Well, to be exact, Arthur Frommer, the man behind the travel website & books “Frommers” thinks so.  He rated Sanibel Island as his #1 favorite place in the world to visit.  

Locally, this is a big deal, as he ranks the Islands of Bali and Paris as #2 and #3 respectively and Kenya rounding out the list at #10.  This is not just any man’s opinion, Arthur Frommer is famous for traveling the world and for his published traveling guides.

Here is an excerpt from his post:
To Do Some Long-Range Vacation Planning, I’ve Compiled a List of My 10 Favorite Travel Destinations
Posted by Arthur Frommer at 12/28/2011 10:02 AM EST

To me, the leisure enjoyed during the holiday season is a perfect time in which to plan future vacations. And so I’ve compiled a list of my own favorite destinations, of which there are 10:

1) Sanibel Island, Florida: Off the west coast of the Sunshine State, a few miles from Ft. Myers, is this idyllic haven of white-sand beaches, condos whose seafront apartments are available for weekly rentals, excellent restaurants, good shopping–and most important, the Ding Darling Nature Preserve, visited by thousands of birds of every species, who bask in the sun after diving for fish, and are one of the great natural sights of wildlife in America.

There was a News Press article about his blog post which can be found here.  If you would like to see Frommer’s original blog post, you can do so here.

The islands are a very special part of Southwest Florida.  Between the white sand beaches and the plethora of wildlife sanctuaries, Sanibel & Captiva bring many tourists to Southwest Florida.  There is just something special about being on the islands.  Personally, every time I head over the bridge to Sanibel, it feels as though I am on vacation.

This news of Frommer’s ranking comes just days after local real estate industry experts gathered to discuss and predict what was to come in 2012.  The overall attitude is very optimistic for the local real estate market and local economy.  Jobs will continue to be a main concern, but local real estate values are predicted to continue rising.  Contributing to this fact is the slow down in foreclosure activity.  People are finally getting back on their feet.

Judging by the number of people on the road, at stores & at local restaurants, we have a lot of confidence this will be a very good season!

We were ready to give up, but discovered Brad Dohack online back in Chicago with his 2 cent tours. He was touring places we had not even seen before, so we gave it one last shot with Brad last spring.

To summarize, Brad got it done when no one else could. After working with Brad in the spring without scoring, he kept working behind the scenes and called us out of the blue in September with news of a home he thought would be perfect for us that came on the market that day. He emailed us over 50 pictures and said it was an excellent short sale property and would not last long. And he was right.

We had our offer submitted within 24 hours, but there was an offer in front of us and several right behind. The seller considered them all and chose ours and sent it on to the bank. But Brad did not stop there. He worked tirelessly with the negotiator to get bank approval within two and a half months. During that time, we asked for a number of things and raised a number of difficult issues. Brad could have said he would get back to us in a day or two, but instead he would always respond within an hour and whatever was requested was in my email shortly after that and every issue got resolved quickly and to our satisfaction.

If you are an out-of-town buyer looking for a second home, there is no better agent to have working with you than Brad Dohack. He will not give up until he gets you what you are looking for. And he is always reachable so there is never a feeling of not knowing what is going on. He gets it done when no one else can.”          

~Jim & Michelle Wisniewski

Lee County:

In a superb article from Fort Myers Florida Weekly (seen below), the numbers speak for themselves.  Since January 2011, the median sales price of homes in the Greater Fort Myers area have risen 28.27%.  The overall number of transactions has inched down by 5.5% when compared to this time in 2010.  They go on to explain the increase in median sales price to be a product of an increased number of traditional (non-distressed) sales.  The number of traditional sales has increased from 33.5% in January 2011 to 52.2%.  Certainly this is an indication that sellers are FINALLY seeing a better opportunity to sell…and for good reason. Even more interesting is the fact that the overall amount of inventory is down 30% from just a year ago.  We only have 3 months worth of inventory at current demand level.  Very impressive.

Collier County:

Collier County has seen its share of good news in the marketplace as well, but not nearly to the extend of Lee.  The graph below shows you the average sales price of single family homes in Collier County.  The trend line has remained somewhat flat for the year, but I would expect that December & January numbers would help increase it.  Obviously the average price is much higher than Lee overall, but that is to be expected.

2012 Prediction: While I certainly do not have the super powers of predicting the future (my crystal ball speech), I believe 2012 will be another positive year for real estate in Southwest Florida.  We are not through the woods yet when it comes to foreclosures & short sales, as I think it will be several years before we see that pipeline dry up.  However, we will see less short sales & foreclosures coming on the market which inevitably means continued appreciation.  Demand will remain high even though prices are heading northward.  Consumer confidence is likely to keep rising, especially with the upcoming elections.  Mortgage rates are at record lows now, but it will remain difficult to obtain financing.  We have been seeing the majority of our clients purchasing with cash, and I would expect that to remain the same.

Conclusion: We are still in a buyers market, but the tide is slowly changing in favor of sellers.  There is still time to buy at great prices.  If you’ve been holding off selling hoping the market would bounce back, you may want to have us look at the numbers and give you an analysis…you just might be surprised.

Below is the Florida Weekly article mentioned above.

Like most folks searching the internet is the most common way to find the dream home. That is where Brad Dohack assisted us with every step of the way. We knew Brad from several friends of ours. Like many people in Florida, everyone knows a realtor, but do they truly know a professional and expert of real estate? I knew Brad after having several conversations with him. You can tell the difference in character compared to the other realtors out there.

Just give him a call and you will find out.

Every home we found, Brad was there to quickly assist in setting up an appointment to visit while respecting what little time we had. Visits to house showings were done either after work or in between our childrens’ naps….. In fact most showings were all scheduled around their naps. He was quick to identify pros and cons of each home.

When we finally found the perfect home, the process of placing an offer on the home was well done to a science and art. The process of signing the offer was efficient thru Docusign. And Brad was there to help negotiate. Once the offer was accepted by the selling party (which was a bank since the home was a short sale) he took the time to explain to both of us the process and timeline. Brad assisted also with communicating with our loan officer, the title company. This communication proved important as it sped up the transaction to meet its deadline.

I would highly recommend Brad for any buying and selling needs of real estate in SW Florida!”

~Todd & Adrianne Kluener

What does your bank ask for when you call them with a question?  You guessed it.  Your mother’s maiden name.  So if you are in your 20′s or 30′s and your mother just got on Facebook and included her maiden name, you could have a problem!  You mom could potentially be helping thieves steal your identity!   An identity thief can easily see who your relatives are on facebook with the new “relatives” tag.   Something needs to be done with this system fast!

Comment below on your thoughts and possible solutions to this problem.

If you ask anyone how to open a door, the response will likely be, “turn the knob and push.”  That’s true in most cases, but I’ll argue that most of the time we’re trying to open the wrong door.  Let me explain.  If it’s so easy to open the door, most times the thing that we’re after behind the door isn’t that great.  We are always hoping for another door and another door and another door.  You get the point.  The REAL good stuff remains behind “locked” doors.  Think about it, people only lock doors that have something valuable behind it.  So if you go to turn the knob and push on that door, it won’t open.  That’s the door you want to open, it has the good stuff!

So how do you open a locked door?  I think you’ll agree that if the door has a lock, you need a key!  Ok, so now we must take a different approach.  Where do we find a key?  The proverbial key in this situation is knowledge.  We must gain the appropriate knowledge to be able to unlock the greatness and potential behind the locked door.  When a person sets their mind to constant never ending learning and improvement, they -in essence – give themselves the keys to unlock unlimited potential.

Here are some great tips that I’ve learned over the years.  Not all of them are original, actually I’m pretty sure that someone has probably written about them at some point.  The reality behind these tips is the fact that I want to help local business owners survive and thrive with this ever changing market.

Most business owners go into social media to get more business.  That’s a great strategy, but it’s a long term one.  If you simply go on Facebook and Twitter to tell everyone about your business or opportunity, no one will listen.  One of the best speakers on the topic that I have seen live is Perry Belcher.  He talks about Social Media like it’s a party.  Think about this. If you’re going to a networking event, you would never want to be the person that goes straight up to someone and throws your card in their face and tells them to buy from you now!  What would you do if someone did that to you?  I’m pretty sure you would either ignore them, tell them to leave, or stop being acquaintances with them.  OR ALL OF THE ABOVE.

You see people go on Facebook and Twitter because it’s a way to connect with other people…not businesses.

Social Media Etiquette Mistake #1 – Creating a personal Facebook Profile for your business

People don’t become “friends” with businesses!  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been requested by a local club, restaurant, heck even lawn mowing company to become their friend.  I am not friends with your company.  Deal with it.  I may be friends with the owner, but not the company.  That’s a big fat invitation that says, be my friend so I can market to you.  Not cool

Instead, set up a Fan page for your business in Facebook.  It only takes a couple of minutes to set up and there is no limit to the number of fans that you can have.  With a personal profile, your limit is 5,000.

Social Media Etiquette Mistake #2 – Fake or bad profile picture

More important than even your bio, your profile picture in Social Media is how others judge if they want to follow you or be your friend.  I wish it wasn’t this way, but in social media, people completely judge a book by its cover.  I’ve seen many people put up pictures of celebrities, pictures of their business logo, or just a terrible picture of themselves.  This can cause you to lose many connections that you could have had.

Put in a good picture of your smiling or at least doing something really cool.  You want people to feel welcomed when they look at your profile picture.

Social Media Etiquette Mistake #3 – Requesting to be everyone’s friend or follow as many people as possible

If you’re using social media in hopes that you will increase your business from usage, you need to have a good plan about who you want in your social circle.  This is the perfect opportunity to speak to your target market.  I’ve seen some people in Twitter go on and follow 2,001 people in their first couple days.  This is the maximum allowance from Twitter.  This looks really bad on the user, because people know that you went out and just followed as many people as possible in hopes that some would follow you back.  You should go out, however, and follow people with similar interests, especially those who live in your geographical area.  You can go to http://www.twellow.com to search in your local area.

It’s also a good idea to follow people who have a significant amount of followers to see how they interact with their followers.  Obviously, they are doing something right to have that many followers.  The more captivated followers you have, the great your influence in the social media world.

Let me know with your comments some of the biggest social media mistakes that you have seen in your experiences.

Contact me directly brad@braddohack.com if you’re interested in the possibility of being accepted for free to test/use the product.

Every day our brain gets inundated with information…LOTS of information.  This video is probably the most mind-blowing video I have watched this year.

How about that for perspective on the amount of information we receive?  The reality is, we don’t always have control over the information that enters our noggins.  If you’re driving down the road, you will come across millions of stimulants and hundreds of businesses vying to grab your attention and puke information all over you.

It’s easy to see how people can become crazy and need a psychiatrist this day an age.  While you don’t have control over every piece of information that enters your brain, you do have control over A LOT.  Everyday, each one of us makes thousands of decisions.  We choose to watch the news in the morning or not.  We choose to listen to the radio in the car or not.  We choose to meditate…or not.   Each one of these activities either makes the mind crazier or more calm.  When you go throughout your day, make sure that you start becoming aware of what you ALLOW to enter you brain.  If you feel like you have no control over your mind, and you’re a lost cause…you’re not.  We have control over very little of the outside world, but we can c0ntrol 1 thing on this planet: our mind.

As with changing any behavior, changing your mind can be difficult.  Start with just 1 day, 1 day of noticing what you allow to enter your mind, and know that you will only allow the positive calm information to gain access to your precious mush between your ears…