Will Fay Cause Havoc On Naples, Florida Real Estate Sales?

If you live in an area where the possibilities of devastating storms exist, you can't help but get a sick feeling in your stomach when media resources start chirping about the possibility of a "landfall" close by.

First because you worry about just the overall well being of you, your loved ones and your neighbors...then you worry about your "stuff" which of course can all be replaced for the most part and then for us REALTORS, you worry about your livelihood. What can happen to the real estate we love to sell?

There are some very curious events that have happened in my career since 2004. First Charley hit up the coast from us. That was a mean storm for Fort Myers, Sanibel, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. It was quite catastrophic. For Naples some people didn't have any power and some landscape issues but damage overall was very minimal.

Could that have something to do with the stringent building codes in Collier County many of which are tougher than state code?

Could it be due to the fact that a great deal of our construction is newer and was built to the current code (at that time of construction) compared to surrounding towns in SW Florida?

2004 was an extremely busy year for me in real estate. Of course it was during our big real estate boom. There are two real estate related scenarios I remember well:

• The first was regarding a contract I was in the middle of negotiating and let me tell you...it was a HOT deal! Fortunately my buyer's agreed to go forward by signing the last signature needed to put a Pelican Bay home formally under contract just a day before the storm hit. It was a trying time trying to deal with getting that signature through a fax machine as I had unplugged everything in my house due to possible flooding. My office had done the same. We got it done, the house was fine, we closed and those guys made over $100,000 on the flip.
• The second was with a lady who was planning on coming down to purchase. She was so gung-ho about purchasing that when I told her the flight she was planning on catching was scheduled to land during the hurricane...she didn't even pause. It took several phone calls for me to tell her to stay up there. She just couldn't hardly be convinced. It was the weirdest thing and ultimately another prime example as to how crazy buyers got during the heated times and what ultimately led to the price increases and that ever infamous "bubble"

Then Hurricane Wilma hit Marco Island (south of Naples proper). That storm caused a little more drama but even Wilma (who hit us directly) once again caused more havoc in Miami than she did on our side of the state. Does that have something to do with those building codes and quality of construction again??? I really don't know I'm just happy that it took us just a short period of time (within a couple of months) to clean up the tree branches etc. By the time our official selling season began...Naples, Florida was in GREAT shape.

What we really didn't know for sure is that real estate "bubble" was just on the verge of popping when Wilma came to town and at least in my experience, looking back it really felt like Wilma was the one who popped our bubble. Although there were some newspaper articles written about the start of a real estate slowdown, I think the strong majority of the public including us REALTORS were still selling and in denial.

Once Wilma hit, it got really quiet for me on the real estate side and then we slipped into the beginning of our "slowed real estate market".

I liked to blame Wilma for most of our slowed sales for awhile but fears of Hurricanes subsided and we were still slow so it became quite apparent that although buyer's were alot more interested in hurricane protection than ever before and a lot more curious about flood zones etc. the ultimate objection to purchasing became price...and the "we're going to wait and see" game began.

2007 was slow and people still were "waiting and seeing".

2008 picked up and I recognized more sales than the year before and clues to a recovering real estate market were recognized. Yaaaeee!

Then T.S. Fay decided to make an appearance. Oh...now what??? Fear, Fear, Fear? Oh...no, no, not really at all...at least so far.

Here's what I think is very interesting about buyer behavior with Fay. According to The Weather Channel, Hurricane Fay became a T.S. on August 15th and hit Cuba. Talk about hitting Florida was well underway. Hits on my Naples, Florida real estate website were down 16% compared to the day before and for whatever reason, Fridays are never big performing days on my Naples Florida real estate website. In fact, compared to the Friday before (August 8th) hits were actually up 4% than the week before? Huh? Don'tcha all know we're going to be hit by a hurricane?.. as Zach Fischer so boldly reports on a post he writes for Localism.

Ok so maybe people weren't paying attention that day. What about the day after? Hits up 2%. What about the 17th? Up 7%. 18th? Up 11%. On the day T.S Fay hits the mainland of Florida surly traffic is down on that day, right? Nope. Up a whopping 34% Is that because all media attention is good media attention? I seriously don't know but what is even more awesome is what people were searching for. Many of the top pages have to do with Naples Beachfront properties, Naples Bay and other Naples waterfront properties.

Is it because Naples, Florida buyers have grown numb to the drama the media tries to instill in us? Don't get me wrong here. It is through the grace of God that Naples was spared once again and there are many other places not faring so well....my prayers are certainly with them.

Although Fay did perhaps stall or maybe even took away some of our opportunities to sell, we may have lucked out again. A client from oversees has postponed his trip til next month due to the storm and nobody really knows for sure the impact Fay will have on Florida's economy but I do greatly appreciate the people who have called within the last few days expressing interest in Naples, Florida real estate. I'm happy to know I'll be seeing them soon and I'm looking forward to helping them purchase their Naples, Florida property!

If you're trying to sell you Naples, Florida property, price and exposure are still the two most important factors. Make sure your property is in a price range that will cause it to sell and that it is being exposed properly both on the Internet and locally. You can't buy what you don't know exists and you won't pay more for something than it's worth.

For more information about Naples real estate, feel free to contact me direct!

Best Regards,

Shannon Lefevre, PA

Your Naples Smart Girl!