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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Valencia is the architectural product of four top builders…Frankel-Paone, Issa, The Spear Group and Delcrest.  Each brings different floor plans, perspectives and personal touches to its Mediterranean style. It’s a neighborhood designed with winding streets, rear-entry garages, Corinthian columns, charming front porches and lush landscaping. No cookie cutter community…it warrants those higher (high $600’s to $2 million) price tags.  And Valencia residents make sure those values are well maintained!

So if you’re in the market for something that offers just the right measure of exclusivity, take a close look at Valencia at Abacoa…where every house, every street will surprise and impress you.

You come across the house at 320 Murcia Drive. This 6-bedroom, 4.5 bath, 3600 square foot home sits on a surprisingly oversized lot across the street from the clubhouse and a park.

Inside it’s not just a fabulous, cream-colored dream of a house. It’s pristine … mint-condition … immaculate …perfection.  From the crown moldings to the recessed double tray ceiling in the formal dining room to the wrought iron spindles up the staircase to the Chicago pavers that deck out the most completely private pool out back … this house has style.

And the kind of extras you rarely come across. Well equipped with plenty of extras. Deep walk-in/storage. White wood plantation shutters in the huge family room and kitchen. French doors that lead from the living and family rooms onto the pool deck and covered lanai. A separate guest suite downstairs…a Jack and Jill two-bedroom/1 bath connecting suite upstairs. A two-car garage with one side so deep, it’s a tandem space … for two cars or one plus loads of storage. Then there’s the master suite with a walk-in closet nearly large enough to qualify as a room all its own. 

Yes, just when you thought you’d seen it all, you come across a perfect jewel. A small estate home perfectly located, ideally situated and waiting, just waiting for someone like you.

More people than you know suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) … caused by the lack of sunlight that accompanies fall’s short days and winter’s long nights. Oddly, that lack of light can play havoc with you physically and emotionally. According to the Mayo Clinic, it can trigger feelings of depression, lethargy, fatigue, anxiety, social withdrawal, weight gain, even difficulty concentrating. No doubt about it … the winter blues can severely impact your daily life.

That said, treatment is really quite simple. You can spend hours a day sitting in front of a full spectrum light box. Or you can simply up and move to Jupiter, Florida, where sunlight is a cure-all … and the only blues you see are the cloudless sky and white capped water.

Is it any wonder so many New Englanders, Midwesterners and Northeasterners flock here every winter. And many never fly back. Especially now, because the only thing you’ll find depressed in South Florida this winter is real estate. So there’s more reason than ever to come buy, and stay to smile:)

That’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!

Admirals Cove offers a wide range of magnificent homes, from a bit more modest to outrageously divine! Each one a standout, worthy of consideration on its own particular merits. But great residences are just one reason to seek out Admirals’ Cove… one of Palm Beach County’s premier addresses. Most choose it for a lifestyle based around yachting, golf or tennis.

There you’ll find six miles of inland waterways, backyard docks, ocean access, a 72-slip marina, marina shop, and marina cafe. 45 Holes of championship golf—with the newly redesigned Von Hagge course with dramatic elevations, 27 holes of challenging play on the more traditional West Course, and an additional 18-hole course on the East. And, if you’re game, 12 Har-Tru tennis courts. But that’s just the beginning.

You’ll also find superb casual and formal dining in the two Clubhouses. 32 Guest suites at The Club’s Inn for family and friends of Members. A health and fitness center, beauty salon, Wachovia private banking center as well as a spa and two golf pro shops! Overall, it’s hard to find a finer place to live anywhere in South Florida!

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.

Go 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.

And 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.

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.”