New Construction and Re-sale Opportunities

New home sales at Bella Terra in Estero have continued at a strong pace in 2010.  Bella Terra developer Lennar recently announced that it has sold 100 homes in the community since December.  Bella Terra new construction housing options range in size from 1,400 SF villas starting in the $160s to single-family homes with 3,800 SF priced in the $500s.

Currently there are over 20 re-sales available at Bella Terra ranging in price from 74,800 for a 2 BR / 2 BA 1,242 SF condo to $499,000 for a 3 BR /  4 BA 3,889 SF executive home.  Here is a resource to view active Bella Terra MLS listings.

The minnpost.com has a story about a recent speech given by housing researcher John Mcllwain titled, “The Suburban Century is Over.”  Mcllwain predicts a shift in American housing and lifestyle preference away from the white picket fence suburbia towards a more urban lifestyle.

In TV terms the wonderful suburban neighborhoods of Leave It To Beaver, The Brady Bunch and Bewitched are fading and the urban lifestyles of the Odd Couple, Mary Tyler Moore and Frazier are coming of age.

What does this mean for the Southwest Florida and the greater Fort Myers area?  While no one is ever going to confuse Southwest Florida with the Upper West Side, we do have some really dynamic urban areas like 5th Avenue in Naples.  In recent years, a handful of urban-oriented projects have been developed or renovated that address this shifting lifestyle demographic.

Developments in the Fort Myers area offering an urban lifestyle experience include:

High Point Place – Riverfront high-rise in downtown Fort Myers walk to restaurants, Publix, Starbucks, offices, parks, theatres and museums.

Residences at Coconut Point – Condos located on the upper-levels of the Coconut Point Mall which has emerged as the destination in South Lee County.

Rapallo – Gated condos and villas adjacent and very walkable to the dynamic Coconut Point Mall

Cape Harbour – Waterfront boating community with vibrant boardwalk featuring restaurants, retail and community events.

Patio De Leon – Downtown Fort Myers renovated historic condos located above commercial space.

Earnhardt Condominiums – Downtown Fort Myers renovated historic condos located above commercial space

When the market turns and development starts up again, it would sure be wonderful to see more project like these completed rather than starter homes on random 1/4 acre plated lots in the hinterlands.

One of the buyer misconceptions about our current Fort Myers area real estate market is that banks will approve ultra-aggressive, low-ball offers on short sales and foreclosures.  Approving low-ball offers in Lee County has absolutely not been the operating model for lending institutions during 2009.   Particularly for foreclosures, much of the discount on these properties is reflected in the aggressive selling price.

The numbers speak for themselves regarding the ratio of selling price to listing price.  In 2009, 20,480 residential properties were sold in Lee County for a total of $2.7B.  The average listing price was $140,706 and the average selling price was $132,068.  This represents an average selling price to listing price ratio of 94%.  Anyone who tells you that banks are accepting offers at 50% of asking price is just not dealing with reality.

Complete inventories of Estero foreclosure listings, Fort Myers foreclosure listings and Cape Coral foreclosure listings are available on our site.

Wink News reports that the foreclosure auction held last night at the Harborside Event Center netted sales of 75 homes.  Our market is still heavily weighted towards foreclosures with approximately two-thirds off all homes being sold falling into the distressed category.

We continue to see significant activity mostly from second-home buyers looking to take advantage of aggressively priced foreclosure listings.  Here are free web resources that are updated daily with the latest foreclosure listings:

• Fort Myers foreclosures
• Fort Myers beach foreclosures
• Cape Coral foreclosures
• Estero foreclosures
• Bonita Springs foreclosures

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune has an interesting article about Norman Radow, who has been hired to liquidate the real estate portfolio of bankrupt Leman Brothers.  West Bay Club in Estero is one of the assets that Radow is currently focused on.  A big challenge at West Bay Club is that only 617 of the originally planned 1,054 properties have sold.

In the year that Radow has been overseeing the West Bay Club, his modifications have cut the annual operating deficit has been cut from $2.5M to $31,000.  These changes have included the closing of unprofitable restaurants and opening the club to guests of the nearby Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Currently, resale coach homes at West Bay Club are available starting in the mid $300s.

Estero Palms, a gated community of 32 single-family homes in Estero, has sold 22 of its 32 home sites.  On a positive note, 14 of these sales have occurred since May 2009.  Estero Palms features estate homes which start in the $220,000s.  Estero Palms was developed by Taylor Morrison.

Estero Palms is located in Estero on Block Lane just west of River Ranch Road.  This convenient location is adjacent to Estero High School and the Estero Recreation Center.

The real estate market in the greater Fort Myers area has been dominated by foreclosure and short sale activity.  This REO activity has driven significant price declines in Southwest Florida real estate.

In the third quarter of 2009, home prices in the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area dropped on average 40%.  This 40% decline led the nation for the 3rd quarter.

We are seeing a major shift upmarket in foreclosure activity.    At this time last year, the largest pocket of foreclosure activity was centered around single-family starter-type spec homes in Cape Coral neighborhoods like Gator Circle and in Lehigh Acres.  Investor heavy condo developments like Bellasol, Cypress Landing and Sail Harbour were also heavily impacted with foreclosures. Many of these lower-priced homes and condos REOs were snapped up by a new set of investors with an eye towards generating a cash-flow positive rental income stream

Today, significantly more foreclosures are hitting the market in upscale communities like Miromar Lakes, Bella Terra and Gateway.  With more amenities which drive higher condo and HOA fees, these properties are less attractive to investors to purchase as rental property.  Second home buyers are definitely the target for this high-end class of foreclosures.  Our team has been extremely busy this fall showing this class of property to out-of-town buyers.  Several have liked what they have seen and are buying upscale foreclosed homes and condos.

In figures recently released by RealtyTrac, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area was second in the nation in foreclosures during the first half of 2009.  One in every 14 homes in the region was in some stage of the foreclosure process during this timeframe.  Our region only railed the Las Vegas market, where one in every 13 homes was facing foreclosure.

All these foreclosures are creating outstanding buying opportunities for bank-owned property.  Estero foreclosures and Fort Myers foreclosures are very popular with out-of-town 2nd home buyers looking for their own piece of Florida sunshine.

NBC-2 reports that 25% of all homes sold in Collier County are to foreigners. Attracting new buyers with exchange-rate goosed dollars to the market is truly the best way for us to pull this housing market up and out of the downturn. Over the past year, the top foreign countries for visitors to my real estate web site are: Canada (7.3%); Germany (1.1%) and United Kingdom (.9%).

Estero, with its location close to Naples and the beautiful Estero Island beaches, is a Southwest Florida community popular with foreign buyers.

The Globes reports on Israeli nationals targeting bargains in the US Housing market.  With many priced out of the real estate market in the at home, the option to purchase in the US is very attractive:

Levy and other people with whom “Globes” has talked mention double-digit returns on investment. A comparison with the Israeli real estate market is necessary in view of the rise in housing prices in Israel in recent years, and Levy has no doubt which pays better.

“We cannot find such returns in Israel,” he says. “In Israel, the ratio between home prices and rental prices is disproportionate. An average three-room apartment in central Israel costs NIS 1 million and the average rent is about NIS 100,000 a year.

Southwest Florida leads the nation in foreclosures and homes are currently available at prices below replacement cost.  Fort Myers foreclosures and Estero foreclosures are popular with foreign nationals.  Many are investing now with plans to rent out the property until retirement.

The Miami Herald reports that foreign nationals are buying up distressed Florida real estate with the hopes of securing US citizenship via an investor visa.  An investor visa requires a significant investment in US property.  Locally, a Mexican national was granted an investor visa after investing $1M in a Bonita Springs restaurant.

We welcome foreign national investment to help fuel our market recovery. Distressed property is available throughout SW Florida, here is a resource to view Estero foreclosures and Bonita Springs foreclosures.  Cash offers are the key for foreign nationals to move quickly on a distressed deal.

According to a recent USA Today article, only 23% of short sale deals actually ever close. This figure came from a February 2009 survey by Campbell Communications of 1,300 Realtors. More than 90% of the agents cited slow responses from the lender as the reason that short sales were lost.

These figures certainly jive with what our team has experienced in the distressed property trenches of Southwest Florida.  It can be challenging trying to convince an eager buyer that the aggresively priced short sale listing has a very low probability of closing.  We are experiencing far higher closing percentages with foreclosure listings.

Here is a free resource that is updated daily to view Southwest Florida foreclosures:

• Bonita Springs foreclosures
• Cape Coral foreclosures
• Estero foreclosures
• Fort Myers foreclosures
• Fort Myers Beach foreclosures
• Pine Island foreclosures

If you do decide to move forward and make an offer on a short sale, please read this blog post about the questions that you need answered prior to submitting the short sale offer.

In figures recently released by RealtyTrac, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area was second in the nation in foreclosures during the first half of 2009.  One in every 14 homes in the region was in some stage of the foreclosure process during this timeframe.  Our region only railed the Las Vegas market, where one in every 13 homes was facing foreclosure.

All these foreclosures are creating outstanding buying opportunities for bank-owned property.  Estero foreclosures and Fort Myers foreclosures are very popular with out-of-town 2nd home buyers looking for their own piece of Florida sunshine.

Time Magazine covers the topic of property tax expectations for those who have recently purchased foreclosed property in Florida.

In Florida, taxable valuation is based upon average values of homes in a given neighborhood, and not based on individual transaction values. What this means is that although you may have found a screaming deal on a foreclosure in a great neighborhood, your taxable value could be quite a bit higher if other homes in the neighborhood sold for significantly more.

Hopefully, those searching for Fort Myers foreclosures and Estero foreclosures will do their homework on the issue of property taxes and not be hit with a major surprise when that dreaded envelope comes from the Honorable Cathy Curtis, Lee County Tax Collector.

A recent article in the Naples Daily News compares the lifestyle of Miromar Lakes with that of a ocean-front neighborhood. The pristine sandy beaches of Miromar Lakes, free from crowds, parking challenges and the red tide front 700-acres of sparkling lakes.

After passing through the gates of Miromar Lakes, one enters a place like no other in Southwest Florida. Golfing and water sports are two of the favorite past-times of Miromar Lakes residents. The Mirmar Lakes Beach Club and Blue Water Beach Grille round out the amenities in this fine community.

If you haven’t visitied Miromar Lakes in a while, you may have missed the fact that two new neighborhoods have been completed in the last 6 months. Both in a waterfront settings, Costa Amalfi with cottage-style homes and Positano with mid-rise condos are new to Miromar Lakes.

One of the greater Fort Myers area real estate statistics that I monitor is the ratio of selling price to listing price.

We are currently experiencing very high selling price to listing price ratios, currently at 96% over the last 30 days for residential sales in Lee County. This SP-LP ratio is up from 90% at the end of last year.

As the majority of our closings are distressed/REO properties listed at discounted prices, the banks are getting very close to asking prices or higher right now. We have been involved with multiple transactions in the last week where it took an over full price, cash, contingency-free offer to win the deal. These transactions have all been starter home/condo, foreclosure listings.

Complete inventories of Estero foreclosure listings, Fort Myers foreclosure listings and Cape Coral foreclosure listings are available on our site. Our team has deep experience working with buyers of these distressed properties.

The Lee County Building industry Association Parade of Homes is ongoing through Feb 22. The parade showcases new homes from the finest builders in Southwest Florida.

Twenty-nine homes with asking prices ranging from the $200,000s to more than $6M are on display at this years event. For more information, visit the BIA Web site: www.bia.net.

Models are available for viewing in the following locations:

Fort Myers: Emerson Square, Greens Edge at Province Park; Majestic Palms, Paseo, Plantation, Reflection Isles, Renaissance, The Residences at Bell Tower Park, Verandah

Cape Coral: Sandoval, Tarpon Point Marina

Estero: Bella Terra

North Fort Myers: North Star Yacht Club

Bonita Springs: Palmira Golf & Country Club, Village Walk of Bonita Springs

Good things tend to happen when Cameratta Properties gets involved with a real estate project in Southwest Florida. High Point Place is the shining star in their Southwest Florida portfolio.

Cameratta Properties purchased the 510-acre parcel from Lenar that was formerly known as Cypress Shadows. This parcel is located in Estero just west of Bella Terra on Corkscrew Road.

Cameratta has re-named the project The Preserve at Corkscrew and has re-zoned to eliminate the golf course and lower the density from 770 to 520 homes. The Cameratta marketing plan for this exclusive gated community is to sell vacant lots in a bring your own builder approach. The Preserve at Estero lot prices range from $300,000 to $500,000.

Question: Where can you buy a condo in a gated community for $50,000 that is within walking distance of the Coconut Point Mall?

Answer: Fountain Lakes

Yes, right now there is a bank-owned 1BR condo at 3140 Seasons Way in Fountain Lakes available for $50K. This condo is 790 SF and was built in 1988. Tough to argue against future upside with this one!

Fountain Lakes has an extensive list of amenities including a 9-hole golf course, pool, fitness center, tennis, shuffleboard, bocce, children’s playground, volleyball and a 2-mile jogging path circling the community.

Whether you work at the mall, go to FGCU or want to be ready for the Red Sox when they move spring training close-by, this Fountain Lakes condo is a deal.