Category Archives: Fort Myers

Fort Myers Florida news and information.

Grading Period Ends Friday!

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Grading Period Ends Friday! Do those words bring back memories from your childhood school days?  Were you one of those students that began searching for lost assignments the last week and began studying for that all important test so you could catch up and get that acceptable grade before your parents saw your report card?  Perhaps you were organized and on-time and the reminder from teachers didn’t faze you much.

Grading Period Ends Friday

As the parent of two students in the school system I get these notices emailed to me so we can remind our children.  It does bring back memories, although it seems my generation worried about grades and assignments just a little bit more than today’s kids seem to.  I don’t recall having assignments not turned in, but my kids do, and other parents I talk to say the same thing.

Real Estate Grading Period Ends Friday!

Did you know that there are report cards in real estate too?  One such grade you might want to pay attention to if you’re a seller is the Days on Market class.

SW Florida Real Estate Average Days on Market Chart

As you can see from the attached chart, the average days on market for a foreclosure (REO) is only 33 days.  This means they sell almost as fast as they come on the market.  Buyers know it’s best not wait too long to make an offer on these properties or they’ll be gone in a blink.

Traditional Sales

The good news is traditional sales are down to 40 days on average.  We have a shortage of homes on the market and a home that’s priced at the market will sell almost as fast as a foreclosure will.  Short sales take a little longer, 109 days, as some buyers can’t afford to wait and see if the bank will take their offer.  Some buyers need housing now and can’t wait for a yes/no/maybe answer for several months; all the while new listings hit the market and sell each week.

If you’re a seller and you see the average days on market is 40 days and your home has been on the market 200 days, it might be time to ask yourself some important questions.  Your sale is failing the test.  The market has not accepted what you’re doing.

Is it the Marketing?

It could be the marketing, the presentation, or the price.  Of course, all the marketing in the world won’t sell a home that’s dramatically over-priced.  Usually it is the price.  If you’re going to pass the test, it’s wise to study the market and evaluate where your property stands in the market, not in your eyes as the seller but in the market’s eyes.  It never mattered how smart I thought I was, what mattered was what the teacher thought.  And believe me, the teacher’s thoughts mattered to my parents.  There’s only so much fast talking you can do when the grades don’t come in.

You might ask yourself.  Who am I fast talking?  Am I selling myself on the value of my own home, or the buyer?  If you’re selling yourself, you’re essentially buying your own home back at an inflated price.  You wouldn’t do that if you were buying someone else’s home, so why do it to yourself?  If the buyer’s aren’t buying and your home has been on the market a long time, you probably know the answer.

All Real Estate is Local

In school grading there is a district wide average and then there is a class average, and in real estate there is a county or city wide average and a smaller neighborhood or type average.  This is important too.  Perhaps $1 Million + homes take longer to sell, which they do.  Golf course properties with high mandatory golf fees do as well.  If your maintenance fee is high, that can add time.  Be sure to compare the grades of like kind properties.  Although, if you live in a home or community that has an average of 1.5 years to sell, you might want to price your home so it is the Next to sell, not # 14 on the list.

We hope this helps explain the Days on Market class grading system.  If you have questions or considering selling your home, feel free to call us.  239-489-4042. We’ll be glad to help you get that perfect report card. You can search all the homes for sale at Ellis Team Website.

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New Tool Assists Realtors Value Property

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This past week I attended a training session at the Board of Realtors for a newly updated product used by the MLS called Realist.  While I’ve used the product in the past, I must say I was blown away by the new reports and functionality.  The usefulness to Realtors just multiplied exponentially. New Tool Assists Realtors Value Property!

There is a lot to the program and it will take agents some time to learn how to use it effectively, but it will be an investment well worth it.  I’ll attempt to show snippets of a few of the reports, but it won’t do it justice.

New Tool Assists Realtors Value Property
Map of Comparable Sales

Once Realtors get the hang of the program it will save time and produce some amazing research results.  The program not only identifies and provides a multitude of information about a subject property, it also helps identify comparable properties, market trends, and useful neighborhood information.  The trick to providing accurate valuations has been and always will be interpreting the data.

One of the things I was impressed with was the AVM (Automated Valuation Model).  The AVM identifies provides a range of value along with an estimated value.  It comes with a degree of confidence and a Standard deviation, the higher the confidence and the lower the deviation the greater its accuracy.  Let’s say it determines a property has a AVM value of $200,000 with a degree of confidence of 87% and a standard deviation of 8%.  What it’s really saying is they feel the property has a 87% chance of selling 8% +/- of $200,000.

The system does a nice job of identifying comparable properties through both MLS and tax data and mapping them as well as a grid format complete with details.  It makes it easy to select the best comparables.

Another feature I liked was the market conditions in the neighborhood, zip code, and the city.  It showed graphs of median list prices over time as well as median sale prices over time.  At a glance an agent and seller could see market trends which would be helpful in pricing a home.

Financial Health of Neighborhood Graph

There is even a distressed property section which shows foreclosure rates and identifies the percentages of homes in pre-foreclosure, sold at auction, and in REO (Real Estate Owned) status typically by the lender.

I ran a sample report on a property after studying the comparables and it generated a very nice and informative 25 page report.  I talked to some agents this week who didn’t go to the class.  They felt since they worked more with buyers than sellers it wouldn’t benefit them as much, but I would argue it would.

Buyers can benefit from these reports too.  There is a neat report that shows all the neighbors, how long they’ve owned, what they paid, and quite a lot of information on each house.  It provides this all in a map format along with a neighbor report.  What a great way to show stability, or find out who the neighbor is with the barking dog.  If you see they’ve lived there since 1988, chances are they might not be moving anytime soon.

The system provides walking and driving distances to schools, businesses, restaurants, etc.  It will even rate the schools with a 3rd party rating service.  The software incorporates census data too and combines all this in an easy to digest format.  I particularly like the section that shows MLS data and tax data and points out where they differ.  The system makes no attempt to explain which is correct.  It’s possible the owner added on to the house without a permit, or perhaps there is an error on the listing.  Either way you’re miles ahead of potential problems at a glance.

If you’re a Realtor in the Greater Fort Myers MLS, you’ve got to spend some time with this product.  If you’re a customer, you’ll be amazed at the results.  And the best part is, Realtors in the Florida Gulf Coast MLS have access to every county in Florida.

It’s so exciting to live in the age of useful technology.  One day soon we’ll wonder how we ever lived without programs like this.

Good luck, and Happy House Hunting!!!!

 

Realtors Using Video

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I recently read an article in Florida Realtor Magazine which is a trade magazine for Realtors that showed 14% of Realtors are using video.  The article focused on the fact that video is now the number one Internet activity even surpassing emailing.  They recommended using YouTube Analytics to verify the reach of the video audience. Realtors Using Video!

Because the Ellis Team has used video for awhile I decided to look at the analytics and see if the results the magazine touted matched what we were seeing.

Realtors Using Video
Ellis Team YouTube Channel Video Statistics

In the past 30 days our channel www.Youtube.com/brettellisfl has received 4,471 video views. 71 came from a Google search about SW Florida. 33.9% came from mobile apps which may explain why Facebook is concentrating so much on the mobile platform.

The YouTube search pulled in 691 video looks so one could argue YouTube is a bigger search engine than Google is, at least for video.

Video Statistics by Country for Ellis Team at RE/MAX Fort Myers
YouTube Analytics by Country for Ellis Team YouTube Channel

Recently we’ve sold homes to buyers from Germany, Canada, and Dubai, so I wanted to see if video is helping us reach those markets.  Sure enough, Germany and Canada scored very high at #2 and #3 right behind the United States.  United Arab Emirates came in at #15 with 23 video views.  The buyers said they were on our website and found us on the Internet, but I guess the next question should be where on the Internet?

Did these buyers find us on our MLS property search page www.AllswflRealestate.com or www.LeeCountyOnline.com ?  Did they find us on video first which led them to other areas on our site?  When a buyer says they found us on the Internet, maybe watching a video is the sum total of what they meant and they looked no further?

 

The International list goes on for pages so we just showed the top 25 this past month.  I’m amazed that there were 13 views from Turkey, 14 from Kuwait, and 95 from Saudi Arabia.  Could it be that we’ll sell a luxury home to a Prince from Saudi Arabia in the next month?

The answer is it’s possible.  Buyers from all over the world are finding Realtors through video.  These views we’ve provided don’t even count the virtual tours we use. Last month our virtual tour site link which can be found at www.Topagent.com received 4,125 views in addition to the YouTube video views.  Throw in our MLS property search sites, our Topagent.com site as a whole and views, our Blog and the numbers grow substantially.

The point is, only 14% of Realtors are using video now and more should be.  If Realtors knew the staggering number of people using video to find homes and research areas more would reach out and learn.  The trouble is video is hard to do on your own.  Sound quality is an issue and production costs are high.  With today’s modern technology those costs are coming down.

For instance, we produce our shows in-house and add our jingle and graphics.  While we have an advantage from doing TV shows and radio shows over the years, an agent without all this could hire a virtual assistant to create logos, music, and even edit videos.  An agent can even do voice overs if the initial sound quality isn’t good.

Doing video poorly isn’t good, but doing nothing can cost as well.  As you can see from the numbers, video is becoming one of the most important things.  Reaching the mobile buyer is critical.

More tablets and smart phones will be sold this year than PC’s.  More Internet traffic will occur over mobile than the office.  The sands are shifting, and Realtors have to be at the forefront.  The good news is, the real estate industry has always led, and will lead with video.

Good luck and Happy House Hunting!

Things Buyers Say

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We’ll attempt to answer a few questions we hear things buyers say:

Things Buyers Say

1. What did the seller pay for the home? What the sellers paid back in time really has no bearing on its value today. If a seller paid $300,000 5 years ago and it’s only worth $200,000 today you’re not going to offer $300,000 because that’s what the seller paid. Conversely if the seller paid $62,000 back in 1975 and it’s worth $300,000 today their not going to sell it for $90,000. Sellers should expect to sell at today’s current value and buyers should expect to pay that as well. What a seller paid or how much they owe has nothing to do with value.

2. If it’s meant to be it will happen- When a buyer says these words it’s typically out of fear of making a decision, so they sit back and let someone else make the decision for them. Let’s say more than one buyer is interested in a home. Buyer A doesn’t know what to counter offer in light of the news another buyer is interested, so they freeze. They essentially let another buyer make the decision for them. I’ve found in life that when you let others make decisions for you, you might not like the outcome. You are in control of your own destiny. If it’s a home that suits your needs and you really like it you have a chance to control your fate. Step up or you may be forced to offer on your 3rd or 4th best favorite. In this market there is limited inventory, so finding 4 homes you really like might be tough.

3. Is the Seller motivated?  If I am the listing agent I simply answer the buyer agent with yes, they are interested in selling or they wouldn’t have put it on the market. It’s in the buyers interest to find out what they can if a seller or seller’s agent will tell, but it’s not in the sellers best interest to do so. You can always ask the question, but don’t be offended if you don’t receive an answer. The buyer doesn’t get to know the seller’s private business just as the seller doesn’t need to know the buyer’s private business, other than if the buyer is qualified at the agreed upon price.

4. I heard you always offer 10% less on a home. We’ve had buyers say this is a rule where they came from. First off, there is no rule. Secondly, all real estate is local and certain areas may have customs, but I highly doubt asking 10% less in any market is a good idea unless sellers typically overprice homes in a certain area. Most homes in SW Florida sell for about 96-97% of asking price, so if you’re offering 10% less you’re probably losing out to other buyers who are more realistic. If a home is overpriced by 10% or more that’s another story, but those homes typically aren’t getting offers because they are so over-priced.

5. Will the seller do a lease-option? Most sellers wish to sell outright. Occasionally a seller wouldn’t mind leasing first, but they hate to lock in a price today at today’s prices in a rising market. Buyers typically have misconceptions about how the lender will finance the home at the end of the option. Rent money cannot be used for down payment money unless buyer pays over fair market rent as determined by the appraiser and then only that portion above fair market can be credited as down payment. Also, the buyer loses the option money if they don’t close for any reason. Many buyers ask this question because they don’t have good credit today and they may not have 1st month, last month’s rent and security deposit. Both buyer and seller should sit down with an agent and discuss their options first or a situation like this could turn out badly for both later.

Things Sellers Say

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The other day a seller was asking me the typical things I hear buyers and sellers say. That question sounds like good material for an article, so this week we’ll focus on the seller side. Things Sellers Say!

Things Sellers Say

  1. That house was a short sale– Sellers really don’t understand how other sales in area affect their value. A short sale is a compromise by the bank to allow a seller to sell their property at today’s current value. Banks aren’t in the business of taking a larger loss than they should, so the bank typically does its own evaluation to determine the seller has accepted a contract at or close to fair market value. If not, the bank typically counters what they’re willing to accept. Short sales became the new market. Some foreclosures sold too low, and some are in terrible condition. It’s important to compare condition to any sale, and a skilled Realtor or appraiser should take this into account.
  2. It’s only been on the market a week– We hear this when an offer comes in soon after it hits the market and it’s not quite full price. There’s an old saying that your first offer is usually the best offer. Believe me, this saying is not always true, but I could tell dozens of stories where a seller wish they had that first offer back months after its passing.
  3. We can always price it high and take less-Sellers think they’ll get more money by asking more, but this is rarely the case. In fact, they typically get less by overpricing it. The overpriced listing sits on the market and becomes stale. Buyers wonder why it’s been on the market so long and they become fearful. When they do eventually offer after several price reductions, they typically offer much less. It’s always best to price it at the market and hopefully attract one or more buyers. This way you avoid becoming stale and having that stigma that something is wrong with the home because nobody wants it.
  4. I don’t want a sign up because I don’t want my neighbors to know-Your neighbor is going to find out anyway. In fact, your neighbor might be glad to see you go and may know a friend who’s looking in the area. A sign call is always a good call because unlike an ad, a passing buyer knows exactly where it’s located and cared enough to call. The sign is an additional tool that sometimes pays dividends.
  5. We don’t need to sell– Very few people absolutely need to sell. Many make the choice to sell because a change better suits their needs. I think sellers say this to slow down the process. They are fearful and don’t want anyone taking advantage of them. They want to sell, but want some control over the process. Selling is a process no one party controls. It takes a buyer and seller, and the seller typically is not looking forward to that whole process. This is where a good Realtor can help alleviate that stress and counsel the seller. Sellers feel much better going forward once they understand the process and the true market value.
  6. If it’s meant to be it will happen– Actually buyers and sellers use this one a lot. To my way of thinking, this is a way of shielding the seller from the tough decisions, a defense mechanism so to speak. I’ve learned in life if you really want something you tend to get what you go for. If it’s to be it’s up to me. If you sit back and let someone else decide your fate, you might not like the outcome. It’s always best to look at all the facts and make a decision. This way you control your own destiny instead of relying on fate. This market is littered with people who put their head in the sand because they felt powerless.

It pays to sit down, look at all the facts, and weigh your options. Analysis paralysis isn’t good either, so after evaluation take action. If you need assistance weighing your options, we’re here to help. Always call the Ellis Team 239-489-4042

Inventory Leading the Market

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You can’t sell what you don’t have, and the SW Florida real estate market has much less inventory than it did a few years ago. We’ve been reporting for a few years how demand has outpaced supply and that is one reason why prices have gone up in the past few years. Keep in mind too that the year end numbers are an average of the year, so numbers at end of a year could be higher than the year’s average, which is especially true in a rising market.

Inventory Leading the Market SW Florida Real Estate Prices
Fort Myers Cape Coral Year End Prices

Inventory Leading the Market

Another phenomenon we predicted a few years ago was the “No-Man’s Land” market. We knew that one day we would exhaust much of the distressed inventory and traditional sales would once again have to fill the demand. Prices would have to rise, but they couldn’t rise enough to make certain sellers whole as so many are still underwater on their mortgages. They’re not in risk of default, but they’re riding out the market until prices rise enough to payoff the mortgage. Sellers would like to sell but don’t wish to harm their credit by doing a short sale, so they wait.

Prices are surely rising, but there is a limit. The economy isn’t good, so that caps the rise. Prices have to rise, but they can’t rise to 2005 levels because the job market and the economy won’t sustain those levels. We could argue that the 2005 economy couldn’t either and that’s why it collapsed.

The economy was running on borrowed money. Consumer spending was fueled by equity lines and other borrowed money. Everyone knew the clock would run out, and it did.

Southwest Florida Months Supply of Real Estate Inventory
Months Supply of Inventory

Going forward, most people view the market as a supply and demand market, and that theory works as long as economic conditions are the same or similar, but with a tremendous downturn in the economy, prices cannot rise quickly enough to make many sellers above water, so they will sit on sidelines unless something happens to their employment.

We see incremental listings hitting the market as prices rise. It probably won’t be enough to satisfy demand, so buyers should be prepared for multiple offer situations as soon as good properties enter the market.

As you can see we only have about 3.4 months supply of inventory on the market and current single family inventory is only about 3,730 heading into season. Interest rates are artificially low due to Fed policy of buying down interest rates trying to stimulate the economy.

Buyers who can purchase now will be crazy to wait as prices years from now should be higher, and borrowing costs will be higher when the Fed action is completed, but competition for homes is expected to be great this season.

If I were a buyer I would get on an email notification list from an agent that emails you the day new properties enter the market that match your criteria. The Ellis Team has such a system as do many agents. You’ve heard the saying, “The Early Bird Gets the Worm” and it’s true now and will be blatantly evident this season.

Hopefully after November we’ll have clarity as to which way the politicians are going which may give businesses clarity so they can begin hiring. Our nation has been in an economic freeze. Our local market is set to take off once the economy returns, and that will sure be a welcome sign so we can escape the No Man’s Land.

If you’re a buyer and need help, feel free to call us at 239-489-4042 or visit our website www.Topagent.com If you’re a seller, we can guide you through the selling maze whether you’re a traditional seller or a short sale.

Good luck and Happy House Hunting!

Does ObamaCare Raise Taxes on Real Estate?

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We hear a lot of talk and rumors about ObamaCare and what its effects will really be on business and real estate.  Perhaps it’s a mystery because the new tax in the legislation was never introduced, debated, or reviewed until just hours before its passage.  Remember when Nancy Pelosi said “We must pass this legislation to find out what’s in it”?  She wasn’t kidding.  Nowhere was a new tax on real estate or capital gains talked about before its passage, so of course people are asking questions now that the new tax is set to take effect after the election. Does ObamaCare Raise Taxes on Real Estate?

ObamaCare and Taxes

With that said, it’s a new tax that isn’t going to affect everyone, so that’s the only silver lining.  They needed this revenue because Medicare is set to run dry in a few years, so this new tax will supply $210 Billion over 10 years and will help to extend the life of Medicare a few years.

Here is the breakdown as we understand it.  There are 2 new taxes.  One is a 3.8% tax on unearned income like interest, dividend, rents, capital gains and the second tax is a .9% tax on income such as salary, wages, commissions, etc.

The 3.8% tax will apply to individuals with an adjusted gross income above $200,000 and couples filing a joint return with more than $250,000 adjusted gross income. Once you meet those criteria, there are complicated formulas we won’t go into here.  It’s probably best to consult with your accountant on that.

Will the Fed’s New Stimulus Help Housing? The Fed has promised to pump money into mortgage backed securities as a way to buy down interest rates, also knows as the QE3 Stimulus.  Nobody knows what effect it will have on real estate.  All we can say is it couldn’t hurt.  However, rates have been low and the market is still relying on the overall economy to improve.  This action by the Fed will reduce borrowing costs, but it will also reduce rates paid to savers like senior citizens.  Seniors today cannot be happy.  We may see real inflation creep up and rates stay low, so seniors will actually lose money on the deal.

Real estate accounts for about 32% of GDP, so anything that gets real estate going may help the economy.  We believe that real estate and the economy need each other.  Having a balanced budget, lower taxes, and leadership in Washington where business could plan would best stimulate the economy and help real estate.  A rising tide lifts all boats, and we think real estate would take off if Washington tried this approach.

It’s a rather simple equation and yet our government is so divided we’re not sure that will get done.  So for now all we can do is report the effect the ObamaCare taxes will have on real estate transactions.  Last time I checked we had about a 4 Year + supply of $1 million homes on the market.  Taxing those transactions further won’t do anything to help housing.  I’d really like to know whose bright idea this was to sneak this tax in at midnight.  What happened to Obama’s promise of transparency and all bills would be viewable to the public for 3 days before a vote?  Was that just an empty campaign promise?

4 years later these things matter.  Taxes are set to rise in 2013; some from ObamaCare and some from Congress’ inability to pass a budget.  Did you know the Senate hasn’t passed a budget in 3 ½ years?  They just keep passing continuing resolutions and raising the debt ceiling.

Keep your eyes open.  If we find any other new taxes they try to sneak in on us we’ll be sure to point them out.

 

Property Insurance Discounts?

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Are you one of thousands of homeowners wondering what happened to your property insurance discount in Florida?  Perhaps you paid money for an expensive inspection that entitled you to discounts on your homeowners insurance for things like wind protection. Florida law requires insurance companies to offer homeowners discounts or credits for existing building features or home improvements that reduce damage and loss from hurricanes. Florida insurance companies are required to file these discounts with the Office of Insurance Regulation.

Property Insurance Discounts
Has Your Insurance Company Raised Your Rates?

The discounts apply to your wind portion which accounts for 15 to 70% of your total premium, depending on where you live in Florida. We’d encourage you to check out MySafeFloridaHome.com/insurance.asp for more information.

Having moved here from State Farm Country in Central Illinois in the ‘80’s I was a loyal State Farm customer for all those years until last year.  I started receiving letters stating that State Farm wanted to re-inspect my home, ignoring the reports I had presented years prior that entitled me to wind protections discounts.

Low and behold an inspector came out, looked around, and left.  He didn’t ask me to show him anything.  Next thing I know I received a letter denying my discounts.  I asked for a re-inspection.  That was denied.  I asked them to look at my reports.  They did and said it didn’t qualify.  I provided copies of the permit and State Farm said the wind resistance tests weren’t with the documentation.  Keep in mind the inspector looked into none of this.  This was a failed test designed from the get go.

I provided the engineering and testing reports provided by the manufacturer.  These products were tested and accepted by the state, but not State Farm.  A loyal customer of State Farm for over 30 years was forced to switch.  I’m sure State Farm isn’t the only company stingy with the discounts.

Citizens has made news the past few months after employing the same tactics. Citizens has received complaints stemming from their reinspection program that has resulted in 3 out of 4 property owners receiving rate hikes due to the new inspection.  So far Citizens has inspected 257,000 properties, so that’s about 192,750 affected customers.

Due to the complaints, Citizens board of directors has decided to reform its reinspection program, hire an auditor, and improve its customer relations department.  I’m still waiting on State Farm to do the same.

Property owners will now have a year to dispute the rate hikes.  Owners can request another inspection free of charge.  If an inspector previously could not enter an attic a home was denied automatically, but that’s not the case on the reinspection program.

I saw another report this past week that said the state has built up a $6.2 Billion dollar fund due to lack of hurricanes.  I realize one big hurricane in a metropolitan area can change all that, but it would seem to me these insurance companies could pass along the savings for homeowners who have complied and strengthened their homes.  Don’t set guidelines, ask people to spend money and follow them, then jerk the discounts away.  These people have spent good money to protect their property which in turn should lower insurance costs.  It seems the people are keeping their end of the bargain. And now it’s time insurance companies keep theirs.

We suspect this has happened to many here in SW Florida. If it has, call your insurance company.  Let your elected representatives know.  If it’s important to you, it will become important to them.  Together we all pay, and together our thousands of voices will be heard, and hopefully together we’ll all save.

Feel free to share your insurance stories here.

 

Hurricane Tips for SW Florida

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Well, it’s that time of year again and the tropical season is heating up.  Because we have an impending storm approaching we decided to do a video on Hurricane tips for agents and the public alike.  We hope these tips will help you prepare for this storm or any others that may come our way.

Hurricane Tips for SW Florida

 

If you’d like market information on SW Florida including the Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs real estate market and how it stacks up against the national real estate market be sure to  watch our National Housing Report

Housing Numbers Becoming More Reliable

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Last week the News Press ran a story about the rebounding housing market and they used inventory stats that said the single family inventory is down to 13,897 in Lee County, down from 14,113 the month prior. The only problem is, they were looking at the chart wrong as those were cumulative inventory numbers, not current.

Housing Numbers Becoming More Reliable
SW Florida Housing Inventory

It was an easy enough mistake if you don’t study those numbers on a regular basis. The chart should have quoted 3,579 single family homes on the market, but even that number isn’t the best number, and we’ll explain why.

I sit on the MLS stats committee and for the last year or so we’ve been working hard on cleaning up the data and defining how listings should be classified to best reflect what’s actually happening in the market. Look for inventory levels to increase because of this change.

In the past inventory numbers only reflected Active listings that were not Active Contingent Short Sale. In other words, agents were still taking offers to present to the bank or as backups until the banks accepted a short sale offer but it wasn’t being counted. At the point a bank accepts a short sale offer the property was to be placed pending, like a normal sale would be.

A high degree of pending sales actually close, but the same cannot always be said for Active Contingent sales, especially short sales. Another reasons aside from being a short sale a property could be listed as Active Contingent would be if something else has to happen first, like a buyer selling another property before they can close.

In this case a listing agent may mark the property Active Contingent and insert a Right of First Refusal clause and continue to market the property. To me, this property is still an active listing and should be counted in inventory. From now on it will.

It’s easy to count and search for sold properties in MLS, but it’s much harder to go back and search for active listings from the past on a certain date unless you have frozen copies of the database. Because of this, the Board of Realtors cannot post what the active listings would have been under the new guidelines since they weren’t searched that way at the time.

Some on the committee pondered whether it would be easier to just keep the status quo since we didn’t have that data. Most of us preferred to rectify and make the most accurate possible, even if it meant postponing the revisions to past inventory levels until we have a new baseline to present. Everyone on the committee concurred once the tough decision was made to make it right, even if it would cause some heartache and confusion for a few months.

Personally I’d rather take the tough steps now to get the most accurate statistics to agents and the general public, and the committee and the Board agreed.

Housing Numbers Becoming More Reliable

I feel much more confident going forward with the data that will be provided. All the definitions will be posted and any agent should be able to duplicate the data, something that wasn’t possible in the past. This will provide for full transparency and credible data, and should eliminate various sources from having differing standards and definitions.

While mistakes in the newspaper or anywhere else will always be possible, hopefully we’ve made some changes that will eliminate systemic errors. We still have the issue of various boards reporting separate data which can cause duplication in areas served by two nearby MLS’s, we can account for this within a consistent statistical deviation.

It really depends on whether the press is quoting one board or multiple boards as the source for their data, as some listing may appear in one board and not the other, and some appear in both.

I feel very confident in the new definitions presented by the Florida Gulf Coast MLS which will begin to take affect soon. In the meantime, we’ll continue to report the stats and inform you where we believe the numbers will change. Inventory numbers are low but will increase under the new guidelines.

We’ll talk about some of the new formulas in future articles that better reflect the SW Florida real estate market.

Good luck and Happy House Hunting!