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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 20, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Mortgage rate relief?

Aug. 9 was an interesting day. Manatee County was still cleaning up from the flooding and record-breaking rain from Debby and the mortgage rates hit the lowest level in over a year. What’s the connec…
August 12, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Real estate brats

One of the things I love about writing this column is that while I’m doing my research, I frequently stumble on things I never heard of and likely never would in my day-to-day life. This month I lear…
August 5, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Housing market the only thing frozen in August

If you’re one of the lucky homeowners who was able to lock into dirt-cheap mortgage rates, well done. You’re one of the winners in today’s peculiar and lopsided housing markets. This isn’t the first…
July 29, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Hot temps, cool market

For some reason, I’m finding this summer more uncomfortable than in past years. I considered that I’m just getting older, but I can’t believe that, or maybe reading the sales statistics every month i…
July 22, 2024
By Louise Bolger

House swap to escape the heat

Are you hot yet? Are you always saying, “Next summer I’m going to a cooler climate?” Are you starting to feel like you’ll never see 60 degrees again? Well, maybe it’s time to log on to a house-swappi…
July 17, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Appraisals an art form

The last time I did a column about property appraisals was almost four years ago in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when the real estate market was all over the place and a fair appraisal was dif…
July 9, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Bargains on the beach

Realtor.com is part of my everyday life. I check it for new listings, sold listings, open houses and sometimes just to look at the pictures on what may be an otherwise slow day. Sometimes I even lea…
July 1, 2024
By Louise Bolger

The three-month sofa

Tomorrow is July 4, a festive day for the country and Anna Maria Island, where small-town vibes and celebrations still happen. Flags flying, parades, fireworks and barbecues will be on full display…
June 25, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Home sales and hurricanes

This is one of those times when I just want to put my head in the sand or at least lay on top of it and totally zone out. The weather is hot, hot, hot, the real estate market is cold, cold, cold and…
June 19, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Roofs: Need I say more?

It’s Florida, it’s hurricane season and your insurer is taking a good look at the most important thing over your head, and it’s not your favorite baseball cap. It used to be that a roof needed to be…
June 11, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Reinsurance causing rate hikes

I know, not more talk about insurance, especially a week after the beginning of hurricane season. But if the Wall Street Journal can put it on their front page, I can report it. Reinsurance is appar…
June 3, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Reverse mortgage loans explained

Anyone who considers themselves a senior, which I certainly do, at some point will probably have considered a reverse mortgage. It’s not a conventional mortgage designed for the majority of home purc…
May 28, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Everyone’s talking about home prices

I challenge you to enter a room with at least four adult homeowners and not hear the conversation eventually gravitating to the price of homes. Some of the conversation centers on fear that what the…
May 21, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Lower your mortgage rate – it’s possible

Last week the big news was the escalation of mortgage rates and the prediction by the mortgage “experts” that we’re not seeing them being lowered anytime soon. This week we’ll touch on ways to maybe…
May 14, 2024
By Louise Bolger

Buyers losing hope

Tired of waiting for mortgage rates to come down? You’re not alone. Every potential buyer out there is waiting for the same thing, the problem is the Federal Reserve isn’t moving the needle, so it mi…