CAPE CORAL SEEKS DEVELOPERS   Cape Coral officials have issued two Requests for Proposals, one for a hotel and ice rink adjacent to Sun Splash Family Waterpark and another for an Academic Village and Research Park in the city's northeast section. The city owns the land and will lease the land to developers, who will build and manage the projects. The deadline for the hotel/ice rink proposal is Thursday, Oct. 30; the Academic Village deadline is Tuesday, Dec. 23. For more information, contact Mr. Mike Jackson, Director of the Economic Development Office in Cape Coral: City of Cape CoralEconomic Development DirectorPhone: 239-574-0444Fax: 239-574-0452Email: mjackson@capecoral.net   Name: Paige Rausch Email: Contact Paige Rausch Office Phone:(239) 443-2500 Cell Phone:(239) 691-4321 Fax: (... 09/03/2008

  I personally believe Guerrilla Marketing you and your business is all about making a short and to the point statement, getting noticed, leaving a lasting impression. That's the Realtor with the big fish, maybe a dog on his truck ,car or van ? Remember the Super bowl half time ads the last few year's, they try and leave you with one lasting picture to remember?  I recently received a question from a Realtor on activerain.com about my vehicle wrap? I guess she was in a GRI class and they where discussing vehicle wraps. I understand there was some discussions in regards to not to many Realtors have gone forward with having them done? I told her I knew of a few in my area of southwest Florida that have done them but mostly there name and brand.   I was asked about my thoughts? I suggested... 09/02/2008

                                                  Joe Kendall, Realtor with Sandals Realty 239-560-0726 Waterfront & Foreclosure Specialist writes, I was showing gulf access waterfront condos last week and I asked my client if they didn't mind if they would take a picture, so I could share with readers around the country my real estate Blog ( swFloridaRealtorsblog.com ) regarding our tour of gulf access waterfront condos in Cape Coral Florida.    Cape Coral Florida offers some great choices regarding style and location for a gulf access waterfront condo! There are over 100 Gulf Access Waterfront condos priced under $199,000 many are in the Foreclosure Process which maybe sold as a bank short sale or a bank owned property! Several of the condos have community pools!, some are 55 over com... 09/01/2008

        Joe Kendall, Realtor with Sandals Realty a Waterfront and Foreclosure Specialist 239-560-0726 writes, Today I had a client call me and ask me how many Gulf Access Waterfront Pool Homes are currently on the market listed for sale under $300,000 in Cape Coral Florida. As of 10:00pm on August 27 2008 there are 100 homes Gulf Access Waterfront Homes with pools listed for sale with more then 50 % of them are listed in the Pre-Foreclosure process as a bank Short Sale or a Bank Owned Property.           I remember in 1997 We bought our Gulf Access Waterfront Pool Home in Cape Coral Florida and when I looked back then, there where only 21 homes listed for sale within my price range and only 11 of them had a swimming pool. The choices of locations, styles and amenities of the homes for s... 08/27/2008

I have recommended this to alot of my clients and they are sending me gifts, and thank you cards. You want people to love you,  just give them money to save for their future.   Introducing the Money Merge Account system, a powerful tool to help you fulfill your dream of home ownership and save money for your future. The average Money Merge Account customer will pay their mortgage off 100%, in as little as 1/2 to 1/3 the time, with little to no change to their day-to-day spending habits and without increasing their monthly mortgage payments.  Through an innovative program called the Money Merge Account system, homeowners across the nation are paying off their  mortgages in as little as 1/2 to 1/3 the time. Become one of the thousands of United First Financial clients paying off a home mo... 08/27/2008

   The start of the football season around the country this week, reminds me of how the Bank Short Sale Process has been defined over the last year or so. We went though a long and hard training camp with both the Banks and the Realtors defining the process over a period of time and have developed a playbook of guidelines in which to follow. Both teams have gguidelines and the results of the game depends on how well each team works thru the process on the playing field. I believe if you have a great game plan, provide the team with all the information they need, they will take the ball and run with it!      I have been writing over the last 4 weeks, how I have noticed most of the banks have improved their service in dealing with bank short sales over the last month. Most of the banks ha... 08/27/2008

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of being interviewed by the local Fox News station's anchor Amy Wegman.  Stephanie Whiffen, Sr. loan officer for Fifth Third Bank invited me to meet with her and Amy to discuss the short sale properties in Cape Coral. The interview will air during Wednesday evening's 10 pm early news.  There appears to be many questions from consumers as to what exactly a short sale is and how it compares to a foreclosure.  One point that I am constantly reminded of in our industry is that those of us in real estate tend to use "lingo" that we understand and take for granted the public knows what we are talking about.  Case in point is the term short sale.  Some might think that the term short sale would mean that the time period to purchase a short sale would be s... 08/26/2008

When I moved here from Massachusetts in 1995, I remember walking into the Cape Crab and Steakhouse located in the Coralwood Mall. The Crab House, as I called it, was a hangout for local people to have a few drinks and relax after work or on the weekends. The food was great, the prices were right, we had numerous TV's to watch all of the games, and the people were fabulous. I was always able to strike up a conversation with everyone, which worked out well for me because I didn't know anyone from Cape Coral.  I can remember the Lobster tank, the small Happy Hour food station, and the two for one drinks. Back in 2004, when Hurricane Charlie was getting ready to land, a bunch of my friends and their families had never experienced a hurricane before, so we prepared our homes and we all hunke... 08/26/2008

The Lee County Property Appraiser has released Notice of Proposed Property Taxes also known as the "TRIM" Notice on Friday August 22nd, 2008. TRIM is an acronym that stands for "Truth In Millage." The TRIM notice contains specific information designed to inform you of your property tax obligations as required by the Truth In Millage Law that was established in the 1980's by the Florida Legislature. With the decrease in values and the increased Homestead Exemption I have seen my own property taxes decrease 29%.  I also researched some of the properties that I sold to customers this past year.  One of my customers from British Columbia Canada is seeing a 37% decrease in their property taxes on a Gulf Access Residence they purchased this year.  Calculate the percentage change in your prope... 08/24/2008

What exactly does the future hold for those looking to buy or sell real estate in Cape Coral? 1. Time Heals All.  Right now, many who have the ability to buy a home and should are afraid to because of the horror stories they hear.  The further they get away from those feelings the more likely they will feel better about buying a home.2. The market will turn when the money supply loosens.  Right now it is more challenging than in the past, (noticed I did not say impossible) to obtain money to buy a home.  Once the guidelines and qualifications loosen and more people can obtain money properly, we will see an increased demand for homes and the prices will follow.3. Foreign Money will continue to flow in.  With a weak dollar, the word is out.  Foreigners have always loved S.W. Florida.  Wit... 08/22/2008

Save time!  Save time!  Get ALL the houses available for sale in Cape Coral in one shot, no more searching many websites.  It's completely unnecessary!  Free, no obligation. Here's why: Do you know that all those real estate websites that you're searching are coming from one place?  Are you searching Google, Yahoo, AOL, Realtor.com, Foreclosures.com, Hotpads, Craigslist, Remax.com, etc, etc, etc trying to find a complete list of homes for sale to find the house to get the best bang for your buck?  Do you know how those website get listings? Okay, here's the deal.  As a Realtor, I first enter my new listing into my local MLS (multiple listing service).  Next, my MLS service syndicates the exact listing out to several search services, such as Realtor.com.  Next, Realtor.com and a few othe... 08/22/2008

  Cape Coral Sun Splash waterpark for children of all ages.   Even in Florida we value summer fun.  One of the best entertainments around is Sun Splash in Cape Coral.    Water always makes us feel better and if you are afraid to swim in the Gulf  because of what also lives there, then Sun Splash is for you (young and Old).  The park is clean and safe.  You must get there early to get a shady spot and a lounger that they provide.  You can’t bring your own food and drink but it is so inexpensive its OK.  They have lots of choices of food, drink and ice cream.   We took the grandchildren and delighted in watching them on the slides but we had just as much fun on the slides and the lazy river?  We could do that all day.  What a wonderful time and people watching is one of my favorite sports... 08/22/2008

Cape Coral Real Estate - Tops In Foreclosures We all know real estate goes in cycles.  When markets heat up, they need a cooling off period.  As prices get out of balance, they should come back to earth and find that middle ground. It is amazing to me that what is occurring in many markets is not only have prices retreated, but they have gone so far that in many cases you can now buy a home for less money than the cost of building a new home, even if the dirt were FREE.  There is probably no better place in the country to take advantage of this opportunity than with Cape Coral real estate.  Cape Coral foreclosures and Cape Coral short sale properties are abundant with single family homes starting in the $70's.  What is more surprising is that many buyers still do not recognize this.  Wa... 08/22/2008

Greetings from not so sunny Cape Coral, Florida! I know this is Thursday, and I missed the Hump Day humor!  Sorry about that, but we had a date with Faye.  We were prepared for the worst, but other then some strong wind, and lots of rain Cape Coral survived unscathed! The outer bands of the tropical storm are still affecting us with intermittent showers throughout the course of the day and some gusty winds! The buyer activity was back to normal today with contracts being written on houses in all price ranges!  Believe it or not, we have somebody submit an offer on a three bedroom two bath home with a pool for $69,000!  That's right $69,000!  Unbelievable!!! During one of my training sessions this past week, we talked about the importance of picking your words carefully.  People sometime... 08/21/2008

Cape Coral Real Estate - Tops In Foreclosures We all know real estate goes in cycles.  When markets heat up, they need a cooling off period.  As prices get out of balance, they should come back to earth and find that middle ground. It is amazing to me that what is occurring in many markets is not only have prices retreated, but they have gone so far that in many cases you can now buy a home for less money than the cost of building a new home, even if the dirt were FREE.  There is probably no better place in the country to take advantage of this opportunity than with Cape Coral real estate.  Cape Coral foreclosures and Cape Coral short sale properties are abundant with single family homes starting in the $70's.  What is more surprising is that many buyers still do not recognize this.  Wa... 08/21/2008

   Alot of folks have asked me about what the future holds with respect to utility assesments....  My thoughts are that they'll be further in the future than originally expected and cost less than in the past.  Here's a link to the latest News Press article on this issue...and some of the other issues the city is dealing with resulting from the change in tax revenue.   http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080812/CAPEWATER/808120390/1003/ACC   08/14/2008

Well it was another hot, humid day down here beautiful Cape Coral Florida! We had our typical late afternoon storms followed by a gorgeous sunset! And of course it's Wednesday, affectionately known as "Hump Day", so it is  time for a little humor to get us through the rest of the week! You know there are  certain things that never cease to amaze me and certain questions that I just can't seem to find answers for! And then there are things that are just plain stupid! Let me show you what I mean! Only in America........ to drugstores make the sick man walk all the way to the back of the store to get his prescriptions, while the healthy man can buy cigarettes right at the front door! Only in America...... do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries and a diet coke! Only in America...... 08/13/2008

Cape Coral is definitely heating up, not only temperature and humidity wise, but also when it comes to real estate! As I have told you in previous posts, the real estate market has been busy for the last few months, with most sales being in the lower spectrum.  Starter homes anywhere from 80,000 to 150,000 were moving at a great rate! Recently we have seen an influx of buyers for the for higher priced homes, especially Gulf access homes. Homes that a few years ago were selling for $500,000 and $600,000 are now being listed through short sales and foreclosures for less than $350,000! I saw a home this week 2100 square feet of living area, three bedroom two bath, with a pool on the Gulf access canal in the southwest section of the Cape, that was listed for 275,900! It was a bank foreclosu... 08/13/2008

   Joe Kendall, Realtor with Sandals Realty a Waterfront and Foreclosure Specialist writes, I would like to share with all my readers the great waterfront property I have been able to place homes under contract for one of my Clients from Canada. This home is a Waterfront Pool Home located on a intersecting canal in Cape Coral Florida. This canal system is connectedto two lakes and runs about 5 miles Long! Now is the time to buy your Waterfront Vacation Home. You can search hundreds of waterfront Homes located in Southwest Florida from my web site at www.joekendall.listingbook.com  Discover Southwest Florida visit www.Viewswflorida.com  Joe Lists and Sells Cape Coral Florida visit www.Joesellscapecoral.com  Best regards, Joe Kendall, Realtor  Direct Line 239-560-0726           08/12/2008

   Joe Kendall, Realtor with Sandals Realty Waterfront and Foreclosure Specialist writes: I just wanted to share with my readers some of the great deals on gulf access waterfront pool homes in Cape Coral Florida! This home is a Bank Owned sailboat access pool home with a 10,000 lb boat lift the view is looking down the canal from the pool deck.  This home Features an updated Kitchen with newer appliances, I was able to negotiate this home under contract for one of my clients over the past weekend for under $240,000 dollars! We just had the home inspection yesterday and it passed with flying colors! My client's from New Jersey are very excited about there new home and can not wait to close and start enjoying their very own " Piece of Paradise! "                         Now is the time to... 08/12/2008