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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 3, 2023
By Louise Bolger

Homes are shrinking, but not on AMI

Well, here we go with another everything old is new again story. This time it’s about the size of the average American home. The homes most of us, certainly my generation, grew up in were small rela…
September 26, 2023
By Louise Bolger

Market in the eye of the beholder

To some people, our national real estate market is downright awful, but to others, it may be the best of real estate times. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. Don’t believe everything you read and…
September 19, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Property owners with equity may tend to overpay

Feeling pretty flush, are you? Most of us who have owned property for several years are pretty happy with the equity we have accumulated. But if you are selling and purchasing another property, be ca…
September 11, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Some homeowners ‘going bare’

Florida homeowner’s insurance is one of our favorite cocktail party conversations here on the coast. People who don’t live on the coast think we’re nuts to risk all just for great views and beach acc…
September 4, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

New homes a no-brainer for some

Sometimes choosing something that you thought was totally out of your range becomes the obvious choice. In a tight real estate market with little inventory, for some buyers, new construction is the b…
September 1, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Higher rates here to stay

On Aug. 17, mortgage interest rates spiked to 7.09%, the highest in years per Freddie Mac. A lot of this has to do with the 10-year treasury yield, which hit its highest level since 2008 on the same…
August 23, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

High-end properties show blow-out numbers

Every day I look at new listings on Anna Maria Island and in Cortez, and every day I’m surprised and ask myself when it will end. In the years leading up to COVID-19, I would analyze over $1 million…
August 15, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Has Anna Maria Island been gentrified?

I’m working on my 14-hour real estate continuing education course which I am required to do thankfully only every two years to keep my Florida real estate license. Every time I work through the quest…
August 8, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Money, money, money

There’s a great song from the movie Cabaret that goes something like this: “Money makes the world go ’round, the world go ’round, the world go ‘round.” I like it because it says so much in such a sho…
July 31, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Florida seniors caught in trap

Last week we talked about the insurance nightmare affecting all homeowners in the state of Florida. However, there is one group of residents having a more difficult time resolving their insurance iss…
July 24, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Florida insurance nightmare grows

It’s like waking up from a bad dream and realizing it was only a dream and everything is just fine. However, the Florida insurance nightmare isn’t just a bad dream, it’s the new reality, and we keep…
July 17, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Mortgage rates on the move

Residential mortgage rates barely budged in June, leveling off at the 6.5% mark the last week of May. Just when buyers were starting to exhale, thinking this may be as high as we go, the national 30-…
July 11, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

The value of a renovated home

Most homebuyers today want to buy a home, but very few want to buy a project. Nice work if you can get it, but even in our slightly leveling-off market, it may not be so easy. Unfortunately for bu…
July 3, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

Is having two homes too much?

This column is all about being careful what you wish for. Some people love their childhood home and long for the day they will inherit it from their parents. Others know if they just had that beach h…
June 26, 2023
By Louise Bolger
Castles in the Sand

100 years of paradise

Anna Maria is celebrating 100 years of providing exquisite beaches and aqua water to beachgoers and visitors. The celebration started on Memorial Day and will probably go on for several months and ri…