habits and most often are way ahead of their classmates. 

Also, here in Florida you can dual enroll your teenagers in a University program and homeschool.One of our daughters started going to the Palm Beach Atlantic University - one of the best Christian universities in the U.S.- at the age of 14. She graduated at the age of 18 with her bachelors and is now getting her master's degree in May in psychology. 

Homeschooling families are welcome in Florida! 

Wellington short sales- Some take 3 days and others take over a year. 

Our team has been doing short sales in Wellington- South Florida- Texas- California since 1981. The one thing that has not changed is the fact that every single short sale is different. There are no cookie cutter methods and there are no certainties except for the fact that each short sale is different. 

We got an approval from Bank Of America on one of our short sale listings within 3 days and closed within the next few weeks. We get a good amount of less than 30 day short sale approvals. But there are also short sales we have listed and sold that have taken over a year. 

You can not judge the expertise of a Wellington short sale agent by the length of time that a short sale takes because there are just too many elements that are out of the control of the Wellington short sale listing agent. 

So much depends on the lender's servicer and how many loans are on the property, how close to foreclosure a seller is, if the seller is paying their mortgage payments or not, if the seller is paying their HOA fees or not, if there are attorneys involved or not. 

Then there is the factor of the buyers. When a short sale takes too long with the sellers' lenders' servicers, the buyers don't often stay in the short sale transaction. If we are not the ones who brought the buyer to the table, that is yet another factor that we need to pay attention to because many Wellington agents are not involved with enough short sales on the listing side to understand and educate their buyer on the process and what to expect. 

While you don't know how long each Wellington short sale is going to take you can make sure that whoever you have helping you with the transaction and the negotiations with the banks, whether that is your attorney or your real estate agent, has a very high closing ratio of successful short sale transactions closed for the seller. 

Wellington Green Market is open from November to April each year. Yes, that is a different Green Market season than many places in the country. In South Florida the best growing season is the fall and winter. 

It is our little guy's favorite Saturday morning activity. They have a Cider Donut vendor who makes fresh little donuts and sells them in bakers' dozens. Our little guy and the grand kids all look forward to filling their bellies with those Cider Donuts. 

My favorite part of Wellington Green market is the wonderful organic and fresh grown veggies. Last Saturday I bought a Roma tomato plant that was full of green tomatoes waiting to be harvested for only $10.00 The farmer told me I would get about 60 pounds of tomatoes from this plant. They are delicious too! I already picked in just a week about a dozen of the tomatoes to enjoy in our salads and as snacks. 

Another vendor gets those amazing strawberries from Plant City Florida- the strawberry capital of the world. Yummy is the best description! 

We love to eat asian foods. There is one vendor who sells the most delicate and delicious asian cabbages like bok choy and other varieties. There is a very tender variety of asian cabbage that has a flower in it that you eat with the cabbage. I will try to remember to take a photo of this kind for my blog before we eat the next one. 

The Wellington Green market is open on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Try to get there early before all the goodies are gone because some do go fast! The Wellington Green market is located right on Forest Hill Blvd behind Scotty's Playground and Park and behind the new Wellington City Center. 

Riding with the wind he turns with just the right touch

Majestically, heavenly, he glides through the air

living free, looking beyond the face of time

naturally bending with inches perfected

leaping with grace - exactness and speed

the horse knows his rider, the rider knows his horse

together in perfected harmony

they turn, they glide, they jump 

challenging 

embracing natural movements 

joined, fitting together, grace perfected

Copyright© and authored by Katerina Gasset 2012- All Rights Reserved

What is a Wellington Short Sale? 

We created this very short 2 minute video for you to answer the question: What is a short sale? 

Short sales have been around since the origin of the mortgage and loans for homes- properties and other tangibles and non-tangibles. But most people had not really heard what a short sale is until the real estate bust in 2007. Most real estate agents did not know what a short sale was until recently either. Most homeowners did not know what a short sale was and many homeowners still don't know that a short sale is a great option to foreclosure in many circumstances. 

If you are looking for an easy way to explain what a short sale is this video is simple, fast and straight to the point. 

Wellington short sale broker Nestor Gasset and Wellington short sale agent Katerina Gasset train and coach real estate agents how to negotiate a successful short sale transaction.

Contact Nestor Gasset or Katerina Gasset for a confidential short sale interview to go over your short sale options and avoid foreclosure today.