Beautiful Edgewater Drive — a stretch of Alt. US 19 — offers peaceful and serene view of the Intracoastal Waterway and St. Joseph’s Sound.

Commuters have been known to go out of theri way to drive home along this road because it really helps them unwind!

Here are the highlights of Dunedin, FL waterfont life:

Dunedin Marina

Drive through the city, west along charming Main Street, and you will dead-end at the the city-owned marina. Located across the street from beautiful Edgewater Park, the Marina is on the Intercoastal waterway between the Dunedin and Clearwater causeways.

The Marina consists of 194 wet slips for recreational, transient and commercial vessels. It is so popular, there is a two year waiting list for permanent slots! A few short steps from the Marina are many fine restaurants and all the downtown shops.

Honeymoon Island

Drive across Dunedin Causeway to enjoy the sparkling sand, mangrove swamps, and tidal flats of this lovely natural state park, which, believe it or not, was once called Hog’s Island!  The island is well known for shelling, as the Gulf currents deposit an amazing variety of seashells along the sugar white sand. Nature lovers come to stroll the beaches, watch osprey nests and shorebirds, and admire one of the few remaining virgin slash pine forests in Florida.

Caladesi Island State Park

Hop a ferry from Honeymoon Island to Caladesi, one of the few completely natural islands along Florida´s Gulf Coast. Its white sand beaches were rated America’s Best Beach in 2008 and always rank at the top of national polls. Beach lovers can enjoy swimming, sunbathing and beachcombing. Saltwater anglers can cast a line from their boats or surf fish. Nature lovers can scan for wildlife while hiking the three mile nature trail through the island´s interior or paddling a three mile kayak trail through the mangroves and bay. The park also has a marina with electric and water hookups, as well as a snack bar and gift shop. The park is accessible by boat or ferry.

Weaver Park

The newest Dunedin waterfront venue is Weaver Park. Located less than a mile north of Skinner Street on the Pinellas Trail, visitors will enjoy the water views, the park grounds and the 600 foot fishing pier.

The Dunedin FL waterfront offers amazing possibilities for fun as well as real estate finds. To learn more about this incredible Florida waterfront town, call Julia Fishel at The Pinellas Peach -  (727) 366-0325 – for a tour today!

Main Street in Dunedin Florida is the hub of this town and is the location of this popular annual craft festival and the destination of lovers of pottery, photography, glass-work and woodworking.

The merchants of the famous Dunedin Green Market will also be making a most welcome appearance with platters bearing a wide array of cheeses and fruits and crepes and salsas and teas.

This celebration still boasts free admission and is slated this year for Saturday and Sunday June 27th and 28th from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

So set your GPS for:
271 Main St
Dunedin, FL 34698

After sampling the local fare, a great side trip is a hop over to award-winning Caladesi Island State Park  or sparkling Clearwater Beach. With a refreshing 88 degrees predicted for the weekend, take a break from the Florida air conditioning and take it to the Dunedin streets!

One of our favorite spots is The Black Pearl Restaurant  at 315 Main Street. We’ve dined in some excellent restaurants in big cities in the states and across Europe, and the Black Pearl stands up very well against that kind of competition.

It is not the least expensive place to dine in Dunedin, Florida; but as a treat, or to celebrate a significant event, or to toast your favorite Palm Harbor business partner, you cannot beat the cuisine and the service.

We love being one of the hard working Palm Harbor Realtors, but after a long day of showing Pinellas short sales and Pinellas foreclosures, we love to treat ourselves to the exceptional service and soothing ambiance of this very fine establishment. Enjoy!

The Black Pearl
315 Main Street
Dunedin, Fl 34698
727-734-3463

Q:  I’m thinking about putting an offer your listing in Baywood Shores MLS 7346686.  I see that it’s a bank preapproved short sale at $283k (subject to 3rd party lender approval). My question is, how much leeway do you think there is on making a lower offer?

Also, I know that sometimes banks can take several months to accept/deny an offer.  Is it because they are waiting to see if they can get a better offer? If so, is there a way to write into a contract that if they receive a better offer during this “waiting period” that we may consider renegotiating ours at a higher bid?

A:  Hi Tina – Please give us a call and we’ll fill you in completely on the particulars of where we are with both lenders, other offers, suggested offer amounts, etc.

We are Pinellas short short sale experts and would be happy to fully familiarize you with how short sales work. Generally speaking, the banks are taking so long because they are so overwhelmed with case files that they can’t keep up with the workload.  Pinellas short sales are unusual in that the homeowner doesn’t have a vested interest in the amount the home sells for (they just want to know that they are out from under the house payments), so it’s just the lender(s) we are negotiating with. The bright side of this is that the banks aren’t emotionally tied to the outcome as is the case with your typical home sale, and things are handled very matter-of-factly.

All agents handle short sales differently. With the homeowners approval, we present all reasonable offers in the order received (but the seller has the ultimate say so as to which offers to accept, deny or negotiate before we submit to the lender), because we believe it’s only fair to treat buyers with the respect they deserve. So, if offer #1 and the bank don’t come to terms, then offer #2 steps in, and then they have the opportunity to negotiate the price, and so on.

Note that most short sales are not handled this way!  Many agents submit multiple offers to the banks (I’ve seen more than a dozen on a single property), and then it can turn out to an all-out bidding war with no assurances for the would-be buyers.  This is a subject for another post…..

With a Tampa Bay short sale, we have 3 vested parties to satisfy.  We, of course, want our buyers to get the best deal possible.  Our homeowners want relief.  The lender wants to avoid the cost of foreclosing and to net the maximum amount possible.  

Short sales are a WIN-WIN-WIN!