I feed my dog Cadillacs

So recently I found myself taking my sweet dog Sheika the Akita to a regular vet check up while at the same time getting a call on a deal that was falling apart.  I really try not to talk on the phone and drive because of the obvious inherent risks with such activity.  But as a real estate agent I sometimes have to take phone calls in order to make a deal happen.  Well this deal was going BAD and I had to take the phone call.  So while on the phone I hear a strange sound and notice that Sheika has pushed her cage away from the door and was ripping at the door of the cage (which is, or rather was, a tough fabric material).  But since I was driving and on the phone I decided to just ignore it until I could get off the phone.  Once I got off the phone I glanced back expecting to see just her cage in shambles but instead I saw the yellow pieces of foam that used to be inside my back seat.

And worse off she was still ripping away having a good old time!  I could not stop her with my hands because I was driving on the express way and decided it was not worth causing an accident,  but I had to get her to stop and so I yelled at a decibel level that I did not know I was capable of, something on the order of:  SHEIKA NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

That got her to sit quietly in the other corner of her (former) cage for the rest of the trip, but the damage had been done.  I am currently seeking a replacement back seat for a Cadillac DTS in black leather, if anyone happens to have one just laying around please let me know!  Otherwise I will be calling Cadillac so they can use me to help out the economy.

Here are some pictures for your general amusement…

Sheika's Food

Sheika denies the accusations on the basis of cuteness

The Caddy was traumatized and tried to hide behind a tree

Thanks for reading, please send Sheika Fan Mail directly to her publicist.

Joshua T. Reich, P.A.
Broker-Associate
“Knowledge, Professionalism, Diligence”
RE/Max Advance Realty
305-283-4470
Josh@GreatCoralGablesHomes.com
www.GreatCoralGablesHomes.com < Search Coral Gables Homes
www.TheCoralGablesBlog.com < Read all about it

Published in: on October 24, 2011 at 6:16 pm  Comments (1)  
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It’s Raining Photos (Best Coral Gables Photos Updated)

So if you have not been living under a rock lately in South Florida, then you are probably soaking wet.  One Coral Gables resident described the rain this way,”I can’t remember the last time it wasn’t raining.”  In reality it has only been raining for about 6 days, but for the Sunshine State it is a strange phenomenon.  Normally a major rain event is some form of tropical storm or wave, or one of them there ole hairicanes.  But this time this low pressure system has just been planted here for about 6 days, but don’t worry tomorrow is supposed to be gorgeous dry and cool finally!

So the moral of the story is I had some time while avoiding the unsafe driving conditions to check out the stats for The Coral Gables Blog and I was not surprised to see that the most visited page is the Best Coral Gables Photos page.  This makes me feel better because it means my readers are like me and much prefer pictures to reading…with that said I’ll shut up now and give you the news that I have added a ton of photos to the page to satisfy your rabid demand, so Click Here to Check Out the New Photos (they are at the bottom under the old photos).

What may happen to you if you pour concrete in the rain

Stay dry!

Joshua T. Reich, P.A.
Broker-Associate
“Knowledge, Professionalism, Diligence”
RE/Max Advance Realty
305-283-4470
Josh@GreatCoralGablesHomes.com
www.GreatCoralGablesHomes.com < Search Coral Gables Homes
www.TheCoralGablesBlog.com < Read all about it

Published in: on October 19, 2011 at 5:07 pm  Leave a Comment  
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City Property Taxes lowered in Coral Gables!

In a bit of good news for Coral Gables residents the Coral Gables city commission has voted to lower property taxes for the fiscal year that began October 1, 2011.  That means that next years millage rate will be 5.869 mills which is lower than last fiscal year by approximately .203 mills.  Now what the heck does that mean?

Think of the millage rate as a dollar amount of $5.869 per $1000 of the assessed property value, then for example a property that has an assessed value of $2000 would have a pre-deduction city tax bill of $11.74… boy that would be a nice tax bill but there is no such thing as a $2000 property in Coral Gables, unless you are talking about a bird bath.   And so in more reasonable prices, if you property’s assessed value is $200,000 then your pre-deduction city tax bill will be $1,173.80.  Of course you also are going to be taxed by the county at their millage rates so you will have to add that to your bill and then deduct a Homestead Exemption or other exemptions in order to arrive at your final bill amount…but at least for this year the city’s portion is going to be a bit lower.  Also remember that the assessed value is not the same as the market value of a property, and the assessed value is usually a good amount lower than the market value.  If you would like to know the market value of your home call me for a Comparative Market Analysis.

The E-Newsletter of the City of Coral Gables also reports that this reduction will not result in the loss of any city jobs as the workforce is slated to remain the same at 791 full-time employees.  In addition there are funds set aside for repairs and improvements.  So it seems that city services will not suffer much from the projected loss of about $2 Million in revenue as a result of this decrease.  Sounds like good news to me!

Coral Gables City Hall

Coral Gables City Hall

Thanks for reading!

Joshua T. Reich, P.A.
Broker-Associate
“Knowledge, Professionalism, Diligence”
RE/Max Advance Realty
305-283-4470
Josh@GreatCoralGablesHomes.com
www.GreatCoralGablesHomes.com
www.TheCoralGablesBlog.com

Published in: on October 17, 2011 at 5:35 pm  Leave a Comment  

I hired a bird to take some Aerial Pictures of The Biltmore

The problem is that when you deal with a species that cannot communicate effectively and does not understand the concept of money it is very hard to get your deposit back.

So after multiple phone calls to We Fly U Bye Inc. that resulted in nothing but incoherent squawking I decided to just “borrow” some aerial pictures from Bing (aka Microsoft) and 1 street view from the all knowing Google (all hail).

The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables is one of the most beautiful and charismatic hotels in the world, in my opinion, and I wanted to give another view of it from the air.  For those of you who don’t know you can get some really great “Bird’s Eye” views by using Maps.Bing.com.  Often when I am working with someone who is looking for a home in Coral Gables I will send them a link to the Bird’s Eye view so that they can get a better idea of what the neighborhood looks like and what the property is close to.  The Bird’s Eye view is better than the Aerial view in most cases because you can see at an angle rather than from straight overheard.  But in this case I am just using it to give you a nice view of one of Coral Gables most famous buildings.

Ok so that should be enough promotion of Bing.com AKA the former Live.com AKA we should just give up and let Google (all hail) have the Search Engine market because now we are a 2nd class OS to a company that we once bailed out.  Sorry you had to read all of that just to get to the pictures…

What a very cool and stately hotel

The bird that took this shot was flying south for the winter

The Famous Biltmore Pool

This shot of the entire Biltmore Golf Course was taken by a top-notch spy bird

This bird landed and gave up flying for a life of luxury

The Coral Gables Blog is your eye in the sky!

Joshua T. Reich, P.A.
Broker-Associate
“Knowledge, Professionalism, Diligence”
RE/Max Advance Realty
305-283-4470
Josh@GreatCoralGablesHomes.com
www.GreatCoralGablesHomes.com
www.TheCoralGablesBlog.com

 

Published in: on October 4, 2011 at 8:20 pm  Comments (2)  
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