November 2018 - Fort Myers Real Estate and Homes For Sale

There is much debate about the local SW Florida real estate market and whether it is shifting. Experts speculate that it might because of everything from rising interest rates, rising prices, housing declines up North, to climate change. This makes selecting correct listing agent critical when market shifts even more important, which we’ll discuss later on.

One of the factors some experts look at when evaluating the market is housing inventory. New listing inventory numbers were just released, and we noticed a few things. First off, new listings increased 11% in October over 2017 new listings. Secondly, current listing inventory stands at 5,823 which is 17.9% increase over last year. So, what is causing this inventory buildup, and what can we do about it?

Inventory buildup is caused by several things including rising rates, decreasing home affordability, and false expectations. Sellers read that home prices are up 2.9% over last year, so they add 2.9% to the figure they thought their home was worth last year, and voila, they have a number. Different homes appreciate at varying rates, just like certain neighborhoods appreciate at different rates than others due to location, age, the finances of the association, amenities, etc.

Most sellers believe we have a runaway market while many buyers are fearful that prices are too high and should come down. The truth is both could be right, and both could be wrong, depending on the price range, neighborhood, and other factors.

Selecting Correct Listing Agent Critical When Market Shifts

In a shifting market, two things sell homes. Marketing and Price. Sometimes a correctly priced home won’t sell or won’t sell for full value if it isn’t marketed well. However, history is littered with examples of overpriced merchandise that won’t sell no matter how well it’s marketed. Marketing and pricing go hand in hand.

Other factors influence showings, like pet smells, kitchen and bath updates, the general condition of the property, etc. It all comes down to price though. What you have in it doesn’t necessarily affect value. For instance, I was in GA at a real estate conference and they drove me by Evander Holyfield’s home. I think they said it was a $30 million home to build, and it was in an area of acreage and homes worth a few hundred thousand dollars. If Evander would have sold that home back then, there is no way he’d get $30 million, even though he may have had that much in it. Who would buy it?

While that’s an extreme example, the same principal holds true. Cost does not equal value. If you want to sell, we must determine what the market is willing to pay. It doesn’t matter how much you have in the home, how much you need to buy your next home, or how much you owe. It’s just worth what’s it worth at this point in time.

Some sellers decide to wait until it goes up in value. That’s fine if they realize it could go down in value too. And, while they’re waiting for their property to go up in value, the thing they were going to buy with their proceeds might go up in value too. What if it goes up faster than the home their waiting to sell? They lose money by waiting.

We’re not here to talk sellers into anything or convince people to sell. We do offer common sense solutions, and present ideas for them to keep in mind so they can make the best decision for their finances. Buying and selling can be emotional, so they tend to have knee-jerk reactions. Once buyers or sellers get an idea in their head, it’s hard to come off that. That’s where a seasoned professional with years of experience comes in.

It’s one thing to know the market, and it’s another to know how to deliver information to buyers and sellers in a format they can digest to make good decisions for their family. If you’re thinking of buying or selling, call Sande or Brett Ellis 239-489-4042 and we’ll help you with your questions, or go to www.SWFLhomevlaues.com to find out your home’s value for Free online.

Good luck and Happy Selling!

Ellis Team Weekend Open Houses

Open House Sunday 12-3 PM

7152 Reymoor Dr

We get this question a lot? Is it better to list SW Florida home in December or January? The perception is there are more buyers here in season, so why not wait until season when more buyers are here, and the home will be fresher to the market.

The advice we’re about to give might fly in the face of reason, however it is steeped in experience and logic. Yes, more visitors arrive in SW Florida in the seasonal months of January through April. If you look at the closed sales chart, you’ll notice we typically have far more closings in December than we do in January.

Many buyers wish to get their sale in by year end for tax and homestead purposes. It’s not uncommon for us to have a big sales month in December, probably for these reasons.

If we recognize that December can be a good month for sales, we must also recognize what happens each January and February. The listings shoot through the roof. January and February show the largest increase in listing inventory each year. It will happen again this upcoming season.

As a seller, if you’re contemplating selling in the next few months, you are absolutely better off listing now. Buyers are out there. Our team has been busy showing properties to multiple buyers, and we have several offers in the works.

We tell sellers there may not be as many showings in December, but they showings that do occur tend to be from serious home buyers. If the middle of November is any indication, showings this December might increase over previous years.

If sales activity is higher in December than January, and if there is far more listing competition in January, why would you wait to put your home on the market? Statistically you’re better off putting it on the market now.

The answer is, sellers believe the holidays are a bad time to sell a home. And the reality is, many agents believe it to, so they take the month of December off. When they take the month off, it further confirms to them that nobody buys in December because they had no sales.

The same can be said for agents who take the summers off. They believe there are no sales in the summer, and their belief becomes their reality. As you can tell from the chart, summertime closings are some of the best months each year. Why would you take those months off?

But then again, why would you hire a part-time Realtor? To me, a part-time Realtor isn’t just an agent who has a primary job somewhere else and works real estate on the side. A part-time Realtor can also be an agent that takes months off. When you do that, you basically shut your business down. It’s one thing to take a vacation. Everybody needs them. For heaven’s sake, if you’re going to take a vacation, get another agent to cover for you. How would you like to be a seller and find out your agent took the month off?

That’s why having a team makes a lot of sense. If any team member takes a vacation, the rest of the team picks up the slack. The Ellis Team works 365 days per year, and yet not every agent on the team has to. We want each of our team members to take some time off and come back refreshed. It’s all part of offering 1^st class service.

If you’re considering selling in the next 5 months, you should call Sande or Brett Ellis and discuss your options. We’re not saying putting your house on the market today is the best for everybody. We’re just saying be careful about listening to false assumptions. If you’d like to talk, we’re here to help. 239-489-4042 Ext 4. Or find out your home’s value online for free at www.SWFLhomevalues.com

Good luck and Happy Selling!

Ellis Team Weekend Open Houses

Open House Saturday 1-3 PM

13 High Point Cir N Unit 302, Naples FL 34103

Each year the Ellis Team studies a publication put out by the National Association of Realtors research department. This year we’re studying the 2018 National Profile of Home Buyer and Sellers. We do this for several reasons.

We’re able to gain insight on how best to serve the buyers we work with. We want to know what issues are most important to them, and what issues might be affecting them. When we identify and isolate these issues, often we can come up with solutions for them.

By understanding buyers needs better, this also helps us with sellers as what affects the buyer usually comes back around and affects the seller. Better understanding buyers helps our seller clients tremendously. The most educated and skilled agents tend to come up with the best solutions, and when this happens everybody wins.

Secondly, we want to understand home sellers better too. Sellers have needs that need to be addressed. We want to pay attention to changes. Even though our team has loads of experience, we can’t let that blind us to the possibility things are changing in real-time.

So, what did we learn this year? Gross household income increased to $91,600, up from $88,800 the previous year. The median age of a home buyer is now 46, up from 42 back in 2013 and 45 last year. 63% were married couples, 18% were single females, 9% single males, and 8% unmarried couples. Children in the home decreased to 34% and has been on a steady decline from 40% since 2013.

2018 National Profile of Home Buyer and Sellers

Drilling deeper into the reason buyers were rejected for a mortgage we found that 33% were rejected due to their debts being too high relative to their income. 27% had a credit score that prevented them from buying, while 14% had income that was difficult to verify.

Buyers of new homes had a median income of $111,770 while buyers of existing homes had a median income of $89,100. Did you know that 15% of buyers chose their neighborhood because of their pet? We can’t tell you how many buyers won’t buy a property due to neighborhood restrictions on pets. It’s often the first question we get regarding condo or HOA documents.

Student loan debt typically delayed a home purchase for 2 years, and the typical student loan debt was $28,000. 3% of buyers are active in the armed forces, while 18% of all buyers were veterans.

The Internet played a large role in the purchase of real estate. 83% frequently used the Internet to search, and 90% used an agent. 88% found the detailed property information useful while 90% found the photos useful.

Single females outpaced single males 2 to 1 in purchases. Convenience to friends and family was important to single females while convenience to job was important for single males.

54% of unmarried couples rented together before purchasing. First time home buyers expect to be in their 1^st home for 10 years. Repeat buyers expect to be in their next home 15 years.

The stats go on and on. We like to look at data to see if there are trends we need to pay attention to. For instance, we notice a rising age in the typical home buyer. Is this because younger people are delaying their first home purchase, or having trouble saving for the down payment or qualifying for the mortgage. Once we identify the issue, we may be able to identify a solution. We do have some down payment assistance programs available. It’s all about knowing where to look, if you ask the right questions.

Only 4% of buyers can purchase a home without help. The rest either need help getting a mortgage or have something to sell first. This is where a good Realtor comes in. We listen, we identify, and we help. Call us at 239-489-4042 and see how we can help you, or search the MLS for Free at www.LeeCountyOnline.com If you have questions about selling a home, ask for Brett or Sande Ellis Ext 4.

Find out what your Home is Worth for Free

Good luck and Happy Selling!

Ellis Team Featured Property of the Week

7152 Reymoor Dr

Agents around the office often ask us how the Ellis Team sells so much real estate each month. The answer is, it’s marketing. It’s not about the dollars you spend each month, although we do spend more on advertising than just about anybody out there. It’s about spending smart, understanding how and where to find your customers, and converting. The Ellis Team smashes industry standard online advertising conversion rates.

The industry standard for online display ads back in 2016 was .35%. Many say it’s below that now. The Ellis Team converts 26 times that rate with an average in October at 9.13%. Some of our ads convert at 20%. The industry standard for a search ad is 1.91%. Again, the Ellis Team smashes industry standard online advertising conversion rates in every category.

So how do we do this? We’re not going to divulge that but suffice it to say we know a thing or two about online advertising, and it works. In fact, the Ellis Team was the first team in the country to put the MLS on our website. That first year we sold over 100 homes, and Realtors everywhere wondered what was going on.

NAR (National Association of Realtors) called us to Chicago to talk about this. They said the info was in the MLS books and couldn’t be made public to everyone on our website. After meeting with the president of NAR and NAR general counsel, they realized what we were doing was legal and met the bylaws of NAR. And this is how VOW (Virtual Office Websites) was born. SW Florida, you received it first. It later transitioned to IDX (Internet Data Exchange) and now Realtors across the country, along with Realtor.com, Zillow, and others are displaying agent’s listing data. I was always against Realtors letting 3^rd party companies display our data. I felt it should be reserved for agents displaying each other’s data, but somebody up at NAR decided otherwise.

Since those early days, we’ve been perfecting the art of online registrations and conversions. First, you must give people what they want. Your website must be fast, easy to use, and provide the most accurate and up to date data out there. Our website is real-time, so it’s fast, has all the listings including sold data, and it’s easy to use. Consumers like that they can see a photo gallery of all pictures instead of clicking one by one.

Buyers and sellers like that they can get neighborhood data in real-time and emailed to them weekly or monthly. This informs them of new listings, pending sales, and closed sales in a community. This is helpful when you’re keeping an eye on one or more communities.

Secondly, it helps to target the correct people. This is where the magic happens. It does no good to target the universe, because the universe will not all buy property, and certainly not in SW Florida. We target people who have an interest in SW Florida, even if they live out of the country. We find them from anywhere, and everywhere.

In the last month, www.LeeCountyOnline.com received 291 users from overseas. Our agents are working with several of them, and some are in a nice price point. Let’s not forget that we received 4,240 users last month from inside the US. And of those users, 82.5% are new users, so we’re advertising to and attracting thousands of new users each month.

It’s no wonder why Ellis Team at Keller Williams Realty agents are so busy and selling so much. We know how to find the buyers, no matter where they are.

If you’re looking to buy, you should talk with our experienced agents. If you’re looking to sell, speak with Sande or Brett Ellis 239-489-4042 Ext 4. Brett and Sande handle the listings. We know how to get Top Dollar for our sellers. Let us sit down with you and show you how we market. Nobody else does what we do, and the results speak for themselves. Find out what your home is worth at www.SWFLhomevalues.com

Good luck and Happy Selling!

November SW Florida Real Estate Update

Ellis Team Weekend Open Houses

Open House Sunday 1-3 PM

12760 Seaside Key CT, North Fort Myers Moody River Estates

Weekend Garage Sale

Saturday 8 AM-1 PM

2153 Treehaven Cir North

In 2018 we’ve been on a recent record pace, eclipsing 2015 levels for homes sold in one year. We haven’t gone back and analyzed against all-time highs more than a decade ago. Since prices and home sales reset after the correction, we’re analyzing against recent records. We believe we’re behind 2005 sales numbers, but not by as much as you would think. SW Florida homes closed YTD slipped slightly in September.

We’ve been trending above 2015 numbers, so what changed? In September of this year we dipped below 2015 levels and that set us back. We only had 922 closed sales in September. Back in 2015 we had 1,078. I think we’ll be able to track where our market is headed by how well it holds up to 2015 levels.

This year we had 968 new pending sales. Back in 2015 we had 1,169. This could be an indicator that closed sales in October may fall below 2015 levels as well. The median price back then was $211,578 and we had 3.7 months supply of inventory. Contrast that with today our median price is $245,000 and a 4.9 month supply of inventory.

What’s different today is median home prices are 15.8% higher than they were 3 years ago, and interest rates were 3.978% and falling in 2015. Today rates are at 4.875% and rising. Rising rates have a way of spoiling home sales in that they rob buyers of purchasing power. At some point they rob sellers too because if the sellers raise prices and rising interest rates also put pressure on buyers, the whole train stops. You can’t have both for very long. When buyers are maxed out, they’re at their limit. With every rise in rates, it could be at the seller’s expense next.

The only thing that can offset this is rising wages. Wages do appear to be on the rise somewhat, but they lag rises in rates. This might explain why home prices haven’t risen since January of 2017. Sure, we’ve seen blips up and down, but statistically they haven’t moved.

How does this affect sellers trying to sell their home? First off, we’ve got a balanced market. Homes are moving if marketed and priced correctly. Perhaps now more than ever marketing becomes critical. Prices are stagnant, interest rates are rising, and inventory is building. Hiring a Realtor who markets is critical. We’re not talking about posting it on all the websites. That’s not marketing. Anybody and everybody can do that. If you’re not sure what we’re talking about, then definitely give us a call. When you sit down and see, it’s easy to understand why our results are different.

This is also the silly season for Realtors. Board dues are up end of the year. Realtors that haven’t marketed or seen results from their lead generation begin shopping around. As a last-ditch effort to save their career, they look to low cost brokerages to reduce fees. Ultimately this doesn’t bring them more buyers or sellers, so they eventually quit, but it does buy them a few more months in the business. Others look to hop on teams that provide leads. Some are so deep in debt even this won’t work because they waited too long. Or, they just don’t know how to close leads.

When selecting a Realtor, ask to see their marketing. Then call us. I bet you’ll see a difference. Ask them how many listings they successfully sold last year. Ask them how long they’ve been with their company. Do they jump around? Will they be at the same company in a month or two? Can you get out of your listing if they move? Ask all these questions before you sign up.

Your best bet is to just call the Ellis Team at Keller Williams Realty the first time. Sure, we help a lot of customers who are on their 2^nd or 3^rd Realtor. Wouldn’t it make sense to just use us first?

Call Sande or Brett Ellis 239-489-40402 Ext 4 or visit www.SWFLhomevalues.com Good luck and Happy Selling!

Fort Myers Real Estate and Homes For Sale

SW Florida Real Estate Market Updates & News

Monthly Archives: November 2018

Selecting Correct Listing Agent Critical When Market Shifts

Selecting Correct Listing Agent Critical When Market Shifts