Jill Kushner - Specializing in The Colony Golf & Bay Club, Bonita Springs, Florida FL - Downing-Frye Realty Inc.

There's no one I know who is as big a fan of The Colony as I am. I love the people, the amenities....I love how beautiful The Colony presents, as I ride along Via Veneto with the high rises, standing aside like soldiers at attention.
When a resident requests a market evaluation out of reverence to them and respect for the process, I make sure that I share the truth about the marketability of their residence. The least gentle question I am inclined to ask a prospective seller is, "Do you want to list your property or do you want to sell it?"

While this may seem, on the face of it, a sarcastic question, the reality is, sellers want to hear the highest "estimated" price, often make their real estate listing agent selection based on that response solely.
Listing Colony property for sale, in my opinion, is partnership between the seller and I. My motive is to fetch the highest and best offering from a buyer. But if I truly mean what I said, that I respect the process, I have to tell the truth. I have to decline listings where sellers want a price based on what they paid. This is a failed approach to selling a Colony residence. Among other issues, it won't appraise. Experience has taught me this.
While I believe that we need to keep our prices up to the very best of our ability, the demand is simply still not strong enough to warrant an asking price much over 15% of the most recent closed sales.
Getting listings, as a Realtor, is certainly a vital part of my business model. Far more important is my track record in getting properties sold.
If you are a seller and not a lister, know that the most important time in the listing is (in our seasonal area) six months. Make the greatest impact you can in that period. If you are not getting offers, you have made a listing agreement based on the least important criteria-which agent most agrees with your biased opinion of your home and gave you the highest price.
Those in The Colony who sold their properties were committed to the process. They got showings and ultimately contracts. My guess is that if you more than 15% over the market value, you are interested mainly in sharing with strangers (escorted by real estate agents) how beautiful your home is or, you are awaiting the arrival of an ignorant buyer...that is, if you are getting showings at all.

Labels: Lifestyle

Donna Marcotte has been the Membership Director at

The Colony Golf & Country Club for 8 years.
With a background in the hospitality industry, Donna
transferred those skills to private clubs when she moved here 14 years ago.
A native of New York, Donna grew up in the Tampa Bay area of Florida and moved to Atlanta, GA after marrying her husband, Doug, 19 years ago. A job transfer
brought her to Southwest Florida where she lives with her husband and 3 Cocker Spaniels in the neighboring community of Estero.
Donna enjoys introducing new members to a club whose existing members welcome them with open arms.
"We have some of the best members I have ever worked with here at The Colony!".
Donna Marcotte looks forward to hearing from you and answering your questions about
membership opportunities at The Colony Golf Club!

My most recent listing and sale was in Treviso, a Colony high rise. The buyers came from Naples where they owned a home they sold in two weeks of listing it last April. The new Colony resident just called me from his New Mexico home to tell me they just sold that one in three days of listing it.

I couldn’t resist sharing my new client’s words-not mine, (and remember he is buyer as well as a seller), “If sellers would just list their properties at the market price, they wouldn’t have to endure all the showings and days turned to months spent waiting for that perfect, uninformed buyer to come along to buy their property, only to have their forward plan dashed with no sale. List it at a competitive price and get it done.” He went on to say, “Move on and take advantage of a very good buyer’s market while there’s still time.”

All my listing clients want to underscore how their home is unique as it compares to others on the market. The new resident refreshed my intuitive knowing. If my clients really want to sell their home, not just list it, I must have the courage to tell them the truth about my own experience with buyers and sellers.

My job is to inform both buyers and sellers of closed sales and market conditions; anomalies and unique features really don't play a significant role in this economy. I don't make the rules but I do have to live by them. My job is not to try to create the market. I don't possess that power.

By the way, the high rise property the new Colony resident purchased was on the market for just two weeks. Why? You get one guess.

This week I accepted a new listing in Castella, which was a former furnished model sold back just a few years. Take the Tour.

Castella is a unique Colony neighborhood, not a high rise but a sort of more traditional Florida style mid-rise condominium, with an enclosed atrium setting and a very impressive large lagoon-style swimming pool. Each residence has a huge screened in lanai area.
Castella residents tend to be into the natural Florida nature, as they are surrounded by protected lands.
We have a couple for sale...take a look.

I received more calls yesterday inquiring about Colony seasonal rental than I ever remember! Rentals are not what I do, however, if there's a way to help a Colony owner and Colony prospective owner to "test drive" the community via a rental, I will do my best.
Yesterday, I reached out to more than dozen Colony high rise owners just to gauge their interest in renting their places. Some Colony residents own more than one home and are sometimes open-minded to this idea, given the fact that the tenant has to undergo a pretty rigorous background check before being approved by the association.

My personal belief is that these renters are really buyers in some denial that we haven't hit our bottom yet and they can delay purchase. Beware! We have little Colony inventory to sell and less in the way of season rental opportunities.

The Colony Women's Forum came about when a Colony friend and neighbor shared an idea with Debbie Allegretto.

Although Debbie and her husband Paul, formerly of West Hartford, CT, are actively engaged in all kinds of events and activities with Colony residents, Debbie began noticing the more than occasional absence of some her neighborhood women friends at Colony gatherings.

Debbie reached out to some of these neighbors and asked why this was. Often she heard from these women they were too shy to get involved, unless their husbands were available to attend events with them.

A fair portion of Colony residents commute back and forth from their primary residences, as they are still in a work mode. By design, this arrangement offers the other spouse the opportunity to enjoy our paradise during the winter months. Commuting like this gives the working spouse, (often of a senior partnership position, a medical practitioner or a business owner) a more gentle transition from work into retirement. Some Colony residents have been doing this kind of commute/transition for years.

So we have a pretty constant population of independent residents. We have single people here too, of course. “They may be working out of their Colony homes and just need to get out and socialize”, Debbie reports.

News of this got Debbie working on an idea…a group for women, single, married, widowed, whatever, to just find each other thru no other membership affiliation than living in The Colony. Passionate about pulling these people together, Debbie began collecting names and emails and launched her first gathering about a year ago at The Bay Club, which was modestly attended. But within the first few get-togethers, The Colony Women’s Forum had blossomed to 35 Colony women attending a luncheon at The Golf Club (membership not required for this event). The Colony Women’s Forum is very interested in reaching out to our women, in particular, to let them know that a bevy of new friends and new opportunities are available to them, right here inside the gate.

"Every female at The Colony can meet, make friends and get involved with a variety of activities at the Colony and around the SWFL area. Members advise me of all sorts of events but we primarily encourage the group to support Colony events and resident's involvement with local organizations", said Debbie.

Debbie Allegretto

One of the upcoming Colony Women's Forum off-site excursions is to support, Forum member and La Scala resident, Cindy Walpole’s brilliant photography works at the upcoming Von Liebig Art Center’s Juried Art Exhibition, October 15-December 3^rd. All Colony residents are encouraged to attend the preview reception on October 14^th, 5:30-7:30. For more information on this and other Colony Women’s Forum events, please contact Debbie Allegretto.