Lowest Gas Prices Fort Myers: $3.53  BJ's 9300 Ben C Pratt Six Mile Cypress & Colonial Blvd  Cape Coral: $3.53  BJ's 1929 NE Pine Island Rd near Pondella Rd  Naples:  $3.56  Citgo Commerical & US-41  Florida:  $3.37  BP 451 US-98 Apalachicola   Art Walk Downtown Fort Myers/6 to 10 this evening.  Free of charge. Fort Myers is celebrating its art explosion in the downtown area with a art walk.  The 11 gallerites have come together to put on this eent.  Art lovers can take free trolleys from place to place or walk.  There will be wine and cheese, of coruse. Pirate Festival The Chamber of Commerce of Fort Myers Beach presents the the annual Pirate Festival featuring a treasure hunt for adults, walking pub crawl, a pirate march, face painting, pirate entertainers, belly dancing and costume ... 10/03/2008

From Fort Myers Beach to Chicago, Realtors, for your dining pleasure:   Real Estate News  ARMOUR AVENUE was the name of this street and door signs on empty houses read "The Silver Dollar," "Swede Annie" and the Christian names of madams such as "Myrtle" and "Jenny."Scrap iron, rags and bottles fill the front rooms hither and yon and signs in Yiddish say Abe Kaplan & Co. are running junk shops in whore houses of former times.The segregated district, the Tenderloin, is here no more; the red-lights are gone; the ring of shovels handling scrap iron replaces the banging of pianos and the bawling songs of pimps. Chicago, 1915.  -by Carl Sandburg     10/02/2008

Like many of you I was intrigued by the infomercials for " Magic Jack ".  This device plugs into your computer and enables you to make unlimited long distance phone calls for $20 bucks /yr.  For an initial charge of $40 ( which includes a %20 charge for the first year. So far, so good.  I ordered the device and had some installation problems which were resolved with the tech people.  You don't talk to a person - you have a chat by typing your questions and a techie replies.  This system is slow but you shouldn't have to suffer through it too often. My problems lie with the voice quality, calls dropped and the inconvenience. 1. There is a distinct hollow sound to your voice and it will distract from your call. 2. It was common for calls to be dropped.  Maybe this was the fault of my phon... 09/30/2008

    Hello Folks, Pilar and I ventured to a new restaurant to try out. This place has been around for a long time, yet we only recently stopped by to try it out. The Matanzas Inn sits on the back side of Fort Myers Beach directly on Matanzas Pass. Matanzas Pass is a wide body of water which separates the island of Fort Myers Beach from the mainland. This is also where the fishing fleet resides. The Inn has a beautiful view of the pass with the Shrimp Boats across the way. On the East side of the pass you will find the fishing / shrimp fleet, on the west side you will find homes like the one pictured below. The Matazas Inn is a great place to stop by either via boat or car. In addition to the restaurant, they also have an outdoor bar which had livemusic while we were there. Sincerely,Sea... 09/29/2008

Whether contemplating an Open House or making your own home a place you want to be, remember that decorating with certain Flowers bring about positive chi, such as the Sunflower for its stability and endurance.  The color yellow brings light and life into a room, much like the rising sun in the morning.  Yellow brightens any space and is welcoming.  It's an excellent choice for children's rooms as well as the family and living room and kitchen.  Yellow brings the feng shui energy of fire in a gentler way than Red and also is thought to increase self-estem. For Feng Shui purposes, use hot Yellow in moderation in the feng shui areas of East and South East areas of yoiur home.  For Open Houses, placing a large vase of yellow sunflowers on that granite counter in the kitchen will be both ey... 09/29/2008

Unusal facts about Fort Myers Beach:  (At least, some of these were unexpected to me.)  There are only 11% of households on the beach with children.  This probably explains why we don't have many people knocking on our door on Halloween. Average number of people per household:  1.9%.  We do have a few houses on our street with single ladies and a couple with single men. Male/Female Percentage:  Even.  Below is a home located on Fort Myers Beach on Canal with boat dock.  The listing price is $329,900.  It's a 2 bedroom/2 bath, 945 square feet under air.  The beach is right across the street. The home is very well maintained with a nice kitchen, wood floors, tile floors, granite kitchen counter tops . LLoyd NicholsRight Choice Realty LLC Realtorlloydn@aol.com cell: 239-810-2980Fax: 239-46... 09/29/2008

    Fort Myers Beach is seeing a slight increase of 46% for sold single homes or 19 homes sold instead of 13 homes sold for the period of  May 30th to September 28th from 2007 to 2008. In 2007 it took 153 Days On The Market on average  to close on a home for a total volume of just over $6 Million dollars.The average selling price during that period was about $461,000 in 2007.     In 2008 it took 138 days to close on a property.That means 15 days less then in 2007. The average selling price in 2008 is $480,000 or $19,000 higher then in 2007.The total volume is $10,475,000 for 2008 or $4,470,000 more then in 2007.The lowest price  sold in Fort Myers Beach in 2007 for that period was $146,000 compare to $211,000 ( caution on that number as you would  have to compare apples to apples with a... 09/28/2008

Miss Mimi has been rather rambunctious this afternoon.She was doing so well yesterday and behaved on the Fort Myers Beach and schmoozed with a golden retriever and a very friendly bulldog.As a result I gave my card to the owner who is looking for a small fun vacation home in the near future.    To view the clip:   Mimi The dancing Real Estate Assistant After some complicated negotiating she agreed on a bonus in the form of a humbugger.But this afternoon she was a terror. All this Real Estate stuff is maybe getting to her. For information about properties in Southwest Florida Real Estate contact me on my cell or e-mail me at realtorlloydn@aol.com. LLoyd NicholsRight Choice Realty LLC6360 Presidential Court, Suite 4Fort Myers, FL 33919cell: 239-810-2980Fax: 239-463-4826home office: 239-46... 09/25/2008

    The State of Florida is considered the Lightning Capital of the World. More people are killed in Florida by lightning than anywhere else on the earth. We have even had lightning deaths to people who were physically in an area with no weather activity. No immediate storms, no clouds and no rain and a bolt of lightning strike them.  The two worst places to be during a lightning storm are on the beach or on a golf course. Just a couple years ago, two young individuals where out Parasailing off of Marco Island. It was a "Bluebird" sky type of day and out of nowhere a bolt of lightning struck the two parasailing and killed them instantly.  Although being struck by lighting in this manor can be quite frightening, when I say I was "Struck by lightning", what I am referring to is all the L... 09/22/2008

    Hello folks, I bet you never knew that you can find the alphabet while walking the beach. Well, in Southwest Florida and other beaches in the state, it is possible. The Alphabet Cone is one of the rarer shells which we find on our beaches. As live animals, they are typically found further out in the gulf and very rarely found alive up on our beaches.  The fact that we do not find live specimens on our beaches is a good thing. The reason being is that these shells are very poisonous. The way they eat their pray is to rapidly shoot a harpoon type of tooth into their future meal and inject them with poison. By doing this they are able to disable their prey and then feed upon them.        The Alphabet Cone ranges in size from very small to roughly 3.5 inches long. The larger shells are... 09/20/2008

    Hello Folks, Have you ever looked into a Shark's eye before? Me neither and if I do, I sure hope there is a thick layer of glass between us. What I'm actually talking about in the title "Shark's Eye" is one of the common shells we find on the beaches here in Lee & Collier Counties of Florida. The Shark's Eye is a round shell which starts out very small and can be as large (width) as a baseball. In the picture to the left are two Shark's Eyes. The larger one is about the size of a golf ball and the smaller one the size of a nickle. I found these two earlier this week while walking the beach ..... along with many others. An interesting thing about these shells is how they eat. Like most Uni-valve shells, they feed on other shells. Most will feed on dead shells or fish that lay on the... 09/19/2008

I've given different ideas about how to put on a successful Open House. I had a great response and many emails from agents who read my blog about holding an art exhibit freaturing the works of local artists at Open Houses. Another, more basic way to dress up an empty house would be to place a vase filled with gorgeous flowers on a prominent counter. In summer, let me suggest large sunflowers. If the house is a little musty and stuffy from being vacant, choose a more fragrant flower flower arrangement such as gardenia and with Autumn coming on down the road, a great choice may be a mixed bouquet containing the amazing colors of fall.  As for the expense of the flowers, when the Open House is over, you will have gorgeous flowers to bring home or a great gift for your wife or girlfriend. F... 09/18/2008

Looking for something to do with the family on Oct 11th & 12th, 2008 ?  Do you like good food, music, street vendors and... PIRATES ?  Yes, Fort Myers Beach will be invaded for the 3rd annual Pirate Festival for a weekend of authentic costumes, characters and fun !                       The event draws some very authentic costumes and group presentations for our enjoyment !                       Bill Gillhespy is a licensed Reaaltor with Century 21 Tripower www.BillSellsFortMyersBeach.com 239  699-7128     09/18/2008

According to a recent study by the University of Florida's Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studieswhich  does quarterly studies and surveys of industry executives, market research economists, real estate scholars and other experts, the second quarter 2008 study set forth that the long-term outlook for Florida remains positive.  Their opinion based on their study was that the logical time for market cycles to change is likely the spring of 2009. Also, the latest word from the the National Association of Realtors was that improvements would be seen in existing home sales in the next few months. Real Estate is not going to the dogs on Fort Myers Beach, Florida.   LLoyd NicholsRight Choice Realty LLC6360 Presidential Court, Suite 4Fort Myers, FL 33919Realtorlloydn@aol.comcell: 239-810-2980... 09/18/2008

 The market report for Fort Myers Beach, FLorida for August 2008 compared to earlier years is as follows:                        August of :                      Number of sales          Median Price            Ave Days on Market                     August  2002                            15                         $513,366                    105                                 2003                            31                         $383,690                    135                                 2004                            21                         $411,938                    142                                 2005                            40                         $639,527                      64                                 2006                            11            ... 09/17/2008

cell: 239-810-2980 Fax: 239-463-4826 home office: 239-463-5217 Estero Island or Fort Myers Beach is far away from the crumbling walls of Wall Street. It does have a Wachovia Bank. But will the island, like any town in the USA be affected by the fall of Lehman Brothers, the 158 year old institution and 4th largest lender in the USA? By the enormous 70 plus billion dollar debt AIG, the largest insurer in the US is facing? I saw the town meeting yesterday on our local TV and the budget seems to be about the same as last year.In fact, our balance sheet is better then last year.But if AIG falls how many islanders and Floridians will be affected? A huge amount.For starters many use AIG for their car insurance. No problem we will switch to another insurer. The island survives regardless.I can ... 09/16/2008

Hurricane Ike roared through the Gulf of Mrxico and slammed into Texas.  This massive storm changed the Texas coast and many inland communities forever !  We all watched the storm as it made it's way toward the Gulf and hoped it wouldnt become deadly.  Our prayers were with those in it's path !  You wouldn't wish a hurricane on anyone but you certainly are glad when it veers in another direction. Our island is a barrier island and with rare exception has been spared visits by these amazing storms.  While the storm was passing I went down to the beach for these pictures.  It is so strange that the storm is out there over the horizon but it is so calm and peaceful here.                                             This a beautiful classic beach cottage I use for an open house. Bill Gillhes... 09/15/2008

Do you know where on Fort Myers Beach this tree is ? Fort Myers Beach is a laid back place where you never know what you will discover around the next corner.  Our streets are filled with friendly people and their unique and creative talents.  The owners of the house where this tree is located had a very talented sculptor friend create this figure.  The tree is lit at night for a ghostly image.    For added effect they also hung decorative apples from it's branches !  The tree is a Ficus and so the apples were just to amuse those caught up in the wonder of it all !  You can see one of the fake apples slightly above and to the left of the bright yellow bird feeder.  The detail and striking glare of the sculpting are all in fun and welcome those sharp eyed visitors to our island paradise.... 09/15/2008

Our first dog, Red, was amazingly intelligent and intuitive.  She was tough as nails, also.  She was large and people were afraid of her.  She never bit anyone or attacked anyone, but she ruled this street, the Island of Fort Myers Beach, everywhere she went.  Mimi is more sociable than Red, not as intellectual as Red, but she's a puppy yet.  I think Mimi will get there.  My wife and I love dogs.  If we lived in the country, we'd have 10.  Fortunately, we reside on a family and dog friendly Island where you can enjoy a morning walk on the beach with your best friend. You often hear amazing stores concerning dogs, saving people, coming back home after being lost on vacation 1000 miles away.  Today, I read a story concerning a great dog.  Evidently, the owner of the dog suffered from seiz... 09/14/2008

If you are looking for a more Jimmy Buffet life style of slacking Fort Myers Beach is the place. The island also known as Estero Island is not trendy Captiva or Sanibel island, nor does it want to be.                        When my wife and I first moved from Old Town Naples, we were looking for an island which had more moderate prices and  had more down to earth quality and kept its heritage with its older cottages, its fishing with its largest commercial port in the area located along the narrow Matanza Pass  and its formidable Calusa Indian history.                          This Jimmy Buffet life style area filled with shops and countless restaurants and bars applies only to the downtown of Fort Myers Beach or Town Square.                          The rest of the island does not foll... 09/13/2008