From the News-Press, Originally posted on February 16, 2008

Economy gripes are common these days.

But in the last three months of 2007, there were 83 new businesses that moved to Cape Coral. That doesn’t even account for the home-based businesses, which make up 65 percent of the total operations here.

Still, the city wants more.

Mike Jackson, director of Economic Development, is kicking off a new, national ad campaign to get the word out that businesses can flourish here — and workers can have fun doing it.

“Work. Play. Repeat. Now do both in the same place.”

That’s the slogan. It’s designed to promote the city’s tenant-ready commercial properties and market niches, as well as the waterfront lifestyle. It’s set to be unleashed later this year at business conventions, in trade magazines and in a television commercial airing on CNBC and MSNBC.
“When people think of Florida, they think of retirement and old people,” Jackson said.

“So when I go to these conventions in Chicago or other big cities, people are always surprised to hear that we’re the fourth-fastest-growing city in the country, and that our median age is 43. We want to try to change those perceptions.”

Specifically, the target is the smaller businesses that can afford to quickly pick up and move, and for whom quality of life is a big factor in where they do business.

Elmer Tabor, owner of Wonderland Realty, said the draw for many new business owners is the sunshine. But the Cape is also attractive because the market hasn’t fallen completely flat, he said.

“I always like to ask people why they moved here, and it’s almost always, ‘I was sick of shoveling snow,’” Tabor said. “And regardless of what the economy is, we still have a greater place to live than Ohio or Michigan or Minnesota. Southwest Florida still provides jobs, still provides growth. We’re in tough economic times, but we’re not near as bad as some places.”

Northern areas are dealing with redevelopment, and what is commonly referred to as “The Brain Drain,” in which younger workers move out after being educated in search of better jobs. In the Cape, the challenge is more first-time, smart development rather than redevelopment. Jackson said his office is constantly trying to find solutions to the fact that 90 percent of the city’s developable land is pre-platted residential. When the city was first built, it was broken up into small, residential-sized plots. For years, anyone could build a house almost anywhere they chose.

“The result is not only that utilities and services have to catch up,” Jackson said. “But also we are running into a commercial land use shortage.”

In a future land use analysis report, Jackson indicates that if the city does nothing, it will face a 2,526-acre shortage of commercial land by the time the population is built-out, roughly in about 60 years. Annexation of the Zemel property would reduce that shortage to 1,754 acres, but it won’t eliminate it. To combat this, Jackson is proposing to convert residential land use to commercial/industrial, increase annexations for commercial/industrial development, increase commercial/industrial densities, increase the size of existing commercial/industrial zones and acquire and develop parcels for commercial/industrial uses.

But some might wonder why the city would push for more commercial land when roughly 430,000 square feet of office space is currently vacant. But Jackson sees that vacancy not as an omen of a stagnant economy, but rather a draw for new business owners.

“New companies generally don’t want to move in to a place where they’re going to have to deal with the hassle of building their new office space,” he said. “They want to go somewhere it’s already waiting for them.”

Another tool his office is using is the Cape Coral Prospector Web site, at bizcapecoralgis.com, which was launched in December. With just a few clicks, interested parties can research brokers, building vacancies, see satellite and interior pictures, check out the structure’s proximity to other businesses as well as bus stops and traffic lights.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for people,” Jackson said. “It’s like free market research.”

While it will be difficult to measure the city’s direct success with the advertising campaigns and land use restructuring, Tabor said educating people about what Cape Coral is — and isn’t — can only help.

“In the early days in development in Cape Coral, it was the young, gutsy pioneers who came down to establish businesses,” he said. “When they started seeing they could enjoy it, that’s when the retirees started moving in. They brought their money, and then there was a need for younger employment. So we hope that’s a trend that continues, because it really is an overall great place to live.”

High-skill, high-salary jobs are goals of city

News-Press
September 28, 2007

Don’t let the economic downturn fool you: New businesses are moving into Cape Coral at an average of about 30 each month.

That’s according to city economic development director Mike Jackson, who said more than 65 percent of the now 8,584 businesses in the city are home-based operations. The three highest categories of industry in the Cape are administration and support, then construction, then professional.

The goal through the next year, he said, is going to be continuing that surge and simultaneously attracting more of the high-skill, high-salary kind of commercialism that means long-term economic strength.

“We’re looking for relatively smart workers and relatively advanced technology sectors,” Jackson said. “We have companies like that here today, and we’re trying to figure out the best way to help them grow and attract more like them.”

He wouldn’t be specific on exact corporations the city wants to hook, but he said his office will be transforming in the next few years into somewhat of a sales operation.

“It is our goal to be able to focus exclusively on identifying the gazelles,” he said. “Those are the fast-growing companies with high wages. We want to look for those in Cape Coral, and we want to identify and target those on the outside. That means literally calling them up, getting them to take a tour of the city, meeting our developers and showing them what a high quality of life we have here that is attractive to workers.

“We’ve been doing extensive advertising in the central U.S. edition of the Wall Street Journal and Crain’s business publications. These are advertising campaigns that allow us to increase people’s awareness of Cape Coral as a large city in Southwest Florida that is not just a retirement community.”

And the city is hoping the results of recent studies will help drive business the city’s way. Two studies — a workforce study and a target industry study — are set to be released in the next month. They will identify, Jackson said, what sort of business clusters would be a good fit for the kind of labor force and businesses already in the city.

About 48 percent of the city’s population works full time, and the median age has dropped since the last census from 45.2 to 43. From 2004 to 2006, the median household income rose from $46,933 to $54,026.

Mayor Eric Feichthaler said he wants to develop the city as a cultural center before going after the big businesses.

“High technology businesses are looking for more of an educational base,” Feichthaler said. “It means we need to provide them with what other cities have, and we simply do not have those cultural amenities right now. We have the land, but we need to mature as a city before we start seeing those results.”

But he does want to focus more on attracting office professional and light manufacturing-type operations, while moving away from the construction and real estate industries. Landing one large corporation, he said, could spur others to follow. He doubted whether the studies were going to be helpful.

“What I said to the economic director is I expect to see substantial and immediate results,” Feichthaler said. “For the money we’re putting into surveys and studies, I’ve not seen the benefits citywide. If they lead us to attracting those businesses, I’ll be happy about that, but I’m not sure it will bring the benefits of that promise.”

The studies are costing the city about $205,000. Jackson said they won’t be a “magic bullet,” but, at worst, they will be a “compass.”

One thing he thinks the studies will show is that building office space before big businesses arrive would be a smart move.

“I don’t like to say, ‘If you build it, they will come,’ ” he said. “But if you don’t build it, they won’t come.”

Large corporations don’t rush to relocate when office space isn’t already available, he said. Site selection can take years, and most want to be able to move in right away, either buying or leasing buildings that already exist.

In the second quarter of 2007, real estate firm Cushman & Wakeman determined Cape Coral had 263,684 square feet of vacant office space, 100,840 square feet of industrial space and 72,110 square feet of vacant medical space. Office space vacancy really did not exist in the city less than two years ago.

Anita Simmons, who owns the Cape Dog Bakery downtown, said that while she doesn’t think the city needs more “big box stores,” bringing in more professionals is probably a good thing.

“There are some businesses suffering, and it’s because we’ve relied so heavily on real estate,” Simmons said. “We need things that will draw big companies to this area — clean up the landscape and have more unique shops and restaurants that will make this a destination.”

Related Posts: INC Magazine Rates Cape Coral-Fort Myers #1

It’s that time of year when we have many vacation property buyers. For some, the idea of owning a property far away from home is new and a bit daunting. But rest assured, it’s business as usual in our neck of the woods and there are several options for keeping your property safe and secure while you’re away.

Vacation Property FAQs
If you are thinking about purchasing a vacation property, chances are you have these questions in mind:
• Who will take care of the home or condo while you’re away?
• What does it cost?
• What other expenses should I expect?

Of course you want to protect your investment and so you will need someone who looks after your property and ensures that small problems don’t become big ones. For example, if the air conditioner were to break down and go un-noticed for a long period of time, mold and mildew will creep in. There are a couple of options for protecting your investment.

OPTION A: Professional Home Watch
In our area, many property owners hire a Home Watch company to perform routine inspections. This is true whether the property is a single-family residence or a condo. First, let’s look at the basic services a home watch firm typically offers:

• Check Security of all doors and windows
• Check for water intrusion
• Check security system
• Monitor A/C and humidistat
• Check smoke detectors
• Inspect circuit breaker for tripped breakers
• Check and run all appliances and plumbing
• Check automatic sprinklers
• Check ice maker for on/off production
• Check for pests/insect intrusion
• Check lanai and screens
• Verify pool, pest, and lawn service consistency and quality
• Immediate reporting of any abnormalities found

Additional services that might be offered or required are:

• Start and run vehicle(s) and boat(s)
• Guest or tenant check-in/check-out
• Meet and provide access for service people and deliveries
• Arrange cleaning services (prior to your arrival, for instance)
• Storm preparation and inspection
• Airport transfers
• Pre-arrival shopping and errands (concierge-like services)
• Handyman jobs

Routine inspections are usually once per week and you should receive regular correspondence from the service company detailing what was inspected and if any action is needed to prevent or address issues. Most often, the report is “all A-OK,” giving you peace of mind that nothing is amiss.

Depending on the location and size of the property and the frequency of service, fees range about $60 to $100 per month. If yours is a home, you will also need separate services for lawn care (about $90/month) and pool care (about $80/month). If yours is a condo, the association fee covers all exterior maintenance, including lawn care.

The Home Watch option is ideal for vacation property owners who are not renting their property, or for those who are renting, but are managing the rentals themselves (through a vacation rental web site, for example).

OPTION B: Professional Leasing Firm
For those planning to seasonally rent the property, and for those who want soup-to-nuts service, a property leasing firm can help.

Along with the services of a home watch company, the leasing firm markets your property, handles tenant applications and payments, checks tenants in/out, arranges end-cleaning, pays expenses out of your escrow account, provides monthly reports, and supervises repairs. Expect to pay 10-20% of gross rent for a full-service property management firm. Note that not all property management firms offer routine inspections, so a separate home watch service may still be needed.

WHEN TO HIRE
Most of our clients start the selection process after there is an accepted contract because the service firms usually operate in specific geographic areas. And some limit the types of properties they service (condos only or homes only) or the types of rentals (annual only or seasonal only). So it’s not necessary to start shopping for a service until you know the type of property, its location, and the specifics on what you’ll want them to do for you. Otherwise, you likely will spend a lot of time interviewing companies that are not right for the property.

One of the reasons we chose Cape Coral was our excitement about the long-term vision of the Cape Coral Redevelopment Agency (CRA) for the downtown area of the Cape. While we are frustrated that the CRA’s progress has been slower than anyone would like, we are glad to see them dogging it along and making some progress.

The mission statement for the agency is that it “will facilitate the emergence of a vibrant urban village where people of all ages will live, work, shop and be entertained.” The master plan adopted by the CRA and City Council designed the Downtown as a compact urban village.

The primary goal is to create a high-intensity pedestrian friendly urban area with open spaces and a system of both pedestrian and traffic circulation so that visitors, employees, and residents alike can easily find their way, park, and enjoy their walk to their destinations. And the CRA aims, through development incentives, to assist in the development of plazas and covered pedestrians walkways that improve access to waterways and the riverfront.

Visit the Cape Coral CRA website.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Hensley, CEO of Grosse Pointe Development Company, and the developer of the beautiful Tarpon Point Marina community in Cape Coral. What a breath of fresh air. Bob is one of the few developers in the Cape that is still making significant investment in his holdings and he’s got the passion, vision, and resources to get the job done. Soon Grosse Pointe will break ground on Marina Village, a condo-hotel project on the waterfront with full resort services along with retail and office spaces.

Tarpon Point Marina is a luxury waterfront community on the Caloosahatchee River, with full service marina and many other amenities. Shown here is Tarpon Landings, the most recently completed project in the community.

It’s heavenly now and with Marina Village built-out fall of 2009, it’ll be one of the most spectacular waterfront resorts in South Florida. Oh, and Brenda was happy to confirm what we’ve long suspected: yes, that’s Bob’s helicopter that passes over our neighborhood every Friday afternoon on his way home from his commercial projects in Orlando.

Can’t wait until 2009? Check out current resales in Tarpon Point Marina.

The latest version of property tax reform was passed by voters January 29, 2008.

How it works- Nov 1 2007

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Nov. 1, 2007 – The Florida Legislature, caught in a game of “chicken,” approved a measure that will appear before voters on the Jan. 29, 2008, ballot. With time working against them, lawmakers agreed on a measure that scaled back earlier initiatives, and even current reforms pushed by the House.

What the current amendment includes:

Homestead exemption

The homestead exemption increases. The current $25,000 homestead exemption remains; but a second $25,000 exemption is added for home values between $50,000 and $75,000. The second $25,000 exemption does not apply to school taxes, however, which translates into a lower-than-expected savings of about $240 per homesteaded owner. The portion of a home valued between $25,000 and $50,000 will still be taxed at all levels. FAR fought to include this taxable portion in order to maintain fairness for smaller cities and counties with lower median home values.

Portability – Moving up

Property tax savings portability (money saved over time on property taxes because of yearly increase limits through Florida’s Save Our Homes amendment) applies to homesteaders (homeowners with a homestead exemption) moving anywhere within Florida. Up to $500,000 of accumulated savings, applied to taxable value, may be transferred when one home is sold and another is purchased, with the transfer applying to all taxes, including the school portion. Homeowners have two years after they sell a home to buy a new one and transfer the savings.

If buying a more expensive home, a homesteader calculates savings by subtracting the assessed value (taxable value) from the just value (market value). The amount (savings over time) is then subtracted from the just value on the new home purchased. In most cases, the $50,000 homestead exemption will also be subtracted.

Example: Susie currently owns a home and has lived there for a long time. The house’s just value is $500,000, but because of Save Our Homes, the assessed value is only $200,000. Susie buys a new house for $700,000. The following year, she’ll pay taxes on only $400,000, however, because she’s “porting” $300,000 in value to her new home. After factoring in the new homestead exemption of $50,000, her total assessed value would be $350,000.

If buying a less-expensive home, the calculation changes and is based on the percentage of tax savings rather than a dollar amount. If the assessed value on the original home was 50 percent of the just value, for example, the homesteader would transfer that percentage to the new home, or have a new assessed value that is 50 percent of the new home’s just value. The percentage system was created to keep homesteaders from effectively eliminating their property taxes altogether by moving from a high-cost area of Florida to a low-cost area – a change that could severely hurt smaller rural economies.

Example: Susie currently owns a home and has lived there for a long time. The house’s just value is $500,000, but because of Save Our Homes, the assessed value is only $200,000. Susie buys a new town home for $300,000. She’ll pay taxes only on $120,000 because when buying down in value, she’ll keep the same ratio (40 percent) of assessed value to just value that she enjoyed in her old home. After factoring in the new homestead exemption of $50,000, her total assessed value would be $70,000.

Also, portability is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2007 – so everyone who bought this year and moved from an established homestead will be able to “port” their savings for next year. Since yearly tax values are based on ownership as of Jan. 1 each year, portability would not affect this year’s tax bills, which most homeowners have already received; but the savings will be applicable to next year’s tax bill.

Non-homesteaded property tax cap

A win for FAR and an important piece of the amendment is a 10 percent annual assessment cap on non-homestead property. Similar to Save Our Homes, this cap limits the assessed increases of commercial, rental and second home property taxes to a maximum amount of 10 percent per year starting in 2009, protecting against high spikes in taxes from year-to-year.

While property values will not rise 10 percent every year, FAR believes the cap offers some relief and protection to properties in high-value markets and waterfronts from unpredictable tax increases. The Constitution mandates a tax reassessment to just value upon transfer for non-homestead residential properties of nine units or less, but allows the Florida Legislature to determine how reassessment will occur for commercial and higher-unit residential properties. However, implementing legislation passed during the Special Session provides for reassessment of these properties upon a change in ownership or use.

Tangible personal property exemption

Under the amendment, the Tangible Personal Property (TPP) exemption for businesses is $25,000. The Legislature estimates that this tax – paid to local governments on items such as shelving, desks, computers, and other office equipment – will exempt about 1 million of Florida’s 1.2 million businesses that currently pay it. The amendment also drops the requirement to file for the TPP tax.

Work not done

While the proposed amendment will save property owners as much as $12 billion (depending on the portability amount used), FAR will work for greater relief measures. The association also has serious concerns about a challenge to the constitutionality of portability.

Earlier versions of property tax reform included provisions to help first-time homebuyers, a move missing in the current version. With that protection gone, FAR considers it possible that it will be challenged under the U.S. Constitution along with the entire Save Our Homes property tax system. If that happens, it could bring everyone back to the table yet again.

FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Click the “more” tag to read about earlier versions that failed.

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INC Magazine rates Cape Coral-Fort Myers #1 for 2007 in its Best Cities to Do Business annual report. The magazine rates the Cape Coral-Fort Myers as #1 for mid-sized cities and #4 overall (all cities, no matter the size).

Read the full story: INC’s Best Mid-Sized Cities for Doing Business

Related posts: Lee County Homes Sales Belie National Trend

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – April 19, 2007 – The state House of Representatives voted unanimously Wednesday to roll back property taxes to 2001 levels, while also passing, along party lines, a second plan to rewrite Florida’s tax code and give voters the option of eliminating property taxes on their homes by raising the sales tax.

House Democrats said they support the rollback bill because it sends the message they support tax cuts, but warned that they want it revised to have a less harsh impact on local government.

The second plan, advocated aggressively by House Speaker Marco Rubio, won a divided vote of 78-40, with only two Democrats, Reps. Luis Garcia and Ed Bullard, both of Miami, voting with Republicans. Two Republicans, Reps. Gayle Harrell of Stuart and Andy Gardiner of Orlando, voted against it. None explained their votes.

The measures are the first step to a resolution on the top issue of the legislative session: lowering property taxes across the state. Neither approach is expected to be accepted by the Senate but will serve as the starting point in the debate to begin next week when a joint committee hammers out the differences.
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UPDATE: Residents were successful - the coure is open!

UPDATE MAY 31, 2007. Local papers reported today that the residents will be re-opening the course in June of this year. They are taking Stout up on his offer to lease for $1 per year and pay all operating costs through HOA dues.

Below is the original post on the course closing and rationale behind it.

______________

Hot off the press. Will Stout of RealMark closes the executive golf course to make way for new development. Here’s the story as reported in this morning’s local paper.

Golfers, expecting to play their usual round of golf at Burnt Store Marina on Thursday, were greeted instead by no-trespassing signs.

Owner/developer Will Stout shut down their course without warning but later promised new shops, restaurants and condos for the area.

At an 11 a.m. meeting, about 700 people greeted Stout for a meeting at Burnt Store Presbyterian Church. They wanted to know why the course was closed and what plans he has for the community near the Lee-Charlotte county line off Burnt Store Road.

“I am a member of the club, and I pay $3,500 for a couple to play here,” said George Peterson, 60. “I know the course wasn’t making money. I guess he did it to stop the bleeding.”

Stout said he closed the executive style, 27-hole layout and its restaurant because it’s losing money and he can’t afford to subsidize a golf course that has drained more than $1.1 million from his Realmark Group company since he paid $5.5 million for it Dec. 31, 2005. Golf course employees were told of the closing Thursday morning.

“I have let go 46 employees from the course and restaurant with 60 days’ pay,” Stout said. “I have put $401,000 in pro-rated refunds to club members in the mail yesterday.”

He also told the crowd he has $750 million worth of projects on the way. The idea, Stout said, is to bring a shared downtown to the more than 30-year-old community.

He said he would rent the course for $1 to any group that wants to bear expenses such as insurance, employee salaries and other associated costs of running a golf club. “We closed the club to first give notice to the employees rather than have them be uncertain,” Stout said. “Now, we gave 60 days’ notice to anyone who can come up with a business plan to keep the club going. Come and see us.”

Many in the crowd applauded, others booed.

The crowd shouted down Mary Gelinas, who interrupted the meeting three times. “I was just so angry at what he’s doing,” Gelinas said. “He is just not right.” Countered resident Jim Hinch, 60: “About 80 percent of the people in Burnt Store Marina agree with Stout’s plans. The others just don’t want anything to change.”

Zoning for the property will have to be changed for a new entertainment and shopping district to be developed, Stout said.

He said he was led to believe the land was zoned for commercial projects, but it’s not. “The land is zoned (agricultural) with an exception for the golf course,” Stout said. “I wasn’t told that until November.”

Craig Dearden, Realmark chief operating officer, said he hopes to have the rezoning done within 90 days. Groundbreaking for the projects probably won’t begin for two years. Golf course struggles Realmark officials blamed lack of play for the course’s failure.

“We have about 30,000 rounds played on the course a year,” Dearden said. “To stay open we’d need at least 60,000.”

Coral Oaks Golf Course in Cape Coral, a championship 18-hole layout near Burnt Store, had about 60,000 rounds last year. Of 1,898 residents in the Burnt Store Marina complex, 157 are active golf club members.

“The problem is that it’s an executive course and not as challenging,” said Burnt Store resident Tom Purdy, 69. “I still played there twice a week.” An executive course typically has shorter holes than a full-length course. Development plans The proposal for the marina area would include a hotel, a computerized boat house, retail shops and restaurants.

The plans are only concepts but are similar to the development Stout built at Cape Harbour in Cape Coral.

“There is no sense of community here,” Stout said. “The key to having a sense of community is to have a downtown.” At Cape Harbour, Stout built restaurants, boutiques and a modern boat-storage facility, all overlooking a marina and waterway to the Caloosahatchee.

Although disappointed the course closed, Burnt Store Marina resident Paula DiDonato, 65, was happy to see Stout bring a popular plan to the table. “… I fully support Will Stout’s plans to bring us a downtown at the marina,” DiDonato said. “I’m on my way to Cape Harbour now because I have company. We always take them to restaurants downtown in Cape Harbour.”

Normalcy is returning to South Seas Island Resort.

A year after reopening on a limited basis, the Captiva resort pummeled by Hurricane Charley in 2004 has undergone an estimated $140 million makeover.

“It’s a rebirth,” said managing director Craig Schwan. His biggest challenge, Schwan said, “is really getting the word out that we’ve reopened.”

To that end, owner LXR Luxury Resorts will throw a grand reopening celebration tonight for about 250 local movers and shakers. A separate party and open house for neighboring Captiva residents is planned for April or May. After the VIP party, Schwan will go to New York City to meet with key travel publications.

Schwan estimated 1,600 to 1,800 people will stay at the resort this week. That’s about half the population Schwan’s predecessor said filled the resort during a weekend in the high winter season before Charley. Schwan said the pre-Charley estimate probably included non-overnight guests who used to be permitted on the property to shop and dine. With weather up north still chilly, this week is one of the most desirable and pricey.

Accommodations range from about $300 a day at the Harborside Hotel to $1,300 for a three-bedroom condo at Seabreeze overlooking Pine Island Sound on the resort’s north end.

About 529 out of 579 lodging units in the resort rental pool are restored and ready for use, Schwan said. The rest, all privately owned condos, are close to completion, he said.
With about 700 workers on the 330-acre property, the resort is close to pre-Charley staffing.

New owners, new look
Owner LXR is an affiliate of The Blackstone Group, which bought South Seas and nine other Florida properties in early 2005 for $367 million.

LXR took over South Seas in the middle of post-hurricane repairs and injected its ideas into the evolving plans. Choice property along Pine Island Sound was stripped of damaged and outdated meeting spaces and a couple of older pools.

In their place: The Pointe Restaurant & Grill and two pools ringed with cabanas that are soon to have LCD and plasma TVs as well as high-speed wireless Internet access.

With the exception of the clubby old King’s Crown restaurant — now reserved for private social functions such as weddings — group meeting space is concentrated away from the water and closer to the public Captiva Drive. In January, LXR “privatized” South Seas. That means only overnight guests and community members of the resort’s club are able to dine and shop behind the security gate.

Schwan said privatization is working out better than he expected.
“It provides exclusivity, and allows us to provide the best service possible,” he said.

Memberships for people who aren’t property owners start at $500 a year for access to all restaurants and shops and the on-resort trolley service.

A second level at $2,000 adds use of the fitness center and golf course. A $3,000 premium membership includes all available amenities such as a private stretch of beach with comfy chairs and beach toys.

Steep adjustment
Michigan resident Edward Thomas said he doesn’t mind privatization, but noted there aren’t as many dining options as before and “the food prices are high.” “Four dollars for one scoop of ice cream, $10 for a hamburger. I can afford it, but I don’t need to pay $10 for a hamburger.”

As he watched his 21Ú2-year-old grandson, Carsten Melbye, play in one of the new swimming pools, Thomas said he’s most impressed with the new landscaping.
On the golf course alone, that included adding about 200 coconut palms, 330 sabal palms and 7,000 shrubs, along with 5,000 aquatic and dune plants.

Thomas has been coming to South Seas for more than 30 years and especially prizes “the relaxed atmosphere, the weather and meeting good people who have become friends.”

This is Thomas’ first visit since Hurricane Charley because he couldn’t bear to see the resort in tatters. Plus he had health problems to overcome.
Now, he said, he’s well and the resort is, too.

“Some things have a different flavor, but that’s all right,” Thomas said. “I just hope the prices don’t drive away the families.”

From the News-Press, March 2007

TAMPA, Fla. – Jan. 15, 2007 – A new computer model that has contributed to large spikes in property insurance rates in coastal areas should have had full review by outside experts before it was released, the ethics chief of the world’s largest general scientific society said.

Research Management Solutions of Newark, Calif., introduced the product to the market long before the scientific peer review process was finished.

“It’s ridiculous from a scientific point of view. It just doesn’t wash well in the context of the way science is conducted,” said Mark S. Frankel, director of the Scientific Freedom, Responsibility & Law Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.

In March, RMS announced a major change to the leading computer modeling program for the insurance industry and made the update available to its clients.

The program predicts a 40 percent increase in losses from hurricanes in Florida, the Gulf Coast and the Southeast. Although not yet approved by the state for use by Florida insurers, it is being used by reinsurance companies that provide financial backing to insurance companies, indirectly increasing rates. The cost of reinsurance makes up 30 percent to 60 percent of premiums, according to the state.

RMS has said development of the new short-term model, which focuses on weather from 2006 to 2010 instead of depending on 100 years of historical data, was well documented.

The company said Thursday that the results are in the process of being published in Tellus, a journal put out by the Swedish Geophysical Society.

That’s the wrong order for several reasons, other experts said.

“In the future doesn’t count” in terms of peer review publication, said Sara Rockwell, director of the Office of Scientific Affairs at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Charles Watson, an engineer who specializes in numerical hazard models, said RMS acted irresponsibly.

“You publish; then you apply it,” Watson said. “Especially for something with trillions of dollars in property value, and people’s lives and livelihood are literally at stake in these decisions. It is irresponsible to implement before peer review. There are tremendous policy implications.”

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We would not want to live in Key West, but we sure are glad it’s any easy trip to get there. With our freinds visiting from Stillwater, Minnesota, we boarded the Key West Express ferry boat at Salty Sam’s marina on Fort Myers Beach for a short weekend trip.

The big twin-hull ferry boat impressed us both in comfort and speed. Once we got on the Gulf of Mexico, we cruised at about 45 mph and could hardly notice any movement nor did we see anyone get sea sick. Our morning cruise was about half capacity (capacity is about 500 people) with a wide variety of passengers, from boomers like us to seniors and toddlers.

During the journey, we roamed about the three decks for different vantage points and alternating between sun and wind (the upper open-air deck, at 45 mph is very windy) and the calm of the air-conditioned interior on the main level.

About 3 1/2 hours later, we were in Key West, armed with cameras and comfortable shoes and ready to play our roles as tourtistas. True to our roles, we took the Conch Train for a guided tour of the island’s rich history, then headed out to the famous night spots for some drinking, dancing, and good food. (Our 60-something friend won the hula-hoop contest on the dance floor, and even though she was the only contestent, we still think her technique was the best. In fact, later that evening she was giving hula lessons to touristas from Germany.)

After contributing to the local economy on Sunday afternoon with lots of shopping, we boarded for our trip home Sunday evening. By midnight we were tuckered out and glad to be tucked away for the night.

Next time we head that way, we plan to travel there in our own boat and stay longer so that we can tour more of the area and take advantage of the fishing, water sports, and wonderful sights. 

One of our favorite local spots for a stop off when we are boating is RumRunners at Cape Harbour. But it just got better. Now there are two more restaurants at the marina.

The Joint has the look of a hip South Beach bistro and open kitchen, with gourmet pizzas and more. The outdoor Cabana Bar sits facing the marina, has large televisions for sports viewing, and live music on Tuesday nights. A third restaurant, Run Agrounds, serves coffee, gelato, and pastries.

UPDATE: We hopped on the boat Tuesday night to check out the live music at the Cabana bar, a spectacular blues band that had eveyone tapping their toes and a few of us dancing. And it’s already a popular spot. Here are some snaps.

If you are interested in purchasing property in the Cape Harbour Development, we can help. Contact us to get started or learn more or visit our site to learn about this and other communities. Here is a link to the location.

SageRealtor Group welcomes Shane Ball and Sandra Avant as contributors to our SouthWest Florida Blog. Shane and Sandra recently relocated from Bakersville, California to Cape Coral, Florida. Shane will be joining SageRealtor Group as a sales agent this month. Sandra works in Public Relations.

Now living their dream, they share their experiences exploring SouthWest Florida and becoming immersed in the Florida lifestyle in this “SouthWest Florida Living” series of posts.

Not a beach lover? No problem. You don’t have to like sand between your toes or water splashing against your feet. Walk in your shoes, jog along the shore or even ride your bike on Fort Myers Beach. Take your pick – sunrise or sunset. I guarantee you’ll keep going back for more.

Still feel safer on dryer land or maybe you just can’t swim. Then just hang out in Fort Myers, Cape Coral or some of the other surrounding cities like Punta Gorda. The area is filled with beautifully landscaped homes, friendly neighbors and merchants and interesting sites such as the homes of Edison and Ford. Oh, and if you love to shop like me, it will take you months to visit all the conveniently located malls. That’s a good thing.

Shopping and site seeking are bound to make you hungry. So don’t forget to eat out a lot. Southwest Florida has some of the best restaurants that offer a variety of mouth-watering foods. Just name the cuisine that stimulates your palate. I love all kinds of food, but two of my favorites are hot wings and down-home cooked vegetables like turnip greens. Within weeks, I had located one of the best hot wings restaurant and of course “Cracker Barrel.” Chose a seafood restaurant, an Italian deli or eat pizzas that make you drool.

To go along with those delicious meals, you’ll find a load of hospitality and customer service the good old fashion way. It doesn’t matter whether the cooking originated from New York, Georgia or Germany. It’s all good. I may never cook another dinner.

Sincerely,

Sandra Avant

Two sailboats passed my line of sight, gliding through an intersection of shimmering water cast by the midday sun at Fort Myers Beach. A boy no more than 8 years old dug hurriedly, creating a huge mound of sand, which he later dived onto like the pelicans soaring above the water before me.

The temperature felt perfect at “Junkanoo” restaurant, where I sat eating delicious grouper nuggets. Golden sunrays covered my feet – a balance to the slightly cool breeze from the Gulf’s shore. I found myself smiling – as I have every day since moving here from California two months ago. The promise of another spectacular day was at hand … and I knew it would come true.

Shane

Fishermen’s Village is a waterfront retail and yacht basin complex in Southwest Florida is located on the Charlotte Harbor in beautiful downtown Punta Gorda, Florida.

And finally, the full-service marina is now open for business.

The marina closed in May of 2003 due to structural problems on the 25 year old docks. Now completely renovated, they opened the fuel dock and have a total of 111 permanent slips, 97 are available for public use, and approximately 31 temporary, free docking areas for day use of boaters visiting the Mall, shops and restaurants. They are also constructing a new dinghy dock for boats that anchor in the Harbor and wish to use facilities.

Now SouthWest Florida boaters can once again take advantage of the shops, entertainment, dining, and nightlife at the village and in downtown Punta Gorda. It’s a good thing!

As boaters are well aware, local knowledge is a key ingredient to a safe journey. And that’s also true for real estate—local knowledge (product knowledge + market knowledge) is key for our customers’ “safe journey” in a property transaction. Because much of our business involves waterfront properties, a boat outing often is part of our job, either conducting research or showing properties. But it can’t be called “work” in the Webster dictionary sense of the word.

Recently we held one of our team meetings on the water, at our other “office”, a 31’ express cruiser. (Pictured below: Shane with our Yorkie Dutch and Mark at the helm… looks like they are working hard, yes?).

One of our objectives for this meeting was to learn more about a couple of the canal systems that lead into the Rubicon canal, one of the most beautiful canals in Cape Coral. The Rubicon is about 220 feet wide and curves and meanders through the Southeast part of the Cape.

We were previewing waterfront properties for two clients interested in purchasing Gulf Access homes in the Southeast area. We checked bridge heights, depths, and trip duration for various homes. We had pre-screened the properties based on price, square footage, age, and other features, but we wanted a close-up look before showing the properties to our clients. After the trip, we eliminated some of the properties due to location, condition of the structure, or absent property features such as pool, dock, or lift.

At the end of the day we had a dynamite short list of properties that we knew our clients would want to see. It was a tough, brutal day at the office.

Florida will remain America’s No. 1 destination for the next 10 years, at least.

David Lereah, Chief Economist of the National Association of Realtors (NAR)

Florida has the highest share of real estate buyers from overseas of any state, 15 percent on average. Those foreign buyers will keep propping up Florida’s real estate market, lured by the U.S. import-export explosion, the high value of the euro compared with the dollar and the safety of U.S. investments amid turmoil in Latin America, Realtors group economist David Lereah and others said at the 2006 International Real Estate Congress and Expo at The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Cables, Florida.

With foreigners still buying, Baby Boomers starting to retire and warm weather a steady lure for northerners, ‘Florida will remain America’s No. 1 destination for the next 10 years, at least,’ Lereah said during the opening day of the three-day event.

Sun-Sentinel, June 13, 2006

Related Posts: SouthWest Florida Market Cycle, Still Sunny, Long-Term Outlook, Florida National and International Ranks #2 and #3

While I’m a certified diver, I have to admit it’s been a long time since I’ve been on a dive. In the local paper today, a great article by Cheryl Wood of the Caloosa Dive Club in Cape Coral caught my eye and got me thinking it’s time to start diving again (after a refresher course to get my skills back in check!).

The Dive Club includes members from all walks of life and age groups with a variety of interests. They organize dives in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida Keys, and Florida East Coast. Visitors are welcome to their web site and club meetings, which are held at the Cape Coral Yacht Club.

Other SouthWest Florida scuba diving resources include: Seahorse Scuba in Fort Myers, and Dean’s Dive Center in Fort Myers, and FantaSea Scuba in Port Charlotte, all of which offer courses, scuba trips, and gear.

It’s that time of year, our favorite in SouthWest Florida.

Here are a few reasons why (in no particular order):

* Goodbye air conditioning. The humidity is all but gone, the temps cooler. Today we opened all the windows, doors, and sliders, turned off the air conditioning and let the breeze drift through the house.  While it’s 85 degrees in the sun, it’s cool as can be inside; the breeze is playfully tossing paperwork off my desk.

* Our 5 lb Yorkie, Dutch, has the run of the house and with everything wide open, he can now run back and forth from the living room, to the lanai, to the office, to the pool (and into the pool, he’s a great swimmer)… all day and all night long. An occasional bark at the neighbors completes his day. Ahhh, the life.

* The top on our convertible will stay down for some months, going up only when there is the infrequent rainstorm.

* Our visitor log is building up, and we are once again using the white board to keep track of who is visiting when. We look so forward to the arrival of friends, family, and clients.

* The SouthWest Florida real estate market is picking up speed. Buyers are coming back, prices are getting real, and well-priced inventory is moving.

* Our “Sno-bird” neighbors and friends are coming back from their summer get-aways and we’re delighted to have them back.

* The best boating season for SouthWest Florida begins now: warm days, cool nights, fantastic sunrises and sunsets.

It’s paradise!

NEW YORK — Oct. 4, 2006 — A first-time public opinion survey asked the question: Where do you want to live? Americans picked Florida as their third favorite state, with North Carolina first and Virginia second. Internationally, Florida ranked No. 2, surpassed only by California.

The Anholt State Brands Index — http://www.statebrandsindex.com/ — recently looked at the responses of 9,000 U.S. citizens and more than 12,000 foreigners regarding the appeal of all 50 U.S. States. The poll, created by government advisor Simon Anholt and powered by global market intelligence solutions provider GMI, found that American panelists ranked North Carolina and Virginia as the top two states where they would like to live, while neither state made it into the top five of the global ranking.

Foreign panelists ranked the big-name states — Florida, California and New York — in the top five, while home-turf panelists reserved the top five slots for some of the smaller-name states, such as Colorado and the afore-mentioned North Carolina and Virginia. In fact, some of the more obvious big names did not make the overall domestic top five, and Florida was the only state to make the top 5 on both rankings.

For instance, foreign favorites California and New York ranked nine and 39 respectively to Americans, while foreign panelists ranked them four and one. In some cases, the foreign panelists chose American states based on misperceptions. Generally, they judged all of New York State, for example, based on the image they had of New York City. And many mistakenly believe that Washington, D.C., is located in Washington State.

The study looked at each states’ “brand,” or the perception of that state held by residents within the U.S. and throughout the world. It looked at six perception areas: tourism, exports, people, governance, culture and heritage, and investment and immigration. In tallying the total marks for each state, the study finds “a big gap between the megabrands of California, Florida” and the other states. “Hawaii and New York are in the second league of brand power,” the report notes, “and then there is another sizeable gap between them and the remaining 46 states.”

“The brand images of U.S. states, as a rule, are more up to date, more detailed, and more likely to be based on fact than fiction amongst domestic audiences than overseas respondents,” says study author Simon Anholt. “The most noticeable difference between how Americans rank the importance of their states and the way foreigners do so is the presence of Virginia and North Carolina in the U.S. panel’s top 10, and their absence from the non-U.S. panels’ list. The high domestic profile of these three states probably has much to do with their relevance to American history, which is not as familiar to foreign audiences as it is to domestic ones.”

“Brand image is critically important to the prosperity of all communities, yet it is hard to identify, hard to explain, and remarkably hard to alter,” says Anholt. “It is critical for the political, cultural, social, educational and business leaders of each state to understand their brand, and to see how potential visitors, investors and future citizens view them. If the image doesn’t match up to the reality, they can decide what to do to close the gap.”

Top five ranking

Responses of U.S. residents:

1. North Carolina
2. Virginia
3. Florida
4. Colorado
5. Oregon

Responses of foreigners:

1. California
2. Florida
3. Hawaii
4. New York
5. Washington

The survey was conducted between May 25 and June 12, 2006. A representative sample based on age, gender, and where applicable, geographic region, race and ethnicity, was collected in the United States (9,000 completes) and the top 15 inbound tourism markets (12,410 completes) for a total of 21,410 completes.

© 2006 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Related Posts: SouthWest Florida Market Cycle, Still Sunny, Long-Term Outlook

Search the Local SouthWest Florida MLS for properties.

Learn about SouthWest Florida lifestyle, economy, beaches, and more.

Last weekend, we took a road trip to visit friends at the Grand National Paso Fino horse show in Perry Georgia. (Years ago, we were in the Paso Fino breeding and showing business. Now, as our horse friends fondly say, instead of throwing money into the horses, we are dumping money down another hole… our boat.) 

We struck up a conversation with a Georgia property developer who, gasp, did not know where Fort Myers was. Naples? Nope. Sarasota? Nope. Miami? Yep.

Fair enough. Before moving here, we did not know much about the geography of Florida either. So where is exactly are we? We define SouthWest Florida as encompassing Charlotte, Lee, and Collier Counties. The primary cities, from north to south, are Punta Gorda, Cape Coral, Sanibel-Captiva, Fort Myers, Estero, Bonita Springs, Naples, and Marco Island.

This illustration shows where the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan areas are in relation to well-known Florida cities: Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and Key West.

This is a chief advantage of living in or visiting SouthWest Florida: proximity to other Florida attractions, whether the night life in South Beach, the beautiful bay at Tampa, the beaches of Sarasota, or the family fun in Orlando. They are all within 2 or 3 hours driving distance, close enough for a day trip or an extended weekend get-away.  The playground of Key West is also in our “backyard,” a 1/2 day trip of about five and a half hours.

All this in addition to the arts, recreation, boating, fishing, and sports right here in SouthWest Florida. Whew! So much to see and do.

Related Posts: On the Water, Why We Chose SouthWest FL Part 1, Part 2,

Good links for more about SouthWest Florida: Lee County Visitor Guide, Charlotte County Visitor Guide, Collier County Visitor Guide, SouthWest Florida International Airport

In the last Cape Coral Vacant Lot Update, we wrote about lot prices for high-end Direct Access (“Sailboat”) lot prices. In this update, we cover upper-end Gulf Access lots with these characteristics:

• Gulf Access (one or more bridges to pass under)
• Seawall in place
• No locks to pass through
• No lift to pass over

The lots with these characteristics are generally in southern parts of SouthWest and SouthEast Cape Coral. Our analysis of recent activity included active listings, pending sales, and closed sales. We threw out some very high priced lots (exceptional lake views, oversized parcels) and some very low priced lots (frontage on a major thoroughfare, less than 80’ of seawall).

The analysis shows that the average asking price for Gulf Access lots is $369,000. The average sales price (pending or closed sale) is $315,000. The lot pictured here is in the SouthWest portion of Cape Coral, has a partial view of Lake Finisterre, and sold for $320,000.

For more information on the types of waterfront property available in SouthWest Florida and the characteristics of each, visit Waterfront Types on SageRealtor.com.

We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again… there is so much to explore on the waterways of SouthWest Florida, it’s hard to get it all done.

Here’s a great web site for learning about SouthWest Florida anchorages with great details, waterway maps, images, and location characteristics. 

Pictured here is an image from the Sea Grant site showing the path into Glover Blight, just off of Tarpon Point in Cape Coral.

Visit SouthWest Florida Anchorages from Florida Sea Grant.