#anyways i just learned about the local transparency property.

[sleepyblr-heart]

'man, this would be a lot easier if there was a way to do this easier' he says, as there is a way to do it easier

[panfishonthefly]

Fly Tying Friday - Working With Foam

Sheets of inexpensive closed-cell foam have long been used for fly tying. This versatile material can be found everywhere and can create an endless variety of flies and bugs for warm water fly fishing. Foam sheets are available in a wide range of colors and thicknesses. Although a relatively easy material to find, sometimes finding the right color or thickness can be a challenge.

Foam is foam, right?

Is there a difference between the foam you see marketed as "fly foam" in your local fly shop and the stuff you find in the isles of your local craft store or Walmart? In some cases, yes! I once wrote something to the contrary, and my readers called me out on it! There seems to be a wide range of inconsistencies in the quality of foam that is out there.

The foam I have picked up in fly shops over the years seems to be denser and a little more durable than most of the stuff found in craft stores. That being said, most craft store foam will work just fine for your fly tying needs. One benefit of patronizing your local fly shops is you can also find different kinds of foam like a product called Chochlette’s Loco Foam which has a wild, multi-color, metallic finish on one side of the foam. You can also find foam of varying thickness from 1mm sheets of foam for tiny bugs or indicators on larger flies to big blocks used for popper bodies. The only way we can keep these places around is to spend a little money in them from time to time! If decide to go with your local craft store variety of foam products just be sure to inspect it closely to be sure it meets your needs.

So to sum it up, all foam sheets are not created equal, but most will work just fine for your fly tying needs. I did not pay much attention to the differences until I started mass producing bodies for my Triangle Bug pattern. Some foam sheets (denser ones) cut better than others, and sometimes one particular color performed better than others. I am not sure if this is a result of the dying or manufacturing process. If you look through the stacks of foam in your local craft store, you will see the differences for yourself. Over time I have learned to pick out foam sheets that suit my needs as a fly tier. 

Of course, foam sheets are not your only options. It is possible to find precut bodies that only need to be lashed to the hook. My favorites are bodies designed to tie bugs and spiders. They come pre-formed in a variety of sizes. I only use two colors black and white, coloring the white foam anyway I want.

Tips for Fly Tying With Foam

Foam is a versatile material that is easy to work with, but there are a few things that make your fly tying go a little smoother when working with it.

Thread: All thread is not created equal when working with foam. Some threads work better than others when it comes to working with foam. I prefer a thread that I can flatten out to reduce the possibility of cutting the foam. When you untwist the thread, you flatten it increasing its surface area and reducing the thread's potential to slice through the foam. Fine corded threads can cut through thin foam like a hot knife through butter. 

If you don't have a thread that will flatten, you can reduce this risk by using a heavier thread. Fortunately, when tying warm water flies, we are not as concerned about bulk and build-up when tying trout flies. 

A thicker thread has other benefits besides not cutting through the foam. A heavier thread will allow you to compress the foam easier and with fewer thread wraps. Also, the thread will not break as easily when applying the tension necessary to do this.

My thread of choice for working with foam is Semperfli 6/0 Classic Waxed Thread. It has all of the properties I mentioned, and it comes in a wide range of colors.

Thread Control: When working with foam, the proper use of thread tension is essential. At times light thread tension is needed to softly compress the foam, increasing the pressure with subsequent wraps. Doing this coaxes the foam into position without cutting or distorting it.

Use of Glue:  Superglue (Cyanoacrylate adhesive) and glues designed explicitly for foam are useful in fly tying. Superglue works well for fusing pieces of foam together and setting various components of the fly in place. Both thin liquid types of glue and gels have their uses when fly tying with foam. 

When creating stacked foam bodies made of different foam colors, I will use glue designed specifically for foam. It is easier to apply over a large surface and dries a little slower. I find it easier to glue entire foam sheets together then cut them to shape rather than layering the foam on the fly. If you are not tying dozens of flies at a time, it may make more sense to eliminate this step and stack your foam on the fly as you build it.  If you don’t want to be bothered with all of this you can find laminated foam that combines two or more colors together, eliminating the fuss and mess of gluing them together yourself.

I prefer to use superglue in a bottle with a brush applicator when working with foam. I use so much of the stuff I had a friend of mine make me a wooden holder that prevents the bottle from tipping over (which makes an awful mess) and allows me to open and close it with one hand. This holder was once a beautiful looking accessory on my fly tying desk, but it looks pretty gnarly these days as it is covered with dried specks of super glue!

Choosing The Right Foam:  As I mentioned earlier, all foam is not created equal. Look for foam that is dense and harder to compress. This type of foam will produce better floating, more durable flies. Recently I discovered the foam currently being offered by Semperfli. This foam looks and behaves a little differently than your basic craft store foam. At first glance, it appears to have a more open cell structure and seems somewhat fragile. This is not the case!  While the foam is lighter than other foam of comparable thickness, it is tough stuff! It compresses easily and is a real pleasure to tie with. I have some on the way to the shop, so check it out when it arrives!

Cutting Foam: A quality cutting mat is essential for cutting out foam shapes for fly tying. I use a large one on the surface of my fly tying desk. A simple exacto-style knife and a straight edge such as a thin metal ruler are the best tools for the job. If you are cutting a lot of foam, a paper cutter from your local office supply store works great for making uniformly sized strips of foam.

I often use custom foam cutters to create different shapes for fly tying. In my opinion, the foam cutters made by River Road Creations are the best out there. They have a wide variety of shapes and sizes available. Lately, they have been a little challenging to come by due to COVID-19's effect on the manufacturing world. If you're having a problem finding a particular foam cutter, drop me a line, and I will try and find it for you.

Coloring Foam:  If you can't find the exact color of foam you what for your flies, the good news is that you can easily color it with permanent markers. The color may wear a little thin with repeated dunkings in water if you don't lock it in, but I doubt the fish care. I use Loon Soft Head Finish on flies that I apply color to in situations where I don’t want it to fade. It dries transparent and flexible and will not cause your colors to run if you have drawn an intricate pattern.

It should be noted that all of the foam we have discussed in this article is of the closed-cell variety. Closed-cell foam floats indefinitely even if waterlogged. There are open-cell foams out there but they are not too common. If you come across some considering adding some to the material stockpile as well. They make great slow-sinking sponge spiders that bluegills and other panfish love!

Foam is a material that is versatile, easy to work with, and can be found almost everywhere, from fly shops to crafts stores to the padding that protected your last order from Amazon. If you're not tying with foam you should be. What are you waiting for!

As always the materials to tie this versatile pattern can be found in our shop! Please consider supporting us the next time you need to purchase materials for your fly tying endeavors!

[gigageekmag]

Comic Book Review: Calico

CALICO ISSUE #1

Welcome back GiGa Community; as you all know, at fifteen years old, in 1992, I had an opportunity and pleasure of interning at Marvel Comics in Manhattan, New York; Spider-man office to be exact.  It was during that year that I had delved into the comic book industry, soaking it all in, down to my very fabric of my soul.  I loved all of the intellectual properties, their stories, and the craft; I knew I wanted Comics to be a part of my future life story.   I was a fan of some characters, and ambivalent to others, but never the less, just like family I loved them all (Some more than others of course); the environment moved my soul.  To this day, I still find being an artist to be one of my first loves, and comic books satisfied that yearning.  The culmination of efforts between a writer, penciler, inker, letterer, colorist, and editor was to me, an amalgamation of geniuses at work.  I love and respect the craft.

Sigma Comics

GiGa: GeekMagazine was contacted by Sigma Comics asking for an honest review of their newly released comic series, Calico.  I was unsure of who this new IP was that was entering the competitive arena, so I did superficial research, watched an interview, and a review; it seemed to be worth the read.   The first complimentary comic came and as busy as I am, I opened it and felt the cover art seemed acceptable for a comic book in 2021, but I didn’t have a peaceful undisturbed moment to read it, so I left it on my desk to be ready for the day I found a free opportunity to read it, then write a review.  My family and I left the house for a few hours, and when I returned I went straight to my office and hadn’t realized the comic was no longer on my desk.  A few seconds after I sat down, my daughter calls me, “Papi, look what Ivi did”!

Ivi Snow knew She really did it this time.

Ivi Snow is one of my two white German Shepherds, she is 1½ years old, so I am accustomed to finding “surprises” when we come back home; I thought it was poop again. A minute later my daughter comes to my office holding my complimentary issue of Calico in shreds.  Needless to say I was peeved and Ivi knew it. Then I remembered what the premise of the comic was.  “NYC HAS A NEW ANTI–HERO. Every day millions of animals are abused and killed. Animal rights groups and charities try to help, yet the savagery continues.”  Sigma Comics appears to be committed to fighting animal abuse. I laughed at the irony of this moment and took a picture of her with the destroyed comic, apparently, she enjoyed the comic.  I couldn’t read it, as a substantial part of the first few pages were now gone.  With that above picture attached to an email to Sigma comics, I humbly apologized and requested another review copy, I was willing to pay for it at this point, but the great people at Sigma found humor in the event as well and sent me another. When the next copy arrived I kept it in my safe this time, and that night when I was done with work, I read it before I went to bed.  I opened the cover and this time, I was able to really absorb the content.   I applauded the first impression, it was transparent in showing their allegiance to the cause, “American Humane”, as a parent to two German Shepherds, I was sold. 

The first page was gripping, showing an example of the atrocities committed upon animals and the visualization was almost too tough to bear, but I was roped in, I had to read on.  We get our first glimpse into the soul of our Anti-Hero on page two, with tears running from angry eyes, the penciler, inker, and colorist nailed the conviction this character was driven by, and we’re then introduced to Calico “A one-man arsenal of destruction in constant pursuit of justice for the smallest and weakest among us…” 

In his apartment he works his frustration on a double end bag, his thoughts speak poignant commentary as to the nature of life being nothing but conflict in every facet of existence and we see where his psychological state dwells; he’s scared and/or resentful of life and bitterly expresses this in his own twisted way.  The Boxing Gym advertisement on page 5 could easily be dismissed as fictitious until a little research clarified that it is indeed a real business; as an ex-fighter boxer, martial artist, and ex-body guard myself, I respected that blurring between fantasy and reality as it was perfectly in line with the tale that I was uploading to my brain.

The writer then takes the reader on a journey through the life of Calico, recalling childhood memories of being bullied.  This alludes to post traumatic damage; he hates bullies and had long since made the decision to suffer them no longer.  We next accompany the protagonist from his apartment to a local boxing gym where he trains and prepares for an upcoming tournament, and while there, he loses himself in the art of combat.  His thoughts become louder than spoken words; he’s a fighter with unfortunate luck, struggling skill, and lots of animosity.  Here is where the reader learns this character has no reservation about the thought of condemning the abuser to death and that animals were his only friends since his youth.

Page 8 we’re given a full frontal nude of the hero in the shower after leaving the gym, even in the shower he’s consumed by antipathy as conveyed by more flashbacks of the same bully from his youth; he’s never recovered from those years.  This memory was different, ironically, it was in this recollection where he was impressed by an alley-cat that scared off the bully and his dog, which serves as a perfect transition into revealing his super-hero outfit emblazoned with a black cat’s profile in front of what appears to be a moon.  He also has a flying robotic AI assistant named Bumble that is a metallic sphere with one camera eye. Then, we’re back to his childhood memories, this time he evokes the very first time he inflicted pain by punching that bully in the face before fleeing the scene.  Page 13 is where things escalate quickly, so I won’t spoil it for interested readers.

So here’s my honest review and rating:

Comic book Production:   I feel the writing could have been more impacting and/or expansive; a name would have been nice to have, but it served its purpose; The art is what communicated the story the most.  Lettering was great, the penciling and inking were acceptable as well, but gets a little hard to understand what’s happening during the murder scene.   

The Character: His real name is never revealed, but from how Calico was insultingly called a “Dominican York” translated from Spanish, he is likely Latino. I think the character is less anti-hero and more of a deranged, sociopathic, villain with post-traumatic stress. He’s fed a list of targets by an unknown accomplice, he intends to kill, (and/or violate) which to me is the modus operandi of a serial killer. I couldn’t see the word “Hero” being applicable to this guy in anyway.

The full frontal nude, to me, was unnecessary, but being a student at the Art Institute of Atlanta I’ve drawn male nudes before, so I respect the art, 100%.  That scene only became awkward after the second penis comment. Which helped me to get a better understanding  of the mind of the protagonist as portrayed and communicated by the writer. I think the outfit really is too similar to Black Panther.

As per the multiple male phallus related comments and insults, along with, what I found to be excessive homo-erotic language, it seemed in my humble opinion, as if there’s other unresolved issues besides being bullied that Calico has never addressed.   In one scene, I had to look at one scene under better light to understand that Calico actually violates or rapes his victim with a red hot pipe, all while making references to size; he says to his victim, “Relax! It’s only one-inch thick pipe. In penis size its only four-inch girth. You got this”.  the last unnecessary thing I read that really nailed the coffin shut for me was the statement, “F*** em. Hard. in the @ss. With no vaseline”.

Concept: I personally, don’t think the character could have longevity, and if so possibly as a novelty act; appropriate for an 8-Issue Series. He possibly may develop a fan base, but with a very niche market.  He is not a “Deadpool” type of anti-hero, I’d say this brooding character is damaged psychologically which easily could bleed over into villainy. I couldn’t see the Dark Knight tolerating this character, or working with him in any way, and would probably bring him to justice.  In comparison to other anti-heroes, such as Hulk, Ghost Rider, Blade, or the Punisher, I’d say even Frank Castle wouldn’t see his motivations, means, or ends as acceptable.  I see a more deviant sociopathic “Joker” kind of weirdness from Calico minus the smiles and laughing.

Conclusion:  It’s a comic book, it fits the criteria. I wasn’t left feeling like I want to read more, but I am only one man, with one opinion worth 2 cents.  I endeavor to say it could have been written for a broader appeal to a wider audience; for me, I feel the niche-aspect will leave some put off or uninterested.  But somehow, I’m sure this will pull the targeted audience it was meant for.  In the end, Sigma successfully this debut is a great accomplishment for the creators and production team and for that I salute and respect their creative vision, hard work, and love for the craft.  I’d give it 3 out 5 Stars ★★★☆☆ ~Jack~

Image Sources: > https://sigmacomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/sigma-comics-large.jpg > https://prnewswire2-a.akamaihd.net/p/1893751/sp/189375100/thumbnail/entry_id/1_gapzb7c1/def_height/800/def_width/520/version/100011/type/1

Comic Book Review: Calico was originally published on GIGA: GeekMagazine

[ive-always-been-a-pirate]

The Other Prince + A CS Modern Royalty AU [Chapter 8]

Modern Royalty AU: HRH Prince Killian has grown up in the shadow of the crown while enduring tragedy and the burdens of being the spare to the heir. With a desire to escape his past, he agrees to play host to the visiting general’s daughter in exchange for an eventual life outside royal bounds. Moving on is never that easy though and he quickly learns that being the ‘other’ prince is even more difficult when you find yourself falling for the girl everyone wants your brother to marry.

Catch Up On Previous Chapters: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven Also on FF.net and AO3.

Word Count: 9,063

This totally spiraled out of control and that’s my only excuse for taking forever to finish it haha. Thank you to @optomisticgirl for being a lovely beta and for listening to me whine and second guess everything constantly :] you’re a gem, my friend. There’s more to come (including some stuff with Liam, Brennan, and others) in the next one! Enjoy! XOXO

The street was busy as Emma stomped along the sidewalk, her black rain boots slightly damp and her mind in a fixed state of stubbornness. The weather had been shifting back and forth all day, the sky calm one moment but the sharp wind blowing the next. It wasn’t a huge surprise that a light rain had finally started to sprinkle and it was easy to be thankful for the warmth of the light, mesh-lined gray jacket she had zipped tight around her frame. As she took a moment to glance back down the winding road she’d just traveled by foot, Emma realized the durable material keeping the storm off her skin was currently the only thing she could muster any gratitude for.

It was likely she was acting a bit dramatic and definitely a little selfish, but she also firmly believed she had grounds to be both. The not so casual conversation she’d been blindsided with just before dinner hadn’t been a true betrayal or a major deceit, but it had certainly been unexpected and frustrating in a way she wasn’t ready to discuss with anyone. The news her father had announced a few hours earlier was an annoying reminder of just why surprises were not high on her list of favorite things.

No, Emma liked plans. Well, except the new one her family now had - the one that included staying in London for the next two weeks.

The splashing of car tires through the puddles was a rhythmic distraction and her feet continued to carry her down the shop lined road as she pulled her hood up over her head. She wasn’t really sure how long she’d been walking - it wasn’t like she had left the palace with much of a goal in mind. Glancing up at the dreary sky, she merely hoped that maybe the walk would help her ignore the echo of her father’s words in her head.

“I know you aren’t the biggest fan of metropolitan London, Em, but I have to be here - at least for now. The countryside has been kind to our family and I’ll miss it too, but it was never meant to be permanent. This job is a big change for all of us, but I have to give it a chance and I need you and your mom with me on this.”

She knew he was right - now that he’d approached what might qualify as total recovery, there wasn’t much left for any of them in the quiet confines of the Yorkshire property. Sure, the move there had required a lot from her, but it wasn’t as if she had a whole lot - or anything, really - to go back to now. She let out an exasperated sigh as the drops of precipitation grew larger, her steps slowing as she reached a street corner. He’d looked so honest when he made the hopeful request for her support and as irritated as she’d been, denying him the opportunity to save his career wasn’t the right thing to do.

“Can you just….try, Emma? Just for a few weeks while we sort out a schedule?”

Watching her breath hang briefly in the cool air, Emma recalled the nod and weak hug she’d given him. Sacrifice was the name of this recently recurring game and for now, she had to keep playing it.

Looking quickly to the left, she caught the appearance of a small establishment crafted in gray bricks trimmed with deep red paint. The door was solid mahogany, hanging on black hinges that had definitely been well tested. The rounded windows alight with a warm glow seemed to call to her and while the overhead posted name of The Round Table didn’t immediately tell her what the building’s purpose was, the handful of tipsy patrons stumbling out onto the sidewalk certainly did. A place like the one she’d paused in front of was probably well known for its gin or assortments of well crafted lager, but her addled mind immediately went the one indisputable option.

Alcohol - and she honestly didn’t care what kind.

Reaching forward to prop open the heavy door, Emma ducked inside the apparent pub without a second thought. As she looked around the instantly easy space and noted the surroundings - a weathered bar counter, occupied pool table, a soccer match blaring on a distant flat screen, and amusingly accented population - she knew this was the perfect place to toss back a beverage or two. Few people seemed to give her much notice and nobody appeared to realize just how out of place she definitely was.

Thank god, she thought as she approached the row of stools just below the wood bar top.

“Evening, m'lady,” a dark haired bartender greeted, his smile framed by a thick beard. “Braving the storm, eh?”

“Oh, umm - yeah I guess,” she said in return, hoping she didn’t look too nervous about venturing into unknown territory. “It’s not too bad out there yet, actually.”

“Well, tumultuous enough that you’re seeking-” he returned, reaching for a glass and narrowing his eyes pensively. “-a little whiskey, I’m guessing.”

“Wow,” Emma laughed. “Am I really that obvious?”

“I’ve been at this a long time is all,” he grinned. “On the rocks or neat?”

“Not picky,” she shrugged. “I don’t need anything fancy.”

“Nonsense, lass,” he disputed with a wave of his hand. “After all, you’re only in London….well, not often, right?”

“Ah, very transparent I guess,” Emma sighed, accepting the glass tumbler he set down in front of her. “I should probably work on my local dialect.”

“Nah, I say you own it. It’s not often we get Americans in here.”

Emma smirked at his little reassurance, taking a sip from her drink and feeling the whiskey burn in the best way as it slid down her throat. She decided not to refute his assumption that she’d come from the states since she sort of did courtesy of her college experience. She hadn’t expected to find any sort of company when she’d left the palace - after all, the intended endgame had been to avoid pretty much everyone. It was relaxing to be in this environment though and the lumberjack type of guy making conversation seemed easy enough to talk to.

“I have to admit I haven’t been to an actual bar in a while. This seems like a place for regulars.”

“Well, some of them far too regular, but I guess anyone who’s been pouring drinks for nearly ten years at the same pub would say that,” he explained. “Kind of a hazard of ownership I suppose.”

“Wait, you're….”

“Arthur Pendragon - proprietor and long standing pun,” he smiled. “Hence the, uh….the name.”

It took Emma a moment to piece together what he meant, but once it clicked, her face lit up with realization he’d likely witnessed many times. The subtle shake of his head and barely embarrassed eye roll told her he’d ceased to see the endearing charm in Camelot cliches long ago.

“Well, I can’t say I’ve ever been served whiskey by the once and future king,” she replied cleverly. “I take it the name wasn’t your doing?”

“Definitely not,” he confirmed, tossing a coaster on the bar as a resting place for the glass she’d yet to put down. “My wife’s actually.”

“My compliments to her wit then.”

“I’ll be sure to mention that next time I talk to her,” he said with a hint of melancholy. “She's….not been around for a bit.”

“Oh, I'm….sorry,” Emma returned, her cheeks rosy with regret for bringing it up. “I just assumed-”

“Not your fault, lass,” he told her kindly. “It’s okay. I suppose most relationships are tested in one way or another at some point. Sometimes it just takes a bit to sort itself out.”

“Yeah, I-” Emma said with familiar understanding. “-I know what you mean.”

“But, enough about my sob story. I’m the one who should be offering an ear - part of the job description after all,” he deflected, a bit of his happier demeanor returning. “What brings you to Victoria Street this evening, Miss America?”

“It’s Emma actually,” she said in amusement, tapping the sides of her glass. “I guess I just….needed to take a beat.”

Truly, she didn’t have a real purpose for why she’d all but stormed out of the palace earlier that night - well, not a fair one, anyway. The quarters at Her Majesty’s abode were beautiful and vast enough that she’s managed to find plenty of personal space while also avoiding running into a certain prince. Emma knew he didn’t actually reside at the building currently accommodating her and her family, a detail that had been learned from a late night internet search instead of a recently bought book she'd already misplaced. Still, she couldn’t stop wondering when she might stumble into another awkward encounter with him - or who’d be doing the literal stumbling this time.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to chance finding out and that had been a decent reason to slip away for a bit - or at least, that’s what she kept telling herself.

“Well, when the world’s got you down, a drink never hurts,” Arthur continued. “Sometimes a chat with a stranger is helpful too. That is, of course, if you’d like to talk?”

Emma exhaled, biting her lip as she tried to decide just how honest she should be. She didn’t know this guy - or anyone else in the area, for that matter - and perhaps it was best to keep it that way. Getting used to being in London seemed wrong, especially since she was still hoping her stay wasn’t permanent. The whole idea of her being at the bar was suddenly a bit surreal. Though she’d wandered into this hole-in-the-wall tavern on a whim, she had felt more relaxed in the past twenty minutes than she had in days. It was likely a beginning side effect of the alcohol, but it was also the fact that this place was different - simpler and secluded to a degree she was truly appreciating.

Still, she needed to stay beneath the radar for now and being too candid with the hospitable bar owner currently pouring her another glass of Irish whiskey wasn’t going to help her quest for anonymity.

“I guess I just needed to avoid responsibility for a few hours,” Emma offered, her voice vague as he tilted his head in amusement. “Is that awful?”

“There are worse reasons to imbibe-” he countered with a nod toward one of the rowdier corner tables. “-and I hardly doubt your venture here will be as unacceptable as the display that group of sodding fools tends to put on.”

Peeking over her shoulder in the direction he’d just gestured, Emma caught a glimpse of the pack of rather obnoxious men he had just mentioned. They’d clearly been indulging in a high bar tab long before she arrived and their frustration over the display of athleticism on the screen in the corner was plenty loud and quite profane.

“They certainly don’t like whatever team is winning,” Emma commented. “Are they always like this?”

“More or less - but usually more,” he grumbled, tossing a bar rag off to the side. “I’m rather sure they don’t realize that this was actually televised almost a week ago or that it’s a preseason game, but it’s likely they won’t be pleased to find out. That said, I ought to make the rounds. You’ll be okay for a moment?”

“Oh - yeah, I’m fine,” she assured him with a grateful smile. “Thanks for the drink.”

“On the house, lass,” he said in return with a good humored salute. “Stay as long as you like.”

Emma felt her shoulders relax at the welcoming reception she had managed to find. She knew as she held the glass firmly and glanced around the dim space that she could get used to the solitude of a place like this - at least while she had to remain in the confines and close vicinity of royal world. She realized this bar could be her sanctuary of sorts - and so it was only fitting she tried it out again the following night as well.

Arthur had been glad to see her return the following evening, her escape from the palace aided by a very helpful Marco just after she said goodnight to her parents. Neal had returned to school earlier that day, a fact that made sneaking out a bit easier. She’d been somewhat sad to see him head back into one of the many buildings at Eton, but he’d given her a huge hug and a small stack of rather suspicious documents before doing so. She stuffed them into her jacket when he’d offered her that one line of explanation followed by a wink.

“Just in case you’ve yet to truly make up your mind about the next step, Em.”

She hadn’t dared decipher what he meant by that until she arrived back in the secluded bedroom she’d been set up in at Buckingham, but as she dug the stapled papers out of her zippered pocket, it was clear what he was trying to do. There were a variety of the unexpected documents, their professionally bold headers and traditional logos making it immediately clear that they were brochures for higher education. She smirked to herself while flipping through them, noting that Neal had done his best to cover all the bases when he’d likely swiped them from one of the offices at Eton. There was information on a few universities - Oxford and Cambridge, both of which she was positive she'd never be admitted to - and also a couple of others that gave details about institutes like King’s College and Imperial. She’d skimmed the text in acknowledgement of her little brother’s thoughtfulness, but eventually stowed them away in the concealed pouch of her lightweight parka. The pamphlets remained there, hidden alongside her accepted reality that completing her degree wasn’t in the cards any longer while she downed a quick glass of top shelf bourbon at that same pub.

She told herself she could deal with the brochures, Neal, and everything else later - a decision that perhaps sparked her current and third trip to the cozy bar a few blocks away.

“Anything good on tap?”

“Well, there’s a frustrated face if I’ve ever seen one.”

Though the voice was equally happy to welcome her, it didn’t belong to Arthur. This one was full of the clever kindness she’d learned was all Ruby - the girl who was a few years her junior and one of the regular weeknight bartenders. They’d met on the first night Emma had ventured into the building when Arthur had stepped out to take a phone call from the estranged wife who still seemed to have a hold on him, a fact that Ruby had explained while pouring them each a shot of something she definitely hadn’t requested.

That had become somewhat of a theme in Emma’s life recently - accepting things she hadn’t asked for. If she was going to have to keep doing so, she decided that it was probably okay to use a little alcohol to help it all go down easier.

Taking a sip of the offered liquor hadn’t been too difficult - a brand of vodka bottled in France, she eventually learned - as she kept perched on the stool just across the bar top from the long haired brunette with the fiery personality. They’d chatted sporadically for a couple of hours, sharing small details of their lives and laughing over battle stories they’d encountered through years of travel and relocation.

Ruby was from the Great Lakes part of the states and had grown up in a small town surrounded by the tall trees of some very remote woods. She’d been in the care of a single mother until she hit junior high, but had then moved to live across the Atlantic with a very traditional grandmother in the European countryside. Ruby claimed the loving elderly woman had saved her from herself after some rather promiscuous years and had entertained her endlessly with tall tales about sorcery and werewolves. She’d left the old cabin a few years earlier when her grandmother passed, bouncing between a few nearby countries before landing in England. Ruby had quite the colorful past and while Emma thought the girl’s adventures were far more interesting than her own, she couldn’t help but be glad they’d met and bonded - even if it all might be only temporary.

“So,” Ruby started, grabbing a glass from beneath the counter and raising her eyebrows. “What’s got you down, Goldilocks?”

“Really? What’s with the nickname?”

“Hey, I call it like I see it and right now-” Ruby responded as she searched the top shelf for a bottle. “-I see a disgruntled blonde who has come to this Camelot inspired oasis to soothe what troubles her.”

“Very poetic,” Emma acknowledged, setting her jacket aside. “But perhaps we better stick with ‘the pissed off traveler who just learned her plans have gone to hell’.”

“Ah, I like mine better,” Ruby laughed, tapping her chin. “But you know, I think there’s a specific drink for the type of person you’re describing.”

Emma made herself comfortable, something she regretted the moment her new friend plopped a bottle of cinnamon whiskey down between them. Ruby’s red lipstick outlined mouth curved up into a deviant smile that immediately had Emma shaking her head.

“Not happening, barkeep.”

“Oh, come on,” Ruby coaxed. “We don’t get a new shipment in until tomorrow so most of the decent brands are running low anyway. That is, unless you’d rather forego the hard stuff and I can crack open a bottle of that shitty home brewed beer Arthur has been trying to get everyone to buy.”

“I think I’ll pass on the Crimson Crown Ale, thanks,” Emma replied. “But I’m pretty sure shots of that firewater aren’t the best alternative-”

“No, no - no shots, but an exclusive cocktail mixed by yours truly,” the girl told her as she grabbed a few other labels of booze. “You’ve gotta live a little, Emma.”

“Or die of alcohol poisoning,” she countered, her eyes warily regarding Ruby. “What’s in this drink anyway?”

“That’s yet to be totally decided,” Ruby grinned as she grabbed a jar of cherries from below the counter. “I do have a few name options workshopped already though.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“I’m thinking maybe like 'Big Bad Something’ or 'Sweet Little Sleeping Curse’,” she carried on, illustrating the ideas with finger quotes and snatching a nearby shot glass. “I vaguely remember learning how to make this drink called a 'Red Riding Hood’, but it’s got a certain vodka base and Arthur prefers to hoard that stuff in the back. I’m pretty sure it’s fuel for drowning his sorrows after last call.”

“Cute, but I have no idea why you’d go with such a whimsical theme,” Emma replied. “I don’t remember the hangover from that stuff being anything remotely like a fairytale.”

“Yeah, I gotta say I don’t either,” Ruby said, a small laugh escaping her as she shoved the random ingredients aside and looked toward the fast opening main entrance. “But, if this was one of those classic storybook tales, we’d now have the role of evil villains filled.”

Her nod toward the door was brief as she grumbled some below the breath remark. It was a shift in the girl’s demeanor that made Emma wonder and she couldn’t help but peer over her shoulder in curiosity. It didn’t take long to pinpoint just who had suddenly put her new friend in an irritated mood - the raucous and rather ignorant group of men she’d been warned about the first time she’d sat upon her current stool. She tried not to stare despite their loud attempt to gain the room’s attention, a disruption that made Ruby sigh loudly as she downed a bit of the spicy alcohol they’d been debating.

“Why don’t you guys kick ever them out?”

“Well, despite their generally asshole behavior, they’re good for business,” Ruby explained. “Sure, they can be annoying, but their bar tab climbs much higher than any other band of idiots who wander in regularly.”

“So this happens a lot?”

“Just a few times a week so it’s manageable for the most part,” she continued while counting napkins. “I’m going to grab that last case of cheap beer from the back really fast - lord knows they’ll probably be over to order some any minute now. Hang out for a bit?”

“Yeah, of course,” Emma smiled. “Planning on it.”

Ruby returned her grin, tying her hair back as she headed for the hall that must have led to the back storage room. Glancing around, Emma soon found her attention falling back on the rowdy men now chatting over a pool table between their rants regarding the game still playing on the television. She was so busy trying to decipher just what made guys like them tick that she failed to notice one of them slink up to the bar at her side.

“You-” he started, his almost predatory stare zeroing in on her as he tapped his fingers on the bar. “-aren’t from around here, are you?”

“Ah….good call,” she replied casually, silently praying that he’d leave her be. “Just stopping in for a quick drink before I hit the road.”

“Hmmm,” he smirked. “Where might a fine woman like you be going on a night like this?”

Emma felt herself shift away ever so slightly from the smell of fading alcohol hanging on his flirtatious breath. She was really in no mood to spell it out for him, but as he held her involuntary gaze, it became apparent that he wasn’t about to take a hint.

“Back to where my family’s staying - I’m on a trip with them,” she tried, biting her lip as she made an obvious glance toward the clock. “In fact, I really should get going-”

“Oh, come on, beautiful - it’s still early,” he replied as he inched closer. “Have a drink with me.”

“Ummm, thanks….for the offer, I mean, but I-”

“No excuses,” he cut in, his words wrapped in an unsettling whisper. “Have a drink with me.”

Emma felt her shoulders straighten as she fixed her eyes on him, cataloguing his appearance like she’d need to describe it accurately to the police later on. She wasn’t sure if it would be because he’d crossed a line with her or because she’d beat him senseless as a result, but she was extremely certain that everything from his suspicious eyes to his thick black coat made her very uncomfortable. Cowering when confronted was never a road Emma liked to travel though and despite the way he was making her skin crawl, she couldn’t back down from his proposition without a hell of a retort.

“I’m not sure if that’s a request or a demand,” she returned firmly. “But I can promise you that I'm not interested.”

“You really can’t say that yet though,” he chuckled. “You still haven’t heard my offer.”

“I’m pretty sure I haven’t given you any indication that I’d like to.”

“Just one drink, beautiful….or two, and then I assure you that I-” he drawled as he reached for her glass. “-can make you forget all about your family.”

“Okay, pal, I know we just met and all, but I’m going to need you to back the hell off.”

“Hmmm,” he persisted as he traced her arm. “You’ve got a little fire in you, don’t ya? I have to admit I kinda like that.”

“I said-”

“I believe the lady said no,” another strangely familiar voice cut in. “Step down, mate.”

Emma realized quickly that it wasn’t Arthur and her head swirled with confusion - why did she recognize this voice? Her boundary crossing opponent turned briefly, letting out a hearty chuckle before slamming his half empty beer bottle down on the bar. Emma chanced a look at the other man and though she was somewhat irritated at the 'white knight’ status he apparently wanted to earn, her guard dropped rapidly the moment she learned just who was attempting her rescue.

No way, she thought as her mouth parted. What the hell was he doing there?

She zoned out for a minute, her eyes hooked on just who had an interest in defending her honor. The few words exchanged between him and the persistent jerk at her side were ones she didn’t fully catch as she tried instead to sort out why of all the pubs - or perhaps even gin joints - in the world, he had to walk into this one. It was a thought similar to one once vocalized by a handsome actor in some black and white film her mother loved and she was attempting to recall which one when two fateful words from the protective man a few feet away cut through the haze.

“Try me.”

The chaos that followed was rapid and it took Emma a few moments to realize that a fight was breaking out, but as she watched the guy who’d been hitting on her take a hard punch to the jaw, it became quite clear that she was about to witness exactly what drunk and disorderly truly looked like. She froze for an instant, her view moving back and forth between the fists being thrown as she gasped at the scene. She hated merely standing by in disbelief, but getting dragged into diffusing a situation she didn’t totally understand wasn’t wise.

It was obvious that getting out of there would probably be the safest choice, but as Ruby’s pleading eyes found hers, Emma stepped forward to do….well, something. She just didn’t know what.

“Get the hell out of here, Gideon,” Arthur growled as he managed to shove the instigating man back out the way he’d come in. “Take your crew with you.”

The onlookers were almost too quiet as they watched and Arthur took a deep breath before turning on his heel, announcing there’d be a free round courtesy of himself. The distraction gave Ruby enough time to pull the unsuspecting opponent of the bar brawl into a secluded hallway, but not before waving toward Emma in a last ditch request for assistance. Her feet moved automatically, navigating her through the throes of people elbowing their way up to the bar. The dark haired girl Emma had come to know as an ally was huffing for air by the time they met in the back door corridor.

“Hey, can you….take him to the back? Arthur is about to pour out a handful of apology shots and he’s gonna need help,” Ruby asked, trying to keep him upright. “I just need like fifteen minutes.”

“Yeah - of course,” Emma agreed as she moved closer. “Whatever you need.”

Ruby nodded gratefully and bolted, leaving Emma to observe the aftermath quickly over her shoulder before glancing back toward the disheveled haired prince - a choice that soon caused her flabbergasted reaction. His eyes were a wild blue and wrought with anguish as he steadied himself against the wall. The cut just below his brow was already swelling and had started to bleed in a way that mirrored his injured left hand. His fingers were deep red with knuckles that would likely bruise and he heaved for air with jagged, deep breaths. The way he briefly looked at her was riddled with embarrassment as he appeared to realize who she was as well.

“Hi.”

Her voice was timid upon offering the out of place greeting, but she had no clue what else to say to this man - the one she’d been avoiding who was now cloaked in muffled anger and a spirit that was much less than that of most royalty.

“Hi,” he breathed, his mouth trying on a weak smile before he ripped his sight away again. “Didn’t expect to see you here.”

He lifted weak fingers to his face, touching his cheek and realizing there was blood making a path down his cheek. He sighed with frustration before glancing back toward her and Emma fought to find some….any reply.

“The surprise is mutual,” she managed. “Are you okay, Your High…uh…”

“Killian,” he responded, defeat heavy in his reminder. “Just Killian, lass.”

Dammit, Emma thought as her mind clouded. This was sure as hell not how she’d hoped her night would go.

Killian couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt quite this exhausted by his birthright. Well, perhaps that wasn’t the total truth. He’d felt similarly tired the morning Liam had confronted him about his behavior at the bar, but somehow, even that head splitting scolding hadn’t stopped him from returning now to that very same place a few hours after sundown. It had been days since the bar scuffle the greedy tabloids had still managed to pick up on and as soon as he had managed to escape the presence of his observant brother, Killian had felt the familiar urge he’d been prodded with several times over his adult years - the need to feel normal. He’d wondered silently as he snuck down the several shortcut alleyways toward The Round Table if the solitude of a quiet establishment and a stiff drink might offer just that, but he hoped even more so that he might still be welcome at such a place.

His Converse sneakers plodded the pavement as he recognized the fact that he’d likely never be totally banned from the tavern he was headed for. After all, if anybody could knock him off his royal pedestal with a glass of rum and a few honest words, it was definitely Arthur - the man who was his reluctantly understanding confidante and older cousin by about three years.

They were related through the belated princess with Arthur’s father being his own mother’s oldest sibling. The restrictions placed on the royal family had been tested many times by Katherine’s insistence that her young sons maintain a solid bond with her side, especially the several cousins they had through her bloodline. Killian had always been grateful for that. Arthur seemed to comprehend the struggle both he and Liam faced when it came to the crown, even though he’d never know an obligation like that himself. It was a relationship unmatched by many others and despite the fact that Killian hadn’t always made their pact of family all that easy, Arthur had never shut him out - though he had every right to on several occasions.

It wouldn’t have been the first relative to lose faith in the spare to the heir, but fortunately, things had never turned out that way with the bartending man he somewhat resembled and truly loved. Killian knew that as difficult as it might be, he once again needed to make things right while he could.

Liam had been busy when he decided to slip away from Buckingham Palace, his regal and slightly inconvenient home away from home. He understood why his older brother felt it necessary to keep temporary quarters at the grand building while the admiral’s family was visiting, but Killian’s own reasons for staying in one of the lavish guest rooms was something not even he could totally explain. Perhaps it was for some unknown desire to not be the only prince lingering on the Kensington grounds or maybe it was a need to stay in the know about whatever military changes might be underway, but deep down, he knew his hope that he might run into a certain blonde was definitely part of it.

For the record, he hadn’t seen her - and it was driving him crazy.

Sure, the royal property his grandmother lived upon was huge, but not so much that he shouldn’t have caught a glimpse of the green eyed girl over the few days since the afternoon at Eton. He’d speculated that she might be avoiding him and while he wasn’t totally sure why, he had to admit that he’d been a little nervous to locate her - and that had everything to do with the book he had concealed beneath a pillow on the four post bed he’d been using for some constant tossing and turning.

He blinked rapidly as he paused outside of the door, tugging a beat up flask from his pocket and taking a quick swig. He’d never been great at dropping his pride to offer an apology, but he knew this was important - and he could only pray that his quick dose of rum would allow him to remember that once he entered the building

“About time you showed up.”

Killian had barely stepped inside the dimly lit space and entered the back room office when he was greeted with chiding words from the owner himself. He deserved the taunt he supposed, but it didn’t keep him from tossing Arthur an automatic eye roll. The man was busy penciling something on an order form, but the task didn’t prevent him from holding the upper hand in their bantering exchange.

“I suppose I ought to be a bit more welcoming as the owner of a small business and all, but-” his cousin offered distractedly, finally peering toward him with a raised brow. “-I’ve only recently had that glass out front repaired.”

“Aye,” Killian sighed with a slump against the doorway after he set an envelope next to the paper. “I’m hoping this might cover that - and if not, that you’ll let me know.”

Arthur almost instantly slid the folded paper pouch back across his trademark desk in the direction it had come from. Killian lifted an eyebrow before returning a steadfast stare, but it was soon apparent that his relative wasn’t about to accept the gesture of a few higher end bills. It truly was a pathetic way to attempt making amends and one that definitely shouldn’t be necessary. The healing battle wounds that were finally fading from his own guilty face were proof that he owed Arthur at least that much - even if he’d known from the start that the proud bar owner wouldn’t take it.

“You know that royal salary of yours has never been worth much around here,” his older relative told him. “I’m merely stating the hope that we won’t have to have this endearing conversation again for a while. I mean, the chairs around the tables opposite that new window do need replacing, but I’d rather-”

“Got it, mate,” Killian nodded, pressing his lips together. “For the record, I’m sorry-”

“I know you are-” Arthur smiled. “-and that’s the only thing that makes it okay.”

He still wasn’t totally sure why this man tolerated him, but as Arthur flipped his pencil toward the doorway in salute, Killian reminded himself to stop taking that for granted.

“Now,” the man sighed as he found his feet. “How about some rum and ranting? Sounds like we both need it.”

“Aye,” Killian agreed. “You have no idea, mate.”

“Well, I’m excited to learn then,” he returned, slapping the envelope of cash against Killian’s chest before heading for the hallway. “You’re buying - oh, and grab that bin of clean glasses on your way up.”

Killian smirked to himself as he lifted the box, his feet trailing after the owner. He’d entertained the idea of a life like this many times before - how it would be to swap out kegs and care for a humble business like the one his cousin had built from nearly nothing. He had always appreciated the way Arthur could assimilate him with a simple comment or a thoughtless instruction. Sure, most royals wouldn’t stand for a world centered around menial tasks, but Killian thrived on the idea of being ordinary.

It was an odd envy he held for people like Arthur, but it was also a desire that was very disrespectful to the crown - which is exactly why he chose not to mention it to anyone.

“So, how’s your brother? Still constantly worrying about you?”

“Among other things,” Killian shrugged as his cousin took the rattling crate of fragile glass. “You know Liam - saving the free world one weary soul at a time.”

“Aye,” Arthur laughed as he turned toward the shelf housing a few bottles. “I suppose it’s a hazard of such an authoritarian job. What else is new with you?”

Killian halted with a sigh, his eyes scanning the bar instead of conjuring up an answer that wouldn’t raise suspicion with the man who’d just asked him a casual question. Arthur knew all about the upcoming royal events courtesy of his bond with Liam and he wasn’t one to often seek out small talk. He knew his cousin was attempting to learn what had taken him so long to wander back by the corner pub and while he wasn’t sure that lying was the best route, he knew one thing for sure - he couldn’t tell Arthur about Emma and the way her presence as well as absence seemed to be consuming him.

There wasn’t much to tell anyway, he thought quietly. She was just visiting and she’d be gone eventually so divulging what little information he had seemed futile. Bottling it all up for now was the best plan - and lord knows he’d gotten good at that over the years.

“Just trying to fill a few roles for Gran,” he offered vaguely. “Mostly little stuff - taking over her rugby patronage and attending a charity thing later this week.”

“Good for you,” Arthur nodded, pouring them both a glass of the bar’s best rum. “Liam mentioned you have some palace visitors currently?”

The color drained slightly from Killian’s face as he cleared his throat before taking a swallow from the fresh drink. He wasn’t sure how much his annoyingly honest older brother had said, but he instantly wished Liam had for once kept his mouth shut. His sight drifted toward the opposite end of the room, finding Ruby soon enough and wondering if he might use needing to catch up with her as an excuse to avoid this conversation. It took only seconds of watching to realize the dark haired girl was busy tending to another patron, one he almost recognized. Long blonde hair, nervous posture, a laugh he could barely hear….

“Anyone you know?”

Killian had been so briefly entranced by who he imagined the girl sitting at a fair distance could be that he almost thought that’s who Arthur was referring to. Of course he wasn’t though - he was inquiring about Admiral Nolan’s family. Killian straightened his shoulders as he tried to focus on the discussion at hand.

“No, it’s, ummm, just a….family from up north,” Killian answered, tearing his eyes away from what was obviously a half-assed hallucination. “They’re leaving soon I believe.”

“Oh - that's….not what I heard.”

He was about to ask Arthur what the hell that meant when he caught the sound of a voice he was truly in no frame of mind to deal with. He was relieved that the tone wasn’t directed at him, but slightly unsettled that its usual venom laced accent had been replaced by a pathetically sultry one. Such seduction was often aimed toward Ruby - who was perfectly capable of putting the man who caused frequent commotion right back in his place - but this time, the heavy flirtation was aimed toward the girl Ruby had been chatting with. His eyes narrowed as he watched for a moment and his blood seemed to simmer without explanation. Sure, it was beyond annoying to see Gideon strutting around like he owned the place - though Arthur had told him many times that wasn’t the case - but for some reason, this particular display was even more infuriating.

“Shit,” Arthur said as he pieced together what was happening. “I didn’t think he’d be in tonight.”

“It’s fine,” Killian assured him, biting his lip as he tried to convince himself of that as well. “Who’s Ruby talking to over there?”

“Ah, you mean the blonde? Lass from across the pond somewhere,” his cousin answered. “She’s been in a few nights this week.”

“Has she just recently become the object of Gideon’s affection?”

“Hey,” Arthur said quickly, shaking his head. “Not worth it, Killian.”

“What?”

“You know what,” he stared, lifting his brow. “We established long ago that Gideon is an idiot and though his intentions likely aren’t the best, I’m quite positive that girl can take care of herself.”

Killian glanced the girl’s way once more, trying to find the belief that the man behind the bar was correct. He wasn’t about to jump in and fight a battle that might not be necessary, especially given how his last scuffle went, but he knew standing idly by while Gideon acted like an arrogant casanova wasn’t something he could manage. There were really only two plans of action and since the first one hadn’t panned out so well in the past, he opted to take the second as he finished his rum.

“I should head out,” he told Arthur, dropping the envelope on the counter and rising to his feet with a smirk. “For your trouble - or perhaps the kind I caused you.”

“Smart ass,” Arthur grumbled with a shake of his head. “Be safe, mate.”

Killian nodded once before turning toward the door in brief contemplation. He could easily leave through the back, sneaking out the hidden exit as stealthily as he’d entered. It would probably even be for the best since any attention he and Gideon might pay each other probably wouldn’t be the positive sort. He tried to remind himself of all of this as his feet carried him toward the main door, a path he regretted the second he noticed just how close the other man had moved to the girl he felt he needed to guard.

Maybe it was the way she appeared to be so uncomfortable in the close confines his nemesis had trapped her in or maybe it was the blatant refusal he heard her offer as he passed by. Maybe it was even simply Gideon’s failure to yield as she continued to push him away. Whatever the cause was, Killian felt his grip pause from reaching for the door handle and his body abruptly turn back around.

“I believe the lady said no,” Killian stated in a low tone, his glare full of warning as his rival looked up. “Step down, mate.”

Surprise filled Gideon’s face as a cunning grin took over his mouth, a sure sign that this wouldn’t be civil in the least. Bloody hell, Killian thought as his skin prickled. He didn’t need this tonight.

“Well, look what the palace spit out,” Gideon sneered. “Back for more, are ya?”

Killian felt his breath hitch as he clenched his fists, trying to quell the anger that was tempting him to end their exchange of words with a swift right hook. The feeling was a well known one - he’d never gotten along with the man who was trying his hardest to pick a fight. Gideon Gold was an abolitionist with a penchant for drinking, gambling, and taking cheap shots in rugby matches. Their dislike for one another had been ongoing for years, but the feud they’d once endured had only just come back into play with the recent fight. Killian had tried to hold back that night, but when Gideon had decided to drag the royal family’s name through the mud, he’d snapped.

He couldn’t let that happen this time though. He had to walk away - pride be damned.

“No,” Killian replied, clipped and firm as he refused to break the man’s stare. “I’m not here to fight you, Gideon, but you best not give me a reason to think twice about that.”

“Well luckily, you won’t need to, your highness. When we’re through here, you won’t be doing much thinking about anything.”

The challenge was there, thrown between them with the threatening curve of the man’s smirk. Killian felt his temper spike as his defenses rose, his lips pressed together as he tried to brace for whatever came next. He hadn’t come here to start a war, but he also hadn’t expected to see the girl he couldn’t stop thinking about stuck in the line of fire. He couldn’t let Gideon win this one - and it was that conclusion that pulled two very bold words from his mouth.

“Try me.”

It all happened shockingly fast - the sound of glasses breaking and a gruff yell of Ruby’s name that sounded urgent. The dark haired girl dropped the box of beer bottles instantly and bolted to where Arthur had suddenly appeared, his cousin’s arms fighting to shove him back toward the hallway. He’d barely gotten in a solid hit when he realized he’d taken one as well, his feet carrying him backward weakly as his thoughts blurred. Killian realized then that he’d lost sight of the girl during the commotion, a detail that wasn’t helpful even though the vague observation of Arthur pushing his rival out the door was. He managed to hobble back toward the office courtesy of Ruby and his back hit the exposed brick wall with a thud while he tried to right himself. He was attempting to do that much when he was joined by Ruby and another girl - well, the girl.

Emma, he thought as his heart pounded violently.

He didn’t hear much as the dark haired lass usually manning the bar spoke to the blonde he truly didn’t want seeing him like this, but when Ruby sped back down the hallway and left the pair of them alone, Killian realized he didn’t have much of a choice. She peered up at him with questioning eyes, taking a few steps forward with caution.

“Hi.”

Her gentle greeting was shy, her teeth pressing against her bottom lip as she waited to gauge his response. He felt truly miserable, but it wasn’t fair to act like an ass when she had opted to stick around for this.

“Hi….didn’t expect to see you here.”

“The surprise is mutual,” she answered after a moment. “Are you okay, Your High…uh…”

“Killian,” he assisted, not feeling the least bit worthy of a royal title - not that he’d ever want her to address him as such anyway. “Just Killian, lass.”

“Right,” she started in a nervous tone, clearing her throat. “So….the back?”

“Over-” he barely nodded, his head gesturing toward a dark room. “-there.”

She took his arm gently, her touch a light brush of fingers that created a loose grip around his bicep. Trying not to lean into her, Killian took the several stumbles that would land them in a storage area he’d only seen a couple of times before. The overhead lights flickered on, forcing him to squint as he took in the new environment. It was mostly boxes stacked high alongside a wine cabinet his cousin kept well stocked. The letters on the labels came into focus after a moment and he tried to read a few, his efforts eventually halting when she ushered him toward a lone chair by a sink in the corner.

“Sit down,” she told him with a tilt of her head. “Your hand is cut-”

“It's….fine-”

“No, it’s not,” she argued, her voice direct but caring. “Now, sit. Let me….just let me help you.”

He gave up rather fast, closing his eyes to avoid the glare of the fluorescent bulbs burning far too brightly before the sound of running water forced his exhausted stare back to her. She’d pulled a light blue towel from some box behind him and had started to wet the material, obviously intending to assist him in cleaning the blood and shame off his face. She’d probably be good at the former, her insistence in doing so making him think she might be even more stubborn than he typically was. It was the second part that she likely wouldn’t be able to help him with.

“Here,” she offered, lifting the cloth toward his eye. “Chin up.”

He did as requested, inhaling sharply at the feel of a damp towel on his fresh wound. She seemed to find his reaction a bit entertaining and it poked at his crumbling pride just enough for him to respond.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

He realized almost instantly how misstated his words were. The quiet scoff she offered told him so too as she rinsed the rag quickly before returning her attention to the large cut. He truly had no right to set boundaries on whatever she chose to do within or outside palace walls and he was reminded of that as she swiped the cloth along his red stained cheek a little harder than was needed.

“Well, if my conclusions are the tiniest bit correct then-” she retorted, pausing when he hissed a low sound of discomfort. “-neither are you.”

“Conclusions?”

“I’m observant enough to know that wasn’t your first fight with whoever that was,” she clarified, her sights now studying his hand. “In fact, I think I remember seeing a recent photo of you that proves that.”

“Ah, I must say I didn’t think you’d be a tabloid reader,” he replied. “You know that’s the same old publication that would have you believe the Queen is a frivolous drunk.”

“Yeah, while using the gossip column as a news outlet can be very interesting,” she laughed, scouting out a cotton bandage roll from the first aid kit below the sink and setting it aside. “I’m also just….good at reading people.”

She wasn’t lying - he could tell that much as he watched her eyes decipher the current situation. It scared him on some level to think that she might understand him more than she was letting on, but the soothing movement of her touch as she tended to his hand made his insecurity a little easier to ignore - at least for now.

“There,” she said softly as she looked up for a sign of validation. “Better?”

“Thank you,” he nodded as he regained some sense, his eyes falling carefully on the way her fingers and the bandage curled gently around his hand. “But you know you don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t mind,” she assured him. “After all, this is kind of indirectly my fault.”

“It wasn’t,” he disagreed. “I just didn't….well, you shouldn’t have to deal with Gideon Gold - and I guess the idea of being a gentleman lead me to being a bit rash.”

“Oh, so now you’re a gentleman,” she smiled, looking down at his wrapped knuckles. “Is that what we’re calling this?”

“I’m always a gentleman,” he grinned in return. “But I guess I haven’t proved that much in the past.”

Killian bit his lip as her smile shifted to a smirk, the feel of his teeth on the minor wound reminding him that his choice was a bad one. The past, he thought briefly - did they even have one of those? Their interactions up to this point hadn’t been totally honest or all that coordinated, but it was still something.

He wondered quietly if she felt that way too.

“It’s okay,” she said after a moment. “But for future reference, I can take care of myself you know.”

“I suppose I should have recognized that.”

“Well, in your defense, we don’t exactly know each other,” she replied, shaking her head immediately. “I mean, we don’t really-”

“Aye,” he cut in with a smirk. “I should apologize for that too.”

“For the balcony or for bumping into me?”

“Both,” he shrugged. “Not my finest moments.”

“Or….mine, I guess,” she told him. “But maybe, we should just….start over?”

“Hmmm,” he sighed, lowering his hand. “How’s that?”

He was having a hell of a time not staring at her. Her hair hung loosely in waves that shifted on her shoulders each time she moved and the constantly changing expression on her face kept him guessing despite the throbbing in his rattled skull. This wasn’t the first time he’d noticed how beautiful she was, but the close proximity they’d now found themselves in seemed to magnify this attraction he had to her. Starting over was probably the best offer he could hope for given their rather odd beginning and he waited to hear just how she planned on initiating that, his gaze analyzing the curve of her lips in the meantime.

“Emma Nolan,” she said with a rather adorable half smile. “Nice to meet you, Your Highness.”

He grinned slowly, the slight stretch of his lower lip testing the scar that was likely forming there from the last battle with Gideon. There was something so casually innocent and sweet about her actually offering a real introduction that he couldn’t help but play right into it.

“Aye, a pleasure, lass-” he countered, slightly raising his eyebrow. “-and Killian will do.”

“Okay then-” she finally conceded. “-Killian.”

Her eyes were even more green than he’d originally concluded, the deep emerald hue of them paired with a hint of forgiveness he truly hadn’t earned. The pain brought on by his recent conflict in the bar seemed to fade ever so slightly as he held her gaze with a fascination he didn’t understand. There was something about her - something so guarded and beautifully hidden in her eyes - and he let a goal of unmasking it form in his weary mind. The fact that she’d be gone soon prodded him and he felt his shoulders shrink with the cruelty of that knowledge.

Why had he wasted so much time? Why had he been avoiding this? Why in the bloody hell did she captivate him in such a vexing way?

“God, there you are,” Arthur gasped, his sudden presence causing their staring contest to lapse. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah….yes - fine,” Killian answered, trying to pick the right words. “Look, I didn’t know he would….I’m sor-”

“It’s alright, Killian - that wasn’t you,” Arthur assured him, looking toward Emma curiously before resuming his breathless speech. “Glad you’re fixed up. Can you stand?”

“Aye-”

“Okay, good….and I hate to add insult to literal injury, but while that wasn’t pretty, things are about to get a lot worse,” Arthur warned, his eyes anxious and filled with concern. “Your brother is on his way. We need to get you out of here.”

Tagging some friends: @xpumpkindumplingx, @jennifer-morrison, @spartanguard, @laschatzi, @kat2609, @eala-captian, @allietumbles, @andiirivera, @kmomof4, @galadriel26, @timeless-love-story, @msres, @harryandthecambridges, @thesschesthair, @its-like-a-story-of-love, @lovelycssefan, @hooksheroicheart, @cat-sophia, @gonzothegreat90, @rebelcxptain, @prairiepirate, @yesplskillianjones, @jennjenn615, @heomomka, @fckyesroyals, @lenfazreads, @cherrywolf713, @lucasxdorothy, @lifeinahole27, @hollyethecurious, @fairytalesandtimetravel, @pirateherokillian, @shipsxahoy, @onceuponarelm, @winterbaby89, @captain-k-jones, @weall-l00k-the-same-inthe-dark, @shady-swan-jones, @captainswanparrilla, @ilovemesomekillianjones, @princesseslikepirates, @sherifffjones, @deathbycaptainswan

[drferox]

20 Questions with Dr Ferox #15

Here’s 20 more questions and comments you Vetlings have sent me. It’s a bit of a mixed bag this time, including topics about harness trained cats and getting work in a vet clinic. I’ve tried to tag everyone who identified themselves when asking questions, but if you were on Anon you’ll have to look through yourself for an answer.

Anonymous said: What is black ice? You mentioned it when talking about cold days in Australia. Tax - my headcannon about you is that you used to have many pets as a child.

Black ice is actually transparent ice which has frozen over a road, looking black. It's when it's cold enough to snow, but without anything fun. It often occurs at night and results in many accidents because it looks like a normal road, but is of course very slippery.

@rokkrwolf​ said: Could the feline parvovirus also have potentially mutated into the human parvovirus? Because until a few years ago I never knew humans could get parvo until my mom got it and it showed up around the same time canine parvovirus did.

Human parvovirus was first identified in 1975, but was probably around a lot longer we just didn't have great technology for identifying viruses back then, and it may not have been a high priority because my understanding is that it mostly causes a cheek rash. (Compare this to intestinal wall sloughing and bone marrow suppression of the small carnivore parvoviruses). Also I think there was only one gene difference between canine and feline viruses, which makes them highly likely to be recently related.

@ surskitty said:How often do you see harness-trained kitties? How do you feel about leash-training cats?

Not very often. I suspect they're less common here than overseas because we are, as a nation, a bit slack about our cat care. They're more common among millennial pet owners with their first cats out of home

Anonymous said: Do you see a problem with indoor-outdoor cats? Couple times a week I will bring my 7month old cat out on a harness to bask and watch the bugs/birds. Is this a bad thing?? Should I stop this behavior? Thank you!!

Gosh no, that's a great thing to do. The cat might be outside, but it's not free roaming and it's completely supervised. It's good enrichment and bonding without the risks associated with the outdoors. Just try to discourage your cat from actually eating any bugs, and make sure their vaccines are up to date. If your cat enjoys the experience, I highly recommend it.

@lornacus​ said: My cat is in an abusive relationship with a neighborhood problem cat./We are thinking of capturing the problem cat, and taking it somewhere so we can see if it has a chip. Then contacting the owners in an attempt to get them to keep their cat inside, to at least open that line of communication. Our cat goes outside because we have a dog+dog door. What is your impression of this situation?

Check with your local laws, but it's usually ok to catch a cat on your own private property before presenting it to a vet clinic. It's both pet owners responsibility to keep their cat confined to their property, if your cat is leaving your yard then both owners are to blame for the situation.

If the cat does have a chip, a clinic can't just give you the owner's details. It's a privacy issue. They can hand your details over to the cat owner if you request, but there's no obligation for them to contact you. Trapping their cat may also cause significant animosity.

I would consider locking the dog door or securing your yard also.

Anonymous said: Hi there! I read in your FAQ about giving general advice about getting into Veterinary medicine in Aus. I am applying at the end of this year to a few universities, a couple of which require an application essay of sorts. I was wondering if you would have any advice on what to include? I'm sure they see countless "I've loved animals my whole life... etc etc", have you got any hot tips on what might help me stand out a little more? Love the blog, it keeps me motivated to keep my GPA up to get in.

Avoid phrases that make it sound like you want to be a vet because “Owo animals so cute” and focus on the medicine or science side as well. Try to sound professional, because you are trying to enter a profession, and target your essay for the university you're applying to. For example, if you're applying to a tropical school, mention something about why tropical medicine is of interest to you. Do this even if you're applying to every university on the continent, explain why you're extra keen for admission to that particular one.

Anonymous said: Hi. I'm a vet student and I want to help my local vet for a few weeks this summer. I wonder how should I ask? Should it be 'I want to help you a little and observe you during work'? Should I tell them why I choose their small animal practice? Is answer 'no' common? Also I'm extremely anxious that they would find out that I don't remember everything from i.e anatomy or other basics courses or that I can't handle animals properly.

We usually use the term 'work experience' and specify that it's for a vet student, not a highschool student. Not every clinic will accept students if they don't have the caseload, or if they're training up a student nurse or a new grad vet, so don't take rejection personally. Explain that it's for part of your course, and be prepared for a friendly chat. It's advisable to get to the point quickly, starting by asking if they take vet students for work experience at all before launching into too many questions.

Don't worry about not remembering everything. You're a student, you by definition don't know everything yet and I'm yet to find a vet who remembers everything about everything. But when you find something you don't know, show you are actively trying to learn it. Write it down, make sure you know the answer the next time they ask.

Anonymous said: Hey dr Ferox! You recently made a post about how important the choice of your first job is. Do you have any tips for a soon-to-be-recent-graduate on how to find the rigĥt place? What to look out for and what to avoid?

New grad interview tips

New grad job tips

Red flags for abusive workplaces

If you have a good rapport with the other vets on staff, if you could see yourself becoming like them over time and you like that idea, then it's probably a good choice. But by the same token, don't be afraid to switch jobs in your first year if it's not working out, about a third of new grads do.

Anonymous said: How often would you recommend taking an otherwise healthy rabbit to the vet? I've had my rabbits for 2 years now, and they've only really been to the vet for their spay/neutering, and whenever they've presented any signs of illness (so only like once for each them)

I usually recommend at least every 6 or 12 months, depending on your local clinic's vaccine schedule. Myxomatosis (which Australia unfortunately is not permitted a vaccine for) and Calicivirus are both 99+% lethal in unvaccinated rabbits and can be spread by insects.

Anonymous said: If you cannot answer this i understand but my poor lab has cherry eye. She's 6 months. I want the surgery that keeps the tear duct in tact, but if they have to remove it, what are the chances of her getting dry eye and going blind? I'm actually really scared, i love her to pieces and i'll deal with it if it happens, but i'm scared.

In a labrador type dog, the chances of developing dry eye after removing one tear gland aren't that high over their lifetime, probably something like 30%.

But dry eye is manageable, even if the dog develops it if the surgeon wasn't able to preserve the tear gland, and I see no reason why they shouldn't be able to. There are multiple different medical treatments for dry eye which will preserve eye function, and at least one surgical one, so try not to worry too much at this early stage.

Anonymous said: q tax: i feel like you'd have to Russian Blue cat as a familiar! so my beagle has fatty lumps (negative for cancer thank god!), and he's prone to getting skin tags. my other beagle never had these issues but she was pure where he was not. is this a breed thing or just something some dogs are prone to?

It's an individual dog thing, though there are breed predispositions. Fatty lumps are fairly common across all dog breeds, but the more fat the dog is carrying, the more likely it is to develop a fatty lump.

Trash Bag is turning out to be a pretty good familiar. I'm personally not all that into purebred cats, not when there are so many moggies that need a loving home.

Anonymous said: My father-in-laws dog scoots it's butt to scratch. He says he's had her checked out and she's fine. Is her bum just itchy, is she cleaning herself or could she have something really wrong. I believe him that he had her checked. I'm a cat person so have no idea. Thanks Dr.

Her back half could be itchy, or her anus could be itchy, there could be something stuck there or it could be an allergic itch, she might have worms (making her anus itchy) or she might have full anal glands and be trying to express them (they are located just inside the anal sphincter). The anal glands are definitely worth getting checked because they can develop into an abscess, but if the dog's madly itchy it's worth getting checked again anyway.

@toastedtoast15​ said: My dog is sick with diarrhea and vomiting. Can he get me sick?

Potentially yes.

Gastrointestinal illnesses in dogs can transmit to humans if they are bacterial in origin (eg Salmonella, Campylobacter, etc) but not if they are viral or due to dietary indiscretion.

Anonymous said: Hi, I was wondering if you could clear something up for me. I was recently told by a friend that giving a puppy peanut butter too young can cause a peanut allergy. Is this true/have you ever heard anything like this? Question tax: came for lucifer the bun, stayed for the awesome info on animals. I really enjoy your breed analysis too. Thank you!

It's a theory that's common in raising little humans, but I don't see an evidence for this in dogs. Dog don't develop life threatening anaphylaxis to peanuts like humans commonly do. (They can develop it to insect stings and injected drugs though).

However it's still prudent to be careful with peanut butter, because dogs that have eaten it recently which lick a highly sensitive human may induce anaphylaxis in the human, and some brands are now using artificial sweeteners like xylitol which are toxic to dogs.

@ geminilaser said: Does anything bad will happen if I give my cat some catnip?

Probably not. Some cats just don't like it, some have a stronger reaction to it than others. It's not advisable for them to eat a whole lot of it as it can cause vomiting, but it's usually self limiting if the do. Smooching the leaves should be fine.

Anonymous said: What are the best dog breeds for beginner owners? If you don't want to recommend a specific breed, what are the best traits a dog should have if their owner is not very knowledgeable about them?

You're right in that I don't want to recommend a specific breed for beginner owners.

If you are new to owning dogs, then I generally recommend your first dog to be an adult acquired from a shelter. They're already mature, so you know what you're getting, and somebody else has started the training process for you. They're already desexed and should be temperament tested.

While many dogs do get surrendered for behavioral problems and phobias, there are also lots of perfectly good dogs (often smaller ones) which have just had their owner die and no family members able to take them on, so they end up in a shelter. These are excellent dogs for a beginner as it's harder to make mistakes with them, and you're doing a good thing.

@mortyplier​ said: hi! whats your favorite kind of penguin? i love emperor penguins myself

I'm very fond of the Little Penguin, which I grew up knowing them as the Fairy Penguin. They're good little birds with grumpy faces.

@daedricprincessxoxo​ said: I just started working at the front desk of an animal hospital. A people nurse asked me if she could get whatever medicines she needs to perform surgery on her cat herself, because she'd rather that then to have a veterinarian do it. Nurses don't even do surgery! Even if they did, no!! On the bright side, there was a baby snake that was so tiny it looked like a worm. That was cute.

That is an unbelievably stupid thing for a human nurse to claim. I would not be surprised if she was not a human nurse at all and really just wanted to get her hands on some ketamine or propofol. I nurse should know that she can't perform surgery herself.

Anonymous said: Your Cupcakes story made me curious. I've been going to the same vet clinic for years now and the vets and other staff have always been wonderful​ both as people and as vets, but I know that their days are rough on several levels. Would it be a faux pas to bring in some baked goods next time I bring the pets in for a check up? Either way is there anything else I could do to briefly improve a vet's day while I'm in the clinic with a pet?

Bring the food. Don't ever be embarrassed about bringing food into the vet clinic, someone will eat it. It helps if you know if any staff have dietary restrictions (eg gluten free, nut free) but the gesture is always appreciated.

Anonymous said: Do you have any pets of your own?

You must be new and have missed out on pictures of Wonka and Trash Bag the cats.

[50percentbalfron]

Balfron Tower: The Artwash of an Icon by Rab Harling

It was with great excitement and optimism when in late 2010, at the cusp of attaining my MA in Photography, that I wrote a proposal for my next project: Inversion/Reflection: Turning Balfron Tower Inside Out, a plan to work with the architecture and community of Ernö Goldfinger’s 27-storey brutalist masterpiece Balfron Tower in East London.

I wrote a proposal to turn the tower inside out using large format transparencies, an optimistic and ambitious aim considering Balfron Tower had been in a state of flux since 2007 when housing association Poplar Harca took control of the tower and was in the process of ruthlessly clearing out the tenants, many who had lived there for generations, so that the tower could be redeveloped into luxury flats. I submitted a proposal to Bow Arts, who were renting flats in the tower to artists, “end of life” properties where I was told “you can do anything you like except knock walls down.”

The first few months in the tower were a strange and isolating experience. It became clear very quickly that Bow Arts had alienated most of the remaining residents in the tower and that there was an active campaign to disrupt and sabotage the work of the live/work scheme artists. A formal ban on film & photography, already in place by the time I arrived in February 2011, was being aggressively enforced.

No filming and no photography (Pic: Copyright @BalfronSocial)

Despite some minor disruption to one of my project’s ‘A Delicate Sense of Terror” which was to be made in the communal areas of the tower, I carried on regardless, aware that my main project did not breach the ban as it was to be made entirely within people’s homes upon their invitation.

Fully aware that things were not as Bow Arts had made them seem in their literature, and were not addressing issues we were facing in the building, but who were still happy to send me in to the tower, my rent money and security deposit attained, but with no advance warning of the hostilities or issues that they had already caused in the community.

I was later told by an artist neighbour, who had been in the tower since the beginning of the Bow Arts scheme, that they believed that I would just give up and abandon my work, as so many other artists who had come in to the tower to create work had already done, following a lack of co-operation from the community.

Bow Arts and Poplar Harca had already commissioned an artist to produce their master artwash event, in which the community got to take part by standing on their balconies as a photograph was taken of the building. Few residents chose to take part with many boycotting the event as a way of protesting their evictions. They were not being offered any possibility to express their opinions on the landgrab and ‘regeneration’ of their homes that would later see a raft of star architects and designers drafted in, whilst Poplar Harca ruthlessly set about dismantling an entire community, using a host of tactics that would send most people with a conscience into a state of shock.

What particularly shocked me was how they used divide and conquer tactics amongst the community, playing people according to the level of resistance they would give and the level of education they had attained and their ability to fight for their rights. This included threatening ‘difficult’ leaseholders with Compulsory Purchase Orders, and in one case reportedly attaining leasehold possession of a flat from a resident with learning difficulties for £14,000.

Still from ”What Does Balfron Tower Meant to You? By @RabHarling

I didn’t hear of a single occasion where tenants were offered anything that would allow them to attain a similar home in the area with their settlement for surrendering their homes, with the exception of the resident’s committee, who had been purposefully disruptive to artists, but who overall remained silent on the subject of the brutality with which Harca were ripping through the community.

In hindsight it was with no surprise that Bow Arts intimidated and bullied artists in the tower, making it clear that we were to turn a blind eye to the ruthless attacks on our (new) neighbours. Was our privilege as artists just there to be abused? The promises of gallery flats and community funding were shallow and empty lies, lies to be reinforced with Terrill’s commissioned portrait of the tower.

Large and frequent rent increases meant that most artists in the tower were forced to give up their studio spaces and take in flatmates, whilst those that complained privately about rent increases on Facebook, received intimidating letters from Bow Arts, or were summoned into their office and confronted for innocently speaking to an interested media.

It seemed artists were just here to pay up and shut up about the way our community was being treated, but also to carry on regardless and pretend that what we were witnessing in front of us was not happening. I could never accept that we were simply there for artwash and were to avoid and ignore our new neighbours and the predicaments they were in over their evictions. Sadly, it seems, for many artists who have heralded from greater wealth and privilege than I did, this did not seem to raise many ethical dilemmas for them and they seemed quite happy turn a blind eye to what was going on, if not actively engage in the artwash process.

Having been made aware reasonably quickly after moving into Balfron Tower that things were not quite as they seemed, I got my head down and started working, I had thrown everything I had into this work, and failure was not an option. I didn’t put notices up in the lift seeking participants, notices that would have been removed immediately anyway. I set about getting to know my neighbours by word of mouth, discovering through degrees of separation how isolated, alone and vulnerable many of the remaining tenants in the building were.

Living on the 2nd floor of a 27-storey building, where the lift was the most sociable place, made meeting my neighbours difficult and progress was initially slow. Many artists simply refused to participate in my work, but many did and this allowed me to shoot a number of flats and build up a small catalogue of work which better allowed me to visually explain to other residents what my plans were and what their role was within them. Slowly doors started to open, particularly when residents started to become more familiar with me around and about the building, and slowly the archive of homes I had photographed grew.

Promises made to residents of Balfron Tower by Poplar Harca ahead of the nil value stock transfer.

It was really only when doors started opening for me that I really started to hear the horror stories from an embattled community over how they were being treated. Poplar Harca lied to the residents of Balfron Tower over their plans to refurbish their homes, promising new windows, bathrooms and kitchens if they voted to transfer the housing stock to them, free of charge from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. They also told many residents that they could return to their homes, only for them to find out after they had already moved that they could not return.

It was very clear to me from the start that all was not well with the decant of Balfron Tower, and the stories I heard were heart-breaking, but consistently told of ruthless and nefarious tactics to clear the building so that the homes could be redeveloped by a luxury property developer and sold off with zero percent social housing.

It is wrong to believe that residents did not value what they had, that it was wasted on them. It was rare to meet anyone who did not speak passionately about the building and / or their community.

As more residents took part, the lightboxes grew (Pic: Copyright @RabHarling)

As the number of participants in my project grew, and as more and more people took part in my work, allowing me into their homes to document and record their private interior worlds, the more the hostility increased from Poplar Harca. Despite some early co-operation, they quickly stopped assisting me, perhaps aware that I was photographing the homes of people they were desperately trying to evict, and were worried that my work could be used to highlight the social cleansing of Balfron Tower. This wasn’t something that was in my original proposal, but was something that I was finding it more and more difficult to ignore.

By the time Bow Arts started forcibly inspecting our flats, widely rumoured to be so that artists who had made their mostly dilapidated flats into something habitable, could be evicted to make way for event & meeting rooms, supper clubs and theatre productions etc. I had already been invited in to photograph nearly 120 of my neighbour’s homes. Despite receiving no funding for the first two and half years, but dozens of rejection letters, I sustained and supported my work by eating at Occupy LSX and volunteering my time in exchange, just so I could continue to buy film and pay for processing.

Throughout this process Bow Arts seemed to be actively working against me, refusing to provide any support or assistance whatsoever, omitting my name from internal mailing lists that would have assisted me etc. It became very clear that they were using artists to artwash the tower, abandoning us to be ruthless pawns in the game of social cleansing that they were engaging in; to artwash and change the demographic of the local community, and were offering us very little in return.

Still from ”What Does Balfron Tower Meant to You? By @RabHarling

Artists whose work challenged or threatened this shiny happy example of community engagement / valuable revenue stream, challenging or criticising the role that artists play for property developers, were targeted and intimidated.

By the time I had made numerous formal complaints to Bow Arts, following the complaints procedure outlined on their website, the intimidation had not stopped and demands to inspect my flat were being made daily, under the guise of a gas meter inspection. My request for a Gas Safe engineer to attend were refused. A subsequent phone call to Marcel Baettig, the CEO of Bow Arts, advised him that the intimidation by his co-director had not ceased despite earlier promises to me that it would, I raised a question that had been on my mind since a rent increase several months earlier, which advised me for the first time ever, that Bow Arts were taking a significant proportion of my rent and donating it to themselves as a charitable donation, a sum total of over £5,000 over three years; money I could have quite happily used to buy film, and food. I raised this and expressed my dissatisfaction that this money was being forcibly taken from me and donated to themselves.

I received an eviction notice in the post the following day.

Revenge eviction was the perfect way for Bow Arts to punish me. Completely legal and required no explanation beyond a simple lie, a lie lapped up by everybody in authority.

The view East from Balfron Tower (Pic: Copyright Rab Harling)

I remain adamant that I should be able to choose freely with whom I give any charitable donation, and that I would not and do not choose to give it to an organisation that uses artists to artwash social housing on behalf of property developers and fails to provide anything that they claim to offer in their PR regarding community engagement in return.

By this time, I had received a Leverhulme Trust funded artist residency for my work in Balfron Tower, hosted by UCL Urban Laboratory (after two and half years of rejected funding applications.) Bow Arts had done nothing to assist with me this, other than act as a slum landlord, and attempts to negotiate with them over my impending eviction and their purposeful sabotage of my work were fruitless.

There was simply no negotiating with them and they aggressively pushed for an eviction on 31st December 2013. Bow Arts had purposefully decided to try and destroy my work and then they employed High Court bailiffs to expedite the process of removing me from my home in the tower (nearly three years before the ultimate decant date of August 2016).  I subsequently spent two and half years homeless, desperately trying to keep my residency at UCL together, to make films, host exhibitions and give talks about my work at Universities, all whilst living in a squat with no power or water.

During this period, I spent as much time as I could trying to highlight what was going on at Bow Arts. Their literature promoted themselves as a community arts organisation, yet I had been made homeless for actually successfully working with my community. Meanwhile, homeless charity CRISIS defended their ongoing partnership with Bow Arts, despite being signatories to the campaign to end revenge evictions.

Why were Bow Arts so aggressive toward me just for questioning why part of my rent was being donated to a charitable cause? Why was a charity promoting community arts trying to use me to help displace a working class community from their homes, so they could be sold off to luxury property developers, all using public funds received from Arts Council England?  It didn’t take a great deal of research to discover that Bow Arts were taking public funds to do something that they were not providing, but nobody was listening.

What followed was two and a half years of hell. Trying to get anybody to believe what was happening in Balfron Tower; that artists were being used in this way; that I was apparently volunteering to give my landlord nearly £2,000 a year donation without even being aware that I was doing so. I reported my complaints to the police, to Arts Council England, to the Charities Commission and to HMRC.

And nothing happened. Nobody wanted to know. Bow Arts had also retained my tenancy deposit claiming I had vandalised the flat, the near-derelict end of life property rented to me as an art studio, which I used: as an art studio. I was broke and homeless. I tweeted, I shouted and I did whatever I could to raise awareness of what was going on. It was outrageous, a publicly funded charity had evicted me from my home, had sabotaged my work and was now threatening organisations where I was engaged to speak, such as The Royal Geographical Society and Goldsmiths.

Balfron Social Club (@BalfronSocial/BalfronSocialClub.org)

It was in late-2014, still incensed by what was happening at Balfron Tower, that I started Balfron Social Club, an activist campaign to try to put pressure on decision makers and expose the privatisation of the tower, and to demand that a minimum of 50% social housing is retained in all regeneration projects.

It is unfortunate that in the solidly Labour borough of Tower Hamlets, with Labour councillors, Labour MP’s and a Labour mayor that they were steamrollering ahead with the social cleansing of large swathes of the borough, pioneering Tory policies to disrupt and displace working class communities whilst they profit from the regeneration of their homes.

Robin Hood Gardens, Tower Hamlets (Pic: Copyright Rab Harling)

The most notable attacks on communities in the Eastern side of Tower Hamlets being the anticipated demolition of the Smithson’s brutalist masterpiece Robin Hood Gardens, as well as the regeneration of Balfron Tower which will contain no social or affordable housing whatsoever. This is not to mention dozens of other estates, all in the process of being ‘regenerated’ to dismantle the social housing element, instead favouring private sale and part-ownership models. No community is safe in the hands of so-called Registered Social Landlord Poplar Harca.

Despite a successful campaign to upgrade the listing of Balfron Tower to a Grade II* status by David Roberts of UCL and architect James Dunnett, the plans for the redevelopment of the tower were announced to great surprise.

Balfron Tower’s fenestration: before & after

The recommendations in the heritage listing had almost been completely ignored and plans are afoot for a Goldfinger theme park, visually aimed at hipsters and bankers, but even more critically aimed at investors. Figures released recently for one of Poplar Harca’s preferred developers Telford Homes show that 93% of their sales were to investors, with only 7% to owner occupiers. The proposals were to dramatically modify both the interior and exterior of the building. Despite it’s recent heritage listing upgrade, the proposed plans were approved by Historic England and were accepted unanimously by the planning committee for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets on 16th December 2015.

Mayor Biggs interrupts proceedings during the vote to approve planning permission for Balfron Tower (Pic: Copyright Rab Harling)

But why did Cllr Sharia Khatun, now Deputy Mayor of Tower Hamlets, fail to disclose her current and former interests in Poplar Harca, something she had declared on previous occasions and something that would have made her ineligible to vote? Why did Mayor John Biggs interrupt the committee mid-session and then take a seat directly in front of them and glare at them whilst they voted? Claims that the majority of the timber-framed windows in Balfron Tower’s iconic elevation were dilapidated and beyond repair were also not true, as is witnessed in my photographs. Plans have been approved to replace this beautiful fenestration with aluminium frames and sheet glass, fundamentally changing the visual appearance of the tower.

Balfron Social Clubs’ Change.org petition

A petition organised by Balfron Social Club objecting to the privatisation of the tower had gained over 3000 signatures and had forced the planning meeting to be conducted in a public session, but was otherwise completely ignored. The decision seemed to have already been made and our protestations on both architectural and social grounds fell on deaf ears.

Debating the social cleansing of Balfron Tower in the House of Lords on 5th November 2015, Lord Cashman of Limehouse, speaking in a debate about regeneration legacies following the London Olympics, declared “there has been incredibly poor communication with, and an incredibly poor attitude towards, tenants and leaseholders from the current landlord Poplar HARCA over the decant and refurbishment, with changing plans, the insidious decanting of tenants, years of delay and an eventual declaration that Balfron Tower would be 100% privatised”. Lord Cashman also stated that he did not consider our demands for 50% social housing as too vigorous.

Lord Cashman of Limehouse debates Poplar Harca and Balfron Tower in the House of Lords. Click here for the video.

I remain committed to exposing the swindle that is the removal of Balfron Tower from public ownership into the hands of investors and will continue to fight to ensure that those involved in the process are exposed.

The use of artists in this role must also be challenged, especially when artists are being forced, just by association with Bow Arts to fund their involvement in artwash on behalf of housing associations turned property developers, like Poplar Harca in East London and most recently Peabody in Thamesmead.

In June 2016 I made a formal complaint to the Fundraising Regulator to complain about charitable donations taken from me by Bow Arts. Taking ten months to reach a decision, the regulator has ruled that the statement in Bow Arts tenancy application pack that “all successful applicants will have to be committed to supporting the arts, arts events and arts education in the local area” was adequate notice that I was willingly and knowingly making them a charitable donation.

The regulator has made a decision that without my knowledge Bow Arts can take £5k from me and use it as they see fit, even though I remain fundamentally opposed to their use of artwash on behalf of property developers.

All choice has been taken out of my hands. The regulator has chosen to ignore a witness who has spoken out, on the record, to a journalist investigating corruption, that confirms that Bow Arts in no way advised us that we would be making a charitable donation to them during our initial visit to the tower as they have claimed, and has been accepted by the regulator.

Allegations by another former Balfron Tower live/work resident that match my own experience of bullying and intimidation have also not been investigated. According to the regulator, if they do not complain to them, then it simply did not happen. The regulator seems to take no responsibility to actually investigate nor follow-up allegations.

Despite being made aware of others speaking out, on the record, the Fundraising Regulator has shown no interest. It has also failed to address allegations and evidence that Bow Arts lied to tenants claiming changes in government legislation to absolve them retrospectively of fours years of Gift Aid donations taken without permission or authority.

According to the Fundraising Regulator, Bow Arts do not need your permission to make themselves charitable donations and claim Gift Aid against your taxes (Pic: @RabHarling)

Regardless of how the regulator has chosen to rule, including finding Bow Arts in breach of Section 5.2(h) of the Fundraising Standards Code, I remain adamant that I was never advised of any charitable donations and that I fundamentally do not nor have I ever approved of making donations which are in any way associated with an artwash agenda. I believe that I should have the right to choose where and how I give money to charity or charitable causes. The regulator has chosen to side with Bow Arts on the basis of probability, despite the availability of witnesses and evidence which dispute their conclusions.

Following this ruling, artwash is now funded and supported by everybody that has a studio space with Bow Arts. You do not have a choice anymore. Art no longer equals freedom of expression, but forced oppression, a violent assault on working class communities by a class of educated and privileged people who choose, in the most part, to turn a blind eye to what is going on, at least until it directly affects them.

I chose to stand up and protest the forced use of artists in this way, and the consequences I suffered were barely imaginable. Bullying and intimidation by some some arts administrators has left all of us in the arts worse off, and a climate of bullying and fear have ensured that few people attempt to challenge the worst offenders.

Fight back: join Artists Against Social Cleansing

Organisations who abuse and exploit artists, that force artists to contribute to processes of artwash on behalf of property developers; that use artists to artwash the social cleansing of social housing need to be exposed. It is time that funding models serve communities and artists, and not just the needs of an arts organisations and their PR machine.

The East End is ripe pickings for developers as London expands eastwards, and the arrival of organisations such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, the London College of Fashion and the Wellcome Trust in Poplar would be a lot more welcome if they weren’t working in partnership with the developer that is brutally dismantling our social housing, and if they were offering something genuine to the local community, rather than documenting, displacing and replacing it.

It is not acceptable to force artists upon communities that were doing just fine before an Arts Council funded artist turns up to collect community memories on behalf of whichever property developer is currently ‘regenerating’ their home.

Funding bodies such as Arts Council England need to address the corruption at some of their National Portfolio Organisations. Property developer led agendas do not serve artists and they do not serve communities. They are turning communities against artists, exposing us for exactly what we have become; the shock troops of gentrification.

Rab Harling

for

Balfron Social Club

10th May 2017

@RabHarling

rabharling.com

@BalfronSocial

BalfronSocialClub.org

[fmservers]

Amazon did exactly what it should have with its HQ2 process

I love my colleague Jon Shieber, he’s a great guy. But his arguments against Amazon’s HQ2 process are just wrong, and are part of an increasingly poisonous atmosphere around employment growth and prosperity in America.

Our normally-scheduled analysis of AI and semiconductors will (hopefully) restart tomorrow.

We are experimenting with new content forms at TechCrunch. This is a rough draft of something new – provide your feedback directly to the author at danny@techcrunch.com if you like or hate something here.

A tale of three arguments

Shieber’s pointed argument yesterday falls in line with the wider debate about gentrification and the steep inequality of today’s digital economy. “Amazon played everyone involved in the process: the governments that pandered to it and the media that covered it (including us),” he wrote. “Now it looks like the residents of these communities that will have to live with their new corporate neighbor are going to be left to pay for it.”

Shieber sees essentially three problems with Amazon’s HQ2 process and announcement:

Amazon’s wealth drives its corporate power, which forces governments to do its bidding by applying to its reverse RFP process.

The incentive packages lined up by NYC and Northern Virginia are a form of corporate welfare that would be better used for everyday citizens, plus Amazon would have come anyway.

Amazon is not-transparent about its data or process, even while it collected data from hundreds of city governments.

Let’s take a look at that analysis.

Cities win and lose

In the normal world of economic development, cities post potential projects as Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and then wait for applications to come in, read through them, and select a winner. This is the process that New York City went through recently in selecting a group of firms to operate its new cybersecurity initiative. It’s reasonably transparent, and it is theoretically meritocratic, urban machine politics aside.

Increasingly though, companies have learned that cities will come far and wide to fight for jobs. In fact, rather than bidding for projects and having city governments or their economic development agencies select winners, companies can propose projects, have cities bid, and then the CEO can make the call. I call this a “reverse RFP.”

Almost three decades ago, United ran a reverse RFP process for the creation of a $1 billion maintenance facility which ended up being a fight between Oklahoma City and Indianapolis. As The Oklahoman wrote at the time: “United Airlines on Wednesday chose Indianapolis as the site of its $1 billion aircraft maintenance center, making Oklahoma City a loser in the race for what some termed the biggest industrial development project of the decade.” Sound familiar?

Last year, Foxconn extracted up to $4.8 billion in subsidies from Wisconsin as part of a process to build a new display manufacturing plant. And of course, Amazon ran its very public process over the past months.

Shieber wrote:

That Amazon felt comfortable enough to flip the script and instead have cities bid for the largesse of a corporation was galling enough. The fact that cities across America actually did the company’s bidding was proof of just how feckless, toothless, and seemingly powerless government at every level in this country has become.

Here’s the thing: Amazon is its own entity. It can make decisions for itself, in any way it chooses. Typically, corporate offices expand based on the personal decision of the CEO, maybe with some feedback from the board. When Square launched a customer operations office, it chose St. Louis, where its CEO Jack Dorsey is from. Such decisions get made every day with little input from cities.

Instead, Amazon opened that process up. It allowed cities to apply and provide information on why they might be the best location for its new headquarters. Maybe the company ignored all of the applications. Maybe it only ran the process to collect data. Maybe it just wanted the publicity. Maybe all of the above, and more. Regardless, it allowed input into a decision it has complete and exclusive control over.

Are cities “feckless” for applying? Should cities avoid competing tête-à-tête for jobs? Of course not. Cities compete every single day for individuals to move in, for small businesses to start, for federal tax funding. That competition is fundamentally a force for good, since it disciplines cities to make their residents — and future residents — happy. That’s one reason why Americans approve their local governments at 70%, and Congress remains mired in the single digits.

Amazon’s process hopefully woke up a number of slumbering city governments to the reality that their hometowns are not relatively as attractive as other cities.

Jobs and incentives

Photo: Chris Hepburn/Getty Images

Much of the ire over the Amazon announcement yesterday originated from the company’s combined multi-billion dollar incentive packages that it received from NYC and the DC metro. Amazon is already one of the wealthiest companies in the world, so why then does it need further incentives that divert tax dollars from other worthy causes?

As Shieber wrote:

As housing prices climb in Queens for rentals, cooperatives and condominiums, the neighborhood’s existing residents will likely be unable to afford the higher property prices. They’ll be moved out and essentially Amazon will be paying for infrastructure upgrades likely to be enjoyed solely by the company’s employees — again, at the expense of the broader tax base.

The challenge to that line of reasoning, which was common in many of the arguments against the HQ2 process, is failing to look at economic development holistically as a system. Opponents spend too much time focused on the tax receipts from income from new Amazon employees versus incentives, and not nearly enough time on all the spillover effects that will take place in these two regions.

These spillover effects are at the heart of agglomeration economies. With Amazon’s arrival, more software engineers will locate to NYC. They will start companies, join other tech firms, and expand the vitality of the community. As Edward Glaeser argues convincingly in his book The Triumph of the City, density of talent matters enormously for the success of the city. Amazon thickens the market for tech talent, and that is a huge win for both NYC and DC.

For a concrete example, Cornell Tech officially launched last year on NYC’s Roosevelt Island, which is located one subway stop from the proposed Amazon headquarters. What will the opening up of Amazon mean for the future of that new campus and its graduates? Does Cornell Tech have a better shot now at being a leading university in the computer sciences? Will more talent be drawn to Cornell Tech and ultimately into the NYC economy because of this co-location? It’s really hard to know or quantify, but the answer is almost certainly not zero.

Besides the lack of focus on spillovers, there is also this anti-gentrification line though that always grates on me. If Amazon’s plans are realized, it will deliver thousands of six-figure jobs into the city. As Enrico Moretti notes in his own book The New Geography of Jobs, it is exactly these sorts of jobs with high incomes that drive the economic vitality in cities. Killing the economy may be one way to lower housing prices, but it is a pretty foolish one.

Plus, I think there is a massive scale problem in people’s analysis of the incentives. Amazon’s incentive package for New York comes out to $1.5 billion or so. As a cost comparison, the East Side Access rail project, for instance, costs $3.5 billion a mile. New York’s incentive package is about 2,300 feet of rail, or roughly the distance between 2nd Ave and 6th Ave.

Tech jobs are bringing new wealth to cities, and obviously there are huge challenges with housing prices and affordability. But what a luxurious problem to have.

Transparency

The final point is about transparency and political decision-making. Shieber writes:

The question is less about whether Amazon’s decision to site its satellite offices in certain cities will be a boon to those cities. Instead, it’s whether the residents who already live there should be able to have a say in whether or not Amazon can come in and reshape their cities in radical ways.

But the residents in these cities did have a say — they elected mayors and governors to steer their cities and create widespread wealth. Hundreds of those elected leaders thought it prudent to apply for Amazon’s reverse RFP and sell their cities as great places for jobs.

If voters hate economic development incentives, then they can vote for politicians that will dismantle these programs. But the reality — which should be obvious — is that voters like jobs and income and employment. And they want their cities to compete and win the opportunity to bring large corporate offices to their cities, sometimes at a relatively high cost.

I frankly would love to see a more bottoms-up approach from cities around economic development, but there are frankly limits on how much the government can help small businesses. Plus, the math is often terrible — small businesses may create some local wealth, but they don’t create the kind of high-paying jobs that drive economies.

Ultimately, Amazon’s HQ2 process is a microcosm of larger forces, of technology, inequality, and democracy. The arguments against the reverse RFP are often just arguments for much broader structural change. That’s fine, but ultimately counter-productive from the municipal viewpoint. Cities aren’t going to lead the charge around structural reform — that has to happen at the federal level, and possibly even at a global context to be effective. Just ask Seattle about its city headcount tax and why Amazon might be looking at a second headquarters in the first place.

Via Danny Crichton https://techcrunch.com

[batumivillas-blog]

Buy apartment in Batumi

In Article 5 reasons why Batumi is better than Moscow (or other big city), I specified the low cost of living as the first reason why I have been killed Swim from Moscow to Batumi. Let's take a closer look at this subject. Then, closer to the summer, fixed rents increase and become extremely high (starting at $ 500 for the same apartment). In this way, every apartment owner tries to make more money for three months of vacation. Utilities If you rent a long-term apartment, you must pay for electricity, internet, water and gas. The sum depends on how much you spend on heating during the cold season (3-4 months). If you use a hot air conditioner or underfloor heating, you will have to pay from 250 GEL ($ 90) only for electricity. If you use the central gas heater, it would be 100 GEL ($ 40) for gas. So I advise you to look for an apartment with gas central heating, it would be more bouncing to the ounce. 

The water bill is low, about 20 GEL (less than $ 10). Resume living alone I pay for utilities around 150-200 GEL per month (55-75 $). Transport. In this city, I only use the taxi because it is extremely inexpensive. The hack of life - use the mobile taxi app Maxim and never ask drivers for the price. In the app you can see the price before a taxi driver sees you. If a taxi driver notices that you are a foreigner, the price will go up twice or even more. Taxi costs Maxim: You can also use public transport - buses or microbuses. A bus ticket is 0.40 GEL ($ 0.1), on microbus - 0.60 GEL ($ 0.2). But be prepared to wait 10-15-20 minutes on the bus stop Food and drinks. As a solo feast who does not cook much, I spend about $ 100 a month in the supermarket and $ 50 in restaurants and coffee shops. So the cost of my food and drinks is about $ 150. The average prices for some products in Georgia: Entertainment. Honestly, from September to June, there is less entertainment in batumivillas- no parties, no clubs, no theaters or concerts. So I go to the cinema once a month, it's 8 GEL ($ 3) for the ticket, 3.5 GEL ($ 1.5) for popcorn and drinks. And the second activity is to play games with friends in a bar. 

There, I spend 20 GEL ($ 8) for drinks or food per night. Two evenings with games per week is 160 GEL or $ 64 a month in health care. Batumi is where I do not have any health problems. Usually, I spend in a pharmacy about 40 GEL ($ 15) a month, just for common reasons. Prepare for all doctors for foreigners to be paid. But anyway, geriatric health care (doctors, tests, medications) are cheaper than Europe.  Beauties. The column for girls. I spend about $ 100 a month in beauty. It includes: Sport. Racing fans might feel good in Batumi, as there is a long boulevard to run around the city. The same thing for bicycles. I like to swim and in cold weather need to pay for the pool - it's about 180 GEL ($ 70) per month Summary I spend $ 800 a month living alone, having fun, taking care of my beauty and my health. And it's the high quality of life, not stressful and enjoyable. Freelancer in the IT sphere, traveler, researcher of human lives and traditions, mad woman red. Native to Belarus, every 5 years moving to a new city. Was living in St. Petersburg and Moscow, now living in Batumi, Georgia. Batumi is a true jewel of Europe today, yes it is! This wording illustrates the situation at best. 

Today, it is very difficult to find better conditions for the purchase of real estate in the Black Sea resort area. day Batumi is a city in dynamic development, which putsin commission some  high-rise  every month. The apartments in Batumi meet all the modern requirements - of course, they can be considered as a good marketing phrase that can be read in the brochure of an apartment complex, but in the case new buildings in Batumi, this is a very important aspect. Each house that is built in the city is a unique architectural structure, an original individual project, standard projects virtually do not exist. The Black Sea is one of the most enjoyable benefits in this region, taking into account the warm climate and many sandy beaches. Batumi is a beautiful seaside resort in one of the most beautiful natural regions of the Black Sea, and the most surprising is that the price of an apartment in Batumi today is kept around 650-950 dollars per square meter, and in the new buildings, which have not yet been put, 350-800 dollars. However, real estate prices in Batumi are growing at a fairly high dynamic, but they remain at a very reasonable level. Now, why is it profitable to buy an apartment in Batumi? Nature - it is one of the most beautiful and warmest natural areas in Europe, this paradise among mountains and big cities. 

Sea - Black Sea is always beautiful, but especially here, where it is almost always warm, calm, and is there with the beautiful beaches. Real estate - real estate in Batumi is a real diamond, most apartments are new, realized by special projects, and the prices are very, very attractive! The Domaine de Fontanelle is a beautiful 17th century country house in 20 acres of beauty .. We are pleased to present for sale this superb 4 star hotel, 117 rooms, located in Ibiza, with 35 .. Here we present a luxurious 4 Star Hotel with stunning panoramic sea views, located in a beautiful sea .. Boutique Hotel in Valderrobres Teruel Aragon SpainEuroresales Property ID  9823931 about t .. Just a short flight from Nassau (20 minutes) or Miami (60 minutes) takes you to We are pleased to introduce you to this luxurious 5 star hotel at Stars, located in the Gulf of Mononaftis, in a quiet area .. Restaurant, Caf, 4Bed Hotel and Private Residence in Le Beugnon Poitou-Charentes FranceE. Here we present you the magnificent 5 star luxury hotel in a setting overlooking the desert and the mountain, just .. Superb Anker Hotel in Rhodos GreeceEuroresales property ID - 9823862This 20 room hotel .. Superb 6 bedroom house in Bull Savannah St. Elizabeth JamaicaEuroresales Property ID 9824538Property .. Superb hotel in Serrejon Caceres SpainThe Casadelmazo Estate is located 2 hours from Madrid. Two beachfront 5 star hotels with casino in Batumi, GeorgiaPrice advertised for a hotel, both .. The Euro Resale's Network has been designed by some of Europe's leading commercial agents ens. 

Years of experience to find the best way to get your property found and especially sold. We aim to cover all angles to give you the best selling chances. Contact one of our teams today to find out more ... Very professional company in the field of agricultural real estate. It was a pleasure to do business with Orbis Realty during our property search in Georgia. They always provided us with accurate and complete information that really helped us make the right decision. . I would recommend Orbis Realty to anyone looking for agricultural properties in Georgia. Their knowledge, professionalism and integrity are truly commendable. . Orbis Realty Ltd, one of the main and fastestGeoGroupe's real estate growth, provides an advanced internet platform for connecting local property sellers with foreign buyers. Since 2012, the company offers a reliable and verified database of a diverse range of properties to discerning investors who are considering investing in georgia. We are the privileged direct choice for savvy foreign investors looking to enter the real estate georgian space. 

Orbis Realty is committed to providing unrivaled real estate services that meet the highest standards of quality, professionalism and transparency. We are also committed to placing the interests of our customers and their concerns before ours in every transaction. We will always consider our relationship with our customers as a long-term partnership. The company's vision is to continually strive to improve the quality of its real estate services. The company's goal is to expand its reach and presence in Georgia by opening more regional offices in the next 3 years. The economy sector of Georgia is growing rapidly. Although each critic finds shortcomings, but the government has chosen the right economic strategy. Georgia has embarked on a series of progressive reforms, including anti-corruption efforts, reform of labor codes and taxes, and improvements in the global infrastructure. The country. Georgian politicians have learned how to communicate on an equal footing with their Western colleagues and how to sell their country in a positive light.

[darlenelaure]

Hustle and flow: Miami-Dade’s top-ranked resi agents

Nelson Gonzalez of EWM Realty International represented the buyer of 212 West Dilido Drive, which closed for $22M.

From TRD Miami’s spring issue: As in any commission-based business, competition is cutthroat in Miami-Dade’s residential real estate scene. And when you manage to make it to the top, sometimes it’s best to keep mum about the people who help you stay up there. Jill Hertzberg had to learn that the hard way.

The broker who co-heads the No. 1 team on The Real Deal’s ranking of top brokers and broker teams in the county, Coldwell Banker Residential’s the Jills, had a great marketing employee — so great, in fact, that Hertzberg kept boasting about her, and “next thing I know, Douglas Elliman hired her away. So I guess that’s the nature of the beast, right?”

Top producers said being courted by another firm is common. Some brokerages offer titles such as senior vice president to entice top agents to their firms.

“Every top agent in the city is going to get a call from the top brokerage company,” said Judy Zeder of the Zeder Team from EWM Realty International, which came in second in the ranking. TRD ranked top brokers by analyzing sales of single-family homes that closed in 2017 as recorded on the MLS. Credit for each deal was assigned to the first agent on the listing, according to the MLS; no credit was given to co-agents on either side. Agents were credited with both listing and buying sides, in keeping with the MLS accounting method.

“It’s part of the market, and it’s probably good when the key people move around,” Zeder added. “I think you are with companies because you like them and you trust them and you have a good relationship with them. We say, ‘Show me who you go with, and I’ll show you who you are.’”

Recent prominent moves include the Levy Group’s transition to EWM Christie’s after more than 15 years at Coldwell Banker; EWM Realty International’s poaching in August of Coldwell Banker mother-daughter duo Laura Mullaney and Jane Gomez-Mena, the former a 25-year veteran of Coldwell; and Audrey Ross’ move to Compass last July after 17 years at EWM.

Growing field of players

The number of Miami brokerages has skyrocketed from a few decades ago. The Miami Association of Realtors included just 475 companies 30 years ago, according to George Jalil, 2018 board chairman of the association. Today, it has over 5,000. In order to stay ahead, big players like One Sotheby’s International Realty, Compass and Brown Harris Stevens have all made local acquisitions. Meanwhile, Keyes Companies and Illustrated Properties merged, and Douglas Elliman acquired Turnberry International Realty’s Bay Harbor Islands office and Delray Beach firm Tauriello & Company Real Estate.

With so many agents and firms in the market, sources noted that collaboration and cooperation between them is crucial. Indeed, Charlette Seidel, branch manager for Coldwell Banker’s Coral Gables office, insisted it’s the kumbaya moments that make the cha-ching possible. 

“I would say the majority do [play nice in Miami], but some get a little aggressive, so I just tell the agent, just call them up and say, ‘Let’s work this together.’ The buyer gets the house and your seller gets the price. When we get along and help each other, we make sales.”

Jalil agrees. “Real estate is a very, very competitive business, but by definition it’s also cooperative in the same way. It has always been like this,” he said. “It’s not that realtors want to be nice with each other; it’s just that they have to be in order to get the deals through.”

(Click to enlarge)

With over 45,000 members in the Miami Association of Realtors (the nation’s largest local association, according to its website), there’s bound to be “a slightly bad apple” in the bunch, admits Jalil, who sits on the board’s grievance panel. “If we did not have grievance and ethics panels in place, this association on a national level would have fallen apart 100 years ago … We require the highest ethics.”

Though he can’t speak about an ongoing 2015 criminal case, in which Miami Beach realtor Kevin Tomlinson was arrested on charges of trying to extort the Jills, Jalil said that matter was “extremely rare.” More often, the association gets less serious complaints about a realtor using someone else’s MLS photos, or something similar.

“Most of the time it’s a realtor not knowing the right thing and doing the wrong thing by accident,” he said. “Or thinking it’s not a big thing and trying to get away with it.” First, it’s a warning, but fines can reach $5,000 for improper MLS activity. “We really try to be as transparent as possible,” he explained.

“Procured cause” complaints — that is, brokers contesting who is entitled to a commission — are also fairly common, according to another source familiar with the grievance process who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An ombudsman program launched in 2016 is helping to resolve preliminary complaints “faster, easier and more amicably” and helping to reduce the number of cases that advance to mediation and arbitration, said Martha Pomares, managing broker of Douglas Elliman’s Brickell and Coconut Grove offices.

Puzzling over the market

When she can’t sleep, Zeder works on complex laser-cut wooden puzzles. “They’re extremely difficult, and I find them extremely relaxing,” she said. It’s a fitting hobby, given that during the day, the senior vice president of EWM Realty International is piecing together any number of puzzles in order to keep a steady stream of residential sales coming in Miami-Dade. A challenging local market has meant lots of adapting for the area’s brokers.

“Last year was a little rough with real high-end inventory,” said Zeder, whose three-broker team includes her children Kara and Nathan. Despite some struggle, they logged $134.5 million in sales, according to TRD’s ranking.

“We worked seven days a week and a lot of hours a day to get the transactions we did. There was nothing easy about getting those numbers,” Zeder said.  

But after two challenging years, some Miami agents said they can finally see beyond the glut of high-rise inventory to an upswing just over the horizon.

“The buyers are there, and the prices are strong,” said Hertzberg. “It’s just that you have to be in line [pricewise].”

If 2016 revealed that sellers were still overly optimistic — pricing based on 2015’s dream market — 2017’s sales volumes indicate that they finally got real: lowering their prices and, as a result, making more sales, brokers said. Sales volume totaled $33.2 billion last year, up 3.75 percent from $32 billion in 2016, according to a Miami Association of Realtors report. The long-term supply of luxury condos continues to keep sellers’ listing prices in check.

“When you have so many condos on the market for sale, it’s going to affect single-family residential. It has to,” said Zeder, who noted that there is now some movement on absorption, particularly of luxury single-family inventory under $2 million. 

“Sellers realized they’re not bulletproof. The smart ones, anyway, started reducing the prices of their properties, and they sold,” said Nelson Gonzalez, a senior vice president with EWM Realty International who brought in the third-highest single-family home sales volume last year, raking in over $95 million in sales.

“It’s still a buyer’s market,” said Brown Harris Stevens realtor Josie Wang, who is seventh on this year’s list. “But things have started to move a little more than before.”

Gonzalez credits current events for shifting the mood among buyers. “Once the [presidential] election was over, everything sort of changed and kicked into high gear again,” he said. Between November 9, 2016, and the end of that year, Gonzalez said, he had five listings go under contract, followed by two sales north of $20 million in the first quarter of 2017. “People who were on the sidelines started to jump in,” he said.

Gonzalez believes stock market gains and the changes to the tax code have caused a “mad rush” of domestic buyers looking for high-end houses and Florida residency. “I’ve found that when Americans have money in their pockets, they have to spend it,” said Gonzalez, a top-selling fixture in Miami Beach for 28 years.

Zeder agreed, and added that the domestic buyers new to the market require a certain amount of education. “We have a lot of people moving into town from all over, and I think their biggest struggle is just trying to understand the Miami market,” she said. “Why a home in Miami Beach is twice the amount of a home in Coral Gables and why Coral Gables is more expensive than Pinecrest. You have huge variation of pricing, for the same size lot, for the same size house.”

Gonzalez said all of his biggest deals of 2017 involved domestic buyers. “That’s a huge change,” he noted. “Usually we get a mix of Americans, South Americans, Europeans and Russians.” 

Hertzberg sees a similar trend, fueled by stock market performance and tax changes seen as unfavorable to California and New York residents. “The domestic buyers … are the biggest performers right now,” she said. “We used to have a huge percentage who were South American because we’re a gateway for them; it’s easy to move into Miami,” said Hertzberg. “There’s been a drop in that with what’s going on in Venezuela and Brazil.”

Still, statistics from the Miami Association of Realtors show international buyers accounted for 35 percent of Miami’s closed sales in 2017, purchasing a whopping 41 percent more properties than they did in 2016 (15,400 compared to 10,900). Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil were the top countries of origin for buyers in 2017.

Seidel of Coldwell Banker went so far as to call the current market “outstanding.” After closings delayed months by Hurricane Irma at the end of 2017, she said, she’s smiling again, adding that the rental market is buzzing, too, with millennials in particular.

Lower unemployment numbers in Miami-Dade (from 5.4 percent in 2016 to 4.5 in 2017) and, more recently, a slight increase in wages are having an impact, especially with first-time homebuyers trying to qualify for loans, said Jalil.

Seidel was quick to add that the pricing also has to be right. “We try to educate our sales associates to just tell sellers the truth. If they [sellers] want to listen, fine. If they don’t, they will see.”

Gonzalez agreed that the momentum is up, “just judging by me having to work seven days a week for the last three months.” He predicts prices will begin to go up in another year, spurring spec builders to start building homes again.

Jay Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman Florida, predicted back in October that it could be up to two years before prices hit their peak.

Even with corrections still occurring on the luxury side, the data shows home values have been rising overall. Statistics compiled by the Miami Association of Realtors show that single-family home prices in Miami-Dade have risen for over six years in a row, with a 6.5 percent year-over-year increase in January 2018.

And some luxury properties are fetching from $1,500 per square foot on the mainland to $2,500 per square foot in Miami Beach. “Pent-up demand for Miami housing has led to more home sales, higher median sale prices and a larger total dollar sales volume,” Jalil said.

A January report from the Miami Association of Realtors and the MLS showed existing condominium and single-family home sales over $1 million gaining steam, up 29.3 percent overall from the same month last year. Transactions involving single-family homes in the $1 million-or-more range rose 7.1 percent month over month for January.

One agent who spoke on condition of anonymity said she’d already shown more Miami Beach waterfront homes in the first couple of months of 2018 than she had in all of 2017.

A December Forbes article quoting Miami experts, including Gonzalez, said homebuyers are looking for sleek, modern construction; expansive spaces for entertaining, including “summer” kitchens, rooftop terraces, tasting rooms and home theaters; and especially views of Miami’s grownup skyline.

Meanwhile, the Jills’ co-founder Hertzberg said she’s already moving toward her next performance goal.

“When you are up front, people are looking at you,” she said. “You’ve got to learn to constantly change because they copy you. You’ve got to evolve. It’s hard because for a minute you kind of want to coast, but you can’t.” 

from The Real Deal Miami https://therealdeal.com/miami/issues_articles/hustle-and-flow-miami-dades-top-ranked-brokers/#new_tab via IFTTT

[nicolesrollins]

Hustle and flow Miami-Dade’s top-ranked resi agents

Nelson Gonzalez of EWM Realty International represented the buyer of 212 West Dilido Drive, which closed for $22M.

From TRD Miami’s spring issue: As in any commission-based business, competition is cutthroat in Miami-Dade’s residential real estate scene. And when you manage to make it to the top, sometimes it’s best to keep mum about the people who help you stay up there. Jill Hertzberg had to learn that the hard way.

The broker who co-heads the No. 1 team on The Real Deal’s ranking of top brokers and broker teams in the county, Coldwell Banker Residential’s the Jills, had a great marketing employee — so great, in fact, that Hertzberg kept boasting about her, and “next thing I know, Douglas Elliman hired her away. So I guess that’s the nature of the beast, right?”

Top producers said being courted by another firm is common. Some brokerages offer titles such as senior vice president to entice top agents to their firms.

“Every top agent in the city is going to get a call from the top brokerage company,” said Judy Zeder of the Zeder Team from EWM Realty International, which came in second in the ranking. TRD ranked top brokers by analyzing sales of single-family homes that closed in 2017 as recorded on the MLS. Credit for each deal was assigned to the first agent on the listing, according to the MLS; no credit was given to co-agents on either side. Agents were credited with both listing and buying sides, in keeping with the MLS accounting method.

“It’s part of the market, and it’s probably good when the key people move around,” Zeder added. “I think you are with companies because you like them and you trust them and you have a good relationship with them. We say, ‘Show me who you go with, and I’ll show you who you are.’”

Recent prominent moves include the Levy Group’s transition to EWM Christie’s after more than 15 years at Coldwell Banker; EWM Realty International’s poaching in August of Coldwell Banker mother-daughter duo Laura Mullaney and Jane Gomez-Mena, the former a 25-year veteran of Coldwell; and Audrey Ross’ move to Compass last July after 17 years at EWM.

Growing field of players

The number of Miami brokerages has skyrocketed from a few decades ago. The Miami Association of Realtors included just 475 companies 30 years ago, according to George Jalil, 2018 board chairman of the association. Today, it has over 5,000. In order to stay ahead, big players like One Sotheby’s International Realty, Compass and Brown Harris Stevens have all made local acquisitions. Meanwhile, Keyes Companies and Illustrated Properties merged, and Douglas Elliman acquired Turnberry International Realty’s Bay Harbor Islands office and Delray Beach firm Tauriello & Company Real Estate.

With so many agents and firms in the market, sources noted that collaboration and cooperation between them is crucial. Indeed, Charlette Seidel, branch manager for Coldwell Banker’s Coral Gables office, insisted it’s the kumbaya moments that make the cha-ching possible. 

“I would say the majority do [play nice in Miami], but some get a little aggressive, so I just tell the agent, just call them up and say, ‘Let’s work this together.’ The buyer gets the house and your seller gets the price. When we get along and help each other, we make sales.”

Jalil agrees. “Real estate is a very, very competitive business, but by definition it’s also cooperative in the same way. It has always been like this,” he said. “It’s not that realtors want to be nice with each other; it’s just that they have to be in order to get the deals through.”

(Click to enlarge)

With over 45,000 members in the Miami Association of Realtors (the nation’s largest local association, according to its website), there’s bound to be “a slightly bad apple” in the bunch, admits Jalil, who sits on the board’s grievance panel. “If we did not have grievance and ethics panels in place, this association on a national level would have fallen apart 100 years ago … We require the highest ethics.”

Though he can’t speak about an ongoing 2015 criminal case, in which Miami Beach realtor Kevin Tomlinson was arrested on charges of trying to extort the Jills, Jalil said that matter was “extremely rare.” More often, the association gets less serious complaints about a realtor using someone else’s MLS photos, or something similar.

“Most of the time it’s a realtor not knowing the right thing and doing the wrong thing by accident,” he said. “Or thinking it’s not a big thing and trying to get away with it.” First, it’s a warning, but fines can reach $5,000 for improper MLS activity. “We really try to be as transparent as possible,” he explained.

“Procured cause” complaints — that is, brokers contesting who is entitled to a commission — are also fairly common, according to another source familiar with the grievance process who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An ombudsman program launched in 2016 is helping to resolve preliminary complaints “faster, easier and more amicably” and helping to reduce the number of cases that advance to mediation and arbitration, said Martha Pomares, managing broker of Douglas Elliman’s Brickell and Coconut Grove offices.

Puzzling over the market

When she can’t sleep, Zeder works on complex laser-cut wooden puzzles. “They’re extremely difficult, and I find them extremely relaxing,” she said. It’s a fitting hobby, given that during the day, the senior vice president of EWM Realty International is piecing together any number of puzzles in order to keep a steady stream of residential sales coming in Miami-Dade. A challenging local market has meant lots of adapting for the area’s brokers.

“Last year was a little rough with real high-end inventory,” said Zeder, whose three-broker team includes her children Kara and Nathan. Despite some struggle, they logged $134.5 million in sales, according to TRD’s ranking.

“We worked seven days a week and a lot of hours a day to get the transactions we did. There was nothing easy about getting those numbers,” Zeder said.  

But after two challenging years, some Miami agents said they can finally see beyond the glut of high-rise inventory to an upswing just over the horizon.

“The buyers are there, and the prices are strong,” said Hertzberg. “It’s just that you have to be in line [pricewise].”

If 2016 revealed that sellers were still overly optimistic — pricing based on 2015’s dream market — 2017’s sales volumes indicate that they finally got real: lowering their prices and, as a result, making more sales, brokers said. Sales volume totaled $33.2 billion last year, up 3.75 percent from $32 billion in 2016, according to a Miami Association of Realtors report. The long-term supply of luxury condos continues to keep sellers’ listing prices in check.

“When you have so many condos on the market for sale, it’s going to affect single-family residential. It has to,” said Zeder, who noted that there is now some movement on absorption, particularly of luxury single-family inventory under $2 million. 

“Sellers realized they’re not bulletproof. The smart ones, anyway, started reducing the prices of their properties, and they sold,” said Nelson Gonzalez, a senior vice president with EWM Realty International who brought in the third-highest single-family home sales volume last year, raking in over $95 million in sales.

“It’s still a buyer’s market,” said Brown Harris Stevens realtor Josie Wang, who is seventh on this year’s list. “But things have started to move a little more than before.”

Gonzalez credits current events for shifting the mood among buyers. “Once the [presidential] election was over, everything sort of changed and kicked into high gear again,” he said. Between November 9, 2016, and the end of that year, Gonzalez said, he had five listings go under contract, followed by two sales north of $20 million in the first quarter of 2017. “People who were on the sidelines started to jump in,” he said.

Gonzalez believes stock market gains and the changes to the tax code have caused a “mad rush” of domestic buyers looking for high-end houses and Florida residency. “I’ve found that when Americans have money in their pockets, they have to spend it,” said Gonzalez, a top-selling fixture in Miami Beach for 28 years.

Zeder agreed, and added that the domestic buyers new to the market require a certain amount of education. “We have a lot of people moving into town from all over, and I think their biggest struggle is just trying to understand the Miami market,” she said. “Why a home in Miami Beach is twice the amount of a home in Coral Gables and why Coral Gables is more expensive than Pinecrest. You have huge variation of pricing, for the same size lot, for the same size house.”

Gonzalez said all of his biggest deals of 2017 involved domestic buyers. “That’s a huge change,” he noted. “Usually we get a mix of Americans, South Americans, Europeans and Russians.” 

Hertzberg sees a similar trend, fueled by stock market performance and tax changes seen as unfavorable to California and New York residents. “The domestic buyers … are the biggest performers right now,” she said. “We used to have a huge percentage who were South American because we’re a gateway for them; it’s easy to move into Miami,” said Hertzberg. “There’s been a drop in that with what’s going on in Venezuela and Brazil.”

Still, statistics from the Miami Association of Realtors show international buyers accounted for 35 percent of Miami’s closed sales in 2017, purchasing a whopping 41 percent more properties than they did in 2016 (15,400 compared to 10,900). Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil were the top countries of origin for buyers in 2017.

Seidel of Coldwell Banker went so far as to call the current market “outstanding.” After closings delayed months by Hurricane Irma at the end of 2017, she said, she’s smiling again, adding that the rental market is buzzing, too, with millennials in particular.

Lower unemployment numbers in Miami-Dade (from 5.4 percent in 2016 to 4.5 in 2017) and, more recently, a slight increase in wages are having an impact, especially with first-time homebuyers trying to qualify for loans, said Jalil.

Seidel was quick to add that the pricing also has to be right. “We try to educate our sales associates to just tell sellers the truth. If they [sellers] want to listen, fine. If they don’t, they will see.”

Gonzalez agreed that the momentum is up, “just judging by me having to work seven days a week for the last three months.” He predicts prices will begin to go up in another year, spurring spec builders to start building homes again.

Jay Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman Florida, predicted back in October that it could be up to two years before prices hit their peak.

Even with corrections still occurring on the luxury side, the data shows home values have been rising overall. Statistics compiled by the Miami Association of Realtors show that single-family home prices in Miami-Dade have risen for over six years in a row, with a 6.5 percent year-over-year increase in January 2018.

And some luxury properties are fetching from $1,500 per square foot on the mainland to $2,500 per square foot in Miami Beach. “Pent-up demand for Miami housing has led to more home sales, higher median sale prices and a larger total dollar sales volume,” Jalil said.

A January report from the Miami Association of Realtors and the MLS showed existing condominium and single-family home sales over $1 million gaining steam, up 29.3 percent overall from the same month last year. Transactions involving single-family homes in the $1 million-or-more range rose 7.1 percent month over month for January.

One agent who spoke on condition of anonymity said she’d already shown more Miami Beach waterfront homes in the first couple of months of 2018 than she had in all of 2017.

A December Forbes article quoting Miami experts, including Gonzalez, said homebuyers are looking for sleek, modern construction; expansive spaces for entertaining, including “summer” kitchens, rooftop terraces, tasting rooms and home theaters; and especially views of Miami’s grownup skyline.

Meanwhile, the Jills’ co-founder Hertzberg said she’s already moving toward her next performance goal.

“When you are up front, people are looking at you,” she said. “You’ve got to learn to constantly change because they copy you. You’ve got to evolve. It’s hard because for a minute you kind of want to coast, but you can’t.” 

from The Real Deal Miami & Real Estate News News | & Curbed Miami - All https://therealdeal.com/miami/issues_articles/hustle-and-flow-miami-dades-top-ranked-brokers/#new_tab via IFTTT

[followtheukulele]

Bonito, MS - Brazil

Dear Friends,

I'm a little bit behind schedule with the posts, I'm still adapting to travel and write at the same time. As for now I'm basically just enjoying the trips without writing a single word =p

We are just back from Mexico and even though this was the first "official ukulele trip", the first sabbatical destination was actually a city called Bonito, a small paradise in the central west region in Brazil.

I wanted to share a couple of pictures and thoughts about it as it is a very interesting destination and was an awesome experience. I went there with a friend that was also on his sabbatical and, as a good consultant he is, he was craving for adrenaline and adventure, the kind of stuff I wouldn't do it by myself as will become clear below. The highlight of the trip was the Anhuma Abyss, a 72 meters rappel with a snorkeling/scuba diving at the bottom and snorkeling" at the amazing "Rio da Prata".

Where: Bonito, MS, Brazil

When: February 2017

Duration: Six Days

Day 1: Logistics

From Sao Paulo, one of the ways to go to Bonito - a tiny distant city located in the center of Brazil - is to fly to Campo Grande, the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul state. Campo Grande is a big city with ~800k Habitants and is exactly as we expected from a city that located in the "heart" of Latin America. It has very modern and beautiful areas with very humble/poor ones just around the corner. The heat is overwhelming, the food amazing (lots of meat) and the people nice and friendly. As we were not sure how good or bad the road to Bonito was, we stayed there for the night and had a blast eating a bazillion kilograms of meat in a restaurant called Vermelho Grill. Needless to say, we also had gigantic caipirinhas that made us suddenly "fit" for a quick look into the nightlife of our central west friends. After watching a very good live band show, filled with Brazilian songs from all different styles and a couple of Stellas, we went to sleep and prepare for the road.

Day 2: Arrangements and Training

The road to Bonito is surprisingly good despite many Speed Traps along it´s ~300Km, which are never quite a problem for myself, as I drive so slow that even my Grandmother complained about it once. The whole trip took about 4 hours, under a melting sun and an infinite soy farming landscape, with just a quick stop for lunch.The sun was so intense I recommend driving there really early in the morning, I had to cover my arm with an extra t-shirt, just so you understand how hot it was.

Getting there the scene was exactly what we expected, the whole city is basically the main avenue and the "attractions" were on private properties around the city, usually concentrated in a radius of ~40km of dirt roads. We got there around 2pm and used the afternoon to settle at our hostel (Che Lagarto - which we really enjoyed) and to buy the attractions we wanted to visit at an agency (it has to be necessarily booked through an agency and apparently the prices are all fixed, so there's no meaning in trying to negotiate or visiting more than one agency for bargain). For lunch, we had "Pastel de Jacaré" which is a very traditional Brazilian fried plate, kind of a Fogazza/Empanada, but filled with a local flavor - let's call it this way - that we had never eaten before: Alligator. It tasted just as chicken, nothing special or disgusting, the highlight actually was the other ones we tried, with jerked beef, cheese and banana (yes, banana, it really goes along with the fried cheese). After that, we went for the Rappel training/test needed to see if we were physically able to go down and afterward climb the Abyss. It was an indoor practice of about 8 meters, and even though I was worried about the athletic side of the accountant - which is usually as bad as the stereotype suggests - it was fun and seemed pretty doable at the time. The day ended with a nice fish called "Piraputanga" for dinner with a much needed cold beer.

Day 3: Rio da Prata The first activity we booked was the classic floating at the river "Rio da Prata", which is a paradise for snorkeling, the water is as clear as in an aquarium and you don't have to swim at all if you don't want to, as the flow will take you all the way down the river. It´s located on a private property that has all the touristic infrastructure you could ask for: there are plenty of bathroom, showers, gift stores, hammocks, a "home made" food restaurant and friendly staff. I'm not going to bother to describe much about the flotation, as the pictures speak for themselves, but just to give a quick briefing you start by receiving your previously cleaned equipment - snorkel, mask, and neoprene suit - and you cannot use any sunblock or lotions at all to preserve the river. After that they put you in an adapted truck to take you almost into the river, from there you walk for about 10 minutes in a very clean, open and easy trail within the local "jungle". That's it, almost effortlessly you appear by the riverside and start the snorkeling at this paradise, full of fearless fish that swim right at you in shoals. After that we went for a quick horseback riding, which was pretty calm and relaxing, the property is beautiful and we bathed in sunblock before going in order not to compromise the next days with sunburns (it was probably around 30 celsius or more...)

Day 4: The Abyss

For the challenging day, you wake up really early and go directly to the property where the Abyss is located. Getting there you are received by the staff preparing and equipping some people before briefing them to go down. I remember getting there and seeing this girl with probably the same look on her face as I had in mine: that why-on-earth did I pay all that money to do this (it's really expensive around 350usd)...

After waiting for about 40 minutes or so, it was our time, so they geared us up and placed our backs to this small opening in the rock, tourists go always in two, side by side. I was so scared of having just that tiny rope holding me up from a 72 meters fall, that I was holding the break so firmly that the descent was at the amazing speed of like 10cm per hour. After the first minutes, I had relaxed enough to let it go faster, but not enough to look down, as my friend wanted me to do (after passing the narrow entrance, the Abyss completely opens up in all it´s magnificent void). Finally, after half way down he finally convinced me, I looked down, and man, what a mistake that was. The rest of the way I was either looking firmly straight ahead or with closed eyes, I'm not ashamed to admit it as it´s hard to grasp how big and impressive that thing is. Anyway, at the bottom, you reach a wood platform made to hold whoever is there, as the abyss is filled with water. Very clean water, by the way, which is hard to believe when you see it from outside, but once you go snorkeling or scuba diving in it, it´s amazingly transparent and not surprisingly cold. The bottom of the lake holds these rare structures called "cones" which are huge and are almost 20 meters high (the lake is pretty deep, some parts of it reach impressive 80 meters of depth).

Cool, so the status was - going down: check; swimming around: check; little boat expedition with the guide explaining stuff: check; now it was time to go up and there's something curious about it. Not sure if it´s the feeling of getting out or the fact that you have to do quite an exercise to go up, but the result is that it's not as frightening to do it as it is to come down. In theory, all your strength should be concentrated in your legs and is not that hard... unless you forget everything you've learned from the training and do the movement all wrong, holding your body weight in your arms. Well, guess which one the accountant here did? I had to stop for a minute several times along the way and at the top my arms were killing me. Anyways, we went up pretty fast for tourists and beat all the other guys that were with us. I don't say that with proud as I couldn't care less about the competition, just wanted to get it done fast, but my friend is really competitive and wanted to go up in 15 minutes. We did in about 20-25 minutes, the average was 40min for tourists that day, some even needed help from the staff to finish the climbing. What is impressive is that the staff can go up in more or less 5 minutes, pretty humiliating to see them go up as if they were taking a walk in the mall.

This was one of the unforgettable moments of my life, scary but pretty cool and I totally recommend to whoever is plans to visit Bonito. As for the price, I don't feel that it delivers all that it costs, but if you´re already there, you have this one time chance to do it, so don't be cheap and do it (if you´re fit for it and do not have a fear of heights).

Day 5: Seven Waterfalls

A pretty chilled day visiting a property that has 7 waterfalls, in which most of them you can swim and relax, although there´s a zip-line in one of them and you can jump to the water from 7 meters high. All in all, it was pretty cool and of the lakes had these Thailand alike fish that stick to your feet and eat the dead cells from it. Pretty weird feeling as it doesn't hurt, it just tickles a little bit. After that we went to another place that had these famous "Boia-Cross" thing, where they put you in a buoy of some kind and you go all the way down the river, passing by some minor bumps, which are pretty cool. It´s a family thing, no adrenalin, really easy and it feels good to do it during another 30 degrees day.

Day 6: Gruta Azul and the road again

Time to go home, but before that, we stopped at the "Gruta Azul" which is a cave with a blue lake at the bottom. It´s pretty fast to get there, you just have to go down some steps (around 70 if I recall correctly) and, unfortunately, you cannot dive in it. So it´s a very quick stop, but totally worth it, it´s cheap, painless and the place is really beautiful. Just make sure you take your insect repellent with you.

To sum it up, Bonito is an awesome destination for whoever enjoys nature and a simple life. But don't confuse that with a cheap travel, which is not, all the activities are paid and in the end, you'll have a surprise in your bank statement. Even so, I totally recommend it and think that 5 full days there should be enough to do most of the cool activities and seeing it all. I have an album on Facebook with more pictures, in case you are curious about it,

Hope you guys have liked it and plan to visit Bonito someday as well,

...see you in the next post: Mexico! 

Hasta la vista, guys.

[darlenelaure]

Hustle and flow: Miami-Dade’s top-ranked resi agents

Nelson Gonzalez of EWM Realty International represented the buyer of 212 West Dilido Drive, which closed for $22M.

From TRD Miami’s spring issue: As in any commission-based business, competition is cutthroat in Miami-Dade’s residential real estate scene. And when you manage to make it to the top, sometimes it’s best to keep mum about the people who help you stay up there. Jill Hertzberg had to learn that the hard way.

The broker who co-heads the No. 1 team on The Real Deal’s ranking of top brokers and broker teams in the county, Coldwell Banker Residential’s the Jills, had a great marketing employee — so great, in fact, that Hertzberg kept boasting about her, and “next thing I know, Douglas Elliman hired her away. So I guess that’s the nature of the beast, right?”

Top producers said being courted by another firm is common. Some brokerages offer titles such as senior vice president to entice top agents to their firms.

“Every top agent in the city is going to get a call from the top brokerage company,” said Judy Zeder of the Zeder Team from EWM Realty International, which came in second in the ranking. TRD ranked top brokers by analyzing sales of single-family homes that closed in 2017 as recorded on the MLS. Credit for each deal was assigned to the first agent on the listing, according to the MLS; no credit was given to co-agents on either side. Agents were credited with both listing and buying sides, in keeping with the MLS accounting method.

“It’s part of the market, and it’s probably good when the key people move around,” Zeder added. “I think you are with companies because you like them and you trust them and you have a good relationship with them. We say, ‘Show me who you go with, and I’ll show you who you are.’”

Recent prominent moves include the Levy Group’s transition to EWM Christie’s after more than 15 years at Coldwell Banker; EWM Realty International’s poaching in August of Coldwell Banker mother-daughter duo Laura Mullaney and Jane Gomez-Mena, the former a 25-year veteran of Coldwell; and Audrey Ross’ move to Compass last July after 17 years at EWM.

Growing field of players

The number of Miami brokerages has skyrocketed from a few decades ago. The Miami Association of Realtors included just 475 companies 30 years ago, according to George Jalil, 2018 board chairman of the association. Today, it has over 5,000. In order to stay ahead, big players like One Sotheby’s International Realty, Compass and Brown Harris Stevens have all made local acquisitions. Meanwhile, Keyes Companies and Illustrated Properties merged, and Douglas Elliman acquired Turnberry International Realty’s Bay Harbor Islands office and Delray Beach firm Tauriello & Company Real Estate.

With so many agents and firms in the market, sources noted that collaboration and cooperation between them is crucial. Indeed, Charlette Seidel, branch manager for Coldwell Banker’s Coral Gables office, insisted it’s the kumbaya moments that make the cha-ching possible. 

“I would say the majority do [play nice in Miami], but some get a little aggressive, so I just tell the agent, just call them up and say, ‘Let’s work this together.’ The buyer gets the house and your seller gets the price. When we get along and help each other, we make sales.”

Jalil agrees. “Real estate is a very, very competitive business, but by definition it’s also cooperative in the same way. It has always been like this,” he said. “It’s not that realtors want to be nice with each other; it’s just that they have to be in order to get the deals through.”

(Click to enlarge)

With over 45,000 members in the Miami Association of Realtors (the nation’s largest local association, according to its website), there’s bound to be “a slightly bad apple” in the bunch, admits Jalil, who sits on the board’s grievance panel. “If we did not have grievance and ethics panels in place, this association on a national level would have fallen apart 100 years ago … We require the highest ethics.”

Though he can’t speak about an ongoing 2015 criminal case, in which Miami Beach realtor Kevin Tomlinson was arrested on charges of trying to extort the Jills, Jalil said that matter was “extremely rare.” More often, the association gets less serious complaints about a realtor using someone else’s MLS photos, or something similar.

“Most of the time it’s a realtor not knowing the right thing and doing the wrong thing by accident,” he said. “Or thinking it’s not a big thing and trying to get away with it.” First, it’s a warning, but fines can reach $5,000 for improper MLS activity. “We really try to be as transparent as possible,” he explained.

“Procured cause” complaints — that is, brokers contesting who is entitled to a commission — are also fairly common, according to another source familiar with the grievance process who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An ombudsman program launched in 2016 is helping to resolve preliminary complaints “faster, easier and more amicably” and helping to reduce the number of cases that advance to mediation and arbitration, said Martha Pomares, managing broker of Douglas Elliman’s Brickell and Coconut Grove offices.

Puzzling over the market

When she can’t sleep, Zeder works on complex laser-cut wooden puzzles. “They’re extremely difficult, and I find them extremely relaxing,” she said. It’s a fitting hobby, given that during the day, the senior vice president of EWM Realty International is piecing together any number of puzzles in order to keep a steady stream of residential sales coming in Miami-Dade. A challenging local market has meant lots of adapting for the area’s brokers.

“Last year was a little rough with real high-end inventory,” said Zeder, whose three-broker team includes her children Kara and Nathan. Despite some struggle, they logged $134.5 million in sales, according to TRD’s ranking.

“We worked seven days a week and a lot of hours a day to get the transactions we did. There was nothing easy about getting those numbers,” Zeder said.  

But after two challenging years, some Miami agents said they can finally see beyond the glut of high-rise inventory to an upswing just over the horizon.

“The buyers are there, and the prices are strong,” said Hertzberg. “It’s just that you have to be in line [pricewise].”

If 2016 revealed that sellers were still overly optimistic — pricing based on 2015’s dream market — 2017’s sales volumes indicate that they finally got real: lowering their prices and, as a result, making more sales, brokers said. Sales volume totaled $33.2 billion last year, up 3.75 percent from $32 billion in 2016, according to a Miami Association of Realtors report. The long-term supply of luxury condos continues to keep sellers’ listing prices in check.

“When you have so many condos on the market for sale, it’s going to affect single-family residential. It has to,” said Zeder, who noted that there is now some movement on absorption, particularly of luxury single-family inventory under $2 million. 

“Sellers realized they’re not bulletproof. The smart ones, anyway, started reducing the prices of their properties, and they sold,” said Nelson Gonzalez, a senior vice president with EWM Realty International who brought in the third-highest single-family home sales volume last year, raking in over $95 million in sales.

“It’s still a buyer’s market,” said Brown Harris Stevens realtor Josie Wang, who is seventh on this year’s list. “But things have started to move a little more than before.”

Gonzalez credits current events for shifting the mood among buyers. “Once the [presidential] election was over, everything sort of changed and kicked into high gear again,” he said. Between November 9, 2016, and the end of that year, Gonzalez said, he had five listings go under contract, followed by two sales north of $20 million in the first quarter of 2017. “People who were on the sidelines started to jump in,” he said.

Gonzalez believes stock market gains and the changes to the tax code have caused a “mad rush” of domestic buyers looking for high-end houses and Florida residency. “I’ve found that when Americans have money in their pockets, they have to spend it,” said Gonzalez, a top-selling fixture in Miami Beach for 28 years.

Zeder agreed, and added that the domestic buyers new to the market require a certain amount of education. “We have a lot of people moving into town from all over, and I think their biggest struggle is just trying to understand the Miami market,” she said. “Why a home in Miami Beach is twice the amount of a home in Coral Gables and why Coral Gables is more expensive than Pinecrest. You have huge variation of pricing, for the same size lot, for the same size house.”

Gonzalez said all of his biggest deals of 2017 involved domestic buyers. “That’s a huge change,” he noted. “Usually we get a mix of Americans, South Americans, Europeans and Russians.” 

Hertzberg sees a similar trend, fueled by stock market performance and tax changes seen as unfavorable to California and New York residents. “The domestic buyers … are the biggest performers right now,” she said. “We used to have a huge percentage who were South American because we’re a gateway for them; it’s easy to move into Miami,” said Hertzberg. “There’s been a drop in that with what’s going on in Venezuela and Brazil.”

Still, statistics from the Miami Association of Realtors show international buyers accounted for 35 percent of Miami’s closed sales in 2017, purchasing a whopping 41 percent more properties than they did in 2016 (15,400 compared to 10,900). Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil were the top countries of origin for buyers in 2017.

Seidel of Coldwell Banker went so far as to call the current market “outstanding.” After closings delayed months by Hurricane Irma at the end of 2017, she said, she’s smiling again, adding that the rental market is buzzing, too, with millennials in particular.

Lower unemployment numbers in Miami-Dade (from 5.4 percent in 2016 to 4.5 in 2017) and, more recently, a slight increase in wages are having an impact, especially with first-time homebuyers trying to qualify for loans, said Jalil.

Seidel was quick to add that the pricing also has to be right. “We try to educate our sales associates to just tell sellers the truth. If they [sellers] want to listen, fine. If they don’t, they will see.”

Gonzalez agreed that the momentum is up, “just judging by me having to work seven days a week for the last three months.” He predicts prices will begin to go up in another year, spurring spec builders to start building homes again.

Jay Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman Florida, predicted back in October that it could be up to two years before prices hit their peak.

Even with corrections still occurring on the luxury side, the data shows home values have been rising overall. Statistics compiled by the Miami Association of Realtors show that single-family home prices in Miami-Dade have risen for over six years in a row, with a 6.5 percent year-over-year increase in January 2018.

And some luxury properties are fetching from $1,500 per square foot on the mainland to $2,500 per square foot in Miami Beach. “Pent-up demand for Miami housing has led to more home sales, higher median sale prices and a larger total dollar sales volume,” Jalil said.

A January report from the Miami Association of Realtors and the MLS showed existing condominium and single-family home sales over $1 million gaining steam, up 29.3 percent overall from the same month last year. Transactions involving single-family homes in the $1 million-or-more range rose 7.1 percent month over month for January.

One agent who spoke on condition of anonymity said she’d already shown more Miami Beach waterfront homes in the first couple of months of 2018 than she had in all of 2017.

A December Forbes article quoting Miami experts, including Gonzalez, said homebuyers are looking for sleek, modern construction; expansive spaces for entertaining, including “summer” kitchens, rooftop terraces, tasting rooms and home theaters; and especially views of Miami’s grownup skyline.

Meanwhile, the Jills’ co-founder Hertzberg said she’s already moving toward her next performance goal.

“When you are up front, people are looking at you,” she said. “You’ve got to learn to constantly change because they copy you. You’ve got to evolve. It’s hard because for a minute you kind of want to coast, but you can’t.” 

from The Real Deal Miami https://therealdeal.com/miami/issues_articles/hustle-and-flow-miami-dades-top-ranked-brokers/#new_tab via IFTTT

[darlenelaure]

Hustle and flow Miami-Dade’s top-ranked resi agents

Nelson Gonzalez of EWM Realty International represented the buyer of 212 West Dilido Drive, which closed for $22M.

From TRD Miami’s spring issue: As in any commission-based business, competition is cutthroat in Miami-Dade’s residential real estate scene. And when you manage to make it to the top, sometimes it’s best to keep mum about the people who help you stay up there. Jill Hertzberg had to learn that the hard way.

The broker who co-heads the No. 1 team on The Real Deal’s ranking of top brokers and broker teams in the county, Coldwell Banker Residential’s the Jills, had a great marketing employee — so great, in fact, that Hertzberg kept boasting about her, and “next thing I know, Douglas Elliman hired her away. So I guess that’s the nature of the beast, right?”

Top producers said being courted by another firm is common. Some brokerages offer titles such as senior vice president to entice top agents to their firms.

“Every top agent in the city is going to get a call from the top brokerage company,” said Judy Zeder of the Zeder Team from EWM Realty International, which came in second in the ranking. TRD ranked top brokers by analyzing sales of single-family homes that closed in 2017 as recorded on the MLS. Credit for each deal was assigned to the first agent on the listing, according to the MLS; no credit was given to co-agents on either side. Agents were credited with both listing and buying sides, in keeping with the MLS accounting method.

“It’s part of the market, and it’s probably good when the key people move around,” Zeder added. “I think you are with companies because you like them and you trust them and you have a good relationship with them. We say, ‘Show me who you go with, and I’ll show you who you are.’”

Recent prominent moves include the Levy Group’s transition to EWM Christie’s after more than 15 years at Coldwell Banker; EWM Realty International’s poaching in August of Coldwell Banker mother-daughter duo Laura Mullaney and Jane Gomez-Mena, the former a 25-year veteran of Coldwell; and Audrey Ross’ move to Compass last July after 17 years at EWM.

Growing field of players

The number of Miami brokerages has skyrocketed from a few decades ago. The Miami Association of Realtors included just 475 companies 30 years ago, according to George Jalil, 2018 board chairman of the association. Today, it has over 5,000. In order to stay ahead, big players like One Sotheby’s International Realty, Compass and Brown Harris Stevens have all made local acquisitions. Meanwhile, Keyes Companies and Illustrated Properties merged, and Douglas Elliman acquired Turnberry International Realty’s Bay Harbor Islands office and Delray Beach firm Tauriello & Company Real Estate.

With so many agents and firms in the market, sources noted that collaboration and cooperation between them is crucial. Indeed, Charlette Seidel, branch manager for Coldwell Banker’s Coral Gables office, insisted it’s the kumbaya moments that make the cha-ching possible. 

“I would say the majority do [play nice in Miami], but some get a little aggressive, so I just tell the agent, just call them up and say, ‘Let’s work this together.’ The buyer gets the house and your seller gets the price. When we get along and help each other, we make sales.”

Jalil agrees. “Real estate is a very, very competitive business, but by definition it’s also cooperative in the same way. It has always been like this,” he said. “It’s not that realtors want to be nice with each other; it’s just that they have to be in order to get the deals through.”

(Click to enlarge)

With over 45,000 members in the Miami Association of Realtors (the nation’s largest local association, according to its website), there’s bound to be “a slightly bad apple” in the bunch, admits Jalil, who sits on the board’s grievance panel. “If we did not have grievance and ethics panels in place, this association on a national level would have fallen apart 100 years ago … We require the highest ethics.”

Though he can’t speak about an ongoing 2015 criminal case, in which Miami Beach realtor Kevin Tomlinson was arrested on charges of trying to extort the Jills, Jalil said that matter was “extremely rare.” More often, the association gets less serious complaints about a realtor using someone else’s MLS photos, or something similar.

“Most of the time it’s a realtor not knowing the right thing and doing the wrong thing by accident,” he said. “Or thinking it’s not a big thing and trying to get away with it.” First, it’s a warning, but fines can reach $5,000 for improper MLS activity. “We really try to be as transparent as possible,” he explained.

“Procured cause” complaints — that is, brokers contesting who is entitled to a commission — are also fairly common, according to another source familiar with the grievance process who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An ombudsman program launched in 2016 is helping to resolve preliminary complaints “faster, easier and more amicably” and helping to reduce the number of cases that advance to mediation and arbitration, said Martha Pomares, managing broker of Douglas Elliman’s Brickell and Coconut Grove offices.

Puzzling over the market

When she can’t sleep, Zeder works on complex laser-cut wooden puzzles. “They’re extremely difficult, and I find them extremely relaxing,” she said. It’s a fitting hobby, given that during the day, the senior vice president of EWM Realty International is piecing together any number of puzzles in order to keep a steady stream of residential sales coming in Miami-Dade. A challenging local market has meant lots of adapting for the area’s brokers.

“Last year was a little rough with real high-end inventory,” said Zeder, whose three-broker team includes her children Kara and Nathan. Despite some struggle, they logged $134.5 million in sales, according to TRD’s ranking.

“We worked seven days a week and a lot of hours a day to get the transactions we did. There was nothing easy about getting those numbers,” Zeder said.  

But after two challenging years, some Miami agents said they can finally see beyond the glut of high-rise inventory to an upswing just over the horizon.

“The buyers are there, and the prices are strong,” said Hertzberg. “It’s just that you have to be in line [pricewise].”

If 2016 revealed that sellers were still overly optimistic — pricing based on 2015’s dream market — 2017’s sales volumes indicate that they finally got real: lowering their prices and, as a result, making more sales, brokers said. Sales volume totaled $33.2 billion last year, up 3.75 percent from $32 billion in 2016, according to a Miami Association of Realtors report. The long-term supply of luxury condos continues to keep sellers’ listing prices in check.

“When you have so many condos on the market for sale, it’s going to affect single-family residential. It has to,” said Zeder, who noted that there is now some movement on absorption, particularly of luxury single-family inventory under $2 million. 

“Sellers realized they’re not bulletproof. The smart ones, anyway, started reducing the prices of their properties, and they sold,” said Nelson Gonzalez, a senior vice president with EWM Realty International who brought in the third-highest single-family home sales volume last year, raking in over $95 million in sales.

“It’s still a buyer’s market,” said Brown Harris Stevens realtor Josie Wang, who is seventh on this year’s list. “But things have started to move a little more than before.”

Gonzalez credits current events for shifting the mood among buyers. “Once the [presidential] election was over, everything sort of changed and kicked into high gear again,” he said. Between November 9, 2016, and the end of that year, Gonzalez said, he had five listings go under contract, followed by two sales north of $20 million in the first quarter of 2017. “People who were on the sidelines started to jump in,” he said.

Gonzalez believes stock market gains and the changes to the tax code have caused a “mad rush” of domestic buyers looking for high-end houses and Florida residency. “I’ve found that when Americans have money in their pockets, they have to spend it,” said Gonzalez, a top-selling fixture in Miami Beach for 28 years.

Zeder agreed, and added that the domestic buyers new to the market require a certain amount of education. “We have a lot of people moving into town from all over, and I think their biggest struggle is just trying to understand the Miami market,” she said. “Why a home in Miami Beach is twice the amount of a home in Coral Gables and why Coral Gables is more expensive than Pinecrest. You have huge variation of pricing, for the same size lot, for the same size house.”

Gonzalez said all of his biggest deals of 2017 involved domestic buyers. “That’s a huge change,” he noted. “Usually we get a mix of Americans, South Americans, Europeans and Russians.” 

Hertzberg sees a similar trend, fueled by stock market performance and tax changes seen as unfavorable to California and New York residents. “The domestic buyers … are the biggest performers right now,” she said. “We used to have a huge percentage who were South American because we’re a gateway for them; it’s easy to move into Miami,” said Hertzberg. “There’s been a drop in that with what’s going on in Venezuela and Brazil.”

Still, statistics from the Miami Association of Realtors show international buyers accounted for 35 percent of Miami’s closed sales in 2017, purchasing a whopping 41 percent more properties than they did in 2016 (15,400 compared to 10,900). Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil were the top countries of origin for buyers in 2017.

Seidel of Coldwell Banker went so far as to call the current market “outstanding.” After closings delayed months by Hurricane Irma at the end of 2017, she said, she’s smiling again, adding that the rental market is buzzing, too, with millennials in particular.

Lower unemployment numbers in Miami-Dade (from 5.4 percent in 2016 to 4.5 in 2017) and, more recently, a slight increase in wages are having an impact, especially with first-time homebuyers trying to qualify for loans, said Jalil.

Seidel was quick to add that the pricing also has to be right. “We try to educate our sales associates to just tell sellers the truth. If they [sellers] want to listen, fine. If they don’t, they will see.”

Gonzalez agreed that the momentum is up, “just judging by me having to work seven days a week for the last three months.” He predicts prices will begin to go up in another year, spurring spec builders to start building homes again.

Jay Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman Florida, predicted back in October that it could be up to two years before prices hit their peak.

Even with corrections still occurring on the luxury side, the data shows home values have been rising overall. Statistics compiled by the Miami Association of Realtors show that single-family home prices in Miami-Dade have risen for over six years in a row, with a 6.5 percent year-over-year increase in January 2018.

And some luxury properties are fetching from $1,500 per square foot on the mainland to $2,500 per square foot in Miami Beach. “Pent-up demand for Miami housing has led to more home sales, higher median sale prices and a larger total dollar sales volume,” Jalil said.

A January report from the Miami Association of Realtors and the MLS showed existing condominium and single-family home sales over $1 million gaining steam, up 29.3 percent overall from the same month last year. Transactions involving single-family homes in the $1 million-or-more range rose 7.1 percent month over month for January.

One agent who spoke on condition of anonymity said she’d already shown more Miami Beach waterfront homes in the first couple of months of 2018 than she had in all of 2017.

A December Forbes article quoting Miami experts, including Gonzalez, said homebuyers are looking for sleek, modern construction; expansive spaces for entertaining, including “summer” kitchens, rooftop terraces, tasting rooms and home theaters; and especially views of Miami’s grownup skyline.

Meanwhile, the Jills’ co-founder Hertzberg said she’s already moving toward her next performance goal.

“When you are up front, people are looking at you,” she said. “You’ve got to learn to constantly change because they copy you. You’ve got to evolve. It’s hard because for a minute you kind of want to coast, but you can’t.” 

from The Real Deal Miami https://therealdeal.com/miami/issues_articles/hustle-and-flow-miami-dades-top-ranked-brokers/#new_tab via IFTTT