Tag Archives: Find out what your home is worth online

Your 2019 New Year Resolution to Sell Your Home

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Did you know that January 1st is the biggest expired listing day of the year?  It is, and this year we had 246 residential listings expire on January 1 in Lee County.  If you made your 2019 New Year Resolution to sell your home, we’ve got some tips for you to make that happen.

Your 2019 New Year Resolution to Sell Your Home January Expired Listings

Listings fail to sell for two primary reasons.  They are priced incorrectly, or they aren’t marketed correctly.  Sometimes it’s both, but it’s definitely one of those.  These are both easy fixes, if you’re serious about selling.

The seller sets the price, and the market determines the value.  If your price is over the market, the market will tell you.  You may not like the market, it just is what it is.  The good news is, if you don’t like the market, it may be a buying opportunity on the back-end.  Most sellers sell one home and purchase another.  If you wait to sell your home until the market goes up, chances are the next home you are buying goes up too.  Add in rising rates, and waiting could cost you much more than trying to hit a certain number.

We all want as much money as possible out of our home.  You might need a certain amount to make the move.  The market never cares what a seller needs, it only cares about today’s value.  And it could go up or down from today.

Enough on price.  Let’s focus on marketing.  One reason sellers don’t want to reduce their price is because they think it might be the marketing.  Why reduce price when it could just be a matter of reaching the right people?

To get Top Dollar you must reach the right people, at the right time.  Putting a home online and in all the big listing websites won’t do it.  This assumes your buyer is searching on one of those sites and can find your home in the clutter of all the other homes listed online.  It becomes a rush to the best price per square foot.  We know your home is worth more because it has a better location, better kitchen, a pool, and several other things some of the other homes don’t have.  Of course, your home will have a higher dollar per square foot than those homes.  And it should!

Listing your homes on these websites is the Lowest form of marketing there is.  Any agent can do that, and that may be all they do.  What if you could stick ads onto web pages that match exactly what a buyer is interested in?  You can’t, but we can.

Find Out What Your Home is Worth Online for Free

If you have a waterfront home, we have the ability to advertise to waterfront buyers.  The same with golf course properties.  Whatever your home has, we have the ability to market straight to buyers with those kinds of interests.  This is in addition to the print marketing and all the other marketing the Ellis Team does.  You see, it really does make a difference who you list your home with.  All Realtors are not the same!

Therefore, we say either of these two reasons are an easy fix.  We’ll help you determine if your price is correct.  The Ellis Team will show you how we reach buyers specifically for your home.  Yes, we still do signs and newspaper ads, and that too might sell your home.  But that’s not all we do, and there is a difference.  Our marketing really works, and nobody else does everything we do.  We’re sure of that.

If you’ve made your 2019 New Year Resolution to sell your Home, you should call the Ellis Team at Keller Williams Realty.  We make your 2019 resolutions to sell your home come true.  Let’s make 2019 your year.

Check out www.SWFLhomevalues.com if you’d like to get an idea online for free of what your home is worth, or call Sande or Brett Ellis 239-489-4042 Ext 4 to get your home sold fast!

 

Thinking of Selling Your SW Florida Home?

Southwest Florida Listing Inventory Rises in October

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Southwest Florida listing inventory rises in October to 5,157 units, up from 4,829 in September.  That is a 6.79% rise in just one month.  We went back to last year and noticed listing inventory rose 6.09% those same months, so inventory is rising a bit faster this year.

Home inventory was up 16.64% this past September over 2015 and in October it’s up 17.42%.  We’ve been mentioning all year 2016 has been a leveling off and balancing market, so rising inventory isn’t surprising.  In fact, it was predicted.

November statistics won’t come out until next week.  We’ve been studying preliminary numbers and from what we can tell, median and average sales price are going to be fairly even.  Perhaps a small gain on median price and small loss on average price.  However, we can only track Lee County numbers submitted to our MLS.

If our numbers are correct we may see an uptick in number of closed sales in November.  Also frustrating is the fact that they go back and adjust last year’s numbers, so that can influence predictions as well.

Southwest Florida Listing Inventory Rises

Southwest Florida Listing Inventory Rises

We searched active homes on market on December 13th and we found 5,104.  If we add back in the pending and contingent listings we have 5,955. We’ll be watching the official November stats when they are released next week.  As you can tell from the chart, the trendline is up slightly.

Some people believe we’ll see more homes hit the market as interest rates rise.  Others believe we may see less as sellers may decide to stay in their low-cost mortgage.  I can tell you one thing.  If you currently own and your home no longer works for you, the time to list is now.

We need to get your home sold and you into your new home before rates rise again.  They’ve already risen about .75%.  This will cost you more to finance the same amount, so waiting will cost you tens of thousands over the life of your new loan.

Did you know you can search the entire MLS from our website?   It has all the homes, and it’s updated every 5 minutes, so you’ll be the first to know about new homes as they enter the market or change their price.  You can even save your search, and have multiple saved searches in case you’re looking at different options.  We even have a free tool to find out what your home is worth online.

The Ellis Team is also busy meeting with potential sellers.  We counsel sellers on how to get top dollar for their home and how their home should be positioned and marketed in the marketplace.  Sellers are finding out there is a difference and listing with the wrong Realtor can cost them thousands.

Don’t list with a Realtor that doesn’t bring you top dollar.  You might ask, what’s our secret for getting top dollar?  We’d love to show you.  It’s not by accident, it’s by design.

Let us sit down with you and show you how our 30+ years in the market combined with today’s latest technology and aggressive marketing is making a difference for our sellers.  If you think hiring a professional is expensive, wait until you hire an amateur.

Our team is growing.  We have thousands of buyers in our database looking to purchase.  If you’re an agent looking to grow your business, give us a call.  If you’re a potential seller looking to sell before rates go up, give us a call too.  Put our experience and wisdom to work for you.

We’ve been through changing markets before.  Rising rates change the game and knowing how to help buyers and sellers can be the difference to keeping your deals together and saving everybody money.  You can call us at 239-489-4042.  If you’re considering selling, ask for Sande or Brett Ellis.

Good luck and Happy House Hunting!

Southwest Florida Real Estate Market Update December 2016

May 2015 SW Florida Market Real Estate Update

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Official numbers for April were just released and median sales prices were up 14% over 2014 numbers.  As you can see from the sales prices graph, median home prices have more than doubled since 2011.  In fact, they’ve gone up 157.63% since January of 2011 which is a nice gain by any standards.

May 2015 SW Florida Market Real Estate Update Fort Myers Real Estate Prices

People often call our office asking for homes they can flip.  They are surprised to learn how low inventory is right now.  They immediately ask about short sales and foreclosures and we tell them there aren’t many anymore.

The economy has improved and so has people’s job outlook.  Secondly, home prices have improved such that if they were underwater before, they may be able to sell now without being a short sale.

Most of the people who were in trouble have sold via short sale or lost their homes via foreclosure awhile back.  The public simply needs to know that SW Florida has recovered and it isn’t that kind of market anymore.  Most locals know that but visitors who aren’t familiar with our daily headlines are not.  Sometimes they read old stories on the Internet or watch old videos on YouTube.

May 2015 SW Florida Market Real Estate Update

 

May 2015 SW Florida Market Real Estate Update

Here is a graph that shows perfectly traditional sales versus short sales versus foreclosures in Lee County Florida. Back in January of 2011 normal sales were only about 35% of all sales.  Short sales were actually more than traditional sales and foreclosures were about 20%.  Fast forward in time and you can see the trend. Normal sales started picking up steam in November of 2011.

Speaking of old stories and old videos, we have them up on our website.  Simply go to our Lee County Florida real estate website  and click on the video tab or our video playlist on the right side of the screen.  It’s fun to go back in time and see what we were talking about years ago and how far this market has come.

Real estate is all about education.  The market is rarely static and is always changing.  The listings change daily and market trends develop over time.  The public has a keen interest in their property value if they are an owner and where values are headed if they’re considering buying.  Just like the stock market, most people don’t have time to study each property or each stock, so they rely on headlines and news articles for general information until it’s time to get serious.

Our website has a tool to find out what your home is worth online.  Owners really love this free tool because it gives you a value today and updates you each month as the market changes.

Buyers love the website because they can search for homes and condos online without a bunch of agents calling them like on the national websites.  Sellers can also search for homes as they may want to see what’s available before they decide to sell.

2 weeks ago we told you about our Buyer Advantage Program.  We informed buyers of listings we were working on as listings go fast in today’s market.  We listed one of the properties and it sold in 1 day on the market.  We have more coming to market in the next few weeks.  If you’d like to get advanced notice, be sure to signup at Topagent.com in the Buying section.

We’re looking forward to a fabulous summer season.  You can always call us at 239-489-4042 if you’d like to speak with us.  We hope you enjoy the Free online tools we provide but remember there’s no substitute to talking with an experienced Ellis Team professional.

Good luck and Happy House Hunting!

SW Florida Real Estate Market Update

Visit our Google+ Business Page

Feel free to view our Virtual Tours

New Riverfront Rental at Oasis

Check out our Buyer Advantage Program

Check out Bella Casa Condominiums.  We’ll be happy to show you this project in South Fort Myers

Other Resources

Fun Things to do in SW Florida

Fishing and Boating in SW Florida

Lee County Florida Sports

SW Florida Entertainment

 

By Brett Ellis

RE/MAX Realty Group – Ellis Team

Fort Myers Real Estate Agent

7910 Summerlin Lakes Dr

Fort Myers, FL 33907

239-489-4042

Is Now the Time to Sell in SW Florida?

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Official sales numbers were just released for the SW Florida real estate market and sellers will be pleased. Median home prices are up 18.9% over last year and average sales prices are up 30.8%. March median sales price came in at $219,938. This is the first time median sales prices have crossed over the $200,000 threshold since the decline of the local real estate market.  People always ask us, is now the time to sell in SW Florida and  what do I need to do to get my home ready to sell?

SW Florida sales Prices

We’ll have a free report for potential home sellers at the end of this report that will answer the 2nd question.  In fact, we have 8 free reports and we’ll tell you how to get them.

Sellers may want to consider 2 pieces of information about the market.  Sales prices are at a renewed high.  I feel like saying all-time high because this is a new market.  The old market reset years ago.  However, since prices did hit these highs and then some years ago, I won’t call it all-time.

Is Now the Time to Sell in SW Florida

Secondly, inventory is down and possibly going lower.  You can see by the Active Inventory Chart inventory is down significantly from last year.  Sales in March shot up too so we expect April sales numbers to come in very well.

So the question is, is now the time to sell in SW Florida?  The answer is yes from a statistical standpoint. However, you must weigh other factors, such as where are you going, is your house in shape to sell, do you owe more than your house is worth, and what do you need to know about the home selling process that may have changed since last time.

Interviewing agents can be a chore.  All agents sound the same and sellers mistakenly think if their home is on the Internet that’s all it takes to sell.  There is a big difference in the ways Realtors market online and offline.  If the Realtor doesn’t understand the difference, how in the world is the seller supposed to know?

We have good news for you.  We have a series of reports you can get for free that will answer many of your questions.  We’ll even tell you which questions you should ask your Realtor before you sign any listing agreement.

The Free reports are:

1. The Ultimate Home Seller Checklist

2. What is Your Home Really Worth?

3. What 92% of Sellers Know About Listing a Home

4. The Six Best DIY Tips to Prep Your Home for Sale

5. How to Stage Your Home, Room by Room, to Sell

6. Three Tips for Selling Your Home Fast

7. Five Things No One Tells You About Selling Your Home

8. Six Homeowner Hacks You Can Put to Use when Selling

Rates are still low and buyers are swarming.  You might not want to miss this market as many times there are several buyers for a home like yours.  That sure beats when there are several homes for every buyer.

If you’d like to receive your Free Home Seller Reports, simply go to Find Out What Your Home is Worth Online It asks for your home address.  In order to receive the reports please enter your email address and phone number so we can send them to you.  It will also send you a computerized value of your home and will update you when values change.

Don’t get too hung up on the home’s value.  The real value is in the reports.  The computer does a pretty good job of estimating your value but it has not been inside your home and in a fast rising market sometimes values can go up faster than what computer reports.

If you’re seriously considering selling your home we can zero in on today’s best value for your home, so don’t worry.  Just use the computer as a guide, not the real estate bible.

Of course, feel free to call us at 239-489-4042  We’ll be glad to help you buy or sell.  Good luck and Happy Selling!

Southwest Florida Real Estate Video Market Update

We’ve updated some pages on our website and added a few new ones:

Shadow Wood Preserve

San Carlos Park Homes For Sale in Fort Myers

Danforth Lakes