The past several weeks we’ve been providing some nice articles on tips to sell your home, information on online real estate scams in SW Florida, updates on inventory supply, and understanding today’s home buyer and why that’s critical to a sale these days.  By the way, you can catch up on these great articles at http://blog.topagent.com in case you missed them.

We’ve kind of gotten away from pricing updates so we thought it’s time to revisit.  New statistics will be out between the time we write this article and the time it’s published, but don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.  We’re releasing unofficial stats but we’re pretty confident they’ll come in pretty close to our numbers.

SW Florida Price Gains in July

New numbers suggest some nice price gains in July. In fact, if we’re right, median sale prices should be up around 13.95% and average sale prices up around 15.07% Our numbers were pulled August 18th and official numbers are pulled around August 10.  Some Realtors could have reported July sales after Aug 10 which wouldn’t make the official numbers.

SW Florida Price Gains in July

Across the country markets are either rising or topping out.  Here in SW Florida we have very limited inventory and a tight rental market.  We have end users and few places to put them, so demand is outpacing supply right now.  It’s a good time to be a seller.

Our MLS search site www.LeeCountyOnline.com is getting good traffic from buyers both locally and from up North.  If this trend continues, we could be in for another good season, but what about all the permanent folks looking for property now?

This past month our buyer specialists have been busy putting deals together for our buyers.  Basically our agents stay on top of new listings or pending sales that fall out and we jump quickly.  Our clients love using technology to stay on top of the market as well, so they setup saved searches on our website that alerts them to price changes, new listings, recent sales, and of course pending sales that fall out.

In this way we have a more educated buyer who’s ready to pounce.  You have to be like a cat waiting for prey in this market, because if you’re not prepared, another predator will beat you to it.  And all this is before season arrives.

My advice to buyers would be it’s never too early to begin the process.  If you wait until you’re ready, it’s already too late.  We need to have you speak with a loan officer to see how much you qualify for and if there are any issues you can work on now that will get you a better rate.

Most people prefer to wait until they see something they like.  If you like it, other buyers will too and because they are ahead of you, they end up getting the prize.  It’s really easy to get pre-qualified these days, and the technology available to you makes research fun and exciting.  Let us show you how.  In a half hour consultation we can show you your options and how making a move can become a reality for you, but you’ve got to do some homework or your dream will go to someone else.  We can help you by sitting down with you for a few minutes and talking about your needs.

Sellers, you too should do some homework.  Just because headlines read “Market up 13% doesn’t mean every home is up.  You may also have some work to do on your home to get top dollar.  We can help you with that too.  And maybe, just maybe, we already have a buyer for your home.  Several times this year we’ve sold homes we just listed to buyers we’ve been working with for weeks.

It pays to call us.  We’ll sit down with you and go over your options, just like we do with buyers.  The market is the market.  We’re here to educate buyers on how to score their dream home and sellers on what it takes to have a successful sale.

If we can help you, we’d love to help.  239-489-4042

Good luck and Happy House Hunting!

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