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Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Homes sales prices down in Lee County, Cape Coral, FL compared to 2024. See how much here
Newly released data from for April shows that potential buyers and sellers in Lee County saw virtually no change in home sale prices than the previous month's median of $370,000. The median home sold for $370,662, an analysis of data from shows. That means April, the most recent month for which figures are available, was slightly up, but just barely, from March. Compared to April 2024, the median home sales price was down 7.3% compared to $399,990. sources sales data from real estate deeds, resulting in a few months' delay in the data. The statistics don't include homes currently listed for sale and aren't directly comparable to listings data. Information on your local housing market, along with other useful community data, is available at Here is a breakdown on median sale prices: Looking only at single-family homes, the $388,500 median selling price in Lee County was slightly down in April from $389,875 the month prior. Since April 2024, the sales price of single-family homes was down 7.7% from a median of $420,944. One hundred forty-four single family homes sold for $1 million or more during the month, compared to 215 recorded transactions of at least $1 million in April 2024. Condominiums and townhomes increased by 3.4% in sales price during April to a median of $300,000 from $290,000 in March. Compared to April 2024, the sales price of condominiums and townhomes was down 9.5% from $331,500. Fifty-six condominiums or townhomes sold for $1 million or more during the month, compared to 37 recorded transactions of at least $1 million in April 2024. In April, the number of recorded sales in Lee County dropped by 6.1% since April 2024 — from 2,404 to 2,257. All residential home sales totaled $1.2 billion. Across Florida, homes sold at a median of $380,298 during April, a slight decrease from $380,563 in March. There were 35,857 recorded sales across the state during April, down 15.3% from 42,340 recorded sales in April 2024. Here's a breakdown for the full state: The total value of recorded residential home sales in Florida decreased by 10.1% from $24.9 billion in March to $22.4 billion this April. Out of all residential home sales in Florida, 9.14% of homes sold for at least $1 million in April, down from 10.12% in April 2024. Sales prices of single-family homes across Florida slightly decreased from a median of $401,633 in March to $400,000 in April. Since April 2024, the sales price of single-family homes across the state was down 3.2% from $413,277. Across the state, the sales price of condominiums and townhomes rose 1.2% from a median of $306,778 in March to $310,369 during April. The median sales price of condominiums and townhomes is down 6.4% from the median of $331,645 in April 2024. The median home sales price used in this report represents the midway point of all the houses or units listed over the given period of time. The median offers a more accurate view of what's happening in a market than the average sales price, which would mean taking the sum of all sales prices then dividing by the number of homes sold. The average can be skewed by one particularly low or high sale. The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Please leave any feedback or corrections for this story here. This story was written by Ozge Terzioglu. Our News Automation and AI team would like to hear from you. Take this survey and share your thoughts with us. This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Lee County, home prices down to last year
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Summer Snake Series: Dusty pygmy rattlesnake is on Florida's venomous list
There are more than 40 species of snakes that are native to Florida, but only six of them are venomous. This week The News-Press and Naples Daily News is taking a closer look at each of these snakes for a special series. Snakes are most active in the spring and early summer months, when the weather warms up and they emerge from brumation, which is similar to hibernation. As it starts to heat up for the summer in Florida, you might see more of your slithery neighbors gliding through your grass or across your driveway. But not every snake is a threat. Here's a closer look at today's featured venomous snake: Dusky pygmy rattlesnakes, also known as pygmy rattlesnakes, have a dark or light gray body, with row of black or charcoal blotches along the length of its body and a reddish-brown stripe running down the middle of the back. Their bites are very painful, but not life-threatening. They can be found throughout the entire state, but aren't known to occur in the Florida Keys, according to the Florida Museum. According to the University of Florida IFAS website, these snakes live in natural wooded areas but can sometimes be found in neightborhoods. To see photos and more in-depth descriptions on these and Florida's native, harmless snakes, visit the Florida Museum's guide for identifying the state's snakes. This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Is Florida's Dusty pygmy rattlesnake venomous?
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Island Coast High School Class of 2025 graduates; see the festivities in dozens of photos
Island Coast High School Class of 2025 graduated May 17, 2025, at Suncoast Credit Union Arena at Florida SouthWestern State College in Fort Myers. They were among the thousands of Lee County School District students graduating this year. The school was founded in 2007. The school's mascot is the Gators, and the colors are green and gold. Island Coast High is off De Navarra Parkway in Cape Coral. See dozens of photos of the ceremony and celebration. Support local journalism by subscribing to The News-Press This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Island Coast High School graduation 2025: See commencement photos
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Dunbar High School Class of 2025 graduates; see the festivities in dozens of photos
Dunbar High School Class of 2025 graduated May 16, 2025, at Suncoast Credit Union Arena at Florida SouthWestern State College in Fort Myers. The approximately 384 seniors at the high school were among the thousands of Lee County School District students graduating this year. The school was established in 1926 and re-established in 2000. Dunbar is home to the Dunbar High School Academy of Technology Excellence and the Dunbar High School Center for Math and Science. The school's mascot is the Tigers, and the colors are green and orange. See dozens of photos of their ceremony and celebration. Support local journalism by subscribing to The News-Press This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Dunbar High School graduation 2025 See commencement photos
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Residents of Nottingham mourn the loss of their homes, make plans to rebuild
As wildfires roared into southwest Stillwater March 14, residents in the Nottingham Addition, those in the original evacuation zone, were unaware of the real danger. The wildfire burned 25 homes in Nottingham, according to Payne County assessors, a number representing half the neighborhood. The path the fires took seemed almost random, with one neighbor saying it looked like someone used a 'blowtorch' channeled in one direction. Neighbors didn't live close together, but they did watch out for each other. Often, homes are called by their previous owners, such as 'the Terrill house' or the 'Tree house.' That Friday evening, residents didn't receive fire alerts on their phones and some didn't know their homes burned until later. The neighborhood Facebook page, which had previously had few posts, exploded with neighbors wanting information. Live on screen Stillwater author Lisa Bonge and her family had just unloaded $300 worth of groceries into their kitchen when they saw the flames in the field 200 yards behind their home. She was the first one in the neighborhood to call 911 after smelling smoke. Even after grabbing their six dogs, lockbox and laptops and fleeing, Bonge told the News Press she still didn't realize how serious it was. Her family was glued to their phones and the TV, waiting for any word. Then News 9 storm chasers Val and Amy Castor drove into their neighborhood and seemingly randomly pulled into their driveway past their mailbox, and the family knew. Flames still burned, and they could clearly see their house was gone. The Castors continued to focus their camera on the scene, waiting to go live for the 10:30 p.m. newscast. Lisa said her entire book inventory of 200 books she'd authored burned in the fires, along with many family mementos. A team of emergency responders arrived Wednesday to help residents sift through the ashes to salvage what they could. Among the items found, Lisa was able to recover her grandma's bronze baby shoe and a jewelry dish her son created. On one of her trips to visit the spot where her home burned, she noticed several pages of a larger work called 'Full Dark, No Stars' by her favorite author, Stephen King. 'I'm framing this,' Lisa said. 'The last paragraph is about a female author recovering from a traumatic experience.' Lisa said she's already writing notes about her experience – and when she's finished her current project and has had enough time to process her loss, will probably write a fiction story incorporating those memories. 'His angel watching over him' Dan Byrd lost his wife Joy Marie Valeriano Byrd, a physician's assistant at Oklahoma State University, about three years ago to cancer. Before she passed, she worried about her golden retriever, Samson, and who would take care of him. Dan assured her he would. At her funeral, a pre-recorded song sung by Joy Marie spoke of being Dan's and Samson's 'angel looking over you from heaven.' Byrd, who works for Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, wasn't at home at the time of the fire. His son, Brandon, was home and was the last resident in the neighborhood to be evacuated, but Samson wasn't with him. Firefighters told Brandon they'd leave the door open so Samson could evacuate on his own. Later, neighbors found the dog near the home, unharmed. 'There were no burn marks, he was breathing OK, his paws weren't burned,' Dan said. 'It's a miracle. Joy was his angel watching over him. The way my son described it, you couldn't breathe, you couldn't see – and here's Samson, walking around. He had to have some intervention from God and Joy in order to get through that.' Couple mourns history, heirlooms lost Kel Pickens, 75, and wife Carolyn West Meyer, 72, said they've experienced waves of grief since losing their home to the wildfires, but even at this stage of life, they're planning to rebuild. Meyer and Pickens, both educators, collaborated on multiple projects, including educational albums, cassettes, books and operettas that two educational companies published and distributed widely in the 1980s and 1990s. They are well known for their children's radio show, KIDS Radio Show, which aired on a local FM station for 15 years. The couple also produced a television show that featured the Stillwater Animal Welfare and Humane Society, helping animals find their forever homes. All of their original recordings – plus their collection of vinyls, CDs and cassettes – were lost to the fire, not to mention Pickens' 1975 911S black Porsche. Seeing their home burning was like 'a punch to the face,' Pickens said, adding that it looked like a scene from Hiroshima, Japan during World War II. With the help of a police officer, Meyer, who is also an author, was able to grab the couple's laptops, flash drives, a folder with their trust information and a stack of journals from which she's written multiple books about the two's beloved dogs and their travels together as a family. They also saved their Australian Shepherd, Beau and their cat, Mandy. 'You can feel pretty good and be laughing about something you think about, but then it goes down into a valley from that peak, and you get depressed again,' Meyer said. Pickens compared it to remembering a lost one after a funeral. 'Then you start realizing, 'What I'm going through is kind of PTSD in a way,'' Pickens said. He said using humor – even dark humor – has helped. They joked that former arguments over his hoarding and her refusal to refurnish the living room are no longer issues for them. It's like starting over as newlyweds. Some of the families refused offers for GoFundMe pages, opting instead to let others who have less receive support. Most, if not all, have good insurance – unlike some across Stillwater. Each family told the News Press they plan to rebuild and are deciding where they will live in the meantime. 'You start planning for the future, and that helps you now,' Pickens said. 'We're going to rise from the ashes,' Meyer said. 'Like a phoenix,' Pickens added.
