Gardenia Realty, Inc

 

            My name is Sheila Zakens and I am a Realtor in Lee County, Florida. I have been in the Real Estate business in Southwest Florida since 1974. I have had my own office, Gardenia Realty, Inc.
since 1978.

 

            Like so many of us, I am not a native Floridian; however, my grandchildren are. I am originally from the East Side of Detroit, Michigan.

 

            I entered the Real Estate business at a time when you could buy a nice, comfortable retirement home in a nice area for $15,000. Mobile homes, including the lot started at about $7,000.

 

            There were very few sales over the $100,000 figure in all of Lee County. In my first year as a realtor I sold a house in Ft. Myers Beach for over $100,000 and it was the most expensive house that Cunliff Realty, my first employer, had ever sold through his office. Things certainly have changed.

 

            I mainly work in East Lee County, dealing with property along the Caloosahatchee River. The Caloosahatchee goes from Lake Okeechobee on to the Gulf.

 

            I live in a lovely waterfront community, called River Forest. It was developed by a retired Army Colonel, so most of our first residents were retiring Army officers. At that time, waterfront lots were selling for four to five thousand dollars. If it was on the river, add another thousand or two.

 

            In 2005 a riverfront home sold for over a million dollars. Now there are a lot of waterfront homes, and by waterfront I am referring to waterways that go to the river and then on to the Gulf, starting in the $200,000 and up range.

 

            I advertise these homes in the Florida Mariner!

 

 

 

Gardenia Realty, Inc

13540 Island Road

Ft. Myers, FL 33905

239-693-5757

Fax: 239-693-0082

email: szakens1@comcast.net