Monthly Archives: July 2009

Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp This Week’s Guest on the Future of Real Estate

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Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp is this week’s guest on the Future of Real Estate which is broadcast on Saturdays at 11:00 AM on WINK AM 1240 in Lee and Charlotte Counties and AM 1270 in Collier County.  You can listen to this special show Online Now   

We ask the Lieutenant Gov the following topics:

  • Update on Foreclosure Task Force (Hope Now)
  • SW Florida’s chances on landing another Major League Baseball Team
  • State Farm Insurance situation
  • Health Insurance-Obama’s plan and it’s effect on Florida
  • Cover Florida Insurance Plan
  • State Rights Vs US Rights
  • Private property rights
  • Space Florida
  • Cuba and Tourism
  • Attorney General Race
  • Drug Control
  • Port Security
  • Governor race-Crist Vs Rubio
  • Adoptions in Florida

It really is a great show and the Lieutenant Gov answered all questions.  Tune in now.

SW Florida Social Media Update

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Last week we tested a social media experiment.  Our goal was to create a few Facebook Fan Pages for various parts of the SW Florida real estate market and see if we could drive 100 fans to each.  If we could do that, we could signup for Facebook unique URL’s.  We’re happy to report that not only did we hit our goal of 100 fans, we far surpassed it in only a week.  Currently we’re over 400 users on our Ellis Team site, and close to that on others.

The advantage of signing up on one of these pages is that we post timely news pertaining to each area, specific to that geographic location, or in the case of The Ellis Team site, about real estate marketing in general.  We provide discussion boards, Blog posts, nes paper articles, video updates, photos, and much more.

Our new goal is to hit 1,000 users by the end of the month.  Can we do it, who knows?  There’s no magic reason we picked this number, it just sounds fun.  We’ll post the web links here for Facebook users to follow us, and our Twitter addresses too for our Twitter users.

Facebook Pages

Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group currently at 408 Fans

Cape Coral Real Estate                     currently at 244 Fans

SW Florida Real Estate                      currently at 342 Fans

Fort Myers Real Estate                      currently at 280 Fans

Future of Real Estate                        currently at 354 Fans

Twitter Followers can follow us at:

@swfltopagents   Ellis Team

@brettellis_swfl   Brett Ellis

We look forward to connecting with you on many levels.  We still do business the old fashioned way, and we still advertise in traditional methods like newspaper, TV, and radio.  We are however expanding our reach into the Social Media markets to better serve our customers, and we look forward to seeing you online.

This Week’s Future of Real Estate Radio Show is Broadcast in Video

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We’re doing something new this week for the Future of Real Estate Radio Show here in SW Florida.  This week’s special guest is Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson, and this week we video taped the show as it was being broadcast and we’ve decided to bring it to you in video format as a test.  We’ve separated the broadcast into 6 parts so you can watch any and all parts that interest you.

Ken Wilkinson Property Appraiser Lee County Florida
Ken Wilkinson Property Appraiser Lee County Florida

Future of Real Estate July 4, 2009 Part 1

  • Cape Coral water and sewer assessments effect on valuations
  • Mass appraisal system Vs. Fee appraisal system
  • Property Appraiser must assess 604,000 properties annually
  • Chinese Drywall and it’s effect on value
  • Mold and it’s effect on value
  • Functional Obsolesence
  • Economic Obsolesence
  • Cost to cure
  • Property Appraiser assessment Vs. Property Taxes

Future of Real Estate Part 2

  • Property Appraiser assessment Vs. Property Taxes Continued
  • 92 Taxing Authorities countywide
  • Property Appraiser’s office provides analysis of market January 1 to each taxing authority
  • Taxing authorities set their tax rates
  • Truth in Millage (Trim)
  • Rollback Millage
  • Gut feeling of what politicians will do with tax rates
  • Federal stimulous money effect on taxes
  • County budget’s being evaluated
  • Property appraiser’s office being defended by County Attorney’s office beginning July 1,2009 to save money

Future of Real Estate July 4, 2009 Pt 3

  • New Technology at Property Appraiser’s office
  • AVM-Automated Valuation Models
  • Multiple Regression Analysis
  • 2D 3D Line of Sight Model
  • View and Floor Height’s effect on value

Future of Real Estate Pt 4

  • Assessed Values down in 2008
  • Pockets of fluctuation
  • North Cape and Lehigh Acres went down fastest
  • Countywide average down over 25%
  • $27 Billion Less taxable value From $110 Billion to $83 Billion
  • Lehigh Acres Ground Zero
  • 80% of sales in some neighborhoods short sales or after foreclosures sales
  • 2009 taxes reflect 2008 sales
  • Weighted sales-4th quarter
  • Department of Revenue

Future of Real Estate Pt 5

  • Tax Referendum
  • Governor Crist
  • Property tax ammendments Nov 2010
  • Recapture
  • 3% or CPI, whichever is Less
  • 2008 recapture rate .1%

Future of Real Estate Pt 6

  • Bill signing Tallahassee Florida
  • Aerial Technology to substitute visiting each property (Desktop Review)
  • Electronic Permits
  • Lee County Lowest Cost per parcel in Florida

Ellis Team SW Florida Real Estate Current Market Index for June 2009 Released

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The Ellis Team SW Florida Real Estate Current Market Index for June 2009 shows another slight improvement, down from 3.99 to 3.92  Remember, the lower the Index number, the better for sellers, and if you’ve followed this index for any length of time you’ll discover that it’s been very accurate forecasting the foreward movement of the Fort Myers real estate market and the Cape Coral real estate market.

Ellis Team SW Florida Real Estate Current Market Index June 2009
Ellis Team SW Florida Real Estate Current Market Index June 2009

 

Inventory fell from 12,579 last month to under 12,000 for the first time in a long time.  Inventory levels have been falling for awhile and pending sales have remained relatively stable, helping to draw down inventory levels.  Cape Coral inventory levels are very low, but so is Lehigh Acres copared to the pending sales.  Lehigh Acres has traditionally followed Cape Coral, and as the Cape’s prices have gone up in the entry level home market, Lehigh Acres demand has increased, just like in the run-up of the roaring 2000’s.

The Ellis Team are Top agents at RE/MAX Realty Group in Fort Myers Florida and study the SW Florida real estate market in great detail.