Tag Archives: RE

WHALE WATCHING – ON EVERYONE’S BUCKET LIST

By Nina Richmond 2014-04-02

WHALE WATCHING – A DREAM COME TRUE & HOW WHALE VOMIT CAN MAKE YOU THE LUCKIEST PERSON ALIVE

In this post:

World class whale watching tours
How whale vomit can make you rich
Listen to a humpback whale song
The worlds loneliest whale
A marine life paradise

In a previous blog post I listed a number of questions that often accompany the thought of moving to a new area, the following blog post is indeed partly an answer to the question: what activities does the area offer. ENJOY!

WORLD CLASS WHALE WATCHING TOURS

Whale Watching off of the coast of Cabo San Lucas should be on everyone’s bucket list! We have some of the best whale watching tours in the world, which offers you close encounters with a number of different whale species. Clink on the following link to see a video, by Peak Travels, with our friend Abbie Moyer Sloan who is a biologist and tour guide for Whale Watch Cabo. Should this be on your bucket list? Take a look and judge for yourself: WHALE WATCHING IN CABO SAN LUCAS, this video is created by Peak Travels.

The Whale Watching Season in Cabo

Whale watch Cabo tells us: “The Cabo San Lucas whale watching season begins in December and ends mid to late April, depending on the variations in the Whales seasonal migration. Every year starting late November Humpback whales return to Los Cabos from their summer feeding grounds (California, British Columbia and Alaska) to mate and give birth. Gray whales also make the journey, pregnant mothers stopping in the northern Baja bays and lagoons to calve while many of the adult Gray whales continue down to Los Cabos arriving in January. During the Cabo San Lucas whale watching season we often see both Humpback Whales (December – April) and Gray Whales on the same tour (January through April).”. “The whale watching season in Cabo San Lucas marks the arrival of many species of whales to their winter mating and birthing grounds. The Pacific coast of the Baja peninsula and the Sea of Cortez become home to thousands of whales for approximately 4 months every year.”.

So why is Whale Watching so fantastic in this particular part of the world?

Whale watch cabo says: “Humpback and Gray Whales can be encountered with guaranteed regularity. During the mating season, whales are often observed performing magnificent feats of physical prowess to impress their potential mates.”. “As the Humpbacks are here to mate we are often treated to an array of surface behaviors, mating competitions and playful baby Humpback Whales.”.

Here’s a photo of a Tail Slap, would it impress you?

HOW WHALE VOMIT CAN MAKE YOU RICH

How’s this for a fun fact: Sperm whale vomit is worth thousands of dollars per pound and up to $20 per gram. Why, you might ask? Who in his right mind would pay that much for whale spew? As a matter of fact, french perfume companies will. Does this mean that the sperm whale’s vomit is exquisitely aromatic? No, it smells just as bad as it sounds. Then why would these perfume companies pay thousands of dollars for it? It has nothing to do with odor, it’s actually used as a fixative. In other words it helps the perfume to stick to your skin. In Egypt they use it to scent cigarettes, candles and to make teas. Back in the days it was used as medicine for headaches. Is this starting to sound familiar? If it is maybe it’s because Herman Melville mentioned it in his famous book: Moby Dick.

This so called vomit, more accurately refereed to as Ambergris but often called floating gold, is not really vomit. Scott Sutherland describes it as “… a hard, waxy substance produced in the guts of sperm whales. It forms from bile and it is thought to stay in a whale’s intestines to help it break up anything hard that it swallows (like an octopus beak). It is usually passed from the whale’s body along with fecal matter, but in the case of larger chunks, the whale typically needs to vomit it out. This (along with the rather disgusting fecal smell it gives off at first) has led many to begin referring to it as “whale vomit” or “whale poop.” But I doubt anyone would refer to one of their gallstones (about the closest analogy to ambergris our bodies can produce) as their vomit or poop. Besides, “floating gold” is probably a better nickname for ambergris anyway.”. Discovery news explains that it is the salty water that gives it a sort of waxy texture.

The observant reader who remembers that I specifically wrote french perfume companies might be wondering whether or not they now need to check the ingredient list on all perfume bottles (if there is one), or only on bottles from France? The answer to that question is that in many countries, the US for example, it is illegal to use ambergris due to the sperm whale being classified as an endangered species. Therefore it is mostly french companies that keep this floating gold in stock and are willing to “upchuck” the big bucks for it.

If it is so valuable it must mean that it is nearly impossible to find, right?! It seems to be more a case of people not knowing what they have in front of them then of it nearly being impossible to find. “A British man hit this smelly jackpot” – is the headline of an article about a man who found a 6 pound lump of ambergris and is now possibly going to cash in close to 180’000 USD. Another one of these success stories, to be read about, is a couple in southern Australia. They could get as much as 300’000 USD for their finding.

For all of you who wants to get out there right now and look for it, but are wondering what it looks like, take a good look at this picture. This is a picture of the British guy who got rich thanks to his dog who clearly has a nose for a deal. However I ask you to finish reading this post before you run off to borrow your neighbors dog.

Something to think about: just, maybe a trip to Cabo will make you rich as these sperm whales do travel past here…

Believe it or not but whale spew is not the only vomit that pays the big bucks. There is more than one artist out there that sells paintings of their own disgorge, for example: Millie Brown Vomits To Create Art, and is supposedly admired by no other than Lady Gaga.

LISTEN TO A HUMPBACK WHALE SONG

(I recommend listening to the humpback whale song as you continue reading)

According to Whale Watch Cabo: “…both male and female Humpback whales do sing, the male is especially well recognized for its long and complex songs. The songs are believed to be primarily a method of attracting a suitable mate. Songs can be up to 20 minutes long and whales sing the same song in a given population, which changes over time.”

THE WORLDS LONELIEST WHALE

The story about the worlds most lonesome whale started when the U.S. Navy gave whale researches access to their hydrophone array recordings in the North Pacific, meant for recording submarines. 1989 researcher William Watkins noticed a whale vocalizing at the range of 52 Hertz (which is why the whale is known as the “52 Hz Whale“). Now, this is highly remarkable considering that most whales vocalize at the range of 17-18 Hz – which by the way is too low for the human ear to pick up. The media and public was quick to take the story “of a whale that was swimming through the ocean, calling out on a frequency no other whale was using, never hearing a response.” to heart. It quickly spread around the globe, what today would be refereed to as going viral.

What’s the cause of this unusual range? Researches don’t know yet, since there has been no visual of the whale – at least not any knowingly. Documentary maker Joshua Zeman went out on a quest to find the lonely whale. Did he find it? The documentary “52: The Search for the Loneliest Whale in the World” is expected to be released in 2015. This means that researches still don’t know what species the 52 Hz whale belongs to. It could be a matter of a malformation but it is still believed to be healthy since it has been recorded all these years. Bruce Mate at Oregon State University and Hatfield Marine Science Center was chosen to lead the Joshua Zeman expedition. He says “I don’t believe the animal we’re looking for is a new species, or the dying out of an old species, or anything that dramatic. It is much more likely the animal might be the equivalent of an animal with a lisp, that it has — I won’t call it a speech impediment, because it’s probably understandable to other animals, but it’s different.”.

Is 52 Hz really swimming the worlds oceans all alone? Until there is an actual visual of the whale it is hard to say, hopefully the documentary will be able to give us the answer. At least I sure hope so, as I am anxious to find out.

“In other words, whether the team finds the 52 Hz whale, and whether it turns out to indeed be lonely or surrounded by companions, the story will have a happy ending. It will have provided a platform for scientists to learn more about the baleen whales of the North Pacific than they might otherwise have been able to. And while the whale may be lonely, its cries have not gone unheard.”.

A MARINE LIFE PARADISE

Book a trip before this season is over and cross it off your bucket list or make sure to book a trip for next season! Maybe you will be one of the few who catches a glimps of the 52 Hz whale. Whale Watch Cabo emphasizes that Cabo San Lucas is not only for the whale enthusiasts as it is also a paradise for the marine life lovers in general. Many other animals are frequently spotted such as: “… Dolphins, Orcas, Sea Lions, leaping Manta Rays, pelagic fish like Marlin and many species of Sea Birds (Frigates, Boobys, Cormorants, Osprey, Pelicans)”.

Are you interested in Real Estate in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico? We are a full-service Cabo real estate firm – a leading buyer, seller and developer agent for land, residential, commercial and business properties in the area. Visit our website for more information or stop by our office. We can offer you discount on whale watching tours and many other fun activities. Are you just on vacation visiting and need a rental, let us know as we can help out with that too.

Do you have a story to tell about visiting or living in Los Cabos, about Ambergris findings or the 52 Hz Whale? If so let us know – as we love to collect interesting stories.

Real estate agents – should you hire them?

Why hire a real estate agent to sell your house instead of doing it yourself? This is indeed a valid question that some people have, so I now want to summarize the key reasons we, and many others with us, see to hire an agent. I want to clarify that it has been hard for me to keep this short and simple because there seems to be so much I want to say. I have however done my best to untangle this multicolored yarn of tangled thoughts and stick with only the red thread and what is most important.

Top 10 reasons to hire a real estate agent

Selling a property without a real estate agent

When a house is sold by the owner rather than by a real estate agent a term often used is For Sale By Owner – FSBO (pronounced fizzbo). The main reason people decide to put a house up for sale by the owner is that they don’t want to pay a commission fee to the agent. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR):

“Only 9 percent of today’s sellers are FSBO sellers, and among those who chose the FSBO route, 40 percent knew the buyer who bought their home. Among those who did not previously know the buyer of the home, 18 percent of those were contacted directly by the buyer to purchase the home. Taking these factors into account, the FSBO market of sellers who sold their home without knowing the buyer, and those who were not directly contacted by a buyer, is significantly smaller.” (http://bit.ly/1lbmyKI).

Furthermore statistics from NAR tells us that the median price for a property sold using an agent in 2007 & 2008 was $240,000 meanwhile the median price for properties sold by FSBO’s was $180,000. That is $60,000 less than when going through a Realtor! When you count on, for example, a 6 percent commission for the assisting agent you still end up with $45,600 more than the ones deciding to sell the property themselves.

Here are some reasons why FSBO’s risk ending up losing money by selling the property themselves:

Less exposure – MLS (Multiple Listing Search) is what most house hunters use to narrow down their searches. This is a database in which you get listed through a Realtor. Access to MLS is a service that cost our own agents $600 a year (as a clients you don’t pay for this), a cost you otherwise have to add to the $45,600 that the median FSBO already lost by not using an agent. Even if you would use MLS yourself it is not as easy as just listing your property and leaving it at that. “Access is only the start”, says our own real estate agent Gary Denny. “You can also go online and get French lessons.”. In other words, it takes years for a successful Realtor to learn how to take full advantage of MLS and learn the numbers needed. Because MLS is the most important platform and this blog post runs a risk of being without end I will stop at that, but the agents wont – they will provide you with exposure in many more terrains than that of MLS.

Less experienced and less informed negotiators – Are you a great negotiator? Do you for example successfully bargain with street vendors when travelling in new countries? If you are one of many who feel really uncomfortable bargaining, even over the smallest thing, FSBO is probably not for you. If you however are one of them who most often leave with a feeling of accomplishment and having made a good deal – imagine then if you spoke the local language and had spent years in that country studying the value of that very product. Could you have made an ever better deal if you actually knew the lowest price that product is normally sold for on that street? Imagine then if you also knew the lowest prices in that whole area, not just that street or that city, but also the neighboring cities and the best time to buy. Then on top of that would knowing where it could be sold for the highest price help you make an even wiser decision on whether or not to buy this product? I am sure you understand where I am going with this. Even if you are a really good negotiator I dare to say that most non-agents do not spend the time learning about the products and the market that our agents do. The process of selling property does not only need great negotiating skills when agreeing on the closing price as many might think, many other items too need negotiating. Don’t ask yourself solely if you have the skills for it but also ask yourself if you have the insight needed and if you speak the language of real estate negotiation.

Too emotionally connected – Can you stay objective enough when it is something as personal as a house full of your own memories? If priced wrong to begin with do you have the time it might take you to realize this and decide on a new price? Gary is selling his house in the states so I asked him, being an agent, if he’s going to set the price himself. He said: “absolutely not!”. He’s hiring an agent working in the area in which the house is located. Why? Firstly he doesn’t have the time to analyze the local market and secondly the risk of him underselling is too great, he says. When someone who is working full-time as a real estate agent won’t even try and sell his own real estate by himself it might be worth thinking twice about it?

Less time – “Nearly anyone is smart enough to be able to spend 50 hours a week watching what is selling and what isn’t. Smart enough to go through countless MLS updates (both per online and in person) but do they have the time? When doctors, lawyers, CPA’s and engineers need to sell they call a Realtor”, Gary points out.

So how time consuming is it to sell a house? Can it really be that bad? Well, it’s all relative of course but there is no doubt a lot that needs doing. Just to mention some of it, you need to:

Assess the salebility and condition of your property
Find & fix any problems that might be an issue for a buyer
Research the local market
Monitor and understand the latest news regarding loans and mortgage rates
Decide on an asking price
Get the house ready for sale – declutter, clean & stage in the most appealing manner
Make and budget a marketing plan
List and market the property
Confirm any potential buyers financial qualifications
Negotiate the terms for selling
Accept an offer
Prepare and handle the paper work for closing – all legal documents, insurance, lien, loan and mortgage, title insurer, property records, building permits for the appraiser as well as receipts, disclosure documents, and more.
Handle any issues that comes up after closing

These are all things that an agent will help you to unload off of your shoulders and often already busy schedule.

Regarding the forms needed to close a sale – browsing on the internet I find a lot of websites that are trying to convince people that it really isn’t all that complicated. I ask Gary who changes his position as to mark the importance of what he’s going to say next: “The forms are very complicated. In some markets as many as 1 in 9 transactions end in at least the threat of a lawsuit. These forms are the result of ongoing lawsuits, state lawmakers whims and ever changing public opinions. Buyers love having a professional between them and a seller, in case of any issues such as radon, mold, measurements, termites, permits, usage, inspections, repairs, title and more comes up”. He also stresses that a property that is for sale by owner often makes buyers wonder what the real reason behind that decision is – what are they hiding? It is unfortunately also very common that FSBO’s, trying to save money on commission, find it overwhelming to do the work themselves and end up hiring an agent in the end anyway. That is of course not the way to save money.

On top of all this one might have lots to prepare as a buyer of another property and then the move to a potential new home. Of course regardless of any of this you can choose to do it yourself. If you have the time to learn all things necessary, the devotion to the tasks at hand and are willing to take the risk that the selling price is lower then what an agent could have gotten you. In a way it is like cooking a Turducken, which is a turkey stuffed with a duck that’s stuffed with a chicken. To do it justice you should not just be good at cooking you need to be great at it. I can’t help but to think that if I was to sell my own property right now I would have enough on my plate with just preparing and cooking a turkey. Would I really want to stuff it with an even more time consuming and stressful duck stuffed with yet another time consuming and skills demanding chicken? Especially since I might risk being unsuccessful, considering I’m not a trained cook, not even a hobby cook. No, I say it is worth the investment to pay for my turducken at a restaurant, where it is prepared and cooked by a master chef. Then I know I can sit down, relax and just enjoy a juicy turducken done justice.

So why should you hire a real estate agent?

To sum up this post I will use one of my favorite Gary-quotes: “As long as seller wants the very most they can net – real estate agents will net-work“.

Sources:

Gary Denny: gary@bircabo.com

http://bit.ly/1lbmyKI

http://bit.ly/OGKmZ9

http://bit.ly/1dr2G3K

http://bit.ly/Q9NOfY

Pic 1: http://bit.ly/Hire_a_RE_agent

Pic 2: http://bit.ly/realestatehumor

BAJA INTERNATIONAL REALTY

Cabo San Lucas Real Estate Brokerage