IN JUNE’S ISSUE THE FUTURE OF REAL ESTATE FOLLOW YOUR FL WANDERLUST THE ART OF DESIGNING A FAMILY POOL
JUNE
2022 FEATURE
IN YOUR CORNER
IN YOUR CORNER HOW TO CUT DOWN ON POOL MAINTENANCE COSTS THIS SUMMER
LIVING LARGE
FLORIDA FINDS
FLORIDA FINDS FOLLOW YOUR FL WANDERLUST
FEATURE STORY FUTURE OF REAL ESTATE
LIVING LARGE THE ART OF DESIGNING A FAMILY POOL
MARKET UPDATE CURIOUS IF PRICES ARE UP? WHAT’S THE MARKET DOING? WE’VE GOT ANSWERS!
The cover image was photographed by JOHN FORNANDER.
Pool maintenance doesn’t have to be an expensive annual chore. Rather than spending up to $700 on pool maintenance, you can cut costs by doing a lot of the work yourself. You don’t want the pool to fall into such poor shape that you have to spend thousands of dollars on repairs. Here are some steps to keep pool maintenance costs down to nearly nonexistent this summer:
How to
#1 Use your pool cover.
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Pool covers significantly reduce energy costs over time because they slow how much water evaporates. With a pool cover, your pool heater doesn’t have to work overtime to keep the water cool. And it prevents debris build-up on windy days, too, so you don’t have to clean the pool as often.
#2 Run your filter at night. Running the pool filter at night helps to cut down on energy costs while still keeping your pool clean. Some people opt to run their pool filter 24 hours a day, but this is a waste of energy and over-cleans the pool, which can cause more problems. See if there’s an optimum time to run the pool filter at night and save on your electricity bill.
#3 Clean the pool filter. Sweet and simple: cleaning your pool filter keeps your swimming pool clear and prevents you from spending more money on other, more costly pool repairs. So just do it.
#4 Invest in an energy-efficient pool pump.
The following is a guest post by Andrea Davis, editor at HomeAdvisor, originally published by Lindsay Listanski on Blue Matter, the Coldwell Banker Blog.
BLUE MATTER
If you have a normal pool pump, it only pumps at one speed — and it wastes energy on filtration, among other tasks. If you invest in an energy-efficient, variable-speed pump, you could save more than a thousand dollars over the life of the pump. You may also qualify for an energy rebate. A
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#5 Keep the temperature low. You pay more money for every degree you raise the temperature in the pool. Consider keeping the water as cool as possible while remaining comfortable. You should also turn the heater off in the off-season when you’re not using the pool.
#6 Maintain the pH balance. You must pay attention to the chemical balance of the water — not only to keep the water safe but to keep your costs down as well. If the alkalinity of the water is thrown off for any reason, you’re usually better off getting a swimming pool professional involved. Pool chemicals are expensive — and if you don’t get the measurements right, you’re throwing money away as you pour the chemicals into the water.
#7 Balance stabilizer levels. While all pool owners are aware of how important it is to maintain chlorine levels, not all may realize how stabilizer (cyanuric acid) plays into the process. Stabilizer aids chlorine in its effectiveness. Too much or too little stabilizer will result in chlorine losing its effectiveness. Pool owners need to check their stabilizer levels and decrease or increase the amount of chlorine needed in the water to keep the pool safe.
Photography provided by the following in order of appearance. Dayso (A), Derek Thomson(B), and Abstract Official(C).
Additional Pool Maintenance Co$t$: These are quick and efficient steps to keeping your pool in shape this summer. However, there are some costs you need to keep in mind for the future too: · Closing the pool in the fall: $75 – $200 · Running an automatic pool cleaner: $700 – $2,000 · Vacuuming the pool: $50 – $100 · Using chemicals: $20 – $100/month If this seems like too much work for you, you can hire a swimming pool maintenance service. It will cost more, but they can do a lot of the work as part of a package, which could cost less in the long term. Packages generally include: · Brushing the pool · Skimming debris · Adjusting chemical levels · Cleaning the pool filter · Vacuuming
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Follow Your
Fl Wanderlust The following is by Chelsea Cornelius.
Summer is practically here, and you are probably planning your vacations. There are so many places to get away to in Florida, but we wanted to explore a few gems to add to your itinerary if you’re in the area along your trips to satisfy your Florida wanderlust this summer.
Dali Museum (St. Petersburg, Fl)
Maybe you’re a fan of 20th-century art, or you’re not, the Dali Museum is worth a stop in for the experience you'll have. Many might dismiss Dali as an odd duck whose work only carries sexual connotations. This, however, is untrue, and the depths of Dali’s mind and genius can be explored within the 60,000 square foot space. You’ll find his iconic melting clocks along with religious and literary explorations that play with illusions in person and in VR. If you do want to explore all this museum has to offer, make sure you get your advanced tickets well in advance. You, unfortunately, can’t just drop in on a whim.
Gypsy Gold Horse Farm (Ocala, Fl) Nestled in the “Horse Capital of the World” is the Gypsy Gold Horse Farm. If you’re in Central Florida, explore the farm filled with majestic and friendly creatures frolicing about. The Gypsy Vanner Horse is a mixture of the Clydesdale, Dales Pony, and Shire breeds that were first imported to the United States to this very farm from the English countryside. Enjoy watching the Vanner horses run wild in the fields with long mains and what looks like fringe bell bottoms on their legs. This one-of-a-kind experience is sure to make your day.
Seacrest Wolf Preserve (Chapley, Fl) If you’re in Northeast Florida, check out the Seacrest Wolf Preserve, it is one of the only preserves in the South that allows displaced Arctic wolves and Timberwolves to live and maintain their populations within the 400 acres of land. In addition to seeing wolves, you can find other displaced animals like various foxes, raccoons, and skunks. Many of the wolf and fox species were only removed from endangered lists within the last ten years due to preserves like Seacrest Wolf giving them a space to maintain and regenerate their populations. When you visit, you have the unique opportunity to interact and learn about the animals during your tour.
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Venetian Pool (Coral Gables, Fl) If you want an Italian experience without the long travel and price tags, take a summer drive to Coral Gables. There you’ll find a Venetian grotto-inspired piece of Mediterranean heaven. Built during the Golden Age, the government revitalized an abandoned quarry and turned it into a public pool. Today it is still the largest pool filled with fresh water in the US. Unlike other public pools and bodies of water, the Venetian Pool is drained and refilled every day to ensure you enjoy fresh, clean water. Non-residents can spend the day at the pool that features various caverns to explore after purchasing tickets that start at $11.
Photography provided by the following in order of appearance. Socialcut(A), Ebyabe(B), Magnus Ostberg(C), M I Might (D), and Daniel Di Palma(E).
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The following is by Chelsea Cornelius.
Real estate has an ever-changing and evolving market, whether you like it or not. It is also deeply intertwined with art, as architecture and design are arts in their own right. Buying and selling in luxury markets are often escalated with custom fine art pieces that perfectly pair with the lines and nuances of the home. There has been a massive shift and talk about Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and the art world in recent years, and this shift has also reached the real estate world. Yes, you can buy and sell virtual real estate in the metaverse the same way you can in real life, with recent transactions reaching the equivalent of $4.3 million for land in The Sandbox, a metaverse site. Instead of going down that rabbit hole, let's stay in the real world and look at how utilizing crypto and blockchain in real estate transactions can benefit those of us who like smart investments but also prefer to keep our feet on the ground. We have already seen a massive shift in how real estate can be sold in the last three years. Even further still, in the last ten years, only an estimated 8% of the world's currency is in physical money. In terms of real estate, Covid shifted the way buyers were able to view homes, and for many buyers, especially those coming from out of state, that meant a completely digital experience. They bought houses sight unseen, purely from the photos online or with the addition of video calls with their agents. Are you a person who would either never do that in a million years or just find it a little odd? Well, this happens for two reasons, absolutely no choice but to pick something or the way it is at Coldwell Banker Vanguard Lifestyle Realty. You trust your agent implicitly. At Coldwell Banker Vanguard Lifestyle Realty, our agents go above and beyond to find the house you are looking for
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and make sure there are no surprises headed your way when you move in. Many of our agents successfully found their buyers' homes over the last several years without them feeling buyers' remorse when they settled in. Now that you see adapting to the digital age is not as impossible as you might think, let's look a bit closer into the NFT possibilities. As we navigated through a historic market over the last year, the ability to close quickly became a requirement, not a possibility. This meant everything from only all-cash offers being accepted, D D buyer's waiving inspections, and appraisers adjusting the way they approached residential appraisals to meet demand. The demand for a quick close, transparency, and the necessity of a contract make real estate ideal to convert into the NFT world. Those who understand the way NFTs have disrupted the art world might ask, how do you apply the blockchain technology that works outside of government to an industry like real estate that works in the confines of national and state regulations? Natalie Karayaneva, CEO of Propy Inc., heard and answered this question already. What she disliked most about our current real estate transaction process was the significant amounts of paperwork and time required to execute one sale. By "tokenizing" the property rights for a studio apartment that was executed with a smart contract in 2017, she was able to offer the property at auction in 2021. Like other property tech owners, she can utilize digitized records that often already exist to form a digital asset. For example, the National Association of REALTORS® has digitized many of their ownership paperwork and has it available for people to utilize. Utilizing the paperwork of an organization that works within the US legal framework, as well as working with a real estate professional like your trusted Coldwell Banker Vanguard Lifestyle Agent, ensure that all of your NFTs smart contracts would E
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be well within the confines of US regulations. Companies like Propy "..developed a protocol that would transfer an asset from one wallet to another, collect personal names, and complete simple background checks − all of which ensured the transaction's integrity." By executing smart contracts on the blockchain, there is a quick and effective transfer of funds and ownership. Karayaneva's 2021 auction took a total of 22 minutes to transfer ownership after the contracts were executed. Although there is no guarantee of that quick of a turnaround time today, the potential to not only make the process quicker and easier but have the ability to save everyone more money is worth the consideration. In addition to making the process far more simplified, there is the potential to turn your property into a residual investment. Those who have the foresight will start turning their properties into NTFs now. The easiest way to explain it is to go back to the connection between art and real estate. Artists, especially digital artists, found NFTs so appealing because, unlike selling their artworks to collectors who then profit massively when they resale the works at auctions, the NFT ensures that an artist receives a royalty every time the work is sold. The royalty is paid to artists' digital wallets as soon as a transaction occurs, whether they are aware of the sale or not. This is done by clearly stating the royalty terms (standard is between 5-10%) within the smart contract. The same can be applied to smart contracts for real estate. Those who are building new residential or commercial properties should especially keep this opportunity in mind. Additionally, those who gather all of the transferable data required for the sale (disclosures, reports, title, etc.) can also create a small royalties claim on all future sales. The potential to earn on future sales would be built into the contract itself and require no additional work for the sellers or their trusted agents.
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With all of the benefits associated with NFT real estate, it might be closer to reality than you might think. Considering making moves in real estate? Let your Coldwell Banker Vanguard Lifestyle Realty Agent help with your portfolio planning and find the best ways for you to achieve your real estate goals. Reach out to your Coldwell Banker Vanguard Lifestyle Realty Agent today.
www.CBVHomesearch.com Photography provided by the following in order of appearance. Ali Moradi(A), Bjorn Pierre(B), Uriel Soberanes(C), Niranjan(D), Immo Renovation(E), Collov Home(F), Milad Fakurian(G) Backbone Visuals(H), Sidekix Media(I), Scott Webb (J), Ali Moradi(K), and Sidekix Media(L). L
The Art of Designing
Here are Lisa’s top considerations for designing a pool environment that is both sophisticated and safe:
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The following is a guest post by Chief of Organized Living & NorthStar Moving Company Co-Founder Laura McHolm. originally published by Lindsay Listanski on Blue Matter, the Coldwell Banker Blog. Edited by Chelsea Cornelius.
Designing a backyard pool is an intimidating project. Safety is, of course, first and foremost. However, we all desire a pool oasis that is serene and beautiful. Creating a family pool that is both safe and aesthetically pleasing may seem impossible, but it is actually very possible with the right guidance. Designing a family pool has very different considerations than designing a pool that’s a visual showpiece to be used occasionally by adults. When constructing a pool for the entire family, be sure to focus on both the safety and functionality during the design process. The good news is you can create a stunning pool, illuminated waterfalls, and a quiet spa, all with strict safety measures in place. To find out how, I spoke to our luxury partner LC Pool Design + Consultation Founder Lisa Cook for her design advice on how to create the family pool of your dreams. “From the materials that are the most durable and slip-resistant to safety enclosures and step arrangements, they can still be gorgeous,” Lisa says. “It is important to dive into the details throughout the entire process. If one aspect is overlooked, it can be the difference between a pool you love and a pool that frustrates you.”
•Proper Pool Deck: Take care when choosing the material that surrounds the pool. Certain types of stone, concrete, marble, and tiles can absorb the heat to the point that children and pets can suffer from burns on their feet. Tiles can also be very slick when wet. Test out the materials and ask questions about their slip resistance and heat absorption. •Pool Placement: Ideally, there should be a distance between the home’s backdoor and the pool to install safety measures. For instance, a popular layout is to have the indoor living room doors lead directly into the outdoor living room space, and then the pool is right next to the outdoor seating. This intimate layout is not ideal for family-style pools as it is more difficult to include a mesh fence or other safety gates around the pool. • Pool Shape: If outdoor space is limited for fencing, the best pool shape is a rectangle pool as it can be covered with an automatic cover. Rectangle pools are attractive, easy to fit within the space allowed, and very easy to cover. Kidney, lagoons, or other oddly-shaped pools usually require a mesh or glass fence. Automatic covers only work with standard rectangles. •Trends: Don’t succumb to the trends. For example, a Baja step or shelf, a ledge that can be built along the inside of your pool, is trendy. Unfortunately, they never really get as much use as you think, and they take up a fair amount of pool real estate. Unless your pool is quite large, don’t give up too much space just for a large step. You’re better off having a bench that runs along one side of the length, at least halfway. Rather than being trendy, it’s always important to ask yourself, is it functional, and will it fit well with our design?
•Jacuzzi Placement: This can be a tricky one. For a family pool, I recommend placing a jacuzzi at the shallow end of the pool versus the deep end. Once children are old enough to start utilizing the deep end, they will gravitate to it like bees to honey. There will be endless jumps and dives and playing on large rafts in the deep end. You don’t want the sharp jutting corner of a jacuzzi anywhere near children during these activities. If possible, you’re better off having the jacuzzi be entirely off to the side or at least situated at the shallow end.
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•Chemical Considerations: No matter what type of chemical concentration you choose, you will still need chlorine. Even saltwater pools need chlorine. Don’t be afraid of it. It is the most stable, reliable cleaning solution for pools. Chlorine is the only substance that effectively kills algae and bacteria, and it kills COVID-19 when maintained at a proper level. It is also the easiest to maintain, the most cost-effective, and has the highest success rate for chemical stability. Additionally, it won’t discolor your pool surface the way that saltwater will, and it won’t erode your plumbing. If you have a concrete pool surface, definitely think twice before using saline. Saline pools are less stable, and algae buildup is common, which means you’d still need to ‘shock’ the pool from time to time with a combination of acid and chlorine. Whether you are constructing a new pool or renovating an existing pool, take the time to plan a pool that is right for your family now and for your family as it grows. Define your wish list, budget, a timeline, and consider the needs of your children at various ages. Be sure to ask yourself: How long do you plan to live in this home? Will the pool still be the perfect design when the little ones are water-safe teens? Then work with the experts to sketch out the ideal family pool that is both safe, stylish, and will grow with your family. Soon you will be enjoying games of Marco Polo, enjoying the surrounding beauty, and have peace of mind knowing it is a safe environment for your whole family!
Photography provided by the following in order of appearance. Raining Huang(A), Nick Nolan(B), Paseodpm(C), and John Fornander(D) .
The Villages® community, FL 32163
The Villages® community, FL 32162
Market Update April 2022
Lady Lake, FL 32159
What does this mean for BUYERS?
With interest rates continuing to creep up and qualificiations becoming more intense, you will need to make sure you meet all of the prequalifications necessary to secure your loan. Contact your Coldwell Banker Vanguard Lifestyle Realty Agent to find out who the experts are you need to talk to and for help finding out what you need to get into your next home.
What does this mean for SELLERS?
Want the latest market data in your neighboorhood? Ask your Coldwell Banker Vanguard Lifestyle Agent for the latest market information today!
Inventory is still low and you would be in the driver seat. Considering selling? Your Coldwell Banker Vanguard Lifestyle Agent would love to discuss your real estate needs. Data Source: Stellar MLS. Statistics calculated September 08, 2021.
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Coldwell Banker Vanguard Lifestyle Lifestyle Realty 510 County Road 466 Suite 201 Office #H Lady Lake, Fl 32159 www.CBVHomesearch.com