If you are a foreign buyer wanting to make a real estate purchase in Naples, then you will not be alone. Nearly 20% of home purchases in second home communities are foreign owners, of which Canadians make up the majority share.

It makes no difference whether you are from the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Brazil ,New York or Naples Fl, the process for purchasing a home is the same. There are no additional fees or expenses involved with the home purchase transaction. The steps of home purchase are described to  provide you with an understanding                        .

Working with a real estate broker in Naples is sometimes different than in  other countries. Real estate brokers cooperate through the local Multiple Listing Services (MLS). Where they share all their listings with each other. So a real estate broker in Naples will have access to not just their listing, but all listings in the Naples area.

Upon a sale, the seller pays the real estate commission to their broker, who then shares it with the selling broker (buyer’s broker). The buyer does not pay any commission related to the sale. Through this cooperation, the seller get the greatest amount of exposure, to the greatest number of potential buyers.

I am happy to help all of you get the home you deserve here in Naples!  

Foreign buyers can take advantage of a wide range of services provided through me to help locate the right property, submit a purchase agreement and negotiate with the seller. This is all at no cost to them.

Other Very Important Information for Foreign Buyers

• Once a property is purchased, it would be more convenient to open a US bank account to make bill paying easy. Naples has plenty of banks to choose from!
• Mortgage Financing – Foreign Buyers will either have difficulty getting a mortgage, or pay a high premium for one. The best course is to work with a bank in your own country that has US subsidiaries that lends.
• Rental Income – If the property is rented, then the rules are the same as for US citizens. A tax return needs to be filed showing the income or loss. (Note some countries might have tax treaties, so it is always best to check with a tax advisor).
• Selling – FIRPTA (Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980) requires that 10% of the selling price of a foreign own property, be withheld to cover taxes on any potential gain (Selling price, less original purchase price). The foreign owner would then have to prepare a tax filing to get a refund, for the excess amount held.
• Always check with an Attorney and a Lawyer first!

5 THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN A REAL ESTATE AGENT

A good Realtor MUST have these five basic qualities...

1. Listens and looks out for you and your families needs

2. Continues searching for the right place and keeps you updated

3. Doesn't waste your time by showing you properties that don't match your criteria

4. Doesn't tell you only what you want to hear

5. Has appropriate credentials and experience

I listen.  I work for you.  Your satisfaction is the most important thing to me.

Janet Santiago
Premiere Plus Realty
Naples, FL
239-738-1747

Fun on a Rainy Day in Naples, FL

The weather in Naples Florida is a precious natural resource! The locals love it. The visitors love it. It is without a doubt, the main reason why sun seekers from around the globe are drawn to the our beaches. Naples is located along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and benefits from the warm tropical breezes from the Gulf.  Since we are in the sub-tropics, we do get "rainy days".  Luckily, the showers don’t seem to last very long and the bright Florida sun peaks out pretty quickly after a storm! So a ‘rainy day’ doesn’t necessarily mean that it rains the entire day!
 

As a Realtor , I am often asked: "What is there to do in the rain?" Here are some of my suggestions:

1) We have many museums featuring free admission

• Immokalee Pioneer Museum, just off Main St.and Roberts Ave.
• Collier County Museum located in the Gov't Complex on Airport-Pulling
• Naples Depot Museum located on the corner of Fifth Ave. and 10th St
• Museum of the Everglades, located in Everglades City
• The von Liebig Art Center

2) Another suggestion would be to visit he Holocast Museum on 4760 Tamiami Trail N.

3) Naples public libraries offer so much more than books.They often have lectures, films, and programs. Be sure to check their schedule.   

4) Try a matinee performance at the Sugden Theatre on 5th Ave.

5) Paint your own pottery at Earth & Fire or Kilns & Clay 

6) There are excellent exhibitions and lectures at Rookery Bay. Kids' arts & craft program is free on Fridays.

7) Sit, read, and have a cup of coffee at Barnes & Noble in the Waterside Shops.

8) Shopping is  fun at Tin City where you are bound to uncover unique, fun souvenirs to bring back with you.

9) There is always the obvious...movies however take it to the next level at the Silverspot Theatre in Mercato after enjoying a few of the restaurants and perusing the wonderful shops.

10) My last suggestion is my favorite one. Try a massage, pedicure, and manicure. Followed by Happy Hour.

Ahhh...now that is what I call relaxing in Paradise! 

Rain is not a negative thing!... it is an opportunity to see more of what Naples has to offer!

Invest in Real Estate-Tips for Success

The number one way to lose a lot of money in real estate investments is to make hasty decisions. Most people who are successful with their investments enjoy success because they have done the research and have years of trial and error to look back to. This blog is just the first step in helping you reach your goal of real estate investing.

Analyze the market before you invest in real estate. Look at a bunch of properties to get a good idea on what locations are successful, and keep notes on it. This will make it easy for you to weigh the pros and cons of each property. This will help you to work through the deals to sort good from bad.

It is possible to get contracts set up for free. However, always be wary of doing this. Those free contracts may not hold up in court. Instead, find a good lawyer and pay a bit to have the contracts done the right way for you. You will not regret it.

If you want to get into real estate investing, but do not have enough money to buy a piece of property on your own, do not fret. Look at real estate investment trusts. Operating much like mutual funds, you can invest what funds you have available into a larger group pool and still make some money off of real estate mortgages.

Think long-term when investing in real estate. While some investors seek to make quick turnovers by buying cheap and flipping within weeks or months, your better bet is a longer view. Look for safe properties where you can invest a large sum of money and get investment return via monthly income like rent.

Always get your properties inspected. Inspections are not a bad thing, and you shouldn’t consider them as an annoying expense. Inspections can uncover serious issues that may not be immediately apparent. This can give you negotiating leverage or allow you to fix issues before someone else requests an inspection.
As you look for investment properties, seek those that are likely to grow in value. You might have higher future returns from something on a waterfront, for instance. Think about how much the price is expected to appreciate to get a better idea of if it will be worth it.

Never invest too much money in the beginning as this can cause a lot of problems down the road. Overextending yourself can lead to problems with your savings plans and prevent you from buying great properties in the near future. Develop the proper budget and follow it.

Always look at the whole neighborhood before you decide to invest in a piece of property. Desirable neighborhoods will always hold their value, whereas depressed neighborhoods may not give you as good a return. Location is probably the primary factor in property value, even more than what’s on the property itself.

Hopefully, this blog has helped you see that there is more to real estate investments than really meets the eye. It is important that you take baby steps when you finally set your eyes on a property and use what you have learned today. After all, the more you know, the better your chances of turning a profit.

Top 10 Reasons to Retire Right Away

“Just five more hours until the weekend. I can hardly wait.”

“Just five more weeks until my vacation. I can hardly wait.”

“Just five more years until retirement. I can hardly wait.”
Whenever you catch yourself saying something like this, it’s time to stop and evaluate things. If you are thinking this way too often it means that you are not living a meaningful life in the present. Your work life has become a burden and you are dreaming of escape.


The thing is, the escape you are dreaming of is usually short-lived or an illusion. The weekend will be over before you know it. The vacation will be a collection of photos and memories before long. As for retirement, well, the fact is we get old quickly in our advancing years, so you don’t want to wait until then to really start living.
To me retirement is about doing what you love. If you are living with passion and doing the things you love, while also embracing the things you don't necessarily enjoy but recognize as important, you're living a retirement lifestyle. You have to ask yourself, “ If money were not an issue, what would I be doing?” If the answer is, “What I'm doing right now,” then you have arrived. Loving what you do means that you are always living in the moment instead of waiting for that better moment that always seems to be in the future. Loving what you do every day is an ideal worth pursuing and it is a mindset you can cultivate.
The point is, if you don’t feel that way about what you’re doing—if you don’t feel like you are retired already,  if you’re not energized about the possibilities every day brings, and excited and grateful for the opportunity to engage with them—something is wrong and you need to address it. You shouldn’t just bear with it and wait for the next “escape.”
Life is short. It’s much shorter if you only live it on weekends.

Remember that retirement is the best opportunity to relax and do what you want, where you want and with who you want.

The top ten reasons to retire is a way to look at your own retirement plan. While you may enjoy your work and what you are rewarded from it, you need to take a break and live your life away from that office.

Consider the following reasons to retire:

1. We grow older each day and that means each day the time that we have to enjoy all the wonders of the earth gets a little shorter. There’s no point complaining about it – it’s just a fact of life. Nobody can anticipate what the future holds for us. Life is more than working for a living and paying taxes.

2. Being at your workplace on most days of the week makes you miss a lot of the fun things in life. Have you tried to do anything out of the ordinary like skydiving or bungee jumping? Ever thought about all the hobbies you started but never had time to finish? Retirement is the perfect opportunity to try things that are new and old. If you want to get a head start on those activities remember to consider early retirement.

3. Important to our top ten reasons to retire is that when you are working, the most that you see are the four corners of your office and the way to and from your workplace. You miss out on the opportunity to see the world. By leaving the workforce and retiring you get to see beyond your world and take those trips that you’ve seen in magazines all your life and experience something totally new and amazing.

4. Life forces us to deal with people or situations that we would not necessarily like deal with. Dealing with these people and situations creates a great deal of stress. Once you retire, you can choose the people you want to hang around with.

5. There are events in life that are left to “what-ifs”. You certainly cannot get back time that has already passed, yet you do not necessarily have to live and wonder what if you did things differently. One good reason in the top ten reasons to retire is to make those what ifs a reality. In that way, you live a life with no regrets.

6. Life should not be an endless toil. At the start of your career you may have your goals and as you achieve each of those, they will be replaced by new goals. While you are working you may find that you do not have the time to complete one goal after another. By retiring you give yourself the opportunity to achieve your goals and finally feel that satisfaction you were looking for.

7. Life provides you a lot of things and as you work you continue to receive more. However, it is usually only yourself who benefits from your work. Working too long makes you lose the opportunity to give unto others a part of what you have received. By retiring, you can still get involved socially and be a bigger part of the community.

8. In the top ten reasons to retire remember that nothing remains constant. Not everything will remain as good as they currently are. Retire when you still have the chance to enjoy life. Retire when life still has a lot of good things to offer you. Do not wait too long to retire or you run the risk of not being able to enjoy life to the fullest extent that you can today.

9. Not everyone gets to be the boss. In the workplace, you may be the one of the many employees who works throughout the day for someone else’s rewards. If you are tired from being ordered around, the good news is that you do not have to put up with it all your life!. You can choose to retire and do the things you want in your own terms free from bosses, deadlines and clients.

10. The last of the top ten reasons to retire is that you will have the opportunity to break free from all the mundane routine of life. You can choose to wake up late. You can choose to spend the day tending to your garden, learning how to paint, enjoying your family and friends – the list is really endless. The best thing is that you can choose to do anything to your heart’s content.

Those are just the top ten reasons to retire. At the end of the day it is you who will make the call to retire or not no matter what the reason is. If you are tired and you simply want to live your life, make sure you plan your retirement. You can make up your own top ten reasons to retire and maybe end up with an even longer list, but the way to get there is to make it happen.






 1 year ago by Imtiaz Manji  reposted by Janet Santiago

20 SECRETS OF NAPLES FlORIDA

20 interesting facts about Naples, Florida! Everything you need to know...

1. The city gets its name from promoters of the area claiming that the bay was better than the bay in Naples, Italy, with its mild, sunny weather, and plentiful amounts of fish.

2. The city has a population of 21,653, according to the 2007 census.

3. The annual Naples Winter Wine Festival has been rated by the Wine Spectatoras the top charity wine auction in the world.

4. Before the arrival of Europeans, the Naples area was inhabited by the Caloosa tribe of Native Americans.

5. The city was founded by former Kentucky U.S. Senator and Confederate general, John Stuart Williams, along with businessman, Walter N. Haldemanduring in the late 1880s.

6. Naples has been called "The number one Small Art Town in America", due to its impressive range and amount of community art centers, art galleries, art fairs, plus the Philharmonic Center for the Arts complex.

7. The city’s climate is tropical, with average summer high temperatures of 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33C) and average winter lows of 54 degrees Fahrenheit (12C).

8. The Naples Municipal Airport began life as a small Army Air Force air field built during World War II.

9. Both the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins have spring training facilities near Naples, Florida.

10. Despite the courthouse being located in the unincorporated community of East Naples, Naples is the official county seat of Collier County.

11. In 2006 "Dr. Beach" chose Barefoot Beach near Naples as one of the top 10 beaches in the USA.

12. Located along the Tamiami Trail in the Everglades, Ochopee Post Office is the smallest post office in the USA.

13. Naples Zoo began life in 1919 as a personal garden project of botanist Dr. Henry Nehrling. After Nehrling’s death, the project was neglected for two decades before being opened to the public as the Caribbean Gardens in 1954. The gardens converted to a zoo in 1969.

14. Naples fishing pier is one of the best-known landmarks in the area.

15. Naples’ population is thought to contain a bigger proportion of millionaires than any other Floridian city.

16. There are more than 80 championship golf courses in the Naples area, which has been called the Golf Capital of the World.

17. It is the main city in the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 315,839, according to the 2007 census.

18. Nearby Everglades City is known as the Stone Crab Capital of the World. Fishermen take only one claw from the crab and then return it to the sea, where the crab gradually regenerates the missing claw. Everglades City also holds an annual Seafood Festival, which is popular with seafood enthusiasts.

19. There are several major land reserves in the Naples Area, including the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, which is home to the extremely rare ghost orchid.

20. Collier County is the primary habitat for the Florida panther, which was chosen to be the Florida state animal in 1982, and is severely endangered.