I know we are all accustomed to convenience stores, and running in to get that little something we need.   For me, lately, it's Tic Tacs. I smoked a number of years ago, and quit a whlie ago, but I have found that stress sometimes leads me to less than fabulous decisions. Enter Nicorette!  Except, then I was just chomping on Nicorette, which is still nicotine. I turned the corner a couple of weeks ago, to 100% Tic Tacs. The price of these little mints varies greatly from store to store. At Target & Publix, in and around the Jacksonville Beaches, they tend to be priced at $1.07. Go to major drugstore chains, and that figure popls up to $1.50 or higher - a 50% increase in price.  And yestereday, at a gas station the same Tic Tacs were priced at $1.81. Not all products will be priced that ... 10/20/2013

Dog owners - I just saw this on Jacksonville.com, and wanted to get the word out. The Paws Park located by the city ballfields off Shetter Ave and down the street from the cop shop (Jax Beach PD) will be closing in November, and re-opening in February as a membership park. The details have not been released as to what the renovations are, but if you and your pooch use this park now, you will want to get your last visit in before November, and find an alternate dog park until they re-open in February.  As a bit of trivia, this was the first free dog park to open in Duval County, FL in 2005. For more information, you can call Gary Meadors, Jacksonville Beach's director of parks & recreation at 904/247-6236.   10/15/2013

I had blogged about this a month or so ago....before I was REALLY aware it was not yet official. Now, it is offiicial, and I'm (among others) are thrilled. Why? In this article, it is stated that Trader Joe's may be smaller than Publix on a SF basis, but the bang for the buck factor is HUGE.  You can find fabulous wines for $3-$5  a bottle, and they rock their private label inventory, which is wonderful for creative chefs as well. This location is just minutes from where I live in South Jacksonville Beach, you can read more here: Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/business/2013-10-14/story/trader-joes-makes-it-official-store-will-open-jacksonville-beach#ixzz2hnCAPuVE 10/14/2013

The Beaches" *Market Update Residential Units         Aug. '11 Aug. '12 Aug. '13 Aug. '13 vs Aug. '12           New Listings 168  189  222 +17% Sold Listings 132  136  171 +26% Total Active  925    713  657 - 8% Months Inventory 7.01  5.24  3.84  - 27%         Residential Recap : August 2013 vs August 2012 (year over year)     Did you know... "The Beaches" residential market offering less than 750 houses active for sale each of the last 12 months. Adding 222 new listings this month.  Residential Single family home inventory continues to be less than 4 months. Market is posturing for a slight rise of inventory. Interest rates are on the move up, refinancing has slowed measurably.  Helping "unclog" the loan processing, approval and closing timelines.   ___________________________________... 09/18/2013

I recently blogged about changing primary care physicians. Mind you, I've not had a primary care physician in the past 15+ years. My new doctor reviewed my lab results, and stated all was perfect, and I didn't need to come back for another 6 months. Fabulous news! So, how come the last doctor wanted to continue to see me every 8 weeks, I wondered? Chalk it up to different practices. The prior doctor may have been more conservative, more hands on.  The truth is, he & I had the same conversation every 8 weeks, and then the scrip pad would come out for the same drugs, and I set up an appointment for another 8 weeks. I grew tired of this, as I felt I was on a hamster wheel, with no forward progress. Enter the new doc, who writes my scrips for 3 months at a time, and has told me I don't need... 09/18/2013

The Jacksonville Beach Planning & Development Department has new FEMA Flood zone information available. You can check your property address to see how the upcoming changes to the flood zone maps will impact you.  The flood zone maps were redrawn this past June, so what your flood zone classiciation has been in the past may not be the same now. To find out more, you can call Bill Mann, Senior Planner with the department at 904/247-6107. 09/16/2013

I've had the doctor mandated lab work over the past year: not my favorite thing to do, and  I changed docs because I felt labs every two months was a bit much.  I go to get my labs done this morning, first thing, since they have to be fasting, and I don't do well with that restriction. A surprise this morning was an additional request, one I've not had before. Now, I'm sure there are people who prepare for the lab work and eat really well the night before, and drink lots of water, and go to bed early. I'm not that person. Clearly, from the photo below, there are some individuals who OVER prepare for their labs, and may try to be creative about getting the desired results. Suffice to say, I don't study for these kinds of tests.          09/12/2013

        Here are the July  homes sold in Jacksonville Beach, FL. This report includes all single family homes, and do not include any condominiums.                July 2013       Homes Sold:                                             31 Highest Sold Price:                                    $1,055,000 Lowest Sold Price:                                     $98,000 Highest Sold Days On Market:                    151 Lowest Sold Days On Market:                     1     Average Index of Sold Price/List Price:        93%+ (8 of 31 sold for 100% or more of list price) Here are the same statistics for July 2012, for comparison:                    July 2012 Homes Sold:                                             28 Highest Sold Price:                                    $440,000 Lowest Sold P... 08/30/2013

We've heard this rumor a few times, and it's been a bit challenging to nail down details. Seems the location rumor could be true, and this would put our first Trader Joe's at the same shopping plaza as our Beaches Realtor Council meets at, and close to the HGTV SmartHome which is located in Paradise Key in South Jacksonville Beach, FL.  I've been to Trader Joe's, but it's been a while - my girlfriend in Gainesville enjoys hers, so I'm thrilled to have an approximate location and approximate target opening date of October 2014. You can read the full article here: http://jacksonville.com/business/2013-08-29/story/trader-joes-coming-jacksonville-beach#ixzz2dMI6iCC2     08/28/2013

One would think that oceanfront property always moves quickly. That is not always the case, especially with vacant land. The challenge can be finding the right buyer/developer, as was the case in Jacksonviile Beach recently. The city residents voted in a 35 foot building limit, and this parcel is one than is grandfathered in to build to 89 feet. It would make sense for the developer to build a multi-use site, in my opinion. Whether its a condo, a hotel, or a development that has I retail on the first floor, it signifies forward progress for the city.   You can read the full article here:http://jacksonville.com/business/real-estate/2013-08-28/story/atlantis-block-jacksonville-beach-sells-developer-35-million#ixzz2dJbyAi00 08/28/2013

I'm a note taker, always have been, always will be.   When I was on the PC Platform, I LOVED Microsoft Outlook notes for anything and everything: how may square feet in an acre, lockbox codes, NRDS info - you name it.  I used to have a massive Franklin Planner that I lugged around, but my iPad is smaller than that, so I ditched it. Why did I like that planner? I had 2 pages per day, one page for my appointments, and one page for my notes. What could I possibly replace this with? Evernote. Evernote is fabulous. You can organize your notes into notebooks, it syncs across multiple platforms, and you can email your notes from the FR Convention to someone who couldn't attend the same sessions you did.  You can make your font bold, you can strikethrough, you can add bullet points, and with th... 08/23/2013

I've debated for a few weeks about writing this post, but am catching up on Big Brother after being at the Florida Realtors state convention this past week. If you have watched the show, you know it's a closed environment where the houseguests stay, completely media/device free for 3 months.  A LONG time without phones, email, all the necessary technology we utilize on a daily basis. One of the contestants is a Realtor, licensed in Florida. Without going into a ton of detail, suffice it to say this particular agent probably thought her appearance on the show would do nothing but enhance her business. Guess again. If you have not been watching the show, you can google Big Brother Season 15 to see some clips from the show, and read updates on who still remains in the house. Be careful wha... 08/18/2013

The Beaches Market Update Residential - Single Family Homes         July '11 July '12 July '13 July '13 vs July '12           New Listings 150  162  240 +48% Sold Listings 117  142  175 +23% Total Active  946    739  672 - 10% Months Inventory 8.09  5.20  3.84  - 26%         Residential Recap : July 2013 vs July 2012 (year over year)  Did you know... "The Beaches" residential market averaging less than 750 houses for sale each of the last 12 months. Adding 240 new listings this month.  Inventory continues to be less than 4 months. Market is posturing for a slight rise of inventory       The Beaches Market Update Condominiums      July '11 July '12 July '13 July '13 vs July '12           New Listings    57    60   62  +3% Sold Listings    53     40    43    +8% Total Active  373  286  2... 08/15/2013

Photo of the Week August 9 2013 I love this picture, because of the many different shades of blue, which by the way is my favorite color. This pier is the Jacksonville Beach Pier and as you can see it was a busy day for fishing in the ocean. You don't always see the waters that blue there, but that day, they were pretty sweet. It was a fun day to be hanging out at the beach and a good way to beat the heat.   Originally Posted at: Northeast Florida Life 08/02/2013

      I have LOVED using electronic signatures since they were "acceptable & approved", and Docusign is an awesome platform, in my opinion. It's so easy to drag and drop fields for your remote buyers or sellers to sign, date and initial, and it seems much more flexible to me than EchoSign. Now, the Docusign Ink is an iPad app, that gives you all that great functionality on your iPad - which is fabulous, since that is my main work life right now. You can still drag and drop your signature & initial fields, once you have uploaded the forms.  As with Docusign, if you find a faux pas on one of your docs, it's best to correct it before you send the envelope out for signing, but the tech folks have added the ability to make changes once the envelope is in process, as long as no one has signe... 07/30/2013

    I love Evernote - it's an app I have on my Samsung Galaxy S4, iPad, and iPad mini. Evernote is a cloud based note & notebook program that is free (it may have a fee if you have a lot of data) that functions just like you would think: you can store notes in notebooks and access them anywhere. I have notebooks for FAR, NEFAR, Clients, AR Blogs- you get the picture. It makes my note taking so much easier, and you can search them to find them quickly & easily.   A particular bonus: you can email your notes to someone from Evernote, similar to sharing a link to your Dropbox account.  I still have paper I carry, but this way, I can find what I need without having to dig through a physical notebook. Plus, with the web service, you can access your Evernote account via a desktop PC. I highl... 07/22/2013

I love putting my copyright on my photography: after all, it's my image, I captured it, I should "own" it, right? Having made the conversion full time from a PC background to an iPad junkie, I was having trouble finding how to do this, until I found Over in the App Store. You can add text, change the font, make it different colors, watermarks - pretty much anything you want to do, and then just save it to your Camera Roll.  It's quick & simple - I just added my copyright to this one in less than a minute:    07/21/2013

    I had blogged recently that Shad Khan, the Jacksonville Jaguars owner, was bidding to purchase the English Premiere League team, and he has completed the purchase. Now, how could this have a positive impact on Jacksonville, FL? Consider a "friendly" soccer match at EverBank Field, featuring Fulham - it's an awesome opportunity to showcase Jacksonville, as well as the $63 million in improvements to EverBank Field. This could be an incredible opportunity for all parties involved: Fulham, Jacksonville, Shad Khan, the list is endless! You can read more here: http://jacksonville.com/sports/2013-07-20/story/friendly-fulham-everbank-field-could-showcase-jacksonville#ixzz2Zaq5gTRs 07/19/2013

      I had the opportunity to upgrade my phone last week - my HTC Sensation had been acting quirkier and quirkier, and I finally had enough. I'd had that particular phone style for 2 years, and even though this was a new "phone" having claimed on the insurance, it went through battery very quickly, the touchscreen wasn't as responsive as it had been, and heck, there are newer phones with bigger screens, better cameras, and more capability. Enter the trip to the T-Mobile store. I'd already done my online research, so I thought I was going to purchase the HTC One, but asked the sales rep what he thought of the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, and the iPhone 5.  The iPhone had a chance as I have an iPad and an iPad Mini, but I wasn't sure I wanted to get the iPhone, mainly because that meant ... 07/17/2013

I'm not intentionally being coy, I don't like saying senior citizens (and I'm not sure they like it, either). I showed a friends parents some properties this morning, and I was reminded how differently they look at homes than some other age groups. For example, this couple is looking to move from Pennsylvania to Florida, so it's not just looking for a new home. It's the process of downsizing, getting rid of most winter clothing - except I told the wife to keep her full length mink coat: believe it or not, it gets chilly enough here in Jacksonville, FL in December and January for one to wear a full length mink coat. I've seen it.  One of our most insightful conversations happened in the master closet, while we were discussing how much clothing and how many pairs of shoes she had.  It se... 07/12/2013