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Castles in the Sand

Business, Castles in the Sand

Rent, buy or add on?

Nov 14, 2023 – Louise Bolger
October 10, 2023
By Monica Simpson

Making lemonade out of a lemon real estate market

Sometimes it looks like the national real estate market and the high-interest mortgage rates are nothing but lemons. But one startup company has found a way to turn the lemons into lemonade. Assumab…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Upcoming Events

April 9, 2025
11:45 am

The Off-Stage Ladies of the Island Players, April luncheon meeting