Shakira’s hips don’t lie but can we say the same for the SW Florida real estate market numbers? Actually the Association of Realtors hasn’t released official numbers so agents like us are left to report our own numbers based upon predefined searches.

3 Weeks ago we asked the question “Where Are The Listings?” MLS shows an increase in listings but we weren’t seeing it on the street. Our team is down to 13 listings. We have more pending and closed than we do actual listings. We keep hearing on the street inventory is down and it’s hard to find properties to show buyers, so we decided to search MLS for ourselves and report the counts.

We’re wondering if the MLS changed classification on certain listings because in January the numbers shot up. As a property goes pending it comes out of active inventory, and we’ve been putting a lot of properties pending in the past 3-4 weeks. Is it possible more listings are coming on the market than coming off? We think that’s doubtful.

I’ve been in contact with the association to get official numbers and the answer I get is they are not being released as usual until the Board meets. We compile numbers from various MLS systems and each time an MLS changes vendors it creates havoc as the data sharing policies and technologies need to be tweaked.

Cape Coral and Bonita Springs recently selected a different vendor than Fort Myers so this could be causing a delay in releasing numbers. It can also alter the data drastically. Even if data is shared there can be duplicate data as the same home can be input into two or more MLS’s. I always hate MLS changeovers more than most agents because we do compile data and it forces us to not only search multiple MLS’ like an agent does, but forces us to compile and make decisions about duplicates.

We like to report apples and apples and that is always hard when a changeover occurs. It forces us to restate new baselines in the data and move forward from there. In a perfect world all MLS systems would share data and use the same vendor, but we don’t live in a perfect world.

For the time being these numbers are the best we’ve got, and we’re skeptical inventory is rising. Our personal listing inventory is selling quickly this season and shrinking. If a home is marketed properly and priced correctly, it should sell. We have more buyers here now than we will any other time of the year. If a home doesn’t sell now, it may not sell at the same price the rest of the year. Of course, there is one caveat. We are in a rising price market, so if you’re over priced today, eventually the market may catch up to your price. Of course, with Sequestration, looming government shutdowns and a national debt crisis, nobody knows what the future will bring exactly.

Our advice is if you want to sell today, market it and price it at today’s market. If you wait for something that may or may not occur in the future, you run the risk of being disappointed, and with Congress and the President today, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll disappoint nearly everybody in the coming weeks and months.

If you have a property to sell, please call us. We know how to market, and our properties are selling. We’ve got about a month left for high season, so there’s still time to maximize buyers for your home. If you’re a buyer and you see a home you like, jump on it because even though the numbers say inventory is up, we’re not seeing that on the street.

Brett Ellis bio

Every day it seems I hear agents and buyers alike complain there just aren’t any listings on the market.  If you’re an agent without listings or a buyer who can’t find anything that matches your criteria it certainly does feel that way, but sometimes feelings and reality don’t always match.

Take the SW Florida real estate market for example.  In the past few years inventory supply has been tight, and the few listings that were on the market either seemed to have multiple offers or was a short sale.  Probably not entirely reality, but it did seem that way.

With prices rising more and more sellers have realized they may finally be in a position to sell.  We think there are more ready and willing sellers, if only they were able, just waiting to put their house on the market.  At each incremental rise in price we’ll see more and more people deciding to sell.  Many have been bottled up in their home, a financial prisoner so to speak for years.

In a normal market SW Florida homeowners would trade up, down, or make lateral moves in real estate as needs changed.  We haven’t seen that in the last several years.  I think many homeowners have probably skipped one trade in their life cycle due to the real estate bust we all endured.  Going forward we may see more slowly get back on that track as prices rise.

If you’re an agent surfing the MLS you might not have noticed an influx of properties on the market.  I just ran internal numbers yesterday and I saw a surge in inventory.  We’ll be watching these numbers over the next few months.  Could it be hundreds of homeowners decided to test the new market now that season is here?

Why are buyers not seeing the listings?  Last week at the CyberStars Summit we learned some agents nationwide are withholding their listings from sites like Trulia, Zillow, Homes.com, etc. for several weeks or altogether. These companies are aggregating Realtor data and selling leads back to Realtors using their own data.  Agents are tired of seeing other sites rise in the search engines using their own listings as content to do so, so they’re changing the game a bit.

We provide all the listings on www.Leecountyonline.com unless companies opt out of IDX.  I don’t personally know of anyone doing that, but many are opting out of realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, etc.  Agents don’t so much mind other agents who are on the business promoting the selling of real estate.  They do mind 3rd party companies using listings as content and selling leads back to Realtors, and that is the difference.

So if you’re a buyer and not seeing all the listings online, you might want to check with your agent and see if they can set you up on their MLS portal or visit a site like ours.  If you’re an agent and didn’t realize inventory has gone up, you might want to go back and check the MLS.  You might be surprised to find a few more listings that match your buyer’s criteria.

If you have a listing it’s always good to monitor the MLS to see if new competition has come onto the market that will affect your seller.  We constantly look for new sales, new pendings, and new active listings to measure their impact on our sellers so we can properly advise them.  It does no good to List it and Forget it.  A listing is a process.  It’s not sold until thousands of steps occur.  Too many people think their job is done once they get a listing.  The job has just begun.  A full time active agent understands this, and this is why some properties sell and some sit on the market.  Whether you’re a buyer or seller, it pays to price it right.  Otherwise you’re just wasting a lot of time and money on something that will never sell.  So get online and check out the market, or better yet, call an agent and find out today.  Our number is 239-489-4042 if you need help.

Good luck, and Happy House Hunting!

Brett Ellis bio

Google and NAR collaborated to uncover trends and insights around digital media usage among home shoppers, whether they were looking for an existing home, a newly constructed home, or an apartment. Together, Google and NAR’s individual research results offers insight into the process and how buyers are shopping for homes, selecting agents, and doing their research online.

I’ve been poring over the report to glean some tips and the 27 page report is filled with useful information.  I will share a few ideas agents should know about if they’d like to increase their sales pipeline.

Interesting Google and Nar Research on Consumer Market Trends

Interacting with buyers online is a process, not a one time event.  The average buyer researches properties for 12 weeks before making a buying decision.  78% of home shoppers visit at least 3 sites before taking any action.  A typical buyer waits 3 weeks before interacting with an agent.  If the average buyer shops online for 12 weeks they are selecting an agent early on in the process at 3 weeks.

Most agents mistakenly give up on an online lead if they don’t make contact the first day or two.  We feel that when buyers begin the process they like to do it anonymously as much as possible until they gain some market knowledge and comfort level with the process.  Nobody likes to go into something blind and nobody likes to be sold to.  The Internet is an empowering process because it provides information.

Now, sometimes all that information becomes hard to assimilate and the information overload can bury a prospect to the point they give up and do nothing.  This is where a trusted agent comes in.  Once the buyer gains a certain amount of knowledge they typically look to select an agent who can help them sort out all the facts, areas, neighborhoods, zoning, local laws, etc.  At that critical moment it becomes a moment of truth, and the buyer either acts or gives up.

If an agent is patient with an online shopper and is there to offer help when the buyer is ready, that agent will gain the buyer’s business.  If however the agent calls the buyer on Day 1 and hounds them each day for 3 weeks they’ll come across as a salesman looking for a sale rather than an advocate looking to answer questions and help the buyer.

An agent really shouldn’t care when or what the buyer purchases.  We tell people we’re here to help today, tomorrow, next month, or next year.  If you build that trust and offer valuable insight, they’ll use you and it won’t matter when.  The other thing agents can learn is it’s not about you.

As an agent I might like a single family home in a gated community, but some buyers might like their space and prefer acreage.  Still other buyers may like a condo, a waterfront property, or perhaps a golf course community.  The possibilities are endless.  That’s why I say it’s not about what the agent wants; it’s about the buyer’s needs.  A great agent will listen to those wants and needs and offer advice to best suit that particular buyer.  Believe it or not, some buyers actually want to live in the heart of everything while other buyers want to live away from it all.  An agent can’t have pre-set ideas about what’s best for the buyer until they build that relationship and listen.

Online is no different than face to face at office.  Trust takes time.  Be there for the online shopper on their schedule and you’ll develop a client for life.  Push them into a corner or before they’re ready and you’ll push them down the road to another agent’s website.  Online real estate shoppers are kind of like petting a cat.  There’s no way you’re going to pet a cat until the cat is ready.  It will be on their terms, not yours, but once you develop that relationship you’ll be able to help them and they’ll most likely refer other people to you.  Feel free to search the MLS for Free at www.LeeCountyonline.com

Good luck and happy house hunting!

Brett Ellis bio

A few weeks ago we provided preliminary statistics which suggested single family home prices in Lee County had risen to $135,000. Official numbers are out and the number is actually $137,000 which is an 11% rise over last year and a 2.24% rise over the previous month. As you can see, prices have been rising in 2012 and the trend looks good heading into season.

I thought it would be good to look inside the numbers just a bit and compare November 2012 with November 2011. As you can see, sales over $500,000 are roughly the same. Where we really notice a difference is in the $100-200k range and even more significantly in the 200-500k range. You’ll notice from the graph that foreclosure sales are down in both ranges and short sales are down in the higher range.

The decrease in short sales and foreclosures combined with a dramatic increase in traditional sales is helping the market recover in price. The 11% increase in price is not surprising given the sales mix.

One might look at the under $100k price range and notice the drop-off in sales and wonder if there is trouble in that market. The reality is there are less sales in that market because prices have risen and fewer homes fit into that market. Inventory under $100k is nothing like it was 3-4 years ago, so it’s impossible to pull those kinds of sales numbers from that price range because the inventory just doesn’t exist.

After the height of the market in 2005 we watched home prices tumble and higher priced homes creeping back down to much lower price brackets. You can see from the graph we really started an upward trend in 2011 that continued in 2012.

This will be good news for the county as tax assessments have been much lower forcing the county to cut budgets and spend from reserves. While there may still be some financial misery at the county level, it’s easy to see that price drops have abated and we are on our way back up which should help a bit.

Rising prices will also help more homeowners sell their homes. Many have waited out the market in hopes prices would rise enough to cover their mortgage. We assume many home sellers would like to sell but just couldn’t due to prices relative to their mortgage amount. The rising market will help a certain number of sellers each year meet that goal.

We’ve seen a large amount of investors and baby boomers buying second homes for retirement over the last few years. What’s been lacking are the locals who move up, down, and sideways. Consequently this has been an out of the area buying experience in large part.

While we may not be quite there yet, we are getting closer to seeing locals up-sizing, down sizing, or trading lifestyles. Things change in life as kids grow up, move out, and sometimes back in with parents. Some people think they want a condo in a golf community only to change their mind later on and decide on a waterfront home where they can have their boat in the back yard.

Some want space and privacy, while others decide they want a community with activities. People learn that what interests them today can change over time as people age, relationships change, and employment changes. Having a real estate market open up where less people are under water opens up new possibilities for many in SW Florida, and that is a change I’m sure many here welcome.

As the market continues to improve I think we’ll begin to see more of that. We’ll also see more building which opens up more inventory, and more jobs. And if we can just get our national economy back on track, SW Florida could be in for some great times ahead.

Brett Ellis bio