The Rotary Club of Weston teams up with the City to put on this annual rock event.  Last year I went with my family and we had a blast listening to the music with our friends after we enjoyed our picnic dinner.

This year the line-up includes current and former lead singers from 70s and 80s bands such as:
Felix Cavaliere- Rascals
Larry Hoppen –Orleans
Jimi Jamison – Survivor
Alex Ligertwood- Santana
Ronnie Hammond- Atlanta Rhythm Section
Rick Derringer
Plus Charlie Morgan on drums, Lane & Lance Hoppen, Jerry Riggs, & Barry Dunaway. 

This year’s concert begins on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. at the Weston Regional Park - 20200 Saddle Cub Road, Weston.

If you like what you see, while you are visiting Weston, Florida, call Courtney Silverman 954-292-0743 or email her to request information about the great neighborhoods, homes and the Weston lifestyle the residents seek and found here.

Are you going to the Las Olas Art Fair this Saturday or Sunday, March 1st or 2nd from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.?

Take I-95 exit east on Broward Blvd, go south on Andrews, east on Las Olas Blvd. You may want to park and use one of the free shuttles from the following garages:

Riverfront Garage - Andrews & Las Olas
City Garage - 150 SE 2nd Ave
Government Center Parking Garage - 151 SW 2nd Ave

The fair is located on historic Las Olas blvd in downtown Ft. Lauderdale from SE 6th Ave to SE 11th Ave.

If you are interested in the real estate home prices in the area or if a few properties catch your eye, call Courtney Silverman 954-292-0743 or email her and she will get you the information you need. 

Have a great time!

You would be hard pressed to find a better place to live than the beautiful City of Weston. The exquisite surroundings, low crime rate, friendly neighbors, religious diversity and excellent public services make Weston a city that’s easy to fall in love with.

The climate in Weston makes it an enjoyable place to live year round. Average high temperatures in January are 75 degrees and reach only 90 degrees during the warmest of summer months. The lows range from 60 degrees in January to the low 80s during July and August. There is plenty of sunshine in Weston, with enough rain mixed in to keep things green and beautiful. In addition, the sales tax rate is below the national average, and there is no income tax, making it very affordable to live in Weston.

With palm tree-lined streets and lush landscaping throughout the community, Weston is a great place to call home. Situated close to the larger cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, as well as the white sand beaches Florida is famous for, Weston gives residents the benefits of big-city living without all the hassles.

Citizens of Weston take pride in their community, and it shows through active volunteer efforts, beautiful parks and safe neighborhoods. There are many parks scattered throughout the City of Weston. Peace Mound Park and Emerald Estates Park, among many others, give the residents a place to picnic, walk, play Frisbee or just enjoy the beautiful Florida sunshine. One of the safest places in Broward County to live, Weston’s crime rate continues to be low, especially for a city of its size. Law enforcement, fire and emergency services are provided through a contract with Broward County.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office operates the Weston District Police Headquarters, which is located on the corner of Royal Palm Boulevard and Bonaventure Boulevard.  They offer several programs for area residents to continue making the community a safer place to live. One such program is a free security screening, offered for both private residences and businesses. The survey, conducted by certified crime prevention practitioners, includes recommendations to help make your home or business safer. To schedule a free survey, call the BSO West Broward Office at (954) 389-2040. Each weekend, services that include child safety seat inspections are also offered free of charge to the public. The Sheriff’s Department is always going the extra mile to assure the residents of Weston that they are living in a safe community.

The Broward County Fire Rescue Division operates three city-owned stations strategically placed throughout the city. A Broward County assistant chief is permanently placed in the city and acts as the city’s fire chief. The Fire Rescue Division gives excellent service to the residents of the city in any emergency.

Most communities are gated in Weston, giving residents an added sense of security in an already secure city. Boasting the lowest crime rate in Broward County, the city of Weston is a diverse community, with family-oriented residents watching out for their neighbors.

With all that Weston has to offer, it’s no wonder there’s such a strong real estate market. It doesn’t take long for people to realize that this preplanned community is the place for them. Homes aren’t on the market long in Weston, with the average home selling for almost $350,000, twice the average of homes in Broward County, according to recent data. The City of Weston is constantly growing, and new homes are sold quickly. Previously owned homes are also sold quickly and are all relatively new, with the oldest homes being built in the 1980s.

All types of real estate are available in Weston. Timeshares, apartments, townhouses, single-story homes and multimillion-dollar mansions are all part of the expanding community. Ranked as one of the best places to retire by CNN and Money magazine, Weston offers affordable housing options for people in all stages of life. The broad array of homes in the area makes it easy to find a larger home when you find you need more space or downsize a bit when your nest has become empty. Once people live in Weston, they don’t want to leave and often find another home just around the corner that fits their current needs.  They call Courtney Silverman with The Keyes Company to represent them when selling and buying their homes.

A newer development in Weston is the Isles at Weston. This gated community offers estate homes with three to six bedrooms for $333,000 to $659,000. With sparkling lakes, a spectacular clubhouse with a pool and terrific schools nearby, it is easy to see why the gorgeous homes in this community are selling so quickly. If you aren’t ready for an estate home yet, there are developments with town homes and condominiums from $165,000 and single-family homes from the mid $200,000s.

One of the innovative housing options recently added in Weston is the Palace at Weston. This gated community is billed as “luxury living for those 55 and older” and is a perfect spot to retire. Away from the bustle of Miami or Fort Lauderdale, yet enjoying the conveniences of a large city, the Palace at Weston is affordable retirement living from $250,000 to $350,000.

The well - planned community of Weston knows a mix of housing options is needed to fit the needs of the residents moving in. Whatever type of housing you are looking for, you’ll be able to find it here, in one of the nation’s best places to live.

Another factor making Weston such a great place to live is the government officials who look out for the welfare of residents’ both present and future. A commission-manager form of government is used in Weston, with elections held in odd-numbered years on the second Tuesday in March. The city is run by a city manager, mayor and four city commissioners. The mayor and city commissioners are elected to four-year terms; the city manager and a city attorney are then hired by the city commissioners. The jobs of both the commissioners and the mayor are considered to be part time in Weston.

A thriving religious community gives the City of Weston a well-rounded spiritual atmosphere. The diversity of the community is reflected in the diversity of the churches found in Weston. Interdenominational and nondenominational groups are found in Weston, and there are active Hindu, Eastern Orthodox, Sikh, Islamic and Buddhist communities. Most religious denominations worship here, whether in an official institution or at an alternative gathering spot.

Weston is ranked as one of the best places to retire by CNN and Money magazine.

Finance costs will rise as the economy recovers, so trying to time real estate might not pay off.

TODAY
Buy a home for $218,900, put 20% down and get a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 5.5% which reflects current rates after recent declines. You’ll have a $994.31 monthly payment.

COST IN 12 MONTHS?
Same home would be priced at $197,010, assuning prices drop an additional 10%.  Your interest rate would be 6% because the recession ends, and the Fed starts to raise rates.  Your monthly payment is $994.94.

CONCLUSION: If you waited a year to buy, you would have saved nothing and spent a year living someplace you’d rather not be!                  Source: Lending Tree

Contact Courtney Silverman to buy your next home and investment property.

There is little competition from other buyers. Motivated sellers are setting realistic asking prices. In other words, it’s a more normal home sale market as compared to the record-breaking volume of the last few years.

But there’s another reason to buy a resale house now. Anxious sellers are offering sales incentives. A few offer vacation trips, higher sales commissions to buyer’s agents, and even automobiles as inducements to realty agents and their buyers.  I think the best incentive is a mortage buy down.  This means the seller will contribute up to 6% of the purchase price to buy down the buyer’s mortgage rate of a fixed loan for the first, second, and third year and then on the fourth year the rate is fixed.  This is a great savings each month.  It is a much better incentive for a buyer than a price reduction!

THE EASIEST, LEAST EXPENSIVE WAY TO FINANCE A HOME PURCHASE. Especially if you are a “cash challenged” or “credit challenged” home buyer, you will love this finance source. Not every resale home can be financed using this source, but all you need is one.

This under-used home mortgage finance source is the home seller.

With more than 50 percent of U.S. homes owned free and clear with no mortgage, those homes are the best candidates for seller financing.  As your Realtor, Courtney Silverman search the local MLS (multiple listing service) listings for homes listed with no existing mortgage. Those sellers are the best prospects for seller carryback mortgage financing.

Instead of sellers taking an all-cash sale and parking the cash in a bank or mutual fund earning around 5 percent interest, suggest the seller of a free-and-clear home carry back the mortgage at 6 percent. That’s a “good deal” for both seller and buyer.

Whenever possible, Courtney Silverman will arange a meeting with the home seller to establish credibility before presenting a purchase offer asking for a seller financed mortgage.

FIVE ADVANTAGES FOR HOME SELLERS OF SELLER FINANCING. In addition to earning a high above-market interest rate, there are many additional seller advantages of financing the home sale that include:

1. Easy quick sale for top dollar. As every merchant and car dealer knows, sales are easiest when the merchandise seller offers easy financing. The same principle applies to home sales where sellers offer easy financing. Price often becomes a non-issue.

2. Vacant houses can be risky for home sellers. If the seller has moved out of the house, this is usually a sign of a very anxious and worried seller, especially if the house has been listed for sale several months. Most sellers of vacant houses will listen to reasonable purchase offers, including seller carryback mortgage terms. 

If the seller wants a shorter term than a 20-year seller carryback mortgage, I reply, “Well, let’s amortize the mortgage over 20 years but include an option for you to call the loan due in 10 years.” After 10 years of on-time mortgage payments, sellers rarely exercise that option.

3. Safety of a mortgage or deed of trust on property the seller understands. The major reason home sellers hesitate to carry back a mortgage for their buyer is they fear the buyer will default and not make the monthly payments.

I emphasize this often-unstated fear and explain when a buyer defaults, the seller then can foreclose and either get paid off at the foreclosure sale by a cash bidder or get the home back to resell for a second profit.

4. Installment-sale tax benefits are another seller advantage, especially when the taxable profit exceeds the seller’s $250,000 or $500,000 principal residence sale tax exemption of Internal Revenue Code 121. If the property was not the seller’s principal residence, spreading out the capital gains tax over the years of receiving buyer payments is usually far better than paying a large capital gain tax in the year of the sale.

5. Down-payment cash to pay the home sales expenses. In a typical home seller financing, the buyer makes a cash down payment of 10 percent to 20 percent of the sales price. This down payment is usually sufficient to pay all the sales expenses, including the realty agents’ sales commission.

HOW TO CONVINCE HOME SELLERS TO FINANCE YOUR PURCHASE. Even after explaining all the seller benefits of financing the home sale, some unmotivated sellers are hesitant to carry back a mortgage on the house they are selling.

Methods to Convince are:

(1) offering to prepay six to 12 months of mortgage payments at the closing (instead of a large down payment);

(2) providing a year’s post-dated checks so the seller can deposit a check on the first day of each month; and/or

(3) giving the seller a copy of the buyer’s credit reports and FICO (Fair Isaac Corp.) score obtained at www.myfico.com.

SUMMARY: Especially in the current buyer’s market for homes in most cities, seller mortgage financing is the easiest way to pay for a house or condo purchase with no institutional loan application hassles.

Click here for a glossary of mortgage terms.

21 Snowy Owl, Plantation FL 33324 is the location to entertain your guests.  “The outdoor kitchen we added to our patio has increased our enjoyment  of our private rear yard.  We are really going to miss this home.” stated homeowner Stacey.  “Hawks Landing is a great neighborhood.  I feel secure with the security at the gate and the roving security patrols.  When we are not enjoying our own pool and spa we go to the Hawks Landing Clubhouse.  The clubhouse is available to all residents.  They have an enormous pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, and volleyball.  I use the fitness center and spa services they offer.  It has a country club feel here at the clubhouse with an extensive calendar of events targeted for all - both youth activities and adult social events.”  

Courtney Silverman, Realtor at The Keyes Company said ”A relocation out of state has made this private luxurious home available for sale.  You should see the visual tour of this beauty!”

Details: 5 bedrooms, 3-1/2 baths, marble floors, upgraded fixtures throughout, high ceilings with crown molding, tray ceilings, surround sound inside and outside.  The kitchen has beautiful granite counters in a warm color.  The vanities in the master bedroom are marble. This home is located on a quiet cul de sac and has a long driveway, increasing privacy.

Contact Courtney Silverman at The Keyes Company Realtors to see this fabulous home.