It’s official.  Last week we predicted a surge of at least 125% +/- based on the sales we were studying for single family homes in Lee County.  Official numbers were just posted, and it looks like it was on the + side of our prediction.  Sales came in at 133% over last year’s numbers for single family homes, and prices were up a healthy 3.82% over last month, marking the 5th straight monthly gain.  Median single family sales prices now stand at $95,100, up from a recent low of $87,900 set back in June.  As you can see, the market has turned around since June and has steadily increased in price, and has set records in sales volume as well. 

This isn’t news to News Press readers or listeners of the Future of Real Estate Radio Show, nor to agents active in the business.  For months agents have been telling buyers the market is one the move, and the time to buy is now, and buyers for the most part have gotten the message.  It’s always fun when an out of the area buyer comes down and wants to make offers 20% below asking price because that’s what you do someplace else.  Buyers seek the assistance of an agent and it is the agent’s responsibility to educate buyers and sellers to actual market conditions. 

Fort Myers-Cape Coral Single Family Home Sales by Month
Fort Myers-Cape Coral Single Family Home Sales by Month

Most agents I speak with do a very good job at this.  When you need an attorney typically you let them represent you and you follow their advice.  Same goes with a doctor, typically you tell the doctor how you’re feeling and answer the questions and the doctor makes a recommendation for you based upon your needs.  So why would an agent not offer the same advice to an out of town buyer or seller? 

Like I said, most agents do.  Many times we’ll receive multiple offers on a property, and most are at or above asking price, especially when the property is a good buy.  Occasionally I’ll receive one that is 10-20% below asking price when I’m sitting with other offers above asking price.  I’ll ask the agent working with the buyer what was it that caused the buyer to offer at that price.  Sometimes we’ll get that’s all they’re qualified for, or that’s all they want to go or feel it is worth.  Sometimes the agent replies the buyer just wants to buy it as cheap as they can.  Who wouldn’t want to buy it as cheap as they can, but the buyer’s got to get in the game to buy it at all. 

We’ve told people before, if you’re going to steal, don’t do it in slow motion.  If you’re looking at a bank owned bargain, and it’s a steal, go get it.  Chances are others are looking for the same thing.  SW Florida is experiencing record sales right now, and if it’s a bargain, you know there will be multiple offers.  Why try to get an additional 10-20% off when it’s already a bargain? 

I then ask the agent why they haven’t told their buyer about the market, right after I inform them we have multiple offers.  Sometimes I hear “I know, I know, I’ve tried to tell them but they won’t listen.”  Other times I hear I don’t want them to work with another agent, so I just do what they tell me.  Both instances are signs of lack of confidence in the agent. 

It’s truly an agent’s job to educate.  Buyers and sellers will thank you for it, because if you don’t do it, you’re just wasting their time and yours.  After losing out on about 7 offers, buyers become frustrated.  Agents become frustrated with buyers after about 2-3 offers if the buyer isn’t listening.  So why not just cut to the chase and end it upfront.  I know, there will always be another agent who will do what the client says, but if the client won’t listen to you, can you really help them? 

It’s one thing to work with a buyer who is doing everything they can to buy a home.  We have customers putting in offers above full price at the max of what they can afford and still losing out.  That’s quite different than a buyer who is low balling out of ignorance. 

Buyers and sellers should listen to their agent, and agents shouldn’t be afraid to counsel and give the cold hard truth to their customers.  Market forces eventually win out in the end anyway, so getting there as quickly as possible is the best way to avoid frustrations, and get you in your first choice property instead of your 8th choice.  In a stagnant market your choices don’t change often, but this market is anything but stagnant and the market is on the move.

It pays to study the market and get ahead of the market.  Sellers never want to chase the market down, and buyers hate to chase it up.  2010 will be an interesting year.  It’s always fun to cover a changing story, and this story is changing.  If you’re not buying or selling, it will be fun to watch.  If you are buying or selling, it’s time to do your homework.

We’re excited to bring you The Future of Real Estate Radio Show now on video.  We just aired our first show which will be simulcast today on 3 radio stations along with the video.  The advantage to video is we will be able to show graphs and charts as we discuss the market.  We did have our first glitch, so the first chart we talked about on the show didn’t actually make it into the show, however we were able to recapture that portion and place it on YouTube.

Brett Ellis-Future of Real Estate SW Florida
Brett Ellis-Future of Real Estate SW Florida

To view the entire show go to  Topagent.com  To view the 1st segment with the graphs go to our YouTube broadcast.  The first segment illustrated graphs of the distressed property market in SW Florida and how that affect the overall market.  We look forward to bringing you future broadcasts each week, and improving on the quality.  Sorry for the first glitch, but we are real estate agents afterall venturing out into the brave new world of video, and we’ll only get better.

The Ellis Team is looking for  a person or persons with strong people skills and proficient in Internet lead management, e-mail, and database management.  This person will be a good listener and preferrably will be a licensed agent or willing to obtain license.  This candidate will have knowledge of the SW Florida Real Estate market, and is good on the phones.

If a job like this sounds interesting to you, send an e-mail with your resume to coordinator@topagent.com

This week’s SW Florida real estate video update presented by The Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group focuses on SE Fort Myers Florida.  SE Fort Myers consists of zip codes 33912, 33913, 33966, and 33967 and covers Gateway, Fort Myers South around the Daniel’s Parkway Corridor over to US 41 down tthrough San Carlos Park.

SE Fort Myers Florida Real Estate Video Update

View this week’s SE Fort Myers Florida Real Estate Video Update  Average prices were down about 22% in SE Fort Myers, however sales were up significantly.

Current Market Index-SW Florida Real Estate-March 2009
Current Market Index-SW Florida Real Estate-March 2009

The March 2009 Ellis Team SW Florida real estate Current Market Index covering Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Estero, Ft Myers Beach, Sanibel and Captiva Islands, and Lehigh Acres Florida improved again as sales activity has really taken off in the past 6 months.  The Index now stands at 4.41 for Cape Coral and Fort Myers, and stands at 5.07 for the entire Lee County Florida.

Inventory levels countywide hade dropped to just slightly over 13,000 while pending sales have shot up to 2,567, and increase of 22.53% since last month.  The market is absorbing new inventory.  This 2009 season has been as good as predicted.  remember, the Current Market Index is a forward looking indicator, and home sales have been bearing that out each and every month as we’ve been reporting.

Cape Coral again leads the way.  The CMI numbers for Cape Coral are 3.45, the best in SW Florida.  Condo numbers were down to 10.90, down from 13.08 in February, another positive sign.  We do see some serious trouble on the horizon for the condo market in SW Florida we’ll be reporting on later.

This week’s SW Florida real estate video update presented by The Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group focuses on cape Coral Florida.  Cape Coral is leading sales transactions in Lee County due to the number of foreclosures and short sales bringing affordability back into the SW Florida real estate market.

Cape Coral Real Estate Video Update

View This Week’s Cape Coral Video Update.

Check out the entire SW Florida real estate State of the Market Report

Yesterday Brett Ellis of the Ellis TEAM at RE/MAX delivered the SW Florida State of the Market Report to the public.  The report is 77 pages and includes data on Lee County Florida home sales, including Cape Coral real estate sales numbers, Fort Myers real estate sales numbers and pricing trends, Bonita Spring real estate updates, Estero, Lehigh Acres, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Captiva, Pine Island, and all of Lee Couny.

The report shows single family home inventory in Lee County Florida declined 15.61%, and months supply of inventory in Lee County declined 42.66% due to decreasing inventory and increasing sales.

Cape Coral is the hot spot for sales activity, with 4,633 sales and less than a 1 yr supply of inventory.  Lee County overall inventory level stands at 17.53 months, down from 30.57 last year.  Median single family home sale prices were down 37.89%.  Two areas actually saw a rise in mean average sales prices in 2008; Bonita Spring-Estero and Central Fort Myers.

The report provides insightful data at the county level, and at the neighborhood level, as well as foreclosure data.  The sub-markets we analyzed were Cape Coral North, Cape Coral Central, Cape Coral South, North Fort Myers, Central Fort Myers, SE Fort Myers, SW Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, East Fort Myers including Alva, Bonita-Estero, Pine Island, Fort Myers Beach, and Sanibel and Captiva Islands.  We provide data such as monthly pricing graphs for 2008, monthly sales charts, List price to sales price ratios, months supply of inventory levels, total list and sales volume,Minimum listing, maximum listing, lowest sold listing, highest sold listing, median price, average price, and total sales.

It is our most detailed report yet.  We scrutinized the data from multiple MLS boards and eliminated duplicates.  This one of a kind database is more thorough and accurate than services such as MLS Alliance because some boards pull their data out of the Alliance.  Additionally, we scrubbed the data for known errors.  We allowed duplicates when there were actually multiple sales on the same property for the same year.

73% of foreclosures in SW Florida were non-homestaeded property, meaning investors walked from their investments when the value fell below what they owed.  Most investors were planning to flip for a profit when they purchased.  SW Florida bank foreclosures were absorbed and sold, and inventory fell as the market heated up, even if prices have not.

We’ll add video of news stories from the report in coming days.

NBC-2 did a report Monday night about how out of state buyers are snatching up bargains in SW Florida.  Buyers have been coming in from all over looking for bargains, some of them foreclosures, in the Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Lehigh Acres area.

The Ellis Team lists a lot of bank owned foreclosures and we are seeing buyers snatch up these properties in hours.  Many of these properties receive multiple offers in just a few days, so it’s important for buyers to know the rules the lender is requiring and to follow them.

Buyers quite often ignore the rules and are disappointed when their offer is not accepted.  Working with an agent who knows the requirements of the offer will increase your chances of acquiring the property, although it cannot guarantee it when multiple offers are invloved.

We will be adding shortly a way to search for foreclosures on our website.  To search the entire SW Florida real estate MLS, including Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, and Cape Coral, visit www.Leecountyonline.com

 

re MLS

 

NBC Today Show Interviews Ellis Team in Fort Myers

 

NBC Today Show Interviews Ellis Team in Fort Myers

The Ellis Team was featured on the NBC Today Show regarding the presidential election.  Florida has been identified as a battleground state, and the housing market will play a vital role in how people select the next president.  The Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Lehigh Acres area have been identified as the epicenter of what happened in Florida, and NBC wanted to come here and report on what is happening today.

Click here to watch the viddeo.  The good news is that home sales were up 80% over July 2007 numbers and up 41% over August 2007 numbers, so even though prices are lower, buyers are back in the market scooping up properties because they are affordable.

Foreclosures have been highest in Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres where speculators built many homes in hopes of flipping to other investors or end users, but the speculators overbuilt for the current demand.  Fort Myers has been hit with some foreclosures, but nothing like the Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres area.  For detailed statistics on the SW Florida housing market, visit our housing statistics page.

 

Who knew people actually wanted to tune in and watch a short video each week on what’s happening in the SW Florida real estate market?  The Fort Myers and Cape Coral market is changing rapidly, so I guess everyone is just trying to get a handle on what’s really happening and the trends we’re seeing on the streets.

Watch out 9-15-08 Fort Myers Florida Real Estate Update here presented by The Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group in Fort Myers Florida.  This started out as a test a few weeks ago and people actually called and complained we didn’t post one last week.  Last week we were really busy writing new contracts, listing new properties, and keeping existing deals together.  FInancing has become increasingingly difficult to obtain, and lenders are updating their files just before closing and asking more questions, which is causing delays.  Add to that a shaky capital market, and you’ve got chaos in a moments notice, so sometimes we’re busy fighting fires.  Keep in mind helping consumers buy and sell real estate is our primary business, and even though we enjoy educating consumers and the media as to what’s really happening in real time, sometimes we have to fight the fires first so to speak.

Hope you enjoy this week’s video.  It is low budget (Free) so hopefully you’ll get something out of the content and not the production quality.