Naples FL Blog

Yesterday I did an interview for a podcast for Home Away on the Naples real estate market.  HomeAway.com is a site that advertises vacation rental properties in resort areas.  I was asked my opinion of buying real estate in the Naples market.

In order to prepare for the interview I did some research on March 25, 2008 to have an idea of Naples' current inventory.  What I discovered was the following:

Condominium Ownership Properties

Active Listings:            5,680

Pending Listings:            442        From 1/1/2008-03/25/2008

Closed Sales                    407        From 1/1/2008-03/25/2008 

Average Price            $565,635.00    From 3/2007- 2/2008  

Based on the above numbers, Naples has roughly a 40 month inventory of properties in condominium ownership.  This means that it would take approximately 40 months to deplete the current units on the market. 

Single Family Ownership Properties

Active Listings:            6,329

Pending Sales:                 384        From 1/1/2008-03/25/2008

Closed Sales:                   380        From 1/1/2008-03/25/2008

Average Price:        $798,075.00    From 3/2007- 2/2008  

These numbers tell us that properties in single family ownership have roughly a 45 month inventory.

People keep asking me if I think the real estate prices in Naples have finally hit bottom.  My crystal ball is always a bit cloudy but what I can say is that you have to think about all the factors that go into racking up such a huge inventory of properties.

Everyone has heard about all the investors who purchased and thought they were going to "flip" their real estate investments.  They got caught with their properties when the market changed.

Another factor that is not talked about is that the Naples area has a number of sellers that have the financial wherewithal to wait out a slow real estate market.  These sellers put their home up for sale and help inflate the number of active listings on the market because they can wait to get the price they feel their home is worth.  Their home might not be sold this year or next year but they can wait for their price.

I would say to any seller today, "If you do not HAVE TO sell your home, do not put it on the market."  A savvy buyer with his Realtor's help will know market price.  No matter how emotionally attached a seller is to their property, the market sets the price.  I have personally turned down more listings in the last year than I can EVER remember turning down in my career.

Perceptions are that buyers are sitting on the fence waiting for the market to drop further.  If you are that buyer, I would say to you, "GET OFF THE FENCE"!  There are some incredibly good buys out in the market right now in great locations.  Should you continue to wait, those good buys are going to be long gone and there will be less of a selection for you to choose.  I would advise that you to try to purchase as large as a home you will need.  Today's prices will be better for larger homes than 5 years from now when you'll need that larger place.  I can truly say, "IF YOU BUY IT, THEY WILL COME".......and more than likely stay with you.

Naples is a beautiful area that offers many fine communities to live.  Why don't you check Naples out today?

The Florida Association of Realtors has release the corrected figures for the Florida Sales Report for March 2008 - Existing Single Family Homes and Existing Condominiums.  Please note that while there is no line item representing Naples sales, the Naples figures are included in the Statewide totals.

It is difficult for me to determine how the median sales prices have fared from the March 2007 reports because during 2007 the Naples Board of Realtors did not contribute any numbers for this report.  As I reported in my previous blog entry, the Naples Board of Realtors figures showed an increase in pending sales in properties near the beach and in the East Naples area.  Naples sales prices in these areas, I believe are hitting the bottom.

Thursday, the Naples Daily News published an article detailing Hank Fishkind's predictions for the housing market recovery in Collier County.  While Mr. Fishkind described the unsold inventory of new homes in Collier County as "fairly small", as of today, the Naples MLS shows for the Naples area 5,582 active listings for existing condos and 6,079 active listings for existing single family homes.  Given the rate these units are selling, we have roughly a 30 month inventory of condos and a 37 month inventory of single family homes. 

In reviewing the search words that are used to find my web site, I was amazed at the number of searches that came up for "canceling listing agreements".  I am not surprised that there are a number of unhappy sellers in Naples right now.  I just wonder how a seller can insist on sticking to a price on their home that might not be realistic.  I also wonder how an agent decides to take a listing in today's market that is not priced correctly.  Come on guys......there are 11,661 units for sale in Naples.  No matter how special a seller thinks their home is, there are a number of similar homes on the market that buyers are viewing and comparing. 

If you are a seller that is unhappy with your real estate agent, I would advise you to ask the agent to prepare an updated market analysis on your home.  Discuss the number of sales in your area and the number of properties pending and for sale.  Ask your Realtor how long it will take the number of for sale units to be sold based on the number of sales per month.  Once you have all this information, you should be able to see pretty quickly if your home is overpriced.  At that point in time, you, the seller, has to decide if you want to drop your sales price to a more realistic price or hold onto the property.

Over the past year, I have turned down more listings than I think I have turned down in the last 30 years.  I will not make a promise I can not keep.  If I think I can obtain a price for you, I'll tell you.  If I do not think a price  is possible, I'll tell you.  A frank talk between a seller and their Realtor can clear the air and either produce a sale or remove a listing from Naples listing inventory for sale at a later date.

Before the Do Not Call list came into effect, I used to call sellers whose's properties did not sell.  When I asked the question, "Why do you feel your house did not sell?"  90% of the time I would receive the answer, "The house was overpriced."  If you want your home to sell in today's market, location may be a plus but PRICE will be the determining factor to receive an offer from a buyer that may turn into a sale.

The Naples Board of Realtors released the March 2008 real estate market statistics on Friday.  The good news is that the number of pendings sales for March 2008 is up from March 2007.  This indicates to me that buyers are starting to make buying decisions instead of just "looking".

The median sales price for condominiums and single family properties is down from 2007.  March 2008 average market time for single family homes is at 183 days, while the average market time for condos is at 196.  This market time is similar to March of 2007.

What I did find interesting in viewing all these statistics is that the days on the market for overall market in the Naples Beach locations has decreased from 235 days in March of 2007 to 182 days in March of 2008.  The days on the market for the condominiums in the Naples Beach area also decreased from 250 days in March of 2007 to 171 days in March of 2008!  The only other overall market area that showed a decrease in days on the market was the East Naples area. 

We see from these numbers that market times in two areas are decreasing.  One area is an area near the beach. The other area has properties that are priced under $300,000.00.  If the market is starting to hit bottom, it would seem to make sense that properties along the beach would start to rebound first along with the lower end of the market.

This past week I have been busy showing properties and my listings have been receiving more showings.  When I call for client reaction on my listings I am now hearing that  the buyer put an offer in on a unit.  Now granted, it wasn't my listing, but a buyer had made a decision to buy!  I had been getting tired of hearing client reaction of "Buyers left without making a buying decision."

On another note, if you own a condo in Florida, you may want to check with your condo associations to see if a windstorm mitigation survey done on the roofs of your association's buildings.  If one has been done, you can request a copy of this survey from your association and submit it to your homeowner's insurance company to see if they will allow you a discount on your insurance.  Taking the time to inquire about this could result in substantial savings.

If you own a home in Florida, you should check with your home owner insurance provider to inquire if this discount would be available to you if you hired a certified windstorm inspector to perform the survey.

That is all for now.  The weather in Naples has been gorgeous the last few days.  This photo was taken Friday night at sunset.  If you owned a place in Naples, you could enjoy sunsets like this.......

Let's take a look at what has happened in Naples over the past 8 days.

Properties in Condominium Ownership

Active Listings:    5,635

Pending Sales:    418        From 01/01/2008-04/10/2008

Closed Sales:    566          From 01/01/2008-04/10/2008

Properties in Single Family Ownership

Active Listings:    6,138

Pending Sales:    447        From 01/01/2008-04/10/2008

Closed Sales:    496          From 01/01/2008-04/10/2008

It appears that the number of condominiums in the pending sales category has drop a bit, while the number of pending single family homes has increased.  I have yet to see a mass exodus of our winter residents.  Could it be that the rotten weather up North is making our snow birds roost a bit longer?  Some of these people are waiting until the end of season before they make their minds up if they will buy this year.

If you are a buyer "waiting" for that "steal" by the beach, I'd advise you to make a decision to purchase now.  From what I can see their aren't any "steals" near the beach and I don't think there will be in the near future.  There is however, I good selection of homes near the beach that are waiting for buyers.  If you do your homework, with the help of a Realtor, a buyer should be able to find a good value near the beach today.

After suffering through the cold, rainy, gray suicide days in Chicago, I never thought I would be happy to report that it has been raining in Naples!  There was an article in the Naples Daily News this morning reporting that our water restrictions may be lessened.

Anyone in the market to buy a building on Fifth Avenue South?  The asking price as reported in the Naples Daily News is $3,950,000.00.  The sale of this building may displace some long time business owners.  Given the age of this building, I wonder if a buyer is going to tear it down and build something new. Hmmmm, food for thought.

Hurricane season is just around the corner and the noted hurricane forecaster, William Gray and his team, have revised their first forecast to 15 named storms in the Atlantic this year with at least one major hurricane hitting the U.S.  Mr. Gray and his team have been off with their predictions before and I sincerely hope they are off again this year.

June - November is hurricane season.  If you live in Naples during that time, it is always a good idea to be prepared.  I have several links on my home page for weather and hurricane information that you might find helpful.  NBC-2.com has an excellent hurricane resource site.

Naples is a beautiful place to live at any time of the year!

 Wednesday, April 02, 2008

You'll see that www.NaplesWave.com has a new look to it.  More Naples Information has been added to the site along with links to information on Collier County, schools, airlines that fly into Ft. Myers and more.  Would you like to see a favorite Naples link on this site?  Let me know.  All suggestions to improve this site and blog are welcome!