Jacksonville Real Estate Blog Mar
15
Ok, this is definitely an out of the ordinary post for my blog. But I just had one of those moments where a company so blows it at customer service that I have to just tell a couple of people 
The company I am talking about here is none other then Microsoft and it involves my account at the Microsoft adCenter. adCenter is Microsoft’s answer to Google and Yahoo’s legendary pay-per-click business. Pay-per-click is an advertising method that places your ads next to relevant searches users make in the three search engines Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft’s new live.com search engine. The ads display next to search results and the advertiser pays only if the user clicks on the ad.
Google reigns supreme in this market, followed by Yahoo, and in a very distance third place is Microsoft’s adCenter. I have accounts at all three search engines, but I barely use the Microsoft’s adCenter account.
So I was a little surprised today when I got a call from Microsoft about a billing problem with my account. Microsoft called and told me they wanted permission to charge my checking account to correct an over-credit due to an error that occurred because certain clicks were inadvertently excessively charged. My impression was that Microsoft had some how credited back to my checking account an excess amount and wanted it back. I asked the amount they were talking about and the representative said it was around $600.
I told the rep I needed to look at my account because I don’t spend anything near that on adCenter. So I got her name, number , and extension and told her I would call her back as soon as I reviewed my bank records. I pulled up my banking record and saw there were no transactions pending or posted for the $600 amount. I looked at the adCenter account and can only find $50.80 worth of charges year to date.
So I call back the rep at adCenter, enter her extension, get told she is busy, and then the call was rolled over to another rep. The other rep tells me she will go get the first rep because she can’t find a ticket for my account, she returns and tells me the first rep will call me right back.
The first rep calls me back (with a trendy WebTv caller ID), I explained to the rep that there are no charges from Microsoft in the $600 range posted to my checking account. In fact, I had only spent $50.80 YTD, but in my adCenter account, it is showing a $580 credit. So I tell the rep, there is nothing posted to my checking account showing any overcharge so I am not giving Microsoft permission to charge anything to my account right now. I press her again as what the problem is with my account.
She finally explains that there was error where I was charged $32 per click for an ad where I had bid just $1 Microsoft then tried to fix the problem, but credited my adCenter account back DOUBLE the amount, leaving me with a credit in my account. The rep then says Microsoft can’t remove the credit from the adCenter account and wants permission to charge my checking account for the CREDIT they gave me by mistake! Microsoft wants me to pay them for the credit they gave me by mistake but can not reverse.
They are asking me for permission to charge my checking account for amount I won’t be spending for the next 30 months(YTD=$50.8; Monthly Budget = $50.80/2.5 Months = $20/month; Microsoft proposed charge = $600 = $600/$20 = 30 Months)
I went ballistic! I tell the rep you wasted a half hour of my time trying to get me to prepay the next 2.5 years worth of pay-per-click charges because you messed up and can’t reverse the credit you gave me!
Give me a break. I only kept my account open because I now have a $600 credit that Microsoft can’t remove.
Mar
7
After years of rocketing sales, the housing market is beginning to finally settle down into a more stable pattern but one kind of property which is persistently bucking this trend is waterfront properties which puts Jacksonville in an unbeatable position.
With approximately 1000 people relocating to Florida each day, many people end up gravitating north. The south sees its fair share of hurricanes so many people move north for calmer weather and a waterfront property which is cheaper than their previous home. This enables them to put some money away for a rainy day.
It doesn’t matter what kind of water the property sits next to. It can be something as large as an ocean or something as small as a pond. The property in question doesn’t even need to be physically right next to the body of water - it could be several blocks away with a view of the water. Nevertheless, a buyer will always be found because there is always a buyer out there looking for a property with a water-front or water-view. The fact that these kinds of properties are also in very limited supply also adds to their appeal - and their price-tag.
Some prime examples of Jacksonville waterfront properties include of course the St Johns River (and its tributaries), the Intracoastal Waterway and miles of oceanfront.
So if you are a water-fan looking for a waterfront property, Jacksonville is the place to look. If you’re a seller with a waterfront property, you should have no problem selling it.
Mar
6
An interesting article has appeared in the local newspaper about the difficulties of trying to sell a house during holiday periods, in particular Christmas and Thanksgiving. Although it is now the beginning of the year, I thought it was still an interesting subject to try to broach as holiday periods naturally occur all throughout the year. For example, Easter is almost upon us.
As a general rule (and most real estate professionals agree with this), selling your home during a holiday period can be extremely tricky. Most people who are out to buy a property generally don’t have the time or the inclination to browse open houses during a holiday. Instead they will have family events to go to, dinners to prepare and so on.
But the same could also be said for sellers. Who wants a buyer coming around to look at the house when you have a private family event going on? So even sellers may not be so inclined to have an open house during say Thanksgiving.
But if the buyer and seller ARE so inclined to consider a bit of house-selling during a holiday period, many realtors agree that there are some things that you should bear in mind.
First, you should make sure the house in question is not too cluttered. It’s easy during a family event for rooms to get messy and this can have an adverse effect on the prospective buyer who may not see the advantages of the house because they are too busy tripping over the kid’s toys.
Second, you should make sure that your realtor is available during the holiday period! You never know, I may be away on vacation when you need me to schedule a house-viewing.
Thirdly, and this is very important, make sure that any promotional photos you take of your property doesn’t show any seasonal decorations. If you take pictures of your house in December complete with tree and decorations, having those same pictures circulating in June creates a bad impression. It reminds prospective buyers that your house has been on the market for quite a while and may therefore be unsellable.
With a little bit of preparation and thought, you can even sell your property during the holidays.
Mar
4
Condo extras offer a different kind of lifestyle
Filed Under Jacksonville Condos, Jacksonville Homes | Leave a Comment
Many buyers are under the mistaken impression that a condo is a fancy apartment only for rich people. However, condos are becoming more and more affordable, bringing it into the price range of a single-family home. But some of the extras currently being offered to some condo communities in Jacksonville don’t help to dispel the “fancy apartments for rich people” myth.
To take a prime example, Berkman Plaza 2 has been compared to the Ritz-Carlton. The 23-story building which sits alongside the St Johns River will have various luxury amenities such as a concierge service, a marina, heated indoor pool, a putting green, tennis courts and valet dry cleaning.
Then there are the condominiums at Palencia. With price-tags starting in the higher end of $100,000, these condos also have extras such as swimming pools, a poolside family snackbar, tennis courts and golf courses.
Berkman Plaza 2 even has its own guest suites so if residents will have overnight guests, they can reserve a guest suite to offer their visitors their own space. This has been hailed as a unique new idea when considering what new amenities to offer condo residents.
It seems that by buying a condo, the homebuyer is making a statement about the kind of lifestyle they are looking for.
Mar
2
Oakbrook homes available soon
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Sales of homes are brisk in the heavily wooded North Jacksonville area of Oakbrook but there could still be the possibility of snapping up a residence there if your luck holds.
The available residences were built by Mattamy Homes and sales were quite brisk as soon as the majority of the residences went on the market. But more residences could soon become available from a minimum of $190,000.
There are various floorplans available including the Catherine floorplan which consists of a two-storey property with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The Catherine has little touches such as ceramic tiling, recessed kitchen lighting and a 36 inch ventless gas fireplace.
If the Catherine doesn’t take your fancy, you could instead consider the Avery (three bedrooms, two bathrooms), the Augustine (four bedrooms, two bathrooms) or the Savannah (five bedrooms, three bathrooms).
Oakbrook is surrounded by woods, parks and ponds, a perfect quiet community for all the family.