You need a fishing license fast.  You have planned and prepared and the morning you are going out fishing on your new boat has arrived!  At 6:00 a.m. you realize that you have no fishing license and you don't want to meet the local FWC officers under that circumstance.

You don't need to find a bait and tackle shop and you don't need to get on the internet.  Dial 888-347-4356 (or 888-FISH-FLORIDA) and have your credit card ready.  You will be given license numbers over the phone and that will save you if you get pulled over.

If you are unclear ( as most of us are ) about what species are in and out of season, you can go to the FWC website and print out the regualtions.  Go to www.myfwc.com and click on saltwater regulations.  Just be sure to know what county's waters you are fishing and know when you are in state waters, and know when you have crossed into federal waters.  The regulations often differ.

Have fun and leave some fish for the rest of us!

Sunday, August 20, 2011, from 2:00-5:00 is the grand opening of the Cape St. George Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage.  Guided tours and refreshments will be available to all visitors.  This cottage is a spectacular addition to the existing lighthouse.

The cottage houses a museum with extensive historical displays and artifacts from the Cape St. George Lighthouse, which fell in 2005 and was reconstructed, thanks to the St. George Lighthouse Association, and put in the center of St. George Island.

This light was on Little St. George Island from 1852 until it fell in 2005.  This light was the last in a series of replacements of the original light which was built on Little St. George in 1833.

Going forward from August 20th, the Lighthouse and Keeper's Cottage hours of operation will be:  Open from 10 - 5 except closed on Thursdays and open Noon - 5 on Sundays. 

Climbing the lighthouse and looking out over St. George Island and its waters and shorelines is unforgettable and the cottage will add a rich dimension of history to the lighthouse experience.

To learn more about the Cape St. George Lighthouse and Keeper's Cottage visit:   www.stgeorgelight.org 

Last night (Monday 6/27/11 ) a waterspout hit the powerlines that provide St. George Island with electricity. The storm was so short-lived with very little rain, it doesn't seem it could have spawned the spout...but it did.

One of the poles that was taken down was a new concrete pole and the other one was an old wooden one; Mother Nature doesn't discriminate.  They were right next to each other and were in the group on the south side of the channel.

No point in complaining...St. George Island is a barrier island after all! Tourists and residents of St. George  Island enjoy being close to nature and enjoy the rural aspects of the "Forgotten Coast".     

Progress Energy dispatched six of their generator trucks from Tampa which will power the island at peak holiday load while the poles in the Apalachicola Bay are repaired with the use of work boats.  We should have power sometime tonight with the target being 11:59 pm e.s.t.

The beach is just as busy as it was this time yesterday.  The fishing charters and nature tours are running and some stores are open for business if they are equipped with generators.  Our tourists are the hearty sort and seem to be having a blast judging by the chatter in the local restaurants, bars and grocery stores.   

The power outage will undoubtedly lead to some great story material back home!

My husband Bob and I decided that since the weather was so perfect we would take a short offshore fishing trip on Father's Day.  He has some good numbers inside of 10 miles, and since we had dinner plans with some friends it needed to be a quick trip.

We got to our first stop to catch some live bait and the next thing you know I am pulling in one sea bass after another and Bob is looking at his depth finder seeing structure he has never noticed at this stop before. (When we don't catch anything on a stop he calls his depth finder a fish cartoon; when we do catch fish, he calls it the greatest invention ever!)

About the time he is wondering out loud why he has never noticed this big hump we are drift fishing over, my pole doubles over and I know this is no sea bass. 

It is a beautiful Red Snapper and is pushing 25"!  What a great dinner.  I am pretty certain that the next trip out, Bob is going to be prowling around that area again seeing what other structure he may have missed there.  We were in 50' of water and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  The snapper hit our bait which was squid on a small hook. 

To be safe in knowing what fish seasons are open in state and/or federal waters, here are two useful websites.  For Florida's state regulations visit www.myfwc.com and for federal regulations visit www.gulfcouncil.org  State and federal rules aren't always the same and they can be confusing, so be careful and know what waters you are in and what the season is for the fish you catch!

Enjoy fishing in the unspoiled waters of The Forgotten Coast! Oh and by the way... SCALLOP SEASON officially opened yesterday and will run thru the latter part of September. Catch my next blog about SCALLOPING in the St. Joe Bay!

Short Sales:  Are they for you?  Maybe not...

Yes, there are short sales available all over the place but there are also 'good deals' which buyers should explore.  I tell my buyers all the time not to get so focused on the short sale that they miss the plain old good deal.  Short sales take time and the banks can be less than cooperative, leaving the buyer with a "NO deal" for an answer after several months and opportunities lost.  There are inherent risks that buyers do not face when negotiating directly with the seller.  The good deals are better suited for buyers who want to lock in a good price without much delay or red tape.  If you don't consider yourself to be patient, the short sale route is not the way to go.

Keep in mind short sales happen when the bank (and seller) agree to allow the buyer to purchase a property for less than what is owed on the mortgage.  If an owner has taken equity out of a property then the mortgage on file may not reflect what is actually owed.  It takes homework, a great Realtor (which is where I come in), cooperation, savvy lawyers, time and hard work. "Patience of steel" is a necessary trait for anyone considering a short sale.

A 'good deal' can be secured via a relatively simple transaction negotiated by that same, hard working Realtor (again, that's where I come in) and the buyer and seller.  I have closed a number of short sales but my success rate in negotiating the purchase of 'good deals' spans many years!  Take your time in checking out both the short sale opportunities and good deals and give serious consideration of the tradeoff that is involved in each. 

Our market is BRIMMING with excellent opportunites and if I can help you secure one of these properties for you, please give me a call!  I'd love to hear from you.

Is “Days on Market” (DOM) Important?

The answer is…..sometimes.  The number one cause of a high DOM is overpricing.  The seller may be misinformed about pricing conditions in their market sector or the overpricing may be intentional. Some sellers like to price high and “test the market” to see what they can get.  It is very difficult to facilitate a sale with an unmotivated seller!

There are other causes though, so buyers shouldn’t shy away from properties with a high DOM.  Sometimes the property isn’t available to show because of renters or some other factor.  A property can be in bad shape and not be showing enough.  It can also be that a property is not being marketed in the right way for the type of listing it is.  None of those factors make the property less desirable at the right price, just hard to find and get into.

Statistics can be tricky if the factors underlying them are not known.  The average DOM for residential sales in our MLS over the last 12 months has been 253, but that number would have been significantly lower if the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill had not occurred in April.  The market was chugging back to life and the Oil Spill caused it to go cold. The Deepwater Horizon effect showed  in June with no sales in the entire month and then very low sales all the way through the fall.

Once the spill was contained and people became more confident in the condition of the coast, sales rebounded in December with 11 closings in the MLS.  Even with the oil spill DOM in 2010 at 280 was lower than DOM in 2009 at 309. Another sign we may be "bouncing" off the bottom!

• St. George Island and the other barrier islands in the chain are thought to be around 5,000 years old.
• 200,000 years ago, sea level was approximately 350 feet lower than it is now, making Florida about twice the size it is now.
• Eastpoint was founded in 1896 by a communal farming group of settlers from Nebraska and got its name from the town across the bay, Westpoint now known as Apalachicola.
• As many as 300,000 baby loggerhead turtles hatch each year on St. George Island!
• In 1954 Lanark Estates Inc. from Miami FL bought most of Camp Gordon Johnston and named it Lanark Village. With sales offices in New York, Chicago & Washington, they began promoting Lanark Village as a beautiful and affordable place to live.
• Over 250,000 troops were trained at Camp Gordon Johnston and the barrier islands were used for amphibious landing training that was used in both Pacific and European theaters in WWII.
• While the economy of much of Franklin County relies on the Gulf of Mexico and the Apalachicola Bay for much of its income (fishing and oystering) some of the people on the mainland depend on other sources. Another industry is bee culturing which produces about 350,000 pounds of tupelo honey each year and brings income to many local beekeepers.