Today’s Sanibel & Captiva Island Blog Comes to You From Orlando!

SanibelSusan is in Orlando at the Florida Realtors® 2012 Annual Convention and Trade Expo. Thanks to modern technology, my SanibelSusan teammates, Elise, Dave, and Lisa are keeping things running smoothly at home, including getting our new lot listing posted and a condo closing finalized today. Here are a few real estate news items followed by the Sanibel & Captiva Island Multiple Listing Service action over the past week.

Florida Realtors® 2012 Convention & Trade Expo

Jeanne Robertson

After attending classes and meetings for the last two days, it was a nice reprieve to hear keynote speaker Jeanne Robertson at the Awards Luncheon yesterday. Jeanne was Miss North Carolina in 1963 and the tallest contestant ever to be in the Miss America pageant. How does she relate to the real estate business, you may ask. Her presentation, titled “Humor: A Strategy for Success” can be applied to any business and boy is she funny – truly is a master story-teller. Check her out daily on Sirius/XM Radio’s Family Comedy channels or find her clips on YouTube. Here’s a particularly hysterical one, this skit was part of her presentation yesterday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YFRUSTiFUs I’m still laughing, just thinking about her.

During the awards portion of yesterday’s event, Todd Dantzler was recognized as the 2012 Florida Realtors® “Realtor of the Year”. Todd was our state President in 2000 and came to Sanibel for my installation as President of the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association in 1998. In addition to his many years of work in the real estate community both locally, state, and nationally, Todd is currently a Polk County Commissioner. It was great to see such a fine Realtor® recognized for his efforts.

Barbara Corcoran

Today our noontime speaker at the General Session was Barbara Corcoran familiar to many for her role as one of the sharks on the TV show “Shark Tank”. She parlayed a $1,000 loan from a boyfriend into a NY real estate business that she sold for $66 million, and that into the $5 billion Corcoran Group. She also is an amazing speaker. Being in the 2nd row in a room of 2500 fellow Realtors® gave me a great vantage point to see her up close. We all learned good tips from her, particularly in dealing with real estate times like those today.

This afternoon was our Legislative and Political Forum. That group often springs a few unannounced politicians on us, so I was anxious to see if we would have surprise visitors. In past years, before their elections I got to rub shoulders with Governor Rick Scott, and former Governors Charlie Crist, and Jeb Bush. Those politicians always want to get Realtor® support. We are a huge PAC.

Sure enough, today’s event included presentations by Congressman Rick Lazio (R) NY for Governor Romney and Florida Senator Bill Nelson (D). I collected an armload of material to remind my fellow Floridians to vote “Yes” on Amendment 4. More info on that at www.TaxYourAssetsOFF.com.

Tomorrow morning, I get my turn to be part of the event in “Got Ethics” being presented by the Professional Standards Forum. Based on the popular 60’s-70’s TV game show, the Match Game, it will offer hypothetical situations depicting questionable conduct in real estate transactions as contestants try to match their answers with a panel of four real estate stars in the game. I’m one of the four. (Sure hope I know the correct answers!)

Later tomorrow is the annual meeting of the Resort & Second Home Specialists Forum. As the only island Realtor® selected for this state group, it is a great networking opportunity and I always come back armed with good info to share with my colleagues. Hopefully, I will gain some news to include in the Resort & Second Home Specialist Class that I am teaching in October as part of our Sanibel & Captiva Islands Specialist designation.

I will be back on the island on Sunday and am always thankful that I can attend these events with the office in good hands. Thanks Dave, Elise, & Lisa.

Sanibel Island in the “NY Times”

Here is a link to the article posted on NYTimes.com on Wednesday, titled “A Florida Island Draws an Array of Seashells and Hunters to Gather Them”.

This was yet another example of the excellent press, the islands have received this year!

Sundial Beach & Golf Resort on Sanibel Purchased for $2.3 Million

For those looking for a little more scoop about what is happening at Sundial, here is the article from the Fort Myers “News Press”:

“The Sundial Beach & Golf Resort on Sanibel has been purchased for $2.3 million by a private equity group with ambitious plans to rejuvenate the 407-unit project. For the first time in decades, the resort will be managed as an individual property rather than as part of a large company’s portfolio, the Sundial’s new manager said.

“An affiliate of Newtown, Pa.-based CoreStates Capital Advisors LLC bought the Sundial from The Blackstone Group on July 16. Sundial “is a landmark. … We’re excited new blood is coming in,” said Ric Base, president of the Sanibel and Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce. The new owners “are going to put money back into the place, and fix it up. They’re going to open the restaurant and the pool tiki bar back up to the public,” Base said. “All of those things are good for the community.”

“CoreStates hired Pittsburgh-based CAM Hospitality Advisors & Management to develop a multimillion-dollar refurbishment of the Sundial”, said CAM’s Christopher Mannino. Right now, Mannino said, “we’re in the early stages of understanding what’s most important for the guests who stay there and the owners” of the condominiums. There’s no formal plan yet, but some ideas being considered are a full-service spa, a marketplace/general store/cafe in addition to a new fitness center plus new banquet and catering space, Mannino said. CAM’s focus will be on creating an individual identity for the Sundial, which has long been managed and marketed as part of Blackstone’s inventory of resorts. Before that, it was owned by Meristar, also a major owner of resorts. “It has a long history of being styled together with other resorts like the Sanibel Inn and South Seas Resort,” Mannino said. “This will be the first time in 20 years, maybe more, that it will be freestanding, an individual business not tied to other businesses. When you see the new website it’ll be strictly the Sundial resort.”

“Blackstone bought Sundial and nine other properties in Florida from MeriStar Hospitality Corp. in 2006 for $367 million. Meristar had owned the resort since 1998, when it purchased the Sundial as part of its acquisition of South Seas Property Co. LP, which owned South Seas Plantation on Captiva as well as Sundial and five other properties on Sanibel plus the Radisson Suite Beach Resort on Marco Island. South Seas Property had bought the Sundial in 1994 as part of a $9 million acquisition from Marquis Hotels and Resorts Co.

“Sundial was built starting in 1972, when it was known simply as “Sundial condominium.””

Island BBQ Company

We love new island eateries and have already tried the Island BBQ Company which opened late June in the former Island Pizza location on Palm Ridge Road. Their menu includes pulled pork and chicken, smoked chicken, baby back ribs, beef brisket, and BBQ pizzas. The fun part is their five sauces: 1) Island Sauce – sweet tomato-based sauce spiked with rum and pineapple, 2) Smokey Sauce – smokey tomato-based sauce (good on ribs), 3) Sweet Vinegar Sauce – Carolina-style with a little bite, 4) Mustard Sauce – sweet honey-mustard sauce (good on pulled chicken); and 5) Spicy Orange – intense orange with a bit of spice.

The chef uses a 3-day smoking process on the meats and most menu items, from pies to pasta, are made fresh daily. Beach boxes are available and include a choice of meats and two sides: mac and cheese, baked beans, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, mixed vegetables, corn on the cob, cornbread, Texas toast, or a kaiser roll.

Island BBQ also offers gluten-free options and has no fried foods. In its banquet hall at Beachview Golf Club, Island BBQ can cater a party for up to 184 people. They also have “take and bake” meals. Island BBQ Company is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and closed on Sundays during the summer. It’s take-out or delivery only.

Rosie’s Deli to Return in New Location

Here is a little more news on the food front (The SanibelSusan Team likes to eat!) Many already know that Gepetto’s Beach Foodies opened earlier this year (an expansion of Pinocchio’s Ice Cream Shop) in the former Rosie’s Deli location on the east end of Periwinkle Way in the area known as Olde Sanibel.

Now it has been announced that Rosie’s Deli will be reborn in early October in the space previously occupied by The Hungry Heron on Palm Ridge Road, which closed in July. The new Rosie’s Cafe and Grill will combine both sit-down and take-out food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Rosie’s homemade chicken salad and seafood salad, Cuban, Reuben and Philly steak sandwiches and Pelican

Poop chocolate candies will be back – while The Heron’s popular steam pots, as well as other family favorites, also will be available. Remodeling work is under way to give the interior a new color scheme and fresh décor.

If You Can Pull It Off, A House is a Smart Investment

Today there is an excellent article in “USA Today” by their Friday investment columnist, John Waggoner. I almost missed it, but have wonderful clients keeping me on my toes. (Thanks again, Scott.)

To read the article, go to  http://usa.ly/P351CD

View from our new near-beach single-family home lot listing at 437 Lake Murex Circle.

This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors or its Multiple Listing Service.  Neither the association nor its MLS guarantees or is in any way responsible for its accuracy.  Data maintained by the association or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.  The information provided represents the general real estate activity in the community and does not imply that SanibelSusan Realty Associates is participating or participated in these transactions.  If your property currently is listed with another broker, this is not intended as a solicitation of that listing.