One of the best kept secrets in our boating area is Cayo Costa Island. You can dig your bare toes into the white sands and never be distracted by high rise buildings, fancy restaurants and food vendors, or large crowds of beach goers. Plus you will enjoy some of the best beach sand in all of SW Florida.

Cayo Costa remains a completely “Untouched” island on Florida’s west coast. With only a couple of exceptions, the island remains in its native and natural state. In fact, you can see just how the Caloosa Indians saw it over a thousand years ago. This protected barrier island makes for a great fun destination, which is only accessible by boat. You certainly do not need to be a nature lover to appreciate the island’s beauty. Whether throwing out a fishing line in its back bay or tram riding the 7 miles of the island…..its an experience your sure to remember. The highlight is of course the white sugar sand beach’s at Johnson Shoals, where the only foot prints you will find are likely yours.

Cayo Costa is a State Park and offers tent as well as spartan cabin rental on the Gulf side of the island. Showers and fire pits are provided. Your gear and coolers can go over the 1 mile it takes to cross the island on the tram…..leaving you to make the walk across easy and fun while looking at native trees, peaceful paths, and feeling the on shore breezes. [You can also ride the tram over as well]

The historical significance of the island is huge.  Records dating back to the 1500″s indicated that Florida’s Caloosa Tribe was discovered by Spanish explores. Protecting their territories along the west coast, [now known as Charlotte and Lee Counties] was of high importance to them. Some of the tribe actually was discovered as far south as Key West.

On Cayo Costa the Caloosa constructed stilt homes and wove palmetto leaves into blankets. Others in the tribe farmed and fished. Farming in the sand was challenging, so fishing was their main source of food. Beach shells were sharpened to make spear heads for hunting wild boars as well as fishing. By the late 1700′s the Spanish and other waring tribes reduced the 50,000 Caloosa numbers significantly. Desease’s of the French and Spanish also brought death to this fragile society.

This one-of-a-kind island is an excellant way for the entire boating family to “get away” and enjoy the island as a fun destination for a day or weekend. Google Cayo Costa State Park - Lee County Parks and Recreation for more info. From the ICW enter Pelican Bay at marker 74 and its 4-8 ft. of average water depth. The docks are easily seen and very sturdy for even the largest trawler. Check out Pineland Marina also for their water taxi service to the island.

Enjoy……………………………. 

A day trip by boat into paradise!

To begin your journey enter the Intercoastal waterway and head toward Cape Coral. At Marker #92 [Green] enter the 8 – 12 ft. deep well marked channel into Glover Bight. Signs clearly mark this wide deep water channel. Enter the large basin marina and head for the free public docks. As your coming into the basin now may be the time to re-fuel your boat for the return home. The fuel docks are manned and the tie up is assisted by friendly staff. They can also direct you to the free public docks for visitors, if its your first trip. The marina can actually handle 75 ft. boats quite easily. For advance information before coming call Capt. Kelly Tolbert at 239-549-4900.

First stop, either the Marker 92 Waterfront Bar & Bistro, or, The Nauti Mermaid dockside Bar & Grill. Both offer the very best Bloody Mary in all of SW Florida, using only fresh ingredients and made to order from scratch. Grab a menu from each and decide where to have your lunch or dinner later. Marker 92 offers its signature wood fired dishes including home made pizza’s. dine in or out in comfort. Nauti Mermaid offers a more casual menu of salads, burgers, sandwiches and light bar fare. For marina viewing……..this is your spot.

After a refreshment head over to the Promenade for some shopping. One stop might be at the Ships Store for any need ed supplies…sandwiches for the return trip, beer, ice and soda. Your next stop on the Promenade is Lornes Gallery for some viewing of local art. Next stop is She Sells Shoes and Resort Ware. Esterra Spa is also an exciting place to stop for a professional pedicure, or one of their signature treatments.

One of my favorite things to do after lunch or dinner is to walk the marina itself. Transient boaters from all over the world use this facility as well as travelers coming thru the ICW to and from Stuart Florida on the east coast. All types of watercraft can be viewed with a simple stroll down the boardwalks. Its a perfect ending to your day boating trip. Who knows, you may find an interesting boater story along your stroll.

Tarpon Point is located at 5902 Silver King Blvd. Cape Coral fl. 33914. There main number is 239-541-5025

Enjoy your day here!

Plan your day trip to this SW Florida destination.

Coming by boat you will want to travel the Intercoastal waterway to SW Cape Coral. At marker #92 [Green] go west and enter Glover Bight. This deep water channel is easy to follow and offers both mangrove viewing as well as elegant waterfront homes * Follow the waterway to the Chiquita Lock.  The current status of the lock is one-boat-at-a-time in either direction with a Lock Master during the day and late afternoon periods.

Once thru the lock and around the bend is Cape Harbour. The perimeter of the marina offers along side public dockage, so fears of crowded docks is not an issue. Start off with a Bloody Mary or your  favorite fruity drink at the outdoor bar at The Joint, situated in the center promonode of the marina. The Joint is noted for its great drink menu.

Next enjoy the easy pedestrian walk and enjoy the shopping at the boutiques. Banana Bay…Divine Diva”s…Fancy Nancy…Scentments Fragrences…Suzy’s Accents…Tropic’s and Paradise, and Vapin in the Harbour  will surely offer a fun time for every visitor.

Next walk into the Art Gallery where local artists are featured every month. Come and look at new oils and paints every month.

If its lunch you want, there is a gourmet grocery for your private picnic. Pignoli’s  on the Harbor offers breakfast, lunch and evening menus, plus a full service bar. They have evening street entertainment Thursday-Sunday.  Another less fancy spot is The Joint. At The Joint grab a beer at the outdoor covered bar. Order a hand made pizza to go with it. Spend $20 bucks and be full!

After a great lunch stroll over to Run Arounds for ice cream. There is always room for this  hand made dessert. Run Arounds sells gourmet and other premium coffee’s as well.

If you planning more of a late day or evening trip to Cape harbour, plan on a nice dinner at Rumrunners. Dock and Dine parking is right in front of the waterfront restaurant. You have open air seating…covered screened deck seating…air conditioned table cloth seating. Full service menu offering fine seafood as its specialty. My favorite is the open air seating along the water front boardwalk. Its entertaining to watch the boats come and go along the canal waterway.

Upon your departure, check your fuel guage, Cape harbour offers some ot the lowest gas and diesel prices in the entire arera, so fill up before heading home.

For more information and schedule of events happening while your there call 945-6116 or 877-945-6116 or Google Cape Harbour of Cape Coral Florida. You can also Google their address at 5703 Cape Harbour Drive for a complete site map.

Enjoy this fun boating destination!!

Promptly at 3pm, the first lap around the football stadium were the cancer “survivors”. Led this year by a 5 year old cancer survivor herself, she led the “survivors” and their care givers around the track to kick off the 18 hour event. Wearing their purple T shirts, each fell in line as local spectators clapped and cheered them on around the field. The survivor lap has been the signature opening for the Cape Coral Relay since its early beginnings.

Once completed, the “survivors” were treated to a special tent dinner catered by Bonefish Grill. Hot meals, cold water bottles, anniversary cake, and much more all provided free to this special group of cancer survivors. As a cancer survivor myself, the event is of particular importance, and the number of supporters was overwhelming. A huge thanks to the folks at Bonefish Grill!

Next was the tent walk. As local bands played live music on the stage, every one was up and walking the tent line. Teams each had their own theme for the event, and offered their wares…food…treats…gifts…up for sale. All of the items sold were from $1.00 to $10.00, with all teams trying to raise the most money. Some teams even made home-made items to sell, others cooked or grilled everything from dogs and burgers to chicken wings. As of this writing, I have no numbers in attendance, but there was quite a crowd.

Some supporters brought camping tents and others brought motor homes for the 18 hour over night event. Each team is supposed to keep one member of the team on the track walking during the entire event……….walking till the cure is found.

This years event hosted over 34 individual teams and tent sale offerings. Each team makes a commitment of at least raising $100. The goal was to exceed last years fund raiser of $118,000. This years event brought in a local DJ, and 6 bands for entertainment.

For more information on how you can start a team, join an existing team, or just come and partake of the fun, contact the local American Cancer Society office at 936-1113 ext. 3904 or email them at www.relayforlife.org/capecoralfl 

The volunteers and other helpers all wore orange shirts and were offered rides on a retired fire truck circling the foot ball field and blowing its horn to create excitement among the spectators. Its a really well organized event and fun for everyone. We saw more young people at this years Relay than we have in years past.

DID YOU KNOW…….

Cape Coral consists of over 138,000 pre-platted lots. Most are 80 x 125 as a standard size. Some 120 x 125 triple lot sites exist as well. Jack and Leonard Rosen launched the city in 1957 when the brothers bought Redfish point and formed Gulf America Land Corporation. Some of the largest earth movers in the world were brought in to dig the 400 miles of navigable canals. They had to do this…..as it stood the land mass was a saltwater marsh, so they needed the excavated dirt for fill, to bring up the elevations needed for home-sites and roads. The very  low areas were dredged to form lakes or the super wide 200 ft  canals. A popular book about the Rosen’s and their “grand” land marketing plan was aptly called…”The Lies that came True”. The city was incorporated in 1970.

Cape Coral consists of 114 square miles with over 1,700 miles of paved roadways, making it the 2nd largest city in area in the state of Florida. [Jacksonville is number 1.] The city has 2 bridges that offer access to other parts of Lee County. A word of caution to newcomers…….never attempt to travel about, without a street map. Without one, you may be blocked by a canal……you may see your destination, but cant get to it for a canal in between.

Cape Coral is divided into 4 quadrants…NE…NW…SE…SW. All Avenues, Boulevards, Courts and Places run north and south, so remember your ABC’s and P’s. The others…. Lanes, Parkways, Streets, and Terraces generally run east to west. So…. 4538 SE 5th Place…..is in the SE quadrant and runs north and south.

Cape Coral has over 400 miles of canals offering boaters a “dream” Paradise location for boating and fishing. Canal widths vary from 80 ft wide to over 200 feet in width. Wider the canal, higher the lot value. Types of canals range from: 1] Sailboat access [no restrictions like bridges or locks.] 2] Restricted access canals. 3] Freshwater canals. [No access to the Gulf of Mexico.] In general, the Gulf Access properties value is somewhat dependant on travel time to the Intercoastal waterway. Travel in any of the cities canal systems is “No Wake” speed. Swimming in the canals is not recommended!

Cape Coral is bordered on 3 sides by the Caloosahatchee River. The Caloosa indians settled along this river over 3,500 years ago. The name Hatchee is the Caloosa word meaning “river”. We call it the Intercoastal waterway since the river crosses the state and meets the Atlantic in Stuart Florida. Barges as well as pleasure craft have used this waterway for years. The first tourists to visit Cape Coral were Ponce De Leon and Jose Gaspar. De Leon landed in 1513 and was killed by a Caloosa indian arrow. That tribe is now extinct.

Tidbits……

Average low temperature = 64 degrees * Average temperature = 74 degrees * High Temperature = 88 degrees * Dry season rain fall = 7-9  inches [October thru May] * Rainy season rainfall = 44-51 inches [June thru September] * Hurricane season runs from June 1st thru November 1st * Local population = 163,000 * Snowbird season population = 190,000 [October thru April] * Build-out population anticipated  = 422,000 people *  Largest employer = Cape Coral Hospital * Tampa & Miami are 2.5 hours away * Orlando is 3.5 hours away * Average age in the city = 41 yrs old * The city is within 2 flood zones A & B [Lower 1/2 of the city is more coastal and the "A" zone.] * Hospitality and Service related businesses offer the majority of employment * Number of Golf courses = 3 * The downtown was refurbished with pedestrian friendly paver brick sidewalks in 2009 * Our area has the largest population of West Indian manatee’s and bottle nosed dolphins in the world * Boca Grande Pass  hosts the largest tarpon fishing in the entire world…since 1880. * Harney Point Realty was the 1st real estate office in the city * Big John’s Plaza sported the 1st grocery store in town.

If your currently renting, you may want to read this article. The Florida Legislature just announced that $35,000,000 dollars has been set aside for down-payment home ownership assistance thru the Florida Housing Finance Corporation [FHFC].  These monies were a part of  Florida’a huge settlement from the nations 5 largest mortgage services.

Here are the bones of the program:

1]FHFC offers first time home buyers 30 year fixed interest rate mortgage loans thru a network of participating lenders within the State.

2]  The program uses the old tried and true method of using income and purchase price limits to determine eligibility. Ratio’s are used to determine percent of debt to the anticipated mortgage payment, as well as income to total overall debt percentages.

3] The borrowers are required to have at least $1,000 of their own monies toward the purchase. [No gift money allowed from relatives.]

4] Buyers must complete  first-time buyers education classes. [About 1.5 hours in length, and there are 3 classes]

5] Borrowers must have at least a 640 credit score, or above.

6] The property is intended to be an owner occupied dwelling, no investors allowed.

With the current affordability of the home prices, and near record low interest rates, this is the perfect time for first time buyers to enter the market to find their “dream” home. In 2012, almost 22% of the homes sold in Florida were purchased by first time purchasers. Of those purchases, 77% involved financing.

Watch the market, its about time for the “move up” owners to sell and buy larger homes, creating a good supply of starter homes entering the market. The news about Florida real estate just keeps getting better!

Realtors are just now being educated about this program and its details. Our local Board of Realtors and its “Housing Foundation” also gives free classes to the public on “Affordable Housing Solutions”…”Finance Counseling”…at its education center every 3rd Saturday of the month. [except December] 

To learn more….. google Florida Housing Finance Corporation or simply put in FHFC.

For education classes open to the public at the Board of Realtors call 239-936-3537

Remember the old days……..you would walk into a real estate office and leave with a stack of MLS print-outs of “For Sale” homes to review, drive-by the neighborhoods, check out the other homes on the block, and select a few listings to go see?

Remember the old days……..Realtors used Television ads, Billboards, car door signs,  and other print media as methods of marketing to potential buyers?

Thankfully those days are now gone forever!

Today……9 out of 10 buyers begin their home search on-line

Today……62% of those surveyed said they prefer to do their own search first, before ever contacting a Realtor.

Today……About 10% of all real estate search’s are performed using a mobile device. According to the National Association of Realtors, this new trend grew by 120% over 2011 year end figure.

Today…….Most Realtors use 2 monitors on their desk for faster information flow. Most have lap tops, I-Phones,I-pads, and other “smart” devices to meet the needs of their clients.

While 90% of home buyers searched on-line during their home buying process, 88% said they also used a Real Estate agent to make their purchase, according to the same NAR report just released. In 2012 buyers were introduced to a new word called the QR code. This allowed a buyer to stand in front of the real estate sign with their I-Phone and hear everything about the home. In 2013, that same QR code can be multi-lingual as well.

What does all of this mean for the buyer………information! Never before has so much information been available to a buyer interested in purchasing real estate. That information highway is also now global in nature. It raises the question about what our real estate world will be like in the year 2020?

One interesting fact that is emerging for 2013 is the number of 25-35 year olds entering the market as first time buyers. With prices for homes hitting bottom in the fall of 2011, there has been a slow but ever improving prices of homes during 2012. Some recent articles that I’ve read suggest that 72% of this age group see home ownership as part of their personal plan. With the U.S. birth rate headed downward, its no surprise this age group is focused on careers and other objectives like home ownership.

Another study showed that people in this same age group of 25 -35, that are currently renters, almost 93%  of them have home ownership on their radar, according to a recent study by the Realtor Association of Fort Myers.

The obstacles these first time buyers face are—–lack of supply of available homes, and tight credit rules among lenders.

First time buyers in this age group are knowledgeable about how to search for property on-line…select certain neighborhoods to watch for new listings…research home prices…select homes with specific amenities to review…see virtual tours of the interior without stepping into the home………..but lack the knowledge about how to obtain a loan, and the negotiating skills required in a low inventory market.

It still makes sense to use the services of a knowledgeable Realtor in both the search…negotiating the sale price…obtain the right loan that suits the buyers budget. In most cases the services of a Realtor for the buyer is almost no-cost, other than perhaps a transaction fee of around $300 – $395 dollars. The seller of the property pays  the 6-7% Broker fee which is split with any participating Realtor. So it just makes good sense for a buyer to do the initial research themselves, but to work with a Realtor for the actual purchase, of their “dream” home.

A footnote should be made about Lee County. Some area’s of the County entail more farming for example than others [Fort Myers] and other areas offer more Leisure and Hospitality [Sanibel & Captiva]. Anyway, here are the statistic’s for the entire County for your review. Anyone looking to relocate here, will want to pay particular attention for employment opportunities within their individual profession.  

Public Transportation  & Utilities Services = 21.2%

Financial avtivity and Banking services = 5.1%

Government service positions…[local & state] = 18.2%

Education & Health services = 11.9%

Leisure and Hospitality = 16.8%

Manufacturing = 2.3%

Farming = 1.5%

Information services = 1.4%

Professional & Business services = 19.6%

Other services = 4.5%

This is the distribution of employment for all of Lee County for the calendar year of 2012. In general, these statistic’s do not fluctuate very much from year to year. As our County economy improves then more of the statistic’s shift to the Liesure and Hospitality sections as our Resorts and Beach Hotels hire more staff.

One interesting note is the unemployment numbers. Current 1st quarter, 2013 unemployment is right at 8.0% and varies a bit from month to month. For the U.S., unemployment for this same quarter was 7.8%.

For 2012, unemployment in Lee County was 10.2 %. Lets hope our improving trend line continues.

Prices have been rising on homes now for 14 consecutive month’s. If your selling one home to move up and into a larger one, it does you no good to wait for prices to climb higher……..the price of the move-up new home will increase in value faster, than the price on the home your’re leaving behind. The time for this type of buyer to take action is now!

Another call to action involves interest rates. We have been at artificially low 3.3 – 3.5% mortgage interest rates for quite some time as regulators try to stimulate the housing market. My guess is that now that since the housing ball is moving once again in a forward direction, that by next year we will be nearer a 4.5% rate. If you wait and that occurs, your monthly mortgage cost will increase on that next home.

Savvy sellers thinking about timing of the market, and moving up to a larger home have already called their Realtor and got their existing home on the market! They know the government regulators have been waiting for the best time to raise the mortgage interest rates.

Another reason for a move now, involves the equity in your current home. If you were lucky enough to have bought  here in SW Florida in the down years of 2006 – 2010, you may find that 2013 may be a prime opportunity for you to sell. If you bought at those prices at the time, you may find a nice bit of equity when you sell, that can help with your new purchase, or save and use for improvements to your new “Dream” home.

Here is a time when this strategy will not work:

If your at the stage of life that tells you to sell your home and move into a rental or independent living facility, to cut the home maintenance and upkeep expenses, taxes, insurance, etc……you may want to wait for awhile and let prices continue to creep upward. For every month you wait to sell in this market your adding value.