As in some of my previous blogs about Over 55  – Active Adult Communities, I’ve given my own perspective of what it’s like to live in a 55 plus community.   I asked one of my neighbors to write his own perspective.  Richard G has lived in Villaggio since it’s inception and he’s a very active and vocal member of our HOA Board of Directors.  In addition, he keeps busy playing golf, tennis and is active in the mens club.  Richard and his wife are also socially involved in the community.

Here is Richards writing.

And I should move into a senior community, why?

I moved to Florida over six years ago & I consider it one of the best moves I ever made. I’m living in “Villaggio” a gated, 55 & over senior development & I love it.

For those considering THE MOVE here are some of the advantages of choosing a similar type of enviroment:

1) SAFETY: It offers some measure of security. Unwanted vehicles are prevented from entering but individuals can’t be prevented from entering if they want to get in. This means that the chances of anyone taking your TV Set, Refrigerator or any sizable equipment is very unlikely. They will only be able to get items like cash or jewelry & since, as I told my wife, jewelry is going out of style, there isn’t much to lose.

3) BECOMING A MACHA (Big Shot): You can become a member of the HOA (Home Owner’s Association) or join a committee. You would be surprised at how many people can hate you at one time.

4) RETIRED NECESSITIES: Throw away your lawnmower, your tools & everything you had in your basement & attic (no room for them). Meet friends, Greet friends & delete friends.

MOST OF ALL RETIRE TO THE GOOD LIFE!

Thanx Richard

Click here for Community Information or What’s For Sale in 30 Over 55 Communities.

For Todays Smile, check out this 5 year old singer. She’ll blow your mind.
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We’ve just produced another short video on GL Homes – The Valencia Series.   The seven Valencia communities are all Active Adult Communities in Palm Beach County. The Communities are:

Valencia Falls in Delray Beach
Valencia Isles in Boynton Beach
Valencia Lakes in Boybton Beach
Valencia Palms in Delray Beach
Valencia Pointe in Boynton Beach
Valencia Reserve in Boynton Beach
Valencia Shores in Lake Worth

Click on the link below to view this short video.
GL Homes The Valencia Series

If you care to view our previous short video on GL Homes, Click the link below
GL Homes / Valencia Video #1

Our blogs are all about Real Estate. We like to provide a variety of information most of which is Real Estate oriented. The Harelik Team services the full gambot of Real Estate needs but we specialize in Active Adult Communities and Ocean Front Communities. Oh yes, we’re also very strong in the Village of Wellington, great Equestrian and Family Communities. Stay tuned for future Blogs on Wellington.  Click the following link to see what’s for sale in Several Active Adult Communities.

Be sure and checkout our entire web site TheHarelikTeam.com . It offers a wealth of Real Estate Information, Easy Home Searches and there’s even a page of videos that are intended to Put A Smile On Your Face.

Click on the link below if you need a smile
Don’t mess with Granny

Future Blog writings will concentrate on mostly Real Estate but whenever I feel that I have something to share for information sake or entertainment sake, it will be posted on this blog.

Please feel free to comment on this blog. I’d like to hear the good, the bad and the ugly.

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The sellers have moved and are anxious to sell which is why this house is priced so well.  This is the lowest priced (by far) Maiano and is priced well below market value.

If you care to see what it’s all about click on this Virtual Tour Link.

Some of the upgrades include:

• Saturnia Marble Floors,
• Wood Cabinets in Kitchen and Baths
• Upgraded Appliances
• Pull Out Drawers in all shelves and pantry
• Beautiful Wood Floors in 3 Bedrooms and 4th is Saturnis Marble
• Decorator Cabinet, Mirror, Light Fixture and Faux paint in Powder Room (half bath)
• Crown Molding Thruout
• Chair Railing in dining room
• Tub in Laundry Room
• Upgraded Landscaping
• Accordian Shutters
• All Villaggio Active Adult Amenities

Villaggio is just one of many Active Adult Communities in Palm Beach County.  Our web site features 30 Active Adult Communities as well as Ocean Front Property and all properties in the Village of Wellington.  If you or anyone you know has any Real Estate Needs, Candace and I appreciate all referrals.

Need a smile????. ..    If you want to see a funny commercial, click this picture.

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Hi, I’m Joel of The Harelik Team.  After a rewarding 42 year career in computer retail sales and service, I decided to apply my technical knowledge to real estate.  Candace and I continue to use all of the tried and true methods of servicing our customers but in today’s world, the internet and social media have changed the way real estate business is done.  Combining my technical background, and

I’ve worked hard developing “The Harelik Team” web site.  It became the center of which Candace and I decided to invest our efforts.  Our goal is to offer excellent real estate marketing and customer service.  We decided to specialize in Active Adult Communities in Palm Beach County, an area in which we are knowledgeable.  We live in Villaggio, an over 55 community and we love it.  We’re big advocates of Active Adult Communities for persons over 55.

In today’s world, 87% of buyers do their real estate shopping on the internet.  Newspaper searching is almost a thing of the past.  The Harelik Team uses Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, our Blog, and Our Web Site.  We have professional pictures taken of our listings and we produce virtual tours that are uploaded to major real estate sites including  Realtor.com, Zillow.com, Trulia.com, Yahoo.com and many others.  We also upload our listing onto Craigslist.  These are  all excellent ways to promote our listings and we get fantastic results.

The Harelik Team web site has proven to be a great decision. In the development stage, the first several weeks were spent in coming up with the home page and site design. I’ve been adding content to the web site continually.  My technical background in business and marketing have made the web site superior to most other real estate sites.  The home page is warm, simple and inviting.  People decide within the first few seconds of visiting a site whether they’ll stay on that site or move on.  Our site, compared to other real estate web sites offer more information and will entice most people to stay on the site.  It looks very inviting and professional, but you already know that because you’re on our web site now.

The Harelik Team web site is connected directly with the MLS (Multiple Listing Service).  It’s updated every day so that all real estate information that is pulled up by our visitors is current information.

The site has a lot of content.  I searched all over for things to put on it.  I created a non real estate page for entertainment value.  It’s called “Videos to Make You Smile”.  (If you click on the picture to the left, I think you’ll smile)  I selected nine short videos for you to enjoy.  This page is one of the things that make our site different.

I created an Page featuring 30 different Active Adult Communities.  Candace and I decided promote Ocean and Intracoastal properties as well because  Candace knows that market extremely well so I created an Ocean and Intracoastal page which starts at $100,000 to the sky’s the limit (Millions).  It offers property groupings in $100,000 increments.   There sure is a lot of that kind of property.  Too much to see if it wasn’t broken in groups.

Being as The Harelik Team works out of the Coldwell Banker Wellington Office and we love the Village of Wellington, we decided to add Wellington Real Estate for sale.  It is also organized in $100,000 increments.

Our web site and Blog are constanly being updated.  It’s a great place to search for property, find out what your home is worth and to keep finding interesting information thru our Blog.  Keep checking back, you’ll probably see something new.

We hope that you find our web site to be informative and entertaining.

Here’s to a GREAT relationship with you and The Harelik Team.
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Bellaggio is a wonderful Active Adult Gated Community consisting of 1,099 Single Family Homes. The sub-division was started in 2001 and ended in 2004. It was a joint effort of Ansca and Levitt & Sons Builders, a nice blend of 2 quality home builders. Homes in Bellaggio range in size from 1,768 to 2,896 sq ft.

This 55 plus community is surrounded by lakes, ponds and lagoons. There’s plenty of nature for you to enjoy. At least 70 percent of the homes offer lake views. The homes and lakes occupy 568 beautiful South Florida acres.
Bellaggio is close to many golf courses and other local attractions and shopping such as:

Bellaggio Activities, Club, and Amenities
(There’s enough stuff to do to blow your mind)

Activities

• Tennis
• Oil Painting
• Pottery
• Mosaics
• 3-D Art
• Knitting
• Crocheting
• Quilting
• Brooklyn Club
• Stained Glass
• Chicago-Midwest Club
• Bridge
• Poker
• Gin Rummy
• Billiards
• Golf
• Hadassah
• Many more

Bellaggio Amenities

Club Bellaggio – 36,000 Sq. Ft.
State-of-the-Art Fitness Center
Indoor Lap Pool
Outdoor Resort-style Pool & Spa
Cafe
Card Rooms
Arts & Crafts Studio
Media & Computer Roo
Library
10 Har-Tru Tennis Courts
Bocce Ball Courts
Shuffleboard Court
Scenic Lakes & Ponds
Putting Green
Fitness Center & Indoor Pool
Exercise Room
Therapy Room
Locker Room
Cafe Bellaggio

Sound Good? Yeah, it sounds good to me too. If you’re interested in knowing more about Bellaggio or want to k now about the Homes For Sale In Bellaggio or any of the other 30 Active Adult Communities, give us a call. The Harelik Team (Candace and Joel) are anxious to help you. We’re fortunate because “We Love Our Work”

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Baywinds, in West Palm Beach, is located just Northeast of State Rd 7 (441) and Okeechobee Blvd.  It’s easily spotted by the beautiful waterfall at its entrance on Okeechobee.

Baywinds is an Active Adult Community also called an Over 55 Community.  It is made up of 1,082 affordable residences of Estate Homes, Single Family Homes, Villas and Coach Homes.  It consists of 12 different Coves (smaller communities) each with it’s own HOA (Home Owners Association).  The combination of the Master HOA fees and the Cove’s HOA fees are very reasonable and governs the Active Adult Community carefree lifestyle.  The breakdown of residences in Baywinds consists of 40 Estate Homes, 58 Coach Homes, 340 Villas and 644 Single Family Homes.  They range in size from 1,206 sq ft to over 2,600 sq ft.

Like most other over 55 communities, Baywinds features a large clubhouse which is the center of most activities, clubs and several other opportunities to enjoy an Active Adult Lifestyle.

Baywinds Amenities Include:

• ·         Two Bocce Courts
• ·         SixTennis Courts with a Tennis Professional
• ·         Four Shuffleboard Courts
• ·         Resistance Walking  Pool
•           Family Pool (Bring your Grandchildren)
• ·         Hot Tub/Spa
• ·         Clubhouse/Social Center
• ·         Fitness Center
• ·         Aerobics Room
• ·         Billiards (Pool) Room
• ·         Mens & Womens Locker Rooms w/Saunas
•           Library
•           Media Room

Some Baywinds Clubs Include:

• ·         Men’s Club
• ·         Women’s Club
• ·         Fitness Club
• ·         Theater Arts Group
• ·         Hadassah
• ·         CERT, Citizens on Patrol
• ·         Bocce Club
• ·         Tennis Club
• ·         Camera Club
• ·         Book Club
• ·         Clay Artisans
• ·         Creative Writing Group
• ·         New York Club

If you want to join a club and are unable to find one that suits you, start one of your own.

Being centrally located, Baywinds is close to Shopping, Restaurants, Wellington Mall, Entertainment, Downtown West Palm Beach, theTurnpike, I-95, and the West Palm Beach Airport. Baywinds is only about a 3 hour drive to 3 of Florida’s famous attractions.  Walt Disney World, Sea World and Universal.  That’s perfection for your children and grandchildren visiting from up north.  You may even enjoy these attractions yourself.

All in all, Baywinds, like most other Active Adult Communities is perfect for the full time resident that moves to Florida, the snowbird populations that visits us in the winter and the snowflakes that pop in here and there.

The Harelik Team specializes in Active Adult Communities.  We feature 30 Different Active Adult Communities on this web site.  If you care to see All The Properties For Sale In Baywinds or any other Active Adult Community, Contact The Harelik Team.

We hope you find this blog post useful.

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For those of you who haven’t found your dream place with an ocean or Intercoastal view, now is the time to think again.  With the economy being what it is and inventories being what they are and prices at their lowest in years, this is the time for you to actively look at what’s out there.

For example, for under $240,000 in West Palm Beach, you can get a beautiful 2 bedroom/2 bath condo with 1,170 sq ft and a suburb Ocean View.  Need more room?  For under $350,000 here’s another West Palm Beach condo with a beautiful Ocean View that’s a 2 bedroom/2 bath and has 1,855 sq ft.  How about one in Boca Raton for just over 2 ½ Million.  Here’s a 3  bedroom/3 ½ bath with 4,154 sq ft.  Okay, enough with the expensive stuff.  Ocean and Intercoastal properties are going for as little as the low 100,000’s.  (They also go as high as over 10 Milliion.)

All in all if you’ve been thinking about living with an Ocean or Intercoast View, this is the time to consider it.  Prices have been going down for quite awhile, and it seems like their starting to creep back up.  So NOW is the time to make your move.

If you want to see All Of The Ocean & Intercoastal Water View Properties, this is the place to do it.  They are organized by price range in increments of $100,000.  If you’re not ready to buy, you can have fun just looking at them. (so you can continue with your daydreams)

Candace and I (Joel), The Harelik Team specialize in Active Adult Communities, Ocean and Intercoastal View properties and the wonderful Village of Wellington.  Got questions? Need Help?  Call us or email us, we’d be happy to speak with you.

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Tis the season for Active Adult snowbirds to prepare for their flight home.  Most Southeast snowbirds are returning to New York, New Jersey and all around the town.  It seems that Southeast Florida attracts mostly from the East Coast and Southwest Florida attracts more from the Mid West.

April and May is the time when snowbirds are more interested in getting home than they are in looking for next year’s place to buy, rent or return to their second (or third) home.  If any realtor’s have been fortunate enough to have shown property to our departing snowbirds, they should stay in touch and continually remind them how wonderful Florida is (and it is).  Come next September or October they’ll be chomping at the bit to start looking for their place in paradise (Florida). 

Most buyers in Active Adult Communities either buy for cash or are able to put a large chuck of change as down payment.  Most have reached a stage in life where they can afford it and feel that they’ve earned the Florida Winter Lifestyle.

The reasons that most Active Adult Snowbirds are Snowbirds are Sons, Daughters and Grandchildren that still live up north.  They want the best of both worlds which includes our wonderful winters where their families can visit; they can play golf during the winter months and catch up on the other snowbirds that they haven’t seen since last year.

In late spring and summer, Real Estate transactions in Active Adult Communities slows down dramatically.  Active Adult Communities change complexion.  Several communities have a 40% or more Snowbird population.  Summer months bring Traffic and Restaurant relief.  The average ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival to anywhere) improves and the waiting for tables in restaurants is eliminated. 

GL Homes must believe in the future of Active Adult Communities as they continue to build them.  The Valencia Series (7 in all) in Palm Beach County are all Active Adult Communities.  New homes and resale activity slows in the summer.  It’s a good time to catch a bargain.  It’s time for many os us to sit back and relax because come next year, we get to do it all over again.

I live in an Active Adult Community (Villaggio).  Villaggio, like most other Active Adult Communities it’s a fun place to live and where we’ve come to make friends with people who all have things in common.  I’ve come to embrace the Snowbird cycle.  I’m happy to see them leave and I’m happy to have them return.  For me, it’s a good thing.

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Back in 2005, when selling, it didn’t matter about the condition of your home because of how fast prices were going up.  Here it is, 2012 and we’ve been in a depreciating market ever since.  In today’s market, buyers are much more demanding.  There are definitely things that can help you sell your house quicker.  Here are 10 buyer turnoffs that sellers should avoid at all costs.

 
DIRT
The number one turn off for homebuyers is a dirty house.  You should consider going to the extreme.  Things like cleaning Tile, Grout, Kitchen Counters and either clean or replace Carpets.  Your home should be clean and free of debris.

2.  ODORS
If there are any odors in your home, they should be pleasant odors like flowers or cookies.  The kitchen is especially important.  Nothing is worse than smoking odors and cat or dog odors.  Some say that Buyers buy with their nose.  You should do all you can to insure that your home smells fresh and inviting.

3.  OLD FIXTURES
Take a look at the fixtures on your cabinets.  Also look at your ceiling fans, light fixtures and kitchen appliances.  To get the highest price possible, consider all of the above and replace what you have to.  It pays off in the long run.

4.  WALLPAPER
Your mother and grandmother might have had wallpaper.  In today’s market, wallpaper is a no no.  It’s difficult to remove and simply adds another chore for your prospective home buyers.  Either get rid of it or offer a credit to the buyer.  Most buyers will appreciate that.

5. POPCORN ACCOUSTIC CEILINGS

7. SNOOPY SELLERS
Get lost.  When buyers are looking through your home, they should feel free to comment on the pros and cons of your home.  If you’re around, they most likely feel inhibited.  If you need to be there it greet them, either take a walk, sit outside, or go visit someone.  Be gone

8. MISREPRESENTING YOUR HOME
One sure way to upset a prospective buyer is by misrepresenting your home in the multiple listing service. Sellers tend to paint the best picture in their minds as to what your house will look like.  Be honest when soliciting home buyers.  Buyer’s don’t want to be disappointed by  misrepresentation.

9. POOR CURB APPEAL
You only have one chance to make a good first impression which tends to last with most buyers.  Keep your yard pristine.  Trim trees, edge grass and keep it immaculate.  Consider putting fresh mulch in the beds.  Your prospective buyer should love your house before they go in.

10. CLUTTER
When it comes to clutter, less is more both inside and outside.  Closets should only be half full.  Floors should be clear.  Many buyers have outgrown their present home and looking for more room.  Less clutter shows that there is room to grow.  In the kitchen, make sure that there are no more than three countertop appliances.  Consider dividing bookshelves into thirds.  The three equal parts should be 1. Books,  2. Vases and Pictures, 3. EMPTY.  If you have a home office, keep it generic.  When you get short notice before a showing, toss everything in a basket and tuck it away.

I live in an Active Adult Community in Palm Beach County Florida called Villaggio.   I absolutely love it.  There are several advantages to living in Active Adult Communities also known as 55 plus (55+) communities.

It’s an exciting lifestyle for persons in their 50’s and well into their 80’s or more.  Living in an Active Adult Community is like going back to college again.  In fact, we call ours community Camp Villaggio. You can think of them as a resort-designed communities which makes you feel like you are on vacation all the time.

For persons who are ready for a lifestyle change, Active Adult Communities allow you to enjoy new experiences, new scenery, new activities where all your neighbors are practically at the same stage of life as you.

They most likely have similar backgrounds and share similar interests as you.
They are called “Active” Adult Communities for a reason. The club house is generally the hub of organized and unorganized social activities.   Everything is right there.  Most (not all) Active Adult Community amenities include:

• Clubhouse
• Clubhouse Café
• Indoor and/or Outdoor Pools
• Spa
• Fitness Center
• Dance and/or Aerobics Studio
• Grand Ballroom with Stage
• Card Rooms
• Arts & Crafts Room
• Computer Lab / Library
• Tennis Courts
• Bocci Ball

If that’s not enough, join any of the many clubs and special interest groups. And if there’s not one to suit your fancy, you can probably start one of your own.

Social Activities give the opportunities to meet new friends of similar ages and interests. Active Adult Communities are actual communities which makes getting together easier and offers an immediate sense of belonging.  Most are gated and most have security patrols, which offers a feeling of protection.

You don’t have to be retired.  Many pre-retirees are moving to active adult communities. By all accounts this concept is a winner.  Active adult Communities’ popularity is rising.

There are many Palm Beach County Active Adult Communities that offer Active Adult Lifestyles.  Here is a link to 30 Different Active Adult Communities including ALL of the Valencia Series by GL Homes.

The Harelik Team specialized in Active Adult Communities. Need help in finding one that’s right for you? Try The Harelik Team, we won’t disappoint you.