Marco-Talk Blog

We see birds around us all day. Have you ever taken the time to identify the species you see? I spent just an hour or two over the past few mornings and identified 22 species in my yard. There were many I missed or couldn't identify so over time this list might reach 30 or even 50. Amazing to think there are so many different birds here on Marco Island. Here are the birds I identified this week: Roseate Spoonbill, Cardinal, Blue Gray Gnatcatcher, Palm Warbler, Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Black Vulture, Osprey, Red Shouldered Hawk, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Brown Pelican, Anhinga, Gray Catbird, Common Ground Dove, Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Fish Crow, Boat Tailed Grackle.

General property price ranges for Marco Island Homes, Condominiums, and vacant building lots change daily. Here is a snapshot updated 11/21/2007.

Condominium Beachfront

• Efficiency/ 1bedroom $299,000 to $379,000
• 2 bedrooms $375,500 to $2,850,000
• 3 bedrooms $895,000 to $3,500,000
• 4 bedrooms  $1,995,000 to $8,500,000

Condominium Waterfront

• Efficiency/ 1 bedroom $180,000 to $459,900
• 2 bedrooms $299,000 to $1,150,000
• 3 bedrooms $349,000 to $1,975,000

Condominium Inland

• Efficiency/ 1 bedroom $119,000 to $400,000
• 2 bedroom $159,000 to $640,000
• 3 bedroom $159,900 to $1,105,000

House Inland $249,000 to $3,6999,000

House Water Indirect $459,000 to $5,250,000

House Water Direct $673,500 to $7,400,000

House Golf Course $359,000 to $4,000,000

House Beachfront $3,995,000 to $11,500,000

Vacant Lots

• Inland $129,000 to $1,495,000
• Water Indirect $345,000 to $1,850,000
• Water Direct $495,000 to $4,900,000
• Golf Course $395,000 to $595,000
• Beachfront $1,200,000 to $5,200,000

http://www.realtyexecutives.com/index.html

Are you ready to make the move to paradise on Marco Island? Do you want an experienced professional to help sell your existing home? We can refer you to a local Realty Executives office. Or, you can search the Realty Executives International web site for yourself. There is peace of mind knowing that Realty Executives are working on both the buying and selling for you.

Feel free to call us 239-394-2494

Sometimes we forget about the obvious,  http://www.realtor.com/   is a great resource for buying a home, selling a home, financing a home, and estimating the value of your home.  You can spend a lot of time searching for real estate information or you can go straight to Realtor.com.

Tony Lema was the first golf professional for the Marco Island Country Club. As a golfer he won 12 PGA tour events and finished 2nd,by one stroke, behind Jack Nicklaus in the 1963 Masters. He died, along with his wife Betty, in a plane crash in 1966. Ironically, the plane crashed on the 7th hole of a golf course in Michigan.

In the early 1970's the Deltona Corporation held an annual memorial pro-am golf tournament in his honor at the Island Country Club.  The Tony Lema Memorial Tournament was attended by many sport and entertainment celebrities. Mickey Mantle, Johnny Unitas, Stan Musial, Don Shula, Bob Griese, Ralph Kiner, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Bear Bryant, George Blanda, Perry Como, Gene Sarazen, JC Snead, Lee Trevino, James Garner, and even Evel Knievel were on hand to play golf, socialize ,and sign autographs for residents.

Many of us Marco kids skipped school and added some real hall of fame names to our autograph collections. We were all saddend in the mid 1970s when the Deltona Corporation, due to mounting expenses, ended the tournament and our day of truancy.

Here I am, 5 years old, getting a pat on the head from Johnny Unitas.

Here is my brother Ken, with baseball Hall of Famer, Ralph Kiner.

Joe Dimaggio

A recent Tigertail Beach visitor, the Palm Warbler is unusual in that it nests on the ground. Despite their tropical name, Palm Warblers live primarily in the north and then winter in the Southern US and Northern Caribbean. They constantly pump their tails to draw attention to their bright yellow undertail coverts.

If you take a few minutes to scan the beach grass and sea oats at Tigertail Beach this winter, you'll get a good look at these cool birds.

Listen too much to the news and it is easy to lose perspective on the lending situation. There is readily available mortgage money in Florida, and interest rates remain at historical lows. The majority of negative stories are related to subprime lending. The subprime lending sector at it's peak was only about 15% of the mortgage market. Of those, 85 to 90% of borrowers are still making their payments.

This does emphasize the importance of dealing with stable lenders. Most Realtors maintain relationships with lenders they recognize as reputable. These relationships can open doors and eliminate much of the guess work when you are ready to explore financing.

If you haven't done so, I suggest spending half a day doing the Wildlife Drive in the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. It is real easy to drive the trail and pull over whenever something interesting catches your eye. These roseate spoonbills were far from shy.

Join us for Shops of Marco Christmas Walk 2007.

Friday November 23; Santa arrives 6pm via the Marco Island Fire Truck.

Picture with Santa! at Salon and Spa Botanica.

Sponsored by the Merchants and Restaurants of the Shops of Marco.

Come see our new look! Publix Shopping Center Corner of South Barfield Drive and San Marco Road.

This guy hangs out on San Marco Road. True to its name, the Burrowing Owl nests in a hole in the ground. Although it is quite willing to dig its own burrow, it often uses one already provided by skunks, armadillos, or tortoises. Populations are declining in many areas; listed as endangered or threatened in some states and provinces. Collision with cars is a major source of mortality. Human activities have decreased the species' range in Florida.

Carl Hiaasen's novel Hoot is set in Florida where friends try to stop construction of a house which would destroy a colony of Burrowing owls.

The Florida Bond program has some great options to assist the first time homebuyer with downpayments. But get this, YOU DO NOT have to be a first time home buyer to qualify for BOND in Collier County. 4% of the loan amount is given for down payment assistance with NO NEED to repay. 

The Collier County SHIP program can also be attached to the BOND program. SHIP allows a 15% down payment assistance on top of the 4% BOND.

For example, A $250,000 sales price with BOND and SHIP can qualify for $47,500 in down payment assistance.

With the recent break in home prices, now is a great time to buy the home you regretted not buying before. Home ownership is not only emotionally rewarding but historically has been a great value. Call us at 394-2494 if you want to explore this exciting opportunity.

The fall weather pattern has arrived. The predicitable afternoon thunder storms have moved on for the season. Mornings are pleasasnt with low humidity, afternoons are warm and sunny, and evenings cool down with some natural air conditioning. The fishing changes somewhat now too. Huge bird packs feast on the near and off shore bait pods. Spanish Mackeral, Kingfish, Bonito, and Redfish are getting hot. Some big sharks are around and can be caught using jack, mullet, and ladyfish. I fought a nice blacktip shark the other day. Nearly spooled me several times and really wore me out.

This may come in handy if you are ever on one of those TV trivia shows...

The Bureau of Economic Analysis says that in 2006 we spent $405 billion for household furniture and equipment, $506 was related to household operations, and $1,382 trillion went for housing. That's a total of $2.29 trillion in a $13.254 trillion economy, or 17.3% of all goods and services.

Early summer, when the water starts to warm up, is a good time to fish from the beach. Trout, jack, pompano, and snook are hungry and cruising the shoreline. Due to seasonal restrictions, you can't keep the snook that time of year, but they are fun to catch and release. Here is a picture of dad, the summer of 2007, catching and releasing a young hungry male snook.

Ok, you are going to see a pattern here because if I'm not working I am fishing.  The photo in the previous entry was from the 1970's after Dad and I got back from a night of snook fishing. We usually went out late. I remember leaving the house when the tonight show was on. We would stop at the 7-11 so dad could get a cigar. The only time he ever smoked was when fishing. I usually got a couple packs of baseball cards and a bottle of coke.

Dad and I still fish a couple nights a week right out his back door for freshwater golfcourse bass. It's a great way to spend the hour around sunset. We walk the course, get some exercise and fish at some of our well researched fish holes. I'll get a few pictures up soon as some of the bass we catch are huge. Golf courses are one of the best places to fish. Most lakes are full of large mouth bass, and some of them even have tarpon and snook.

In case you didn't know, the Marco Island area is a fishing paradise. Snook, redfish, tarpon, trout, grouper, and snapper can be caught pretty much year round. My dad started taking me fishing for snook back in the early 1970's. Our favorite spot was called "The Compound". It was the old Army missile tracking station turned into The Deltona Corporation's heavy equipment storage yard. Dad worked for Deltona and the night watchman would let us in to fish. Some nights the snook were so thick we could catch fish on every cast. Today the place we once called "The Compound" is now Cape Marco.

Before the times of bridges, condominiums, and marinas Marco Island was divided into two different land masses; an area that is now the southernmost third of Marco and an area of about 50 acres of shell that had been raised by hand by Calusa Indians, who came to the Island at an unknown time. They disappeared around the time of the Spanish Explorers. It was this northern tip that was named Key Marco and is now known as Old Marco. What is now the center of Marco Island was a water outlet into the Gulf of Mexico until it later became a mangrove swamp.

What attracted a tribe of Paleo-Indiains to Marco Island? That is a question that remains shrouded in mystery. Relatively little is known about this group of fishermen and skilled artisans who lived on Marco for more than a thousand years.

As tourists and residents of today, the Calusa were likely drawn to the island for its tropical, sheltered, almost mystical atmosphere. They were thought to have considered Marco a sacred place, as storm clouds rolling towards it often seemed to stop mysteriously and travel north or south.

The Calusa were accomplished fishermen and artisans. They made brightly painted clay masks to resemble animals and carefully wove fishing nets. They were known as fierce warriors and wore ornate jewelry and clothing.

The Calusa also practiced an early form of recycling. They built giant mounds using clam shells, fish bones and other discarded items. The shell mounds today are some of the highest areas in south Florida. Take a drive over Indian Hill in the Caxambas area of Marco. The elevation is over 50 feet above sea level.

It was believed that the plight of the Calusa was unfortunately similar to that of so many other Indian groups. European explorers such as Ponce de Leon, who may have died close to Marco after a battle with native people, brought disease and weapons with them. The result was decimation.

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The arrival of homesteader Captain W.D. "Bill" Collier rang in the arrival of modern life on Marco in 1870. Collier's Marco Island centered around the fishing and clamming industry. Several of the original building of Collier's sleepy village still remain in the Old Marco area today.

Captain Bill stumbled upon one of the richest archaeological finds in Florida as he dug mucky soil as fertilizer for his garden.

After word got around and the Smithsonian Institute archaeologist Frank Hamilton Cushing got involved in the excavation, hundreds of artifacts were uncovered. A six inch wooden cat statue, The Key Marco Cat, became the very symbol of the lost Calusa and remains so today.

The isolated, mosquito-infested and largely undeveloped little island remained so up until the early 1960's when Barron Collier's last holdings were sold to Deltona Development Corporation with brothers Elliott, Robert and Frank Mackle at the helm. The rich and famous as well as the blue collar were drawn in by an incredibly successful marketing campaign. A beach front hotel brought guests onto the sandy, clean and pristine beaches of Marco. Affordable subdivision like housing was bought by those wishing to own a piece of paradise. Many of these original homes are still occupied today by Islanders.

The Army Corps of Engineers, who had briefly held a post on the southern tip of the island during the 1950's at a missile tracking station, became embroiled in a lawsuit with the Mackle brothers when Deltona mapped out its development plans to include lands the government had deemed "environmentally sensitive." After years of expensive court battles, the Mackles admitted defeat, but Marco Island is forever eindelibly etched in the minds of many as the ultimate vacation and living atmosphere.

Today it is well established that Marco Island is a first-class resort island with a unique atmosphere that simply can't be found elsewhere. Where else would one find millionaires sitting among fishermen at chickee bars talking about the incredible fishing that can be had any time of the year?