Great article on Cape Coral and Fort Myers in the May 2008 Issue of Boat US magazine.

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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.

Thinking about purchasing a wet slip or dock in Southwest Florida? This slip comes with a 16,000 lb lift and a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo with community pool. So after a long day of fishing or cruising and all that fresh air, you can stumble up to your 1,100 SQFT condo and crash or take a refreshing dip in the pool.

The condo’s dedicated slip can accommodate a 38′ boat without the lift. With the already-in-place 16,000 lb lift, it will accommodate about a 30′ boat.

This Cape Coral, direct (sailboat) access property is located literally just a minute or two from the Caloosahatchee river and is on a wide 200′ canal. No bridges, no locks, no marina fees. Just one low price and low condo association fees, and a place that is your own.

Compare the price and value of this property with slips nearby…..

• This Beach Parkway condo and its dedicated dock with lift: $239K. Monthly condo association fees $300. No extra fees for dockage.
• Gulf Harbour 38′ marina slip: $225K. Monthly association fees $250.
• Sanibel Harbour 30′ dry (rack) slip: $120K. Monthly association fees $250.

Oh, and bear in mind that there is property tax on standalone deeded slips. For example the 2006 taxes on the Gulf Harbour 38′ slip were just over $2000. The 2006 taxes on the Beach Parkway condo with slip (non-homesteaded) were $4500.

Beach Parkway in Cape Coral is a popular location for boaters. It’s close to area shopping, dining, and the wonderful riverfront Jaycee Park is just down the street.

Sound interesting? View more details about this well-priced condo.

By Don Ruane
druane@news-press.com
Originally posted on May 09, 2007

A proposed lock on a busy Cape Coral canal may be abandoned because its cost jumped $12 million in four years.

The proposed lock on the south spreader waterway may cost about $15 million, up from $3 million when the city started planning for its construction in 2003.

So instead of building an expensive parallel lock to the Chiquita lock, city officials are preparing to drop the project and ask the state for permission to remove the existing lock.

Boaters with river access from the city’s southwest area must pass through the lock.
About 40 boats use the lock on a daily basis and about 100 per day on weekends, according to Karl Brauer of the Public Works Department.

Long lines often form while boaters wait their turn. A second lock would allow more and larger boats to pass through the barrier.

The proposed lock will be able to handle 60 boats per hour compared with 20 with the existing lock.

Removing the lock would eliminate the delays, too, but it also would allow the river and canal waters to mix. (more…)

This impressive Lake Finisterre pool home is THE best lake property value in Cape Coral, Florida. Not only can you enjoy boating, fishing or skiing on the lake, but also boat out to the Gulf of Mexico. This property is Gulf Access, no locks or lifts, 20 minutes to the Caloosahatchee River/Gulf, and one bridge (10′25”). Check out the view from the huge lanai and pool area!

A rare find that’s right-price and move-in ready. The savvy buyer will have it all at an unbeatable price:

• wonderful 3-2-2 pool home
• enviable corner lot with 140′ of waterfront
• spectacular views
• tranquil and private setting
• mature landscaping
• fantastic boating

This home is sold turnkey—fully furnished right down to the silverware. So bring your toothbrush and move right in. 

Home features include cathedral ceilings, pocket sliders (living, kitchen, and master bedroom), large kitchen, in-residence laundry, new roof in 2005, new screening, and beautifully decorated. Priced at just $425,000, there is not a Finesterre house or even a lot that comes close to this value!

Related Links: View Details on This Listing, Search Cape Coral-Fort Myers MLS, Learn More About the Waterfront 

Along the San Carlos Canal, this condo offers great dolphin watching and you’ll enjoy watching the boaters cruise by too.

It’s a Gulf Access 2/2 condo in Southern Cape Coral Florida. Ground Floor with a large comfortable lanai with expansive canal and pool views. Impeccably maintained and updated with top-quality materials: new appliances, raised white panel cabinets, new lanai tile, wonderfully rich Pergo wood floors, new Lexan Glass sliders, new air conditioner, new hot water heater and more.

Lush Master Suite with sliders to the lanai. Only 32 units in the building, with wonderfully maintained exterior, lush grounds, and LOW monthly fees of just $186/month. Just 15 minutes and one bridge (10′) to the Caloosahatchee River and Gulf of Mexico via the San Carlos canal.

All this for just $269,000. 

View details, or email us if you are interested in knowing more about this property.

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.

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.

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!

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.

August is rainy season and boating excursions can be hit or miss (mostly hit). Afternoon storms lasting about an hour are common each day.

Saturday we toured properties with a client from California visiting to buy a single family home and some 4-plex investment properties. After a steamy day property-hunting, the three of us (well four of us, counting Dutch, our Yorkie) headed out in our ‘31 Tiara Express cruiser for the afternoon and a break from the road.

While idling out of the canal, we looked behind us to see the clouds forming and turning very dark. We knew a lightning storm was on its way, but decided it was safe to keep going and that we could get ahead of the storm. We headed up the ICW toward Sanibel/Captiva and managed to stay ahead of the storm cruising at a comfortable 18 knots. When we reached Redfish Pass (pictured here), we left the ICW and headed out onto the Gulf of Mexico and then a bit further north to North Captiva.

Anchoring off the beautiful beaches of North Captiva, we kept our eyes on the storm but meanwhile enjoyed a light snack and a refreshing swim. Our California friend was, to quote him directly, “like a Labrador that has just been asked to chase a ball,” lapping up the sunshine, salty air, and stunning contrast of the east and west horizons. Our friend had many other witticisms, keeping us both laughing and nostalgic for how fortunate we are to call SouthWest Florida our home.

At about 6:30, we pulled up anchor and started heading back, wanting to ensure we reached Tarpon Point before dark. As we re-entered our canal, there was a light misting rain and the dark part of the storm has passed. (We learned later than it had poured rain for an hour on land.)

A wonderful cruise, in spite of the summer rainstorm threat. Perfect timing all around by Cap’n Dave. Back at the house, we fired up the grill, jumped in the pool for a quick swim, invited some more friends over and enjoyed some great conversation and refreshments.

For more information about Sanibel-Captiva, visit the official tourism site.

Sailors across Southwest Florida are scrubbing their hulls, mending sails, checking lines and tuning up engines as the three-week countdown begins to the area’s largest and longest-running regatta.

The 41st annual Summerset Regatta is a go for Labor Day weekend.

Fifty boats with 250 people are expected to sail from Fort Myers Beach to Naples on Sept. 2, and then compete on a buoy racecourse off the Naples Pier on Sept. 3.

Read more from the News-Press and get details on the schedule.

If you are looking for a boat, ready to trade up or over, or wanting to sell, our good friend Cap’n Mike will take care of you. He found us our ‘31 Tiara, which we aquired at a great price, with low hours, and in bristol condition.

Cap’n Mike, with the boat brokerage of Boats Miami, has a great contact network and many boats for sale, so let him know what your goals are and he’ll git ‘r done. 

His primary territory is SouthWest Florida and he also locates boats throughout South Florida. Email Mike.

The SouthWest Florida Marine Industries Association has great information for beginners in the area and seasoned boaters. Whether you are looking for marinas, boating education, or boat clubs, it’s a great resource.

You’ll see just about every kind of boat imaginable in along the Gulf of Mexico. From luxury yachts to small skiffs. That’s what is so alluring about the boating in SouthWest Florida—there is something for everyone.

Just looking down our canal in Cape Coral, here is sampling of the variety: 18′ deck boat, 21′ bay boat, a 45′ single hull sailboat, 17′ bowrider, 40′ cabin cruiser, 36′ open sportfish, and 2 jet skis.

We love our 31′ Tiara Express Cruiser, pictured here. It has just the right combination of creature comforts, power, and durability. If there’s a chop on the Gulf of Mexico and high rollers, we call that fun and don’t worry a bit about the boat’s stability. And it accomodates a group of 10 people comfortably. While day trips to Sanibel and Fort Myers are routine for us, we also take frequent overnight cruises south to Naples (Crayton Cove) and north to Venice (Crow’s Nest).

On our exploration trip scouting out the SouthWest Florida market (2003), we quickly learned that driving around Punta Gorda and Cape Coral without a good map is not a good idea. Because of all the canal systems, there are many dead ends and you can’t really tell where you’ve been or where you are going. And frustratingly, finding a good map is not easy (if you’d like a good map, just let us know and we’ll send ya one). At the same time, if you don’t know where the canals are, they are not easy to spot. Visitors from “up north” who drive the streets are stunned when we take them on a canal cruise, never realizing how many of the homes they pass on the road are waterfront homes with a canal in the backyard.

This Google map shows a small section of Cape Coral called the Yacht Club neighborhood. The map is good illustration of where the lakes and canals are. And notice the canal widths—some look like large channels and are 250′ wide, while others are smaller (the smallest being 80′ wide).

A waterfront paradise… with lots of variety in waterfront property types and beaches.

Continuing along the Gulf of Mexico along Florida’s west coast, we explored Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, and Naples areas. The area felt right to us. With all the canal systems, the Caloosahatchee River, Charlotte Harbor, and of course the Gulf of Mexico… this we decided was a waterfront paradise with lots of variety in boating and beaches.

And while the other areas were too cold for us, we were expecting SouthWest Florida was going to be too hot. It wasn’t. Quite pleasant in fact… about 70 degrees on a typical November day and cool at night. Nice. (more…)

Lifetyle. Lifestyle. Lifestyle. For us it was all about boating. Prior to moving here, we lived in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. We loved boating on the St. Croix River (our boat was slipped at Afton Marina). But we could really only use the boat 3 to 4 months out of the year. It was an expensive hobby between the haul-outs and put-ins, shrink-wrapping in the winter, winterizing… and all those things that a cold climate requires of boaters.

Life is short. With Dave nearing his 50th birthday, we talked a lot about where we wanted to be in the future, physically and mentally. Answer: Not Minnesota. Must be entrepreneurial and in real estate.

We also looked around at family and friends who always said they’d move after they retired, but somehow never got around to it (too old, too tired, not enough money, got sick, spouse died… the stuff of life as we get older). So we decided not to wait until retirement to do what we really wanted to do. Why not now, we thought… and in no time, a plan was in motion. (more…)