Unconfigured Ad Widget

JLB · 12-27-2012, 09:38 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Xyq0LqzzQ

tonyg · 12-27-2012, 09:41 PM

So do we call you snooky now.

JLB · 01-01-2013, 05:13 PM

Today was worth the price of admission.

JLB · 01-08-2013, 09:06 AM

Friends from a certain other timeshare forum, who became our friends and moved to our northern place, are down here now. He lives for golf, so I have been running him ragged on the golf course . . . 36 holes at two courses Sunday and about 20 holes late yesterday. His friend from their former home joined us yesterday.

When they pulled in to my course yesterday, the parking lot was full (maybe 200 cars), and the staging area around the clubhouse was wall-to-wall carts and golfers. Very impressive. All that went out on two of the nines and we went to the first tee on the "empty" nine.

The girls went to St. Armands Circle in Sarasota and did girlie things.

Then all 3 couples did a little beach bar-hopping/dinner eating/good time having.

They are asking if there's any deals left. The first day on the golf course my buddy said, "If you could find me a place like yours, and then pay all the maintenance on it, we'd be here, too." I said, "If I could find one at what we paid, I could do that."

Then that evening his wife cornered me and we were looking a houses on the foreclosure site. Dw just told me that at the same time he and she were sitting out at our little chickee hut by the canal with him saying the same thing.

There's not many deals left, as those following this know. But some, if you happen to watch every day (like some of us used to do to get good exchanges to here this time of year when there used to be some to get ).

If you even have half an inkling that you really do not want to spend the rest of your life freezing your patootie off and shoveling snow, the window of opportunity is still open, but not as wide.

In this area right now, I only know of one fixer-upper, a rather modest pool home on a very navigable canal/dock with a short distance to the bay and gulf. Maybe $100K would get it, and $25K to restore it Everything that we looked at two and three years ago has been bought and are cuter than can be now, all worth at least double what was paid for them.

This particular area is not the busy, busy, ugly Florida like you might have experienced in vacations to Florida. It is very much like a small Midwestern town, just with very nice weather, lots of water, and reasonable golf, year-round.

JLB · 01-10-2013, 08:55 PM

Originally posted by JLB View Post

In this area right now, I only know of one fixer-upper, a rather modest pool home on a very navigable canal/dock with a short distance to the bay and gulf. Maybe $100K would get it, and $25K to restore it.

Oops, it's under contract.

That's about how fast they go.

Buying is less of a crapshoot; there's less uncertainty.

JLB · 01-11-2013, 08:50 PM

Originally posted by JLB View Post

I got my questions answered about renewing car license. About $90 each for a year. Online with a well-designed site.

Except I renewed them 12/17 and have not received them yet (1/11).

JLB · 01-13-2013, 10:15 AM

I'm sitting with a Sarasota TV reporter and she just showed me a story she did on luxury car sales. 2012 was a record year and they are expecting 2013 to beat it.

Friends are here with us now, doing a search for affordable homes, and there are not any to be found. Or, at least, not like 2 years ago this time of year when we ran around and looked at more than 100.

JLB · 01-13-2013, 06:30 PM

Our canoe was gone after a wind/rain storm mid December. I envisioned being out on the creek/canals in out pontoon, and seeing it. That happened this week, about a mile up-creek. The guy said it was full of water and stuck under his dock an New Year's Day.

JLB · 01-14-2013, 10:39 AM

Our friends from a certain other forum, who bought their lakehouse across from us up north after visiting us there, have been here for the last week, and have the house-hunting bug. & why not? 80 degrees when it is 16 up north, and plenty of golf, Gulf, and boating.

The difference that two years makes, though, is that they are shopping a soft traditional market and we got to shop in a soft foreclosure market. There are still foreclosures, but not such that you can go out and look at 100. Mostly they are looking at non-REO stuff, an abundance of which has been saved up waiting for to market to rebound a bit.

What it means is they would not buy here without selling what they have up north, having to give up their very desireable summer lake and golf. We kept ours.

Gotta go. Golf course is waiting.

JLB · 01-15-2013, 10:25 AM

Originally posted by JLB View Post

Our friends from a certain other forum, who bought their lakehouse across from us up north after visiting us there, have been here for the last week, and have the house-hunting bug. & why not? 80 degrees when it is 16 up north, and plenty of golf, Gulf, and boating.

The difference that two years makes, though, is that they are shopping a soft traditional market and we got to shop in a soft foreclosure market. There are still foreclosures, but not such that you can go out and look at 100. Mostly they are looking at non-REO stuff, an abundance of which has been saved up waiting for to market to rebound a bit.

What it means is they would not buy here without selling what they have up north, having to give up their very desireable summer lake and golf. We kept ours.

Gotta go. Golf course is waiting.

They really have the bug hard. They have extended their stay with us and are doing nothing but house hunting. Well, with golf thrown in.

The other night we went out with other friends from our area up north who found down here a long time ago, and that sealed the deal.

It's much tougher now than 2 years ago, very frustrating for them.

JLB · 01-17-2013, 05:58 PM

Two Englewood/Oyster Creek foreclosures with Bay/Gulf access:

Upscale neighborhood and house:

http://www.homepath.com/listing?listingid=38060609

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2654+T...VApv3KZDfq8m2Q

Modest fixer-upper:

http://www.homepath.com/listing?listingid=37585547

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=2444+1...BIca2lrYGfh4cQ

JLB · 01-20-2013, 05:34 PM

Cute older house: $64,900

http://www.homepath.com/listing?listingid=38083662

But look what googlemaps can tell you:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=120+E+...34223&t=h&z=19

JLB · 01-28-2013, 08:37 AM

Despite some lingering Red Tide, boating in the bay was very nice yesterday. We saw lots of dolphins, and lots of other folks boating, parked on the beach, etc.

If money is the only factor, here's a condo for $16,900, that would make a good winter home with no maintenance requirement, or would be a good flip:

http://www.homepath.com/listing?listingid=36629244

Or park your RV here, $8900:

http://www.homepath.com/listing?listingid=38135794

JLB · 01-28-2013, 08:54 PM

Originally posted by JLB View Post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Xyq0LqzzQ

We saw more than 20 dolphins yesterday when we were out on the bay like this video. Same places.

JLB · 01-29-2013, 07:41 PM

It's a small world.

I was paddling the fam out the canal for a sunset cruise in the canoe, and stopped to talk to a guy on the other side, mostly because the deckboat on his lift was from North Carolina. It turns out that he is the one who called me in response to my initiation of an effort to clean up the canal.

It also turns out that he is the one who was bidding on our house, and had it until I bid with 1 minute left. I never figured I would run into someone I was bidding against online.

He wound up buying a fixer-upper on the other side of the canal. He gutted and redid the inside, and has added a dock and boatlift.

Attached Files

Unconfigured Ad Widget

Unconfigured Ad Widget

Announcement

Bonita Springs and Fort Myers FL Area

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment