Long popular on the West Coast, creating a zen area in a home or yard is catching on in Southwest Florida. The Zen movement has Buddhist roots emanating from China and utilizes meditation to attain enlightenment.
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Tucked away in South Fort Myers off Cypress Lake Drive between Summerlin Road and McGregor Boulevard is the gated community of Palmettto Cove. Beyond the sunshine and warm weather, the tax benefits of a Florida residency can be substantial. Everyone probably knows that Florida does not have state income taxes, but it is generaly less known that Florida estate taxes are more favorable than many other states. ABC-7 reports that a German shepherd named Snoop is being trained to identify Chinese drywall. WGCU hosted a panel of Southwest Florida real estate experts including Dick Hogan from the Fort Myer News-Press. 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. NBC-2 reports on unrecorded liens, a surprise post-closing challenge many buyers of foreclosed properties have faced in Cape Coral. 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 [...] The first wave of foreclosures to impact Lee County were dominated by investor-owned single-family homes in Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral. Many of these were the speculative products constructed by the likes of First Homes and sold to under-qualified and inexperienced investors. These investors were the first to fall and many just walked away from [...] How about a new way of segmenting the neighborhoods of Fort Myers? Most real estate websites carve up a community by zip code or subdivision, this approach works well if you are familiar with the area and know which zip codes cover the the neighborhoods you are interested in. Although we offer both zip code and [...] One of the most active search terms on my Southwest Florida real estate website is the phrase “Cape Coral gated communities.” Every month hundreds Google this phrase in their quest to learn more about gated communities in Cape Coral. What is it about cape Coral gated communities that draws so many property shoppers? One of the challenges [...] The Chinese drywall problems plaguing SW Florida were highlighted in a recent Wall Street Journal article. Anyone looking at purchasing a SW Florida homes built in the 2002-2006 timeframe should absolutely have a housing inspection performed by a building inspector with experience with Chinese drywall detection. One of the key draws to Cape Coral Florida is the 400 miles of canals, most of which are lined with residential housing. Cape Coral, more than any other city in Southwest Florida, offers significant opportunities for affordable waterfront living. At the present time, Cape Coral is one of the national leaders in term [...] Steve Sjudderud’s Daily Wealth has an interesting article about investing in quality properties at a fair price rather than less desirable property at a low price. This article hit home with me as we have been swamped over the past several months with investor inquiries for some of the lowest priced, lowest quality properties [...] For those of you considering dipping your toe in the Florida real estate market, Jim Cramer believes that we are at the bottom. The supporting logic behind this proclamation is that builders stopped new construction in Florida two years ago and inventory is being absorbed by our continued low interest rates. Cramer suggests [...] One of the questions for those currently considering a Cape Coral real estate investment is how much will I be charged for utility assessments. At this time, both areas Southwest 6/7 and North 1-8 above Pine Island Road are being targeted for utilities. In the Southwest 6/7 area water, wastewater and irrigation are proposed, in the [...] Now that we are a few years removed from a major hurricane, the News-Press reports that insurance carriers are taking a renewed interest insuring homes in Southwest Florida. These reductions [...] 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 [...] With the Watermen-Pinnacle site on Daniels Parkway moving forward for the location of the new Red Sox spring training facility, Red Sox fans might be curious to learn more about the area. Many are already familiar with Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers as it is one of the primary access roads from the airport to much [...] There has recently been a great deal of euphoria regarding the real estate market here in Southwest Florida. A recent News-Press article titled Southwest Florida sees light at the end of housing tunnel cites recent home sales figures to suggest the worst is behind us. While I agree that the clearing out of inventory [...] The foreclosure feeding frenzy for Cape Coral distressed homes continues as reported by the News-Press. Many Cape Coral REO listings are coming on the market with aggressive asking prices. This is proving to be a sound strategy for the institutional owners as we are seeing multiple above asking price offers on these listings. Right [...] One of the things that often makes me cringe is reading the bios on other Realtor’s websites. Especially here in Southwest Florida, many open with “originally from________. It is fine to be from somewhere else, but just don’t tell us in your opening sentence. Others tout being a recent graduate of ABC School [...] The latest data released by RealtyTrac and reported by NBC2 reveals that foreclosures in the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area were up 31% for the month of April 2009. In April, a staggering one in 57 homes in the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area received a notice of foreclosure. This ratio ranks our region 2nd in the [...] The Boston Globe reports on the significant appetite by New Englanders in Southwest Florida real estate. The Fort Myers area has a strong base of residents that have relocated from the Boston area and also attracts a significant number of New England area snowbirds each winter. We are seeing a significant number of New England [...] The Ledger defines and details the practice of gazumping, where institutional owners of property continue to take bids on homes after they have accepted an offer. In foreclosure scenarios, some banks are requiring buyers to sign an addendum that allows the bank to continue accepting offers on a property even after the contract is effective. [...] 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 [...] Great to see the News-Press give some face time to the Pine Island real estate market. Pine Island offers its residents a very different laid-back lifestyle that is rapidly disappearing across Southwest Florida. There was never much speculation and over-building, and Pine Island foreclosures rarely come on the market. If you are down here [...] A recent New York Times article discusses the changing face of the foreclosure market. In the past a foreclosed home usually meant boarded up windows on the other side of the tracks. The market downturn has created opportunities nationally in upscale vacation areas to purchase foreclosed homes. Traditional second home markets like [...] |
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