Real Estate in Cape Coral, Fla., Is Far From a Recovery
Fellow adventurers, refugees from winter and armchair archaeologists, we are here on this shiny green tour bus to embark on a safari of sorts. We’ll be exploring the local habitat, as upended and reconfigured by an epochal real estate fiasco.
Our guide, Marc Joseph, stalks wildlife of the white-elephant variety. A real estate agent, he specializes in houses that proved financially disastrous for someone — the banker, the homeowner, the American taxpayer, often all three. Mr. Joseph’s bus is emblazoned with red letters spelling the name of this thrill ride: ForeclosureToursRUs.com.
As we navigate this speculator’s paradise turned financial wasteland, Mr. Joseph stands at the front of the bus in a green polo shirt, highlighting specimens like this one: a white stucco house fronted by palm trees and topped by a Spanish tile roof on a canal emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. It last sold in 2005 for $850,000. Yours today for $273,000.