“Navarre Beach is about to become snorkelicious with our three new snorkeling reefs … we have the longest pier into the Gulf of Mexico at 1,545 feet and now this project is about to be finished … just a wonderful place to live, work and play!” Jersey Jerry Foster, real estate agent and resident of Navarre, boasts. 

The community of Navarre has been working to bring these near shore reefs to Navarre since 1999.  The increase to tourism because of this new offering should be in the MINIMUM 25%.  ” As for the environmental impact? These reefs will assist in providing cleaner water, increase biodiversity, and contribute to the creation of “ 124,480 square feet of new marine habitat.”

You can celebrate the opening of two of three Navarre Beach Marine Sanctuary snorkeling reef projects at a ribbon cutting being  held Tuesday, May 22nd at 11:30, at the  Sandpiper Pavilion, sound side in Navarre Beach Park.

“The installation of the two Navarre Beach Park sound side tiered reef modules, also known as Walter Eco-System Reef Modules, began May 15 and is expected to take four days to complete. “ 

To read more information about this from Santa Rosa County: http://www.santarosa.fl.gov/news/newsrelease/120515-REEF.pdf

During my conversation with the caller, I asked what prompted her to ask for me by name as I didn’t recognize her name. I knew that I had no name riders on signs, or any listings in our MLS or on our websites.  Her response really touched me and became one of those “ah-ha” moments for me.

It seems that we had met at an open house almost 20 years ago.  Her husband was military and they had just had a beautiful baby girl and were ready to invest in the American Dream.  Unfortunately, they had some credit issues due to all those credit cards that companies used to send out to our young people.  We worked on a program with the lender to resolve those credit issues (this was before credit scores) and they were cleared to purchase.  As Uncle Sam would have it, they received orders before they had the opportunity to purchase a new home.  I wished them well and thought I would probably never see them again.

About three years later the husband was killed in combat.  I sent a card and prayers and that was the last contact I had with her.  17 years later…”the ah-ha call”.  She remarried about five years ago and her beautiful baby girl just finished college.  They had come back several times to vacation in our area and had now decided that they would like to purchase a vacation home…and she remembered the Realtor who had helped the young couple resolve some credit problems so that they could purchase a home.

It was wonderful to get reacquainted and it’s even more wonderful that we are reminded periodically that customer service really is what our business is all about.  If you do business according to the Golden Rule and would like to be part of a team that makes it our trademark, call me…I would love to talk with you and share the American Advantage.

P.S.  What’s the commission of $635,000 anyway?

Linda Randes Director of Careers & Professional Development

I’ve come to realize the more I take on the more I desire things to be simple (moving into the desperately desire range by the year). Considering I’m not a machine, not overly smart and not nearly perfect, simplicity has always been a focus and trait for me. If things get complicated I have an almost uncontrollable urge to simplify. Unfortunately for some that means they get to hear me ask a lot of “why” questions. It’s in my DNA. I can’t not ask. And for me simplification begins with knowing the why.  Ironically I’ve found that simplifying isn’t a simple thing.

Simplifying often requires in-depth research, observation, lengthy considerations, well thought out solutions and major changes to existing systems, structures or processes. To simplify one must determine what’s absolutely necessary and what’s needed. And what’s not. Why are things done certain ways and why couldn’t it be done differently, more efficiently, and in the end better.

One of my roles at the office is responsibility for helping others achieve the level of business they want in a way that’s best for them. Being the person I am, I start business development sessions with the end in mind; simplicity whenever possible is infinitely more helpful than complexity. Simplicity in generating leads, converting leads and managing contacts are all critical processes in the life of a successful real estate agent. After becoming Business Development Director it became very clear that one of the largest difficulties (there are many) real estate agents face is explaining to prospective sellers how and why some real estate is sold while other real estate isn’t.

Recently I wrote an internal office blog and its focus was on a simplicity approach I used when speaking with prospective sellers.  So, today I’ll finish with a simplified explanation I used with sellers to explain how and why a property sells.

“I wish I could tell you what I do is rocket science, but it’s not. The how and why a property sells is simple really. Your property, and all properties actually sell because of four factors: price, condition, location and marketing. Sellers set the list price. Buyers and sellers determine the sales price. We’ll discuss the condition together and then you’ll decide that. We’re stuck with the location – and Marketing is my responsibility.”

Having that simple conversation sets the stage to decide how we’d work together in the sale of their property. If you are considering simplifying things in your business please let me know. I’d be happy to meet with you and discuss ways you might simplify some parts of your business.

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Payne Walker, Director, Technology & Business Development

Does 9.81% return on your investment sound pretty good?  What about an average return of 11.5% over the last five years?

Well, folks, it’s reality!  Every year hundreds of properties exist that their owners don’t or can’t pay the taxes on.  Although our tax collectors for Okaloosa, Walton or Santa Rosa counties don’t exactly look like the comic version of the evil tax collector, they still have the responsibility to collect taxes on every taxable property in their respective county.  And once the property taxes become delinquent, the process of collecting those taxes is done through tax certificate sales.

What is a tax certificate?  It is s first lien on the real estate and bears interest at the maximum rate allowed by law (which is 18%) unless the bidder specifies a lower rate.

When and where is the sale advertised?  Each county advertises a list of available certificates in a local newspaper for three weeks prior to the actual sale.

How do you register?  Visit the county site such as www.BidOkaloosa.com.  Once registered a deposit made through ACH and a completed W-9( will be required to submit bids.

When are the bidding results available?  Unofficial results of the sale will be accessible by all registered users immediately following the close of each batch.

How is the interest determined?  The interest is determined by the bidder with the lowest percentage bid.  Interest accrues on the first of each month and will be paid back after the certificate is redeemed.

How are certificates paid for?  At the completion of each batch, the winning bidder will be notified of certificates they have been awarded and final payment will be required via ACH no later than 5 pm on June 5, 2012.

Where is the sale?  The sale is conducted online via the county-designated site.  The sale’s website is where all bids, deposits and payments must be made.

Where can you find out more?  For more information on the tax certificate sales, visit the county websites such as www.OkaloosaTax.com and www.BidOkaloosa.com or call your county tax collector’s office.

SURE BEATS 1% RETURN ON SAVINGS BONDS!!

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Linda Randes, Director, Recruiting & Training

Last night I decided to make my contact list into groups so emailing could be simplified. Easy, right? No, this is an iPad and nothing is as easy as it could be. So I went to my old friend Google (if Google doesn’t know the answer there is none), where I found the following. To make a group you must go to your Mac or PC (wait a minute isn’t this what I am trying to avoid by having an iPad…)

Here are the steps involved:

1. Open a web browser on your Mac or PC, go to icloud.com and logon using your Apple ID and password.
2. Click on the Contacts icon.
3. On the top of the address book you will see a red flag with two heads, click on it.
4. The flag will move to the right side and show only one head.
5. On the left page, lower right is a plus sign (+) click on it.
6. In the blue window, untitled group 1, type the name of the group you want to create and click enter.
7. You now have a new group but it is empty……….. (

Now the fun begins.  You must decide how you are going to populate your new group. You need a key word in each contact such as “family.”  If you get along well enough with your family to want to send group emails that is (hate mail not allowed). Maybe you want to create a group for friends by the company they work for such as American Realty. Follow the steps below.

1. Under company you could type American Realty, and under notes you could type family.
2. Now you have three search fields, you can search American Realty for friends who work there, you can search family for family members, or you can search American Realty and family if you have family members who work at American Realty.
3. Go ahead and setup a few contacts so you can play along.
4. Make sure your flag has one head showing.
5. On the page on the right in the search box type American Realty. All of the contacts with American Realty in the company field will appear.
6. Now click on the first name, it will turn blue or become shaded, hold the shift key and click on the rest on the name you want to put in this group.
7. Now drag the highlighted names to the group you want them in.
8. That’s it, you have a group. Now try the same thing using family as the search word.
9. One more thing you should know; if the key word is anywhere on the contact page that contact will show up along with the others. So if in your notes you say Jim has a large family Jim will show up in a search using family as the key word.

Now when you check your iPad or iPhone you will see the new group and the names you put in it. Think you’re ready to email to your group? You’re wrong, nothing is that simple. At this point you can email to your group by tapping on one name at a time. I know I had you do all this for nothing; you could tap on one name at a time before. Now we have to go to the App store and buy an App to email our group. The App is called Group Email (makes sense). The cost is $4.99. When you first download Group Email it looks kind of silly but it works very well. Tap on the plus (+) sign under recipients to bring up your groups, tap on the group you want to email to, tap on “to”, “cc”, or “Bcc”, and tap on done. You can add attachments under the attachment window or tap on create message. Create message brings up your standard email window with the names of your recipients across the top. Now just type your email and tap send.

It is a lot of work to set this up, but if you send to groups often it is worth doing. Don’t forget to update your groups as people, family, come and go.

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Denny Naugle, Operations Manager

Navarre Beach Florida Voted "Best of the Best" Restored Beach

The announcement from the Santa Rosa County Public Information Office – 

The American Shore and Beach Preservation Association announced today, May 1, that the Navarre Beach 2006 restoration project is a winner of its “Best of the Best” Restored Beaches contest. To celebrate 10 years of honoring Best Restored Beaches Across America, ASBPA asked anyone who loves the beach to pick the Best of the Best of Restored Beaches from a list of past award winners. In 2010, Navarre Beach was one of four beaches nationwide selected as a Best Restored Beach. This year, nominees were placed in one of three categories- Urban, Community and Park/Habitat beaches- and competed by region.  Thanks to voters’ support, Navarre Beach won the entire Best Community Beach category as well as garnering the highest overall vote total.

“We were overwhelmed by the positive turnout,” said BRB chairman Lee Weishar, an ASBPA board member. “To bring in almost 27,000 votes in the Community Beach contest (and almost 24,000 in the Urban contest) shows the strong support from the various communities whose beaches were included in the online balloting and demonstrates the passion people have for THEIR beach. In reading the comments voters left, we were struck both by the devotion people have for their favorite beach and for beaches in general… how people could comment knowledgably on a number of the beaches in the contest, having visited many of them regularly.”

For over 40 years, beach restoration has been the preferred method of shore protection in coastal communities on the east, west and Gulf coasts. Beach restoration is the process of placing beach-quality sand on dwindling beaches to reverse or offset the effects of erosion. The purpose of the contest was to remind people that so many of this country’s favorite beaches have been restored – some so successfully that the folks who visit them don’t even know or remember it. It is ASBPA’s way to highlight the importance of sound coastal management, as well as the need to maintain our coastal infrastructure to keep it healthy and wide for all users.  The three main reasons for restoration are:

Storm protection – a wide sandy beach helps separate storm waves from upland structures and infrastructure.

• Habitat restoration – numerous species rely on wide, healthy beaches as a place to live, feed and nest.
• Recreation – America’s beaches have twice as many visitors annually as all of America’s national parks combined. Every year, there are more than 2 billion visitors to America’s beaches. In 2007, beaches contributed $322 billion to the America’s economy. More importantly, for every dollar the federal government spends on beach nourishment, it gets an estimated $320 back in tax revenues.

The restoration project at Navarre Beach was designed to restore a critical protective buffer to the upland along approximately four miles of Gulf shoreline repeatedly damaged by multiple storms. The project was also designed to re-establish important recreational and economic benefits for the area, including 0.7 miles of beach and dune at the county’s Navarre Beach Park. The project ultimately expanded the storm-damaged beach and residents saw the Gulf being “pushed” away from their properties, evacuation routes and other public.

The initial planning and permitting called for placement of 2.2 million cubic yards of sand to construct the design beach and dune and 240,000 cubic yards of material for advanced nourishment. The sand was transferred from a borrow area, located approximately four miles offshore in 60 to 70 feet of water, via hopper dredge and offloaded for beach fill placement via submerged pipelines. Construction began in March 2006 and was completed in mid-November 2006 with a final pay volume of almost three million cubic yards. The final fill volume placed was approximately 500,000 cubic yards more than the volume originally estimated and permitted. This was the result of erosional losses within the project from storms after the permit was issued but, before construction commenced. A vegetated dune feature was included in the design.

Santa Rosa County co-sponsored the project with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Beaches and Coastal Systems. Leaseholders and Santa Rosa County raised the local cost-share through the establishment of a Municipal Service Benefit Unit on the barrier island.

An independent panel of coastal managers and scientists selected Navarre Beach as one of four Best Restored Beach in the nation in 2010. Judging was based on three criteria: the economic and ecological benefits the beach brings to its community; the short- and long-term success of the restoration project; and the challenges each community overcame during the course of the project.

ABOUT ASBPA: Founded in 1926, the ASBPA promotes the integration of science, policies and actions that maintain, protect and enhance the coasts of America. For more information on ASBPA, go to www.asbpa.org, Facebook or www.twitter.com/asbpa or send an email to exdir@asbpa.org. A complete collection of Beach News Services articles is available for media access online at www.asbpa.org/news/newsroom_beachnews.htm.

We at American Realty also wish to thank Jerry Foster who promoted all of us to vote for the beautiful Beaches of Navarre.  And rightly so, Jerry!

We have been voted the Finest on The Emerald Coast Real Estate Firm!

“Voting was held over a period of three weeks from Feb. 26 to March 19. Ballots were cast online at FinestOnTheEmeraldCoast.com. Approximately 1,800 ballots were submitted in the second annual installment of Finest on the Emerald Coast, a readers’ choice program that allows our readers to select the area’s finest businesses in more than 160 categories.” -The Destin Log

The April 25 winners’ event is presented by the Okaloosa County Tourist Development Council and Emerald Coast Convention Center. Read Full Article: http://www.thedestinlog.com/news/winner-21552-winners-experience.html

Tickets are now on sale for an event showcasing the winners, to be held April 25 at the Emerald Coast Convention Center on Okaloosa Island from 6 to 9:30 p.m.

During the event, winners will be demonstrating why they were chosen as the Finest on the Emerald Coast, and those in attendance will be able to taste, see and experience the area’s “Finest.”

Winning restaurants The Black Pearl, AJ’s Seafood & Oyster Bar, County Line Pizza & Pub, The Golden Corral, The Boathouse Oyster Bar, Boathouse Landing, Floyd’s Shrimp House, Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q, Pandora’s, Magnolia Grill, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and The Crab Trap will be among those presenting.

Legendary Marine and Sam Taylor Buick Cadillac will be showing off the Finest vessels on land and sea. Meet the Finest dentist, chef, jeweler, hair stylist, lawyers, Realtors and even a tattoo artist. All the while, Woofy from 99Rock will be doing a live remote from the event.

Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Advance tickets and a complete winners list are available online at FinestOnTheEmeraldCoast.com.

What if you could quickly add text boxes, check-boxes, photos, and signatures to any PDF? What if you could do this on your iPad? Well now you can with Form Tools PDF available in the App Store. This is really cool, for $4.99 you can make any PDF writable. From email, Dropbox, or whatever app you have a PDF stored you can open to Form Tool, and then tap on the tools icon in the lower right corner to toggle between Edit Form and Quick Fill Form. In Edit Form holding your finger anywhere on the form will open a Create New info box, tap on it and you will see text box, check box, and photo box. Taping on one of these will open a tool allowing you to place, size, edit, lock, or discard your chosen box.  The text box can be formatted for plain text, a dropdown box, email address, or date/time.  You can edit the keyboard so when you tap on the text box it opens to a text, numeric, email, or web address keyboard. Try this, name the text box then turn on autofill others, make a couple more text boxes and give them the same name as the first box. Now when you fill in the first box the others with the same name are filled in automatically. The check box allows you to put an “X” where you have check boxes on the form and the dropdown box allows you to make a list of words that can be used. As you add boxes to your PFD toggle back to Quick Fill Form to test your work, you can toggle back and forth at any time.

How would you use this for business? Download the PDFs you want to use into Form Tools and make them into templates which you will save to your iPad or cloud service. Now when you are with a client they can fill out the form right there on your iPad. The form can be emailed to them or printed.

Now for the one downside, you can email the forms you have made using Form Tools as PDFs but unless the computer they are sent to is using Form Tools the writable boxes will not work. A form that has been filled out will email and print but the text boxes are no longer writeable. I have searched for a desktop version of Form Tools but so far no luck. I would not let this stop me from using the app as I think it has a lot of potential.

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Denny Naugle, Operations Manager

Sharp has come out with a new app for your iPad it’s called Sharpdesk Mobile; you can download it from the App Store for free. This is great for scanning directly to your iPad.

Setup:

1. Download the app
2. Go to settings, you will want to setup printer/scanners and user information
   1. Tap on Set up Printer/Scanner
   2. Tap on Find Printers/Scanners: Once printers are found tap on the printer name and the information for that printer will appear. Don’t forget to tap on save.

Scanning:

1.  Press Scan
2.  If you have move then one scanner listed tap on scanner and select where you are scanning from
3.  Tap scan in the lower right corner
4.  Tap OK
5.  Info box will appear, do not tap cancel or anything else
6.  Go to the scanner and scan to your iPad name, in setup I would use your name and Ipad
7.  On your iPad you will now see scan is complete, tap ok
8.  Your scan will appear on your iPad, tap save in the lower right corner
9.  Go to organize and your scan will be there

Send to Application or Email

You can now send your scan to an application such as Dropbox or ReaddleDocs. You can also send by email.

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Denny Naugle, Operations Manager