Buyer incentives in SW Florida

Incentive offers on rise

Many sellers are getting very creative in trying to sell their property. Want your mortgage paid for a year or free landscaping for a year...these deals are both currently available in the market.

It is certainly refreshing to buyers to gain this power in the real estate market. During the serious market run-up over the past couple of years, the developers held all the cards and dictated the rules. One area that where buyers can and should negotiate is to waive some of the fees that are pre-printed on a builders contract.

Sellers rolling out incentives for home buyers [NBC2]

Cape Coral water shortages

Water woes in the Cape

Over 80 wells have gone dry in Cape Coral primarily in the area north of Pine Island Road. Water levels in the Mid-Hawthorne Aquifer have dropped and not replenishing adequately. As the largest industry in Cape Coral is residential construction, any sort of restrictions on growth would prove both highly controversial and devastating to the local economy.

From a real estate valuation standpoint, property with city utilities in place or coming soon is a safer bet than property in the northern sections of the Cape that may not have utilities for another five to ten years.

Water woes may force halt of construction [News-Press]

Real estate name game

What's in a name

Do you ever wonder who comes up with the names of some of these developments in Southwest Florida? That is a job that would definitely appeal to me. If somehow I am hired for this position, you will find me walking on the beach listening to Podcasts about Italy furiously typing grandiose names into my Blackberry. Now that will be a sight for sorry eyes!

In one recent case, a developer changed the name of a project that was lingering with an "old Florida" name to a "new Florida" name and realized significantly increased sales results. Bob Fliss takes a look at a new project called Saraceno and gets to the root of the matter.

Let's play, name that real estate project [Sun Herald]

Second home tax trap

Passive losses not sure thing

Sanibel rental property owners Ed and Susan Hanna have learned a costly lesson about taking passive losses for rental property. In a nutshell, the IRS disallowed their taking passive losses and ruled that Susan Hanna could not work as a full-time database consultant and also qualify as a full-time real estate consultant.

Beach House Bummer [Forbes.com] registration required

Bilingual real estate market

Hispanic influence growing rapidly

Over the next five years the Hispanic population is expected to lead the growth in new home ownership. The buying power of this group will alter the landscape here in Southwest Florida and help to drive the growth of the market.

Hispanics comprised 11 percent of the population in Lee County in 2005, and are expected to reach 15 percent by 2010. Currently, 47 percent of Hispanic population are homeowners vs. 69 percent for the population at large.

Homes elude increasing population of Hispanics [News-Press]

Lee County tax certificates

Auction moves online

The Lee County tax certificate auctions have moved online to leetaxsale.com, a site which is managed by Plantation, Florida based Realauction. This move online should help to attract a wider more diverse audience than can typically attend a live auction in Southwest Florida in late May.

An on-line guided tour provides a walk-thru of the straight forward auction process. A great touch is the integration with the Lee County Property Appraisers site for viewing the property. A minimum $300 deposit is required to participate and then 10 percent of the certificate bid value. Wire transfers are the only payment method accepted.

The first online Lee County auction will be on May 31, 2006 at 8:00 AM. Bids can be entered for this auction starting on May 4, 2006. There are currently about 24,000 certificates up for auction. The tax sale process section of the site provides more information about tax certificate auctions and also consider reading Profit by Investing in Real Estate Tax Liens : Earn Safe, Secured, and Fixed Returns Every Time by Larry B. Loftis.

Tax certificates now available online [News-Press]

DeSoto County land rush

Speculators are making bets

With prices jumping from $2,000-$3,000 an acre in 2004 to over $20,000 an acre today, DeSoto County has experienced significant speculator investment. Over the past 11 months 26,000 acres have been changed hands with a total value exceeding $363 million.

DeSoto County lies north of Charlotte County and east of Sarasota and Manatee Counties and is expected to be developed as bedroom communities for the Sarasota-Bradenton and Port Charlotte metro areas. Most of the bets in DeSoto County are long term as not much development has occurred to date. The big push will be for utilities, water is available today and sewer treatment facilities are planned for completion in 2008.

Land rush turns to DeSoto County [Herald Tribune]

Fort Myers golf homes

Renaissance and Fiddlesticks are gems

Great article in Golf Digest about potential missteps associated with buying a home in a golf community. Some of the suggestions are common sense like buying to near the tee and settling for a bad lot on a great course, but some of the others like playing more than just a single round before buying are very helpful.

In Fort Myers , two of the premier golfing communities are Renaissance and Fiddlesticks Country Club. Both are conveniently located off Daniels Parkway between I-75 and US-41.

Renaissance is Fort Myers newest premier address and features a private Arthur Hills designed course which plays 7,046 yards, par 72. Homes are available at renaissance from $400,000 to $3M.

Fiddlesticks features two 18 hole course for less than 600 members, southwest Florida’s lowest density and most desirable golf experience. The private Ron Garl designed Long Mean Course plays 7,077 yards, par 72. The private Robert Cupp redesigned Wee Friendly Course plays 6,645 yards, par 72. Homes are available at Fiddlesticks from $400,000 to $1.6M

Please drop me a note if you are interested in a Fort Myers golf home.

Golf-home hazards [Golf Digest]

Gateway murder scene for sale

Stigma home will be tough sale

The Gateway home where Steven & Michelle Andrews were brutally murdered is now up for sale. The house, located at 12221 Eagle Pointe Circle, Fort Myers in the Cypress Pointe section of Gateway is listed at $349,000.

It is going to take a very brave soul to be willing to purchase and live in this property after the tragedy that occurred here last December.

Gateway murder scene up for sale [NBC-2]

Builder confidence drops

Local powerhouse Hovnanian cuts 2Q06 projections

Builder confidence is slipping as many deal with rising inventory levels and an increase in customer cancellations. Builder confidence reached its lowest levels since 1995, excluding the period directly following September 2001.

Hovnanian Enterprises, the firm that acquired local powerhouse First Home Builders, cut its second quarter earning and fiscal 2006 projections because of production delays, slower sales and price increases. Hovnanian stock tumbled 7 percent Tuesday on the news.

The Hovnanian struggles bode well for local entry-level home buyers as pricing on many recently completed homes in the area have been cut to the bone. Many of these are investor owned, sitting empty and ready for an aggressive offer.

Working on the housing boom [HousingZone.com]
Homebuilder stock tumbles on weaker outlook [CNN/Money]

Generation Y home buyers

A new class is rising

Now 65 million strong, the Generation Y class of buyers is emerging as a force in the real estate industry. Currently aged between 22 and 27, this group is buying property sooner and bigger than previous generations.

This is the tech savvy generation, most members of this group are comfortable using the Web to gain knowledge prior to making purchases. This group is also more comfortable with aggressive financing to get what they want immediately.

Locally our demographics are still skewed to reflect a grayer population base, but the boomers and Gen X + Y groups are making serious gains. The growth of Florida Gulf Coast University, Edison College and Ava Marie University certainly provide a local choice for higher education and will lead to more young adults settling in the area.

Generation Y [Denver Post]

Fort Myers market update

Mayday.....mayday.....

Here is a quick May Day look at a key real estate metric, pending to active(p:a) ratio, for the greater Fort Myers real estate market. I like this metric as it provides a macro view of the current market conditions.

Fort Myers residential p:a ratio = 8.2% (pending=533 active=6481)
Fort Myers vacant land p:a ratio = 5.9% (pending=63 active=1052)

Cape Coral residential p:a ratio = 7.3% (pending=418 active=5720
Cape Coral vacant land p:a ratio = 3.5% (pending=378 active=10703)

Lehigh Acres residential p:a ratio = 16.9% (pending=351 active=2075)
Lehigh Acres vacant land p:a ratio = 3.1% (pending=308 active=9869)

I bet you wouldn't have guessed that the residential market in Lehigh is the strongest performing sector in the region right now. The Lehigh residential sector is primarily driven by price conscious buyers looking for a primary residence. The Fort Myers and Cape Coral residential sectors are significantly more dependent on second home buyers and current performance reflects a significant dropoff in activity from this demographic.

For comparison sake, during the first quarter of 2005, the majority of these active:pending ratios exceeded 30%. Although not scientific, it is not difficult to extrapolate the length of time that it will take to sell a property from these figures. I am only seeing activity on property at the very lowest price in a given sector.