It’s that “AHA” Moment – Luxury Lake-Facing Townhouse

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You’re about to experience that “aha!” moment…that frozen moment in time when you just know you’ve absolutely made the right choice.

This San Palermo townhouse has everything – including a very affordable $289K price tag that puts you front and center in the Abacoa lifestyle without breaking the bank.     And for that price?  You get a one-of-a-kind exclusive, one of the few townhomes facing the sparkling lake with gorgeous Valencia on the other side.

The quality is superb and how could it not be – it’s built with DiVosta Homes’ legendary attention to quality “built-solid” construction and detail and it’s rich with all the amenities you’d expect from this wildly popular builder.

One moment, this home your relaxing sanctuary, a great full-time home or staycation – with a spacious open-air balcony off the master bedroom to catch the tropical breezes from the lake.  The bright sunlight streams through the bedroom windows including a fourth lake-facing bedroom – there are four lavish bedrooms and 3 full baths in all.

The next moment, everything bursts into life in the Great Room with its high ceilings and the spacious dining area – great to entertain family and friends.  Add in a fully-appointed kitchen, a spacious back patio leading to your own full two-car garage and lush landscaping, and you’ve found yourself a place to call “home.”

With a location that’s close to glistening beaches, outstanding schools and I-95, the only thing missing from this home is the hustle-and-bustle aggravation of the locale you’ve left behind.

So go ahead, don’t hold out – take your place at 145 Rivinia Drive – where you know you belong.

Categories: Abacoa, Jupiter properties, Listed for sale

What constitues the “WOW” factor?

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What constitutes “home” is a very personal thing … quite different for everyone. Home might be a place your grandparents lavished you with love …  or where you grew up under your parents’ watchful eyes … or where you first lived as a grown-up. For everyone, the idea of “home” is quite different … and rarely consciously expressed.

You walk into an open house and you can appreciate all the amenities … the coffered ceilings, granite counter-tops, wood floors, huge master suite, double shower. And they attract the rational you. But it’s the sun streaming through the French doors, or the view of a park, or an inherent sense of sophistication that makes it feel “just right.”

Home is either evocative of a place you felt comfortable and loved. Or  representative of how you want to see yourself. You know it when you see it … but you can’t always say why. And it’s that intangible something that makes you say ‘wow.”  It makes you fall in love enough to buy.

A Realtor® can and should dress up a home, present it in its best light, market its best features. But in most cases it’s more about the Realtor® taking the time to understand the buyer and match him or her up with the right property than it is about the property itself.

Bottom line … it’s often psychology that makes the sale … not the “sell.”

Categories: Jupiter properties, Listed for sale, Selling your home, housing market

Indoor-outdoor living in Valencia at Abacoa

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Remember a time when life was filled with magic with one wondrous experience after the other?  It’s time to set sail on that adventure once again – and we’re ready to give you the key.  This 146 Santiago Drive address in the highly desirable Valencia at Abacoa master planned community is the perfect home for today—plenty of space without being overwhelming.

You’re going to love this Mediterranean style home from the moment you step across the romantic arched porch, all the while admiring the artistic details draped with bright bougainvillea.  Inside the home, high ceilings, plenty of curved Moorish style windows, and open balconies and loggias capture the tropical breezes.  This house is designed for real indoor-outdoor living!

During sunny days (and there are LOTS of them), sip your iced tea or lemonade within your covered brick lanai and take a dip in your perfectly private lap pool.  When it’s time to go indoors, gather together in the expansive Great Room to watch the evening news (including the latest northern weather disaster or Miami traffic jam) or play a fast-paced board game.

Want to step inside for a midday snack?  The Euro kitchen is beautifully appointed with plenty of cabinet space and sunny bay windows.   And before you step through the lanai again, you might even want to play a game of billiards with a room that’s perfect for your pool table or an arts and crafts display.

Then, after a fun-filled day, enjoy your well-deserved sleep in the enlarged master bedroom suite with his-and-her closets and an expansive master bath.  There’s lots of sleeping areas on the second level for your entire family – including those inevitable guests from up north – 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bedrooms in all.

This gorgeous home 3307 sqft is a steal for $735,000.  So grab it up now…and you can toast with your neighbors who probably paid far, far more for their own homes of quiet sophistication.

Categories: Abacoa, Jupiter communities, Jupiter properties, Life in Jupiter, Listed for sale, Valencia at Abacoa

There’s a word for that!

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If you’re shopping for a home in an upscale neighborhood like Valencia at Abacoa (Jupiter, FL), you’ll find a number of sophisticated architectural details are part of the package. You don’t have to know their names to appreciate their charm … but it doesn’t hurt. So here are a couple of terms it pays to be familiar with…because you’ll be probably be paying for them!

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Porte-cochere … a protective porch

If you drive up to a house and find yourself parked under an overhang or archway in front of the garage, you are passing through the porte-cochere. This French term translates as coach gate or carriage porch. It is always a porch at a main or secondary entrance to a building, through which a car can pass, so the occupants can get out under cover, protected from the weather, before the car pulls into the garage. While it is not to be confused with a carport, it can function as one, providing additional parking under cover.

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Coffered ceiling… added dimensionality

In architecture a coffer is a panel in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling. The stone coffers of the ancient Greek and Romans are the earliest surviving examples, but a seventh-century BCE Etruscan chamber tomb reproduces a ceiling with beams and cross-beams lying on them, with flat panels. Old idea…great look!

Cupola …tower of light

This is a small, dome-like structure on top of the roof, like a crown. The word comes from Italian, indicating a vault that resembles an upside down cup. Cupolas in more modern houses can appear in the center of the house above a large staircase, where they add elegance, light and air.

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Butler’s pantry … charming convenience

The traditional location for a butler’s pantry is in a short hallway between the kitchen and the dining room. Its purpose is to allow easy access to glassware and silver … and to provide a surface to set out appetizers, drinks, or dessert. Butler’s pantries, or china pantries, were built in English or American homes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Delightfully convenient, they are making a big comeback.

Categories: Jupiter properties, Valencia at Abacoa, country club living

Getting to and from Jupiter is a breeze…

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Canyon PassThink AIR TRAVEL and the first thing that’s likely to come to mind is unending hassles and delays. That’s why a recent survey of passengers flying in and out of Palm Beach International Airport – a stone’s throw away from Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens – is bound to make you sit up and take notice.

The airport ranked seventh in customer satisfaction among 24 of North America’s smallest airports according to the study by J.D. Power and Associates.  And that’s a good thing if you’re interested in Jupiter real estate or are actively seeking Jupiter homes for sale.

Some of the most prized Jupiter real estate – such as Valencia at Abacoa®, the only custom home community in Abacoa — is located just 20 miles north of Palm Beach International Airport.  In no time, you could shed your everyday cares at the stunning Valencia at Abacoa community — combining old world grace and Mediterranean styling, curved Moorish style roofs and open loggias to capture cool tropical breezes.  Surrounded by green areas, lakes, parks, and pristine beaches, it’s the perfect place to live and love life.

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Jupiter is easy to get to…hard to leave.

The ease of the airport – which fared highest in the study’s airport accessibility category– makes it a breeze for buyers like you to check out Jupiter homes for sale.  In as little as 15 minutes, you can whisk yourself from Palm Beach International to your new Valencia at Abacoa second home or Admirals Cove weekend getaway retreat.  So you have more time in the bright Florida sun and less time dealing with stressful travel.  And there’s nothing wrong with that!

With one of the country’s finest small airports, Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens neighborhoods known for style and sophistication, well-maintained property values and sparkling lakes, the only thing missing from the equation is the right Jupiter Realtor®.  That’s me.   So go ahead…let me put you in a Jupiter, Florida state of mind. After all, if even our airport is designed to eliminate stress, imagine what the finest houses this side of paradise will do for you!

Categories: Jupiter properties, local transportation

A great place to slip your sloop

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If it floats…

It’s not remotely surprising that the Jupiter inlet and Intercoastal Waterway are a huge draw for serious boat people. What kind of boat you have is rather immaterial. It could be a ketch or a yawl, a sloop, a schooner, a motor launch or just a big-ass yacht. Regardless, if it floats, point it toward Jupiter and launch a whole new lifestyle.

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Moor it in Jupiter.

The Jupiter Yacht Club was made for you! A glorious condo complex with both intercoastal and ocean water views, charming shops, little restaurants, boat slips practically at your door. It really doesn’t get any better.

You’re just minutes from Juno Beach pier and a terrific beach where you can bike ride, jog or just walk at daybreak. There are plenty of marine supply and yacht brokerage businesses in the area. Lots of great restaurants where you can dock and dine. Boat festivals and boating events all season…in fact. all year.

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It’s simply the best of Florida.

With none of the nuttiness of Miami, and still just a short cruise to the Keys, the Bahamas, and the Jimmy Buffet islands beyond! Jupiter is a great place to slip your sloop.  And a wonderful place to live and love life.

Categories: Jupiter Yacht Club, Jupiter properties, Life in Jupiter

Bali has come to Valencia at Abacoa.

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In a neighborhood known for remarkable homes, 120 Santiago Drive just naturally stands out. Built in 2004, this 3-bedroom plus den, 3000-plus square foot home is an artist’s palette of natural textures and tones. 

masterbathroom1_500That’s because the owner personally flew to Indonesia to hand-select every piece of carved wood trim, every solid wood door, every wood inlay. Different shades of mahogany and teak are juxtaposed against marble, tile, granite, and river rock throughout. Why, the his-and-hers master bath alone is a visual marvel … complete with Jacuzzi tub and walk-in shower.

Now, factor in a huge master suite and an office/den on the first floor, a vast kitchen (complete with butler’s pantry and gas stove) that opens onto a truly great room, which opens onto a very private pool and a maintenance-free yard… and you begin to understand.

No detail here has been overlooked. The pool even has a swim current for laps. And the two bedrooms and bath upstairs are delightfully designed to feel more like an airy loft than a second story.

The unique personality of this home …  its mixture of seductive textures, space and light … makes it one-of-a-kind and not to be missed.  At $695,000 it’s sure to disappear quickly. So make it a point to see it before it’s sold!

Categories: Abacoa, Jupiter communities, Jupiter properties, Listed for sale, Valencia at Abacoa

Serenity… now!

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565966_500Every once in a great while you walk into a house that feels, well, quite perfect. You could move in without changing nary a thing. Even the wallpaper is charming, delightful, completely unexpected.  That’s 148 Santiago Drive, in Valencia at Abacoa.

It sits unobtrusively on a very quiet street.  The playground and community pool are near by … but you’d never know it. On paper this home appears quite mundane… one story, 2800+ square feet, 3 bedrooms with an office/den, and three full baths. But, surprise! You leave ordinary at the door.

Inside the foyer is a formal living room to the left, with plenty of room for a baby grand. To the right, a spacious office and a full guest bath complete with a huge shower, of all things.

Pad quietly down the hall a bit and you come to a formal dining room with a double tray ceiling with subtly painted clouds and a trompe-l’oeil window scene on the wall.

kitchen_500Go a few feet further and find yourself in a vast open country kitchen with a family room that looks out on a brick lanai with a perfectly private lap pool and Jacuzzi waterfall.

Just beyond are two very ample bedrooms separated by a large Jack & Jill bath.  And then there’s the magnificent master suite with two large walk-in closets and double bath complete with a steam/shower.

viewfrommasterbedroom_500And everywhere, every detail is tastefully, artfully attended to by a decorator who clearly knew her stuff. So much so that the overarching feeling is quiet sophistication, and serenity…now.  Seinfeld aside, that’s no joke! Not at $699,000 in a neighborhood surrounded by million dollar homes.

Categories: Abacoa, Jupiter properties, Listed for sale, Valencia at Abacoa

Finally, a home that feels like family.

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In Valencia at Abacoa … a Jupiter, FL neighborhood usually known for style, luxury and sophistication …  it’s rather unexpected to come across a house that actually feels like family.

One with all the trappings its million-dollar price tag implies. Yet, something priceless as well.

A feeling of family.

kitchen2_500126 Segovia is as large as the life it affords.

Large as a grand foyer. A 30-foot cupola amid a huge square staircase. A vast family room with windows so high, they fill it with light. An immense private yard that can hold a brick lanai, gated swimming pool with fountain, and grass playground … backed up to a natural preserve. A chandelier large enough to dominate and define a formal dining room.  A master suite the size of an apartment … complete with foyer, two large walk-in closets, an enormous shower and soaking Jacuzzi tub, and doors that open onto the pool.

familyroom3_500Designed with thoughtful details…

An artful use of shadow-boxing and wainscoting, warm bamboo floors, built-ins in every closet, a double porte cochere to keep off the rain drops, an extended garage with built-ins and tool table, a double stove (convection/microwave) with warming drawer, an extra wide fridge, an oversize laundry room, a bench step in the pool to keep little ones safe, even a hot and cold outdoor shower… these are the details that make this estate house so deliciously comfortable.

And one thing more. masterbedroom1_500

A feeling of solidity, stability, warmth that seems built into its very foundation. A sense that this will always be home to happy little voices and busy little feet, dinner parties and birthday parties. A house built for years of growing up and together.

A home in search of a family.

Categories: Abacoa, Jupiter communities, Jupiter properties, Listed for sale, Valencia at Abacoa

www.ValenciaatAbacoa.com

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Until recently anyone who wanted information on homes in Valencia at Abacoa went to ValenciaAtAbacoa.com for front views (elevations), floor plans and builder information on each home model available in the Valencia development. Then the development sold out and the site developers let that website become inactive. I thought that was a real shame, since it provides such important information for prospective buyers of resales in that neighborhood. So I took matters into my own hands. 

Since I live in Valencia, know the area so well, and have sold and listed so many homes there, I recently acquired that website and reactivated it. It’s up and running again for your convenience and mine. So you can once again go to ValenciaAtAbacoa.com for information on all the homes there … including which ones are currently up for sale. Now, how great is that!

Categories: Abacoa, Jupiter communities, Jupiter properties, Valencia at Abacoa


Colleen Cooley's Jupiter and Palm Beach Garden Real Estate Blog. Copyright © 2010 Wave Reviews Colleen Cooley, CRS | Seacrest Florida Properties. All rights reserved. Disclaimer: All content on this blog is my own opinion and should not be treated as fact or relied upon when purchasing or selling real estate.