Cape Coral Florida Golf Course and Waterfront Homes

Sunday's News-Press has a front-page headline: "Lee Home Market Clogged". Must be a slow news day. There were some interesting points made in the article, however.

One thing that caught my eye was the statistic that there are 5189 single-family homes for sale in Lee County for less than $200,000. Now that's an eye-opener! We are back to a situation where our schoolteachers and policemen can afford a home. Furthermore, Seller capitulations, for whatever reason, are leading to large price reductions, often 10% or more.

Another thing that jumped out at me is that approximately 5% of our total home base is for sale. Just from the day-to-day tizzy that we all get in, it has seemed like more than 5%, so I guess I take comfort in that, especially after seeing some of the numbers from Michigan and parts of California. Like the article says, though, there are an awful lot of bank-owned properties and foreclosures in process that are not showing up on the MLS, so they kind of slip through the cracks. The "shadow market", if you will.

Most of the quotes in the article say that sales are running very slow, but our experience is that sales and buyer activity have actually picked up in the last four weeks. Statistics always seem to lag reality....that's sort of built in to the system. What we see is that, as these large price reductions hit the MLS, there is a large pool of buyers ready to put down an offer. so we see spreadsheets of five to seven offers pretty often. Good, clean homes at $80 per square foot and trashed out homes for a lot less.

And yet, some people are still building new homes. I'm not sure what they are thinking. Just want it their way, regardless of the cost, I guess. That's what makes this such a wonderful country!

Have a good time making money in real estate!

JimG

Two things caught my eye this week.

First of all, my buyers lost the first three offers they made to multiple offer situations. Then we wised up and started bidding higher than list with our all-cash offers. Now we are batting about .500 ! True, we are bottom-feeding, but I am amazed at the number of others who are also bottom-feeding. Seems like bank-owned properties are attracting five to seven good offers, where a short time ago, that was not happening. I also notice that many of the very low-priced homes on the MLS are disappearing, even the ones that need significant work. Fixer-Uppers are in high demand. This market is beginning to feel different!

Second thing I noticed, was that in the MLS today I saw 38 price increases in Cape coral Real Estate! Now tell me that is not different! Mostly homes by one builder, but that builder must see something different in the Cape Coral Real Estate Market. Same builder was steadily eroding prices up until a short time ago.

I'm wondering how many of the home sales right now are finding their way to the MLS statistics. So many channels for sales......I just wonder. Banks seem to be moving their inventory via whatever means it takes, which is to be expected. Countrywide is holding a big auction April 9. I hope they make some progress with their inventory....it will help everyone. Their auction covers a wide range of prices and locales, so the results should be informative.

The Coral Oaks Golf Course still seems to have a lot of unsold inventory in the $250-$500,000 category. When these homes begin to sell, it should be a bellweather for the rest of the Cape's mid-range homes. Waterfront homes seem to be attracting some attention already, but I'm surprised that the activity level isn't higher.

All we can do is keep strokin' !!

Jim Gibson
http://www.JimGibson.BIZ

Cape Coral Florida Golf Course Homes are available on the Coral oaks Golf course. This is a municipal course, well maintained and beautiful to look at. Lots of stately Florida Pin Oaks and Florida Pines. Lotsa critters, too, like Sand-Hill Cranes, White Ibis, Blue Herons, Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, Hawks of every description (including the beautiful little Kestrils), raccoons, skunks, armadillos, theiving crows, noisy mockingbirds, and the ever-popular snack-stealing squirrels. Not to mention an occasional alligator. In this over-built environment, Cape Coral Florida Golf Course Homes would seem to be a value play for the future. Cape Coral Waterfront Homes on Saltwater would certainly be number one on the long-term value list, but Cape Coral Florida Golf Course Homes seem to be totally over-looked. Consider that the Cape does not have large tracts of undeveloped land, just oodles of pre-platted lots that were all sold to individuals in the past. So the chances of another golf course popping up in Cape coral seem remote.

We presently have several large and NICE homes ON THE Cape Coral Florida Golf Course which are priced to sell from $249,000. on up. One luxury home built by Cape Coral's premier luxury home builder, is now listed at $399,000! Spa, Pool, Granite, Tile, central vac, custom Master Bath, etc. What a steal!

Jim Gibson, Realtor, E-PRO
Sellstate Advantage Realty Network
http://www.JimGibson.BIZ