The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city index declined 15.8% from last years levels, signalling home values in other areas are falling as well.  For a few years it felt like SW Florida was the only area falling in price.  This was the worst price decline ever recorded nationwide.  The SW Florida area lost 32% in median home value from last year, down from $253,900 to $172,400.  Median home values can be deceiving though and may not be indicative of the entire market.

We’ll have more updates on the local SW Florida real estate sales market, including official sales numbers released by the Florida Association of Realtors in the coming days.

 

The Ellis Team SW Florida real estate Current Market Index leveled off in July to a 7.51 mark, up slightly from the 7.23 numbers in June.  The lower the index the better it is for sellers, and the higher the index the better it is for buyers.  We witnessed 5 straight months of decline before this leveling off.

 

SW Florida Current Market Index July 2008 Ellis Team RE/MAX

Single family listings in Lee County Florida rose slightly from 15,634 to 15,668, while pending sales dipped slightly from 1,697 to 1,574.  Both factors contributed to the slight uptick in the CMI index.  This could be somewhat seasonal.  We’ve also noticed a surge in investors swooping in to buy distressed bank foreclosures in recent weeks, which could be a positive sign.  Investors tend to be less emotional and more analytical about the numbers, and their comfort level with today’s prices speaks volumes.  It is important to note that these pending sales have been translating into significant increases in closing volume of 2007 levels.  Home sales in Lee County were up 43% in June over last year’s numbers, following up on a big increase in May as well.  Prices are down and volume is up.

The CMI index in Fort Myers actually improved, while Cape Coral softened just a bit.  Listing inventory of single family homes declined in Fort Myers from 2,528 to 2,489, while inventory in Cape Coral rose from 5,092 to 5,104.  Pending sales dipped slightly in the Cape while they held steady in Fort Myers

Official May 2008 sales numbers were released for SW Florida, Fort Myers and Cape Coral, as well as the entire state of Florida.  We predicted a 57% increase in the number of sales and a 25% decrease in the average sale price in Official SW Florida Real Estate Sales Numbers Due Out Tomorrow post on June 25.

As you can see from our Florida Sales Report – May 2008 Single-Family, Existing Homes, official home sales were up 43% and the median sale price was down 25%.  The official numbers use statistics from various sources and we analyzed statistics from the Greater Fort Myers and the Beach Board of Realtors.  We knew our stats would be close to official numbers and while the number of sales was a little off, the trend was overwhelmingly positive no matter how you look at the numbers.

We posted a new Ellis Team Current Market Index on June 20th, and the prognosis for continued strong sales activity persists.  Condo sales were up 32% and median sale prices of condos in SW Florida were down 9%.  See Florida Sales Report – May 2008 Existing Condominiums   For additional housing statistics in Fort Myers and Cape Coral real estate, see our Housing Statistics page.  If you’d like to search for property in SW Florida, including Cape Coral, Lehigh Acres, Fort Myers, Estero, Bonita Springs, and all of SW Florida, visit our SW Florida MLS Property Search Website.

If you’re interested in Bank Owned Properties and Bank Foreclosures throughout Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Lehigh Acres, visit our Bank Owned Bargains webpage.

 

About a month ago Reflection Lakes was considering a very bad policy for access to its gate system that would have impaired Realtors ability to show homes, which in turn would impair sellers ability to sell their homes in an already tough real estate environment.  You can read more about that past policy at Reflection Lakes Gate Policy Bad For Home Sales?

The new policy allows the gate to call an agent’s cell phone number so the agent can allow access once another Realtor get’s to the gate.  And there in lies another real problem.  I spoke with a board member prior to the last meeting, and when the board member proposed this idea as a possible solution I told him it wasn’t a good idea.

Here is the issue.  Busy Realtors don’t use their cell phones for incoming calls or showings.  The Ellis Team alone receives on average 80 calls per hour, and this doesn’t even include calls to setup showings which go to a separate showing desk to be logged into our computer system for propert tracking.  RE/MAX receives many calls too, and we have many receptionists to take those calls.

It would be very rude for us to answer our cell phones each time someone called the office.  Just imagine a buyer working with an agent, but instead of being able to talk to that agent one on one for a few hours while viewing homes or negotiating a contract, the agent was answering their cell phone multiple times per minute.  Some of these calls would be for showing feedback, others might be from other clients, others might be from the title company or mortgage company, and now a new call to open a gate.

Keep in mind the agent may be on a listing appointment.  Again, this potential sellers wants quality time with the agent they’re thinking about hiring, and they want to ask tough questions.  People hate being interrupted by someone else’s cell pone every 2 seconds.  It’s just rude to do that to someone.  Now the Reflection Lakes gate calls the agent’s cell phone.  The agent may be unaware of whom this Realtor is or if they really have an appointment, because the agent isn’t at their office, and would have to make another call to the showing desk to find out.

Sellers don’t want to list with agents who have nothing else to do but setup showings or sit around and wait for the phone to ring.  Those aren’t the Realtor’s selling properties today.  And what if the Realtor is on another line when that gate request comes through?  What if that Realtor is on vacation?  Realtors take vacations too, but the agent who doesn’t have a showing system in place with their company will lose showings.

Ultimately it will be the homeowner who will be hurt by this policy.  Realtors should have a code that works to get into the gate.  Adding a bunch more bureaucracy and phone calls won’t help the situation.  Reflection Lakes won’t even allow this gate request to go to agent’s company, the very people who setup and manage the showings.  It must go to a cell phone.

We have a tremendous gate problem in Reflection Lakes.  When it was sold to us we were told we they picked the best gate company because repairs and maintenance would be less because this was a quality system.  We didn’t know the gates would be so slow, and that the software wasn’t capable of keeping up because of phone transmission problems.  Now it’s becoming a big issue just getting data to and from the gates.  Adding a cell phone policy for Realtors won’t solve this.  The truth is it’s a technical problem in the phone lines.  If it’s just too much data, then we need a better software system.  You would think for the money we paid for the gates the speed of the gates and the software would be sufficient.

Through July of 2008 the Ellis Team has sold and closed 154 homes.  This is a tough environment, and agents are having to work harder and more skillfully to put deals together, and keep them together.  At an average of 80 calls per hour, you can see there’s not a lot of sitting around waiting for the phone to ring time.  And there’s certainly no sitting around waiting for the cell phone to ring just so we can let someone in Reflection Lakes who may or may not have an appointment to see one of our listings.  If the board is going to take the time to adjust these policies, and speak with Realtors about what works and what doesn’t, at least listen to the advice you get instead of acting unilaterally.  I know the board has tough decisions to make with this gate that doesn’t seem to quite work like it was promised, but please for the sake of our homeowners, take all the facts into account before making the problem worse.

I really don’t believe the security of our community is being jeopardized by Realtors having access to the gates via a code.  The Realtors have access to the insides of homes, so why would you be afraid to give access to the gate?