Resources including taxes, insurance, fees, planning a visit, short sales explained, strategies


	TopWaterfrontDeals.com

SW Florida Real Estate

Dan Starowicz, Realtor, Sand Castle Realty, 239-603-6100

Dan Starowicz

and associates

239-603-6100

International 00-1-239-603-6100

Skype: dan.starowicz

Sand Castle Realty Group

885 SE 47th Ter. Ste A

Cape Coral, FL 33904

[ Additional locations ]

Dan@TopWaterfrontDeals.com

Dan Starowicz

and associates

239-603-6100

International 00-1-239-603-6100

Skype: dan.starowicz

Sand Castle Realty Group

885 SE 47th Ter. Ste A

Cape Coral, FL 33904

[ Additional locations ]

Dan@TopWaterfrontDeals.com

Dan Starowicz & Associates, Sand Castle Realty, (239) 603-6100

Contact me | Register for property updates | User Login


	Resources

	Tutorial: Learn the area Short sales explained Brief Area overview Local waterfront explained Planning a visit here Strategies for buying Property taxes Sales history Insurance Sailboat access Bridge heights Map of Cape Gulf Access Lock/lift locations Association & HOA fees Cape Coral assessments Current Foreclosure List Local Weather


		Frequently asked questions

	How much are taxes on this home? How much is insurance on this home? How much are the association fees on this property? How do short sales work? Is this price real? Where are the bridges and how tall are they? Where are Cape Coral’s locks & lifts? Which Cape Coral canals are freshwater? Saltwater? Are there an assessments due on this property & how much? Are there pet (or any other) restrictions on this property?


	Short Sales Explained

		Short sales work quite different than other types of sales and require detailed explanation. It is NOT the same thing as a bank owned property (which is also known as REO or Corporate owned property). A short sale is an imminent foreclosure situation in which the bank is owed more money that the home is worth. Because they know that the homeowner has no possible way to come up with the shortfall, they begrudgingly agree to allow the home to be sold at a loss (a shortage to the bank, hense the term short sale). Here's an example: Home was purchased for $700,000 in 2005. Today it is worth $300,000, but $650,000 is owed on the mortgage). The bank does NOT own the property yet, but suspects they'll end up with it via a foreclosure. A buyer agrees to buy it via short sale for $300,000 and a deal is struck with both the seller and the bank. This is a short sale. Taking a home back via foreclosure is an expensive proposition for the bank. They will incur significant attorney and court fees, it could drag on for a year, the interest payments on the mortgage aren't coming in anymore, and the home could end up sitting vacant-subject to vandalism and deterioration. This is why they will consider selling it prior to the foreclosure sale. Here's the big catch to short sales though: THE PRICES YOU SEE LISTED USUALLY MEAN ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I know that goes against all conventional wisdom. Any other type of sale you could certainly buy at the listed price, but not necessarily so on a short sale. Here's why: while the banks begrudgingly agree to allow for the short sale, very rarely will they ever tell the listing agent what they will accept for the property. The agent simply has to guess. And some do a LOT better job than others (I've seen one listed for a dollar before. The bank won't of course accept anything remotely close to that figure). So, as you can probably guess, the quality of the listings will vary greatly. The moral of the story here is if you see an absolutely incredible deal but it says it's a short sale, don't get overly excited! They lead to a lot of disappointed buyers! The good news is that the occasional, rare deal can be had buy buying a short sale. Because the banks don't want to foreclose if they don't have to, they will accept a discount on the properties-it seems to be at 90% of what they deem to be market value. Foreclosures already owned by the bank are often better priced though. Banks HATE to have property in their portfolio. They are NOT in the business of owning Real Estate, so once it's been foreclosed they need to get rid of it, on short sales it's NOT their property yet, so the speed motivation is not a factor at all. Making offers on short sales is a bit different too. They are often PAINSTAKINGLY SLOW. If you are an investor or a vacation home buyer with PLENTY of patience, no problem. They could be a great consideration for trying to get at below market prices. If on the other hand you are buying a primary residence and need to move in, say, 30 days, forget it! You will want to drop them from all consideration. The time constraints are due to the way banks are set up. Because they have numerous levels of management, they all have to sign off on the transaction (or asset managers overseeing the transaction are flooded with them). Expect a couple months before you here ANY response from them on an offer- in many cases 3+ months, though some have broken the 1/2 a year mark. Buyer's often think I'm joking when I say not to bother asking for updates for at least 2 months--but unfortunately I'm serious! Now that you likely want nothing to do with short sales, let me tell you about one very important and lucrative exception: approved short sale prices. Every so often a short sale will actually have a price that the bank has agreed to. This is usually because a prior offer was received, the bank's review process began, the buyer got fed up waiting for months, but the bank still determined a yes or no answer regarding that offer. Based on that outcome, the listing agent now has an actual number to list! Watch that a listing doesn't just say “short sale approved” as listing agents get a little tricky with the language. That doesn't mean a price has been approved, that just means the bank is agreeable to a short sale. You want “Short sale approved at $300,000” or equivalent. Note that the closing may still be a little slower than usual even on these, but these are very worth considering. Based on what you now know about short sales, you can probably see why I don't put them on my foreclosure list too often. They can really provide misleading info and give buyers a completely false belief that prices are lower than they truly are. In fact, it will be the rare exception that I'll even show a short sale as they are usually a waste of both your time and mine. But if you want to pursue them, they CAN make for opportunities. Call me at 239-603-6100 if there is one you wish to place an offer on. Please note: There are a fair number of buyers where time is not important, so short sales CAN be of interest to them. A couple thoughts on this: You are still dealing with the same banks that list foreclosed properties. They often price their foreclosures MORE agressive (and sell fast) because at that point the clock is ticking. So you may be doing yourself a disservice tying up your time on a short sale. Two, I really, really have to emphasize the list price means nothing. Nothing! It was dreamed up by a listing agent who's job is to garner interest in their listing. Given the circumstances, of course the list price will be agressive! They could put most anything they want! Because buyers still think along the conventional lines "Well if the list price is $275,000 they'll probably take $260,000...make my offer $260k" that makes no sense at all on a short sale. The list price is irrelevant. Maybe you should be at $295k. Maybe the bank will say not a penny under $375k. It's anyone's guess, so don't just figure numbers using conventional logic! Additional info: if you want to see what short sales are available on the market, you will want to sign up for a free Listingbook account (link on the left, under the searches category). With this service you can specifically search for them and know anytime a new one gets listed matching your criteria. Because of the large number of inquiries I get it's advised that when signing up, give me a call too. It will speed up the process. Call 239-603-6100


		Area overview

		This website pertains to Lee & Collier Counties, located in Southwest Florida. Lee County's prominent city is Fort Myers. The county (and this website) also includes: Cape Coral, North Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island, Captiva Island, Upper Captiva, Boca Grande, Bonita Springs, Bonita Beach, Estero, Lehigh Acres, Buckingham, Alva, Tice, Fort Myers Shores, Iona, San Carlos Park, Pine Island, Saint James City, Bokeelia, Burnt Store Marina, and Matlacha. Collier county's prominent city in Naples, but also includes Marco Island to the South and Golden Gate to the East. As I believe everyone already knows, the draw here is the weather, beaches, golf, and the water. Fort Myers has an international airport (Southwest Florida International Airport, RSW) and most everything is under 30 minutes from the beaches. As a general rule, the further South the more expensive everything gets (This is of course a bit over-simplified, but a general rule of thumb). Fort Myers is the hub city in Lee County and contains most of the commerce. Prices are higher than Cape Coral, which is more of a sprawling bedroom community. Single family homes under $300,000 are a bit more limited actually. There are numerous townhomes/ attached villas, condos, and gated golf communities throughout the city. Downtown has the recent addition of several waterfront high rises. To the very South end of Fort Myers is Estero. Mostly all new construction, numerous new malls, very desirable. Single family homes are typically $300k+ and usually located within gated communities, many with golf courses. Bonita is further South and pricier. Basically the further South and closer you get to the city of Naples, the more expensive. Cape Coral is a huge suburb to the West of Ft Myers. The city is divided into 4 quadrants of unequal size. The NW and NE have somewhat of a rural quality (to parts of it) and are not that developed (yet). It has a different quality to it than most cities. The majority of homes up here are quite new, but spaced sporadically in between lots of vacant, clear cut lots. It doesn't appeal to everyone, but to those who like it, you get very new homes very cheap here. A note to investors: Rents are cheaper here too due to supply and a bit more distance from commerce (but lots of new commercial construction has been building up along Pine Island Rd recently.) South Cape is much more developed and has the added benefit of lots of canal/waterfront properties increasing the overall values of the neighborhoods. Home prices will be a bit higher because of it. The very SE corner was the first section of the city to be built. It contains the Yacht Club, a pier, public tennis courts, and a little beach too. The very SE corner (the Yacht Club) has valuable land and homes often get bulldozed rather than added on to. Alternatively, the very SW corner will be the prettiest section to drive around in-lots of exceptionally well maintained newer homes down here. For a full review of the areas please review the section titled the Southwest Florida Real Estate Tutorial. Note that in Cape Coral nearly the whole city was initially built on private wells and septic systems. The city is going around and converting everything to city utilities. This is a huge undertaking given the size of the city--it will take a decade or so to do. Because of this assessments for the work will apply. Some areas have already had it done and will be paid in full, others are just getting them, or slated to in the near future. It's something to consider when evaluating prices! The prices vary, but for example, a quote I received for a new job recently was $14,200. They can be rolled in with property taxes and paid slowly over 10-15 years, so no lump sum payment is necessary. The exact pattern of the work varies, but here's the general pattern: SE is now all on city utilities. SW well over half completed, the more Northern portions of the SW section are currently getting converted right now. NW and NE scheduled to be completed quite some time in the future (years out). There is a link at the bottom of this section to view the city's expansion schedule. Lehigh Acres is another large housing tract out to the East of Fort Myers. You get the most house for the money here, due to affordable and plentiful vacant land, but do note there is no Gulf access. Much of it has more of a country feel to it than other sections of the city, though nearly everthing is a plotted parcel for potential residential development. Note that there's a reason it's the lowest priced: it's furthest from the beaches and attractions, has limited commerce (for example, no malls) and for you investors it gets the lowest rents on single family homes. For those who are opposed to deed restrictions, you will prefer Lehigh's rules over Cape Coral. In 'the Cape' you cannot park a boat or RV in the driveway, and more rules like that apply. Lehigh is not an incorporated city and is much more lax about all that. You shouldn't have any problem having boats, rvs, etc. North Fort Myers has a couple varying neighborhoods. Overall it is largely rural but the waterfront contains new high rises, nice new neighborhoods, and some new shopping centers. Notably further north is Heron's Glen, a nice neighborhood. Large other sections of North Fort Myers contain numerous trailerparks and older construction offering affordable prices. The islands are of course heavily sought after, and the prices reflect it. Each island has a distinct quality. They are much less affected by any market slowdown as they tend to be in the hands of wealthier owners. Ft Myers Beach is a heavily developed mixture of condos and single family homes. It empties out in the summer, but come season (Christmas to Easter) is heavily populated. High rises typically don't go over 8-12 stories or so, but there are a few exceptions and long stretches of the island will have nothing over 3-4 stories tall. Numerous canal homes are on the bay side, and on the West side of Estero Blvd you'll find the beachfront properties. The sand is exceptional throughout this area and will rival anything else found in the U.S. (The East coast of Florida has nicer bluer shades of water, but their sand is vastly inferior). Fort Myers Beach is divided somewhat into two different areas: the Northern half and the Southern half. The North has more of the hotels, the shops and quirky little spots that you expect on an island...the fun spots to visit. The South end is the quieter, bigger condo communities that are nice, neat, and clean retreats from it all. The golf course is on the Southern end. Marinas exist on the North End (Moss Marine), the center (Snookbight Marina), and the South (Fishtale). Keeping a boat at either the North or South end of the island will place you very close to the ideal locations in the County for boating, fishing, and leisurely boating (arguably only superceded by Punta Rossa's location, where the bridge connecting Sanibel to the mainland begins). I myself am a Fort Myers Beach resident, so I am very familiar with the place! Feel free to ask questions if you are looking to buy on the island in the near future. Sanibel and Captiva are beautiful international destinations, regularly visited by vacationers from across the world. It has a totally different character than Ft Myers Beach, as it has large tracts of unspoiled natural land. Actually about 1/2 the island is a large wildlife preserve: Ding Darling. It is recommended to visit if you are in town. These two islands are fairly exclusive and the pricing shows it with most homes exceeding the million dollar mark. There is even a $6 toll to cross the bridge, which seems to add to the exclusivity. (None on Ft Myers Beach). There is an old lighthouse at the Eastern end (arguably it could be though of as the Southern tip) as well as public beach access. There is also public boat ramps on either side of the bridge. Sand here is exceptional, just like Ft Myers Beach, especially on the Eastern end (again, arguably the South). A little mentioned secret is the further North, heading up to Captiva, or the further South, down to Naples & Marco Island the water gets nicer and nicer. Note that Captiva has extremely limited public parking though, so public access is tricky. As far as homes go, foreclosures on these islands are extremely rare, as these properties tend to be vacation properties for affluent Northerners and International visitors. Expect to pay exorbitant prices to be on Captiva, while on Sanibel an occasional single family home (non-waterfront) comes available under a half million.


	Planning a visit here

If you will be coming here on a Real Estate hunting expedition, here's some things you should know:

1. Sign up for a Listingbook account: Sign up at the link below & call me after sending the request so I know to expedite it
2. Let me know in detail what you are looking for, and the dates you will be here.  Note that E-mail often doesn't convey all your preferences very well so you are encouraged to call 239-603-6100.
3. Browse this website in depth if you are not familiar with the area already.  You may also want to review the sections about taxes and insurance to know what to expect.
4. Up getting a good idea of what you are targeting, I will be making suggestions and emailing them over to you prior to your arrival.  Feel free to provide feedback on the ones you like! It's also a good idea for you to do some research on closed sales so that you get a feel for prices, areas, and what to look for.
5. Financing needs to be arranged for unless you are a cash buyer.  Get a pre-qualification certificate from a bank or a Mortgage Broker.  Feel free to be in touch with me for more advice/suggestions.
6. Prior to you leaving your hometown, we'll go over those you've marked as favorites (detailing out the pros and cons of each), narrow it down to the top picks.
7. Arrive here.  (and if you will be going into Cape Coral be sure to rent a car with GPS!  The canal system makes the roads a maze.)
8.  Day 1: If you aren't already familiar with the area this is your time to get a feel for the locations of those that you've marked as favorites.  With the assistance of GPS go out, drive by the properties/areas, and see the locations in person.  Strike any from the list that don't match up to what you are looking for, and let me know the results.
10.  Day 2: We will have scheduled appointments to go and see those properties that met with your satisfaction from the drive by the day before.  
11. If anything looked promising, an offer can be drafted.

Additional considerations for your visit
We have an international airport in Ft Myers (Southwest Florida International Airport).  Tampa International is about 2 hours away, so is Ft Lauderdale.  Miami and Orlando are just a little further, respectively.  Rental cars are available at all of them (remember to get that GPS system)
If you will be heading into Cape Coral for the first time I suggest entering via the lower of the two bridges- (Cape Coral Parkway on the Cape side, College Pkwy on Ft Myers side).  It will give you a better feel for the city vs. the other one, the Mid-Point Bridge (Veterans Pkwy in the Cape, Colonial Blvd in Ft Myers) which is similar in nature to an interstate cutting through the town.\

You are strongly advised to try and plan your visit for weekdays, not weekends!  It has been my findings time and time again that setting appointments will be much more successful on weekdays.  Homeowners vacate the homes typically on the weekdays, but want the home to themselves on weekends.  Also, Real Estate offices have limited hours on Saturdays and are almost all closed on Sundays here, so scheduling is notably harder and listing agents are often unavailable to answer any specific questions that may arise.  Consider your airfare and hotels expenses as well- they may be cheaper if you can make it on weekdays too.  When you are spending 6 figures, it just might be worth taking a day or two off work midweek to use your time down here most effectively!

If you are a cash buyer you will want to bring proof of funds to close with you for submitting with any offers.  This can be via a bank statement or perhaps a letter from the bank stating the amount of funds available.

If you will be placing an offer, an escrow deposit will be required.  Having a check on hand is a good idea.

Ask me for maps as to what areas I recommend.  Based on your preferences I can save you a lot of wasted time driving around areas I know won't match up to your needs.  I've lived here since 1984.  It's safe to say I know the area pretty well by now!  Free maps are always available to be mailed to you in advance of your trip too.  Just ask.

Questions asked by visitors:
Where is a good place to have dinner while in Cape Coral: Rumrunners at Cape Harbor.  5848 Cape Harbor Drive.  Also, Hoolihans.  627 Cape Coral Pkwy West.

What basic hotels in Cape Coral are conveniently located for my house hunting trip: Hampton Inn at 619 SE 47th Terrace.  Holiday Inn Express at 1538 Cape Coral Pkwy.

I want to stay at a nice beachfront place while I'm down, even if it's a further drive for my search.  Try Pointe Estero ($$$) 6640 Estero Blvd or the Pink Shell Resort (White Sands building, $$$) 275 Estero Blvd or DiamondHead ($$$) 2000 Estero Blvd.  The low priced beachfront hotel of choice is The Outrigger 6200 Estero Blvd.


		Strategies For Buying

	Strategies tailored to your preferences will be happily discussed upon you placing a call to 239-603-6100. However, in gerneral, I can say there’s a couple angles: 1) targeting the best priced waterfront homes (they are at a third of prior prices in some cases). They have the greatest possible return and are the reason many people come here. 2) The lowest priced, newest homes possible. They are at half the replacement cost, and therefore represent an ideal target for simply holding and renting out for long term holding. We can discuss what works for you in greater detail based on your specific goals. HERE'S A HINT: On foreclosures, bank's account to shareholders. They think in terms of 'quarters' of the year, so selling by the end of the 'quarter' could be of big importance to them. This means 4 times a year could see your best buys: just before Dec 31st, Mar 31st, June 30th, & Sept 30th.


	Property Taxes

I get numerous inquiries asking what are the taxes on particular homes.  So, to handle all these inquiries, here’s how you can easily find out: Go to the Lee County Property Appraiser’s site (a link is included at the bottom of this section and opens in a pop up window so you can follow along).  Type in the street number and name.  Do not write out Road, Street, etc, just leave it off or abbreviate it.  This will bring up county records on the property.  
After doing so you will see a link on the right that says 2009 TRIM.  Click it.  This brings up the most recent tax bill notice.  Read down Column 2, proposed tax bill if this years budget is made, and scroll down to Total Property taxes in that column.  That is your estimated annual tax bill on the property.  The good news is they are seeing a significant drop this year on most properties!

Will the taxes change?  
Yes, they change every year in this section of Florida.  There’s a tool for helping you make calculations.  Again go to the Lee County Property Appraiser’s site and type in an address.  This time click that strap number on the left side of the screen.  This brings up a lot of data on the home, including it’s current assessed value.  At the top of the screen there is a link that says TAX ESTIMATOR.  Click it, click ok, then fill in a sales price for an estimate.  There are two results: estimated taxes and estimated taxes with homestead exception.  If you can call this a primary residence, you may be entitled to that significant homestead discount.

Here's a more in depth look at how our local property taxes work:
They are paid annually.  If your mortgage includes escrows the lender should pay them for you.  If not, you will want to pay them in November of each year.  (Every month in advance that you pay them you a get a 1% discount.  They are due March 1st.  Paying them in November will net you a 4% savings).  
The taxes historically here were quite low.  In recent times they have gotten extremely high, but the future looks bright.  They are based on the assessed value, as determined by the county property appraiser.  (I have never seen a formula that you can accurately use for calculating them by the way).  The good news is that property taxes, in my opinion, have lagged a year or two behind reality, and we will likely see some very large reductions on a significant percentage of properties out there.  The first year or two properties shot up in value, the taxes (and the assessed values) were disproportionately low.  Now that we’ve come down in values, the tax rates (and assessed values) have been out-of-whack...based on high previous figures.  But they are now experiencing a correction and more is likely to come!

There is a give and take to finding great deals versus the tax rates.  If something was worth twice as much, congratulations you can get a great buy today on it.  BUT your taxes, at least for now, will reflect just how valuable that property was.  You can’t have it both ways, sorry.  I can find you lousy deals, with nice low tax bills, or I can find you great deals, but you’ll have to accept a year or two of high taxes.  Which would you choose?
How the assessed values are determined: If a property sold for $750,000 two years ago, is currently assessed at $500,000 and you are getting a great buy today on it for $250,000, those taxes will be high for now.  BUT the assessed value will obviously need correction, since it is now selling for half the assessed value.  The county property appraiser will be made aware of this new low sales price, and will factor it in for next years taxes.  They are not based solely on the sales price though, it’s whatever proprietary method he uses.  (Here’s his site).  In the event you disagree with the subsequent years assessed value, you are able to challenge them.  View his site for complete information.

Two major exemptions apply to properties here that are owner-occupied as primary residences.  The Homestead exemption and the Save-Our-Homes exemption.  First off, the homestead exemption that you see listed on 2007 (or older) tax bills is $25,000, meaning it knocks $25,000 off the taxable, assessed value of your home.  This has increased (with certain exclusions) up to $50,000 in subsequent years.  This is great news for owner-occupants.  Second, is the Save-Our-Homes act which basically means if you live in your home year after year, that in no single year can your taxes increase by more than 3%.  This means no surprises next year when you get the bill.
Because of these exemptions, taxes listed for one property to the next can vary greatly.  If someone lived in a home for the past decade and bought it quite cheap back then, they might only pay a couple thousand dollars a year on their million dollar property.  The neighbor who just bought his million dollar place next door a year ago might be paying three times that amount.
What you need to take into consideration is that you are not inheriting that nice, low tax rate when you buy the property.  It will be adjusted after the sale, and that home that was owned by the same individual for 10 years will see a notable increase the following year.  The good news is that most properties assessed values are much too high, and they should be coming down anyway.

Also look at property tax bills to see if they include payments for assessments.  In Cape Coral, properties that received assessments for city utilities could have these figures rolled into the bill and you don’t want to incorrectly strike a property from consideration because you thought the taxes were too high (when in fact they included payments for those assessements).

Should you have additional questions, here’s the contact numbers:
Lee County property appraiser: 239-533-6100
Lee County tax collector 239-533-6000

Lee County Property Appraiser* Lee County Tax Collector*


	Property Sales History

	You can access the sales history on properties using the Listingbook service or you can type in an address on this site and see the entire sales records on the parcel. Pay attention to the terms used: ‘Qualified’ will indicate a bona fide sale of a property. Disqualified can mean any of a thousand things, so you may just want to ignore those.


	Insurance

Property insurance will vary depending on numerous factors.  Please note that I cannot give you any quote on insurance-- address those questions to a local insurance broker or agency and they will be happy to provide you with much more accurate information.  A link to local providers is included at the bottom of this section.

Property Insurance includes coverage for fire hazards, hurricane coverage, etc.  Here’s an important thing to note though: some Florida policies will have a 2% hurricane deductible while others have a 5%.  Choose the one with 2%!  A 5% deductible can be a very large out-of-pocket expense.  Property Insurance pricing will vary on several factors: Cement block construction (CBS) is cheaper than frame construction to insure, the newer the home's construction, typically the cheaper.  Also, those with hip roofs (no blunt ends) instead of gable ends (like a barn) are cheaper too.  Proximity to the shoreline or river will also make prices escalate.  Rural areas without fire hydrants and locations with only volunteer fire departments cost much more as well (ex: parts of Alva).  Mobile home coverage can be pricier too.  When obtaining coverage you’ll likely want to get 2-3 quotes.  no single agency always has the best rates, as pricing tends to fluctuate.
Condos:  Condo buildings typically include partial coverage in your monthly homeowner’s fees.  Their coverage is typically the exterior of the building, up to about the drywall.  They are not responsible for flooring, cabinetry or anything from the drywall inwards.  (The exact coverage will depend on the condo).  To insure the inside of the condo and your personal belongings request a quote for H0-6 coverage from an insurance agency.  I’ve seen prices around $600-800 a year... yours may vary so ask the experts.

Flood Insurance:  This entire region is quite low, and quite flat.  Because of this flood insurance is required in a notable number of locations.  If you want to see if it’s required at a property of interest, do the following.  Go to the Flood insurance link at the bottom of this section  type in the address, and view the elevation information.  Specifically look at the section ‘rate code.’  The classification system can get a little complicated, but here’s the general rule: if you see the letter ‘A’ in the rate code, flood insurance is mandatory.  If it mentions being in a zone B, C, or X it shouldn’t be mandatory.  Now just because it isn’t required doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have it.  In areas that don’t require it, it’s typically pretty cheap.  Typically under $400/year.  In the event floodwaters damage a property your homeowners/hurricane policy will not cover it, so give it some consideration.  Flood insurance rates vary by proximity to the shoreline and elevation of the finished floor.  Ask an insurance agency for a quote-there should be little variation from one agency to another for flood insurance.

Home Inspectors (and others) can also a wind mitigation/inspection form for a small fee that can GREATLY reduce insurance costs.  Discuss it with an inspector and insurance agent.

Property insurance providers Flood Insurance Link


	Association / HOA / Condo Fees & Restrictions

Listingbook


	Assessments/City Utilities

	The city of Cape Coral is undertaking a huge conversion from private wells and septic systems to city utilities. With this change comes assessments. Here's an overview of how it works. NOTE this speaks in generalities and there are indeed exceptions! The City of Cape Coral can verify the specifics for any particular property and you would be well advised to check in with them on any purchase! There is a form to fax in to get definitive answers from the city which I can obtain on your behalf. It is then faxed to 239-242-3899. In general: The SE quadrant is all on city utilities and little, if any, assessments typically still remain due. In the NW and NE: these areas are slated for future conversion, but will not be completed in full for years to come. The SW: around 75% is converted, with the Northern portions currently being the areas next in line. If buying in the SW you typically see the largest variations from zero to $20k+ in assessments on properties. Costs: There are impact fees (ex: $4000) connection fees (ex: $1200) and assessments (ex: $14,600) that apply. The city can advise as to the specifics, but in general: impact pays the upfront costs, you'll pay a plumber to connect, and you'll likely opt to pay the city over time for the assessments. Payment: Assessments are not typically required to be paid all at once. My understanding is low rate government bonds cover it, and you have something like 10-15 years to pay it back. It is added to your tax bill, for simple billing. You can of course pay it all at once, should you choose to do so.

IF you are going page by page through the tutorial you may now proceed to the photo collections for the various areas at the link below.

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This information may reflect personal opinions, and examples. While it is deemed accurate, it is not guaranteed and you are advised to independently verify all info.


	Dan Starowicz Sand Castle Realty Group, Inc. 885 SW 47th Ter. Suite A, Cape Coral, FL 33904 239-603-6100

		LeeHouses.com and TopWaterfrontDeals.com by Dan Starowicz. (C) 2010