Life In Bonita Springs

Cost of Commuting Calculator

Periodically, I get someone who contacts me looking for Bonita Springs real estate that will say something like, "Hey, I found MLS number 205582323 and it's only $142,000 and brand new, never lived in". It isn't in Bonita Springs, I'll tell you that much. My guess is Lehigh Acres or Cape Coral.

Turns out this one was in the Cape and basically hell and gone for this buyer to consider. They just feel like they're missing out on so much by not seeing it. Folks, there is a reason that home is about $100,000 less than Bonita Springs or Estero. It's in Cape Coral. It's 45 minutes away from FGCU, the college you want to send your child to. There is even a toll bridge to get off of. Figure that into the cost of communing, too.

Ah, yes, the cost of commuting. If you hadn't yet considered what it might really cost you to get from A to B once you pick a house, you might want to consider it. Gas prices are still crazy even though they came down a little but still. For a college student or first time home buyer it may have all the impact in the world.

I am joining in with many other bloggers across the country in mourning the loss of our friend Sheila Lublin. As a sign of respect, our blogs will be quiet tomorrow as she is laid to rest.

To show our support, we will be helping raise over $1500 by Monday to support Sheila's husband Bill and his favorite charity, theAmerican Cancer Society. We hope to go above and beyond our goal.

The Mail Box Series will continue again next week. Speaking of mailboxes, if you'd like to send Bill a "real" note contact me directly for his mailing address. Remember snail mail? I'm sure Bill could use words of encouragement to help him through his grief.

Want to have a little fun in the Bonita Springs, Naples or Estero area? Looking for a place to eat or things to do? Then you've got to treat yourself, your family or business associates to a lunch or dinner at Stir Crazy at the Coconut Point Mall. Yes, Stir Crazy is open for lunch, too.

Grand opening night for the Stir Crazy at Coconut Point was Monday August 04, 2008. What a great opening. The restaurant was buzzing with people, media and staff. The Taiko drums were so much fun (loud) and entertaining.

The decor of Stir Crazy is whimsical inside. Have you ever seen 20 foot chopsticks holding a shrimp, suspended from a ceiling? I hadn't either until last Monday night. The restaurant is designed with an open concept. Dining and grill are open so diners can watch the chefs in action. Here's a little secret when you're watching the chefs, about every 15 minutes the chefs hit a gong and the entire wok grill goes up in flames. Quite dynamic!

If you choose to not order from the menu there is a great alternative to the regular menu. The "Market Bar". Basically, if you order the Market Bar you can walk in line quite similar to a salad bar and choose all of the vegetables that you'd like in your stir fry meal. If you're all about broccoli, water chestnuts and maybe a few baby corn, you pick only those to be in your stir fry. You dish it up yourself, choose your sauce, the chef adds chicken, beef or shrimp at your request. Presto! Stir fry like ‘you' want. There isn't another place in Estero or Bonita Springs that offers that.

You just can't beat building your own dinner. You just can't. Here are a few pictures of photos from Stir Crazy that you may enjoy:

Final Walk Through 020

Originally uploaded by griffithchris

Every day, some somewhere around Southwest Florida there is a storm just like this. It rains like mad and then it's suddenly over, the sun comes out and rainbows are everywhere. This was a good micro-downburst with a little bit of a light show, too.

This storm kept me company while I drove a short sale package to Naples. Cross your fingers, the short sales are *still* a crap shoot.

That *crap* is for you Carnac.

Casual Dining at Doc's on Bonita Beach

When you live in Bonita Springs, Florida you get a lot of out of town visitors. A lot of the visitors come in the winter for obvious reasons. Our weather is fantastic most of the year but especially so October through May when it is coldest in the Midwestern states. When the visitors come to town there are a few things locals need to have on hand, the name of a few hotels, a gallon of SPF 50 for their guests and a couple of good entertainment and dining ideas.

A fail safe dining plan is to go to Doc's Beach House in Bonita Springs on Bonita Beach. If you're one of the old timers like me, you remember Chuck's Poorhouse. Chuck's is long gone and the site is now a public park but just a few hundred yards to the north is Doc's Beach House.

For starters it offers valet parking on the beach for dining. Not that it's that uppity or snooty but because there is limited parking and they really have to plan that whole thing out. You'll get a spot no matter what is what I'm saying. Space is limited so enjoy the help. Tip your valet too, this isn't a public service. Next, this is a great place to take kids. If your looking for things to do with kids that want to run and play or dig in sand you can:

• Get an outside, gulf side table to watch them.
• Watch from upstairs with a birds eye view.
• Stay downstairs in the dining area and come back to your table when dinner is served.
• Volleyball nets are set up for little and BIG kids to have fun.
• Jet ski and parasail rentals are just behind Doc's on the beach.

There is something for everyone on the menu at Doc's Beach House and they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pizza, sandwiches, the best fried shrimp in town, salads and fish dinners. The restaurant serves casual food so you know casual attire is welcome. The kids can be a little restless, too. It's a little noisy so it won't be noticed.

A head's up in advance, Doc's only takes cash, no credit cards, but there is an ATM onsite. Bring the greenbacks not the plastic backs.

The next time you're in town stop by Doc's Beach House for a bite to eat and watch the sun go down. Don't forget your camera!

If you're planning on visiting Doc's:This is what it looks like behind Doc's, if you're curious.

This was in my front yard when I pulled in this afternoon.  I'm sure he's the father to the swarm of baby armadillos that live under my house.  They must go.  I hear they taste like chicken.

When Bill Murray becomes incensed with destroying the gopher in caddy shack I thought it was hysterical.  We don't have gophers in south Florida, or at least I don't think we do, but we do have other critters.  Heck, I didn't think we had coyotes down here until they started snacking on pocket pooches a couple of months back.

I live on the back of a preserve.  Its a few acres of overgrown topical mess with a couple of oak and maple trees peppered though cypress head. One of our biggest concerns has been a family of bobcats eying up my little tasty dog.  We've had a few minor brushes with nature being so close.  Mice and rats attracted by bird seed started to be a little too plentiful.  Alterations to the landscape, steel wool in the eve gaps and a tablespoon of peanut butter rat traps fixed that.

It wasn't too long ago that bigger creatures made their presence known.  My house is built on little stilts so there is a crawl space under it.  Things started going bump in the night.  I never saw anything but heard plenty of ruckus.  Being the resourceful Ohio farm girl that I am I decided to relocate the creature under the house to greener pastures or at least to the other side of town where they'd have room to roam.  Don't get me wrong, I love animals.  I just don't love them under my home and tearing down the insulation.

A trip was made to the Northern store in Fort Myers to order a Havaheart trap.  I will share with you right now that I have absolutely no skill or expertise in animal trapping.  I probably had no business doing this but I was worried if I called a trapper that they would kill it and I didn't want it dead, I just wanted it somewhere else.  So a week later, the trap is delivered and out of the box it comes, fully assembled and ready for use.  I whip an apple in it and set it by the bushes where I hear most of the noise.

The first day, we catch Lucrecia, who we guessed was a mother possum, and she is disgruntled to say the least.  So now what do I do with her?  I call my son and tell him I've trapped a possum and I ask him to take to the prairie he's always talking about east of Bonita Grande Road.  I figured that was plenty of distance between me and the creature, right?    Just for good measure I throw another apple in the trap and lo and behold, I catch what I have convinced myself was her husband.  In all, we actually caught three possums and relocated them to east Bonita.  A fourth was spotted in the area but packed up and left before it was captured.  Finally, I've realized the benefit of having a redneck, country child; possum relocation without raising an eyebrow.

A new challenge has shown itself in the last few weeks.  Armadillos.  I've been consumed with trying to run them off.  I really don't mind that they've dug up most of the back yard.  The grass was dead from the winter draught anyway.  It's just that when the dog tore after them they weaseled their way under the lattice and went under the house.  It was clear by, by the gully they wore, that they've been there many times before. Under the house, there is more than one already and I'm not sure if they don't carry some sort of cooties and parasites.  So Lumberjack, my darling son, is bringing the trap back today.  The armadillos are as cute as all get out, but we're relocating a family of armadillos to the prairie, next.

There was a lot of carrying on that came with the coyotes that started cramping our style.  Unfortunately, when man versus nature a wrestling match begins that nobody really ever wins. We built our homes in their back yards and then we get upset when they hang around.  I don't really mind wild animals being around me, I just don't want to live under the same roof with them.

So, I'll try to share my little part of Southwest Florida with the varmints that also call it home.  I'll walk my dog on a shorter leash, carry a nine iron and relocate an occasional possum or armadillo to the prairie when they get too close.

Do you know what a pop tart agent is? If you're a buyer, a seller or even another agent, you need to know if you don't know. There are a couple of species of part tart agents:

• A pop tart agent gets a phone call and runs out the door to let someone in a property when they know little to no information about a buyer, their history, their financial/creditworthiness or ability to buy. Just like a toaster. Pop and they're up and out the door.
• A pop tart agent has car load of buyers and they drive by a home with a for-sale sign and call while sitting in front of the home or brazenly knock on the door. They want to see it without knowing any information about it, size, price, number of bedroom, if it remotely fits their buyer's needs.

There probably isn't a seller or listing agent that hasn't had to deal with the pop tart agent at one time or another. I've had to deal with it on more than one occasion myself. My seller's have been good sports about it so far, but I usually have educated them in advance to be prepared for it when it does happen.

To turn away a showing is stressful simply because some areas of the Bonita Springs real estate market are languishing and every potential buyer is to be valued, even if we're not sure if they're qualified. Ultimately, it is up to the seller to choose whether or not to they wish to accommodate a short notice showing. They can always say no but most of the time the seller feels compelled to try to fit them in because they're worried that the buyer is the one they've been waiting for. Basically, it's a crap shoot and the odds really stink that a buyer is going to be found like this.

Not long ago I had a pop tart agent call me after speaking to my seller in the front yard. The agent approached my seller in their front yard without an appointment or permission to do so. She wanted in right away with her car load of buyers (four adults and two children). I first thanked her in advance to not speak to my seller again without my permission. She then:

• Informed me that she was from a city over one hour and a half away from Bonita Springs.
• She is not a member of either of the closest Board's of Realtors.
• She cannot access our lockbox because she doesn't have the technology.
• She wants me to take her word for it (on the phone) that she is, in fact, a licensee and wants my seller to vacate for the showing and leave the door unlocked for her to be able to get in.

Let's just say, when pigs fly. What are the odds that a legitimate sale will result from this in the near future? This agent was not remotely educated in our local inventory or even able to get to the information to educate herself or her buyers. I hardly believe that a celestial light shined above this house indicating that it was the hidden treasure the buyer had been searching high and low for in this inventory saturated market. Fortunately, they miraculously found it when they spotted it from the back seat of the mini van. I wonder if they got prequalified for their mortgage back there, too.

It is aggravating to be involved in a situation like this. In order to accommodate the showing the sellers have to scramble to ready the home, the listing agent has to drop what they're doing or rearrange their plans and appointments to open the home, knowing full well that they're only dealing with a licensee, not a professional real estate agent. Professionals don't usually help buyers find homes by going door to door.

The last pop tart adventure even inspired me to sit my seller down and fully explain the facts surrounding the fiasco. First, they probably shouldn't get their hopes because showings like this are about as successful as a monkey throwing darts in the dark. Second, they should not believe that everyone that beats their door down and asks to come inside is a legitimate agent or home buyer. Sadly, some people aren't honest and that's another job the listing agents have, screening or accompanying those who do go into the home.

As a safety issue sellers shouldn't allow strangers into their home without an appointment. It just isn't a smart move. Anyone can be a target for pop tart posers but here are a few examples of those that should be especially watchful.

• Pregnant women
• Families with newborns
• People who may have confusion, physical weaknesses or illness
• Single parent households
• People that may have valuables, collectibles or expensive pets
• People with serious medical issues that require strong medication or narcotics for pain.

Seller's of real estate in Bonita Springs and Estero need to understand how to and protect themselves and their homes. That includes not letting someone stop out front and talk their way into their home.

If you're a seller of a Bonita Springs home and you're faced with a pop tart agent or buyer who walks around the real estate sign in the yard and tries to talk their way in, simply say: "We're not available right now to accommodate a showing" and then hand them the card of your real estate agent to make an appointment. If they're serious they'll call to schedule an appointment to see the home. If they aren't you've just saved yourself unneeded stress and protected your home, just like you should. Sure, there's always a one in a million chance that it could work out, but it can work out with an appointment, too.

Even Birds Contemplate Life at Bonita Beach

Is it so small a thing

To have enjoy'd the sun,

To have lived light in the spring,

To have love, to have thought, to have done...

~ Matthew Arnold