Living, Loving and Sharing

Jan 19, 2022 By MEGHAN BRADBURY 9 min read

Kerrey Zito Hoolihan’s backyard view of the water is her oasis.
MICHAEL PISTELLA

In her youth, Kerrey Zito Hoolihan would make the 21-hour straight drive from Pennsylvania with her family to vacation with her grandparents in north Naples.

Her family eventually landed a little further north —  North Fort Myers, to be exact —  where  Hoolihan thought she would regroup after graduating from the University of Richmond. City lights beckoned on either the east or west coast of the U.S., but in North Fort Myers she stayed.

“I was 22 when I moved here and now I am 54,” Hoolihan said.

Soon after moving to the area, she met her husband, Tom. They married in 1994, and the life on the water followed.

“Being in real estate, Tom and I have had 10 homes since we have been married in North Fort Myers,” she said, adding that every one has been located on the water. “We have had a lot of fun. When the kids were little we would go boating all the time. It was really nice to out on the pontoon boat and deck boat in the backyard.”

One of the places they owned was on some acreage on the river, which had stilt houses. The family caught sharks, the kids climbed trees and jumped on trampolines. Hoolihan said one time when a hurricane came in, it took the water out of the river.

“At one point the water was so far out, Tom and the kids walked to the Yacht Club Colony, (which was) a mile down the river because there was no water,” she said.

Another hurricane, Hurricane Wilma, sucked all the water out of the canal they were living on, taking 300 feet of seawall with it.

“That was the bad thing about living on the water, but there is always more good than bad,” she said.

When the kids got older, the boat rides turned into riding personal watercrafts to such places like Cabbage Key. Hoolihan would ride one with either her son Tommy, or daughter Kelsey, and the other child would ride with another adult as they followed the boat to their destination.

“The crazy thing is that for many years when we would go boating there must have been a marine patrol person every time. We would get checked for life jackets,” she said.

The family also had kayaks, and a life jacket for their dog, as they headed out on the river as it was not a super busy place.

Hoolihan’s grandmother, Grandma Ethel, now 96, has also reaped the benefits of living on the water, as she has lived with the family since 1995.

“She has always enjoyed living on the water. She wasn’t big on the Jet Skis, but would always go out with us on the deck boats. She would go to Cabbage Key, Sanibel, any place you could go by boat,” she said.

Now their son Tommy has recently graduated from Florida State University with a degree in accounting. Kelsey is currently attending Hawaii Pacific University, which Hoolihan said is because she loves to be outside and on the water.

With the kids gone, Hoolihan and her husband enjoy the water in a different way, watching the sunrise paint gorgeous portraits on the river from their back porch.

“I have thousands of Facebook videos of the sunrise on the river. It’s pretty. It’s amazing, the morning sun, the clouds and the water,” Hoolihan said, adding that the best time to watch is 30 minutes before the actual sunrise. “You get mist coming off the river. There are clouds. The way the sun comes up on the horizon before it actually comes up it has all the pretty colors and reflections of the clouds on the water.”

With her real estate business booming, the peace of watching the sunrise every morning does not happen as often as during COVID.

“How can you not be in a good mood when you watch the sun come up?” Hoolihan asked.

She said all of Southwest Florida is blessed with a lot of water.

“Something happened when I turned 50. I really started enjoying nature. Right now I am sitting here and there are 20 birds outside of my window — wood storks, herons, egrets, cormorants. They are beautiful. I find a lot of life and joy. Nature is the best part. If you are not on the water you don’t get to see that. It attracts a lot of wildlife. That is what I like about living on the water the most,” Hoolihan said.

Her Journey

Hoolihan began her journey in North Fort Myers as an executive assistant to then-county commissioner John Albion for six years, followed by serving as the director for the North Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce.

The time she spent working with Albion, and with the chamber, was a really interesting experience for Hoolihan, as she really got to know North Fort Myers. She did business after hours and luncheons with the chamber, getting to know businesses and, as an executive assistant, she pretty much had to know everything the commissioner did, which resulted in learning about all the services in North Fort Myers.

Some of the things she experienced was the groundbreaking ceremony for the first North Fort Myers Library, which was just replaced, the groundbreaking for the Midpoint Bridge, as well as transponders being introduced to commuters.

When Hoolihan left the county, she obtained her brokerage license.

Hoolihan said her father-in-law was a stock broker in Tampa. In the 1970s, he came to Fort Myers as the president of an investment bank company. When her husband Tom was getting out of college, her father-in-law was developing Marinatown Yacht Harbour and Riverbend Golf and River Club.

“When Tom got out of college he ended up taking over sales and marketing for that company. Those were both two very large projects,” she said.

Around 1999, a head hunter hired Tom for the Heritage Residence Group, and he became the president and later bought the remaining development that Heritage Residence Group did, resulting in leaving the family business. Hoolihan said Tom bought out his dad and finished Riverbend Golf and River Club.

She ended up taking over Vision One Realty, the real estate business, in 2000.

“My business model is that I have agents who are experts at whatever their niche is,” Hoolihan said.

The area she still covers is from the Winn Dixie shopping center to I-75 on the south side, river side of Bayshore Road. Hoolihan said it makes up about a quarter of North Fort Myers and there were an average of 105 homes for sale in that area alone in 2000.

In the late 1980s to early 1990s, Hoolihan said all the development was south as it gravitated more towards Naples. She could always tell how the market was going because they used to have an office in Bonita Springs and Estero.

“By the time we were super busy in North Fort Myers, they were slowing down,” Hoolihan said, adding that North Fort Myers was not overdeveloped.

“We have all of the sunshine, the water, but we don’t have quite as much of the congestion,” she said.

She said their business is not about making money off of Realtors, but about knowing what they are selling and being there to provide the service.

“We have 11 agents; two support people. There are a couple who are newer. We always have the same number of people that rotate out,” she said.

Hoolihan loves being in the real estate business because she feeds off the energy of those she is around.

“If I am sitting at my desk all day I am crabby,” she said, adding that when she gets out she is a different person. “I thrive on getting energy from other people.”

Hoolihan said she can spend a week with a client going to 30 different houses, which really allows her the opportunity to get to know them.

“To me when someone loses a spouse, I feel it because I spent time with them as a couple. Some are almost like family,” she said. “Housing is important to people. A basic human need.”

The couple bought 18 acres off of Daughtrey’s Creek Road about 10 years ago, which was rezoned into a wedding venue.

“We purchased the property in 2002 and have been having weddings there for 10 years,” she explained of Southern Waters.

Real Estate market now

North Fort Myers is a draw because it still has a rural feel  as well as ample green space.

“The people who are coming now are attracted to the waterfront and new construction because it is maybe affordable,” Hoolihan said. “The whole country is in a housing shortage right now. Right now everything is hot. North Fort Myers has seen the biggest benefits from it.”

As of Dec. 17, there were 126 homes available in all of North Fort Myers with the vast majority either on the market for 30-120 days. Of those 126, 78 are single family homes, five of which were under $150,000.

“One hundred and twenty-six listings goes down to 46 if you look at waterfront in North Fort Myers,” she said. “The lowest would be a two-bedroom condo in Tropic Terrace built in 1968. You could lease a dock and a turn key apartment for $159,000.”

By comparison, there is a 6,500-square-foot home located on the river in Buttonwood Harbour for more than $2 million.

Hoolihan said some of the best things that have happened over the years in North Fort Myers is the road improvements, one of which is the widening of Bayshore Road. Other great additions includes North Fort Myers Regional Public Library and the recreation center.

Those types of things were not in North Fort Myers 30 years ago.

Redevelopment, such as the Shell Factory, also is great for North Fort Myers, especially its theater, as it draws in the older crowds.

“There is a tremendous amount of things happening,” Hoolihan said. “North Fort Myers had a lot of waterfront, original draw here and a real asset because it’s beautiful property.”

NFMNL

To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com