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Louise Bolger

Louise Bolger

August 17, 2017
Louise Bolger is The Sun’s Real Estate columnist.
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January 28, 2025
By Louise Bolger

Real estate market in uncharted territory

Everyone likes to speculate on what the real estate trends will be going forward. The problem is we are in uncharted territory, so making predictions could be a fool’s errand. What is it that we do k…
January 21, 2025
By Louise Bolger

Murphy’s laws in full operation

We’re living through the time of Murphy’s Laws. Murphy’s Laws encompass a series of life’s lessons, all of them meant to be a warning not to get too comfortable with the way things are. Florida resi…
January 14, 2025
By Louise Bolger

Get out your calculators

If it’s costing you more to live these days, it may not be just your grocery bills; there are additional expenses in almost all aspects of our lives. Basically, better get out your calculators and se…
January 8, 2025
By Louise Bolger

Mortgage interest rate future ‘uncertain’

Happy New Year, although this year may not be so happy for homeowners and worse for potential homeowners. Both groups are getting hit with increasing costs they never assumed would come. More next we…
January 1, 2025
By Louise Bolger

All real estate is local

If you want to know the value of your property, just go around the corner and see what recently sold. This was one of the first tenets of determining real estate value I learned more years ago than I…
December 24, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Did FEMA leave a gift under the tree?

It’s Christmas, and I hope you and your loved ones are enjoying some peace of the season after the harrowing few months we all have experienced. Unfortunately, for many, we’re not done with the resto…
December 9, 2024
By Louise Bolger

New flood disclosure requirements in effect

Just what everyone wants right now is a new flood disclosure requirement when selling property. It’s not as if we aren’t aware that Anna Maria Island and the coastal areas of Manatee County could flo…
December 2, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Home sales in the time of storms

There is nothing normal about Manatee County’s sales statistics for September and October. The sales reporting, of course, includes Anna Maria Island, the coastal communities and even homes and commu…
November 21, 2024
By Louise Bolger

A country of renters

The United States has been living the American dream of home ownership since roughly the end of World War II. Obviously, there were homeowners before then, but the end of the war brought a surge of h…
November 5, 2024
By Louise Bolger

One month and we’re still standing

It’s been a month since Milton disturbed our idyllic lifestyle. The hurricane came in as a strong Category 3 storm, fortunately weakening before making landfall due to an increasing wind shear as it…
October 30, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Title insurance and storms

Hopefully, Debby with her rain, Helene with her surge and Milton with his wind are in our rearview mirrors by now, not forgotten, but we survived. Next, we can look forward to more mundane real estat…
October 23, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Sheetrock rocks

There are a lot of things about Hurricane Milton and its aftermath that are new to me and, unfortunately, so many people. I never thought much about sheetrock except what color to paint it, but I’ve…
October 7, 2024
By Louise Bolger

The epic storm that crept up on us

Hurricane Helene was the second deadliest storm in 55 years, Katrina being the first. Did we expect it? I didn’t, and I think most Florida coastal residents did not fully understand the danger of suc…
September 23, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Fondly remembering the 80s

If you loved shoulder pads, Cabbage Patch Kids and the Rubik’s Cube, you probably loved the 80s. But one thing not to love about the 80s was the home buying affordable rate, which has just been outdo…
September 17, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Vintage, or just old?

My mother had a favorite expression regarding fashion. “You need to shop where you won’t see yourself coming and going,” meaning, seek out stores with a unique selection of goods. The same can be sa…