Krome Offers Best Price On Gas

December 17th, 2007 Categories: Homestead, Local Resources

I haven’t written an article in over 2 weeks. Ouch! I have been swamped with work and apologize to my loyal readers. All 7 of you =)

And this article is not real estate related but I wanted to get it out there.

Living in the Redland, I travel along Krome Avenue a lot. I use it to drive down to Homestead as well as up to Kendall. I have been stopping to fill up my gas tank on either SW 232nd Street or SW 248th Street and Krome Avenue. At these intersections you can find 2 gas stations at each (for a total of 4) that offer gasoline at under $3.00

My office is in South Miami and I find myself in Kendall a lot too. I have seen gas at $3.25 in most places. Even with my small gas tank, I usually pump 15 gallons. At $.30 that’s $4.50 in savings at each fill-up. I fill up 2-3 times a week, so it adds up.

Sincere thanks to the Krome Avenue merchants for allowing me to continue driving my real estate customers around for a little less money =)

Spoken by Chris Hotz | Discussion: 12 Comments »

Robert Is Still There At ‘Robert Is Here’

November 5th, 2007 Categories: Entertainment, Homestead, South Florida Living

Living in the Redland I have plenty of fruit trees in my yard. Try as I might, I cant have all the fruit thats out there though. We sometimes go elsewhere to get our fruit fix!

I drove over to Robert Is Here yesterday afternoon. The kids been wanting to try a dragonfruit and we figured theyd have it. We were right.

Robert Is Here has been there for about 47 years now. The story goes that when Robert was a boy and trying to sell cucumbers on the corner no one stopped at his stand. Roberts father decided he needed to be more visible and made two big signs to put on either side of Roberts table each proclaiming in big red letters œRobert Is Here.

The signs were marketing genius and by noon the next day Robert had sold out all his cucumbers. The rest, as they say, is history.

Today Roberts stand is much bigger and widely known. It sits on the corner of 344^th Street and 192^nd Avenue and there are always plenty of people stopping for fruit, herbs, honey, snacks, touristy items or one of their incredible milkshakes. Some people consider this the Redland but the address is technically Homestead. It doesnt matter. Just head South and West and youll be glad you did.

There was live music yesterday and people sitting at the tables enjoying it. My kid did find the dragonfruit and I convinced her to buy the half of one for $3.00 instead of buying a whole fruit. Thanks for giving us choices Robert! The truth is that we didnt like the way it tasted. It was something like unflavored Jell-O. Not too appetizing, but it sure was pretty!

Roberts has lots of different fruits that you wont find easily at your local grocer. There are lots of different honeys and a honey tasting station too. we shared some laughs with other patrons while sampling the different flavors.

If youre driving to the Keys, leave a little early and take a detour over to Robert Is Here. You might even get lucky and have Robert himself wait on you!

• Robert Is Here
• 19200 SW 344 Street
• Homestead, FL 33034
• 305“246“1592
• Open 7 Days a Week
• Closed September “ October

Spoken by | Discussion: 6 Comments »

Krome And State Roads Getting Facelifts

August 24th, 2007 Categories: Community News, Homestead

Or is it more like tummy tucks? For anyone in the Redland who’s ever tried to cross Krome Avenue from one of the main roads and suffered the dreaded “oops, I forgot to signal,” fate, this is good news!

I know I am not alone. I have had my share of being behind the guy waiting at the light on Krome who wants to turn left but has, you guessed it, conveniently forgotten to signal the fact. Then I’m trying to go straight and stuck behind him trying to turn left. He waits for an opportunity to go and I check my rearview mirror for the same. I have missed many lights that way. On a day when I don’t have a minute to spare it’s offered much grief.

The fact that the turning signal was an upgrade in those cars is not the sole contributor to the problem. Indeed, the main problem is the fact that most state roads intersecting Krome don’t have left turning lanes. The roads weren’t wide enough or busy enough to warrant them.

Well, this is all changing now. For at least the last 4 months Krome Avenue has been a flurry of activity. SW 184 Street, 200 Street, 216 Street and further south all the way to Homestead, there’s been some big boys with their big boy toys tearing up the roads. They’ve torn up the asphalt, dumped rock, suffered having their pictures taken by me, installed new traffic lights, and last night something new!

Last night asphalt was laid down. Can you stand it? This may not be cause for the Miami Herald to come visit, but hey, we’re simple in the Redland. A wider road with new left turning lane is a big deal to us! As I drove west on 200th Street I smelled what seemed to be cigarettes. Upon getting closer to Krome I saw dozens and dozens of workers busy under their artificial light creating blacktop. SW 200th Street, at Krome, is now officially wider.

Oh happy day……..

Spoken by Chris Hotz | Discussion: 5 Comments »

Do You Not Understand Its Mortgage Fraud?

August 18th, 2007 Categories: Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Florida City, For Buyers, For Sellers, Homestead, Kendall, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, Real Estate Chatter, Southwest Dade

I like selling real estate in the Miami Redland. I’ve met some great people in my business. I’ve helped lots of folks and knowing I’ve done a good job is extremely satisfying to me.

Yesterday I didn’t like one of the people who contacted me. I was on my way to a meeting in Aventura and driving on I-95. I’m not that familiar with the area and was keeping an eye on the exits.

My phone rang and I answered, “Hello, this is Maggie!” The gentleman on the phone asked me about some homes in an area of Homestead. I told him that I didn’t have homes available specifically where he said but a little further away I have a development listed with 15 homes still available for sale and affordable.

He asked me for the prices and if there were any incentives. I answered all his questions and he said something about wanting “cash back.” I told him we were not offering cash back at closing. I went even further and told him it was mortgage fraud and illegal.

He said to let him worry about that. He asked me again for the prices. I repeated them. “What will they appraise at?” he asked me. OK, now I see he’s trying to skin the cat a different way. I know where he’s headed with this.

I tried really hard to not sound arrogant when I replied, “they will appraise at what they’re priced at. If they were to appraise higher, we would be selling them for more money.” Now this may seem like common sense, but I did understand where he was headed. He’s familiar with appraisals that come in, magically, at numbers that are inflated. These inflated appraisals are key in being able to commit mortgage fraud. I guess he thinks he knows my business better than I do.

Mr. Cash Back must have realized that my patience was wearing thin. He told me he’d call me back if he decided to look at these homes. I’m happy if he loses my phone number. The only orange I look good in is perhaps an orange scarf. An entire jumpsuit might be a bit much. Besides that, I worked hard for my license and am actually proud of it. I won’t be risking losing it anytime soon.

By the time I hung up I realized I had passed my exit by 5 miles. Dagnabit!

Spoken by Chris Hotz | Discussion: 10 Comments »

Brand New Homestead Hospital Is Open For Business

July 12th, 2007 Categories: Homestead

While looking through my files today I realized that I had taken pictures of the brand new Homestead Hospital at their open house last month and never posted them.

Homestead Hospital is as impressive as we thought it would be. Just the mere fact that it was built to withstand a category 5 hurricane is pretty impressive to me. To read more about the hospital and it’s construction, check out my prior blog. It opened it’s doors on May 6, 2007. In the meantime, here are some real pictures of the place. I’ve been playing around with a photo editing program. Hope I didn’t mess them up too much =) The lights reminded me of a UFO so I included them here.

Spoken by | Discussion: 2 Comments »

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