Jan. 6
Warm again today, just like every day so far. Went to Gulf Coast mall (the closest mall, about 4 miles) to shop at Pennys and Target. Lots of stores there, including huge Bass Pro, including Islamarada Fish Restaurant - one of our favorite places to eat. It has a huge salt water fish tank over the bar, and it's decorated with lots of actual pictures of big fish caught in the old days and lots of huge fake fish. Walked a little at the mall for exercise. This mall has only been open since last year. There are lots of restaurants to choose from - at least 6 within two blocks of Islamarada. We have been to 3, so 3 more to go! There is a great small fish restaurant about 1 mile north of us. It looks a little run down on the outside, but we noticed there were always lots of cars there. When we went, we saw why - great fresh fish, scallops & oysters for a reasonable price. Not much ambiance, but really good food. [Does it sound like we like to eat out a lot? Actually, we don't that often.]

We have noticed a slow down in some development. Last year, as we travel the 3 miles on Alico Road from the interstate 75 to Rt. 41 to our RV park, we noticed several signs in a cow pasture indicated future sites for a bank, a gas station, etc. The signs are still there, but so are the cows. No construction has begun. Also, about 1 mile south of us on Rt. 41, a new 'upscale retail' strip mall was almost completed last year. Now it's completed, but there are NO stores in it at all. There are a couple more new strip malls further south that have a few stores in them but lots of vacancies.

From the Ft. Myers paper:
FORECLOSURES - In Nov. of 2008 (and for several other months last year) Ft. Myers-Cape Coral (which is adjacent to North Ft. Myers on the other side of the Caloosahatchee River) took top spot in the nation for foreclosure activity. In Nov., Lee County had 5,813 foreclosure filings, one for every 59 households. This was up 35% from Oct. and up 201% from Nov. of 2007. Lee County had 25,582 foreclosure filings from Jan. to Nov. 2008. [I counted 7 pages of foreclosure notices in the Bonita Daily News] In Naples, the median home price dropped 40% from $323,000 in Nov. 2007 to $194,000 in Nov. 2008.
BANKRUPTCY - A Bonita Springs developer of 60 years has gone bankrupt. The business faces $2billion in debt, and no longer can make necessary bill payments. A local real estate agent commented, "They over-leveraged and placed all their eggs in the luxury condominium segment."