Sugar Realty's Blog by Luan Walker, CRB

Bittersweet Closure For An Everglades Town

Article Take from the July 13, 2008 Edition of The Tampa Tribune Bittersweet Closure For An Everglades Town By BAIRD HELGESON The Tampa Tribune Published: July 13, 2008 Updated: 07/13/2008 12:14 am Related Links Sights And Sounds Special Report: Everglades CLEWISTON - Jim Withers sat in the back room of his small barbershop smoking a cigarette and studying his computer screen. From the office, he could see Michael Smith sitting on a chair against the wall. Withers' old friend didn't come for a haircut. He wanted to talk. Not about politics, or even gas prices. He wanted to talk about U.S. Sugar Corp.'s decision to close. "If the plant closes, this town will become a ghost town," said Smith, who worked at U.S. Sugar for five years. Withers has cut the hair of company executives, refinery workers, their relatives and their children. His customers are sugar people. So it is little surprise these days that nearly every conversation ..(read more)

No More Sonny's BBQ!!!

Be Happy Everybody!!

There is a silver lining in this story about USSC leaving town that no one is looking for because of the depressed atmosphere in Clewiston. Be HAPPY, I cannot tell you how many times I have said this today. The television stations riding around town and newspaper reporters are like putting us in the national spot light for sure. Local town folk at lunch, buzzing with whisper and my cell phone ringing with USSC employees asking what to do about their properties. I just hope they keep showing my Sugar Realty building on the news because it helps the PR. LOL It is my belief, that should the land acquistion take place, we will have a wonderful small fishing resort town to be proud of. The state of Florida is not going to flood our town. They will build a beautiful natural Everglades right in our back yard. All the workers for construction, engineers and planners, government officials with families may come to ..(read more)

U.S. Sugar Sells Out!!! What Happens Now

The Sentinel confirms US Sugar has agreed to sell but I think it may actually be an economic stimulus for Cluelesston.

1. Apparently the agriculture operation will not shut down.
2. Billions will be spent moving dirt around. Putting it back where it used to be or whatever.

It has been my observation, that things are rarely what they are represented to be. If you find the plan and follow the money the truth will be hidden below the surface but it will be obvious. There must be studies and plans, I would love to see the secret memos. I want to know where the work is going to happen. This will no doubt be the biggest influence on development in that area, wherever it is, for the next 20 years. There will in fact be a massive influx of capital and activity somewhere. If US Sugar was going to phase out the agriculture and sell the sugar refinery, does that mean they will stop growing sugar "now" or in 10 or 20 years? (read more)

Restrictions

Just a few things on my mind this morning.....first, please remind your smoker friends about NOT throwing their cigarette butts out of the car window. We all know the hazard of fire starting when doing this. I am a smoker and actually smash it on my outer side mirror before tossing. You will get a fine in Cape Coral if caught throwing a lit cigarette out of your car. DOT should post warnig signs for this danger along Hwy 27 and the Clewiston Police along w/HCSO could give fines for this sort of crime against our environment. There was a map showing the state of Florida in the Palm Beach Post yesterday; south Florida was in the highest risk zone for potential fires because of severe drought conditions. Second....I woke up to find our one and only, Julius Taylor, Clewiston Police, walking up my driveway to warn me about our water sprinklers being on against the city water restriction ..(read more)

Real Estate Market Report

Lately, I have been engaged in several conversations around town about what is going on with the market and what is expected in the future. It is my professional opinion, upon reviewing articles in newspapers, internet and National Association of Realtor’s surveys that we can expect a worse market during this summer. We have not seen the bottom of the market yet! The buyers I am seeing who come into our office, are looking for the deal of the century with $30,000 and $40,000 price adjustments. Within the past several weeks, two closings have been more than $25,000 below market value. Another closing for this week will be more than $30,000 less than market price. Attention Buyers, you really can find a good deal and Sellers, there really are Buyers out there! Some appraisers have told us that the banks are looking at only loaning money below value, due to the declining market. Some good buyers cannot secure loans because underwriters are ..(read more)

Lake O fishing

Look what Drew Peltan caught when he visited us during Sugar Fest weekend!! We threw it back too so one of you can go out on Lake O to try catch again. Awesome fish.........

Dolphin Fishin'

Sam Walker, Fred Parantha and Ricky Baker went fishing on Friday, April 11, 2008 off the Palm Beach coast. They landed this big 54 lb bull Dolphin, plus 2 more gaffers and one 20 lb Tuna! As usual, Sam says, "the really big one got away!" We ate the Tuna that night and I was surprised how wonderful the meat tasted. If any of you fishermen catch something spectacular, please forward me the details so I may post on blog. As it goes, anyone feel free to send me anything of interest to post because I have to keep blogging for the audience! We can start a Ripley's Believe or Not in Clewiston.

Southern Living Magazine

Hi Folks, Good news for Clewiston! We made the April issue of Southern Living and Sugar Realty received a mention in the very first sentence of the article! Our Mayor Mali Soto Chamness, is hoping for a big turn out at this year's Sugar Festival. I have scanned the news for your reading enjoyment because as Mali tells me a magazine copy cannot be found in town.

Disturbing comments

I have posted a person's comment because I want to be fair and show everyone's opinion. Sir, Ali, you have much hatred in your heart and we pray that somehow you find peace within. Yes, I do somewhat agree with you about the Americans being sad. Anyone who lives in America are all in the same boat and you, I believe live here too. You may want to try re-locating to north Florida, maybe like, Dixie or Madison County to make such a difference as you speak with words. Please try not to be so deep when stating your opinion, it is actually scary to many of us and I will not keep posting your comments. I, broker, Luan, would like for you to tell me "who do you think is first world power?" You make valid points which I am sure some of the people out there know exactly what you are saying. Please don't group all Americans into one order as we should not group all of your country into one order. Since, you are not a ..(read more)

Dumpster Diving

A bit of humor to follow the last comment received for blog, "A Star is Born". All I can say after reading comment is ...WOW!! It is true about the American dollar because for the first time since I can remember, the Canadian dollar is worth more than our dollar. According to BBC broadcasting, America was denied a loan from China when we tried to borrow more money from them. Did any of you know that? Please see below some reality in my corner of the world....... TOUGH TIMES IN REAL ESTATE

A Star is Born

I tell you that I am struggling to keep up with this Blog thing! Our office received a telephone call last week to interview, Ashley P. Wood, GRI, associatie, Sugar Realty, for her position of Top Producer with the SW Florida Realtor Association! How exciting for her as she will get a write up in the monthly newsletter! Kudos to you Ashley, as all your hard work and customer service has finally paid off. We are so proud of you!! The real estate business has picked up quite a bit. Our office wrote six contract offers last week and two so far this week. I have my Walmart job application filled out in my desk because we have all been worried about this market. It is a buyer's market now and some terrific deals are out there. The interest rates are good and some sellers have finally seen the light for price reductions. Sellers should be asking themselves if they want to Lead the ..(read more)

Gettin' back into the groove!

So many of you have bugged me about keeping up with this blog! I just approved the newest comment from a resident of Clewiston. I see the value for those of you who want to make this a better place to live and a this blog is a great way to vent your frustrations. Just hope some of the City council members try to read what the public would like them to know. Clewiston is no different than any other small town in Florida. We have the same woes as other towns around the state. I seem to network where ever I go and now understand Clewiston better. I felt the same way as most of the people living here and wanted to move to Alabama last summer, however, am glad God gave me the sign to stay where I am. Yes, we can make this place better, however, it will take a village! The newest and hottest topic is the USSC lawsuit. I was on a showing yesterday and the seller pulls out a copy mailed to her. I resisted the reading ..(read more)

Damn those holidays!

Disclaimer: For authenticity, comments are printed in their entirety. Sugar Realty, Inc. does not necessarily agree with the comment creator's opinions, facts, views, representations, and misrepresentations. Please read at your own risk. Thank you. Hello everyone out there in Blog land, On December 17th, my mother's house caught fire in Alabama and I went to her aid until the day before Christmas Eve. My poor kids had a slim Christmas but they are older now and we had a great Mother/Daughter day out on the 26th finding bargains galore. I probably spent than if I would have bought before Christmas than after because of the sale price sucking us in. For the New Year holiday, our family vacationed at the Lake Placid home we purchased several years ago and never go up to use because of time restraints. The last two weeks have been quite busy and real estate is trickling again. Thank goodness! Please accept my sincere apologies for not ..(read more)

Real Estate Update in Clewiston

Disclaimer: For authenticity, comments are printed in their entirety. Sugar Realty, Inc. does not necessarily agree with the comment creator's opinions, facts, views, representations, and misrepresentations. Please read at your own risk. Thank you. You have to know how much effort I put into continuing this blog! It weighs on me to write on a regular basis. The Rock Stars was a joke played on me by my office. The real people in my car were Karen Sandelli (Michael Jackson), Ashley Wood (riding shotgun as Stevie Wonder), Sandra Hare (Barry Manilow) and Luan Walker (Rod Stewart). We were going to Ft Myers for a girls day out!! First, the real estate market is the worst in 25 years. That has been the headlines in all media reports. I have checked on the Mattress City coming to Clewiston. According, to the City Manager, Wendall Johnson, this has been put on hold for a while due to the lack of mattress sales which may be indirectly ..(read more)