Growth and Development After the Storms

Real estate rebound coming

The Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce and The News-Press Market Watch sponsored a breakfast program titled "Growth and Development After the Storms," an assessment of how the hurricanes will affect our real estate market.

Janet Watermeier, president of Florida Gulf Coast Group, Frank D'Alessandro of D'Alessandro & WoodyardCommercial Realtors presented at the event held at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre.

Topics of the event included "What's Ahead? Short, Mid, & Long Term," "Current & Future Growth & Development" and "Emerging Trends by Geographic Market."

In addition, the presentation included significant historical research on how other markets fared after being hit by a hurricane.

Growth and Development After the Storms Presentation [Florida Gulf Coast Group]

Windblown real estate to rebound

The million dollar question, what effect will the hurricanes have on property values?

The summer of 2004 certainly will be remembered as the summer of devastating hurricanes for Florida — the storms hitting us one right after another.

But will the memory of this summer affect our real estate market? That's the alarming question many real estate professionals, investors and property owners have on their minds these days.

Windblown real estate to rebound [News-Press]

Modest housing shortage looms

FEMA processing 23,000 Charley related rental applications

Hurricane Charley has stripped Southwest Florida of an already limited supply of affordable housing.

Mobile home parks were flattened. Rental housing stocks have been cut in half. Even those in modest single-family neighborhoods are forced to live in substandard conditions because they can't cover the repair costs.

Modest housing shortage looms [News-Press]

The Four Ws

"Who am I?" and "Why am I here?"
-- James Stockdale, 1992 Vice Presidential Debate.

Who
Greetings and welcome to Gulf Returns, my own parcel of Internet real estate. My name is Mark Washburn and I am a real estate investor in Southwest Florida.

Real estate investing represents a major career change for me after nearly 20 years in the telecommunications industry, most recently leading a venture-backed service provider.

While running technology companies and real estate investing are quite different, I have found that many of the skills necessary for success are transferable, including developing accurate projections and modeling of return on investment.

What
The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my experiences as a real estate investor in the Southwest area of Florida. I plan to post information that I uncover as well as share experiences that may be valuable to others.

Where
A chance meeting on trolley during a vacation at South Seas Resort on Captiva Island introduced me, to the opportunities that exist for successful real estate investing in Southwest Florida. With the explosive population growth throughout Southwest Florida, investment opportunities are numerous.

I have elected to focus my efforts in Lee County and, in particular, Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres. These communities have long taken a back seat to the more glamorous Naples, Marco Island and Sanibel…..but are now booming due to many factors that we will explore in this blog.

Why
One of the things that has most amazed me about real estate investing is the lack of organized, easy to find web-based information. Sure most realtors have a static web site with a link to MLS, and maybe the local school system but that is typically about it.

Inevitably, if you want more detailed information, you have to pick up the phone. I have come to the conclusion that this is an industry that has not adopted the self-service formula that is prevalent throughout many other industries including the high-tech world I used to work in.

Hopefully, Gulf Returns will evolve into a valuable resource for real estate investors and we can all learn something from each other.