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Louise Bolger

Louise Bolger

August 17, 2017
Louise Bolger is The Sun’s Real Estate columnist.
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August 16, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Buy a yard for your Zoom

If you look at a lot of waterfront advertising, you see a commonly used phrase – “buy your boat a home.” Now with COVID-19 influencing almost everything in our lives, pretty soon you’re likely to see…
August 10, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

COVID causes changes in housing market

Lots of people these days are telling themselves, “If this is the one life I have to live, maybe I need to set some priorities.” According to national and local real estate sales statistics, a lot of…
August 2, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

When the news is good, be happy

The news hasn’t been that great recently, but the one bright spot is the country’s housing market. Likewise, Manatee County’s housing market is shining almost as bright as the afternoon westerly sun…
July 26, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Are historic low interest rates a good thing?

I really hate to use this much-overused opening line from A Tale of Two Cities, but it works and I have no shame. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” perfectly describes the residen…
July 20, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Perspective on the real estate market

There’s no getting around it; what we’re living through is one for the history books. When we finally come to the end of the dark tunnel called COVID, there will be changes to our lifestyle in ways w…
July 13, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

COVID-19 hitting the credit market

Just when you need credit the most it’s becoming more elusive. Americans have always depended on the equity in their homes as a slush fund for an emergency or big-ticket items like tuitions and home…
July 5, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Add one more problem to the list

I was at lunch recently with friends and we talked about new vocabulary words that may come out of the pandemic, like covid brain, covid dining and covid social distancing. Real estate has always had…
June 28, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

There’s almost never a free ride

If it sounds too good to be true, watch out. The coronavirus has caused many homeowners to lose jobs or take substantial cuts in income as the economy of the country shrinks. Government programs have…
June 20, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

How things have changed

Change seems to be the word that I’m most using these days, and rightfully so since within the span of three short months our lives have completely been turned upside down. For real estate, the chang…
June 15, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Million-dollar surprises

The last time I wrote my million-dollar update published on March 18, we had no idea what a challenge the next months would be. I ended this column with the wish that the next three months wouldn’t h…
June 7, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Mortgage forbearance can lead to foreclosures

Sometimes when something looks too good to be true, it is, and this may be one of those times for mortgage forbearance. Just to be clear, the definition of forbearance is a pause, not a termination…
June 1, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

It’s June – do you know what that means?

Here we are again – the official beginning of hurricane season. But as every Floridian knows, hurricane season is a moving target, as are hurricanes. One week you’re basking in the glow of sunshine a…
May 23, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Does anyone have a clue what’s going on?

Just like the coronavirus predictions about numbers of infections and deaths have been off the mark, so too are the predictions about the future real estate market. There are a whole range of conflic…
May 17, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

When the real estate market sneezes, it infects everyone

The last thing anyone wants these days is for someone next to you in line at the market, the bank or in our slowly-opening restaurants to sneeze near you. But if the real estate market starts to get…
May 11, 2020
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

What’s bad for New York may be good for Florida

I am a New Yorker, I was born in New York City and worked for 25 years in the city. Until I moved to Florida over 20 years ago, I lived my whole life in either New York City or its surrounding suburb…