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Louise Bolger

Louise Bolger

August 17, 2017
Louise Bolger is The Sun’s Real Estate columnist.
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July 31, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Management of condominium associations

To say that condominium and homeowner association living is a big part of the Florida lifestyle would be a massive understatement. Condo living offers the freedom that not only retirees are looking f…
July 24, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

The fastest way to kill a sale

Your beautiful, perfectly updated and decorated Island house is on the market. You have a pool, it’s within walking distance to the beach and it’s priced competitively, so why isn’t it selling? You m…
July 17, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Property values, taxes always hot topics

Summer cocktail parties are one of the staples of the nice warm summer months, sometimes too warm. But whether you’re on the beach, on the boat or just hanging by the backyard pool, the conversation…
July 10, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Where have all the houses gone?

For a very long time now, those involved in the real estate market have been moaning about the lack of inventory. There are buyers ready, willing and able, but there’s not much to choose from. We’re…
June 26, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Preparing your home for sale

William Morris was an English textile designer who was part of the Arts and Crafts movement in the late 1800s. One of his famous quotes is, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be usef…
June 12, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Mortgages ain’t what they used to be

The end of the super low mortgage interest rates has just about arrived. From a low of 3.31 percent for a fixed rate, conventional home mortgage in 2012, we are, as of this writing, up to between 4.4…
June 5, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Let the sunshine in

The Broadway musical “Hair” broke many barriers with its revolutionary nude scene and treatment of sexuality and drugs in 1968. But what I remember most about the show is the music, particularly “Aqu…
May 29, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Taxes and second homes

By now, every homeowner should have had time to assess their tax position based on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 effective Jan. 1. If you haven’t, you have a lot of catching up to do, especially…
May 15, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

A bridge too far?

What now? After more than two decades of discussions about the pros and cons of a tall, fixed-span bridge connecting the mainland with Anna Maria Island, we’re now getting not just one bridge, but tw…
May 8, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

A real estate plateau

There is a word that no one who follows an active real estate market wants to hear, and that word is “plateauing.” What does that mean in real estate lingo? It means leveling out rather than breaking…
May 1, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

More people and we’re still growing

We’re at the end of our winter season, and as much as I hate to say it, the traffic was worse than ever. I know everyone says the same thing every year, but they’re correct every year. It is indeed w…
April 3, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Home interest rates rising

Easter just passed, and, hopefully, you didn’t put all your eggs in one basket. But what if the United States puts maybe not all of its eggs into one basket, but a pretty large percentage of them…
February 6, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Million-dollar sales

House styles are not that much different than fashion styles. What’s in fashion for housing may not change every year, but it does change frequently enough that buyers need to keep their antennas up…
January 9, 2018
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

New cash for the new year

We’re 10 days into the new year, and although November seems like hundreds of miles away in our rear-view mirrors, it’s actually not. There is also an interesting trend going on all over the country…
November 7, 2017
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Is the mortgage tax deduction doomed?

Have you heard that the Trump administration and Congress are trying to get some level of tax reform accomplished? If you haven’t, you’re either living under a rock or like a lot of Americans, you ca…