Jeepneys & AstroTurf

First things First.  All of us at Echo Fine Properties hope you are having a wonderful holiday season with your families.  One of the best parts of South Florida are the holiday light displays by the communities and cities as whole.  Our videographers put together the best of the holiday lights. They include over 14 clubs, 8 cities and even the Palm Beach Zoo. Feel free to send on to your friends who don’t have our beautiful palm trees as a backdrop. Please enjoy! https://jeftestechofinepropertiescom.kinsta.cloud/palm-beach-county-the-treasure-coast-are-lit-for-the-holidays/

Now, on to 2024’s last Jeff’s Journal! The worst traffic in the world is in the Philippines. There are lots of reasons for this. Over 100 million people packed into a small area. No public transportation. Infrastructure that can’t be much improved upon. Citizens who don’t want to give up their cars. And Jeepneys! Jeepneys started out as leftover Jeeps that the United States Army left behind after WW2. Last week I wrote about Leonardo da Vinci. Well, the Philippines has its own Leonardo, Leonardo Salvador Sarao. Manila’s Leo added elongated carriages to the Jeep and voila, you have the Jeepney. They basically became a combination of taxis and small busses. Maybe a dozen people fit into these vehicles. Jeepneys are colored depending on region and then decorated with an assortment of tchotchkes and haywire graffiti writing. You might see one with trinkets of metal horses glued on to the hood and wacky writing saying “Go White Sox”. Many have the Mercedes logo. Before you laugh. How many of us have knockoff handbags. Then there an equal amount of Batman and Robin tricycles. You’d think this was dangerous but I never saw a single accident. Perhaps the bumper to bumper traffic makes it much safer. The government wants to get rid of them (600,000 Jeepneys are on the road) and move more to public transportation as they tie up 9,000,000 commuters a day. But they are beloved as cheap transportation with people hopping in and out or hanging on the sides for dear life hoping to not get charged. Plus, 600,000 drivers means a loss of 600,000 votes for Marcos Jr. And then the shoe business would crater.

Other products have started out as one thing and ended up as another. Take the Boston area. A few weeks back we stayed at the Liberty Hotel.  The Liberty is a converted prison that is now a Marriott. The outdoor area is called the “Yard” and the restaurant is the “Clink” full of jail bars. They also charge $42 for a lobster roll. Some of you will agree that’s a fair price as lobster is a delicacy… but that wasn’t always the case in Boston. As a matter of fact, lobster was prison food until a riot in a Massachusetts prison broke out with the prisoners demanding not to be fed it and to go back to gruel. People today also spend thousands to join a luxury gym and run on a treadmill. The treadmill was devised to keep people in jail from idling away. Back in those days, it was worth trying to pull off a bank heist. Get caught and suffer a life a Lobster, working off the Lobster on the treadmill while staying at the Marriott.

Bubble wrap started out as textured wallpaper. A failed experiment by Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes. But not so fast. They got so annoyed they started popping away and next thing you know, their bank account, POPPED! Lucky they didn’t end up in the Clink by maddening so many.  Play dough was invented to clean wallpaper before it turned into a toy like bubble 🫧 wrap. Listerine started out as a disinfectant. Tang was used for astronauts and then marketed to the public. Goes to show that not every product used another way ends up successful as I don’t know anyone who drinks Tang let alone likes the movie Pootie Tang.

Speaking of astronauts, that brings me to AstroTurf.  AstroTurf was invented to solve the Houston Astros baseball field problem. The Astro Dome was dubbed the 8^th wonder of the world as it was the worlds first domed baseball stadium. The problem was that grass wouldn’t grow well in this so-called 8^th wonder. To keep up with the wonder, “turf” was installed which solved the problem and today is used in lots of indoor and outdoor stadiums. For years it was only used for stadiums and outdoor playgrounds but like the lobster and Jeepney another purpose came about – residential real estate.

25 years ago, I never saw turf being used.  Today, it’s almost in every luxury estate.  Here are 10 reasons to consider artificial turf….

10 Reasons to Consider Artificial Turf

1. Color

Turf gives you a perfect pristine green look, 365 days a year. It just looks great.

2. Maintenance and cost

Adios to the lawn mower. All you really need is a leaf blower. Crews that come by are eliminated. Turf also can last 15-20 years.

3. Water

The amount of water savings and stress from broken sprinklers is all bye-bye.

4. Environmentally Friendly

Now your grandkids can’t say you aren’t doing enough to save the planet!

5. Drainage

Enjoy much better draining with turf.

6. Pets

Pet urine won’t stain the lawn, and dogs feel no need to dig. Plus, no muddy paws tracked in the house by little Brutus.

7. Fun

Great for playgrounds and putting greens.

8. Allergies

Achoo to saying gesundheit!

9. Resale

100% perfect curb appeal is guaranteed.

10. Looks

Driveways and walkways where you design grass in-between stone can create many more stylish looks without being impossible to take care of.  A driveway with decorative AstroTurf would be the perfect place to bring over and store a Jeepney.

The Liberty Hotel

The Joy of the Jeepney

Jeff Lichtenstein, originally from Chicago, got his start in the home furnishings textile business where he traveled over 35 weeks a year selling fabrics. After the family business was sold, Jeff moved to Florida and became a real estate agent. Today he is the owner and broker of Echo Fine Properties, a luxury residential brokerage voted best brokerage of the year. Jeff manages a non-traditional model of real estate that mimics a traditional business model. Echo has 80 agents, an average of one million dollars per transaction and over 500 million in annual sales. Between traveling for work and annual family trips to national parks with his wife and 2 now adult children, Jeff has visited 49 states. He is also one of the few Chicago White Sox fans you’ll ever meet.  Some publications he has been quoted in.

Author of business & leadership book How Making a Sandwich Can Change Your World –  The Amazing Success of the PB&J Strategy – Available to Buy Now!

Feel free to ask him a question directly at jeff@EchoFineProperties.com including a complementary  valuation of your home.

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