Known for its great food, great service, and great location (who doesn’t love Buccaneer Island) the members of the Ocean Reef Club lost their favorite restaurant for a whopping 505 days after Hurricane Irma! (But who’s counting?) With a storm surge that engulfed the restaurant resulting in a total loss, post-hurricane recovery and rebuild included a complete gut and remodel of the beloved eating place.

  

Now, 505 days after Irma (again, who’s counting?), agents from our office were excited to attend the long awaited Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the NEW Islander Restaurant of the Ocean Reef Club.

It was a beautiful happening where many gave words of gratitude including our Club Chair, Teresa Holmes, our new Club President, Serge Rivera, Member and PAC Chairman, Alan Goldstein, Monroe County Mayor, Sylvia Murphy, and Senior Vice President of Food, Beverage & Lodging Operations, Giovanni Melis.

Our favorite moment of the ribbon cutting, besides the actual cutting of the “ribbon” (a fishing net was used in theme), was when Giovanni ended his words with “Congratulations to you! This is YOUR restaurant!” The gathered crowed roared in applause and raised their champagne in a moment most won’t forget.

Now why do we think you should head over their now? Well:

1. You can’t beat the smell of a brand new restaurant.
And the décor? Breathtaking. The interior design of the restaurant seamlessly incorporates the relaxed feel of the islands with modern luxury. You'll want to get in there and sit in the cozy entrance lounge, just next to the new bar, and enjoy your favorite adult libation

2. The Sushi Bar.
Seriously. There is a sushi bar with the kindest sushi chefs in the biz behind the glass. When you sit at the bar, you may also enjoy the overhead mirror that allows you to view the entire sushi making process in real time.

3. This is YOUR restaurant.
To the members of the Ocean Reef Club: This is your club. Your support and love of this club is everything. Without you, none of this would exist. So get out there and enjoy YOUR restaurant.

    

We’re here to tell you that NEW is the new market trend! Nationwide, eager buyers are looking for newly built homes, says Dave Ramsey; recent real estate news suggests that the slow rate of new construction is contributing to the rising prices over the last few years. In fact, new home construction is projected to increase by 8% in 2019!

While the Ocean Reef real estate market typically sets its own trends, we seem to be following suit with the new construction bandwagon. New construction and recent renovations seem to be sold before the listing hits our MLS.

Take these recent pending beauties as examples: (Two of them didn’t even last a month!)

 
(Above: 17 Country Club and 23 Dilly Tree)

 
(Above: 7 South Harbor Drive and 50B Fairway Lakes)

As you know, hind sight is often 20-20 in real estate; especially at Ocean Reef. Buyers who are “new construction” homeowners are scoring the most desirable homes by acting quickly. 

Our recommendation is to act fast with an agent you trust; don’t suffer from “I'm Not the Buyer Remorse.” 

https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/real-estate-trends

https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/articles/what-to-expect-from-the-housing-market

Florida is known for sunshine, blue skies, and hot wives (referencing those funny air conditioning billboards- you know what I’m talking about). Us Floridians are used to 365 days of 80-degree weather with temps only fluctuating about 10 degrees depending on the time of day. However, this “winter” has been a wacky one with “cool fronts” coming through just about weekly! These cooler temps have us thinking about fireplaces, cozy sweaters, space heaters (Thank you 19^th Hole!).

If you have a fireplace in Florida, I’m sure you’ve actually felt compelled to use it this year so we are here to give you answers to your top 5 fireplace questions; from how do they work, to whether or not they are safe and how often you should clean them. Here Zillow does a beautiful job of breaking it all down. We also found this article for you with tips to help achieve maximum coziness in your home; who would have thought perfecting your hot toddy game was one of them!