Charming, well designed & appointed apartment on 2nd floor of desirable Park Plaza w/ spectacular river and downtown skyline views. Gracious living spaces include 2br/2 baths and a large den. Square footage has been extended by an estimated 300 feet with the enclosure of 3 of the 4 balconies. Beautiful walnut stained hardwood floors in the public areas and carpet in the bedrooms, custom crown molding. Wood plantation shutters on all windows throughout. Conveys with one garage parking space. Ample additional parking. Seller offering buyer credit toward new stove & dishwasher. Best pedestrian neighborhood in Jacksonviller, steps from shops,restaurants,Memorial Park, museum,downtown. dont miss it!

In a post I wrote some time ago, I talked about Amendment One or Property Tax Portability. In a time of sagging real estate prices, there continues to be some GOOD NEWS in Real Estate.

If you have lived in your home for a long time (let’s say 10 years or more), there is likely a difference between the assessed and market values of your home due to the Save Our Homes Amendment (Amendment 10) which has limited the increase in the assessed value of your home to 3% or the CPI (whichever is less) since it was passed in 1992.

If you are one of the lucky people who has benefitted from this difference in value (referred to as deferred value), when you SELL, you can carry or “port” this difference with you to a new homestead in the state of Florida.

Effective as of January 2008, Amendment One was intended to “unlock” the real estate market and enable people who had been in their homes a long time and who had accumulated substantial property tax savings to take it with them or “port” it to a new homestead so they could sell but continue to enjoy lower property taxes.

I recently had the pleasure of working with a customer who had accumulated the maximum allowable port ($500K) who was able to apply that amount to a new residence and realize SUBSTANTIAL savings on their property tax bill. The customer did not know about Property tax portability and was, of course, DELIGHTED to learn about this amazing benefit! Click here for a table with examples  of how Portability works.

It pays to work with realtors who know not only the latest statistics of the market but also other facets of the market that can save you money!

1252 Windsor Place, Jacksonville, FL

Just in time for the summer, this wonderful pool home has just been reduced by a whopping $29,000 and is a real value for today’s buyers.

Located at 1252 Windsor Place, within walking distance to the shoppes of Avondale and the wonderful Cool Moose Cafe this 3BR/2BA home is a signature Marsh and Saxelbye home from the 1920’s.

Mediterranean architecture, tall ceilings, wood floors and more are just a few of the special features of this great house. Located at the end of a cul de sac with a two car garage and wonderful bonus room above, this is a must see.

Please call me or Caroline for an appointment to see this great house today!

1463 Ingleside Avenue, Jacksonville, FL

Sometimes, it takes the right mix of price, beauty and well….price to make a property sell quickly. Our new listing at 1463 Ingleside Avenue was on the market for less than a week when we received an offer.

 The house had previously been listed for sale by owner at a much higher price as the seller struggled with whether or not to pursue a short sale. After consulting with us and learning that the property value would necessitate a short sale, the sellers agreed to the price we recommended, we had professional photographs made, entered the house into the Multiple Listing Service and received an offer in a matter of days!

The list price of the house is $310K or $158 per square foot. The house has tall ceilings, a renovated kitchen, one car garage and darling guest house. Most notably for an older home, this has both a family room AND a large master bathroom — almost unheard of for an older home in Avondale. The seller of this home has great taste and has done wonders for the home in terms of style! From the moment you walk in the door until you finish in the guest house, you are convinced that this is a very special property.

If you’d like more information about any of the great homes in the Avondale, Ortega or Riverside neighborhoods, please give Allison Steilberg or Caroline Powell of the Avondale A Team a call. Allison’s number is 252-5181 and Caroline’s is 463-1898. Our website address is www.allaboutavondale.com. Come visit!

Balcony view from 2608 at The Peninsula

Kitchen view of 2608 at the Peninsula

 It’s so fun when we get a great property to sell that we’re excited about. Our new listing at The Peninsula in beautiful downtown Jacksonville certainly meets that criteria! Unit 2608 is a corner unit with 2br/2ba and 1,667 square feet.

You’ve got your own private elevator lobby, a large wrap around glass balcony, floor to ceiling windows, top of the line stainless steel appliances, plenty of storage, tall ceilings, extra large laundry room with full size washer and dryer and more! Your views are directly to the east and to the Southeast — no afternoon sun to blare in your windows and prevent you from enjoying the fabulous afternoon breezes.

The amenities offered at The Peninsula are unparalleled. Incredible gym has first class locker rooms with sauna and steam rooms, pilates/yoga rooms, huge pool, community office suite with computers, large plush library and incredible lobby — there just isn’t another building in Jacksonville like this and is an experience not to be missed!

There have been 8 units sold at the Peninsula in the last year and three of those were sold just this year. The units sold from a low of $180K to a high of $499,900 and price per square foot prices from $160 to $288. Seven of the sales were 2 br units and one was a 1br. To see a list of all the closed sales in the building over the last year, click here. There are currently 34 units listed for sale at The Peninsula.

For a look at the building and an insider’s perspective on what the best units/values are, please contact me for a tour – we’d love to show you around.

Thanks for reading, we look forward to hearing from you!

We recently closed on a home in the Murray Hill neighborhood for a young lady who was a first time homebuyer. The home she bought is a darling 3BR/1BA bungalow in the desirable neighborhood of Murray Hill. It was purchased by the seller in the high 100’s. After living there a few years, she tried to sell it amidst the rapidly falling real estate market and the house fell into short sale.

There was one very low offer on the home that did not get accepted by the bank but when the bank “countered” the low offer, they established a price that they would accept. This was put into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) as a bank approved price and the young lady we were representing quickly wrote an offer on it.

After jumping through a few hoops and encountering a few stumbling blocks along the way, the sale closed in relatively quickly (about 3 months-which is for a short sale) on Friday of last week for $120K — one more property off the market, a great buy for our buyer and a happy ending to a short sale.

Both of these homes were 3br/2.5ba homes with approx. 2,500 square feet. Both had garages and both had guest houses above the garage. The guest house on Greenwood was apparently in orginal condition and the one on Richmond street had some minor upgrades.

1837 Ingleside - At only $219 per square foot it's a DEAL!

We’ve got a fantastic listing on Ingleside Avenue that has 3br/2.5ba with lots of upgrades – so if you happen to have “missed out” on either one of the houses mentioned above and are still looking, please give us a call. At $644K and 2,940 square feet, our asking price is $219psf  AND our guest house and garage are NEW! The two most recent sales were at $229 and $232 per square foot.

Thanks for reading! If you’d like to get the latest and greatest about what’s going on in with real estate in Avondale, Ortega and Riverside, please give us a call! We’d love to help you find or sell a home in the neighborhood!

Hello Again! I wrote about a great foreclosure in Ortega in my last post and now, there’s another great deal – this time in Avondale. Located at 1277 Avondale Avenue, this fabulous Tudor style house is listed for only $400K! It has approx. 3,150 square feet, 5BR/3.5BA, a renovated kitchen with granite countertops, light filled sunporch and is across the street from one of the darling “pocket parks” that Avondale is famous for. This one is sure to go quick — so please call me at 904-252-5181 or Caroline at 904-463-1898 right away! Today could be your lucky day!

Thanks for reading — if you’d like to have these notices sent directly to your inbox and be one of the first to know about the fantastic opportunities of Avondale, Ortega and Riverside, please subscribe to our blog! Once you register, you must respond to the email that gets sent to complete your registration.

For anyone reading this who’s been waiting for “the deal”, you can find it at the waterfront (yes, I did say waterfront) home located at 5028 Yacht Club Road in the exclusive neighborhood of Ortega in Jacksonville, FL.

 Just reduced last night from $1,495,000 to $1,250,000 this waterfront home is now priced at only $281 per square foot. There have only been 6 waterfront sales in Ortega and Ortega Forest in the last year and only two in Ortega. To see these homes, click here.

 The home was built in 2007 and has approx. 4445 square feet with 4br and 4.5ba. It’s got all the bells and whistles that today’s buyers seek — three car garage, granite and stainless appliances in the kitchen and an outdoor summer kitchen complete with covered terrace and waterfront swimming pool. The house is in foreclosure.

In this market, sometimes it’s hard to know a deal when you see one –a neighborhood expert knows the area and knows great values when they pop up  – this is one of them so don’t delay.

 If you’d like to schedule an appointment to see this house, please call me or Caroline. We’d be happy to make the arrangements.

Thanks for reading. If you’d like to go see this house or learn more about what’s going on in the neighborhoods of Avondale, Ortega and Riverside, please take a moment to subscribe to our blog. You’ll get these posts sent directly to your inbox and be the first to know about spectacular deals like this one!