Life In Bonita Springs

Bonita Springs FHA Loan Limits

If you are a buyer of Bonita Springs real estate and you qualify for a conventional mortgage, you are fortunate enough to be escaping some of the side effects of our recent economic woes. Perhaps, through your investment brokerage you are able to obtain financing and if that works for you, you’re set.  If not read on.

There are others looking for financing that fit programs through FHA, the Federal Housing Administration.

Lending guidelines vary from county to county, state to state. If you’re wondering what the maximum loan amounts are in your area, here is a mouthful of the explanation of the limits from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development:

"The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 permits FHA to insure loans on amounts up to 125 percent of the area median house price, when that amount is between the national minimum ($271,050) and maximum ($729,750). The new minimum and maximum loan limits are based on 65 percent and 175 percent of the conforming loan limits for Government-Sponsored Enterprises in 2008, which is $417,000."

If you're not in Lee County, Collier County and want to find out what the maximum is in your county just go over to the HUD site.

Specifically regarding Collier and Lee in Florida - the limit in Lee is $356,250 and in Collier $531,250.

For any other information about obtaining FHA loans in Bonita Springs, Lee County or Collier County, just give me a call at 561-282-7406 or email me at MailTo:Marc@KnightlinesMTG.com

Marc J Blasi - Mortgage Broker

Knightlines Mortgage

Licensed Mortgage Broker in Florida

Orchid Tree in Pelican Landing, Bonita Springs

This tree look like a regular tree in at a distance.  It's only as you get closer that you'll realize that it's a pretty special tree.  Where some people are satisfied to just get a blossom or two on their orchid plant, we the demanding citizens of Bonita Springs drew a line in the sands of Bonita Beach and insisted that we get trees covered with orchid blossoms.

This orchid tree is in Pelican Landing of Bonita Springs.  It's near the south gate on the street that leads you back to The Point and Costa Del Sol by the bike path.

The street is also lined with them in front of Bonita Fairways golf course on West Terry Street if you're looking for them.  It's worth it to look for them.  They're so pretty and purple, purple, purple.

If you'd like to read up on orchid trees visit this wiki page on the Bauhinia Variegata.  It's my understanding that humming birds like the trees.  If you're a bird watcher you might want to hang out around orchid trees.

The Prettiest Peppers in Bonita Springs Florida

What if that childhood rhyme: "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers" was really "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Purple Peppers."

That was the first thought I had when I saw these purple peppers at Farmer Mikes in Bonita Springs, Florida.  They were so pretty. I tasted them first at the Taste of Bonita festival and made a special trip to go get my own, plus a green, plus a red, plus a yellow, plus a pablano, plus a jalepeno, plus a little red one that I am sure is the devil but I figured it was just the non-meh I was looking for.

I'm a little scared to start dicing it. If you don't hear back from me, you'll know that pepper won.  Note to self - cut under running water, don't touch eyes or nose for the next two days, minimum.

If you found this page looking for Farmer Mike's click here:  Farmer Mike’s Tomato Blvd. Mailbox

Farmer Mike's Is O-P-E-N

Farmer Mikes is open again (November 2012) Last week I learned that Farmer Mike's traditionally opens the day after the Taste of Bonita festival.  Since I was involved in the Taste of Bonita as a member of Rotary I was at the festival.  My daughter brought me a bowl of fresh vegetables from Farmer Mike's booth as my lunch.

You really can taste the difference when fruits and veggies are farm fresh.  I liked what I had so much that I made a trip to Farmer Mike's today just to get some more.  With LBD in tow I headed down Morton Road and out to the fields.

You don't have to pick your own, for the record, but you can if you want.  There is a covered produce stand and a little barn to order and ship citrus for the holidays.  I wouldn't be lying if I told you that there were at least 10 types of peppers at the produce stand.  Have you ever seen purple peppers?  Farmer Mike's has them.

On my way to the car I spotted this sign and mailbox by the tomato field.  Even a tomato needs a place to get mail.

If you are thinking of heading to Farmer Mikes road side stand drive US 41 to West Terry Street.  Take a left on Morton Road right after you go over I - 75.  Farmer Mikes is a mile or so down Morton Road on the right hand side.  For a map kind of close to Mikes:  Click here

Real Estate Has No Short Term Fixes

Some people who decide to sell their Bonita Springs home find out the value that they had in mind isn’t really the reality of their current situation. Well, I guess a fair number of them find that out, not just some of them. There is a photo snapshot in their mind of some fantastical number they saw on a flyer or a postcard that showed up in the mail and it was chiseled in granite.

I can understand the disappointment when owners find out that the value of their Bonita Springs real estate is worth less than they imagined or assumed. I’m disappointed that my home isn’t worth what it was worth a few years ago, too. For some people their home is their only true investment, for others they were living their dream in more prosperous times and the weight of the debt or upkeep of a second home or vacation home is just starting to pinch a little too hard.

There are those who recognize the reality of the current real estate market and even the reality of their hyper local market and price appropriately to sell. There are others who deny their circumstances and say, “We’ll just wait a few months”, “We’ll just wait over the summer”, “We’ll wait until after the New Year” or “We’ll wait for prices to go back up and then we’ll sell.”

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that for the most part I’m optimist about our local real estate market. I know real estate in Bonita Springs is selling and that the market is moving. I actually see the market getting better every month when I do inventory market reports. Every month we’ve been peeling away a few months of inventory and that’s good. It’s just an equation. We have to absorb the inventory to fully recover and stimulate positive growth.

That being said, when a seller says they want to wait for prices to go back up before selling or pulling their home off the market for a few months to “see what happens” it surprises me that they’re so optimistic or starry-eyed. It almost never occurs to them that value in their particular neighborhood may, in fact, go down.

Seriously, what if waiting a few months for the market "bounce back” went by and that anticipated bounce never actually happened?

I’ve seen it happen on more than one occasion. Some sellers have been disappointed with the estimated value of their home and they’ve held off so prices would go up only to discover months later that the exact opposite had occurred. Who ever said prices would go up just because a person really wanted it to?

Real estate is cyclical. There have always been peaks and valleys and there always will be. I don’t doubt that it will be very different and much better down the road. What I do wonder about is the length of the road for some. Heck, some of the time frames that sellers put on their wishful thinking of prices jetting back up are as short as their driveway, not the road.

The market is peppered with property owners that are waiting for things to get better so they can sell. Just because their home was once worth xyz at one time should they hold out for that? Is that realistic? Is it reasonable to believe there will be an up word surge in pricing just while their home off the market for a few weeks?

I often wonder if in our microwave oven, reality TV show society, consumers have just become impatient and anticipate immediate results. Why not? They’ve been conditioned to.

Where is the guarantee that buying real estate will always be profitable? Where is the guarantee that all stocks go up? Is that guarantee of price and profit for all real estate? Does real estate purchased at the peak of the market deserve to be sold today at the price it was purchased at with so many other choices available?

I don’t doubt that those premium prices of yesteryear will eventually be back. It’s the “when” part that we have to wonder about. It’s certainly not happening during the period that a seller pulls their property off the market and waits a few meager months. In some markets it’s not a “wait a few months” fix. There are even a few neighborhoods, depending upon investor load and inventory, where it may not even be “a wait a year” fix.

It’s about inventory, plain and simple. Taking a home off the market for three, six or nine months won’t work when there’s twenty four months of inventory. Even if there were only a couple of months of inventory it would also have to be accompanied by demand and credit worthy buyers.

Read also: So, What Is The Absorption Rate For Your Bonita Springs Home?

Sellers hoping for rapid recovery back to premium, imaginary pricing is nearly as futile as a buyer with bad credit and no money to put down, holding out for an imaginary mortgage that they believe they should be entitled to just because this is America, the land of opportunity.

It took years for the real estate market to get into this condition. It certainly isn’t going to magically rebound during the time a home is pulled real estate off of the market for a couple of months.

Back to Normal Soon

Something strange happened when I had my eye exam.  I'm just getting my vision back.  I hope to post again tomorrow and get that copy done for my column at the paper.

Fortunately, my doctor asked me to wait until I got back from the NAR convention before I dilated in case *something* went wrong and it took me many hours to shake it off.  He knew I had a long drive ahead.  Thank goodness he suggested that.  I was virtually blind from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The day was long and scary and I'll just be glad to have it over.  Special thanx to Algorithm and Tango Delta Niner for helping me out, dialing the phone for me, helping me set appointments (I couldn't even read Outlook) and driving me to FGCU to speak to a class on professional selling.  I was not fit to drive, for sure!

I'll try to get caught up and back to normal toot sweet.

Taste of Bonita Festival | Things to Do in Bonita Springs

It's that time of the year again.

The 15^th annual Taste of Bonita 2008 is back, and some of the area's best restaurants are serving up their best once again.

The Taste of Bonita food festival will be held at Riverside Park on Nov. 16th. from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  Riverside Park is located on Old US 41 in Bonita Springs, Florida.  Dozens of Naples, Estero and Bonita Springs restaurants are scheduled to participate and an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 people are expected to attend.

The Taste of Bonita event is planned and headed up by Rotary of Bonita Springs noon.  The festival is a fund raiser for local charity programs.

Local restaurants will be participating in the Taste of Bonita event with most dishes and samples being offered priced under $5.00.  This is an excellent opportunity for local residents to sample the cuisine of locally owned restaurants and support the local businesses.

Admission to the Taste of Bonita is FREE.  Live music and entertainment will be on site, as well.

A map to the Taste of Bonita is located:  Map to Riverside Park

For more information about Taste of Bonita 2008 contact Tony Valego 239-572-2707

Enjoy sampling cuisine from the following local restaurants and dining establishments:

NOODLE SAIGON
13500 Tamiami Trail N #11
Naples Fl 34109

ROYAL SCOOP HOMEMADE ICE CREAM
15 8^TH ST Suite 8
Bonita Springs, Fl  34134

RUSS'S CHICKEN AND WINGS
28441 S. Tamiami Trail Suite 205
Bonita Springs, Fl 34135

FARMERS MIKE'S U PICK
126895 Tower Road
Bonita Springs, FL 34135

ROY'S RESTAURANT
26831 South Bay Drive
Bonita Springs, Fl  34135

CIRELLAS'S ITALIAN BISTRO AND SUSHI BAR
25265 Chamber of Commerce Drive
Bonita Springs, Fl  34134

STEVIE TOMATO'S SPORTS PAGE
2430 Vanderbilt Beach Road #108-179
Naples, Fl 34106

BUFFALO CHIPS RESTAURANT
26620 Old 41 Road
Bonita Springs, Fl 34135

RODES RESTAURANT AND MARKET
3756 Bonita Beach Road
Bonita Springs, Fl 34134

PLANET SMOOTHIE
8017 Plaza Del Lago 13
The Coconut Point Mall
Estero, Florida 33928

FIRST WATCH RESTAURANT
26381 S. Tamiami Trail Suite 140
Bonita Springs, Fl 34134

SHULAS STEAK HOUSE
Hilton Naples and Towers
5111 Tamiami Trail N.
Naples, Fl  34103

HEMINGWAY'S ISLAND GRILL
8001 Plaza Del Lago Suite 113
Estero, Fl  33928

CARRABAS
277220 Bay Landing Drive
Bonita Springs, Fl 34135

OUTBACK  STEAKHOUSE
27230 Bay Landing Drive
Bonita Springs, Fl  34135

FITZGERALDS IRISH PUB
9070 Bonita Beach Road
Bonita Springs, Fl  34135

RANDY'S FISHMMARKET RESTAURANT
14455 106^TH Avenue N
Naples, Fl   34108

PARADISE SHRIMP
24851 S. Tamiami Trail
Bonita Springs, Fl  34136

TIKI BAR CAFÉ
4131 Bonita Beach Road
Bonita Springs, Fl  34134

BIG HICKORY SEAFOOD GRILLE
26107 Hickory Blvd.
Bonita Springs, Fl  34134

AA TWO BROTHERS PIZZA
26251 S Tamiami Trail Units 9/10
Bonita Springs, FL  34134

CAFÉ ITALIA BISTRO
14700 Tamiami Trail N. Unit 22
Naples, Fl  34110

See you at Taste of Bonita 2008 November 16^th!  If you don't make the Taste be sure to visit these fine establishments that are supporting Bonita Springs and making this event possible.

There Isn't a Golf Course Within a Stone's Throw

Much like the huge joke we play on tourists and visitors regarding the US 41, Tamiami Trial, Cleveland Avenue, Ninth Street North multi-named street we have an area called Bonita Springs Golf and Country Club.  There is no golf and no country club.  There was but the greed of the housing boom inspired the owner to close the golf and develop the fairways into a condo strip. They tried to develop every inch of Bonita Springs real estate until someone flipped the switch September 2005.

None of that actually panned out, by the way.  The fairways are like a cattle pature at this point.  Hopefully, the family of the owner, who has since passed on will revamp the course or sell it to someone who will start it back up.  Bonita Springs really misses it's golf course.

My parents actually live just off of the course and miss it terribly, too.  The couple that own my listing on Wild Turkey miss that course, the view of that course and the lake with the bottom lined with white golf balls.

If I remember correctly this mailbox is off of Enoch or Patrick Street in Bonita Golf & Country Club.  It's one of the quietest spots in Bonita Springs.

Reverse Mortgage News

There are many Seniors that want to purchase a home, but do not have enough money to pay cash for their Bonita Springs home.  They may have a substantial down payment, but still cannot qualify for a loan.  Their credit may not be good, or their pension may not qualify them for a re-payment program.

The "Hope for Homeowners" legislation that was passed and signed into law by President Bush on July 30, 2008 made mention of a purchase program for Reverse Mortgages, and we have been waiting since then to see when we could start making these loans, and how they would be structured.  When HUD released their Mortgagee Letter #2008-33 we now have some of the details of the program that will become available on January 1, 2009.

Beginning in 2009 Seniors (over 62) will be able to purchase a home with a Reverse Mortgage.  Credit and income will not be a factor.  A down payment, based on the age of the borrower, will enable the purchase of a home with a loan not requiring any repayment plan.  The home will be theirs to own for the rest of their life as long as they live in it.  They will own the home, and be able to pass any equity to their heirs.

Upon the sale of the house should there be any shortfall between the value of the home and the amount owed (possible through decline in value) the FHA will pay that difference.  At no time will the borrower ever be faced with a short sale scenario, or will the heirs ever worry about a shortfall attaching any other assets.

The loan is a NON recourse loan.  Only the house that has been encumbered by the mortgage can be looked to for repayment.

Down payment sources can even come from gifts or other FHA allowable funding sources.  We may even see the return of the seller paid down payment programs at some time in the future, but currently these are not allowed on any FHA loan. (11/12/2008)

With the beginning of the new year Seniors can move closer to family, purchase homes with wider doorways, or even downsize to meet their current housing needs.

For more information on this, or any other loan program, please give Bob at Tomasso Mortgage a call.

Bob Tomasso

Licensed Mortgage Broker, Principal Broker

Tomasso Mortgage

A Licensed Correspondent Mortgage Lender, since 1989

239-945-4348

bob@tomasso.com

www.tomasso.com