Gulf Returns

Affordable Homes in Southwest Florida

2008-10-09T08:05:00.005-04:00

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams ran a story, The flip side of foreclosures: Affordable homes, which prominently featured the Fort Myers and Cape Coral area.

The net-net take away is that affordability has returned to the area in a big way. If you are just starting your search for a new affordable home in Southwest Florida, visit our Fort Myers foreclosures and Cape Coral foreclosure pages. These homes are owned by the financial institutions and are often priced way below other properties in the neighborhood.

Canadians buying in Southwest Florida

2008-10-05T07:42:00.005-04:00

With a strong Loonie and a desire to escape bone chilling winter weather, Canadians represent an ever growing demographic here in Southwest Florida.

This growing presence is playing out in cyberspace, as analytics for our heavily visited sister site Greater Fort Myers Real Estate show that over half of our international traffic is from Canada. Additionally, about every twelfth site visitor is from Canada. Canadian cities with the most visitiors to our site are: Toronto; Hamilton, Ottawa; Winnipeg and Ettobicoke.

According to a recent article about Canadian buyers in the Financial Post, Florida is the top US destination for Canadian buyers. Additionally, 50% of the purchases in the US by Canadians are condos.

A hearty welcome to our friends north of the border, we hope you find your own place in the tropical paradise of Southwest Florida.

Loonies find a second home in U.S. real estate [Financial Post]

Fort Myers Luxury Home Sales

2008-10-01T07:14:00.002-04:00

With a drum roll we bring you the top priced home sale in Fort Myers for the month of September.

Last month's chart topper was an Iona Riverfront Estate. This home located at 14962 Maya Lane has 5,467 SF and sold for $3.8M ($695/SF). Complete with tennis courts, a deepwater dock and 1.5 acres of tropical river frontage, this home is a beauty.

Congratulations to listing agent Sabine Halboth and selling agent Sarah Ashton on a job well done!

Treeline Corridor Fort Myers

2008-09-29T08:27:00.002-04:00

The Treeline Corridor was recently featured in a News-Press article authored by Don Manley.

For those of you from out of town, Treeline Avenue parallels I-75 and runs from Colonial Boulevard until it connects with Ben Hill Griffin Parkway just south of the airport. Treeline provides significant traffic relief for those traveling north-south west of I-75.

The section of Treeline between Colonial Boulevard and Daniels opens up access to Pelican Preserve and the Colonial Country Club without having to jump on I-75. New developments along this section of Treeline include The Plantation and Botanica Lakes.

Things still sunny over the Treeline [News-Press]

Red Sox Real Estate

2008-09-28T17:53:00.002-04:00

As the Red Sox continue their spring training relocation dance with Sarasota, it appears that the most viable spots in Lee County for a new Red Sox complex are in Estero. A new spring training complex in Estero makes all the sense in the world.

First and foremost, Estero is close to the Coconut Point Hyatt where the Sox brass including Larry Lucchino stay during spring training. No more schlepping up US 41 through all those lights for the Red Sox bigwigs.

With one of the proposed Estero sites, it may be possible to share some parking with Germain Arena during spring training. This is a major plus for those concerned about the paving over of our paradise for a facility used only a few times a year. The access to I-75 from the proposed Estero locations is also outstanding, easing one of the major flaws associated with City of Palms Park.

Estero is home to the wonderfully upscale Coconut Point Mall, itself becoming a destination location for Southwest Florida. There is some really cool synergy in that Bob Kraft built a BassPro Shop next to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.....it certainly makes sense to me that John Henry should build the Sox spring training home next to the BassPro Shop in Estero!

There are also linkage opportunities between the Red Sox and Florida Gulf Coast University. Having the Red Sox next door would certainly help put FGCU on the map up north in Red Sox Nation. An Estero location also expands the Red Sox drawing card to all of Collier County including Naples and Marco Island where many Beantown snowbirds like to hang.

A couple of neighborhoods in close proximity to a proposed spring training site that would prove very appealing to upscale Red Sox fans are Miromar Lakes and the Residences at Coconut Point. Miromar Lakes is recognized as one of the finest developments in Southwest Florida, with both a country club and magnificent freshwater lakes. The Residences at Coconut Point offer an interesting and unique urban living experience.

Let's hope that Ray Judah and the rest of the Lee County leadership have the skills and resources to pull off a deal with the Red Sox in Estero.

Estero sites key to Lee County’s Red Sox designs [News-Press]

Is Florida a Socialist Republic?

2008-09-20T07:40:00.003-04:00

Is Florida a Socialist Republic as suggested by Mathew Falconer in an American Chronicle article?

Falconer presents compelling analysis of the long-term effects of the Save Our Homes Amendment on the Florida economy. The article describes Save Our Homes as a tax shift rather than a tax limit. Save Our Homes shifts the tax burden from voters who would be motivated to limit government spending to those that don't have a vote like second home-owners.

The article does a fine job of describing the effects of the Save Our Homes laws on those that it negatively effects, (1) second homeowners, (2) apartment renters and (3) small business owners. It is time for political leadership with the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing to step forward and fix this mess.

The Socialist Republic of Florida, Chapter One [American Chronicle]

Affordable Gulf Harbour

2008-09-19T07:08:00.003-04:00

The other day one of my colleagues used the words "affordable" and "Gulf Harbour" in the same sentence. Yes, we are talking about that Gulf Harbour along McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers.

Today there are 182 properties for sale in Gulf Harbour's 18 distinct neighborhoods. A whopping twenty Gulf Harbour properties are currently listed at asking prices below $200,000. These twenty sub $200K listings include condos at: Long Pond Village; Rivers Edge 1; Rivers Edge 2; Rivers Edge 3 and Rivers Edge 4.

If you looked at Gulf Harbour in the past (and who hasn't???) and thought owning in this great community was a major stretch, maybe its time to take another peek.....

Web 2.0 Real Estate

2008-09-16T16:36:00.006-04:00

The Washington Pos t discusses the rapidly growing importance of web 2.0 practices in the real estate industry. Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as:

a living term describing changing trends in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, collaboration and functionality of the web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, video sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.

The Southwest Florida real estate market has definitely been effected by Web 2.0 practices. When I started this blog back in 2004, it was one of the first in the area to discuss the real estate market. More often than not, I was asked "why would you want to blog about real estate?" Today there are hundreds of Realtor blogs covering the Southwest Florida market.

Two of the more popular and widely trafficked Web 2.0 real estate sites are Active Rain and Trulia Voices. Active Rain is a community of real estate professionals who blog, chat and interact on the site. Realtors flock to Active Rain as their blog posts on this site often rank strongly on the search engines. Trulia is also popular with Realtors who answer customer questions in a bulletin board fashion.

Another Web 2.0 practice popular in the market are web sites dedicated to a specific property. Both Realtors and FSBO sellers are building dedicated web sites to promote specific properties. This site, focused on a Cape Coral home, is an example of a FSBO seller who created a website dedicated to marketing a single property.

Who wants to ride around town for two days with a realtor and look at properties that don't meet your needs, but are "on the tour." Customed IDX MLS search portals like the one on our Greater Fort Myers Real Estate site are empowering prospective home buyers to seize control of the search process and narrow their focus. I am truly amazed at the number of listings that are saved and forwarded every day by users of our site. Truly, self-service Web 2.0 real estate is a big step in the right direction for the real estate industry, which has historically been rather technologically challenged.

Making Connections [Washington Post]

Foreclosure Investing

2008-09-15T07:13:00.003-04:00

The NY Times recently featured an article about investors that are focused on distressed property investing. The article touches on the three stages of distressed property: pre-foreclosure/short sale; properties in default that are being auctioned and real estate owned (REO) property.

It is estimated on a national basis that one in every 416 families is in foreclosure, the highest rate including the Great Depression. Locally, the numbers are much higher with an estimated one in every 66 homes facing foreclosure.

Unlike other parts of the country, investors have not yet returned to our market in any kind of meaningful way to accelerate the absorption of short sales and foreclosure properties. With few investors currently targeting the market, we have a significant build-up in the distressed property inventory and offer end-user buyers very limited competition when targeting distressed properties. Many deal can be had right now at prices that are far below replacement cost.

Finding Profits in a Distressed Market [NY Times]

Mortgage Fraud

2008-09-14T07:05:00.004-04:00

The party is over for one Cape Coral couple, Ron and Lisa Luczak, who last week plead guilty to a mortgage fraud scheme.

The racket which targeted Cape Coral property, used straw-man buyers, over-inflated appraisals and contract assignment fees involving at least 37 properties and $27M in home loans. In an 18 month period, Lisa Luczak's Cape Coral firm, Cape Coral Equity and Development Group received $5.8M in assignment fees from this scam.

It is most rewarding to see the ongoing prosecution of shady Southwest Florida real estate operators. Many innocent people in the area have had their lives ruined by the schemes like this. There is no doubt in my mind that more of these fraudulent players will be brought to justice as the authorities dig deeper into the post boom real estate hangover.

Couple may face prison time in Southwest Florida real estate scam [Naples Daily News]

Naples Sales Up

2008-09-13T08:48:00.004-04:00

A bit of positive real estate news for Naples and Collier County. In August, real estate sales volumes of were up for the 7th consecutive month. August saw 373 closings up from 293 in August of 2007. Median selling prices have declined dramatically during this period, from $375,000 to $238,000.

Reports like this reinforce the fact that Southwest Florida has suddenly become quite affordable again. Many projects are now selling for less than replacement cost. Prices should remain below replacement levels until the investor fueled speculative inventory is worked through. This low-end inventory overhang is helping to compress luxury home prices as well, even though this sector was much less investor impacted.

Sales increase again for Naples real estate [Naples Daily News]

Cape Coral Gold Coast

2008-09-09T14:30:00.005-04:00

Question: Name an affordable sailboat access community in Southwest Florida?

Answer: Cape Coral's Gold Coast

Yes indeed, affordability has returned to the waterfront real estate market in Cape Coral.

Where else can you find a direct, sailboat access single-family home for under $250,000?

The Gold Coast of Cape Coral is the place!

The Gold Coast is located in Southeast Cape Coral between Del Prado Boulevard and the Caloosahatchee River and includes the neighborhoods of Palaco Grande, Savona, Beach Parkway and Cornwallis. The Cape Coral units that make up the Gold Coast includes unit 7, unit 11, unit 12, unit 19 and unit 20.

The Gold Coast housing stock is dominated by single-family homes in Palaco Grande, Savona and Cornwallis and condominiums along Beach Parkway. Currently, Gold Coast single-family homes start at $239,000 and condos at $89,000.

Fort Myers Football Bars

2008-09-07T08:43:00.003-04:00

If you are new to the area or just in town this weekend looking for a Fort Myers golf home, one of the questions you may be wrestling with this morning on week one of the NFL season is............HOW AM I GOING TO WATCH THE GAME? Thanks to the News-Press for this list of SW Florida establishments that feature games from NFL teams.

BUFFALO BILLS

• BUFFALO CHIPS RESTAURANT: 26620 Old U.S. 41, Bonita Springs. PHONE: 947-1000.

• RONDAO’S PIZZERIA & SPORTS BAR: 15320 McGregor Blvd., Fort Myers. PHONE 481-1882.

• GROOVE STREET GRILLE: 8595 College Parkway, College Place Shopping Center. PHONE: 437-2743.

• SANTA BARBARA CLUBHOUSE: 2114 Santa Barbara Blvd., Cape Coral. PHONE: 574-7050.

CHICAGO BEARS

• BRYBILL’S TAVERN: 3940 Metro Parkway, Fort Myers. PHONE: 939-3166.

• HURRICANE HARRY’S: 3448 Hancock Bridge Parkway, North Fort Myers. PHONE: 997-8300.

CLEVELAND BROWNS

• BRICK HOUSE SPORTS PUB & PIZZERIA (at Brixz Grill & Bistro): 3583 McGregor Blvd, Fort Myers. PHONE 936-1491.

• CAPTAIN NEMO’S: At Coral Lanes, 250 Santa Barbara Blvd., Cape Coral. PHONE: 772-1661.

• CLUB AT STONEYBROOK: At Interstate 75 and Corkscrew Road. PHONE: 948-3933.

• THE DOCKSIDE SPORTS PUB: 1130 First St., Fort Myers Beach. PHONE: 463-4631.

• POTTS’ SPORTS CAFE: 699 Daniels Parkway, Fort Myers. PHONE: 768-5500.

• RJ’S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE: 1475 N. Tamiami Trail, Fort Myers. PHONE: 997-9600.

• SANIBEL GRILL AT THE TIMBERS: 703 Tarpon Bay Road. PHONE 472-HIKE.

DETROIT LIONS

• BACKSTREETS SPORTS BAR: 915 SE 47th Terrace, Cape Coral. PHONE: 945-7555.

GREEN BAY PACKERS

• CAPE CRAB & STEAK HOUSE: 2301 Del Prado Blvd., Cape Coral. PHONE: 574-2722.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

• FOWLER STREET GRILL: 1303 Del Prado Blvd., South, Cape Coral. PHONE 458-8155. Home of Chiefs Fan Club of Southwest Florida.

MIAMI DOLPHINS

• B.A. HUSTLERS: 2138 Santa Barbara Blvd., Cape Coral. PHONE 574-6000.

• GATOR LANES: 7050 Crystal Drive, Fort Myers. PHONE: 939-0048.

• MISCUE LOUNGE: 2011 Carrell Road, Fort Myers. PHONE 936-1116.

• PINCHERS CRAB SHACK: 15271 McGregor Blvd., Fort Myers. PHONE 415-4009.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS

• CAPTAIN NEMO’S: 250 Santa Barbara Blvd., Cape Coral. PHONE: 772-1661.

• MISCUE LOUNGE: 2011 Carrell Road., Fort Myers. PHONE: 936-1116.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

• FOXBORO SPORTS TAVERN: 4420 Thomasson Lane, Naples. PHONE: 530-2337.

• KNUCKLEHEADERS PUB: 17250 S. Tamiami Trail, Fort Myers. PHONE: 267-1400.

• LAUGH-IN COMEDY CAFE: College Plaza Shopping Center, corner of College Parkway and Winkler Road, Fort Myers. PHONE: 437-2743.

• WINDJAMMERS LOUNGE: 16881 McGregor Blvd., Fort Myers. PHONE: 466-4144.

NEW YORK GIANTS

• POTTS’ SPORTS CAFE: 6900 Daniels Parkway, Fort Myers. PHONE: 768-5500.

NEW YORK JETS

• COURTSIDE SPORTS BAR & GRILL: Sanibel Harbour Resort, 17260 Harbour Pointe Drive. PHONE: 466-2138.

OAKLAND RAIDERS

• KNUCKLEHEADERS PUB: 17250 S. Tamiami Trail, Fort Myers. PHONE: 267-1400.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

• UNCLE BREWSKI’S: 1751 Pine Island Road, Cape Coral. PHONE 573-2739.

• GATOR LANES: 7050 Crystal Drive, Fort Myers. PHONE: 939-0048.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS

• CAPE CRAB & STEAK HOUSE: 2301 Del Prado Blvd,, Cape Coral. PHONE 574-2722.

• JIM BOB’S PUB & EATERY: 1431 SE 16th Place, Cape Coral. PHONE: 574-8100.

• RALPH’S PLACE: 1305 Cape Coral Parkway, in the Big JOhn Plaza. PHONE: 549-2040.

• SPECTATORS SPORTS PUB: 16440 S. Tamiami Trail, Fort Myers. PHONE: 466-TEAM.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

• B.A. HUSTLERS: 2138 Santa Barbara Blvd., Cape Coral. PHONE: 574-6000.

• MISCUE LOUNGE: 2011 Carrell Road, Fort Myers. PHONE: 936-1116.

• SANIBEL GRILL AT THE TIMBERS: 703 Tarpon Bay Road. PHONE: 472-HIKE.

WASHINGTON REDSKINS

• CAPE CRAB & STEAK HOUSE: 2301 Del Prado Blvd., Cape Coral. PHONE: 574-2722.

Football: Where to watch in SW Florida [News-Press]

Seller Tip - MLS Report Quality

2008-09-06T06:51:00.007-04:00

Great column by Chris Griffiths in the Naples News for home sellers about inspecting your MLS listing. Making a few key changes to the listing information can greatly improve your house's chances of selling.

A stale, incomplete or inaccurate listing in the MLS system truly hurts your chances of sucess. Poor MLS listing photos, which are common on our market, are also a downer as chronicled in this video.

Key takeaways from the column:

Price your house based on current transaction activity, not what happened last year

Make sure your listing has multiple high-quality photos, a single poor quality photo doesn't cut it

Have your agent add key attachments to the listing like disclosures, addendums, floor plans and condo docs

If you know your MLS number, you can review a summary of your Greater Fort Myers and the Beach MLS listing on our sister site.

Sprucing up your home’s MLS report a good idea [Naples News]

Buyer Tip - Short Sale Questions

2008-09-05T21:11:00.004-04:00

Short sales are by far the most controversial and least understood type of real estate transaction in the market today. Many local Fort Myers short sale realtors are just fishing for an offer to start the short sale process. If this is the case, don't be the unlucky one to have the 6 month offer out there that never gets answered. It happens, we see it every day. It is FRUSTRATING!

Thanks to blog.franklyreality.com for the following comprehensive list of questions that should be asked prior to looking at any short sale listing. If the listing realtor can't answer these questions, then it is highly unlikely that the short sale will ever be approved by the bank.

Have you closed a Short Sale before?
Have you requested and received the short sale package from the bank, including the hardship letter?
Have you sent the package and have you confirmed receipt?
What communications, if any, have you had with the bank?
Has the bank approved the list price?
Have you received any other offers that you are waiting to hear back from the bank on?
Does the loan have private mortgage insurance (PMI) on it?
Is there one or two trusts? Any other liens?
What are the names of the banks? Are these FHA or VA loans?
How long do you estimate that the lender will take to provide an answer to an offer?
Has a broker price opinion (BPO) been performed? if so what was the result?
Do you have a written short sale approval?

Again these are the questions that need to be answered prior to looking at or making an offer on any potential short sale listing.

Housing Woes Lowering Divorce Rates

2008-09-05T14:11:00.004-04:00

Looking for a golden nugget in your big pile of Southwest Florida real estate coal?

According to the London Daily Mail, the drop in housing prices has driven divorce rates in the UK to their lowest levels in 26 years.

At first glance, this seems counter-intuitive as financial woes would tend to cause conflict between spouses. The article reports that couples are forced to stay together as they have no equity or negative equity and can't afford to live separately.

"Property analysts Savills Research said historical data from England and Wales showed a 'remarkably strong' link between the property market and divorce rates.
Director Lucian Cook said: 'As house prices rise homeowners undoubtedly feel wealthier and our supposition is that they also feel able to afford to get divorced."

Hopefully, the divorce rates here in Southwest Florida won't increase as the housing market improves.

Divorce rate drops to lowest in 26 years as credit crunch forces couples to stay together [Daily Mail]

Fort Myers Luxury Home Sales

2008-09-01T06:27:00.007-04:00

One of life's interesting phenomena is our interest in how the rich and famous live. While the majority of our local celebs like Al Hoffman, Mike Greenwell, Vonzell, Jevon and Deion don't have a flock of paparazzi following them around, we are still keenly interested in what they do and how they live.

Since I don't have any juicy tidbits about any of our celebs, let's talk about Fort Myers luxury homes. Currently, there are 120 homes in Fort Myers on the market with an asking price of $1.5M or higher.

The highest priced Fort Myers home that sold in August 2008 was a new construction single-family home in the exclusive Jonathan Harbour community on Connie Mack Island. This waterfront home, located at 14525 Palm Drive, boasts 4,371 SF and sold for $2,895,000 ($662/SF).

Honorable mention as the second highest priced home sold in Fort Myers in August 2008 goes to a home in the Anacapri neighborhood at Miromar Lakes. This waterfront home, located at 10321 Via Anacapri Court, is 5,064 SF and sold for $1,850,000 ($365/SF).

With an extensive inventory, now is a great time to buy a Fort Myers luxury home.

Foreclosure Listings

2008-08-28T08:38:00.006-04:00

While the entire Southwest Florida real estate universe suffers from a nagging ailment known as "shortsaleitis," I have been busy at the keyboard of my MacBookPro, with a robust supply of Red Bull and Oreos creating community specific foreclosure pages.

These pages display all the listings identified as foreclosures in the Greater Fort Myers and the Beach MLS System. These foreclosure listings are updated on a daily basis.

Check out:

Cape Coral foreclosures

Fort Myers foreclosures

Estero foreclosures

Bonita Springs foreclosures

With a top 10 ranking on Google for both Cape Coral short sales and Fort Myers short sales, we have been down and dirty in the short sale trenches representing many many buyers for several quarters. While short sale transactions are getting closed, success ratios are well below those for traditional transactions.

Serious buyers should focus their attention on the foreclosure listings as banks are not in the business of owning or managing real estate portfolios and have a keen desire to sell these properties. This is not always the case with short sales as the original owner is still party to the transaction.

Accurate Market Projections....Not

2008-08-27T06:23:00.003-04:00

Here is a guaranteed laugh from Glenn Beck about the accuracy of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) projections. Big-time, card-carrying, pin wearing members of the NAR should skip this clip.

Fort Myers High-rises

2008-08-17T08:19:00.006-04:00

The News-Press has an article about Fort Myers high-rises and some of the challenges developers are facing in today's market. This market sector was impacted by to heavy investor involvement in the first couple of projects including Beau Rivage and Alta Mar. The market swooned as these projects were coming to completion and those with a short-term investment strategy were unable to find end-users to facilitate an exit.

The misfortune of these high-rise quick-flippers creates an opportunity for today's end-users looking for a Fort Myers high-rise deal. Currently, price start at $235,000 for a 3/2 at Beau Rivage and 149,900 for a 1/2 at Alta Mar. These prices are well below replacement cost for this type of waterfront construction. This is truly an end-user buying opportunity.

Economy Low Blow for High-rises

Buyer Tip - Lee County Property Line

2008-08-14T22:33:00.005-04:00

We have a great resource here in Lee County to help arm buyers with as much information as possible about a property.

This resource is the Lee County Property Line, which is managed by the County Property Assessor. The url for this site is easy to remember: www.leepa.org.

I frequently use this site to get more information about a property. Available information that I find useful includes:

prior selling price(s)
prior selling date(s)
annual taxes
tax estimator
assessed value
photo
aerial photo

To access this information select ==> Database Search ==> Real Property Search ==> Enter property address. Remember to use the proper suffix abbreviations (ST, LN, BLVD, TER, AVE, DR) for the street name.

Good luck and happy hunting!

SW Florida Short Sales

2008-08-13T17:47:00.006-04:00

Here is an informative WINK 6 video on the challenges that buyers face when dealing with short sales here in SW Florida.

Make yourself a cup of coffee or a couple of margaritas and check out all the Fort Myers short sale, Estero short sale and Cape Coral short sale listings. We have agents very experienced with the short sale process and can be your guide through this challenging environment.

Fort Myers 55+ Communities

2008-08-12T21:31:00.004-04:00

The Southwest Florida region is home to some of the finest active adult communities in the country. These communities cater to 55+ active adults and are great alternative for those relocating to the area. One of the key issues for many is the ease at which they can make new friends with others having similar interests and lifestyles. Fort Myers 55+ Communities offer a wide-range of home styles and amenity choices.

Pelican Preserve, which was developed by WCI Communities, offers a luxury, gated country club lifestyle with an extensive roster of amenities. Pelican Preserve is a collection of 13 distinct neighborhoods and is located off Colonial Boulevard, a mile east of I-75.

Seven Lakes is an established active adult community and a favorite with the golfing an tennis crowd. If you are moving to Seven Lakes, bring your track shoes as the activities calendar at Seven Lakes is one of the busiest in Southwest Florida. Seven Lakes offers a wide range of affordable housing options and is located in Fort Myers on US-41, north of Daniels Parkway.

Heritage Cove offers a beautiful natural setting and features a lighthouse themed street layout. With an extensive list of amenities, Heritage Cove caters to those seeking an active lifestyle in a tropical setting. Heritage Cove is located in South Fort Myers off A & W Bulb Road, South of McGregor Boulevard.

The Cascades at Estero is a luxury gated active adult community with a world class roster of amenities. This community features detached villas and single-family homes and is located in Estero on Estero Parkway between US-41 and Three Oaks Boulevard.

Although this is just a sampling of the 55+ offerings in the area, they are my picks to check out if you are considering this type of community.

Fort Myers Realtors

2008-08-07T22:51:00.004-04:00

USA Today discusses the plight of the Realtor in today's market. No doubt things are very tough in this industry right now.

Quite frankly, I think it is very positive that the downturn is culling out the weaker Realtors. There were way too many inexperienced and unprofessional opportunists in this business during the boom and a thinning of the ranks was absolutely needed.

Realtor skill sets need to adapt as well. This business has moved to the web and any Realtor that has not developed a strong web presence is going to be severely handicapped on a going forward basis. I take great pride in the strong search engine positioning of my site, Greater Fort Myers Real Estate. The site is now approaching 500 pages of unique content about the Southwest Florida real estate market.

My partners and I look forward to working with lots of new customers over the coming year and certainly appreciate the confidence that our current customers have bestowed upon us, thanks!

Realtors live close to the edge [USA Today]

Cape Coral Short Sales

2008-08-06T11:39:00.005-04:00

Interesting overview of the current real estate market conditions in Cape Coral by the St. Petersburg Times. My takeaway about the market from this article is that affordability has returned in a big way to Cape Coral.

The growing short sale and foreclosure inventory has significantly changed the market dynamics in Cape Coral. These two listing categories dominate the pending and sold transactions right now.

Now that the speculators are being flushed out, Cape Coral can resume its rightful position as Southwest Florida's affordable bedroom community. Hopefully this market correction will provide every teacher, fireman, policeman, nurse and others with an opportunity to realize the American dream of home ownership.

Currently there are just over 1,900 Cape Coral short sale listings in the MLS system. These listings range in price from a riverfront mansion listed at $1.3M to a 2BR/2BA, 928 SF condo listed for $39K.

Cape Coral's real estate collapse attracts bargain hunters [St. Petersburg Times]