Real Estate Views from St Pete

Open Air Post Office - St Petersburg, Florida

 Downtown St Petersburg Florida has many Mediterranean Revival buildings, including this Open Air Post Office, which has been in operation since 1916. It's located at the corner of 4th St N and 1st Ave N right across from Williams Park.

In the early 1900s a government architect designed a very grand building, but it was set up high with lots of steps, and the postmaster at that time wasn't happy with it. Postmaster Roy Hanna designed the post office HE wanted, which was at street level, open to the air so that people could access their post office boxes at any time of day or night.  It continues to serve that purpose.

The building was designed by George Stuart, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland. Also in 1916 Stuart designed the St. Petersburg Yacht Club building. He is said to have designed many of the residential properties in Saint Petersburg as well, though I've never heard which ones. 

This photo shows more of the detail of the building, as well as the interesting frieze. It also shows one of the loggias, with the open arches along the sidewalk.

From our office, it's only a couple blocks, so it makes a pleasant diverson during the day to walk over to leave mail, get stamps, etc.

My team now lets me out each day for a Photo Walk so that I can take interesting pictures for blogging and the new downtown website that Amy is creating.

Note that there's even a table for sorting your mail, so that you don't have to carry your junk mail - just put it in their trash can.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.

Active Rain's recent Dings contest brought out some great buildings from the entrants, AND it was a lot of fun.

So - I thought this would be a great group to have. While this may have some overlap with the Photography group, I think there's enough distinction to follow through with a serarate group - we'll see.

In addition to any new posts that you may want to add to this group, you may want to go back to some of your previous posts with neat buildings and add this group to the groups where it's posted. You'll need to join this group first in order to have this group added to your posting options at the bottom of each blog that you post.

Your contributions are invited and welcomed.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.

Tower of the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel, a luxury historic property in downtown St Petersburg, Florida

This is one of several interesting towers in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. The style and color are typical of Florida, as is the bright blue sky, and the top of the palm tree at the base. This was built in the 1920s in the Mediterranean style of Addison Mizner, who is also known for his Florida Resort style. Most of his buildings are on the east coast of Florida, in Boca Raton and Palm Beach. Only one home in St. Petersburg can be directly attributed to Mizner, but there are many buildings done in that style. There were actually three hotels built here in south Pinellas County in this style, back in the Roaring '20s - the Vinoy Hotel, a Renaissance property, in downtown Saint Pete; the Don ceSar Hotel, a Loew's property, on St. Pete Beach; and the Roylat Hotel, now part of Stetson Law School, in Gulfport. They all bring back an era of leisure, luxury, and architectural delights.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.

Earlier this month I started my new blog, and on the 21st I posted about a New Craftsman Bungalow that I have listed. Look at the Google search results:

New Craftsman Bungalow in St Petersburg, Florida Nos.1 & 2/ 133,000

Craftsman Bungalow in St Petersburg, Florida  Nos. 1 & 2/ 149,000

Bungalow in St Petersburg, Florida  No. 5/ 147,000

Bungalow in St Petersburg No. 5/ 331,000

Craftsman in St Petersburg, Florida No. 8/ 332,000

I'd say that's out of the sandbox!

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

One of my clients stopped by a new development to check out what they had to offer. He liked what he saw, told the onsite salesman that he would be returning with his REALTOR and registered us both. On the weekend, after looking at some other properties, he wanted to get my opinion on the one he'd seen. The salesman was cordial, and took us out to look at the properties.  After about the third time the salesman said to my client "Now, the prices are going up on the next phase, way up, and these prices are only good through the end of the month. There won't be as many upgrades, either." Three times was two too many for my client, who responded, "I get your point. You don't need to keep repeating it." Well, he repeated it about four more times, each time rankling my client even more.

Just before we left, my client asked if the salesman could get him a pass for he and a friend to play a round of golf to check out the course (it was definitely the amenity package of the community that interested him). The salesman said certainly, he'd get them from his boss, and he could pick them up whenever he wanted. My client replied that he'd be out of town, so I would pick them up.

This morning I called the salesman to ask him a question about the developer, and also to find out when the passes could be picked up. He asked me if my client was really interested, or if he just wanted some free golf. I assured him that this was a REAL and well qualified potential buyer, and that he did, in fact, want to try the course. Fine.

An hour or so later, my client called me, and was furious. The salesman had called him, again reminded him of the soon-to-be-increased prices, and asked if he was a serious buyer or if he just wanted a free game of golf. This was AFTER the salesman had asked me the same question! My client was now so upset with this salesman that he asked me to call the development to see if he could work with anyone EXCEPT this salesman.

My client's easy to get along with, and serious. He doesn't like to be badgered and he doesn't like his integrity questioned. This would have been a smooth, easy sale for that salesman - but he talked himself out of it.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

• Jeff Turner:  Jott: My Head Is Spinning With Ideas 

• Jeff Turner:  Show Me What You Jott, Baby

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.  

Many aspects of green building are so much easier and less expensive when they're built into a home. For lots of us, this isn't a choice - we have an older home, and like both our home and our neighborhood. What can we do?

When your hot water heater gives out (and they all do) - try tankless water heaters, which are so prevalent in Europe. 

When you buy light bulbs, buy compact fluorescent bulbs, and replace all of the incandescent bulbs, one at a time as they burn out. 

When you need a new roof, look into a metal roof.  These help reflect heat away from the house, and keep the attic cooler, which means lower energy costs. Whether it's a Key West cottage or a new luxury home in stucco, metal roofs can be very attractive as well.

The point is - whenever you have to replace something, from windows to carpet to light bulbs, look into energy saving options and recycled or renewable materials,  Every little bit helps.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.   

Are you familiar with Tim Carter's website, Ask the Builder? It's a wonderful resource for questions on building, and has a search box so you can search his entire site. For example, type in "granite". You'll find articles on how to seal and take care of granite, how granite countertops compare to marble or quartz or other materials, how to select granite, what granite costs, and much more. Sometimes we're curious for ourselves, and sometimes our clients ask us questions. This is a great reference to give out or to use to gather additional information on building processes and materials. Go ahead, ask the builder.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.   

Most of the nation knows about the rising property insurance costs in Florida, and rising property taxes are concerns all over the country. With some insurance rates tripling or quadrupling, it definitely affects affordability as well as desire and demand. Despite efforts by the current state legislature to fix these problems, nothing concrete is on the horizon.

Last month I blogged about a builder who was offering college tuition as an incentive. Now we have Standard Pacific Homes offering an incentive on their new homes: they will pay the homeowner's insurance and property taxes for up to two years.  Several builders are offering to pay a year of homeowner's association fees, but this is the first I've seen locally offering to pay both insurance and property taxes.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.   

A NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) conducted a survey last year to determine what industry professionals thought we'd have in houses in 2015, and targetted the survey at both the average home and the upscale home. Many ideas and trends affected both segments:

• Living rooms disappearing, or being replaced by a retreat/library/parlor
  
• Fiber cement siding (such as Hardiboard)
• Higher tech and capacity wiring, including fiber optics
• Larger family rooms
• Greener homes
• Greater accessibility for the aging or handicapped (wider doorways, etc)

Buyers are more concerned with green building, with technology including home controls, with energy efficiency - security - storm protection, better storage space, and flexible functional floor plans.

I agree with most of these, but don't want the living room to disappear. No, I don't need a formal living room, but I do want a place I can escape from the family room, to have a quiet talk, or to read.  

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.  

As homes have gotten larger, it seems that everyone has separate space - great for privacy, but not good at all for family togetherness. The Wall Street Journal had an article about supersized home offices where everyone in the family: mom, dad and the children, have their own work space and storage space. Their space featured adjustable height desks and chairs, so that the space grew with the family.  Actually, a recent survey from the American Institute of Architects determined that the most popular special function room was this family shared office.

I think it's great for togetherness, for keeping an eye on what the kids are doing. When someone brings work home - office work or school homework - we don't have to be off by ourselves, we can be together. As long as it's individual work, this probably works out fine. If you needed to talk with a client, however, it's probably anything but all right. It allows everyone to share discoveries they make on line, ask questions, offer answers.

For me, it would be fine when I'm roving the web, reading email or blogs - but I'd need space away for those times I need to concentrate, as well as for talking with clients.  Let's just have it all - both together space and private space.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.  

If you're like me, you always schedule yourself - you know how long it takes to get somewhere, and you always try to squeeze in one more phone call. Lately I've been trying to always schedule in 15 Serendipity Minutes.

Yes, you know all about leaving early so that you can relax and prepare when you arrive at your marketing presentations, and allowing enough time to find a parking space, or for a traffic tie-up at your local Malfunction Junction. But that's not what I mean ...

Serendipity is a chance meeting, something of value that comes to you by chance. Take this morning, for example. I did leave 15 minutes early to head to the office (my second trip to downtown today, since the first was to work out at 5 am) and I came to a full stop on my street when I saw a small dog dart out into the street. The dog's owner, a neighbor, then came over to talk - he told me about the renovations he's doing, how he's dealing with contractors, we discussed the home that's about to be torn down to make way for a bigger, larger home ... normally I would have said, "Gee, I'd love to stay and talk, but I need to be..." and somehow, you never get back to that conversation. Today, I had the 15 minutes for a leisurely chat, and felt happy when I concluded it.

Have you ever started talking to someone when you're in line at the grocery, or Starbucks? It could be the adjacent customer, or perhaps the shopowner, or someone across the room. There's a spark, and you'd like to talk with them further, but you're on a schedule.  Wouldn't it be nice to have 15 minutes to find out whether you have commonalities?

What about the times you're driving and spot a tree in the prime of its bloom - or a rainbow arched over a beautiful building - or a flag against the clouds. When you pass a unique building, or a cluster of people in bright colors, or kids flying kites ...  Wouldn't it be nice to stop and take a picture, or just stop to smell the fragrance of the spring blossoms? Go ahead, go around the block and go back to whatever caught your attention.

Are there times when a client or neighbor you run into suggests you just come in for a minute to see (their new art, a new floor or painted room, a new puppy) or listen to what just happened to them? There's joy in sharing, in listening, in eliciting smiles. But you need to have time for that.  

You don't want to be late - that's disrespectful. So plan in not only contingency drive time, but 15 minutes of serendipity.  If nothing particular happens, so you're 15 minutes early. Maybe you walk down the block to get a cup of tea. Perhaps you pick up a magazine in the waiting room that's not one you usually read, so it gives you a new perspective. You might even have a chance to let you mind wander - and if a wonderful idea comes by, just jott it.

Give yourself a gift - open yourself to serendipity. Create some Serendipity Minutes in your day.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.

Over the weekend I saw that my total blogs were at 499 and decided I should do something special for my 500th. Before I could do that, I saw 499 in one place and 502 in another, so put the idea aside. Then Tony Marriott e-mailed me, wondering what I was going to do for the Big 500. Something profound, no doubt. So, despite some totals showing me a few blogs above, taking a bit of literary license, I'm calling this #500.

There really isn't anything new to say, or anything more profound than the 1,000,000 postings (my guess - check out some stats on the Featured Agents in the 50 states that Brad Andersohn compiled) that have already been posted (not true, even today there was something new when Jeff Turner posted about Jott) so I'll just talk about what ActiveRain has meant to me since last August when I joined Active Rain.

Most important has been the community: the people I've virtually met and come to think of as friends, whose conversations I eagerly look for every morning - or sometimes during the day or evening. Many e-mail me - some, like Margaret Rome, call with encouragement and bringing smiles.

There's been a lot of learning, at all levels - but that without the community wouldn't have been enough to keep me coming back. Look at iSucceed, for example, with great learning and many of the friends that are here: I don't visit that every day, despite the great educational resources.

What would Active Rain be without Kristal Kraft and her photography and observations on the world around her? Without Craig Schiller and his examples of staging? Without all the doctored photos and travelling hats? Without watching the growth and development of Colleen Kulikowski as she's gone from Marco to Celebration? Without Broker Bryant and TLW and their down-to-earth reality?  Without Brian Brady and Jeff Turner and Gerhard Ade and so many others? Without old friends like Linda Davis and Angus (Moo) Woodbury ?

Was there life before Matt Heaton and Caleb Mardini and Jonathan Washburn? Before contests and carnivals? Before points?

My alarm clock wakes me when it's still dark, and sometimes at night I strain to keep my eyes open long enough for one more blog. I can't just take from Active Rain, I have to give back to it.

Does 500 blogs make you an addict? Absolutely, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

                                                            Thank you All!

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

Betsy Talbot memed me to tell 5 things people don't know about me. I think I've answered this before, but it's easier to answer again rather than search for prior answers.

1. I used to work in a monastery. I was the secretary to the Prior, who wrote several books, as well as being the spiritual leader. While writing Zen Catholicism, he was frequently visited by Buddhist monks.

2.  I used to be a "Landman". When we owned an oil and gas exploration company in Tennessee, one of my jobs was to lease oil and gas mineral rights from the rural landowners. I also did title searches (metes and bounds and trees long gone) and managed all of the federal regulations and filings, as well as investor relations.

3.  I'm in my second marriage - have known my husband for 40 years and we've been married for 38 this year - we have a His, Hers and Ours family, and have created many legends and tales over the years.

4.  My husband promised me when he proposed that "Marry me, and life will never be boring." He was right. We've owned a 60 room house, (yes, sixty) and lived in a log cabin; we've been rich and we've been poor; we've worked and been retired; we're entrepreneurs to the core.

5. One of my greatest joys is getting off on vacation with just one of my children at a time, just the two of us - away from spouses, family, job, pressures and obligations. We have such great fun together, and each of them expands my horizons without boundaries. We've shared souls and made memories.

And I'll meme Gerhard Ade.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

According to legend, the architect of this beautiful building had a disagreement with the owners - supposedly he wasn't paid, or wasn't paid all that was agreed, so he was very unhappy.

Shortly thereafter, the city of St Petersburg made a request for bids, for someone to design a public restroom facility in the center of Saint Petersburg, Florida.  The architect intentionally made a very low bid, and won the contract to design the toilets.  Here's the result:

The architect, Henry Taylor, designed various other buildings in St. Petersburg. Here are some architectural links that may be of interest:

St. Mary's Church History 

St. Mary's Church Photo Tour 

St. Mary's Church Features 

St. Petersburg Comfort Station

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.

So much is going on with ActiveRain that we often miss the obvious. Can anyone tell me what I've missed - i.e., what is the reason for bloggers making the first comment on their own blog? It's obvious why a blogger would respond to comments on the blog, but increasingly I'm seeing people make the first comment on their own blog. If it were something significant that they missed - often not the case - they could go back and edit the blog. What is the value of making the comment?

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

Here's a book by Steven Yoder, Get Slightly Famous. The book discusses various ways of getting slightly famous, in order to increase your business. Writing articles is given lots of attention in the book. It also talks about public relations, speaking and newsletters. One glaring omission (probably because it was written before it became so important) is blogging. There is also a website.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

A friend of ours, just reading the Sarasota newspaper, commented, "You know you're where the high rollers are  when you read about Polo for Beginners."

We've seen several neighborhoods in Florida that have featured polo courses, and they are, indeed, upscale neighborhoods. Polo is a sport that attracts the wealthy.

In Tampa, when Cheval was developed, one of the amenities was their polo field. It was the first Tampa community to focus on this sport, and gave it a uniqueness.

For those who are looking for a way to get into the luxury real estate market, polo could be your niche. Learn about the game, the competitions, the players. Learn which communities offer polo. What publications write about polo? Advertise your "expertise" there. Preview the listings in your polo communities, research the sales. Gain the knowledge so you can share it with potential clients.

Be the expert in Polo Communities - be the Polo Community Specialist.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

For many years people have been recycling wood from old barns and using it in new homes. That happened all the time while I was living in New England, and also in Tennessee.

After moving to Florida, I was enchanted by the Heart Pine floors in many homes built in the 10s and 20s. In my son's home, 90 years had turned the floors to nearly black, a dull black. Rusty sanded the floors and resealed them, to a honey glow. When the sun heads down in late afternoon, and comes through the dining room window, the floor just glows. You can no longer harvest these trees, so the only source is used wood - or trees or logs that sank at the bottom of rivers and has been salvaged.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune this morning has a long article on recycling teak. Most of this is from Thailand but is often warehoused here. There are of course plusses and minuses to this, and Indonesia is concerned at losing their heritage to the US, but it's yet another reuse of wood so that we are not chopping down more trees. There's also a patina to old wood, as to most old things (yes, incuding people), and a sense of history.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area. 

Good Night Moon is a wonderful shop on Beach Drive NE in downtown St. Petersburg. Primarily it sells luxury linens - a specialized niche, of course, but successful enough that they have doubled their size. I love to go in and just indulge the senses - the soft feel of the cashmere throws, the softness of down in the covers and pillows, the satiny feel of high thread count sheets. I enjoy smelling the potpourri, varying scents depending on the day I wander in. They also have table linens, and wonderful robes (before Christmas Tami and I casually stopped in, and found such soft, wonderful robes that we bought each other one for Christmas. There are soaps and candles, Vera Bradley bags, and an array of gifts. Right across from the Museum of Fine Arts, this is yet another jewel in the row of shops along Beach Drive ... and when you're done, stop at Hooker's Tea for a spot of tea, or have a pint at Moon Under Water ... pick a table out by the sidewalk, so you can enjoy the balmy air and watch the passersby.

Sharon Simms, Real Estate Agent selling homes in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gulf Beaches and the Tampa Bay area.