Shot on Site at Boca Grove

Goodbye Party For Coach Brian Newcomer

Margaux Zucker, Samantha & Erica Falzone, Jeremy Buch, Eli Lenner

Steve & Kim Bronson and twin daughters

Sherry & Carl Morganstein

Where are all the REAL Buyers?

Many of the listing agents from the various companies throughout Boca Raton’s country clubs are lamenting the fact that the people currently looking at properties are either killing time in hopes of making a killing on a house by being in the right place at the right time or are so hopelessly out of touch with reality when it comes to making realistic offers. Lowballers have descended on Boca Raton from many parts of the country in hopes of cashing in on our depressed market. While the sellers have capitulated in lowering their prices in competition with the short sales and true desperation of some sellers, the buyers don’t realize that these prices are already at bare bones levels without much negotiating room. Many of our listings inquire as to why their homes are not being shown more often. The answer is: We qualify buyers ahead of time to be certain that they have the funds to purchase the property if they do find it amenable to their tastes and lifestyle and within the price point it needs to be. In other words, we don’t waste time showing a residence priced at $1.8M to someone that wants to spend “no more than $1M!” Factoring in the Club costs is also a consideration so when we have buyers that like the 55+ communities such as the many Valencias, Vizcaya, etc., we know they are usually not going to step up to the plate on the costs of living in Boca Grove Plantation. With Summer coming, these bottom feeders will continue but we should also begin to have a new state-of-mind with Buyers understanding and realizing that the prices they are seeing on these homes are rolled back from 3 to 6 years ago in most cases and that these already are True Deals. Also, the fact that the lenders are making it easier once again for secondary home buyers to qualify for mortgages on well appraised properties certainly will help turn the market. As we have mentioned to many of you who have inquired about listing properties at this time: Why jump into this market in its downturn if you don’t have to sell immediately? If you can afford to wait, then do so and obtain what you deserve for your gorgeous estate, patio home or grande condo in Boca Grove Plantation.

Boca Grove Moves Forward

Dynamic with new ideas on how to boost the bottom line of Boca Grove’s Country Club is the most succinct way of introducing Howard Slavin, the newly elected President of Boca Grove Plantation. Residing here for the past ten years with his wife of 35 years, Sue-Ann, Howard enjoys spending time golfing with his sons, Michael & Robert. What attracted the Slavins to Boca Grove were many things that continue to attract our buyers: A very comfortable community with a good mix of nice & considerate people, a golf course with no tee times, perfectly located adjacent to the turnpike with two international airports less than 30 minutes away and a great school district.

Howard’s vision on how to improve various areas of Club Life starts with the financial bottom line. Originally from New York, in business, Howard is well known as the “turnaround specialist” by taking underperforming businesses that needed restructuring, surrounding himself with wise people who are great at what they do and not micromanaging them but allowing people who are experts in their field get their jobs done. Our new President has implemented the same method with those in the community who have expressed an interest to get involved. By placing them on committees where their particular expertise will work best, Howard firmly feels this is where you get the good-most productive ideas. Limiting the size of committees, he finds, also makes the committees much more productive. He also believes that no one who lives in Boca Grove should benefit financially from any of the projects. Everyone offers their time and expertise in order to benefit the club, not themselves.

We brought some of our own questions and concerns to Howard during our meeting; information that we had heard from various members. Unfortunately, most of them were false rumors and this was an obvious sore point with him. Understandably, when someone full of optimism takes on this positionDynamic with new ideas on how to boost the bottom line of Boca Grove’s Country Club is the most succinct way of introducing Howard Slavin, the newly elected President of Boca Grove Plantation. Residing here for the past ten years with his wife of 35 years, Sue-Ann, Howard enjoys spending time golfing with his sons, Michael & Robert. What attracted the Slavins to Boca Grove were many things that continue to attract our buyers: A very comfortable community with a good mix of nice & considerate people, a golf course with no tee times, perfectly located adjacent to the turnpike with two international airports less than 30 minutes away and a great school district. Howard’s vision on how to improve various areas of Club Life starts with the financial bottom line. Originally from New York, in business, Howard is well known as the “turnaround specialist” by taking underperforming businesses that needed restructuring, surrounding himself with wise people who are great at what they do and not micromanaging them but allowing people who are experts in their field get their jobs done. Our new President has implemented the same method with those in the community who have expressed an interest to get involved. By placing them on committees where their particular expertise will work best, Howard firmly feels this is where you get the good-most productive ideas. Limiting the size of committees, he finds, also makes the committees much more productive. He also believes that no one who lives in Boca Grove should benefit financially from any of the projects. Everyone offers their time and expertise in order to benefit the club, not themselves. We brought some of our own questions and concerns to Howard during our meeting; information that we had heard from various members. Unfortunately, most of them were false rumors and this was an obvious sore point with him. Understandably, when someone full of optimism takes on this position and puts their all into making good, positive changes that strengthens, not only the Club they all belon to and have a financial interest in, but also increases their properties market values, it becomes a call for positive thoughts and good reinforcements. While working on the financial position of the club is important, Howard also believes that the morale of the members is an important element of a successful club. In these difficult economic times, there will be some disgruntled members and rumors will circulate, but the bottom line is as follows, “We are fortunate to live in a beautiful community in one of the best parts of the country. We have a brand new clubhouse, a wonderful golf course with no tee times and so much to be happy about if we just take the time to sit back and enjoy it. Respect, for the club and each other is of primary importance.”

Howard can usually be found most mornings exercising in our fitness center or working on his golf game. He would welcome any suggestions for bettering our life here at Boca Grove Plantation

Boca Grove's Award Wiinning Chef

We all know how much our gracious, kind and wonderful Chef adds to the ambiance, not to mention the incredible delights that come out of the kitchen. We just wanted you to know that other top chefs from around the world know how lucky we are too! Chef Jackson ventured up to Orlando for the Mystery Box competition. Each chef is handed a box with unknown ingredients including a piece of meat, fish, produce, vegetables, fruit, milk and sugar. Within 15 minutes of opening the Mystery Box, each chef has to design a complete menu featuring Soup, Salad, Main Entry, Side Dishes and a Dessert. After giving this menu to the judges, each chef is given just 3 hours and 45 minutes exactly to prepare a full course meal for TEN people. Judges grade on organization, preparation, presentation, iming and, of course, most importantly, TASTE! Guess who came in FIRST! Yes, our Chef was then flown to Iowa to compete against chefs from all over where he came in THIRD in this competition! Not too shabby! With Chef Jackson’s knowledge of the many Boca Grove residents who are interested in healthy meals that still taste great, he is offering classes throughout the year on Healthy Meal Preparation. The first class will be creating a quick and easy Hearty Vegetable Soup that although healthy, tastes superb! Going above and beyond has always been Chef Jackson’s signature. We are so lucky that he loves working at Boca Grove and making the restaurants of Boca Grove very busy!

IT’S A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR... AT BOCA GROVE

Living in one of the most lovely communities in one of the best places in the entire Country is most fortunate. We are constantly asked by many of you how bad is the market going to get and how low will the prices go. Please keep in mind that this tiny city in which we live is bordered by the Ocean and the Everglades. There is little place for expansion; similar to the Island of Palm Beach, Fisher Island in Miami or Jupiter Island. All of these are exclusive enclaves that continue to Not Grow?! There are very few parcels of land left on which to build which is causing the renaissance of Boca Raton to continue. The knocking down and rebuilding which is what was occurring on a regular basis in this community before the recession will re-emerge once again and, since location is everything, this will continue in all of the top country club communities; especially in Boca Grove with the addition of our new gorgeous Clubhouse and wonderful amenities. We agree that those that speculated on condo buying in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale areas and have many units they are trying to unload have reasons for concern. However, in our insulated area with the best schools, shopping, dining, culture, location between two international airports and living where everyone else in the country seems to want to be is only going to cause our real estate values to climb due to supply and demand. When Buyers feel more comfortable spending, our market values are going to jump. For those of you who are thinking of selling, we urge you to wait it out a bit more. Sounds strange coming from real estate agents? Yes, but we care more about you and your market values than we do about just getting a new listing. We want you to be as informed as we are as to what is going on in the real estate market and where it’s forecasted to go. Please remember that any conversations we have with you remain between us so don’t hesitate to call or email us with any questions, comments or concerns. Yes! It’s going to be a very good New Year in 2009 for Boca Grove Plantation.

Children having Fun at Boca Grove

Jared & Howard Meiselman

Jeremy Buch, Samantha & Erica Falzone

Justin Greene, Jared Meiselman, Ben Meiselman, Jacob Greene, Keith Lipp

Shot on Site at Boca Grove

Howard Sarshik and Stan Pierce	Sheri Brenner, Tracy Abrams, Analuz Rodriguez Paz, Barbara Bosworth, Cheryl Budd, Joanna Karp
Jerry Burt, Keith Lipp (Head Pro), Ed Ellman, Andy Astrove, and Glenn Meyers