The Florida Everglades are subtropical marshland located in the southern portion of the state of Florida, specifically in parts of Monroe, Collier, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and Broward counties.
On December 6, 1947, President Harry S. Truman formally declared Everglades a National Park, at a ceremony held at neighbouring Everglades City. The original size of the park, 460,000 acres has been greatly increased since 1947, and today, Everglades National Park now consists of 1,399,078.26 acres of wetlands, and is a haven for over 36 threatened or endangered animal species.
On October 26, 1976, Everglades National Park was added to the list of International Biosphere Reserves. International Biosphere Reserves are a branch of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). These select reserves are protected samples of the Earth's major ecosystem types. On the same date, UNESCO also declared it a World Heritage Site.
Within the Everglades, there is an estuarine community, mangrove forests, coastal prairies, freshwater marl prairies, freshwater sloughs, cypress forests, hardwood hammocks, pinelands, and the Everglades estuary. The Everglades estuary is possibly the most threatened, and serves as a nursery for many marine species. Manatees and sea turtles are often found grazing in the brackish waters. Shrimp, lobsters, molluscs, worms, and small fish, keystone species to the marine ecosystems, thrive in these waters. Over 100 species of marine fish have been identified in the Florida Bay. Several sharks and dolphins call these waters their home, and the extremely rare American crocodile can also be spotted in these waters.
Without this protected area, a 300 million dollar sports fishery, and a 100 million dollar commercial fishery would be in serious jeopardy. Sport fishing is closely observed and regulated, while commercial fishing is prohibited inside the park. Both of these actions are attempts at maintaining a sustainable breeding stock, protect against over harvesting and ensuring a balanced ecosystem for later generations.
However, alteration of overland water flow, uncontrolled hunting and drainage of wetlands has contributed to a decline of species within the Everglades. Once known for its expansive bird population, the Everglades have seen its number of wading birds drop drastically since the turn of the century. The Florida Panther, was a common sight throughout the state, and is now on the brink of extinction. The Everglades serves as a haven for 15 endangered species: American crocodile, Green turtle, Atlantic Ridley turtle, Atlantic hawksbill turtle, Atlantic leatherback turtle, Cable Sable seaside sparrow, Snail kite, Wood stork, West Indian manatee, Florida panther, Key Largo wood rat, Key Largo cotton mouse, Red-cockaded woodpecker, Schaus swallowtail butterfly and Garber's Spurge.
Florida and federal officials and politicians, including the president and the vice president of the United States are now giving this fragile and environment the attention it deserves. In the words of Al Gore, ?By working together, we can heal this division and ensure a healthier environment and a vibrant economy...There is no other Everglades in the world.?
There are many properties to choose from in the region of the Everglades. In general terms, it is less complicated to buy a property for sale in Florida, than most countries. Subject to status, obtaining a mortgage in Florida is fairly straightforward as well. Repayment terms range from 5 to 30 years with no age restrictions. The other expenses to take into account when buying a property in Florida are the mortgage set-up fee, legal costs associated with the purchase and registration of the property, title insurance, and house insurance. As a rough guide, allow 4% of the property's total purchase price to cover all closing costs.
If you want somewhere exciting to live, with nature on your door step, then buying a property for sale in Florida, near the Everglades, will offer you everything you need.
Powerful search engines such as Google make it theoretically possible to publish details of your home on the web and quickly reach a specific audience.
If you wanted to do a private property transaction, then that's perfect for you.
There's certainly a good financial incentive to do so. Estate agents make their money by charging a percentage fee of the sale price achieved. When you go down the route of handling your sale as a private property, the costs are a lot lower (For more info see http://www.propertytoday.co.uk/Is-a-private-property-sale-really-worth-the-hassle.11018.3799227.story )
But the hassle factor is huge. Anyone that has ever worked in an estate agents' office will tell you selling homes is not an easy way to make money. You are acting as a middleman trying to match someone attempting to find property and the seller ? not always an easy task.
The expertise an agent brings to a sale is what you pay for, as well as their access to powerful selling tools such as property portals (which someone selling a private property can't get onto).
To help you decide if it's the route for you, we take a look at all the aspects of selling your home using an agent or doing it yourself.
Preparing the particulars
Agents do this day in, day out. They will write up the property details in a style buyers are used to, and that accurately describe while actively selling your home. Agents also have the tools to measure your house. A good agent will also pay for professional photos to be taken and some are now filming homes to produce videos for potential buyers.
On your own you have to do this yourself, while remembering to put yourself in the buyers' shoes.
Marketing the property
A proactive agent will get a For Sale board up and a picture of your home in the window of their High Street premises quickly. They will ensure you feature in all the major portals and appear in their advertisements in the local newspapers.
As a private seller you will have to find or make a For Sale board, and hope it looks professional. Because you don't have the buying power of agents, it will cost you a lot more money to reach potential buyers in the same way. It's impossible to get private property into the major portals as they only deal with estate agents.
Finding a buyer
Agents maintain lists of potential buyers currently in the market. As soon as they have a potential property for them, one call can get a viewing sorted quickly. This proactive approach is one of the main things you are paying for.
One your own you don't have anyone to sell to. You are relying on someone spotting your private property is for sale and approaching you.
Handling buyers
Estate agents sort through the dross and time wasters first. As a seller you will never know about them. They will arrange viewings to suit your instructions, and should take charge of ensuring the buyer turns up when they say they will.
As a private property seller you have to deal with every enquiry yourself. That can mean odd phone calls at all hours of the day. You may also find it hard to get genuine feedback from viewers, who may feel uncomfortable telling the owner they hate their house!
Negotiating and seeing the sale through
Again you are paying for agents' expertise here. They are used to getting the best price for a property and pushing a sale through as quickly as it will go.
In a private property negotiation, you are on your own? and if you're not skilled at haggling, you could end up losing thousands.
Both Maria Craske & P Green are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Maria Craske has sinced written about articles on various topics from Property Sale. Maria Craske wrote the article 'When Buying a Property for Sale in Florida Consider The Everglades' and recommends you visit