Welcome!

Happy mid-summer! Welcome to our July/August newsletter, which has a number of pertinent articles, such as real estate news, area crime statistics and how that impacts the real estate market, as well as local events and information. We hope you find this issue helpful and informative. You can always explore past issues by visiting the newsletter archive.

If you would like to be notified of new communiqués monthly, just send your email address to newsletter@carlabontenrealty.com. Don't forget to include your email address! Enjoy!

Real Estate Market News

The Question of Crime...
Your browser doesn't support Java 1.1, or Java is not enabled! What do people ask when they want to relocate to new areas? The typical questions revolve around growth, education, location, and other demographic information. But according to Frank D’Alessandro, a local broker in Lee County, and other brokers in the area, the Question of Crime seems to be a predominant factor on people’s minds when deciding where to relocate.

Based on an interview between Mr. D’Alessandro and Sheriff Rod Shoap that appeared in the Real Estate section of the News Press, Sheriff Shoap mentioned that “crime dropped 4.99 percent last year, and it is currently dropping at the rate of 10.31 percent for 2003.” Lee County experienced the lowest crime rates in comparison to sister counties including Hillsborough County, Palm Beach County, and Monroe County. These other counties “attract visitors similar to Lee County.” That is why their comparison is so relevant.

What does that mean for prospective buyers and sellers? It means that, because crime levels do play an important part on our economy, and because our crime levels have been showing an over-all decline, it has caused a lead towards higher land values. It also brings comfort in knowing that it is a great time to invest. If crime keeps moving on a decline, we can expect to see positive results for many facets of the market, not just Real Estate.

Crime doesn’t fix itself though. It takes a very pro-active approach to help reduce crime and keep it moving towards a decline. According to the News Press article “Low Crime Leads to High Land Values,” Florida spent over $8.4 billion to fight crime in 2002. Lee County alone spent “$145 Million for jails, courts, probation, prosecution, and law enforcement.” That included $82 Million towards the running of the sheriff’s department.

Ok…so what’s the point in providing you with this information? It’s plain and simple. If Southwest Florida is where you want to be, either in Bonita Springs, Estero, Ft. Myers, or Ft. Myers Beach; for vacationing or for permanent residence; you can feel more at ease knowing that you will be in an area that cares for its residents, its visitors, and does all it can to keep them safe.

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Florida Is A Year-Round
Prime Vacation Hotspot!

Recent statistics from over 5 million visitors to the FLAUSA.com web site prove that Florida is one of the most desired vacation spots today, as well as being a great place for a vacation investment property! Take a look at what they found when they polled their visitors:

• 30.3% vacation in Florida within the last year.
  
• 20.7% visited Florida within the last 2 years
  
• 27% indicated that it had been 3 years or more since their last visit.
  
• 16% have never visited FLorida.
  
• 16% of the respondents were state residents.**

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Planning The Vacation
Of Your Dreams?
Consider These Deep Discounts
in SW Florida!

Because we at Carla Bonten Rentals, Inc. know how important your vacation time is, we always strive to bring you the best in quality and service to meet your needs at all times during your stay here in Southwest Florida. Local residents have long known that summer and fall in SW Florida is a magical time. Crowds are thinner, the beaches are pristine and the atmosphere is true Florida! Be sure you consider SW Florida when you think of summer vacation fun!

Now you have even more reason to visit us! Carla Bonten Rentals, Inc. is offering 50% off most summer and fall vacation rentals through November 15, 2003! Please contact Carla Keogh, our Rentals Manager, or Ferry Neteler, our International Rentals Specialist, or Carl Lorenzini, our Beach Rentals Specialist, for more information on how we can help you when you visit us for your special vacation.

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Carla Bonten Realty News

Carla Bonten Realty is proud to announce our newly designed website! We hope you enjoy our new site. We've enhanced it with all kinds of new information such as the ability to search all area listings, real estate calculators, the ability to send beautiful greeting cards and translate the site into several languages!

May 2003
Listing Agent Leader

Laura Clark moved to southwest Florida from Massachusetts some 13 years ago and has been practicing real estate for 4 years. She has experience in standard residential and in investment properties and is a member of the Bonita-Estero Association of Realtors and NAR. When she takes a break from her professional career, Laura enjoys participating in extreme sports such as skydiving. So, if you're looking for a realtor with great tenacity, courage, and ability, Laura may be the one for you. We are proud to have her as a new addition to our team at Carla Bonten Realty, Inc.

You may email Laura at: laura@carlabontenrealty.com

Congratulations to Laura for her outstanding listing and sales work!

Vonnie Blakley was born in Iowa and was manager of an Abstract Company. She moved to Florida 20 years ago and worked at Title companies in Lee and Collier County as a Closing Officer.

Since 1990, Vonnie has been a licensed Realtor in Southwest Florida. She specializes in listing and selling commercial investments and residential real estate. Real estate is her passion and therefore, she is very dedicated to her profession.
You will enjoy working with a professional Realtor like Vonnie Blakley.

You can e-mail Vonnie at: vonnie@carlabontenrealty.com

Carla Bonten was born, raised and educated in the Netherlands. In 1981, she became a real estate investor in Europe and America. As an investor, she purchased both commercial and residential real estate. She has been in the real estate industry for the past thirty years buying and selling properties in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain and the United States. Her fluent use of German, Dutch, French, Spanish and English languages is an asset to her clientele.

Carla is the Broker who can market your home to this new group of investors because she has first hand knowledge of their needs and requirements. If you are purchasing a home, you will find her international background very helpful. With our growing worldwide trade, you will be enlightened by Brokers who specialize in the international real estate trade.

Teresa's background ensures her expertise in a wide range of customs, languages and formalities, which has been highly beneficial to both buyers and sellers in real estate transactions. She is experienced in working with many different types of buyers and sellers and has gained a reputation for hard work, sincerity and above all, enthusiasm! She strives to make home moving a happy and stress-free occasion for all concerned.

Prior to joining Carla Bonten Realty, Inc., Teresa worked for ERA Beaver Real Estate where she became the 1999 Regional-Semiannual 1st In Customer Satisfaction® Jim Jackson Memorial Award, presented by ERA Franchise Systems, Inc.

Teresa's service area covers all of Lee and Collier counties, including Naples, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres.

You can email Teresa at: teresa@carlabontenrealty.com

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It's Hurricane Season
Be Prepared & Informed!

Any geographic location has dangerous elements associated with local weather patterns and Florida is no different. It's always good to be informed and have a plan for action in the event of an emergency. Summer is our area's time for the potential of hurricanes. Use any of the links below to educate yourself, become prepared and track the storms that threaten our area.

Intellicast Tropical Storm Center
NBC-2 Hurricane Tracking Center
Naples News Hurricane 2003
FEMA Guide To Surviving A Storm (Acrobat document)
Open Shelters By Florida County
Area Coastal Web Cameras! Watch the weather LIVE!

Broker Open House
Grandézza & Hunters Ridge

Carla Bonten Realty, Inc. will be hosting a Broker’s Open at Grande Estates, Grandézza in Estero, FL. The location will be at the model home on 19826 Markward Court from 4PM until 7PM, Wednesday, July 16, 2003. The model and 2 spec homes featured are built by Worthington Homes, a top-quality home builder here in Southwest Florida. It will be a Wine & Cheese event. Corkscrew Winery & the Wine Shoppe Co. will be providing an array of wines for wine-tasting and Carla Bonten will be providing the cheese.

Carla Bonten Realty, Inc. will also host a Broker’s Open at Silverthorn, Hunters Ridge in Bonita Springs. The location there will be at the former-model home on 12881 Silverthorn Court. It is a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath pool-home overlooking a lake and fairways. Golf Equity is included. Come on out and see what we have available for your clients. It will be held from 11:30AM until 2:00PM, Tuesday, July 22, 2003.

The homes mentioned above range from the low $400,000’s to the mid $700,000’s. All area brokers and interested parties are welcome to attend. See you there!

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AREA HAPPENINGS:

Summer Art Classes
Art League of Bonita Springs
26100 Old 41 Road
Bonita Springs, FL
Description: Summer classes run Monday, July 7 through Friday, Aug. 1 and Monday, Aug. 4 through Friday, Aug. 29 and include adult classes in drawing, painting, photography, pottery, sculpture, dance and yoga. One-week summer camps in visual and performing arts for children run through Friday, Aug. 8.

Date(s): 7/10/2003 - 7/10/2003
Call 495-8989 for schedule.

Art League of Bonita Springs Calendar:

The Art Center has several summer classes scheduled! For further information about activities of the Art League, you may call the center at 239-495-8989 or visit the Art League's web page.

The following events were taken from the Naples Daily News:

Seminole Museum: If you've traveled that stretch of Interstate 75 known as Alligator Alley, surely you've seen road signs mentioning something about a museum around the 50-mile marker. What, you may wonder, a museum in the middle of nowhere? Yes, it's true. For those adventurous enough to trek 17 miles north of exit 49, the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki museum is surely a treasure to visit. The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki museum opened in August 1997. Its stated mission is "to preserve, protect and share the unique history and culture of the Florida Seminole Indians."

Summer Jazz: SummerJazz on the Gulf, the 18th annual free concert series at the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club, continues from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday with an appearance by Women's Blues Revue. Other concerts are set for Aug. 23 and Sept. 20. Participants are urged to bring lawn chairs and blankets for seating. Guests are invited to park free at Lowdermilk Park and ride the courtesy trolley to and from the resort. Information: 261-2222.

Fridays At The Waterside Shops: Waterside Shops summer concert series continues from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 11, when The Striders entertain with a tribute to the Beatles. Jet Set, a variety band, takes the stage July 18. Participants are urged to bring lawn chairs for seating. Admission is free. Information: 598-1605.

Peter Rabbit: Philharmonic Center for the Arts continues its 2003 Children's Summer Theater Series with "The Adventures of Peter Rabbit" at 9:45 and 11:45 a.m. Friday, July 11, and Saturday. (Note: Friday, July 11, 's shows are sold out. A limited number of tickets remain for Saturday.) Performances, by the Looking Glass Theater Company, are staged in Daniels Pavilion. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. The Phil is at 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd. Information: 597-1900.

Discover Mars: The Collier County Museum is featuring a photographic exhibition, "Martian Mania," through Sept. 26, in conjunction with a series of free lectures on the planet Mars — the Red Planet that will be the nearest it has been to the Earth in 4,000 years in 2003 — from 1 to 3 p.m. this Saturday, as well as July 26, Aug. 9 and 23. Topics range from how to build a telescope to celestial observation. The museum is at 3301 U.S. 41 E. (County Government Center). Regular hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Information: 774-8476.

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Need an idea of what dining experiences are in our area? Click here for a list of some of the best!

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Digital Imaging & Your Business
Part I: A Digital Primer
by M.E. Parker, Computer Insite

Digital imaging is all around us, from the cellular phones we use to the web sites we frequent. In just less than a decade, digital cameras and scanners have matured into everyday components of the business and home worlds.

The line between traditional (film) photography and digital photography has become increasingly blurred over the last few years. Today, scanners and digital cameras are much more sophisticated and feature-rich as well as affordable. A digital office can mean instant productivity: on-the-spot review of images which reduces the need to reshoot at a later date, the power to edit, enhance or manipulate images immediately, the ability to send, print or upload images and the advantage of archiving images for decades on hard drives or removable media.

Part One of this series will delve into the basics of digital imaging, beginning with megapixels, resolution and image formats.

Megapixels (MP):
Digital cameras today are often categorized and classified by their megapixel count. The word “pixel” comes from the “picture” (or pix) and “element”. A pixel is nothing more than a very tiny square of color and tone. When you view an individual pixel on your screen, you perceive it as color but in fact, it is actually a digital “bit” that houses information about color and tone, written in binary format - number and letters that are decoded when viewed to represent color and tone.

Sounds complicated? Not really. For most settings, merely understanding that a pixel is a square of color is adequate. A megapixel is a unit of one million pixels. More megapixels can mean that the image has enough information (or pixels) to give the appearance of continuous tones rather than looking like individual squares, which is known as being “pixelated”.

Resolution is another term related to pixels and image quality. Resolution is typically expressed as “h x v”, or the number of pixels along the horizontal axis and the vertical axis. For example, a low resolution image would be expressed as 640 pixels x 480 pixels; a high resolution image would be 3008 x 2000.

This measure of resolution can be very confusing for the beginner who is used to a scale of inches. It is further complicated by a resolution ratio of pixels per inch. While most of our computer screens can display no more than 96 pixels/inch, print media requires anywhere from 200 to 360 pixels/inch.

With this in mind, a 640 x 480 image prepared for viewing on a screen only at 72 pixels/inch would print an 8 x 6 inch image. However, that image would look very “pixelated” (or choppy) because there would only be 72 squares of color for every inch instead of 360 pixels/inch. This same image, with the resolution set to 360 pixels/inch, would now print at 2 x 1.5 inches. It would look much better but lose dimensions in reclaiming resolution.
This is an important concept to learn. Armed with this knowledge and a clear idea of how you will use digital imagery in your business, you can buy appropriate equipment. If every image you capture will be used for the web or will be only viewed on a screen, then megapixel count is not as critical. However, if you intent to print your images, especially at any size greater than 5 x 7, megapixels and resolution become very important.

The following table covers most of the digital camera categories by pixel range, user level and cost.

Image Formats:
Image files can come in a number of formats. The most common and universal format is JPG or JPEG (same format). JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a format that any computer, regardless of operating system, can display. It is known as a “lossy” format, which means that it compresses the pixel data to create a much smaller file, which is an advantage for images used on the web or sent via email. A smaller file will take less time to transfer on computers.

The algorithm for compression involves losing or throwing out data held in each pixel that is typically not noticed when viewing on a screen. This loss is where “lossy” gets its name. While lossy images are preferred for their smaller files sizes, too much compression can throw out too much data and the image can degrade and display poorly. Typically, for the purposes of email, an image should be no more than 100 kilobytes. This is a very arbitrary number, but it respects those who might use slower, dial-up connections.

Other formats include TIFF (tagged image file format) and RAW, which are uncompressed, high quality, “lossless” formats. While preferred for printing, these formats create file sizes that can become huge quickly. If your camera is set to record images in either of these formats, you will fit a much smaller number of them on the memory card than the JPG image format will allow.

Digital Input:
Digital images are captured by the camera’s CCD (charged-coupled device) or CMOS (pronounced “see moss”, it means complementary metal oxide semiconductor). Most cameras have CCDs, while a few manufacturers (Canon, for one) a CMOS. The CCD or CMOS captures light and converts it into a digital image, which is then stored on the memory card. The quality of the CCD or CMOS is directly related to the quality of your image. Many factors define the quality of the sensor. Exploring each of these factors is beyond the scope of this article, but resolution and megapixel size should be of primary importance in any digital equipment purchase decision.

Digital Output:
All images end up in one of two places: the screen or the printer. As previously noted, computer screens display images in either 72 or 96 pixels per inch, while printers are described in dots per inch (DPI), or how many droplets of ink per inch an image holds.

Once again, the dpi of a printer is directly related image quality. Most high quality ink jet photo printers print at 300 dpi or above. Printers that can print with 6 or more individual colors in their cartridges produce more realistic colors in images.

Computer screens come in two flavors: CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display, also often called flat panel). CRT monitors are often the monitors of choice for professional photographers and graphic artists because of their ease of color calibration and their better resolution. LCD monitors, while more energy efficient and smaller, can often be difficult to calibrate properly and unless a high-end product, may not display true colors from every angle of view.

Summary:
Digital image basics are fundamental to making sound equipment purchases and building a foundation of knowledge. In the next article in this series, I will cover equipment including camera features such as optical versus digital zoom, storage devices including memory cards and digital wallets, viewfinders, camera LCD screens and batteries. Future articles will include software, organizing, archival storage media and printing.