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Louise Bolger

Louise Bolger

August 17, 2017
Louise Bolger is The Sun’s Real Estate columnist.
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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…
August 29, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Is Florida the new New York?

What’s happened in the last two years with the rise of COVID-19 has changed our culture, our housing and our geography so much that it’s hard to wrap your brain around it. Everything we do has the…
August 22, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Waterfront home buyers have lots to learn

To say that waterfront living is not for the faint of heart would not do justice to fainting. It’s more like a daily swoon, especially in storms or high tides. But even just plain old daily living ca…
August 16, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Renovations, teardowns rampant on Island

I challenge you to take a ride around Anna Maria Island and find a street where there are no properties either being currently or recently renovated or torn down. I can’t guarantee you won’t find any…
August 8, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Is the country in a housing affordability crisis?

This pains me to say, but I’m glad I‘m not in my 30s anymore. Not because I didn’t think it was the best decade of my life, but because I would hate being in the real estate market now shopping for m…
August 1, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Are we starting to turn a corner?

It’s a fact – the number of real estate sales around the country appears to be slowing, but the sale prices aren’t. There is no way to spin this. It’s a fact. The question is, what does it mean and w…
July 25, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Cash is king in today’s real estate market

Are we starting to see an adjustment in the real estate market, maybe, or are only some parts of it changing? One thing that is still very strong relative to the country as a whole are the cash offer…
July 18, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Adjustable rate mortgages right for some

Less than a month ago, around the middle of July, I reported that the 30-year fixed rate mortgage loan interest rate was nearing 6%. It never went over 6%, but instead started dropping back down. As…
July 11, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Homeowners consider renting in tight market

The majority of people in my generation and even those decades younger couldn’t wait to stop paying rent. It was drummed into our brains by our parents and grandparents that paying rent was a waste o…
July 4, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Mortgage interest rates rising again

Here’s a little perspective on the continuing increase of the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage. Several months ago, I did an analysis of the average fixed-rate mortgage rates starting in 1971 recorded on…
June 28, 2022
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Homebuyers getting hit every day

Buying a home was once a happy time for families. Homes were plentiful to choose from, and imagining your grandmother’s credenza in the dining room and the Christmas tree in the living room f…