Tag Archives: Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group

Ellis Team Accepting New Listings

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The Ellis Team at RE/MAX is accepting new listings. We’ve sold practically everything and we’re ready to help more people. If you haven’t heard this before, you probably will in the future. It should be a common theme.

Prices have been rising, that’s well documented. Let’s illustrate why. We’ve created a few graphs that show official inventory levels and added a month’s supply of inventory graph.

Months Supply of Inventory in SW Florida
SW Florida Listing Inventory and Months Supply

Last month only 868 new single family listings came to the market compared to 1,413 at this time last year. Fewer listings coming to the market shows why we have fewer listings on the market today than in months past. Officially we’re down to 4,169 single family homes which includes villas and duplexes. It also includes Charlotte, Hendry, Collier, and Glades county properties listed in our MLS. In the coming months those other counties will be dropping out of the official numbers, so look for Lee County numbers to fall even further.

Combining a trend of less properties coming to the market each month is the market’s ability to absorb everything the supply side throws at it. Let’s just say the demand side’s appetite is larger than the supply side’s ability to deliver.

If you’ve ever hear the phrase “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach,” you know the concept. Well, in this case, the eyes aren’t bigger. The stomach is easily devouring everything it sees. Buyers in many cases are in bidding wars. That’s not to say transactions are easy. In fact, perhaps they’re more difficult than ever to close.

This market has a large appetite, but it needs teeth to chew on it and fully digest what it’s about to consume. Some properties have title issues. For instance, we’ve been working to close a file that had an open pool permit from years ago. Another had old code violations that must be cleared up including hearings with the city or county. All these take time, and some buyers aren’t willing to wait.

We’ve seen buyers walk believing they can just go find another great deal. That’s until the realization sinks in that they might want to hang in there on their current deal because the alternatives may not be as nice, and may cost a lot more. And who’s to say the slim pickings left on the market don’t also have unknown issues that need to be worked on. Though frustrating it may be worth it to hang in there.

Professional agents are the teeth that get in there and chew on the issues and get them worked out. In the end, everyone is happy, but it can be frustrating when you’re scheduled to close only to find out a week before closing there are issues that will take some time. We tell our buyers not to get too attached to the closing date on the contract, because issues have been creeping up that must be dealt with.

When you look at the month’s supply of inventory standing at 3.5 months, you quickly realize buyers are not in the driver’s seat right now. Choices are slim, prices are rising, and time is ticking. Buyers want to capitalize on this buying opportunity with lower prices, low rates, etc.

Buyers should realize the seller or the title company isn’t the enemy. The competitor is other buyers. If a buyer opens up that contract even for a second, it gives another buyer the chance to swoop in and take it.

When you find a property you like, ask yourself how much more will this property cost me down the road if I wait? Ask yourself, what if I don’t find something I like as much? Back in 2009 properties were entering the market fast and furious. Times have changed, and the selection just isn’t there.

Don’t be discouraged. There are great properties out there, and more coming. You just have to be educated ahead of time so when that great deal comes, you’re ready to pounce. The time to learn the market isn’t when the property hits the market, it’s before. If you wait to learn, you’ll have your lunch handed to you by another buyer who took the time to seek advice before their desired home hit the market.

And if you encounter a few hiccups, work with an agent who’s used to digging in and getting problems solved. As the market continues to rise in value, you’ll be glad you did.

Good luck and happy house hunting. Call the Ellis Team at 239-489-4042 if you need the assistance of a professional.

Listing Inventory Vs Pending Sales Snapshot

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When you see changes in the marketplace sometimes it’s helpful to put the data into historical perspective to see what trends may be developing if any, and what it all means.  In order to do this, you must first have data from the past.  Fortunately, we track all this data monthly and have for years, so it’s easier to go back and evaluate and identify trends.

 

Fort Myers & Cape Coral Listing Inventory
Fort Myers - Cape Coral Single Family Home Inventory

 

Listing inventory in just Fort Myers and Cape Coral is about the same as it was on January 2006 when it was headed up.  Back then pending sales were trending lower and listing inventory was just about to explode as the height of the market was really about 3rd quarter of 2005.  We still had some residual closings that took place up until December 2005 and into January 2006, but market activity really started dropping off in 2005.  Very few people realized it at the time as many were still busy and not watching the numbers.

 

Pending sales are actually higher right now then they were back then, although they’ve been trending down just a bit as inventory has fallen off.  Increasingly buyers are having a more difficult time scooping up the best buys because inventory has been falling and prices have been rising.

 

We’ve seen an influx of buyers wanting to get in on the bottom of the market, and many are coming to the sad conclusion that they missed the bottom.  Many experts have been educating buyers that they will always miss the bottom because you won’t really know it’s the bottom until you see it in the rear view mirror.  Only then do buyers believe it.  At the actual bottom buyers are greedy and either hope or expect the market will go lower, so they resist buying out of fear.  When they realize they’ve missed the bottom, the react out of fear of missing out on a rising market.  It’s a simple yet basic human emotion called greed, and greed shouldn’t be considered a bad thing unless it dampens your ability to evaluate what reality is.

 

Sellers tend to read headlines that prices are on the upswing and they also get greedy hoping for prices back in the heyday.  We’re not going back to heyday prices, nor should we. Prices were artificially too high back then, just as they’re artificially too low right now.  A market could not sustain those prices back in 2005 because incomes were not in line with the cost of ownership.  Today prices are too low because sale prices are so far below the cost of construction.  This is why we see very few building permits being pulled.  These low prices cannot last forever and will rise in time.  The question is how fast, and how high can they go.

 

We’ve already seen the beginning as median prices have risen over 35% since January in Lee County.  Nobody knows from here on out how much higher they’ll go or how fast as it really depends on future bank owned inventory entering the market, jobs, interest rates, and the overall economy.  All these factors influence the economy and the housing market.  What we can do is continue to provide graphs and show you what is happening in real time.  Armed with this information, and adding it to what you already know about the wildcards influencing our economy, you can pretty much draw your own conclusions and you might be about as right as the so-called experts.  It all begins with accurate information, and from there the analysis is fun.

 

Too often salespeople have an agenda, as in they’d like you to buy something or do something, so they report a distorted view, or at least a view of what they think is going on without real facts to back up their theory.  It’s been a tough 5 years for anyone in  the real estate industry including agents, brokers, mortgage brokers, title companies, attorneys, surveyors, builders, appraisers, etc. I’ve found that even in an up, down, or sideways market there is always a need for quality people in any profession, so you might as well present the facts and let the market decide on the pace and trajectory.  The market wins out every time and we all have to play within the confines of the market.  When anyone thinks they’re bigger than or an exception to the market, the market has a way of explaining things.  Buyers, sellers, agents, banks, etc. have all learned this lesson, so let’s not let history repeat itself, and when it does hopefully it will repeat on someone else.  We’ll keep providing the data we’re looking at, and good luck accomplishing your goals in this market.

 

Stop-Go-Yield!

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Last week we reported that distressed sales accounted for 63.27% of all single family home sales in August, and that a big shake-up was about to ensue as banks declared they were halting foreclosure sales at auction until they had time to investigate whether they’ve followed proper procedures.

Since that time Three major lenders (J.P. Morgan Chase, Allied Financial Inc. (GMAC,) have all stated they were halting foreclosures, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Last week there were in fact several foreclosure sales to the astonishment of the banks who have instructed their local counsel to halt proceedings of final judgments until they study each case.

SW Florida Real Estate Foreclosure Market
Stop- Go- Caution

We at the Ellis Team handle foreclosure sales for one of the large banks and FNMA. FNMA says they have not been affected because they didn’t employ the robo signers the big banks did. The large bank we work with gave us orders on 10 new properties in the past 2 weeks, and we had a closing this past week.

To date title companies are still issuing policies and the banks are still closing sales, although we’ve heard reports of some cancelled sales by agents. Banks may be halting summary judgments, but in many cases they are moving forward with new foreclosures to get the process started, but holding off on the final judgment or auction sale until they know they are on solid legal ground with their paperwork. This is not necessarily stopping them from disposing and selling properties they previously foreclosed on.

So one has to wonder if the bank’s announcement was all a farce for publicity. The answer is probably not. These banks are large and decisions take awhile to matriculate down to all the branches. The implications are huge though.

What’s at stake is the bank’s legal authority to foreclose. Typically the bank makes a loan then services the loan after they sell the loan to an investor, often times as a group package in what is called a security. These loans are typically bundled together with many loans, and many investors may join together and invest in the security package. Other times an investor will buy individual packages of loans.

Because these original loans get bought and sold, there must be a paper trail as to who actually owns the security, and the right to foreclose against the borrower. Defense attorneys have long asked for the lender to produce the note, often called “Produce the note defense.”

Usually the lawyers would sign affidavits that they, or the bank does indeed have the note, and the judge would accept that. The reality is, the note and other paperwork may be missing and perhaps never found. Because of all this, some judges may no longer accept those affidavits, and many of these sales may be in question.
Some speculate this could happen in as many as 30-40% of the cases out there, and the answer is nobody really knows, not even the banks or attorneys right now. This is why banks and states have opened investigations. If this is wide-spread, it could have deep financial implications to the banks and investors, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see damage suits against the banks by those foreclosed upon where the paperwork was insufficient.

This very well could stall the process and tie up the courts for awhile, which could affect the real estate market. It would make sense for the banks to emphasize short-sales now that foreclosures could be delayed, but the banks don’t always make sense.

Inventory could dry up, and transaction volume could decline. Some speculate prices would be driven up fast and furious, but we’re not so sure. We’ve had high sales because prices have been at bargain prices. Unemployment is high, and the economy is hurting. Will prices rise just because supply goes down? In a balanced economy, we’d say yes. In this economy, we may just be prolonging the foreclosures further out and delaying our recovery. We hope this situation gets resolved quickly as nothing good results from a foreclosure moratorium. In the end, the property will still be foreclosed or sold, so no sense delaying it and letting neighborhoods decay and the market falter. Let’s hope this gets fixed and we all get back to business soon.

Watch SW Florida Real Estate Update-Foreclosures-October 2010 on video

SW Florida Real Estate Market Sets Another Record in April 2009

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Home sales in the SW Florida real estate market set an all-time record in April 2009 with 1,468 single family home sales, eclipsing the mark set in March of 1,464.  Sales are literally off the charts as affordability is in the market.  In fact, median home sale prices in the Fort Myers Cape Coral area fell by 3.39% last month down to $85,500, down from $88,500 in March.  For a comparison of monthly home sales in SW Florida from 2005-2009 see the latest Fort Myers Cape Coral home sales chart.

Median prices in SW Florida are down 57% from last year, down from $200,300 to $85,500  Median single family home sale prices have fallen every month this year except for February when they went up 2.74%  See our SW Florida Real Estate Month Over Month Prices chart.  To illustrate just where median home sales prices are today Vs. where they have been every year since 2005, visit our SW Florida Real Estate Sale Prices 2005-2009 chart.

Condo sales in the Fort Myers and Cape Coral area were up 7% over last year, and probably would have been much higher if FNMA hadn’t changed financing rules making it increasingly difficult to finance most condominium associations throughout SW Florida.  It used to be we worried about whether or not the buyer was qualified for a mortgage, and this past year we learned it was much more difficult to get a condo association approved than it is to get the buyer approved.  Banks have over-reacted and will cause further problems in the condo market going forward, which may actually increase delinquencies as existing owners will not be able to refinance or sell to anyone other than a cash buyer. 

Condo median prices in Cape Coral and Fort Myers fell 33% from $195,500 last year to $131,800 this year.

Statewide single family home sales were up 18% and median home sale prices were down 31%, and condo sales were up 21% and median condo prices were down 40%.  As you can see, Fort Myers and Cape Coral are leading the state, as our home sales are up 81% over last year compared to the statewide average of 18%.  SW Florida condo median prices were down 33% compared to the state average of 40%

The Fort Myers News Press interviewed Brett Ellis of the Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group in Fort Myers about Lee County’s all-time sales record.

Ellis Team to Appear on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams Regarding Fort Myers Housing Affordability

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Ellis Team to Appear on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams Regarding Fort Myers Housing Affordability

Ellis Team to Appear on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams Regarding Fort Myers Housing Affordability

Brett Ellis of The Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group will appear this week on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.  The focus will be on buyer affordability in the Fort Myers and Cape Coral housing market, and how buyers have begun purchasing in 2008 as affordability has come back to the market.  Home sales in July were up 80% over last year, and up 32% in August over last year.

This should be a positive story about the SW Florida real estate market.  The show will air Wednesday October 8, 2008 at 6:30 PM ET

To search for your home, click here to search the entire MLS.

Edit-Since this story ran Fort Myers has emerged from the foreclosure crisis and rebounded completely.  The Today Show did a story during the 2008 presidential election.

Since this story ran the Ellis Team moved to Keller Williams Realty from RE/MAX Realty Group. We explain why in the link.  Not only has the SW Florida real estate market rebounded, so have sales at the Ellis Team.  Keller Williams was built for teams and we have been able to attract top talent by offering ore opportunity to our team members.

Reflection Lakes Open House Tour

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On Saturday July 15, 2006 the Ellis Team at RE/MAX Realty Group hosted a Reflection Lakes open house tour with a limousine.  The challenge in Reflection Lakes is that it is a gated community in SW Florida, and open house signs are not allowed.  Directional signs are not allowed either, and Realtor’s and owners are not allowed to post phone numbers to call at the gates call box for customers wanting to get into Reflection Lakes to see the open house.  Even if customers could getinto the gates, they wander aimlessly around the subdivision wondering where the open house actually is.

Ellis Team RE/MAX Realty Group Office located near Reflection Lakes

To combat this, The Ellis Team came up with a pro-active marketing idea.  Our office at RE/MAX is located just outside of Reflection Lakes at 7910 Summerlin Lakes Dr.  We thought we could hire a limo company to transport customers in and out of the gates and directly to the homes on open house tour.  Customers could enjoy something fun and different, and wouldn’t have to worry about directions, or getting through the various gates.  We would have cookies and treats at the office where customers would meet to view the homes.

To promote the event, we first turned to our radio show.  The Ellis Team hosts a weekly real estate radio show on WINK AM 1240 Saturday’s at 11:00 AM. The Reflection Lakes Open House Tour would be Saturday from 1-4 pm.  We introduced the event in each the beginning and at the end of the show.  Listeners could even call our office for directions.  We also advertised all week on WINK Radio announcing the event.  Lastly, we devoted a large section of our weekly Saturday color newspaper ad to the event.

The event was a success.  We had 5 happy families tour Reflection Lakes without hassle.  They very much enjoyed the treats and limo ride as they toured in style.  They also got to see four unique and diverse properties in Reflection Lakes.  Prices ranged from $350,000 Reflection Lakes Villa Home to $760,000.  Two had lake views and two had preserve/ Lakes Park views. The customers seemed sincerely interested, and one has even put their property on the market with The Ellis Team in hopes of selling it and buying one of the open house properties. Reflection Lakes Two Story Home on Lake

We couldn’t be more pleased as to how it turned out.  And the homeowner’s association has to be happy as well, because there were no open house signs, no directional signs, no messages at the gate for customers, and nothing to enforce.  It gets quite tiring for Board members to police owners and agents hosting open houses.  Board members spend countless hours removing signs, sending notices to offending owners, dealing with owners and agents seeking to pick-up their illegal signs, and hearing complaints from residents about the offenses.  For once a Realtor complied with all the regulations and hosted an open house tour with a touch of class.

Reflection Lakes Tennis Courts

Most of all, it was fun, effective, and we look forward to doing it again soon.  If you live in Reflection Lakes and are considering selling, call the Ellis Team today to get your home listed and on the next tour.  239-489-4042  SW Florida real estate is selling.  It takes proper pricing and aggressive real estate marketing.  The Ellis Team can assist with both.

In addition to showing the homes in Reflection Lakes, we also showed the community tennis courts, community pool, and the community clubhouse.Reflection Lakes Community Clubhouse

Stoneybrook at Gateway

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Stoneybrook at Gateway has notified The Ellis Team it is offering discounts to our customers as part of their closeout.  Lennar Homes is building out Stoneybrook, located 3 miles East of I-75.  Please call the Ellis Team for latest details, or tell them you’re an Ellis Team Client if you stop out on your own.  You never pay more using a Top Agent, and we can tell you about incentives the public may not hear about.