Skip to main content
Louise Bolger

Louise Bolger

August 17, 2017
Louise Bolger is The Sun’s Real Estate columnist.
Email Louise Bolger
December 28, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Building for rent, not sale

The American dream of single-family home ownership, according to certain builders and financial wizards who are paid to know these things, is on the decline. Well, maybe not a decline but certainly a…
December 20, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Do you need a mortgage button?

The tradition of a mortgage button is a little scrimshaw button mounted atop a stairway’s newel post, as a symbol the mortgage was paid off. This is something I saw for the first time on Nant…
December 12, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

How big is too big?

Sometimes what seems like a great idea may not be in the long run. Kind of like that Jaguar you had to have when you were 18; it looked pretty, but it was always in the expensive foreign car…
December 6, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Family, finance and Pearl Harbor

Tomorrow is Pearl Harbor Day, memorializing the attack on our Naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. I’m sure there are many people who still live on Anna Maria Island who will either r…
November 30, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Are there any houses without flaws?

“A mark, fault or other imperfection that mars a substance or object.” That, my friends, is the definition of a flaw. If you think you can find a house that doesn’t fit this description, you’…
November 24, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Let’s talk turkey

So, after the turkey is consumed, the pies are half gone and the dishwasher is running its first load, it’s time to talk turkey. And what’s everyone’s favorite dinner conversation – real esta…
November 14, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Zoom towns

They call them “Zoom towns” because so many of the new residents are working remotely and have given up their city and suburban lifestyles for a more relaxed environment in smaller communities. It’s…
November 7, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Is the Earth moving under homeownership?

As I’m reading that mortgage rates have topped 7% for the first time in 20 years, I can’t help wondering how all the events of the past two years will affect homeownership. As the affordability of pu…
November 1, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

The death of old Florida

Florida’s changed a lot in the over 20 years I’ve lived on the Gulf coast, and it’s changed even more as a result of COVID-19. But the biggest change to southwest Florida and the entire coast…
October 25, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Mortgage rates scary

“Boo!” all you ghosts and goblins. If you’re afraid of what’s lurking behind those Halloween masks, I’ll give you something to really be scared of – the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate has c…
October 17, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Higher mortgage rates affect everything

Think of an octopus – the head of the octopus is the housing market and the tentacles are all of the industries dependent on the housing market. Too much of a stretch? You get the idea. Anyone who…
October 10, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

The Ian effect

My friend who lived near me in Cortez calls it the “Cortez Effect.” The legend is that the Native Americans who inhabited the Cortez peninsula put a curse on the storms so they wouldn’t come ashore i…
September 19, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Credit scores can spoil deals

You finally found the house, negotiated a price and the contract is signed. What can go wrong from this point? Plenty. You may have read about a little glitch involving credit scores back…
September 12, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Crashing real estate waves

We don’t have a lot of serious wave activity here on the Gulf coast; most of the big rollers are on the Atlantic Ocean side, especially north of Florida. However, if you’re talking real estate wave a…
September 5, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Real estate websites changing our lives

In the good old days of the late 1980s when the state of New York told me I was now capable of selling residential real estate, I knew they had no clue. Of course, I also had no clue, but that was pa…

Upcoming Events

View Calendar