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Florida real estate prices stable, but fewer sales going on lately

In spite of interest rate increases, the Florida real estate market this June remains stable, with the average house selling for $420,000, the same as June 2022, and the average condo selling for $325,000, also the same as 2022.
However, statewide there has been a decrease in closed sales of existing houses, down 7.9 percent year over year. Condo and townhouse sales were down 11 percent, to 10,494. Florida Realtors Chief Economist Brad O’Connor said in a national press release that a 7.9 percent year-over-year decline in closed single-family home sales is understandable due to interest rates. 
Today, the 30-year fixed rate is in the 7-7.375 percent range, according to Terese Dulge, vice president and residential lender for Englewood Bank and Trust, now Crews Bank and Trust. She said that rates, coupled with today’s property prices, are making it more and more difficult for many borrowers to qualify for a new mortgage.

Beacon/Gasparilla Island Magazine staff brings home 15 awards

The Boca Beacon/Gasparilla Island Magazine staff attended the Florida Press Association and Florida Magazine Association awards ceremony last Friday, July 21 at The Westin in Sarasota and came home with 15 awards. Out of more than 1,200 entries in the Florida Press Association “Better Weekly Newspaper” contest, our little newspaper took nine awards. Editor Marcy […]

Public participation meetings for federal disaster recovery funds planned throughout Lee County (but not here)

Resident participation meetings throughout unincorporated Lee County and in municipalities are planned in August to receive public comment and input on the Draft Action Plan for the $1.1 billion Community Development Block Grant – disaster recovery funds received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Draft Action Plan will be published at […]

New airlines make for breezier visits, fewer stopovers

In the last few years, new airlines serving Southwest Florida have meant hundreds of new direct flights and cheaper fares – as cheap as a Greyhound bus fare in the 1980s.  For Boca Grande residents like Anne Honey, one can now take a direct flight – at a discount and in a new plane – […]

OBITUARY: Bob Halford

Robert “Bob” Sidney Halford, 94, died Thursday, July 20, 2023 at his home surrounded by his family. Interment will be held at a later date in Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City, Iowa. Visitation was held from 4 to 6 p.m., on Monday July 24 at Ward Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, Clear Lake, and one hour […]

PROFILE: Fr. Anthony Hewitt

Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church is now in the hands of its new pastor, Father Anthony Hewitt. Fr. Anthony began offering masses at the church this past weekend. This will be a major change of pace for him, but one he is looking forward to.  For the last 10 years, Fr. Anthony has been […]

THIS DATE IN THE BOCA BEACON

FIVE YEARS AGO PJ’s Seagrille and The Grapevine were officially out of business. TEN YEARS AGO Kathy Banson-Verrico was named as the new GIBA director. The pipes were smokin’ in some island homes, as GIWA was looking for pipe leaks. FIFTEEN YEARS AGO The Boca Grande Reference Room in the Community Center was complete, featuring […]

EDITORIAL: This dead parrot is a lawsuit waiting to happen … please, Lee County, let us take down the Bakery Building

It took 15 days to complete the Sanibel Causeway after Hurricane Ian crunched it. It took two-and-a-half months for the severely damaged Gasparilla Inn & Club to open up again. But we still don’t have a cell phone tower.
It certainly isn’t for a lack of trying on the community’s part. We have a cell phone tower committee that has met on a constant basis to get this ball rolling. Calls and meetings have been had with Vertical Bridge, the tower company, and a lot of the footwork to get this done has taken place. So why don’t we have a cell phone tower yet, 10 months after Hurricane Ian?

Time marches on at the Fishery property …

Tuesday, July 18 was the beginning of the end for two pieces of Cape Haze Peninsula’s history. The former home of Mike Schworm was dismantled and taken down to the ground, while Eunice Albritton’s little house that stood nearby waited forlornly for its turn under the proverbial wrecking ball.

Both homes were in grave disrepair even before Hurricane Ian, but afterward they were damaged even more. They had stood there since the 1940s, when Walter Gault brought his fishing operation from the village of Gasparilla at the north end of the island over the waters of Gasparilla Sound to the southern tip of the Cape Haze Peninsula, in Placida. He purchased the Gasparilla fishery property in the 1930s, but a decade later the railroad sold the land.

The saga of ‘The Forgotten Ones’ at Gasparilla Mobile Estates continues …

More developments have unfolded in the Gasparilla Mobile Estates controversy and they are just as strange as the ones that preceded them. Residents have a new eviction notice, a new reason given by the property owner for them to leave and a big difference in appraisal amounts.

Mike Leslie, a resident of the little community just off island, has been watching closely what happens to his southern property while he’s at his home in Michigan. He is doing everything in his power to make sure that the people of the park can be allowed to keep their homes. It is a constant battle, to be sure, as they face a new challenge almost every week.