Soon after Jim and Toni Ann Toto moved from New Jersey to Cape Coral three years ago, they each reestablished their own careers, the husband as a home builder and the wife as a Realtor.
Now, they have celebrated combining of forces and adding a mortgage broker as a partner, creating a one-stop shop for home building, buying and financing. Toto Custom Home Builders Inc. hosted a ceremonial ribbon-cutting Wednesday at their office, 2612 Santa Barbara Blvd., Unit 3, in Cape Coral.
“We try to separate ourselves a little bit from other builders,” Jim Toto said. “Doing things like impact windows and doors are standard features. Insulation makes the house energy efficient. Just better quality, higher-end finishes as standard features.
“I have really good subcontractors, all local people. Basically, all from Lee County. We try to keep all the business here in the community.”
Toto builds homes ranging from about 1,600 to 8,000 square feet, from about $340,000 to $1.5 million. Jim Toto focuses on building in the northwest Cape.
Two of his homes, being built side-by-side, front a canal and Burnt Store Road North, one of the fastest-growing corridors of Southwest Florida. One of the homes will be ready in about six weeks and is listed for $1.3 million. The other will be ready in about eight months and is listed for $1.5 million.
Toto began a new business partnership by putting prospective buyers in touch with Ed Stratton of Stratton Mortgage for financing.
“My wife is the Realtor,” Jim Toto said. “I build them. She sells them. And my partner Ed, on the mortgage end, he funds them.
“That was our goal. We wanted to have like a one-stop shop. People when they buy a home, it’s basically the biggest investment of their life. It can be worrisome for people. Looking here, going there for a mortgage at one place, and buying from someone. … So, we try to put everything under one roof and make it as simple as possible for consumers to build and purchase a home.”
Stratton then enters the picture, looking for the lowest available interest rates. That has been no easy task in recent months, as those rates have risen because of the federal government’s efforts to slow inflation.
Stratton anticipates the supply of new Florida homes to dwindle. He tells prospective clients to lock in the price of a home now at a higher rate and then refinance as the rates eventually lower.
“They’re definitely going to go down,” Stratton said of the rates. He said so on the same day the Federal Reserve raised its rate by 0.25%. “When that magic time is, nobody really knows.
“The biggest thing is affordability. The payments have risen, but looking at things, it’s a supply and demand issue. I don’t foresee the housing rate of building keeping up with the amount of people that are moving to the area. So, when rates drop, we’re going to have an increase of demand of people who want to buy. As the demand increases, the prices of the homes are going to rise.
“I tell people, it’s your time to take advantage of locking in the price of your property now for future gains on it in value. And we offer a refinance that’s no cost for any of our clients.”
