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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 24, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Resident spirit or creaking house?

Halloween is this weekend, so it’s time to discuss the prospect of your house having a real live spirit who has taken up residence. Well, maybe not real live, but a spirit with an agenda. Many hom…
October 17, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Love is blind

Usually, I write this column around Valentine’s Day, but this year I don’t think I can wait ‘til February. So, let’s talk about the mistakes both buyers and sellers make in an overheated real estate…
October 10, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Bigger waterfront homes, bigger insurance

Have you forgotten the collapse of the condo in Surfside, Florida yet? Those of us who live on the water in Florida may never get over it, it will just keep coming back like a bad dream. The good thi…
October 2, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Get ready for sticker shock with flood insurance 2.0

It’s October, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) new program, called Risk Rating 2.0 Equity in Action, went into effect on Oct. 1. For many homeowners, this may be the annual Octobe…
September 24, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Here today, gone tomorrow

If you want to buy a property in the Bradenton-Sarasota area you have to act fast, and I mean lightning fast. Whatever comes on the market today will likely be gone within a week, selling at record-b…
September 19, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Home renovations not for the faint of heart

So, you think you want to renovate, and you think you should do it before you sell. You’re done with the nasty old bathroom and a large kitchen island has been on your wish list forever. But do you h…
September 13, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Are you ready to be an island investor?

Investing in real estate can be a lifelong dream or a recurring nightmare – usually, it turns out to be both. What sounds better than owning an island home that you can rent for outlandish prices…
September 5, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

How not to derail your transaction

It’s the night before your home closing and your broker calls and says she was just notified by the lender there is a problem with the title and closing is postponed. The moving trucks on both ends o…
August 30, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

House hunting wars

On the HGTV channel’s show “House Hunters,” they make buying a home civilized and stress-free. A smiling real estate professional shows you three homes all in your price range, all in acceptable cond…
August 22, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Buying a condo on the beach is bound to change

How many people do you know who actually hired an engineer to inspect their purchase of a condo? I don’t mean just a building inspector to make sure the appliances, plumbing and air conditioning syst…
August 15, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Homes with docks more valuable than ever

You’ve probably read it dozens of times in real estate advertising: “Buy a home for your boat.” Homes with access to a boat dock have always been popular, but like everything else that COVID-19 has i…
August 8, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

COVID-19 has changed the meaning of home

If it’s true that everything old is new again, we may be living through the real estate version of that idiom. Small cities and small towns sprinkled over the entire United States are having a resurg…
August 1, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Are we starting to see a normal market?

I’m starting to read in national publications that the real estate market is beginning to return to normal with more new listings hitting the market, especially in what is considered the luxury marke…
July 25, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

The always-evolving real estate market

Not everyone wants to own a home of their own. Those of us who have always owned rather than rented understand the challenges faced in ownership, whether you’re in a single-family home or a condo. I…
July 17, 2021
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Just when you think you’ve seen it all

At the end of June, every waterfront condo owner in the state of Florida had what may have been the shock of their real estate lives. The collapse of the oceanfront Champlain Towers South in Surfside…